Written by God's Fingers

"Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers"--Hans Christian Andersen

I have no idea how I am still awake, let alone able to form enough sentences to get a new post up. Then again, this being the very start of the post, I am being very optimistic that it will all make sense once I am finished and not end up looking like Charlie Sheen's 'winning' stand up act.

Let me just start by saying, leading up to the Royal Wedding I had no real intention of staying up all night to watch it. I hadn't given it too much thought in the days leading up to it. The day before something seemed to have clicked inside my head where suddenly I HAD to watch it. I can't really pin point what it was. I have a suspicious inclination that anytime there is a huge royal British event, every Brit is programmed to submit to the excitement and pageantry of said event. The more removed one is from England, the less the signal. I am only one generation removed so I am pretty sure that is why I didn't receive the full signal until the day before. By the time I had left work that evening, I was intent that I would be staying up until three in the morning to at least catch a glimpse of the dress.

I made sure to prepare with the necessary rations. I popped over to Cost Plus to pick up my favorite digestives. I did this because I knew that McVitie's would be making Prince William's groom's cake and I was hoping that by eating a couple of cookies with a cup of my Typhoo tea (with milk and sugar, of course), that I would prove my solidarity to the motherland.

As the night progressed I became more and more fevered with the 'Royal Wedding Countdown'. I watched the wedding of Charles and Diana on one station and the story of William and Kate on another. I even watched the William and Kate Lifetime movie On Demand. I watched programs on the wedding preparations and one on weddings of the Royals from the past 100 years. I was no longer only anticipating the dress, I was fully obsessed with the whole shebang!

Most stations were starting their coverage at 1:00AM PST but I found that MSNBC started their coverage at  midnight!

I tuned in and immediately noticed that American commentators sounded a bit...funny. It took me a minute to realize what it was. It seems that when an American commentator crosses the pond, spends a couple of days in London, eats their cereal with yogurt instead of milk, eats mushy peas for dinner and spends a week drinking tea instead of coffee...they want to develop a false British accent. Every statement that came out of their mouths had a little lift at the end of it. As if every statement was a question. 'And here we have a shot of Big Ben?' Do you not know what Big Ben is? Are you thinking that big clock in the middle of the city might be the Eiffel Tower instead? Is there some confusion?

Luckily the TV host I was watching seemed to settle into her normal way of speaking after a while and gave commentary on every person that walked into Westminster Abbey.

The thing I noticed immediately about the guests was that all the women were wearing wonderful, glorious hats and fastinators. It was awesome! I keep hoping that American women will adopt this trend for special occasions but alas, I fear its not meant to be for us. I can still hope though.

The Abbey was gorgeous! It was like a dream! I loved the trees that lined the aisle as if the ceremony was taking place in an English forest. The scene was made even more romantic with the chandeliers that seemed to drip from the ceiling above the trees.

As soon as the procession to the church started I knew I was sucked in for the whole run. I am a sucker for pageantry and I appreciated the down to the minute ritual of getting everyone into the church.

When I saw William and Harry walk into the church, I cried.

The last time I had stayed up late to watch a royal event took place at the same familiar venue. It was the funeral for Princess Diana and I remember the solemn young men keeping pace behind the carriage carrying their mother to the service at the Abbey. My heart broke for them that day. I was watching them again, a dozen years later and now they were grown up and celebrating a happy day at Westminster. My heart was beaming for them.

I lost my breath when I finally saw Kate.

Her dress was stunning and exactly appropriate for a Royal Wedding. As she was chauffeured up to the church, crowds lined the streets. Union Jacks waved above the sea of people and draped from posts between the trees lining the streets. Although I wasn't physically there, I had a huge sense of pride for this country because it was bouncing out of my television from the people of Great Britain that day. The wedding had restored and renewed a sense of love and patriotism for the British monarchy, and excitement for the new generation and generations to come.

Now that is a fairy tale ending!

(Or for the shorter version of this post, C'est Manifique is pretty spot on with THIS)

Sensing Sunday: April 3, 2011

(a little part of what I was working on today...)

Hearing: I heard this on the radio yesterday and its been running on repeat in my head ever since. It reminds me of when I was a high school freshman sporting my black body suit, plaid shorts, denim vest and dangling earrings all purchased from Clothestime. Ah memories!

Seeing: 'The Shawshank Redemption' over my shoulder on AMC. Although I love this movie, AMC this is no apology for your delay of the next season of Mad Men. Everytime I think of what you've done, only a stream of obscenities want to leave my mouth. What the $#&@ am I supposed to do until 2012?!?!

Smelling: Coffee, my lifeline.

Tasting: A ghetto s'mores. Graham cracker, Nutella and Marshmallow Fluff. On second thought, maybe just the opposite of ghetto, maybe a classy s'mores?

Feeling: Physically and creatively drained. Yesterday I tortured myself and took on three back to back classes at the gym (side note: I am in LOVE with the last one I took. I will be returning over and over again to the Burn Out class at Full Force Personal Training!) and I exhausted myself creatively today working for hours on launching Sweet Temper Baking. Full blog post on that to come soon!

Picture This: Day 4

Day 4:
A picture of your night.
Pretty sad because I had hoped to make scones tonight but instead I vegged out on American Pickers while eating a dinner of pork chops (grilled to perfection by the Mr.) and stuffed potatoes (made by yours truly). The stuffed potatoes were one of the first things I learned to make from my mum that was somewhat impressive. I made these when I was in my early 20s and thought I was very high class. Oh yeah, cheap Gallo Cabernet topped it off...now I am ready to catch some zzzz's...night y'all.

At least I showered...

I made a pot of coffee. I did all the laundry in the house. I watched some West Wing but not the Price is Right this morning (sorry G). I cleaned out the back of the truck from the Float and Bloat. I took a shower today. That's about it. I thought about writing for a couple of hours. I thought about going to the gym this morning. I thought about taking the dog for a walk. I thought about starting my french lessons. I thought about making some lemonade but that would have meant that I would have had to go to the store to get lemons. I thought about making that peach pie with the peaches from the neighbors house so that I would have something fun to blog about. None of the things I thought about doing ever made it to the point of things that actually got done. Instead I found some fun things to share.

I write like David Foster Wallace.

All the good men ARE taken.

This guy knocks it out of the park!
(via The Only Living Boy in New York)

Every month I say I am going to do the SF Cupcake Challenge. Last month's was alcohol. Who wants to make me commit to it?

After taking Another Great Cake Class, I really want to take the French Macaron Class from Baking Arts.

I need to make it to a Pick You Own Farm before the summer is over.

Oh yeah, I need to make these caramels too...one of these days.
(via Cupcakes and Cashmere)

"You're the Boss Mr. Draper." "Yes I am...watch the suit..."

(Its me if I lived in 1960's Manhattan. A girl can dream)

I am counting down the days until July 25th. I am so eagerly anticipating this date that I keep forgetting that my birthday falls about a week before it. You can see where my priorities are. The season four premier of Mad Men cannot get here soon enough. Since there is no rehab center that I know of that can help me with my particular addiction, I am forced to satisfy my dependency by watching interviews and last seasons episodes on the AMC website. It was here that I found this:

It was created by a guy named Ryan Jones (K. Ryan for professional and pretentious reasons). Because I clicked on the link it took me strait to his blog The Only Living Boy in New York. I read the entire blog. It is now my new favorite. I really want to take credit for the finding the following video (because I really did find it on my own and was able to make up my own mind that it was hilarious) but because it was posted on The Only Living Boy in New York I won't take credit.

These will have to hold me over for another two weeks (these and Mad Men On Demand....the only reason I LOVE my On Demand). Oh and one last one, because I love Elisabeth Moss and Fred Armisen.

Intervention Intervention with Fred Armisen from Fred Armisen

Mad Mad Men

In my inbox today:

Etsy Finds: Release Your Inner Mad Man
Which one are you? Peggy, Joan, Betty or Don?

Is anyone else as excited as I am for this Sunday??

For the occasion, sip on this:

Old Fashioned
2 ounces bourbon whisky
Splash of simple syrup or one sugar cube abd just enough water to dissolve the sugar
2 dashes of **bitters

Place sugar (or syrup), bitters and water in an old fashioned glass. Add 2-3 ice cubes and whisky. Garnish with and orange twist and cherry.

** A muddled orange slice can replace bitters. The cherry can also be muddled at the bottom of the glass.

....or my favorite as you should have guessed by now...

Gin and Tonic (or as I like to call it, Jen and Tonick)

A gin and tonic is a highball cocktail made with gin and tonic water, usually garnished with a slice of lime or lemon and often served over ice. The ratio of gin to tonic water can vary considerably, from a glass of gin with a splash of tonic to one part gin for every five parts tonic.
In some countries, gin and tonic is marketed pre-mixed in single-serving cans.

Season Premier Sunday August 16, on AMC at 10:00pm!!

(both recipes courtesy of Wikipedia)