Royal Wedding Dress + Life Lately {7QT}

Linking up with Kelly!

1.

First things first- the Royal Wedding! Did you watch it? I didn't, but enjoyed perusing Instagram for allll the pictures! I have to say, I was kinda underwhelmed with Meghan's dress and although I loved the veil, it didn't quite seem to go. Thoughts? For me it was more the cut/ style than the unembellishment of the dress. I do think a simple dress can be beautiful- Maria's in Sound of Music is my favorite!

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It made me wonder how much of a challenge it was to design a dress that was a departure from Kate's but also aligned with any royal specifications?

I'm also enjoying seeing everyone's wedding photos shared on social media!

2.

I tried on a simple dress back in the day when I was dress shopping for my wedding gown, and it would have been a contender if it had been A-line!

3.

Last Friday Tim and I had an impromtu date night and ended up going to one of the tour stops of Jennifer Fulwiler's book tour! It was SO great to hear her speak and I can't wait to see the good that is going to come from her book! I was also able to visit with my sister-in-law (who had interviewed Jen that day & vice-versa!) and some college friends who were there- such a nice night.

I love how it's like rays of heaven are beaming down upon Jen & Joe

4.

Earlier in May we cheered Evie and Audrey on as they ran in their school's Race for Education. It was so cute to see Evie's smile creep up on her face every time she heard us cheer for her. They both ran so hard- proud mom right here!

5.

It has been raining for days upon days and I am slowly dying inside (...as I was when it kept snowing). When it's Thursday morning and it has been raining for a few days and the weather report has a flash flood warning that runs until Saturday, life feels rather bleak.

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I'm having traumatic flashbacks to May 2016 when we had something like 23 days with rain!
...How do you think I would fare in a place like Seattle or Alaska?

6.
A good while back I submitted some photos to a local magazine's candid section and one was published! They asked if I had an idea for a caption and-

I'm not quite that saccharine ;)

haha, they didn't end up using my scintillating line.

7.
On Thursday Audrey had International Day at school and wore the Polish outfit my grandma made for my mom's youngest sister who was in dance. Two years ago Evie donned the outfit and two of my older sisters also wore the outfit growing up! The day prior was also my grandma's birthday, so it was a special occasion all-around.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

On to Scotland! {part 2}

I wrote about the first part of our trip, Ireland, here. We took a morning flight for our second leg from Dublin to Edinburgh and then boarded a bus for a short drive to our hotel.
In Edinburgh we deplaned on the tarmac in the freezing rain and crammed into these transport things that brought us to the airport. Thankfully we didn't have to deal with luggage or lines or anything, as we were taken right to our buses but I was bummed not to get a passport stamp!

You *might* gather this from my pictures, but it was grey and cold and often rainy there. I never ever mind sun and warm temps, so I was surprised to find I didn't mind it all that much! It just really fit Scotland and felt very Sherlock Holmes + Skyfall.

Once we arrived at our hotel we were told our room wasn't ready (again), so Tim and I decided to get a bite to eat and walk around. It was cold and rainy so we decided on a restaurant right across the street from the hotel, and afterward walked a short distance to two nearby thrift stores. :) I found a wool scarf for me and a vintage skirt for my shop. Dinner that night was at the hotel.

City house that belongs to the Royal Family

The next day was an awards ceremony in the morning followed by an afternoon bus tour and then free time until dinner. We walked around the city...and ate lunch at a Chinese Buffet after our first restaurant choice was going to result in a long wait. 

I did not realize how much history is in Edinburgh- things like it being the birthplace of Alexander Graham Bell, or where chloroform was discovered; such a charming and interesting city! And the sandstone on all the buildings is darkened from years of chimney use but can't be cleaned because it is a World Heritage site. So much character!

Home of Alexander Graham Bell

And I loved the street signs too. One that I saw said: "Queues likely"- such a pleasant way of describing traffic. 

Edinburgh Castle is just magnificent- it looks like it spontaneously sprung out from the jagged rocks.

There's an old lookout tower in this churchyard that hearkens back to when grave robbing was a problem- they would snatch the bodies for medical use. Yikes.

 That night we were bussed to the National Museum of Scotland for our dinner. It was such a unique experience to be in a museum after-hours! The musicians who entertained us were super talented- the guys even played "We Will Rock You", bagpipes and all!

That balloon sculpture thing is supposed to be a rendition of a black hole

I did try the haggis- meh

 The next day everyone separated into groups for different tours. Tim and I chose the Royal Yacht Britannia tour, basically because of The Crown. :) Haha, it would not have been on my radar otherwise. Interesting to note: it's part of a mall- you go into the mall in order to get on board!

Earring GOALS

Medical ward

How's this for a dining room?

Queen Elizabeth's office

I don't think I've ever laid eyes on a picture of Prince Philip dressed so casually

Once we returned to the hotel Tim and I decided to walk up to the castle. We stopped at a pub for some lunch, did a bit of browsing in some shops, and then made our way up, up, up. Unfortunately it was so windy and cold, so we didn't make full use of our audio tour. 

 St. Margaret's chapel:

 And how's this for a banquet hall?:

 We were able to see the Stone of Destiny, although picts weren't allowed. I loved the delicate wording about how it was absent from England and the Queen allowed it to remain in Scotland- haha, it was stolen from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Eve some year and smuggled back to Scotland (where it rightfully belonged).

 This quote made me sad because, well, that's not exactly how history went!

As Tim put it: "Some people definitely died in the building of this castle."

That night we were again bussed to a different location for dinner. We were taken to Hopetoun House which definitely could be a cousin to Pemberley. 

On our final day in Scotland Tim and I were separated- he went golfing at St. Andrew's (which is apparently the birthplace of golf, but I know it as the location of William & Kate's alma mater), and I went on a tour to Glamis Castle followed by a visit to St. Andrew's. 

Glamis Castle was where the Queen Mother grew up and where Princess Margaret was born. It was also the setting for Macbeth- double, double, toil and trouble!

We had coffee and shortbread when we arrived.

This was a legit stone castle, suit of armor and all. 

The union of the thistle and the rose- Scotland and England

I forget most of what our tour guide said about this painting, but it is famous since it is one of only a  few that depict Christ wearing a hat- it's of Him appearing to Mary after the Resurrection.

family chapel

Pretty sure that's this is the honeymoon suite of Elizabeth II and Philip, and that's the cradle Princess Margaret was laid in, and Elizabeth and Margaret's toy horse.

Scene from Macbeth

After our Glamis (Glam-s) tour we headed to St. Andrew's and saw the beach where the opening scene to "Chariots of Fire" was filmed:

We were dropped off to walk around town and eat on our own. God definitely provided for me at this point, as I didn't have a "buddy" to go around with. I was thirsty and really feeling my blood sugar dipping low but did not want to go into a sit-down place by myself or deal with ordering/paying/tipping! Thankfully I found a cheese shop that also had bottles of water, so I just ordered a hunk of cheese and some Perrier and happily perused some thrift stores that were right there. :)

These were ruins of the Cathedral:

It was such a quaint town (city?) and I was in love with all of the colored doors!

We stayed there for about an hour and a half and then moseyed back to Edinburgh in time to board a bus (again) for another hour plus drive to dinner! This was our last night in Edinburgh and our dinner was at Stirling Castle. It was quite a memorable dinner BUT it was a lengthy evening and the ride back to the hotel was over an hour, so we returned around midnight. That wouldn't have been so back, except we had to be packed and ready to leave the hotel at 4 a.m. to catch our flight! That part was rough, but on the whole we loved our time in Scotland. It was a once in a lifetime experience, and Tim and I enjoyed so much traveling just the two of us. No planning meals, no worrying about naps or car seats or diapers or early risers. :)

Scottish musicians and dancers