Kitchen Counter Confidential - Royal watcher

I have been waiting for the right week to introduce you to one of the most important women in my life...my best friend. We have been best friends for many, many, many years. In fact I often say to my daughter "You know I met Vanessa when I was your age." Crazy. When the Royal wedding was announced I knew I had found the PERFECT week! So, I suggest you sit back, sip your tea and enjoy peaking into the kitchen of a true Royal watcher.

1. We recently moved into a new house, 10 days before Christmas (which also happens to be on the same street), which was a crazy busy and stressful time - but we still had the living and dining rooms painted, tree cut and deocorated and house lights up before Dec. 24th! I love Christmas, and there was no way I could have people over with circa 1990 forest-green walls!

2. Our old kitchen, in our wartime early 1950's house, had just 2 outlets for the whole kitchen - that's including the plugs needed for the fridge and the stove. In addition, it had only about 4 feet of counter space in total. It was a cute old kitchen, but really made preparing meals a challenge. I got good at balancing things over the sink or using the stove as an extra counter. It always made me wonder how families actually cooked in the 50's, especially when they usually had big families! I guess things were simpler then. Funny thing now is that I went from having the smallest kitchen in the world to 2 kitchens - the new house has another kitchen in the basement (which is by the way also bigger than my old kitchen) that will never be used. We will use the extra stove for large get-togethers, but I'm sure all the extra cupboards will remain empty!

3. My husband and I work full-time at very busy jobs and we have one 9 year old daughter who is always so much fun - it's a never ending challenge trying to fit in all that we want and need to do each day, but somehow it all works out (usually!)

Well, I would have said previously that I was against having small appliances on the counter only because of my lack of outlets! So, the only thing I was able to even use was the toaster and if I needed to plug anything else in, something else had to be unplugged. So the kitchen in our new house has a normal amount of outlets, which really excited me with the potential to plug things in. So, I have definitely used the mixer and blender, etc. a lot more since moving, but I don't see a need to keep appliances out on the counter that are rarely used. More counter space is always good! Plus, we don't drink coffee, so no need to keep a coffee maker on the counter every day.

1. Stove top - our new kitchen has the separate stove top right in the counter and a wall oven. Wasn't sure how functional that would be, but I actually love it.

2. Microwave - basically I use it to heat up my microwavable heating pad every night before bed - I'm always freezing!

3. Lunch bags - I seem to find it easier to have a few lunch bags on the go for all of us, that I can clean out and wash every few days.

4. Pile of papers (which I try to neatly organize but doesn't always work) - bills, magazines, homework, letters from school, flyers, receipts, upcoming appointments, etc.

5. Bottle of open wine - there is always an open bottle of red wine of some sort

That's easy - the actual counter! There are lots of things that we really like about our new kitchen, such as the openness, high ceilings and breakfast bar, which is great for gathering around and entertaining or doing homework. But, the counter is made of small ceramic tiles, which is not horrible, but there are a couple of cracked tiles which I try to cover up with the dish rack, etc...and the colour is blah. There had been many other places to spend money on the house before this (like new stainless appliances that were apparently a must), but on the wish list for future is to install granite countertops in taupy-brownish colour and do the backsplash in small, square glass tile - one day!

Hmmm, I would say just about anything. I love to have room now to spread out on the counter. Just making a regular dinner now is so much more enjoyable with a little extra space. I think it's just crazy to thing about what I had wished for - plugs and counter space!

Twice! I met Princess Diana and actually shook her hand (softest hand I've ever felt in my life!) when Charles and Di came on their last visit together to Toronto in 1991. My mom and I waited at Nathan Philips Square for about 12 hours, to be first in line in front of the barricades, and it worked out! Then last summer I took my daughter to Woodbine Race Track when the Queen attended the running of the Queen's Plate on her visit to Toronto. I thought it was awesome to have her experience that.

I would have to say it's a toss-up between watching the wedding of Princess Di and Prince Charles and meeting Princess Di. I know, I am such a "royal watching" nerd. People ask me all the time why I like it of even care about the Royal family. I don't know, there's just something about it that I love. Maybe it is because it's not like real life; it's more like a fantasy. And in my fantasy life, I really am quite enamoured with ball gowns, tiaras and all the tradition.

I told my daughter as soon as the wedding date was announced (which also happens to be my husband's birthday, ha!) that we would both take the day off work and school and get up at 3am and have a fancy "tea" and watch the wedding the same way I did with my mom for the wedding of Charles and Di, when I was a little girl...about my daughter's age. It's a memory that has always stuck with me, and I want her to be able to experience it too. We talked about getting dressed up and wearing hats - but I'm pretty sure we'll be too tired, and my husband would make way too much fun of us!

So, here I sit on the eve of the Royal wedding (I know you are reading this on Friday...and the wedding is probably over) and I am looking forward to making memories. My mother-in-law is on her way...she will be sleeping on the couch...ready for a 4am wake up call. It is amazing to think that people all around the world will be doing the exact same thing as us. Sitting with their family, gathered around the TV, watching in awe as a Prince and Princess are married.

See you on Monday...wedding wrap up! Have a great weekend everyone.