Hey all!
Happy three days after Valentine’s Day ;-). This winter I’ve
tried to make time for a little bit of TV series binge-watching—the latest
being The Crown. I thought it started out slow but I quickly became quite
engrossed in it—a bit of insight into what is really a strangely rarified world
that the rest of us peons could never properly relate to. I did find it quite
fascinating to learn about I guess you’d call it the moral underpinnings of
Queen Elizabeth—what has motivated her over the years, perhaps why she’s often
seemed cold and detached, even why she’s not yet yielded the throne to her son
(who sure comes across as neglected in that series!). But it turns out, it’s
complicated! Evidently it’s not easy being the Queen…
One of the fun things about writing about royals is the
research involved. For Red Carpet Romeo,
which comes out today and is centered around a royal wedding in Monaforte with
the It’s Reigning Men gang, I
started digging around to learn what happens in a palace in preparation for
things like State Dinners and other premier royal events, and wow, it’s nuts!
The manpower and the elbow grease are staggering. It takes days to prepare, and
there is no detail unattended to, right down to measuring the distance between
the dinner plate and the edge of the table. You can learn more here http://bit.ly/2l0Lus0
I suspect I’d make a horrible guest at a royal dinner:
guaranteed I’d say the wrong thing, use the wrong utensil, request my dressing
on the side, make an inappropriate joke that would render those within earshot
dead silent. I feel fairly certain I’d not be invited back.
Once I saw a documentary about Queen Elizabeth in which two
girls presented her with a sweater they’d knit for her. The Queen, in her own
inimitable way, thanked them. “How horribly lovely,” she said with what looked
like a grimace but was probably actually a smile. Not many people can properly use
the word “horribly” in a compliment. I thought it was endearing.
We’ve also caught up on movies in advance of the Oscars—so
many good ones out right now but a lot of pretty depressing ones. Loved
Manchester by the Sea but ugh, it was, to borrow the Queen’s phrasing, horribly
sad. La La Land—they had me till the ending, which I hated. Jackie—again, so
grim but so well-acted. Lion—amazing. But so sad. Hmmm…there’s a theme here.
Hidden Figures was uplifting! Oh but I adored 20th Century Women—it
was quirky yet so much fun and terrifically acted. The other night because of a
movie ticket snafu, we ended up watching The Nice Guys at home—loved that film!
Lots of laughs and slapstick, which I love. Oh and go watch A Royal Night Out
if you’re looking for a fun escapist movie.
I also wait anxiously each week for a new episode of This is
Us (the best!) and I can’t resist that evil Corinne on the Bachelor, which has
me tuning in for all their mindless nonsense ;-). Oh and now I can’t help but
watch Riverdale—it’s totally not my thing, but the girl who plays Veronica used
to live across the street from us and was my daughter’s best friend when they
were little girls, so it’s fun to watch her all grown up and all girl-powery
while being slightly villainous.
On a sad note, we lost our beloved Labrador Sassy a couple
of weeks ago after nearly 14-1/2 wonderful years. It’s been really hard; I miss
her like mad. I set her picture as my phone wallpaper, but it made me cry every
time I looked at her so had to switch it out. I’ve now taken to stalking the
most gorgeous Labrador retriever on Instagram here—his name is Camden and
he belongs to a friend of a friend of a friend. He’s so a handsome boy! Oh, and
if you love him, check out these insanely adorable white Lab puppies here—makes my heart jump for
joy to watch them! I really need a puppy…
Here’s to royal weddings and puppies and good guys and
villains, and while we’re at it, springtime being just around the corner.
Check out my Royal Romeos series, which is a spin-off of my wildly successful It's Reigning Men series--I hope you'll be able to check them out!
