When I Roll Into the ...When I Stroll Into the...When I Bounce into...the Wild Wild West!

Big news folks, big. HUGE!

I got a job.

And the crowd goes wild!

It's in Arizona

And a hush falls over the crowd.

Yup...I'm packing my bags and heading out West, back to my college town (kinda...going to Phoenix, went to school in Tempe, just outside Phoenix.)

I'm taking a gig with an issue-based campaign as their Communications Director. This will give me fantastic statewide press experience, and hopefully help me get a campaign job when the 2010 Congressional races start up in the spring/summer.

If you remember from my Tweets, I mentioned that I got cold called by a company because I put my resume up on a political website...well 2 interviews and a lengthy reference check process later, they are the organization who hired me!

Oh yea...did I mention I'll be leaving in about 2 weeks? Yea...awesome.

If you've been following my Tweets, you'll also know that I've had just the WORST luck trying to get a new apartment here in DC...and now I'm thinking that all those rejections (and believe you me...there were a TON!) were for a reason - I was meant to take this job. (This also make me feel better about myself, so I don't think that people just didn't want to rent to me/live with me.)

I am bittersweet about the entire thing...I am going to miss my DC friends dearly (especially my bloggy friends - and especially especially this gal who is moving to my neighborhood as we speak!) and then there of course is the whole Florida issue.

Long story short with Florida: not sure what is going to happen. He's known from the very beginning that I haven't wanted anything serious...so we'll see. After the Badger debacle I'm totally against being in another long-distance relationship.

So if I don't write for a few weeks, know that I still love you all very much and I am just busily packing up my apartment, finding places to store everything, buying a car (no public transportation in Phoenix!), moving across the country (again...), finding a place to live, and oh yea - starting a brand new job.

I guess I'll have to change my header to "Thoughts on life and love in our State Capital city!" haha!

I hope you all have a fantastic rest of the week - thankfully I took the rest of the week off work (my lease was supposed to end July 31 and I knew I'd need the last final days to pack because I might possibly be the worst worst procrastinator EVER) so I'll be starting to pack and go through things and do a ton of research on my new job!

Cheers,



PS - If you happen to have a spare room in your place in the Phoenix area (and you know who you are...) and want a clean-ish roomie, let me know! :)

Running of the Brides: DC Edition

I think I might like being the "FOB" (Friend of Bride) because I get to be there for all the fun planning stuff, but without having to pay for it (or marry the groom.)*

As I mentioned in my Tweets, I've had 3 couples (6 good friends!) get engaged in the past 3 weeks (actually, all within 5 days of each other!)

One couple, Friend and his girlfriend (I refuse to call her his fiancee) are simply NOT right for each other (she is my friend but he needs to do better...she is WAAAAAAAAAY too over dramatic for him.)

The other 2 couples I could not be more excited for.

Bear and Dougle were my campaign BFF's during the last cycle, when I was in CA. Dougle (the boy) and I shared an office, and Bear (the girl) and I hit it off as soon as we met. Their relationship was interesting because he was her boss...and one of the other staffers who worked for Dougle thought that he was showing Bear favoritism in the work she was being assigned. I can honestly say that this was because she simply is a good worker and the complainer was a whiny, spoiled brat with a sadly inflated sense of self-importance.

BP is my college buddy and I've loved his now-fiancee ever since the first time I met her, while we were brushing our teeth in the guest bathroom in pj's at BP's folks home in Madison (this was during my campaign in Wisconsin, and I had a training in Madison.) BP and D have since moved to DC and currently live across the street from me. We have so much fun together - it's never awkward when just the 3 of us (or when Florida comes along.)

Tonight was the first time I've gotten to see BP and D since their 4th of July engagement, and it was completely spur of the moment: I went to peek at a house I emailed about earlier today and decided I'd pop into their house across the street before an appointment to look at another house. We chatted for a bit, Florida and I went to the appointment, and then came back (with beer) and settled in for a longer chat.

Turkey chili followed, and D and I got into chatting about wedding planning. We somehow started talking about the Filene's Basement bridal gown sale, and BP Googled it to see when it was.

It's in 2 weekends.

Cue angelic music from high atop the thing (bonus points for getting the reference!)

Instantly, D and I started making plans.

We are both going to take that day off work.

We are going to Filene's earlier in the week so we can map out our attack plan. There will be sketches and flow charts. The planning for this would make the Navy SEALs proud.

She will be wearing flip flops and leggings (though the article BP pulled up said some brides wear bike shorts and a bandeau top. I told her I would start working for her enemy if she wore that.)

We will be in matching shirts so we can easily identify each other (preferably in neon!)

We are going to have Sharpies and posterboard.

We are going to have walkie-talkies (my codename: Foxtrot. Her's: Delta.)

We are going to kick some brides' BUTTS to get my girl the dress of her dreams.

SO: Has anyone done the Filene's Basement Running of the Brides sale before? Or any sample sale like this? What are your suggestions? Tips and Tricks? Words of warning?

Delta and Foxtrot look forward to your thoughts!

Cheers,



*Not that I don't love the groom in this particular case. But given that his little brother is LBP...it might be awkward. ;)

This one's for you, Blue Eyed Bride...or how Fleetwood Mac saved my relationship and my life

(not only an accurate title...but also words that Stevie Nicks said in dedication of Landslide to her Daddy (replace Blue Eyed Bride with Daddy...you get it. It will make more sense in a few seconds. Just keep reading.)

So Blue Eyed Bride mentioned on her Twitter that she loves Fleetwood Mac's The Dance album, and I responded that I had quite the story involving that album's DVD, peach margaritas, candles, and my ex-boyfriend's mom who told me that since I was from California, I must be crazy.

Seriously.

To my face.

During our very first conversation.

Bless ex-boyfriend's heart for standing up for me and telling his mom the next morning that what she said was really offensive. She then spent rest of that day trying to make it up to me.

Let me set the scene.

Ex-boyfriend Colgs and I were in town (Chicago) for our friend's wedding. We had just started (secretly) dating, and we were going to be spending the weekend at his folks house. Colgs comes from a very close-knit family, and I knew that their approval would seal my fate, either way.

I thought I was charming and they would love me at once. However...

...during the introductions (the INTRODUCTIONS! I had literally JUST met this woman 2.5 seconds ago!) this is what ensued:

Mama Colgs: Bea, so you're from San Diego, right?

Bea: Actually, I'm from San Francisco - the other part of the state.

Mama Colgs: Oh. Well it's the same thing, everyone from California is crazy.

Bea: {awkwardly} ummmm...yea, we are, heh...it's what we're known for (?????)

Colgs: {quickly} Um, so Mom, can we help with dinner??

Yea...basically called me a crazy to my face. Awesome.

So the next day, Colgs had to go to work (we flew in on Thursday night) and left me alone in his house.

With his mother.

It was tense, to say the least. She knew I was pissed and offended, and didn't know what to say to apologize.

So we were talking about the wedding over a late breakfast and who knows how, but somehow Fleetwood Mac came up.

Well I guess she realized that I must not be crazy if I like Fleetwood Mac, so she decided that we needed to put on the DVD.

Now we can enter the margaritas.

When Colgs came home a few hours later (he left work early, worried about me and his mom alone...) Mama Colgs and I were several pitchers of William Sonoma peach margaritas deep, the DVD was STILL on (and had been repeated a few times), every single candle in the house was brought to the family room and lit, and Mama Colgs and I were dancing and singing* in the middle of the room to the blasting DVD (because we had spent much time enjoying our frosty margaritas on the patio, and we had to hear the music out there too, obvi!)

He took one look at us, dancing and swaying and singing, and walked back out and headed back to the office.

The world may never know if he left because he knew his mom and I were getting along famously and didn't need a babysitter...or because he was simply scared of what he saw in that family room that day.

The rest of the trip was fine, and Mama Colgs and I remained very close throughout our year-long relationship. In fact, Colgs and I are still very good friends, and as his parents are both in the pharmaceutical field, whenever I have questions about medications (I'm very allergic to a few common ones) I still call them for advice.

When we got back to DC, I wanted to send them a bottle of wine (I tried to find more W&S peach margarita mix...but they were sold out for the summer and I've never seen them again) to thank them for letting me stay in their home.

Attached to the wine was a note that read: A bottle of California wine from your favorite crazy Californian.

And there, Blue Eyed Bride and all my sweet friends, is my story of how Fleetwood Mac saved my relationship and my life.

Happy Friday!



*I believe the song on at the time was Tusk...in which case we were also playing air instruments alongside the USC Marching Band...

I am...an American Girl!

I might be am in love.

NOT with Florida.

With Dierks Bentley.

I've always been a fan, since he's a good ol' Arizona boy...but it was not until a few minutes ago when I truly realized our love is meant to be (Florida and his wife be damned.)

Here's why:

This is Mr. Dierks Bea's tweet from July 3

http://twitpic.com/976g6 - watching roger clyne and the peacemakers rock it out...a fellow AZ native.going to sing petty's american girl
Um. SWOON!

Not only do I:

1. Love me some Dierks Bentley, but I

2. Love me some Roger Clyne, but I also

3. Love me some Tom Petty, AND

4. AMERICAN GIRL IS MY FAVORITE TOM PETTY SONG EVER!

I mean, come on now...are you freakin kidding me?????

How am I possibly going to function today knowing that somewhere out there (beneath the pale moonlight...) Mr. Dierks Bea is just waiting for me to come watch the Peacemakers do a kick-ass version of my favorite song EVER with him??

Hope you are all having a most amazing Thursday - I know I (now) am!

Cheers,


PS - bonus points for singing along to any of the songs in this post :)

Blog Redesign...

Hi friends!

Miss me yet??

Sorry I've been so blah about posting...I have lots to say but just don't feel like sitting down and putting mouse to screen.

But, I've decided that my blog is boring, old, and stuffy (in both design AND content, actually!) so I've made some design changes (obvi) and there will perhaps be some content redesign too.

(Don't worry, I'm not going toooooo far away from the norm. There will still be lots of random posts about me falling down, things Florida eats, and whatever crosses my little mind.)

I think I'm going to start featuring an item from my wardrobe that I've always loved and get some fresh ideas from you all on how best to wear it. It will be my own version of shopping, since I still don't have a real job that allows me the luxury of retail shopping. Le sigh...

I hope you all have been well - if you've been missing me, please follow me on Twitter...I'm much better at updating my tweets than I am this little corner of the interwebs.

Cheers,

AIDS is DC's Katrina

(Source: http://www.aidshealth.org)

I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Yes, it is provocative. Yes, it is thought-provoking. Yes, it is encouraging debate.

But is it appropriate?

To give a bit of background for those non-Beltway folks (read: people outside of the DC area,) DC does have a staggering AIDS problem. According to the AIDS Healthcare Forum, the group behind this ad, the AIDS rate in DC is over 3%.

The imagery shows President Bush looking from Air Force One over the devastation Katrina left behind - devastation many feel he did not do enough to rectify before leaving office. It is left to the reader to deduce that President Bush's non-action during Katrina is tantamount to President Obama's non-action over the AIDS epidemic (assuming they mean nationwide, as AHF is based in Los Angeles, not DC.)

I've been meaning to write about this for some time now, as it is the ad in my bus stop I sit at nearly every day. In fact, the ads are primarily being displayed in bus stops, and bus riders, at least on the lines I ride, tend to be African-American.

It is no secret that AIDS disproportionately affects minorities. I wonder, however, if President Obama were white (or perhaps, if it were President McCain,) if we would be seeing the same ad. Would the hands gripping the cardboard be white hands? Would there be a different tragedy used as the central image?

I don't have the answers. But, I open this topic up to constructive debate, well aware that I might get hateful comments and email.

Cheers,

Sweet Bea