The Royal Wedding Watching and More!

When I walked out of the house at 5AM, clad in my baby blue polka dot pajamas with matching slippers, the air was suffocating with both heat and humidity. Although the lights were already on, I knocked gingerly, given the hour. After being greeted warmly by Matt and I joined Angela already in front of the television where we remained captivated for the next 3 hours!

The pageantry! The trees in Westminster Abbey contrasting with the stone and RED carpet! The cars! The eyebrows! Yes, you read that right. Could you believe the church official's eyebrows? They stuck out and up about 5 inches from his face! The dress! Prince William! Pippa! The Queen in yellow from top to toe! And then there were the hats. Seriously, I was in love with those hats, aside from Prince Andrew's daughters. Did they look like tarts or what? The civility! The boy's choir! Really, there was not one thing that you couldn't just love. I don't know what station you watched it on but on BBC America, the filming was fantastic. Whoever coordinated that deserves an Oscar. Can you imagine the planning that went into where all the cameras would be located? According to Matt, who watched it in the comfort of his flat, the only time he ventured out was when they did the fly over which went directly over his head, the television was on a few moments delay.

I couldn't get enough of the coverage if I'm honest with you. I kept looking at pictures online after the happy event. With what seems like a world meltdown, it was so refreshing to see such beauty rather than carnage. I realized that I probably didn't watch Charles and Diana marry because I had 2 year old twins and a 5 year old at the time. Here's hoping this marriage is a keeper.

Speaking of children, today is our Jon boy's 28th birthday. Seems like only yesterday that he was my beautiful little baby. Jonathan was nearly born in our car. Have I ever told you that? After our friends picked up our three boys Bruce and I drove to the hospital which was about 4 miles from our home. I'd been in labor through church that morning, actually leaving the service to sit in the car until it was over. I was pretty uncomfortable then, which if you've ever had a baby, you know only gets worse! Anyway, as we were driving on Michigan I begged Bruce to pull over. I couldn't take the pain I said. Naturally, he declined. Once at the hospital entrance, they wheeled me upstairs and I began answering the nurse's questions. Finally I said, I can't talk anymore, she checked me and said, "You're having a baby!" My response--"I know that but have I dilated?" Oh yes, she said, you are at 9 centimeters. No wonder I was dying! About 30 minutes later, our Jonathan dramatically made his way into the world and I dare say, much of his life has been drama as well, mostly in a good way. Happy Birthday dear son!

The other day, thinking about our trip and what I'll take to wear, I decided to clean out my drawers and closet.

The largest pile on the left is the give aways. The pile grew to twice this size and then some after this:

Nancy has generously offered to clean out my closets while she's here house sitting; although I've just done it, my idea and her idea of a neat closet are quite a bit different. She works magic!

Matt and I had what is probably the longest Face Time conversation on record yesterday, planning the trip. I'd done hours upon hours of research last Saturday, however, I needed his input on train schedules and likes and dislikes. We are making very good progress. More details as the 60 days until take off pass.

Well, off to the market my dear readers--wish me luck!

Gail Gets A Bob

Today we are image heavy because I've been a busy girl!

Yes, that really is me with a brand new look. I went just up to the street to a new salon and let Ken do what he wanted. Normally I would never just walk in like that, and in fact, I got James' recommendation. James is one half of the design team that helped me around the house. I do love convenience. No telling what it will look like when I do it, but it's sure bound to be cooler. You know me well enough by now to know I'd let my hair get way too long! About the photo--I find it very hard to do a self portrait but here it is anyway.

Bruce got me some hanging files to organize my business expenses and of course I'd done nothing with them. Feeling guilty I did work on them a bit and carried it over to other parts of the house.

I finally cleaned out my closet of clothes that were either too old, or didn't fit. The later being the biggest problem. I'm trying to remedy that situation by buying some new smaller clothes that don't look like I borrowed them from a bigger person. The pile remains until tomorrow when I'll find a place to donate them that benefits someone in need.

Attempting to clean up the yard a bit I filled six garbage cans with trimmings from the yard. Some of you know we have a corner lot which translates into lots of trees and plants. Mostly we have lots of ferns and palms. The lady palms, appropriately named as it comes in and takes over, needed much thinning out. There's still much to do but I filled all of our cans, even borrowing one from my neighbor. Although you may have read about wildfires in Central Florida, they are not affecting us in any way. Today was actually quite pleasant, looks like the high will only be 84, a vast improvement over Saturday's 93!

It seems as if everything online is now subject to ratings. I was astonished to see that my blog is now up for grades. Give me an A will you?

I haven't told you we are going to see The Police on Friday night have I? Bruce received two tickets for his birthday about 15 rows back. It will be sure to be a boomer fest.

Addendum: I posted this, then viewed it, and I don't see the silly rating thing...hmmm.


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Listening to: Winterkids - Playing Cards With Gingerbread
via FoxyTunes