Queen of Hats

She may not be Queen of England yet, but Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, is basically the Queen of Hats.


The Headware Association honored her with the title of "Hat Person of the Year" (Full article and photos of the Duchess avec her headpieces here).


I will never cease to be amazed at the professional associations out there in the world. Who would've known that they was a Headware Association? I bet their annual conference is AMAZING! 


This is yet another article that makes me realize how sad I am that hats aren't the fashion necessity they were in the early-mid 20th century. Maybe the Duchess can change this....


PS: I am also quite indignant when people in the media continually refer to her as Kate Middleton.  Poor reporting indeed if you can't refer to someone by her married name. 

Cheerio, Harry. It's Been Swell.

Saturday brought us the last Harry Potter. I know technically it was released on Friday, but I didn't attempt to see it until Saturday. There are two reasons for this: 1.) I wanted to avoid herds of children and 2.) Saturday is the day that my brother's girlfriend Morgan invited me. I went with the two of them and my sister. 


Because it was the last Harry Potter film, something bigger and different must be done. After all, when the last book was released, I didn't feel like we could celebrate that as a group. Reading it was a solitary experience for me, and I wanted it that way. But the film! THAT we could have fun with. 


We four went to the Imax theatre at the Franklin Institute, which, to say the least, scared the crap out of me.  I didn't know that the seats were going to be positioned so steeply...I think my sister said that we were actually sitting at a height equivalent to a four story building.


Have I mentioned my fear of heights? Is it evident in this photo?

Besides he height and the 3-D magic, I sort of felt like I was sitting in an egg. The theatre was domed, and everything had this greenish tint to it. You could tell the screen itself was white, but everything else was completely thrown off by the lack of bright lighting. It was super different from the regular theatre. 

(Even the Budd is weirded out)

I'm glad we did it that way, though. It made me feel like I was in a "Cinema of the Future!" You know, like some scientist's projection of how people of the future will watch films....


Cheerio, Harry!

(sisters)

Oxford Town

The other week, I was in Oxford for work. Though I'd lived in Cheltenham for 6 months during uni, I never got to Oxford. But I have to say that it was kind of nice going now instead; mainly because I never could have afforded to stay at the posh Randolph Hotel on a student's budget (or on my current budget, for that matter). We were even there at the same time as a big delegation from the Malaysian government. At first I thought it was a celebrity....sorry but politics isn't as exciting to me as the possibility of sharing a hotel with the Queen or Julia Roberts.

(High Street)

(side street in the early evening)

I loved how everyone cycled around the town. Bikes were chained up along every available fence space, light post, and gate.It was so bike friendly, and I think if I was going to stay longer, I would've rented a bike and explored the parks and more of the wee side roads. Next time, right?

(some people weren't too enthusiastic about the cycles, tho)

(cycles)

On our second night there, all of us Americans walked to Loch Fyne Seafood Restaurant in the posh neighbourhood called Jericho. In addition to the fab seafood, I was able to try sticky toffee pudding--Kate Middleton's favourite dessert! I had tried to have it before in the States, but the waiter came out after I ordered it and said they'd actually discontinued it because too many people said it was gross. Clearly something must've been lost in translation because when I had it in England, it was beyond amazing. I don't eat many sweets, but I could've had seconds of this one!!


Still more proof that Princess Catherine has good taste in just about everything.

(Sticky Toffee Pudding!)

(Thanks for the suggestion, Kate!)

I love England.

A Royal Audience

What would you do for a chance to meet someone like Her Royal Highness, The Queen of England? I would do almost anything because I have royal-itis. This subject came up between myself and my esteemed work colleague (who is also a red-head, incidentally) this afternoon. 

Our most recent company newsletter focused on how a few members of the UK staff met Her Majesty at a recent event. We found it extremely unfair that our UK colleagues get to have all the fun, and both of us agreed that meeting the Queen was better even then meeting the President (any President ever, though I might make an exception for Abraham Lincoln).I feel as though I've done a lot for the company: week-long trips to middle-of-nowhere conferences in Illinois, being forced to sleep in a shady Chicago hotel because my flight home was canceled and the cast/crew of The Dark Knight were taking up all the good hotels, flying to the West Coast every other weekend...surely that warrants a meeting with the Queen!

me at Buckingham Palace (2005)

The closest I have ever gotten to royalty is viewing a pear tree planted by Prince Charles in the gardens at Hampton Court Palace and walking through the great hall where Henry VIII had his lavish parties and hung expensive tapestries. Still amazing, though...

The gardens at Hampton Court as viewed from the Queen's Quarters

But the fact remains that I have yet to meet anyone royal, and until I do, what can I add to the monthly newsletter at work? Meeting the pope might get us close, but it's still not the same.