QEII

As school is winding down, so are the days that my honors thesis is due. Thank goodness I will be out of town for the original due date so my professor extended the time that I could turn it in!!! Now I have an extra weekend to finalize everything. To give you a brief summary of it, I am writing about how the media has portrayed and affected the behaviors of Queen Elizabeth II. It really is amazing to see what had been published about her and to see her reactions. Mostly, I am honing in on the change in her emotions pre and post Diana's death. This was the time that most greatly changed the way the Queen's attitudes and emotions were displayed to the public.


If you are interested in learning more about QEII, I have 2 excellent recommendations. First you should read the book Monarch by Robert Lacey. It is a quick read and would be a great book to throw in the beach tote this summer.

Here is the review from Publishers Weekly:
As a child, Princess Elizabeth longed "to live in the country with lots of horses and dogs." That dream came to a crashing end when her uncle, King Edward VII, followed his heart instead of his head, giving up the throne for an American divorcee. The princess's fate was sealed: not only was she destined to become Queen of England, but as Lacey shows in this skillfully constructed biography, nearly every upheaval of her otherwise quiet and dutiful 50-year reign would be the direct consequence of impetuous relatives putting personal needs above royal responsibility. It's all here: the romantic debacles of Di, Fergie, Margaret, Ann, Charles and Andrew, as well as Prince Philip's unfailing ability to insert his foot in his mouth ("How nice to be in a country that is not ruled by its people," he said to Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner in 1969). Through it all, there have been two constants: the Queen is pragmatic and restrained, and the media is all over every mucky story. Lacey, veteran royal historian and biographer (The Queen Mother's Century, etc.), writes with the cooperation of the Palace, and his portrait is sympathetic, but he also offers an incisive analysis of the development of royal media coverage (which started with Queen Victoria and the invention of the camera) and the relationship between the two powerful entities, setting this apart from and far above the average by-the-numbers royal bio.


Next, you should watch the movie The Queen. As soon as I saw this movie in theater, I knew that I would have to buy it when it came out. It focuses in on the Queen and the rest of the family during Diana's death. I thought it was historically accurate is most senses and they also incorporated actually new footage from the event. Even if you are not interested in QEII, you will love to watch Helen Mirren who does an outstanding job with the role!

Stationary Swap: Part Uno

Yesterday, I received the most wonderfully, bight swap package ever. Thanks to Lou Lou in Lilly for hosting such a fun swap, and my incredible swap partner Kate from Nautical by Nature for the AMAZING package!

The blog world never ceases to amaze me! Kate knew how much I love to spend time in the kitchen, entertaining, my favorite colors, and even incorporates Lilly into the package. Look at what all she sent!


On less a less fun note, you have probably noticed that I have been more absent that usual recently. I promise it has not been by choice! With the first day of April being tomorrow, I am in the home stretch of college. This semester is my last attempt to redeem my grades to be able to graduate cum laude. In order to do that, I must maintain a 4.0 in all of my 14 hours. Well, the stress of this situation has begun to take a toll on me. In past semesters, I would have been fine with making an 88 on a difficult exam. Now, I am constantly feeling inadequate about my work, unless it is perfect. In the long run, it probably will not matter whether I graduated cum laude; but it sure would look nice on a resume ;) Hopefully things will calm down very soon with school and I will be able to devote more time to my blogging. I just wanted to let you know why there has been a lack of posting and commenting. Thanks for understanding!!

Founder's Day

This weekend had been filled with both sorority and school. Yesterday, we had a lovely brunch in honor of our sorority's founders. Our chapter and alumni dined on breakfast casserole, hashbrown casserole, french toast, ham, muffins, bagels, fruit, etc. It made me realize how much I miss Sunday brunch after church! Not only did we reflect back on our heritage; but the seniors were acknowledged, as well as academic awards were presents. I was lucky enough to be recognized in both of those categories.

For the seniors, they had our little sisters get up and read letters from our parents. I thought I would share what my mother wrote. (Preface: I was rush chairman and my little sister was the recommendations chair, so we were able to get to share being in charge of recruitment. That was definately a bonding experience like none other!! Not only are we best friends, but our mothers and families are friends as well.)

Dear Lilly P. Wannabe,

Here you are at another milestone, your graduation from college. How proud Dad and I are of your many accomplishments in both school and [your sorority]! How I loved being with you and your sisters during Rush week 2 years ago! [Little Sister's Mom] and I sat on the cooler in the kitchen during the parties taking turns peeping out the shutters seeing you and [your sorority] shine! Enjoy Today!

Love,
Mom

Thank goodness my mother did not write one of the tear jerkers... I didn't wear waterproof mascara! The entire day made me look back on my experience and truly realize how special it was and how different life would have been without being in my sorority. It is also customary for the chapter to present the senoirs with gifts. We got monogrammed aprons!!! And the icing on the cake is that mine is accented with pink and green ribbon :) They know me all too well!


Lastly, they recognized the scholastic achievements of the chapter. There were 5 of us that receieved 4.0's last semester, and we were presented with our Lamp of Knowledge. I was so excited! It took me until the end of my college career to get straight A's. This little addition made me start thinking that I want to make a charm bracelet. I think I am going to get the charms for Rush Chairman and Recommendation Chairman (I was that the year before). Then turn my pin into a charm, and add the lamp of knowledge too.

I am off to read more legal briefs on execution (fun subject, I know!), and put my new apron to use. I am debating between making homemade (of course!) brownies, chocolate chip cookies, or cake during my next reading break.

P.S. Don't forget if you haven't entered The Pair Tree giveaway to do so before Thursday!

What have I been doing?

Well, the better question would be "what should have I been doing?" I have a big paper due tomorrow and I have not even started it! I am the procrastinator extraordinaire. So after sleeping in, watching Father of the Bride Part I, eating lunch, browsing the internet, and blogging, I will finally be able to start this thing [hopefully].

Today is the first day of March, which means that I will be graduating in 2 months and 8 days!! It is so hard to believe. I realized that my moving date is in 2 months and 9 days! I have absolutely no idea how I am going to be able to furnish an entire house. All I know is that I am taking my bed from home and my TV and that is about it!

Browsing the internet, I was searching for ideas on how to decorate and furnish your first place. I found a website that a lot of ideas including furniture made out of Fedex boxes. Apparently, Fedex sent their lawyers after the guy that created the original website so it is no longer available, but here are some of the pictures.

[Bed]

[Couch]

[Desk]

Okay, so I am a pretty creative person. Even though I would never make my furniture out of boxes, surely I can come up with something?! Over spring break, I am going to go to some estate sales and start harrassing my relatives to see what I can come up with. Even if the furniture needs to be refinished or upholstered, I am completely capable of doing that. I cannot wait to see how it turns out!

Back to the Books

I made it back to Knoxville safe and sound, despite the massive amount of rain that poured from the sky the entire time I was driving. Today was the first day of my last semester at UT. It is hard to believe that after 7 semesters, this is the beginning of the end. Thank goodness my schedule is pretty laid back so that I can finish with strong grades, and hopefully senioritis won't set in too early on.

Good luck to all of you that are getting back in the groove of school also!