Royal Wedding Fun

Last weekend, Brendan and I spend the better part of the day (a "day date," as we called it) at the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. We visited the Huntington when we were first married, but not since we had the boys. We had a great time indulging in one of our favorite hobbies: photography. This week Brendan discovered that the Huntington is not as old-fashioned and stuffy as you might think a historical library, art gallery and garden would be. They're active on Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter. We quickly submitted some of our favorite photos to their Flickr group.

This week we each had a photo chosen as "Photo of the Day" on back-to-back days. We were both pretty tickled by that, but not nearly as tickled as I was when this morning I got on Facebook and discovered the second photo I submitted to their group was chosen as photo of the day today. Here it is:



They described my photo with this quote: "If you love roses, say 'I do!' With a nod to this morning's newlywed newsmakers, today's photo is a bouquet of blooms fit for a royal wedding."

Eek! I love it! Click here for the Flickr link, if you're interested. It's not like I had millions of photos to "compete" with. They only have 175 members of the group. But this photo, already a favorite from the moment I took it, will now have special meaning since it was given recognition on a very unique historical day.

Onto another royal wedding tidbit. And it's all about The Dress. I don't care if some people thought it was boring or unflattering or old-fashioned. I loved Kate's dress. Loved. Loved. Loved it. It was perfection. Come ON, people!



And maybe...just maybe part of the reason I loved it is that it bore a slight similarity to my own wedding dress from the dark ages of the last millennium.



No, I'm not being nauseating enough to suggest we were twins, or anything remotely close. There's no comparison: she's the most beautiful bride I think I've ever seen. But as you can see, the dresses have somewhat similar overall shapes, types of trains, bodices and long lacy sleeves. Of course, I laughed when I received an email from my mom this morning declaring that "other than the V-neck and a little extra train, Kate wore your dress." Ah, moms! It's those kinds of hyperbolic, ego-boosting statements that they're so good at.

Anyway. I just wanted to share a couple of personal stories about the royal wedding. And if you can't use your own blog to compare yourself to a princess, then what fun is having a blog?

Happy Easter

It's somewhere between the hours of 8 and 9 a.m. on Easter morning, and Nathan and Brendan just left for church. If Evan were older and capable of sitting for longer than 76 seconds, we would have gone, too. No, really..we would have. It's not just a convenient excuse to stay in my pajamas for another couple of hours (although I sure do appreciate having that excuse).

Anyway, the boys have had their Easter egg hunt (the Easter Bunny filled most of their plastic eggs with Legos and small eraser toys, but some chocolate, too). We've had yummy Goldstein's bagels that we picked up in La Canada yesterday (yay, a date to the Huntington!). They forgot about their baskets, so they'll have another surprise awaiting them later this morning. But Evan's getting into mischief now (and he needs a diaper change--whew!), so I'll keep this short. I did, however, have to share this little Nathan gem. As he and Brendan were getting ready to leave for church, he had one complaint:

"I usually can't see the magicians, so maybe since we're getting there early we'll be able to see them better."

Ah...from the mouths of babes. That's a slight paraphrase, but he did use the word "magicians" to describe the clergy. I love it. And I love my little Easter kids.

Favorite Foods

At dinner, we somehow got on the topic of "what would you rather eat" lists with Nathan. What started as "choose strawberries or grapes" quickly degenerated into things like "fish with wood in it" and "grapes filled with mirrors." We nipped our little game in the bud before it really ended up in the gutter. But for some odd reason, it made me think about the ten foods I would choose to eat, if I could only eat those ten foods forever (choosing one or five was way too stressful and depressing). So, without putting too much thought into it, my ten would be:

1. peanut butter
2. Cookies and Cream ice cream
3. ripe strawberries
4. guacamole and chips (one thing, in my book)
5. bananas
6. Carpinteria's "The Spot" cheeseburgers without the special sauce (or In-and-Out...or the Habit)
7. fresh pineapple
8. that portobello pomodoro meal I made once but dream about all the time
9. French fries
10. Shredded Wheat and vanilla soy milk

I'm having a "hungry week." What can I say?

Spring School Photo

Even with the impressive bruise above his right eye (pesky brick walls...they come out of nowhere), you have to admit that this is one dreamy-looking kid.