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More Excitement for the Royals

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It looks like we will all be treated to a much anticipated wedding this spring as Pippa Middleton, the younger sister of the future Queen of England, will be tying the knot! The lucky guy is James Matthews, a hedge fund manager (I did say he was a lucky guy), and a sports enthusiast, particularly, running, swimming, skiing and cycling. He has been photographed on the slopes with Pippa. No word on whether he plans on playing polo like his former classmates at Eton College, Prince William, and Prince Harry.

Reports are circulating that Pippa wants a modest, quiet ceremony at her family’s hometown village church. This may be difficult given the public’s appetite for all things concerning the extended royal family. And then we must consider the paparazzi, who will ensure that it will be anything but quiet. The anticipation is already starting to mount. What will her gown look like? Who will be the designer chosen? The Daily Mail reports that their source says “the gown will have an elegant train and a veil, just like Kate. No puffballs, but she adores lace and long sleeves”.

What will the bridesmaids wear? Kate won’t be a bridesmaid because to do so would be in opposition to British tradition that directs that bridesmaids should be unmarried and be younger than the bride. Kate and William’s children, three-year-old George and 17-month-old Charlotte, have reportedly been chosen to be the pageboy and flower girl.

Pippa was a real star at Kate’s wedding, so who will emerge as the rising star at Pippa’s? It is thought that Kate will try to remain as low key as she can to not steal the limelight from her sister on the biggest day of her life. And a big day for all of us as well. Can’t wait!

We know that tradition does dictate that British designers will be used for the bespoke clothing however, we can’t help but wonder whether some of our flower girl dresses from The Royal Collection.

wouldn’t fit the bill!!  Oh well, we can dream.

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Fun Things to Know About Valentine’s Day….

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The story of Valentine’s Day began in the third century in Rome with the emperor Claudius II.   He was persecuting Christians and made it a capital crime for Romans to even associate with them. One story says that one of the Christians imprisoned was named Valentinus.

While in prison, Valentinus became friendly with his jailer, who saw that he was an educated man. The jailer asked Valentinus if he would impart some of his wisdom to his daughter, Julia, who was blind since birth.   He taught her history, science, math and told her about Christianity. She came to understand the world differently, but wanted to see it. She began to pray for sight with Valentinus’ encouragement and one day while she was visiting him in his cell there was a sudden brilliant flash of light. Julia exclaimed, “I can see!”

The night before he was to be executed, Valentinus wrote a last note to Julia, asking her to continue her bond with God.   He signed it, “From your Valentine”, instituting a tradition that continues to this day. Hand-made paper cards made their first appearance in Europe during the Middle Ages on each February 14, Saint Valentine’s Day. Chaucer and Shakespeare helped raised the profile of this romantic day. Now messages of love are exchanged around the world. In 1913, Hallmark Cards of Kansas City, Mo., began mass producing Valentines. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of all cards sent each year are Valentines.

Have you ever seen some of those cards?  WOW they are beautiful! “To my Valentine.” Color card, 1890. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.:

Color card, 1890. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Then as a kid, these are the kinds I used to give out in grammar school.

Image result for valentines cards from the 1890

Some historic events that took place on Valentine’s Day:

In 1962 a young First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy showed off the White House. She wore a Valentine’s Day red dress and a triple strand of pearls for a huge nationwide television audience. She gave the country a tour of the recently refurbished White House, which she had supervised. Mrs. Kennedy displayed her knowledge of the arts as she described the presidential mansion’s historic portraits, antiques and furnishings. Her engaging efforts earned her an honorary Emmy Award and helped her further cultivate her place in the hearts of Americans.

On Valentine’s Day in 1876 Alexander Graham Bell applied for a telephone patent. As the country celebrated its 1ooth birthday, Bell just barely filed his application with the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., before Elisha Gray filed his intention for a patent for his version of a telephone. As everyone knows, Bell was awarded the patent and his invention has been used countless times on Valentine’s Day and every other day throughout the year to convey messages of love between sweethearts all over the world.

Now that it’s the new year, I have to get going on my MOG responsibilities….

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I suppose it hasn’t really hit me until just recently that my son is getting married.  It still seems strangely odd that I am actually going to go through all the motions of preparing for his big day with his lovely Juanita.  Throughout the past 5 months I have been saying “after the New Year” and remember my previous post about being the Great Procrastinator, well it is true.  I always wrap my head around something and then I am all over it.  SO I think the all-over response just clicked in.  I have been thinking about the rehearsal party that I would like to have in Lake Tahoe because it’s on many of my sibling’s bucket list to visit, and the planning responsibilities that will entail as it will be long distance.  My goal is to make this a special water day of sorts so I have been weighing the idea of boat rentals and a beach picnic of some kind SO for any of you that know what is called Inverness Village, HELP.

Rehearsal Party Invites

I also managed to find musicians for the ceremony (which is being held in Reno NV) because my family is very musical.  My son was like, ” I want some guitar or something new age”, but this is something, actually the only thing I won’t budge on, in honor of my parents that brought music into our lives.  It’s funny, when I was married some 30+ years ago, my husband came from a family of printers and while I was picking out the most beautiful invitations, my Mother-In-Law-to-be said she would only accept us using engraved invitations and honestly, I understand now.  SO for my parents, I found a wonderful string quartet. Although I am staying out of most of the wedding planning because I am just the MOG, at least I have input to the music which, if the Hyland’s know anything, it’s music.  My brother will sing “Our Father” as a tribute to my mom, a wonderful lyrical soprano who trained not only at USC but with some of the best vocal teachers in and around New York.  It is going to kill us siblings, but for us, a wedding or funeral isn’t the same unless we hear it.  And for my father, who was such a fantastic influence in all of our musical backgrounds,  I have already corresponded with and can’t wait to hear TheStringBeings.com.  For the rest of preparations, it’s okay if I don’t get a say…. after all, this is something that Juanita and her mom have dreamed about her whole life I am sure.  What is nice however is that she is a wonderful daughter-in-law to be and Jim and I couldn’t imagine better.

For the rest, well, as I start to work on the children’s wear sketches for the wedding, I will bring my ideas to them on paper.  I also said there was no limit to the number of kids in or around the wedding (cousin dressing and so forth) but I just need to know the colors.  ANYHOW – I am working on some ideas and surprises for them both.  In the meantime….

I thought this a great idea for my son’s wedding. We still haven’t designed the flower girl dresses or suits for the wedding, but they are going to be SUPER special, but I thought that we may use this idea for my nieces, should we coax the little darlings into making their first flower girl appearance.
Flower girl wagon

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I stumbled on this FANTASTIC blog today filled with great ideas for DIY

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I was poking around Pinterest today (because procrastination is my middle name,) designing my dream house and was looking for some alternatives to a marble slab in the kitchen.  I saw this post and admittedly, have a new go to blog to read.  So, instead of getting out of bed, I spent a good two hours reading one post after the other….. so, get your email account ready and sign up at this fantastic blog called ClassyGlamLiving.com

And because it’s Super Bowl Sunday, I thought of the commercial with the beer vs. woman’s closet – you know the one where the ladies are squealing when they see their friend’s new closet but the guys are hollering when they see the man’s “guy’s closet full of beer.”  I’m sorry, NOTHING is better than this closet!  I recommend reading from the start to finish of all of her posts!

DIY Closet found on ClassyGlamLiving.com

ClassyGlamLiving.com

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