Spotlight: Brittania!

Our first stop in Scotland was at the Royal Brittania!

Our host, Ginni, is a fan of the royal family and she explained that occassionally the non-royal lovers demand the royal family appear less affluent. So they made their family yacht (the queen's ship--she's head of the Royal Navy, natch) a tourist attraction. Once the commonfolk saw it they were a little relieved--it's not a Donald Trump-esque ship! It's beautiful but classy and not ostentatious (in spite of being a yacht).

The Royal dining room! It took three hours to set the table! The used a ruler to measure each place setting. This is where Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip entertained many dignitaries, including Ron and Nancy Reagan.

When it is necessary for the Royals to come into shore from the Brittania, they would take this hot little number right here! Additionally, there is a vintage Rolls that is stowed away on the deck of the yacht. They would have to slide it in sideways into it's little garage make it fit--Queenie has to have proper transport, don'tcha know? They used a crane to get the Rolls on shore as necessary.

There were several bars on board, including this one. As I recall, this is the officer's bar. The royals had their own, of course, and then one for guests. But I might be getting confused. At any rate, excellent use of space. Ha!

This is a lounge area where guests would congregate. It's next to the long dining room. Corporations now rent out the yacht for private parties. I believe you can even rent it out for weddings and such.

For more on Brittania you can check out this link. Most Americans seem to like the fact that Princess Diana and Prince Charles took their honeymoon on the yacht. Famously, Diana broke royal protocol and, after a prolonged absence from her children, greeted them with motherly hugs and kisses in front of the press onboard Britannia and not the cool handshake usually reserved for royal children.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Over Thanksgiving weekend, we went to Memphis to visit family. Dale loves ribs more than anything else--even Thanksgiving dinner! On Saturday night, he finally got his BBQ Pork!

Gary & Mom selecting their preferred BBQ item. Gary had ribs; mom the pulled pork.

Sarah and Chris--they both had ribs!

Dale got his ribs! Isn't he happy!? He also smeared BBQ on his face. He was very enthused!

Gary liked his ribs, too!

Ribs! And onion rings. Delish!

The carnage...

Shoes Book News!

The book that Dale took the photos for is now available for pre-order though it's not due to hit stores until March/April.

Pre-order from Amazon.com today!

We're very exciting about how it's coming along--it's going to be great. I should know, as I'm the copyeditor! It looks great and we can't wait for you to see it.

More Scotland

I forgot to post the link to Dale's photos from Scotland.

http://dale-murray.com/scotland/

Just to give you a basic rundown:
There are photos of:
the Royal Yacht Brittania--the Queen's ship, where Princess Di enjoyed her Honeymoon!
Edinburgh Castle--quite spectacular and more like a fort than you might expect.
St. Giles cathedral and the mini chapel within known as the Order of the Thistle--where the elite pray, I guess.
The Ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral, quaint fishing villages and the birthplace of golf as well as and some shots taken around Edinburgh.

Hope that helps explain some of the photos!

Photos from Edinburgh

I posted a bunch of the sillier photos from Edinburgh--these are from my camera so not so very pretty and exciting. But still! Scotland! Weee!

Click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/rkilbreath/RebeccaSEdinburghPhotos

Back from Edinburgh

Long time no blog! We're back from Scotland and still recovering from jetlag and general travel exhaustion. I took the snapshot above at Edinburgh castle. Will be posting a ton of pics, as well as a HUGE gallery of our photos in the coming weeks. We need time, people! We're tired!

Anyway, above is a photo taken of some famous stairs at Edinburgh Castle, which is actually more of a fort from my perspective. The castlefort overlooks a really nice Starbucks. But the damn coffee shop closes at 7 p.m. Crazy country! Everything is the same but just a little different. For example the Dollar Store is called Pound City. Seriously. I didn't believe my eyes at first but I saw several of them. Coke tastes more like Pepsi. The cars drive on the opposite of the road, as do the drivers. Heh.

Anyway, lots more to come, just wanted to post my favorite picture so far.

Weekend Apart for Us but with Old Friends! Yay!

Dale and I spent the weekend apart. Of course, he didn't take any pictures with his friends! Gah! But he said it was great to see them and to hang out in Fenton and Flint. Big love to Greg, Chase, Mikee, Terry and Jonathon. And thanks to Matt for driving over with Dale!

Heather cutting the cake!

I was up in the Traverse City area visiting with some of my favorite friends. My college roomie and BFF Heather is pregnant and we had a shower for her on Saturday. Rebecca did a great job with decorations and I enjoyed being there with my gal pals! Thanks for letting me stay and being a great hostess, Cindy (you remember, the Mary Kay lady)!

On Sunday, Doug and Suzanne came over from Petoskey and we had an amazing brunch at the Hasselhof. No, that's an actor. Hofbrau? I think. Whatev. It was delish! Make your own Bloody Mary bar! Waffles! Chocolate-covered strawberries! Prime Rib! Insanity in Interlochen!

Heather is indeed preggers! See little Isabella and Bennett

(Brent and Cindy's super cute kids) in the background.

Heather and Ryan Ranger--proud parents-to-be! We're happy to share this big occasion with them! Wow! Congrats!

Doug and Suzanne! It was so great to see them. It was the only chance I've had to see them so far this year! Tragedy! I adore them both to bits and pieces and Dougie and I have been BFF since 1994-ish!

Brent and Cindy! Brent is Heather's lil' bro and Cindy is Ree's cousin! They're the cutest! Two kids later they're still crazy in love! Aww!

Flashback: Dale's Friends Visit!

Dale's pals Chase and Chris came to visit us about a month after we moved here. They hung out and got caught up and all that good stuff! Dale was very happy to see them!

Here they are in front of the cars on a spike sculpture near our house!They did a silly photoshoot!


This is an excellent opportunity to remind y'all that I have a blog of silly Roadside Americana spots and other fun kitschy places right here: Rebecca's Roadside Curiousities!

Museum of Contemporary Art--a bust!

When Meghan was here a couple weekends ago we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. It sucked. Meghan and I both like Modern/Contemporary Art but it turns out that the MOCA doesn't actually have any. Except for this cool humdinger out front. MOCA is now a rotating exhibit space. Currently it's all about sustainable architecture, which would be great if I wasn't looking for modern art. Whatev.

Anyway, Dale took this pic and I liked it.

More on Dale's Recent Photo Shoot

Dale's photoshoot from a couple week's back was a success! And we thought it might be neat to show you what it takes to set up a shot and what the final product is. The above photo is the set-up. Dale has a milky-white table, surrounded by lights and fabric to make the product pop!
The photo above is an example of the final photo. The shoes are suspended in space. The graphic designer will cut out the shoes and incorporate the photos into the book she is designing. We'll provide a link to the book once it is available in a few months! For sure, you'll want to pick up a copy, right? I thought so! Anyway, a lot goes into every shot and it's sort of neat to see the "before" and the "after" in terms of detail. I'm long-winded tonight. Sorry.

Flashback--August!

Dale's mom came to visit back in August! We went downtown and dragged her all over the place!

Jackie got her first taste of Chicago, Oak Park and the train.

Dale took this lovely photo on the train during his mom's trip.
I really like it and wanted to share it.