Royal Wedding Shenanigans

You are all probably sitting on the edge of your seats pressing the refresh button on Kelly Leigh Gets Busy waiting for me to update it with some Royal Wedding Action.  Well your wish is my command friends.  

Because there is a million pictures of Kate and Wills on the internet I'll spare you my opinions on that.  But I will say I found the contrast of American reporting on the subject vs British reporting very fascinating.  A highlight was when my mom called to tell me she was on the Dukan Diet because thats what Kate is on and she is soo skinny.  Meanwhile the British press was actually saying Kate had pre-wedding jitters and was super busy resulting in unwanted weight loss, thus she was trying to GAIN weight to look a lil more curvaceous in her dress.  Either way lets just say she was banging.  (ps. my mom says the Dukan diet is working like a charm for those of you wondering.)

I love Kate, and I love ALL the royals actually.  But the Queen is my absolute fave because she is 85!  Yes 85 people!  And she is just so dang spritely.  Did you see how charming she looked in her little yellow frock?  And her hubby, the duke, is 90!  What a pair!  I also have a soft spot for Harry, I think he is the much sexier prince.  Did anyone notice him totally macking on Pippa?  Those Middletons know how to bag a prince if you ask me!

My bad case of Royal fever meant I was couch bound with my own British Prince  from 9am - 1pm on Friday.  But luckily I was able to pull myself together, go take a shower and get my self to a Royal wedding street party.

We also met up with our friends Molly and Jimmy.  

Molly is from Wisconsin and got herself her own British Prince Charming too.  

See?

Molly is just cuter than Kate and Jimmy has A LOT more hair than Will.

Oh and look we met a Queen!  

A drag queen that is.

British people love drag.

They think it's hilarious.

I'm still a little too American to get the whole drag humor thing.

But I made sure to photograph this lovely lady for your viewing pleasure.

You are welcome.

Look there's the prince himself!

Smooches!

We proceded to get a little intoxicated in celebration,

met some new friendsies,

ordered french fries with cheese and mayo from one of those sketchy vans..... 

(wtf is that combination and why do they offer it to drunk ppl? Really not helping my diet.) 

And made a wig out of a dead beaver.

Hello someone needs to give me a hair cut in a bad way.

Congratulations Will and Kate!

Thank you for the fun day off work!

Cheers!

A Little Wedding Magic

We had such a fun weekend!  

Saturday morning we had an early start and took a very long train ride 

down south for a beautiful British wedding! 

Such excited newly weds!

Look at the groom in his morning suit - soooo british right?  

Beautiful old stone church.

Big white tent reception.

Nick is friend's with the groom, Ed, from college where they studied technical theater.

He sure didn't skimp on the lighting design for the wedding!

Oh hey and there's us.

How cute are they?

Welcome to married life Keeley and Ed!

ps.  Remember the other day when I said the groom had his eyebrow shaved off?  Yeah well understandably the bride was a little pissed off, so what do you do when you work in theater and are missing an eyebrow before your wedding day?  Call in the make up artist from Harry Potter of course!  Yep that is why both his eyebrows look intact, what a great story huh!

Wedding Fashion

Yesterday while running errands I mentioned I purchased this dress for a wedding...

From Mint Velvet.

I think it's pretty cute, but I'm struggling with styling it. 

So I was just wondering, my fashion savy blogging pals, 

how would you style it for a late November wedding? 

The only definite I have so far is I need to buy a belt,

and I will probably wear a chunky gold flower necklace with it.

Also, it is likely to be rainy and cold.  

So I am thinking tights?

Totally not sure about shoes or coat.

Help!

Everybody Loves the Cubbies

This is my good friend Liza.

We've been pals since kindergarten.

She was super duper awesome to me in Chi-town last week.

She let me share her studio apartment and bed with her and her crazy cat, Vince....

And she didn't even get that mad at me when I returned home from the wedding 

and tried to take him on a walk....

FYI

Cats on leashes being walked (dragged) by drunk bridesmaid = crazy, hissy mess.  

But you know what was REALLY awesome?

She remembered that "Go to a Cubs game"

Was on my Chicago To Do List for like 4 years when I went to school there.

And I just never got around to going....

I studied far too much in college.  

So going with her was awesome!

It was just as good as I ever imagined.

The atmosphere at baseball games is topnotch.

And the pizza in Wrigleyville is pretty good too!

Thanks Liza for this little piece of Americana!

Lord knows I LOVE it!

ps.  Thank you for all the support and prayers. 

My Uncle passed away this morning after a long night of tears and prayers,

but we are all glad he is in heaven now.
pss. My friend Amy just joined the blogging world. 
Show her some love!

Everyone Loves a Wedding

Amy and Ben had the perfect wedding.

(with the small exception of my dress splitting down my butt in the middle of millenium park - True Story.)

But the bride didn't notice, and everyone was all SMILES.

And maybe a few happy tears...

We all had a blast!

It's off to San Diego for the newlyweds now.  

And maybe even Guam depending on where Ben gets stationed for the Navy.

I'm so excited for them.

Congratulations Amy and Ben!!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

One of my goals for my USA trip was to make sure the bride had the best bachelorrette party.

In the history of bachelorette parties, this one was going to make it into the books.

The essentials for such a rockin B party are...

 Lots of spicey gifts, in spicey gift bags....

The best roommates in the world - reunited, with Chi-town as our playground.

A few old dudes to hit on us... complete with hawaiian shirt and mustache.

Pop rocks lined martini and a phallic lollipop.

Cute boys to fall in love with us on the dance floor.  

Let it be noted, Kelly Leigh's love to dance....

Husbands of Kelly Leigh's HATE to dance.

We have an agreement regarding this.

Please note the tongue action on the below photo.

Go shawty!!

When bachelorette's get tired, they require nice,

 cute boys to carry them to their next location.

And when bachelorette's get hungry, 

they might ask said dude to carry them to a subway at 2 am.

And that my friends, is how you help your fave little Asian 

have her last night on the town as a single woman!

What do you think?

One for the books, eh?

July 17th

Today last year we got married.

It was the single best day of my life... so far.

Our wedding couldn't have been more perfect.

But, this year has had it's ups and downs...

And I wouldn't recommend marrying a foreigner to anyone -

because it's not easy.

But if you are totally, completely in LOVE with them -

then it's worth it.

Happy anniversary Neener!

I love you so so much!

A Letter of Hatred to the Recession

Dear Recession,

Once again I would like to tell you how much you suck.  In fact, I would like to flip two middle fingers in the air to you and spit in your face, if only you had one.

Because of you and my current state of funemployment, I am unable to attend my dear friend Amy's wedding.  I was so excited to be her bridesmaid and see her get married to the lovely Ben in Chicago this August.

Amy and Ben about to jump into the FROZEN Lake Michigan, 

in support of Invisible Conflicts, an awesome charity which Amy is super involved in.

Amy was my all time favorite college roomie and we had planned and discussed wedding topics all senior year.  I was very excited to see how hers panned out (and if it was as awesome as mine). Recession, you're really taking the FUN out of funemployment.

I was going to wear this dress (which isn't cooperating and won't let me paste it into blogger) in Marine.  I'd probably look a little fat in it as it stands, which is why I have been rowing extra hard AND running home from practice.  I wanted to be a banging hot bridesmaid.  But all that thinspiration has evaporated into thin air now that I have had to make the hard decision that the plane ticket alone is just too expensive for my unemployed self, not to mention the cost of hanging out in Chi town all week.

Oh and I almost forgot, the fact that British Airways is having strikes, and there is a volcano erupting and screwing up flights from Europe. That makes buying a $1,000 plane ticket seem like a ridiculous Vegas style gamble, and I don't think unemployed people should gamble in Vegas.

Going to Chicago was going to be a blast, I was going to cross off Go On A Cupcake Crawl from my list of 100 Things To Do, I was going to see my friends, and my family was going to come up from Cincinnati for a few days to visit.  And of course there would be lots of wedding related shenanigans!

So Recession, if I could punch you I would.  I hate your guts.  You make me want to scream the F-bomb repeatedly.  Just thought you should know.

Yours with the utmost detestation and burning hatred,

Kelly

PS.  I haven't totally given up hope, if I get a job we're back in the financial clear and I can go!  Please keep your fingers crossed for me!  I need all the help I can get!

Happy Birthday Sister!

Today is my little sister's 21st birthday!!  She's all grown up now I guess.  I wish I could post embarrassing pictures of our childhood together, but unfortunately those are all across the ocean.  So this will have to do...

Isn't she beautiful?

Clearly, she will have never had a drop of alcohol before tonight...

First time we got our littlest sister intoxicated off our great uncle's homemade kirsch.

Don't worry we were in France.  Stuff like that is legal there.  

This is my fave picture of them ever!  Aren't they so pretty?

Happy 21st Birthday (month) Princess!  

Love you!

Heidi's First Week

I have something to admit.  When we decided to get a puppy I was worried.  Would it be possible for me to love any dog as much as my best friend, Maddy?  If you don't know, she is the best dog in the world.  She's a little chubby and lot of love, and she has always been there for me... even during my awkward tween phase when I'd come home crying because some jerkwad boy said I looked like a gummy bear.  Maddy would sit there with me, loving me unconditionally and begging for a piece of my special comfort food - the butter burrito.  (butter in a soft tortilla - the jerkwad did have a point... I seemed to eat my feelings a lot).

But luckily we made it through that phase and we continued to be BFFs, she was even the ring bearer in my wedding!  I couldn't have ever asked for a better dog and I wish she could come live with us in London, but she is a nati kind of girl!

But here I am with a new dog in my life, and all my fears of loving her as much as Maddy have completely subsided.  She is just too stinking cute to not love.

And she's very smart.  We've already taught her how to sit, lay down, come, stay, and go to her crate - which, despite people telling us it is cruel to keep her in, she absolutely loves.  Oh, and did I mention she only peed in the house once today?! Potty training success is just within reach!

She also loves to sit on your lap, which is pretty adorable, but since she's going to grow up to be about 80 pounds or so, we're trying to break that habit.  But sometimes we give in...

OK, OK, a lot of times we give in.  I'll tell you what though - is there anything cuter than a boy and his dog?  One piece of advice my mom gave me when I was younger and we were walking Maddy was, "Make sure you find a man who treats his dog right, then you know he'll treat you right."  Mom, I think I found a winner.

Amo-Ink Thank You Notes

Ah the day has finally come when I have completed all of our wedding thank you notes!  I'm so excited.  Sorry if these have been a bit delayed but I have a few good excuses.  Our move to England, the fact that so many of you are still in college and your addresses keep changing being the top two.  Anyways thanks everyone for getting us so many nice gifts.

I have to say that I absolutely loved the stationary designed for us by Amy Owens.  She is really great and helped us with all the wedding day stuff.  The invites were fantastic and she also did the programs, menus, table numbers, and our luggage tags / escort cards.

Unfortunately I don't have all the work she did with us here in London but here are the thank yous.  So pretty.  Thanks Amy!

Check out more of her beautiful stuff at Amo-Ink!

Also, I must say that when I asked a lot of people for their new address they would say I didn't need to send them a Thank You.  But come on people!  You know you like getting snail mail.  It's way more fun than emailing or facebooking for sure.  So in honor of snail mail and in a shameless attempt to see who is reading my little blog I will send the first 5 people who comment a postcard!  woo hoo!