In Honor of the Royal Wedding

In honor of the Royal Wedding, an encore of some photos from my trip to London last September!

Will you be up early to watch the nuptials? I wake up at 6am every morning anyway, so I'm planning to wake at 5:15 or so East Coast time, which should be early enough to catch most of the action!

Transition to Spring

Spring may be here but the weather can be very unpredictable: cool and rainy one minute then steamy and sunny the next.  Add in the office air conditioning kicking on and you've got one major wardrobe conundrum! So right now I'm mixing up a bit of my winter wardrobe with my new spring pieces: I bought this new pencil skirt at J Crew on sale a couple weeks ago.  Last Friday I wore it with a soft pink longsleeve top and black rimini cardigan from J Crew's fall collection.

Transition to Spring by PinkMaple on Polyvore

"Something Borrowed"-sucked me right in!

Over the weekend I finished reading Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin.  This was my first Emily Giffin novel and when I started it I was concerned it might be a bit too cheesy and predictable (all the flashbacks to the stereotypical 80's era childhood, etc.). I have to admit that I got sucked in and now I can't wait to see the movie.

Have you read Something Borrowed?  What do you think about the cast?  I think Kate Hudson is perfectly cast as Darcy.  I'm not too sure about Ginnifer Goodwin as Rachel, but perhaps it's because I've really only seen her in one other similar type of romantic comedy, He's Just Not that Into You, and her character in that film kind of drove me bonkers!  Colin Egglesfield (on the right) is Dex and John Krasinski (on the left) is Ethan whom I'm assuming must be a more major character than he is in the book; particularly because this picture shows him with Rachel, Darcy, and Dex and in the book his character lives in, and never leaves, London, for the entire story!

Egg-cellent

Confession time: I am not a big candy or chocolate lover.  My favorite sweets are more of the bakery variety: I love the mini-vanilla scones, cinnamon scones, and rice krispie treats at Starbucks, Trader Joe's vanilla cake with powdered sugar, my mom's blueberry cake (which is closer to a bread than a cake), plain and simple cupcakes, traditional Italian cookies, and shortbread cookies.

Occasionally though I crave a bit of chocolate and when I do it is pretty much always a Reese's peanut butter cup (although my work always has mini M&M and peanut M&M packets on hand so I'll go for a bag of those sometimes).  Peanut butter cups are my absolute favorite though.  I think it's because they are actually more peanut butter than chocolate and I am a big peanut butter lover.  So, naturally I love these:

Egg-cellent I think!  Do you have a favorite Easter candy?

Best wishes readers for a happy Easter!  Whether you are spending the holiday with family or friends, I hope it is filled with health and happiness.

I'll be having a fairly quiet Easter--just dinner out with my parents and a couple stop-by visits with relatives.  My great-uncle on my mother's side passed away so sadly I'll be following the weekend with a wake on Monday.

Splendid Splendor

A few years ago I used to use a fabulous hair conditioning mask by Philosophy.  My hair is very thick and can be quite unruly and the conditioner was like a magic potion.  Unfortunately, Philosophy stopped making it and the entire Shear Splendor line of hair products . . . or so I thought.  Fast-forward to this weekend when I caught Philosophy on QVC while flipping channels before bed.  Turns out QVC now exclusively sells Philosophy's Shear Splendor shampoo and conditioner!!  The deep conditioning mask I used to use is sadly still a goner, but I have my fingers crossed that the regular shampoo and conditioner will be able to work magic on my hair!

Full report to come when the products arrive in the mail!

Out with the old...

Since this past weekend was a 3-day one, I decided it was high time to do some closet clean-out work! I stored away my winter wools and corduroys and set aside some old things for charity and consignment.  I am not at all good about getting rid of old clothing.  Every magazine article I read on closet reorganization always says if you haven't worn something in a year you should toss it.  I can't say I follow that maxim at all!  I have lots of pretty dresses and fancy tops I've purchased for a specific occasion and since they still fit and are not outdated I just can't say goodbye to them!  Cases in point: Navy Blue Marc Jacobs dress worn to 3 weddings in 2006, black Calvin Klein dress worn to a law school formal in 2007, the list goes on.  Are you good about saying goodbye to clothes you haven't worn in a while or are you a saver like me??

My closet clean-out also demonstrated that I own a lot of belts:

 Yikes!  Considering my belt organizer has exactly 4 hooks, I think I need to upgrade:

Cedar 12-hook Belt Hanger, The Container Store

Clearly too small: but maybe a few of these? I like the simplicity. Axis 4-prong hook, The Container Store

Happy Patriot's Day!

Today, the famous "shot heard 'round the world" began the Revolutionary War in the Battles of Lexington and Concord--honored every year in Massachusetts with a state-wide holiday.

(Source: Boston.com)

This third Monday in April is also the annual running of the Boston Marathon!  So, today I am very nostalgic for my college days.  Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts marks the exact half-way point of the marathon and is known as the "Scream Tunnel." Pretty much the entire college lines the roadway and the runners start hearing the screaming and cheering over a mile away.  The dining hall would serve picnic lunches and my friends and I would gather on the road early to ensure we got a perfect viewing spot.  Then, of course, we would spend the afternoon screaming and cheering all the runners--from the very first wheelchair runners and the first pack of leaders that would literally fly by to the recreational runners who would stop and receive a kiss of encouragement, a high five, and perhaps even do a few push-ups to show how much energy they still had!  During my years at college, the most popular t-shirt sold by one of the dorms was the marathon t-shirt emblazoned with the logo, "The faster you go, the louder we'll scream!" Ha! 

(Source: Wellesley College Public Affairs)

Cheers to all the runners taking part in the marathon!  (Go BlackLabsandLilly!!)

Harry Potter

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando truly did not disappoint!  From the village of Hogsmeade to Hogwarts castle, every little feature of the books was recreated in impressive detail.  If you are a Harry Potter fan, you must go!

All aboard for Hogsmeade Station!

Welcome to Hogsmeade!  You can see the butterbeer cart just behind my head in the background.

The crooked, snowy roofs of Hogsmeade Village.

Ollivander's Wand Shop

Inside the shop

Hogwarts Castle, home of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  The ride was fabulous; even the queue through the various castle rooms was impressive!

This pic of my dad shows how gigantic the castle is.  It's really quite realistic!

Hagrid's house

Ageless Appeal

Sunday's New York Times Book Review featured a profile on the author Beverly Cleary who turns 95(!) this week (The Ageless Appeal of Beverly Cleary-click to read).  It's hard to believe how long her books have been around!  Were you a fan of Beverly Cleary books growing up?

Some of my favorites were actually her "teen" books:

The Luckiest Girl is set in southern California in a town where orange groves are the big industry. I was so envious when the characters would go out to their local orange juice stand and get fresh orange juice. If I recall correctly the orange juice stand was the local hangout (By boring contrast, the cool hangout of my middle school years was ice cream sundaes at Friendly's! Ha!)  I remember writing a book report on The Luckiest Girl and making the cover in the shape of an orange!

Happy Birthday Beverly Cleary! 

I'm back!

After a busy week back after vacation and an awful cold that is finally starting to let up, I finally back to blogging.  The week was definitely exhausting: I did my best to politely cough and blow my nose during work meetings, matched admitted students to local alums of my undergrad college to write congratulatory letters and put together mailing packets of stationery and stamps in a cold-induced fog, and coughed and clapped for the Red Sox at their home opener on Friday.  I am definitely looking forward to starting this week feeling better and fresher!

I took a ton of photos on vacation in Florida.  This first batch features the beautiful flowers of Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival.  The festival runs every spring from March to May and is truly impressive.  There are literally flowers everywhere: floral tapestries, topiaries themed for each of World Showcase's countries and throughout Future World, trees of flowers, floating flowers, an English tea garden, a French fragrance garden, a butterfly house filled with real butterflies, and much, much more. Every weekend of the festival is extra special with HGTV personalities giving presentations and Flower Power concerts by 60's and 70's era musicians (we saw Starship of "We Built this City on Rock 'n Roll" fame).

 My mom and I (note the tree of impatiens behind us!)

 More flower trees:

 A tapestry of flowers and floating impatiens:

 Lady and The Tramp topiaries at the Italy pavilion:

Cinderella and Prince Charming (note the flower shape flounce at the bottom of her skirt!):

 Beauty and the Beast topiaries in the fragrance garden at the France pavilion:

 Despite this early morning pic of me in the UK pavilion, it was actually quite crowded but definitely worth it to see the Flower & Garden Festival!

Hogsmeade Ahead!

I am back from vacation and unfortunately feeling very under-the-weather.  I promise to post lots of photos very soon.  The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando did not disappoint!  Even the cute street signs were photo-worthy!