The Royal Wedding-Velasco Style



The Royal Velascos
Prince Ferdinand and Princess Laurayne

 
Every one's a buzz over the royal wedding. In less than 24 hours the world will have a new princess and the British Royal Family will inherit a new family member. We are excited too!

I agreed about a month ago to relive my love for Diana and Charles' wedding by allowing my girls to stay home from school and celebrate the momentous occasion. We bought hats to wear, planned out a high tea menu and decided the appropriate time to go to bed so that we can watch from 3am until the last airing. We can hardly wait.

If my girls are anything like me they will be taking careful notes of everything from flowers to vows. I made mental notes of it all so that when I got married, my wedding would entail a 25 foot train just like Diana's!  I noted the beautiful flowers and the tiara, oh the tiara! She was a princess and I was a definite Princess-wanna-be! Take note sweet girls, if you don't I will because your weddings will certainly have princess touches one day!

As for my princess weddings...I have been MORE than blessed to have TWO princess weddings. My first wedding saw the long train. Now I don't think I wore one 25 feet long like Diana's, but I searched out the longest one I could find and I think mine was a bit over 15 feet. To me that was long! I didn't get the tiara because I wore my mother's pill box veil, but I felt like a princess in a tiara. My flowers very closely resembled Diana's, big and elaborate and I made sure that the music was full of the pomp and circumstance just as hers was! At the end of the aisle was a man in a uniform complete with white gloves and while she made the celebratory kiss on the balcony, I made it under the swords. It was a fairytale day for sure! (I don't have pictures on my computer, but I'll try and scan some in so you can see the very young princess bride of 1983! lol!!!)

My second wedding was complete and udder royalty. This time I wore a gown for a Queen. It was not adorned with intricate beading and crystals but it was simply and royally embroidered and had a beautiful train that followed me down the aisle to my Prince Charming. This time I wore the tiara and carried the most beautiful cream hand tied roses I have ever seen. We had the royal music and I even had royal Paige's as attendants! We were whisked away in an amazing limo to our reception where we were joined by our closest friends and family. It was a magical and perfect day in every way. The paparazzi were plenty, the weather was perfect and we were glowing in happiness.




At the Royal Reception



The Royal Couple with the Royal Paige's as attendants


Weddings are magical. They are infused with the personality of the bride and groom and tell the story of the love that they share. I rarely attend one where I don't shed a tear at some point. While Kate and Will will have their own vows and this wedding will be far more "modern" than weddings of past Royalty, I am certain that many little girls and young women will be taking notes and oohing and ahhhing over all the smallest details. I'll shed a tear I'm sure, but my notebook won't be too far away.

Our blended family experienced our Royal Wedding on September 22, 2007. Tomorrow we'll take notes for our daughter's and son's future royal weddings. I can't wait!

Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and a...Volvo

Well it's upon us folks...baseball season in the Velasco house. Yesterday we received the official email drafting B3 on the Pirates Bantam League. He wasn't too happy only because he said the colors stink! Go figure. I think the hidden message is really that he is a HUGE Yankee fan and he had secretly hoped to be drafted on the Yankees. Oh well...  This is his first year in the bantam league so we have a lot to look forward to. The new league will be comprised of 13 and 14 year olds. B3 is a very young 13 year old being born in December and he is, shall we say "petite" if you can call guys petite! But he is SMART and he can field that ball like no body's business. He's also a pretty good hitter and pitcher. He's a lefty!  His "spot" is best played at short stop though. He'll get the jersey on May 4th and he has already asked to be the first one there so he can get #2, ummmm yeah Derek Jeter! Pack up those folding chairs, blankets and a cooler, it's BASEBALL TIME in Ontario!
                                                        
                                                        

So last night I had a taste for a dish I hadn't made in a while. Blending cultures in the kitchen is serious work! I tend to either cook Asian or American food and I forget about some of the tried and true dishes from my repertoire.  I decided as I perused my favorite grocery store, Sobey's, that I wanted sausage, potatoes, onion and peppers for dinner. I was the only one shopping so I got to choose! I love when that happens. I picked out a bag of the tiny white new potatoes and hit the sausage cooler. I literally stared at all the varieties of sausages for 5 minutes. WOW! Did I want Italian, Polish, Hungarian, or German? I finally laid eyes on a package that read " Bacon and Cheddar" and that was exactly what I wanted. I threw them in the cart and wheeled away. Once home the kids began putting the groceries away. There is no protest anymore. It's their chore and they do it. (I did have to explain long ago that if I had to buy it and cook it and if they wanted to eat it, then they could put it away. Now the only thing that this causes is my pantry to be in a perpetual state of disarray.) BG was late coming home from school. Once in the door and down the  hall, she wanted to know what we were having for dinner. When I so proudly announced my delicious dish choice, I was met with a loud "YUCK."  Okay then...you know my policy, "if you don't like what we are having, feel free to hit the McDonald's up the road." As I went to remind her of that she stopped me and said "Mom, you don't get it. If you watched the movies we watch in Nutrition class, you'd never eat that stuff again. Sausage (and hotdogs) is made from the hooves of pigs." Well then...thanks for sharing, we're still having my delicious un-nutritious dinner and I hope you like it! She ate 2 sausages and a healthy serving of the fixings! AND...there were no leftovers in the pan!
                                            

                                                    


I've been thinking about what I could take to our multi-cultural potluck at Church this weekend. Actually, I can't even decide WHAT culture to choose. B3 asked me to make Lebanese food. There are not many Lebanese families in our Church so that is a possibility. There are quite a few Filipino families and our Nuns are Filipino so I don't think I will make Filipino food. With 7 of us attending, I think I need to take more than one dish. Ahhh Hahhh.....my still-to-be-made-famous apple pie. That always brings raves so I will dig out my NoFail Pie Crust recipe and bake away on Friday along with some delicious Lebanese stuffed grape leaves. Maybe I'll make my sausage, potato, onion and pepper dish again too. That way BG can tell everyone where sausage comes from! LOL!!!


    



It never ends in our family! We go from one activity to the next...just rolling along. Tonight though we're at home with a roasted chicken and noodles and American Idol on the tube. Just another Wednesday night and I like it. No wait...I love it!


   


Only 2 more days till the Royal Wedding, but whose counting?? ME!! (Yes, I'll be up at 3am WITH my hat on and in my jammies to partake in all the festivities via many TV channels. How about you?)

I think they forgot my name:
Lady Constance Laurayne Velasco
But I'll be there anyway!

                                             



~~Have a wild and wonderful Wednesday!

Survival

                                                                           
                                

Whew! What a weekend! I absolutely loved it, but I am feeling it's after affects today. It's rainy, cool and grey and I am one tired puppy after a BUSY weekend spent almost exclusively in church. I have never spent so much time in church as I did this weekend. It was a blessing but my knees are feeling the repercussions of it though I have so much to be thankful and on my knees for.


                                               



Survival is such a strong word. When I think "survival", I think SURVIVOR, as in the TV show. You know, lost on a deserted island and left with minimal food and water yet coming out on the other side of weeks in fine shape and attaining the prize. But in fact, I can relate suvivorship to so many times in my life.
                                                           

As a child I often wondered if I would survive a day in school. Then I wondered if I would survive the punishment I would get if my report card and grades were not up to par. I remember like yesterday being 16 and the first time I ever got pulled over by a policeman, and I wondered if I would survive the tongue lashing that awaited me on the home front.

I went away to college and I wondered if I would survive the first week away from home. After a long relationship with my high school sweetheart, I wondered if I would survive the breakup. I wondered about surviving the first ever exam week in college. I met and fell in love with a guy who went to school 2 hours away and I was certain I could not possibly survive only seeing him on weekends. Then he moved to Texas and I knew there was no surviving that distance.                                                                                                         



I married and moved to Kansas, half a country away from my family, and that was an extreme test of my survival. Then I became pregnant and the thoughts of surviving labor caused me such anxiety that I nearly caused early labor! Surviving newborn nights and toddler days were true testings of surviving motherhood.
As a teacher, I had horrific panic attacks of surviving testing week, review time and deadlines.

In 2006 I wasn't sure if I would survive what was then, the biggest survival test of my life, widowhood at 42 with 3 kids. How on earth was I ever to survive filing taxes, taking care of my house, car, kids, job, finances, family? I was seriously doubting my survival on any level.

In 2007 I met my husband. I wondered if I could survive. But this time my emotions were flying all over the place. Survival was the question that popped into my mind EVERY single time we parted ways for weeks or even a month. Survival was questioned when I thought of his Diabetes and the possibility of not having him for the rest of my life. My survival was questioned when I agreed to sell my house in NJ and move to Canada. Would I survive saying goodbye to my friends and family and job and students, all of whom I was richly attached? It was daunting. I tired just thinking about it all.

But anyone that knows me knows that I am a SURVIVOR at heart. My mantra is always "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger" and so I have survived. My story is not that unique. Many before me have fell upon times when they too questioned whether they could survive the good, the bad and the ugly. I join the ranks of those survivors. I have survived the ugly. I have survived the bad and I am now completely in survivor mode as I embrace the good.
                                            

Our busy family is cause for survival. I have five beautiful and wonderfully made children who make me proud to be their mother. Oh heck yeah I get mad. Oh heck yeah I go through disappointment. Oh heck yeah I, at times, yell and scream. But I wouldn't trade my survival as a mother for anything in the world.

As a wife, I have faced it all. But I have been so very richly blessed to have been given my soul mate, my HUNK and my reason for survival. Without him, I would not question my survival, I simply doubt I would!

We are given gifts for all seasons and as I embrace my middle ages, I am thankful for ALL that I have and ALL that I survive for. I hope that through my actions I am teaching my children to become survivors too.

For me it's no longer a question of "If" it's now a question of "how"? I AM A SURVIVOR...forever.



Cheers this Tuesday~~