Wedding Royale

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the hoopla and coverage of the Royal Wedding and wanted to share what I thought were some of the highlights:

I got up at 3:30AM (Eastern time), showered, and starting watching the Royal Wedding coverage live at 4AM.

Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice are so grown up.  Weird hats, though.  Beatrice's hat is so unique, there are Facebook pages dedicated to THE HAT.


When Harry and Wills arrived at Westminster Abby, looking so good in their military uniforms, they were very fidgety with their uniforms as they walked into the church. 

Prince Harry looks so ornery.  I imagine he's a practical joker.


When Kate got into the Rolls Royce and the dress was finally revealed.  So lovely!

They are comparing her dress to Princess Grace's dress (1956).

 

When Pippa was holding the hands of the smallest (youngest) attendants.

Seeing the celebs and royalty arriving at the church.

Seeing the crowds in Hyde Park and around London in their Union Jack hats and flags.

Seeing Wills trying to be serious during the ceremony and attempting to stifle a smile.

When the crowds outside cheered during the ceremony and they could hear it in the church (it made Kate smile once).

A lipreader said that William told Michael Middleton & Kate (when they were standing up at the alter), "This was supposed to be a small family affair."

Kate's wedding ring (Welsh gold) did not go on her finger easily!

When Prince Phillip got into the glass coach as he left the ceremony with the Queen, he removed a small pillow that was in his seat and threw it to the seat across from him.

This beauty went to watch the festivities dressed as "Kate's (Diana's) Engagement Ring!"  (Thank you Dlisted)

I did not get to see the wedding kiss on the balcony *live* as I had to get to work.  Young Bridesmaid Grace Van Cutsem stole the show, didn't she?

Dislikes:
No state holiday in the USA for the event.
Not taking a day off to celebrate properly with a party.

Cool souvenirs:  (click picture for details)

I follow the blog of an American photographer who lives in London.  To see Christine's brilliant pictures of the event, go here.

My work friend emailed this comment about the Royal Wedding to me:  The news said that the skies were cloudy, but the sun came out when William and Harry got out of the coach and the crowd just stilled...Diana looking down?

God Save the Queen.

Love and Mail

After I saw a blog posting by Kimberley at Tea & Ticket Stubs about the iconic LOVE sculpture at the Scottsdale (Arizona) Public Library, I knew I had to see it for myself.  This sculpture was made by American pop artist Robert Indiana in 1966 and then into a postage stamp by the U.S. Postal  Service in 1973.  This popular and very recognizable design has been featured on cards, t-shirts, paperweights, etc.  Of course, I love it!

Kimberley didn't mention that there is a rose garden on the grounds of the Scottsdale Public Library, so that was quite a visual treat for Mum and I.  

 

 

 

 

 

There is also a huge golden ink quill pen sculpture right at the entrance to the library.  It appears to be suspended in air!  

 

I realized that I sent out my last handmade postcard -- made of stamps -- this week to a postcrosser.  So I made some more.  When creating mail art, usually I like to go with a theme, or color.  In the bottom right of the green postcard (actually it's in the top right in the picture -- 500), there is a really bizarre Japanese stamp; it's an older stamp and looks like a monster.  There are two stamps of a young Queen Elizabeth on there also.  

On the purple/magenta postcard, I think the Egyptian stamp in the middle looks like King Tut.  

Then I made a vintage-themed postcard in tan/brown colors, and a travel/map theme postcard.   

I sent off a letter today to Renee and her three home-schooled daughters, who are hosting the 2011 Letters Project.  Although I didn't capture a copy of the envelope, which was decorated with Arizona stickers and school-themed stickers, I included a few Arizona postcards, and wrote all about the beautiful state I live in.  I used Dr. Seuss stationery to write my letter to the girls.  If you haven't yet participated, please do so! 

Going out en la manana

I've caught up on some of my correspondence this weekend.  I've got 10 postcards on the pile -- some are going to postcrossers and others to friends.  And I've got 5 letters going out.  I made some of the pictures a little bigger than usual so you can see some detail.

Purple going to Japan! Tried to use pretty purple stamps 

and lots of silly stickers from fruit on the back!

 This one with green detail is going to Tatiana in Moscow.

 French themed art heading to Elle in Los Angeles.

Last letter going to Anna-Danute in Moscow and the mail art has no theme, absolutely 

no rhyme or reason.  To quote Bianca, "I like to cut things up and stick things down."

 

How I Spent My Spring Break Holiday

I took a week holiday recently while my niece and sister were on Spring Break from school (sis works at an elementary school) and to spend time with Ernesto before he started culinary school.  My first adventure was a short trip "Up North" to beautiful Northern Arizona.  Since I live in the desert region of our state, it's always a treat to go up to the mountains to enjoy the pine trees, and cooler weather (in the summertime).  I took my niece, Emmi, with me (Mum was in Laughlin, Nevada on a trip and sister had a hurting back), so it was just the two of us.  Our first stop was in Sedona, Arizona for a "Pink Jeep" back roads tour.  So fun!  I've done this several times before but this was Emmi's first jeep trip.  When you see pictures of red rocks in Arizona, most likely the photo is from around Sedona.

Emmi and I stayed one night in Flagstaff, Arizona and drove west to Williams, Arizona to drive on the famous highway, Route 66 and to visit the Deer Farm.  Plenty of deer to pet and feed and lots of other animals to see like reindeer, goats, donkeys and a female elk (which is a cow).

An unexpected surprise was the weather -- there was a great snowstorm in Williams and Flagstaff, which was pretty exciting for my niece, who was born in Phoenix and doesn't spend much time in snow at all.  I've enjoyed quite a bit of snow this winter when I traveled for work and had to scrape snow off my rental car windows more than once!  It's not fun to scrape the windows with a credit card when the rental car company hasn't provided you with an ice scraper!

We visited a new tourist spot near Williams called Bearizona, which is a drive-through animal park.  There were lots of animals and lots of snow.  Thank goodness I was driving Ernesto's truck with 4-wheel drive, or we would have been stuck in the snow.  We saw:  Bison, big-horn sheep, wolves, burros, and lots of bears; even tiny baby bears in the incubator in the gift shop.  

 

This fence reminded us of sharpened pencils!

Next we headed back to Sedona and stayed in a fancy Bed and Breakfast, the Adobe Village Graham Inn B and B.  Our suite was HUGE and the view was lovely.  Low clouds and a sprinkling of snow in Sedona, too.

 

When we headed back to the Valley, we had a viewing party with sis, Mum, and our friend Heidi for the season 2 premiere of The Fabulous Beekman Boys on Planet Green channel.  One of our favorite TV shows about two gentlemen farmers who raise goats in upstate New York.  We picked the color RED for our party theme -- everyone wore red and we had a lot of red food (strawberries, tomatoes, red wine, red velvet whoopie pies, etc.).  On a side note, Mum and I went to Sharon Springs, New York last autumn (during our fall foliage road trip) where their reality show is based and we visited their Beekman 1802 mercantile and we met one of the stars, Josh!

Ernesto and I took a road trip on the motorcycle to beautiful Palm Springs, California.  It was about a five-hour drive and we stayed at a small boutique hotel called The Horizon. Built in 1952, it has a cool, swanky, rat-pack feel to it (think Frank Sinatra!). You can see our blue motorcycle in the parking lot in the background to the left of the patio.  The bathroom was glass-enclosed with a privacy wall outside but you still had that feeling of being "on display."  There were two showers, with one being OUTSIDE right next to the privacy wall.  Naturally, Ernesto used that one!  

 

 

We met up with our friends Martin and Benton for a Mexican food dinner and took the tram up the mountain the next morning to see the view.  There are lots of wind turbines for energy around Palm Springs.  I LOVE this city with the San Jacinto mountains close by, the manicured landscaping and the mid-century architecture.  Excluding the wind, it was a great motorcycle trip.

 

The end of my week was participating in our subdivision's community garage sale.  We got rid of tons of stuff and the leftovers went directly to Goodwill.  We made $441, which is pretty amazing since we sold so much stuff at only .25 to $1.  Some guy at one of my previous garage sales years ago told me that "Yard sales are the way we keep the earth in balance because people just keep moving the junk from house to house."

What's an envelope without a stamp?

April 8th, 2011

Really great postage stamps -- blogged by Susie at Rock, Scissors, Paper:

what’s an envelope without a stamp?

In thinking about sending letters or cards, who out there also thinks about what stamp to use? When sending out a bill, I have to say I don’t think about it. I go straight for the roll of flag stamps. But when sending a birthday card or an invitation, I like to choose something that works with the envelope color, occasion or that is just generally pleasing to my eye. A couple of months ago, I went down an internet rabbit hole looking at vintage stamps. My journey started on a post on Helen Dardik’s blog, which led me to So Much Pile Up. From there to flickr to ebay & etsy to google images….and that’s just scratching the surface!
The range of illustration styles, themes and colors is just mind blowing.  This exploration really gave me a new appreciation for stamp collecting and sent me on a personal shopping spree of vintage stamps to use.
Above: Unused vintage stamps from etsy seller Verde Studio who has quite a few nice groupings.
I was also blown away by the availability of large lots of canceled vintage stamps on place like ebay. Having delved into the artistic world of collage lately, my mind is buzzing with possible projects to use these for.
Love this group of vintage cat stamps by etsy seller artypharty
Here are just a few vintage stamps from the collection of flickr user karen horton. Definitely check out her set of images!
Here are some more vintage hot air balloon stamps that I particularly love from seller thriftypyg that are photographed against a nifty map background.
So in an effort to send out more mail (that people would enjoy receiving!), tip the percentages away from junk mail and bills in the mailbox, beautiful stamps are just one more part of the equation.
Image at top of the post: Vintage balloon stamps from thriftpyg
-Susie

Swaps

I've participated in several "swaps" over the past year and have enjoyed it immensely and have only been on the short end of the stick one time.  A couple of gals are now wonderful penfriends.

Julie and I were paired up with a "stationery" exchange and we've been writing ever since.  We have compatible humor and interests and both live out West.

Gemma and I were paired up with a "letter" exchange and we had to choose a theme to write about, so we agreed on the sea.  She is in England and I love hearing about her weekend holidays and enjoy her art and poetry.  We've been writing ever since.

I participated in a "Love Vintage" swap, which was really cool.  I sent (and received) packages to Flagstaff, Arizona and Hong Kong.  

Before the program ceased, I participated in "Happy Mail" for three months.  This was a program in which you were matched with someone and then sent an introductory letter or email followed by a small package.  My swap partners were overseas in Germany (husband is stationed in the military), Oregon, and England.  I received crafts supplies, a journal and stationery from Mandy in Germany, and three great British magazines from Charlotte in England.  The girl in Oregon was a flake and never responded, much less sent me a package as part of the agreement.  She had sent me an introductory note, though.  And of course I had sent her a lovely package.  Grrrrrr.  Thankfully this is the only time it's happened.

The most recent swap I participated in was called the "Tacky Souvenir" swap, and it was pretty easy for me to pick out some weird Arizona things to send to my partner, Pascaline, in France.  She sent me a very cool shopping bag and magnet (I use shopping bags all the time!): 

Here is what I sent her:

A couple of tacky postcards and some vintage Arizona-themed stationery.  The jackalope is a myth, you know.  An antelope and rabbit creature?  So silly. 

 Three keychains and a lollipop.  Keep reading for further details...

The first two keychains were simply tacky.  A small sparkly zippered bag, and a small flask with the image of a rattlesnake on the front.  The flask would hold about 1/2 shot of liquor.

Now for the truly tacky stuff:  A Lucite keychain with a scorpion inside and a tequila-flavored lollipop with a worm inside, just like you find in many tequila bottles!

These are typical, tacky souvenirs you can find in many gift shops around Arizona!  The scorpion can often be found in the form of a paperweight, too.  As a special treat, I wrapped the gifts in tacky, vintage wrapping paper.  Fortunately I also included a very nice letter for Pascaline and I have since heard from her and she liked the package!