The Little Lady has 2.5 days of school left! Why am I so excited about this? I will tell you:

1. Babysitting all day means I have a good excuse to wear shorts and t-shirts everywhere...including the office.

2. We get to spend our time together doing fun stuff instead of practicing piano and doing homework. Piano practice and homework are lame, but please don't tell her I said that.

3. She bought Anne of Green Gables (abridged version) to read this summer. I cannot wait to watch the movie with her which I imagine will be me watching the movie and her spinning in circles (literally).

4. Speaking of movies...I will have a date for all the kids movies I want to see.

5. She joined swim team. This means I get paid to spend an hour a day reading and tanning (the lifeguards are watching and I stick my head up every now and then) which is about as close to being a Lady of Leisure as anyone can ask for.

Summer is so great...Stay tuned for the beginning of August post in which we are both chomping at the bit for her to be back in school.

Fondest regards,
The Lady

Y'all. The last couple of weeks have just been crazy, crazy, crazy! Sorry I've been so negligent, especially since I have such wonderful things to say! Lately I've just been so busy that all I want to do when I get home is grab a cold...Coke and watch Grey's on my Netflix. However, work has calmed down a bit I've taken the day off before I jump back into the fray tomorrow, so I can write for a few minutes.

My friends Bethany and Matt have been talking about hosting a Kentucky Derby party for a few years now. Matt loves any excuse to gamble and Bethany loves any excuse to buy a new dress, so why not? Well, a few weeks ago, Bethany told me that they were actually going to be able to do it this year at which point I hinted (not so subtly) that "Kentucky Derby" might be an excellent theme for a birthday party for yours truly who's birthday coincidentally fell the day before the Derby this year and all they would have to do is add cupcakes. She agreed and suddenly her dream party was all about me...obvi. Sooo, I bought a dress (on sale and which I also wore on Easter Sunday because I'm trying this whole "saving" thing), donned my DIY decorated hat, and headed to the East Side for the Derby.

OH! And (most of) The Fam came too! It also happened to be Mother's Day that weekend. I know, I know, you're asking, "Birthday, Derby, Mother's Day! How in the world can you back that much special into 2 days?!?" Well, we're a special family. Seeing as I was my mom's original and (in my opinion) very best Mother's Day present, it fit that we should celebrate them both together. Pretty great, huh?

So we did celebrate...and we gambled...and we lost (who in the world saw Animal Kingdom coming? Not Nehro.)...BUT we had tons of fun and I got to wear a fantastic hat and get lots of attention and presents and isn't that what really matters?

Speaking of presents...Colonel Brandon took me out to dinner at 5&10 for my actual birthday. It was fabulous as always. I love 5&10. When he arrived (in his danggood looking suit!) he brought with him a very large gift which turned out to be...a sewing machine! So sweet and thoughtful. However, I am apparently much better at hinting than I realized because Mom and Daddy showed up the next day with a very large gift which turned out to be...a sewing machine! So sweet and thoughtful. However, I am apparently much...oh, sorry.

Lewis suggested I open a sweatshop and put The Little Lady to work, but we returned one instead and I bought some new clothes. You know, to wear until I figure out how to make my own.

For Mother's Day, The Little Lady and her family took my family and me to lunch at The Country Club. I don't think I have to tell y'all how much I enjoyed eating at The Club. All in all, it was a really incredible weekend!

After that I had to buckle down and get to work so we could give the Senior Youth a decent send-off. School's almost out, graduation is upon us, and summer is only a few days away (so why did I have to wear a coat outside last night?). Only a few short weeks until...

Back to the grindstone tomorrow so that I can enjoy that amazing view without having to worry about work. Worrying about work at the beach is not allowed and is definitely not leisahly!

Fondest regards,

The Lady

"Training a child is exactly like training a puppy; a little heedless inattention and it is out of hand immediately." Etiquette. 1922.

Today is my birthday. It's been a long road and many years, but I have finally reached 25ish again. The many congratulations and well wishes have been well deserved warmly received. Birthdays are, after all, a big accomplishment. A lady always gives credit where credit is due, though, and I wouldn't be where I am today without the help of a wonderful team of people. Most of all my Mother, without whom none of this (note: I am gesturing to myself) would be possible.

So....In honor of Mother's Day ---

The Top 10 things I learned from my mother:

10. Eyebrow maintenance is important. Telling you to tweeze is telling you I care.

9. Cooking is an expression of love. Cook well.

8. There is no such thing as online privacy. If it's online, it's public. And if Mom can Google it, she will.

7. Lady is as Lady does.

6. Every choice bears a consequence. Those consequences are Mom's choice.

5. Marriage takes hard work and patience, but is totally worth it. That said, don't settle.

4. Adorable though I may be, sometimes I can drive people crazy.

3. It's a good idea to give crazy people some space.

2. You may not always like your family, but you sure as heck better love your family.

1. I can never, ever, ever do anything to make my mom stop loving me. Ever.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!!!

Love,
The Lady

"Hats are a requirement and gloves are correct." ~Etiquette. 1955

In the spirit of this post's subject matter, I shall do my best to write in a British accent. Please humor me and at least try to read it that way.

Gentle readers, you may recall a few weeks ago when I received an invitation to Lady Beth's Royal Wedding Viewing Party. Well, as my friend Jason once said about his own wedding, it went of with a hitch! (We usually give him a little chuckle). Ever the gracious hostess, LB (that's Lady Beth, y'all know I heart abbrevs) opened the party with goody bags complete with glass slippers (blingin' flip-flops), "sappire" engagement rings, ring pops (in case the sapphire wasn't big enough), adorable ring candies, and -- for the single ladies in the group -- veils. The veil was easily my favorite goody in the bag; however, I spent much of the night wearing Beth's mum's fabulous cathedral length veil. Ooooh! Did I mention it was fabulous?

We awoke with way before the sun (3:00 a.m. to be exact) which is when the BBC started their commentary on this side of the pond. We watched the 3 hour pre-game show, followed by the wedding (I must confess that I nodded off a bit during the boring bits of the ceremony...after the vows and before they left...you know, when you couldn't see Kate and Wills), and rounded off the morning with 3 hours of post-game analysis including the balcony appearance and both smooches.

At some point in our seven hour wedding palooza television marathon, Lady Beth managed to fix a delightful brunch with finger sandwiches, tortellini salad, split pea soup, sausage (not blood sausage mind you), BACON!, and French toast. I don't know what the other Elizabeth (you know...The Queen) was serving at her lunch, but there's no way little possibility that it was better. Plus my Beth even made a wedding cake (red velvet not fruit). I bet The Queen wasn't baking a cake the night before.

She also decorated her apartment with lots of lovely personal touches to help make Catherine and Will's day really special.

And her mum somehow managed to snag some limited edition, only made in Britain, completely sold out and impossible to find, absolutely adorable toys.

Aren't they CUTE! Beth's mum has magical powers of negotiation or scary connections or something. Details are a little fuzzy at 3 in the morning.

As for my opinions of the wedding, A. Mazing. I loved it and now I want to get married in Westminster abbey wearing a McQueen gown and have lots of people in fabulous hats and a boys choir in silly collars and a carriage and a Rolls and a balcony appearance and an aston martin and and and... Plus Kate looked kind of like Maria in The Sound of Music which made me quite giddy.

All in all, it was simply loverly.

Cheers,

The Lady