PS

Happy Birthday Princess Kate!  (nope, not me.)

xo kate

Greatest Hits: Royal Nuptials

Turns out the Duke and Duchess spent
NYE drunk in a teepee.  Not unlike how
I spent my senior year of high school.

Probably the most blogging fun that I had this year was my live-blog of the Royal Wedding.  I love the royals, I love a wedding and I really love hats, so the royal wedding was pretty much the perfect event for me.  I'm so glad that Wills and Kate got hitched and that they shared it with the whole world.  There are moments that I actively feel sad that there isn't another royal wedding to look forward to.  Come on, Harry and Pippa -- make it happen.

You can relive the magic of the Royal Wedding here.  I suggest pouring a glass of champagne and putting on your best facinator enjoy the pictures of rich, skinny people.  Or, as I like to call it, Saturday night.

xo kate

Deadbeat Wildcat.

Good evening wildcats!

I'm so sorry for my silence over the last few days.  As most of you know, I'm somewhat career-changing right now (I'm staying in education but becoming a teacher, rather than an administrator) and as a result have spent the last week and a half moving out of my apartment in Boston, going to DC to interview for/get a job for four days (I'll be teaching second grade at a charter school for the performing arts in DC -- it's totally going to be my own little Elementary School Musical) and then traveling to Philadelphia, where I will spend the next five weeks living in a dorm at Temple University (North Philly, what what!) and learning to be a teacher.  Teach for America's summer institute (also known as teacher boot camp) is nearly as infamous as the organization itself.  On Sunday, over 800 teachers from nine different regions descended upon a single dorm at Temple.  We'll be attending seminars and teaching summer school in Philadelphia Public Schools this summer and then returning to our regions as full-time PK-12 teachers this fall.  The whole thing is quite a production (there are yellow school buses and matching lunch boxes involved) and is happening at eight college campuses across the country at the same time -- a total of more than 5,000 new teachers will be trained in this way this summer.

"There is no doubt she would have kept her chin taut with strategic Botox shots and her bare arms buff from the gym."  Uhhh, thanks Newsweek.

At any rate, between my move, finding a job and training to be teacher, the blog has been slipping.  However, when I saw this week's Newsweek cover, I just couldn't let it pass without saying something.  Has anything more creepy ever happened to the cover of a somewhat reputable magazine?  For those of you who haven't had a chance to see it, Newsweek photoshopped a picture of Princess Diana to make her look fifty years-old, and then super-imposed her and Princess Kate together to look like they are walking down the street together.  You all know how I love all things royal, but this is just weird.  The accompanying article goes on to discuss how, had she not died tragically, Diana's fashion and workout routine would have evolved in the 21st century, and how she would have reacted to her eldest son's marriage last spring.  (Rather than going with the typical, "proud and loving mother line," Newsweek's Diana would have been jealous of the attention afforded to the new Princess, and struck up a war with the Windor's over their treatment of the Middleton's, all while becoming frenemies with Carol Middleton in front of the paparazzi in a feeble attempt to recapture the limelight.  So, I may be writing in a little bit of hyperbole (you know how I have a dramatic flair), but I still think this is totally creepy and totally weird.  I appreciate the concept of what-might-have-been as much as anyone, but this thing just strikes me as totally disrespectful.  Am I wrong about this?


In other Royal news, it seems that while Prince Harry is still denying his romance with Pippa Middleton, he is officially done with Chelsy Davy.  It's about time.


Again, I apologize for my absence over the last week or so, I'm going to try not to become a deadbeat blogger.  I'd hate to lose custody of all of you to Dfest.

xo kate

It's happening!

Dear Us Weekly, 

I really, really, really want to trust you on about this. And sometimes it's hard to trust you.  This might be a defining moment in our relationship.  Please don't be lying to me.

xo kate

Sunday Night Follow Up

It's Sunday afternoon, and it's the perfect opportunity for me to follow up about some things I've written this week.  Plus, I just know that you were hoping to hear from me again this week.  Because I definitely haven't been overkilling the blog or anything...

Yeah, it's pretty embarrassing the first time you run into Prince Philip
in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom.

First, for those of you who were with me on the Pippa and Harry bandwagon, it seems that the Chelsy and Harry bandwagon is kicking our ass.  According to an unnamed Us Weekly source (which we know are always the most reliable of sources), "They were acting like a couple and kissed in front of everyone." They also *gasp* left the after party together at 6am.  I have to admit, I'm disappointed -- I thought Pippa and Harry were going to make it happen -- but I'm also intrigued.  If you're Harry, and you're taking your girlfriend home at 6am, are you going to Buckingham Palace?  Are the princes allow to have sleepovers at the Palace?  If so, does the girlfriend then join the Queen for breakfast the next morning still in her evening wear?  Cuz that's worse then the worst walk of shame ever.  Does Harry always have to play away ball?  How does that go?  Does he say, "Uh, so, I know I have, like, 25 palaces with hundreds of rooms and everything, but sorry, can we go to your place? My grandma's home..."  


Second, in my rundown of great Michael Scott moments, I somehow managed to forget one of my very favorites!  Michael's performance of American Pie at the grave of his lost love, the chair model.

Michael, like me, has trouble getting the lyrics right.

Do Morgan Fairchild and Bob
Schieffer have some relation-
ship that I don't know about?

Finally, I'm wondering how they decide on the guest list for the White House Correspondents Dinner.  Is it just me, or is this the most random collection of celebrities and public figures ever?   I get that news outlets buy tables and they fill them with celebrities to get more media attention (sort of ironic, since they are the media and could seemingly just choose to cover their own tables) but I don't understand why they choose the celebrities that they choose.  Specifically, I'm wondering how America Ferrera, Shaun White, Alyssa Milano, Michelle Trachtenberg and Morgan Fairchild made the list this year.  These are people (with the possible exception of Shaun White, but he just rubs me the wrong way) who have not been relevant in, like, three to thirty years.  And, let's be honest, it's generous to say that they were ever really relevant.  I'm surprised that any of them would even make the list for a White House Christmas card.  Anyone with any information about this, please let me know.


xo kate

As promised...

...my favorite hats of the wedding!

Click to enlarge.

The three across the bottom are my top three picks with the others coming in close behind.  You'll notice I did not pick Beatrice and Eugenie, who both looked like they were trying way too hard to me.

xo kate

4:14 PM EDT: Second Dress

I lovelovelove Kate's evening dress, despite it being more formal than I expected.  I love the silhouette (which makes her look tiny!) and the simple lines with the jeweled waistband.  She looks like she was born to be a princess.

Thanks Lydia!

Camilla on the other hand, looks like she's ready for bed.

xo kate

8:29 AM EDT: The Second Kiss

Give the people what they want!  The look between the two of them was pretty cute before the second kiss.

That concludes my live blogging of the royal wedding.  I'll be back later today with a run down of the best hats. Thanks for joining me and congratulations to the happy couple!

xo kate

8:26 AM EDT: Kiss me Kate

It's the moment we've all been waiting for!  The balcony kiss between Kate and William was tasteful and sweet -- no Al and Tipper moment for these two.  The couple looked nervous again right before it but performed well under pressure.  My unofficial count tallied it at 1.8 seconds on my iPhone but we'll see what the official count comes in as.

xo kate

8:04 AM EDT: Crowds

It's pretty incredible that 800,000 people are calmly and happily marching to see the new Duke and Dutchess (I still don't really understand why they aren't Prince and Princess, but I trust that the queen knows what she's doing on this one.) kiss on the balcony.

I'm not sure that the television commentators are correct in their assertions that this won't happen in the United States.  President Obama's inauguration was an event of this size and scope (bigger, in fact) that went off peacefully.  Probably because everyone was frozen, but, you know, what can you do?

xo kate

7:22 AM EDT: Carriage Rides

I'm totally loving the carriage ride.  If you ask me, this is the best part of the wedding so far: all the trappings of the British monarch, with the people of England so happy and excited and William and Kate finally looking joyful and relaxed.

The greatest subplot of the whole wedding seems to be Harry and Pippa (who would make a lovely couple and have definitely made out before).  Pippa looked phenomenal today.  Her clean, simple white dress was perfect (loved the buttons and short sleeves) and seemed genuinely happy and excited to have Kate be the star.  As a younger sister, it is usually our nature to love attention, so I honor her commitment to her sister.  Harry, as usual, seems to be the clown.  But what I love is that Harry got assigned to the kid's carriage for the ride back to Buckingham Palace.

xo kate

6:57 AM EDT: Sometimes I love the media

I love that the Today show has the good sense to have a lip reader on hand to let us know that what William said to Kate's father when he and Kate arrived at the altar was, "We were suppose to have just a small family affair."

xo kate

6:49 AM EDT: Patriotism

Call me cheesy, but I think it's lovely how the people in the streets and squares around London are singing along and participating in the ceremony.  It almost makes me wish we had a royal family here in America.  You know, besides the Jackson's.

xo kate

6:38 AM EDT: The Sermon

I like the sermon, but William seems bored.  I can only imagine that it's because he's nervous.

I really like that they write a prayer together that is read at the ceremony.  I'm not much of a woman of God, but I think that's a nice tradition.

The music is wonderful, but seems a little somber for a joyful occasion.  I recommend that Wills and Kate take a page from the David and Donna playbook and kick this shit up a notch with some Kool and the Gang.  I think viewers world-wide would appreciate that.

Alternatively, they could pay homage to my favorite British wedding.

xo kate

6:25 AM EDT: The ceremony

A couple notes about the ceremony.  Both the second official (the one who asked Kate and William if they had any reason not to marry) and James Middleton seem to have taken sort of threatening tones.  It's a little off-putting.

Also, it seems unusual that both Kate and William seem to have programs and be reading along with the ceremony.  I feel like at a wedding that cost your country millions of dollars, you should at least be able to sit back and enjoy it.  I hope they can take it all in.

The boys choir is great.  I love a good boys choir.

xo kate

6:17 AM EDT: The vows

The vows really came out of the nowhere!  In an hour long ceremony, I expected them to stretch that out a lot longer.  Isn't this sort of like giving best picture first at the Oscars?

I love the sound of the crowd cheering from outside during the vows.

Also, when William promises to share all his worldly goods with you, that's a pretty exciting moment!

xo kate

6:12 AM EDT: Singing

Is it just me or did everyone in the church seem to get different lyrics sheets?  No ones lips seem to be matching with the song or with each other.

xo kate

6:07 AM EDT: New Wedding Trends

I think that we'll see a bit of a resurgence in trains and sleeves in light of Kate's dress.

But I predict the biggest trend will be trees in churches.

xo kate

6:00 AM EDT: Kate arrives

Kate's Sarah Burton dress is much more formal than I expected with a full skirt and 10-foot train in combination with the long lace sleeves.  Her diamond drop earrings, clean make up and bright smile are what's making the day.  I also absolutely love the cut of the neckline on her -- sort of a long narrow V-neck that is just perfect on her.  She looks in such contrast to Diana, who was equally gorgeous, but young and scared on her wedding day.

xo kate

5:53 AM EDT: Composure

Kate is really holding it together.  If I were her I would almost certainly be throwing up, but she looks beautiful and very calm and excited.

The tiara that Kate is wearing is absolutely beautiful.  I'm excited to see more of the dress.

Note: Can you imagine an American wedding in which the Maid of Honor wore white?  Pippa is wearing a beautiful, simple white dress.

xo kate