Royal Baby Watch: Part 2

Okay people -- It's 1:36 p.m. on Wednesday and no sign of the Royal Baby yet.

But don't you worry! I'll be right here refreshing Google 16 times a day waiting...waiting and ready to give you all an update.

I mean, WHERE ELSE would you want to go to receive all things Royal Baby, AMIRIGHT???

Heh heh hehhhh.

Prince Georgie is NOT impressed with the media rubbish.

{SIDE NOTE: A few days ago (in other words, probably two months ago), I saw someone refer to Georgie as HRH George and I'm thinking...that's a LEEEETLE formal for a not-yet-two-year-old, right? That is all.}


OOH! ALSO!

Yesterday Will & Kate sent pastries and coffee to Royal stalkers fans who have been waiting outside of the hospital. I tweeted it before, but I'll say it again...YES THIS DOES MAKE ME LOVE THEM MORE!

{I promise I'm not obsessed. I just like happy news :) }

While part of me thinks, "Oh hey, how nice of these mighty fine folks to dish out free food to these people" ---- ANOTHER part of me MIIIIGHT be thinking that this MIIIIGHT have been a fun ploy to distract everyone while they slid in the side door of the hospital.

After all: today, security was beefed up at Ye Olde Lindo Wing and they had security dogs sniffing around the premises. MUCH, as I read, as they did once Georgie was born.

The hospital insists that this was a "dry run," but I am skeptical. I feel like it's only a matter of time that we hear ol' Willy say "Oh hey, by the way, we had a kid yesterday."

Kind of like THIS!!!! Please, people, tell me you remember this commercial:

Oh, those Royals. Ever so slick.


In other news (sort of)...Today is Will and Kate's 4th anniversary. It's been FOUR WHOLE YEARS since we saw THAT DRESS:

I may or may not have watched a few highlights of the broadcast this morning. But I'll never tell!

In other news, I woke up this morning thinking it was Saturday. It was not, in fact, Saturday. It is WEDNESDAY. WEDNESDAY. You can imagine the kind of day I am having right now.

My blog is riveting, isn't it? Just RIVETING!

That's all for now, folks. Stay tuned for your up-to-minute (or maybe day-late?) Royal Baby updates! Until next time!

Love,

The OFFICIAL UN-official Royal Detective

Sunkist Dreams

Whooo-wheee!!!

What a doozy of a week!

I have a FANTASTICAL recipe that I experimented with over the weekend, but right now my mind is going in about 6000 different directions. Thanks in NO SMALL PART to the aforementioned "doozy" that was the week!

Also...

I may or may not have dreamed about THE DUCHESS having the second Royal Baby last night. It was CRAZY. The countdown is ON, my friends. Is it a GIRL? A BOY? There are definitely some differences this time around, but it is MAKING ME CRAZY (-ier?) waiting to know!

What is it? TELL ME KATE I HAVE TO KNOW!!!!

Oh Katie. You sly chickadee, you.

Speaking of the Royal Bambino, the "rumored" due date according to a "source" (aka a TRAITOR!) is April 25th.

DO WE REALIZE THAT IS LESS THAN TWO DAYS AWAY?

***

On my dream earlier...yeah, what I DIDN'T mention was that, in my dream, I WAS TOTALLY THERE. As in...I and a friend (not sure who? I never saw their face) camped outside of the Lindo Wing in our oh-so-classy tailgate chairs and a cooler filled with Sunkist.

WHY the Sunkist, I'll never know. But there's GOT to be some sort of significance, right?

QUICK! Someone look that up and tell me what orange represents in a dream!

Does it mean she's having a girl??????

Moving on. In the dream, Faceless Friend and myself were chatting with our Sunkists in a back alley near the Lindo Wing when, all of a sudden, a BLACK SUV pulls up beside us and (very quietly) The Duchess steps out, heels and clutch and all. I was speechless. Faceless Friend goes to take a picture and I said something like:

"No! This is private moment! Plus they'll see us, you dork."

#class

But they DID see us!

For some reason, The Duchess became tired on her walk from the SUV to the hospital door, and requested a chair to sit in before moving any further. And they brought her a TAILGATE chair. YES. A TAILGATE CHAIR.

{side note: This is sounding more and more ridiculous the further I get into this story. I promise I'm not AS obsessed as I may seem. Thank you for your time.}

As she sat, she looked RIGHT AT Faceless Friend and myself!

Faceless Friend elbowed me and said "Say something!"

But I choked.

Like, literally. Right there on my Sunkist.

Apparently I swallowed wrong or something.

And all I could do was hold my hands around my neck in the typical "I'm choking" manner.

And all I could THINK was "I'm LITERALLY CHOKING right here in front of The Duchess!!!"

And then I woke up.

...

Moral of the story?

Do NOT drink Sunkist in a tailgate chair whilst waiting to see Royalty.

I canNOT make this stuff up.

That is all.

Happy Thursday, friends!

A Rainy Day Playlist

Well folks, the Royal Baby of Country Music has been born.

This kid has NO IDEA how attractive he will be down the road. He'll definitely have the world's best head of hair, if you're asking me!

Now all we have to do is wait until Will & Kate's baby makes its grand entrance, and we'll be good to go!


In other words, this gross weather may be coming to a halt for today - it looks like the sun is at least trying to come out this afternoon, despite a very rainy start to the day.

But regardless! Here are a few chill-worthy songs that seem pretty perfect for a rainy day. Enjoy, friends!

I Like to Be With Me When I'm With You - Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors

Hung the Moon - Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors

Dancing Shoes - Green River Ordinance

Baby Tomorrow - Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors*

Downtown Train - Everything But The Girl

Something in the Water - Carrie Underwood

Thinking Out Loud - Ed Sheeran

Tiny Dancer - Elton John

Love Me Tender - Nora Jones, Adam Levy

*I'm kind of on a kick. Oops.

Walking (and RUNNING!) in Memphis

PEOPLE! This weekend = WHOA!

So much fun. So much soreness. So much happy. I love it.

BUT FIRST! And more importantly!!!!

THE ROYALS ARE IN AMERICA!

source

PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one who has refreshed the Google feed 300 times today waiting for updates is excited about this!

All we know so far is that they are staying in New York City, Kate was perfection wearing a purple coat, and Wills is hanging out at the White House whilst Kate is doing crafts in Harlem.

Media, you are FAILING me.

Stay tuned for more updates.

But moving on!

----

MEMPHIS.

What can I say?

Despite this being my worst race time in all my days, we really did have a great time. We knew ahead of time that we would likely have to take some walking breaks, due to a few injuries over the past month or so - but overall it was a fantastic race!

The course was really nice - between mile 4 and 5 it lead us through the St. Jude campus -- where some of the patients (all kids) and their families lined the sidewalk to cheer us on. The weather was really chilly, so usually there would have been more, but I have to admit I was fighting tears the entire time. I saw one teenage boy smiling and cheering for everyone while hooked to the IV beside him -- and almost lost it right there. These kids and their families are so brave, and I'm so thankful that St. Jude exists to give them the special care that they need.

What really slowed us down was, somewhere around mile 5, my knee started hurting. I've never had problems with my knees, so it was really weird when I started noticing the soreness.

Well --- what started out as soreness grew to somewhat of a strong pain as we progressed. I can typically push through, but this was a little more than soreness. It eventually eased (sort of) enough where I could power walk without too much pain, so Hubs backed off to a jog while I power walked the miles away!

In the end - I'm so glad we finished! Hubs jogged and I hobbled across the finish line, where they had members of the military presenting us with medals.

First the kids, then the soldiers? My emotions were CRAZY.

After stocking up on the water, gatorade, and snacks from the race sponsors, we hobbled across the street to The Peabody Hotel to meet our running team for some post-race recovery and laughs :)

Coffee and cookies, anyone? The weather was cold and windy all morning, and this tasted AMAZING.

Plus - check out the tree in the lobby! Hubs said it was somewhere between 20-30 feet tall!

If you ever find yourself in Memphis, I would HIGHLY recommend you at least visit The Peabody. It's such a beautiful place, especially at Christmas :)

We spent the rest of the day soaking, icing, sleeping, and trying to rest the soreness away - none of which I have pictures from because we party WAY TOO HARD for that kind of nonsense ;)

...and then that night we ate some awesomely authentic Memphis BBQ at the shadiest little BBQ place EVER in this world. Complete with bars on the window and everything!

The food, however, was a totally different story and pretty much BLEW OUR MINDS at how great it tasted.

All in all, great weekend with great people in a great place for an even GREATER cause. Thankfully my knee is all kinds of better, and I'm hoping we are able to do this race again next year.

First on my list, though, is Nashville in the Spring. Fingers crossed!

Stay tuned for more crazy. Happy Monday yo!

Excitement!

Before we proceed with today's oh-so-exciting post, can we just PAUSE for a moment and relish in the fact THERE IS ANOTHER ROYAL BABY COMING?????????

Oh Georgie.

Oh Wills.

Oh KATE and your gorgeous hair and clothes!!!!

I am ever so PUMPED.

Let the media frenzy commence!

***

Moving on! Random fact: I'm sore in places I didn't even realize had muscles.

I'm talkin' BOOT CAMP, yo.

It's crazy. This is my third time doing this program (over the course of three years #newbie) and I'm STILL learning new exercises. Today we had to sit on the floor of the weight room, do an overhand grip of the benchpress bar thingy (I'm SO technical ;) ) and PULL OURSELVES UP OFF OF THE FLOOR while keeping our feet on the ground and our bodies in a straight line.



It's a simple move, basically, but an INCREDIBLY hard one for sure!

((How I feel 4 days a week!!!! :D )

Oh, and can we briefly talk about how I have roughly about ZERO percent upper body strength? It's actually QUITE hilarious. Yesterday we were bench-pressing like BOSSES (<- read: normal folks) and when it's my turn...well...it just didn't work.

I tried. I really did. With all of my might, I tell you!

Sure, I could go about halfway up on each rep, but any higher than that and my left arm decided it pretty much was done and REFUSED to move any higher! My right arm, though, it was a beast. So I can tell you I looked PRETTY SPIFFY doing a nice crooked, diagonal, shaky bench press rep.

Or twenty.

At least it worked SOME sort of muscle though, right? Now, it could have been my imagination (<- even though it NEVER EVER is) (EVER) (<- HA!) - but I may or may not have seen the coach give me one of those "Seriously?" looks when he walked by.

Can't exactly say that I blame him, though. I was pretty much thinking the same exact thing while I was on the bench. I laughed a few hours later when I could finally breathe again! :)

No, I am not strong. But that's why I'm doing this! To get better!

And hey - it's all about improvement, right?!

Question:

What is something you'd like to improve on?

So Sometimes I'm Bad at Blogging

Nearly TWO MONTHS since my last post - BUT NOT QUITE!

#win

So let's play a little catch-up, yes? Here are a few things that have pretty much been making my day over the past few weeks! (and NOT two months!)


one. Key Lime Greek Yogurt mixed with crumbled graham crackers. Oh my yum (<- can I say that? Too lame?) it's incredulous. It tastes JUST like Key Lime pie - so serious. And it has lots of protein! Which completely cancels out all of the sugar, right? Let's just pretend it does and then eat in only slight moderation.

two. Morning Star spicy black bean burgers. I grabbed these for dinner one night when Hubs was out of town and fell hard. I was so excited I couldn't even take a clear picture. Yeah, that's the reason. We'll go with that.

three. My favorite salad. I almost made this into a separate post itself, seeing as how I love it so much. It's the perfect lunch and I actually find myself looking forward to eating it when I wake up in the morning. Please tell me someone else does this? It's a simple combo: spinach, goat cheese, tomatoes, and strawberries topped with a dab of honey mustard dressing. I had a similar salad on our honeymoon at the Lost Dog Cafe in Folly Beach, and once we returned I decided that I just couldn't live without it. Try it sometime - you'll be hooked, too!

four. Honest Lemonade in Berry Hibiscus flavor. Impulse buy in Whole Foods one day during lunch. The entire container was gone in two days. Oops.

five. I'm starting to realize that apparently food gives me lots of joy. Sorry about the overload of food pics! Actually, I'm not. Because Hubs' special quesadilla recipe gives me more joy than probably anything on this list! But seriously - the boy outdoes himself every time, and plus a break from the kitchen is always a treat ;)

six. Last one! And it's COMPLETELY non-food-related! December 6, 2014 is the annual St. Jude Marathon in Memphis - and I'll be there this year! We signed up to run the half, so I just might be posting fundraising info soon in case anyone is interested in helping us meet our goal. Fingers crossed everything will go smoothly and we'll have an awesome experience! Anyone want to meet us there?

Whoop whoop!!!!

Okay one more -- can't help it!!!!!!

Baha. Oh Georgie.  Gets me every time.

Friday Love

It's FRIDAY folks - and I couldn't be happier. Is anyone else having a hard time focusing today?

In celebration of all things Friday, here are a few things that made me smile this week. Hopefully they'll make you smile too!


one. Jenna's recipe for Biscoff Cookies. Must. Make. These. Now.

two. A homemade biscuit with my Grandma's homemade strawberry jam. I'm thankful my place of employment is close enough to my apartment so that I can go home for lunch. Saves the DOLLAs for sure! Even better? I can run home and make a biscuit for lunch whenever the craving strikes. And my Grandma has the best homemade jellies and jams. I don't care what you've tasted - hers is the best!

three. this guy.

four. Putting the new muffin tray to good use at 11 at night by making the Royal BABY Cupcakes at last - yes, they're mini-sized! And making them with The Fiance', who has some mad cupcake skills that apparently I just found out about.

five. SEVEN weeks :)

Jesse & The Rippers & A New Recipe

It's been an interesting week. Tres intéressant. And I'm slightly exhausted.

I mean, caring for a Royal Baby can be exhausting.

From the labor, to the waiting...to the waiting...to the press announcement at the hospital, then the OFFICIAL placement on the golden easel, then the Town Crier.

Oh the Town Crier.

And then there was that moment on the steps, when they waved and chatted and laughed and looked fabulous. Then hopped in the car and drove away.

Whew. What a week.

;)

Anyway, aside from All Things Royal (which I love. So much. So very, very much), in all actuality it's been a bit of a tiring month week.

Is this real life? I need sleep.

However, I'm about to show you something that I'm pretty sure is going to make your day. It definitely made mine - and it's only 10am!

I'm talking about Jesse and the Rippers, everybody. JESSE AND THE STINKIN RIPPERS. On that show with that guy that used to be on that show that airs LIVE from New York every Saturday night.

Whaaaaat?

JESSE AND THE RIPPERS. Full House anyone?

Shoo doo be doo DAH DAH DAH!

Jesse and the Rippers recently reunited on Jimmy Fallon. Please watch this. It gives me almost as much joy as the Royal Baby.



JESSE AND THE RIPPERS ON JIMMY FALLON



By the way. Holmes in the white polo? That would totally be me.

Dude in the suit? That would be The Fiance. We're completely awesome like that.

I find it fascinating how John Stamos has never aged. He even got the perfect 90's hair back for the show. Then again, when was Uncle Jesse's hair NOT perfect?

And Aunt Becky? Loved her. Aunt Becky, Uncle Joey, DJ, and Gibbler FO EVA.

Foreverrrrrrrr....ForEVERRRRRRRRR.....

And Comet. We can't forget Comet. And Steve. Steve was always cool. To this day I STILL squeal when he's waiting at the door in a tux for DJ's prom even though Michelle has amnesia and DJ has no dress but somehow looks GORGEOUS as always and OH EM GEE I LOVE DJ on that last episode.

Oh childhood.


HEY LET'S TALK ABOUT FOOD

Last night was a late supper night and I needed something FAST and HEALTHY. Enter in THIS:

I don't know what it's called, but I call it Delicious.

Kind of like a vegetable-filled seafood jambalaya.

I came upon this recipe via Chocolate Broccoli. Please check out her site, it's adorable.

I had a lot of this stuff on hand already, and if I didn't it was something I would normally buy at the store.

Frozen veggies, frozen shrimp, Uncle Ben's 90-second brown rice? Helloooooo healthy one-dish meal.

The great thing about this meal is that everything is already cooked when you put it into the skillet. Just heat and season and You. Are. Done. Boom.

I used the Broccoli Stir Fry frozen mix for veggies, frozen shrimp already cooked, and Uncle Ben's brown rice. This might have taken me 15 minutes, tops. Maybe.

Then I made biscuits from scratch and all was well with the world.

I hope you make this dish. And I hope you eat it while listening to Jesse and the Rippers.

Cajun Shrimp and Rice

Adapted from the blog Chocolate Broccoli
Makes 4-6 servings

1 pouch of Uncle Ben's 90-second whole-grain brown rice

Zero fat cooking spray

1 pound peeled and deveined (and cooked, if you can find it) shrimp

1 tbsp of Tony's  (or other Cajun seasoning)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Sprinkle of garlic powder

Sprinkle of onion powder

1 package of frozen broccoli stir fry veggies, thawed

1/2 tbsp of Italian seasoning (I use Chef Paul's, but a nice mix of oregano and basil would still work)

1/2 tsp of paprika

1 can no-salt added stewed tomatoes

sprinkle of red pepper flakes

dash of cayenne pepper

sprinkle of salt

dash of pepper

Spray a bit of cooking spray on a skillet over medium-high heat. Throw in your shrimp and sprinkle with Tony's, toss to coat evenly. Saute shrimp for roughly 4 minutes or until done. Remove from skillet, but keep warm.

In the same skillet, heat your olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic powder first, then throw in your veggies, paprika, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper. Let it simmer for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, heat your rice, then add to the skillet once it's done. Stir in shrimp, tomatoes, salt, and pepper and cook/stir until everything is evenly combined and thoroughly heated.

Serve warm with homemade biscuit or french bread.

ROYAL BABY WATCH: PART THREE --- IT'S A BOY!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



There is no font large enough or bold enough to convey my excitement at the moment.


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


BLUE CUPCAKES FOR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Easel Announcement:

"Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at 4:24 today.

Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well." 

He said: "God save the Queen!"

Royal Baby Watch - Part Two - I'm Having CUPCAKES TONIGHT!

THE BABY'S COMING!!!!

What a way to start a Monday, folks!

Powered up the computer this morning only to find THIS:

It's now a jolly ol' 4pm over in London as I type this (10am here in The City), and no news of a baby yet.

{short break to do some "real work" in the "real world"}


....

.......

..........


AND WE'RE BACK!

It's now nearly 2pm in The City and STILL NO BABY!

But that's okay -- and because there's not much else that's relatively exciting going on today -- and because I feel a dire need for attention -- and because I've really really really wanted to blog for the past few days --- I present you with pretty pictures from recent times whilst out 'n' about:

GIANT flowers amongst the rocks by the lake -- a bright, happy sight on a day that MIGHT have been a little rocky. Get it? Because it's in the ROCKS? Yeah, I'm awesome.

On a deeper note...maybe this is the Lord's way of telling me to try to be the "bright & happy" while in the middle of a hard and rocky place. Oooohhh.......

Because sprinkles make everything better :) Especially on fro-yo by a fountain.

This little miss stole my heart the moment I saw her. She belongs to The Fiance's sweet granny. 

And my heart  =)

Starting to register! One of us MIGHT have had 

a little TOO much fun -- not saying any names though ;)

Key Lime Pie. From scratch. Oh yeah. That happened.

Recipe coming soon -- and I cannot WAIT :)

How to tell you're with the right person -- he humors my Royal obsession.

Please forgive my atrocious grammar error. I was way excited.

Or maybe it was autocorrect ;)

Royal Baby Watch - Part One

Okay folks, it's getting real. I know many people roll their eyes at the mere MENTION of the Royal Baby - or anything dealing with the Royals - but I for one am fascinated and oh-so-excited about this whole baby thing.

NEWSFLASH: I was watching E! just now over lunch (helloooooo "Sleepless in Seattle"!!!) and a scrolling headline popped up that said the Queen quite "abruptly" left a cricket match just a short while ago - prompting speculation about the Bebe'.

However, I haven't been able to confirm this (obvi), and Google/Yahoo/MSN/Twitter/NOTHING has said a word about this. Oh E!...you shouldn't get my hopes up like this.

I guess it's possible that the Queen just didn't want to watch cricket.

Le sigh.

I'll admit that I've been a fan of all things Royal ever since speculation started about Will & Kate's engagement a few months before it actually happened. Yes, I am on a first name basis with them now; I'm that awesome.

I was one of THOSE people that saw a documentary about Will's life and courtship with Kate -- one of those that ended with the big question, "Will they or won't they????" -- and proceeded to scream "I LOVE THEM!" as the ending credits rolled.

I'll also admit that I wore a fascinator whilst watching the Royal Wedding, and that I woke up at 3am that morning just to watch it live. I was also one of thousands that SQUEALED the moment she stepped out of that car.

Let's re-live that moment, shall we?

Aaahhhhh --- I love it! Pure glamour.

I missed the kiss on the balcony, however, because at 6am I jumped in my car and drove to Nashville for a half marathon. No worries here, though :)

What I won't admit, though, is that I MIGHT have a can of pink icing and a can of blue icing in my kitchen, waiting to be used for royal cupcakes. Cans that I PROMISE have been there since WAY before I had that idea (which was today) - I honestly just thought they were pretty, especially since I have NO IDEA how to make icing a bright neon color.

(I know you're laughing. And that's okay, because it's pretty ridiculous)

Plus, come on. It's a good occasion for a cupcake. And ANY occasion is a GOOD occasion for a cupcake.

Quit my job? WHOO HOO! Cupcake time!

Got a new job? Give me TWO!

Rough day? Cupcakes help.

Good day? CELEBRATE!

THE ROYAL BABY IS COMING??!?!!! LET'S MAKE CUPCAKES!!!!!

I can't imagine our dear Royals doing anything but laughing at all of the frenzy happening right now. I really wouldn't blame them at all. It's ridiculous, but let's face it - it looks like there's finally some HAPPY mixed in with the "World News" portion of the media. Amongst all of the crazy that's happening these days, all of the sadness, the struggles, the anger -- there's a ray of sunshine that comes alongside this sweet, innocent, and historical happening.

Because when he or she decides to come into the world, he or she will have no idea just how important they really are. Not just as the future heir to the British throne, but because we'll finally see some "happy" on the news.

And that, my friends, is something worth celebrating.


Anybody want a cupcake? :)

***Note: Not my photos :)