Friday Find: Elizabeth at 90

I had this post scheduled for today before I even realized that it's the fifth anniversary of The Royal Wedding. (Should Royal Wedding be capitalized? Well, it is in my house.)

I remember distinctly where I was when I heard that Prince William was engaged to his commoner college girlfriend, Kate Middleton. I was in a hotel business center in Jamaica with a bunch of friends. We were there for our friends' wedding, and we were having a blast. I don't know what everyone else was doing on those computers, but I was trying to order a bunch of stuff on Lands' End Canvas (RIP) before the coupon I had expired (I have no explanation, other than a love of bargains). The news or TVs or something showed that blue dress and that perfect blowout and that sapphire ring and those two beaming faces, and I was hooked. My love for the royals was born.

(I also specifically remember where I was when Diana died, and while I understood it was a big deal, I wasn't really that interested in the royals and I carried on eating my Chinese food and watching a movie with my friends and thinking about my upcoming sophomore year of high school.)

Anyway, there's a really lovely documentary produced by the BBC to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday. It gives a history of her life, and we get to watch members of the royal family watch old home movies, some of which they've never seen. It's so touching and a very unique look into the private life of the royal family that we rarely ever see. Clips that particularly stuck out to me were the young queen with young Prince Charles and Princess Anne; the way their grandchildren spoke about the queen and Prince Philip; Harry and Wills ribbing each other and delighting over how footage of their 2-year-old father so clearly recalls George.

I was lucky enough to be able to watch the documentary on YouTube, and that was the link I'd planned on posting today. Unfortunately, it was pulled for copyright infringement (Oops, sorry, BBC), and I cannot seem to find anywhere online that we can view it in the States. If you're in the UK, you can try this link. Otherwise, maybe just keep searching for the full-length version while you enjoy clips like this and this.

I also found this other documentary, and this one, that seem fun, although I haven't watched either in full yet.

Additionally, as a 5th-anniversary bonus, Heather & Jessica of FugGirls fame have put together this delightful retrospective, and while you're down the rabbit hole, check out this truly fascinating piece on Kate's wedding dress. I can't get over some of the work that went into it; including, but not limited to, the seamstresses making the lace being required to wash their hands every 30 minutes while they worked on the lace (!).

Cheer up, Harry. It'll be your time soon.

PS - Just. This.

Marketing Monday: Well Played, Amazon.

My social feeds are blowing up this morning with mentions of Amazon's announcement about changes to Prime membership options.

Currently - or rather, until this announcement - the only option for Prime was an annual fee for an all-encompassing package, which included free two day shipping, unlimited streaming of Prime shows, photo storage, some free monthly Kindle books, Prime music access, etc.

As of last night, there are multiple options for membership. Rather than just an annual fee, you can now purchase their TV streaming service for $8.99 a month, or subscribe to Prime on a monthly basis for $10.99.

In a world of Hulu Plus and Netflix, this seemed inevitable. And for two bucks more a month you get all the shipping and other benefits Prime offers?

Smart, smart, smart.

TechCrunch has a good write-up on it today, which you can find here.

Coincidentally, I was recently reading this article from Money that came out on Thursday, discussing who subscribes to Amazon. Some of the figures that staggered me:

- More than 50% of American households are Prime subscribers; up from ~35% about two years ago.

- In households that earn more than $112k a year, that figure rises to more than 70%!

I can't wait to see how the numbers change with these new membership options.

Are you taking advantage of these new subscription options?

Friday Find: Gloria (ah-ah-ha, ah-ha-ha)

I was reminded of this song recently, and it immediately took me back to my childhood in the 80s: My dad's wood workshop in our basement; the silver cassette stereo and the feel of its very square buttons under my fingertips; the cement floors I roller skated endlessly around until I was told to go outside (but why, when the cement was so smooth?!); the beat of this song. In a minute I'm going to search for it on iTunes and add it to my workout mix. Meanwhile, you just give it a listen and try to avoid throwing your body around the kitchen or your office in a dramatic, dance-y fashion. I dare you.