by Diana on April 30, 2011
in Life
Any other crazy people out there who woke up early to watch the Royal Wedding!?
My friend Erica invited me over for a Royal Wedding slumber party, and I was super excited to go. Especially since hubby wasn’t particularly interested in waking up early to watch the festivities. lol
But let’s rewind to Thursday night since that’s when the party kicked off.
Erica’s home was decorated super cute for the special occasion.
I brought over macarons and the Veggie Girl cookies I got in the mail earlier that day (the ones Bailey tried to steal! that dog!). (I know, I know…the macarons are FRENCH! But we don’t have an English bakery and we all really like these macarons)
So, we sipped wine and noshed on cookies and macaroons whilst catching some of the last minute news about the wedding.
Like any good slumber party, we stayed up a little too late chit-chatting. 4:00am came way too fast, and I think I only ended up with roughly 2 hours of sleep. Yikes!
Luckily, we had plenty of coffee.
After waking up enough to be able to think straight, we changed into dresses, big hats, and tiaras to watch the wedding.
I also brought over yummy blueberry muffins for breakfast!
I had so much fun watching the royal wedding with my friends. It was so fun to see everything with people who were as excited about the event as me! 
As expected, the wedding was absolutely beautiful. I saw a lot of tweets about how this wedding was the kind of happy-occasion, fairy tale that the world needs now, and I agree. Yay for happy times!
And yay for vacation days. I was so happy I took the day off from work, so I didn’t have to go into the office. Phew!
Next up…a fabulous brunch. The festivities didn’t stop here! Check back later for more of my Royal day off!
Did you do anything fun to celebrate the Royal Wedding?
by Diana on April 29, 2011
in Doggie
On Thursday, I received a special package. At first I had forgotten what it was.
Per the usual, Bailey inspected it.
And then he decided to try to help us open it…
…Bailey-style.
And then, he did something completely unexpected. He took off with the whole box! I mean, he picked up the box with his jaws ‘o steel and carried the thing away! He took it to one room.
Then he passed us as he went for another room. “Look at me mom! Lookie what I haaave!”
At first I thought maybe he’d take it to his basket of toys…
…but he finally gave it back to us.
And as far as what was inside the box…? I got my very first Veggie Girl baked goods! I won these in a silent auction for Mara who was raising money for Pancreatic Cancer Research.
These became part of a special evening! I can’t wait to tell you guys all about it! I have so many fun photos to share…more to come next time! 
As you may have already guessed, it’s related to the Royal Wedding!
Reader question: Did you watch the Royal Wedding live, whether you had to stay awake late or wake up early or not?
I had a very fun, and very special event to do Tuesday night.
This photo pretty much sums it up – beer…and cupcakes. A match made in heaven, my friends.
Kristien organized a big blogger get-together at Kennedy’s to celebrate blogger birthdays for Caitlin, Michelle, and Lori.
We first headed upstairs for some eats and drinks.
I had the shepherd’s pie because the menu read “Guiness gravy”, and I thought that sounded pretty awesome. I got green beans for a side. I also selected an Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Copper for my drink of choice.
Jen was a doll and brought cupcakes from Cupcrazed for dessert! I had the vegan vanilla cupcake and it was wonderful.
After dinner we went downstairs to play trivia. I don’t know why I like playing trivia because I’m actually quite horrible at it. But, I generally find it to be a fun activity. I don’t know many answers, but every once in awhile my knowledge comes in handy. Like that time I played with co-workers and no one knew the answer to: “this person’s guest appearance on a children’s TV show was not aired because their outfit was deemed too racy.” DUH! Katy Perry! And who swept in and saved them? Moi. That’s right! Sure, I didn’t know any of the answers related to the sports questions…or history questions…or…ok most of the other questions. But, I had the answer when they needed it!
Allison, me, and birthday girl Caitlin.
And me with the other two birthday girls – Michelle and Lori!
If you haven’t read Lori’s engagement story yet, check it out!
Reader question: Do you do trivia? Which category are you best and worst at?
I hope everyone is off to a fantastic week so far!
After my fabulous oatmeal breakfast, I re-heated some of the veggie lentil soup I made in a big batch on Sunday for lunch.
I know a lot of people don’t like to do soups for meals, but I adore them. My only stipulation is that I must have some sort of carb with it, preferably in the form of whole grain toast with a dab of real butter. Crackers are ok, but not nearly as satisfying to me. I need something I can really chew on. For this particular meal, I re-baked a frozen Twisted Sista bagel and it was perfection!
Yum!
***
I went to a fabulous Zumba class Monday night. I didn’t teach, but I really love going to classes of fellow instructors. I always learn a lot and have a great time.
My favorite songs of the class were:
- Forget You
- Party People
- El Truco
Hubby had dinner ready when I got home – kosher, all-natural hot dogs on whole wheat buns, steamed broccoli, corn, and vegetarian baked beans.
And remember those seedlings I planted on Earth Day? I decided to try my hand at planting some seeds, too….lazy-gardener style. Most of these packets said to start the seeds indoors, but I stuck them straight in the ground. We’ll see how that strategy works.
Veggie seeds planted:
- jewel-toned beets
- tri-color green beans
- pattypan squash
- tri-color squash/zucchini
I planted the beets and beans in my square foot garden, along with the seedlings. I actually planted these same beets last year and though they sprouted ok, they soon disappeared after. I think some critters in the yard got to them. I also planted these green beans last year, although late in the season, and actually managed to get a few to eat. This year, I’m starting the beans earlier, and I’m going to try watering them more. I don’t think I watered the garden enough last year, which led to lower yields.
The squash…sigh. The squash. If you know anything about square foot gardens, then you know that they’re not exactly conducive to growing squash. Most plants in a square foot garden grown in 1 square foot. I believe most squash plants grow to 2-3 feet in diameter. Now, I’ve seen diagrams for squash grown up a netting fixed to the back of the Square foot garden, but I already have tomatoes for my “tall plants,” and I don’t have another box for more. So…I actually don’t have a place for squash. I do however have this odd circle area in the middle of the yard that blooms with daffodils and tulips in the spring. Since those have already bloomed, I planted a couple squash seeds in that circle area to see if anything comes up. Did I mention the circle area consisted mostly of red, Carolina clay? Yea…should be interesting.
It will be a real surprise to see anything actually growing outside of the square foot garden, but I’m hopeful.
I also planted a couple herb seeds (Italian parsley and tarragon) and some spreading petunias. Just like the other seeds, I didn’t start them indoors. I stuck them straight into a couple pots and other areas outside of the house.
*crossing fingers, but not holding breath*
So what do you think? Will any of the seeds grow? Perhaps I should take bets. Over or under? lol 
