Oh (Rein) Dear...

Oh sweet friends, I must share with you what I just stumbled onto.

WARNING: Send the kiddies away :)

See, I've been looking for nude high heels for like 2 years now. I'm a size 5...so finding any shoes in my size that I like is a problem...but when I am very specific about what I want it gets even harder.

I basically want these, but they, of course, not available in my size at Zappos and I can't find any others that I like (suggestions welcome):


So I was searching around online for something like these, and I stumbled upon a wonderful gem, www.3wishes.com.

Oh Lordy, what fun did I have!

I want to share some of my, um, favorite finds with all of you! I hope you enjoy... :D

Because I support our troops!


For Lulu, Muffy, and all my other brides-to-be!

For Kate - I do hope you'll wear these tonight at our bloggy meetup!

Ok, ok, enough shoe fun! I moved on to the Clubwear page...because to be honest, I couldn't NOT check out their clubwear after viewing their shoes.

Ok, I'm confused...do you leave the mesh thing at coat check?


Ok, this would be kinda hot if you are are with a military man and wore it with the camo heels... JLC I'm looking at you for this!!!


My Inaugural Ball dress...HA!

YEEHAW! Ride em/me cowboy!
(My favorite part about this outfit is that in the, ahem, rear view, you can see just how long the chaps are!!!)

At this point, I'm about hysterical with these outfits...but I decide to check one just one...more...section...

The Christmas section.

I'm going to admit a fantasy of mine: I've always wanted a boyfriend that I could dress up and sing Santa Baby to. Preferably wearing this:

Santa baby...slip a sable under the tree, for me...been an awful good girl...

And this for the Santa Pub Crawl that BP's girlfriend and I are going to go on next year:

Ho, ho, ho, indeed! But it's got a hoodie...so it will be warm...right?

Hahaha I just couldn't help but share my wonderful finds!! :)

I hope you all enjoyed this installment of "Bea has a head injury and therefore is staying in on a Friday night and playing around on the interwebs!"

Cheers,

Sweet Bea

The Pickle Hunt Heard 'round the World

So Megan over at Newly Wed, Newly Bred asked me about the pickle hunt I participated in on Christmas Day, and I thought I would share it here.

Here goes:

Each year on Christmas, a good friend of mine in DC, who is from my hometown, has a pickle hunt.

For those who don't know, a Christmas pickle hunt is a supposed German tradition where the parents, after decorating their Christmas tree, hide a glass pickle ornament on the tree for the Christmas attendees to find. The finder receives a small present and a year's worth of good luck.

Now, its important to note that my friend is an only child. So each year on Christmas, when the annual pickle hunt is underway, she is "competing" against her aunts, uncles, and grandparents. And needless to say, she has been undefeated for many, many years.

Until the 2008 pickle hunt.

See, a few months back, she started bragging about her impressive dynasty as Pickle Champion. And she challenged those of us who are from our hometown to try and take her on and dethrone her, if we dared.

And so dare we did do. There were 5 of us on that fateful Christmas morn, and as we were read the official rules of the pickle hunt, our eyes grew bigger and bigger at the mere thought of taking down the champion and reveling in pickle glory ourselves.

The rules are simple: you may not hit your fellow hunters. You may not climb the tree (it was too wobbly this year.) You may, however, climb on anything else, and you may use whatever means necessary to win, unless explicitly outlawed by the previous rules. This will come in handy later...

We took our places at the starting line, and when the signal was given, we ran towards the tree in while Chariots of Fire played in the background (at least in my head.)

High, low, and on all sides of the tree we hunted for the pickle. We dug through the branches, climbed on furniture, the fireplace and window sills, and cursed the pickle hider for their hiding aptitude (of course, on this most hyped-up Christmas, the hiding spot had to be extra good!)

Then, a long, drawn out 4 minutes and 34 seconds later, a victor emerged from deep within the trenches.

Lo! A new champion had been found! The years of pickle dominance were at last over! The monarchy was finally toppled. A coup had taken over the once peaceful family room.

And just who was this ultimate seeker? This finder of pickles?

Sweet Bea, natch.

Of course, much speculation was made over the legality of my win, because I came to the hunt wearing one of these:


Yes, sweet friends, that is a spelunking headlamp. That is what carried me to victory on that glorious Christmas morning.

While some questioned my tactics, I know it was because they simply felt foolish at their utter lack of preparation.

Did the headlamp play a significant role in my sweet victory? Absolutely.

As you can clearly see from the above link, the pickle is shiny, and it was the reflection of the pickle in my headlamp that caught my eye. Nearly every other challenger was looking in that very area of the tree, but they were destined to lose because none had my dedication or my foresight.

Or my headlamp :)

Cheers,

Sweet Bea

The Dulles Airport Diary...or how I learned to stop stressing and love air travel

On the 22nd day of December, Dulles Airport gave to me...

12 Passengers a-complaining

11 Crew members a-snapping

10 Hours a-sitting on a plane

9 Dollars a-paid for food on the plane I couldn't get off of

8 Babies a-milking

7 Hours a-delayed

6 Hours a-flying

5 Screaming Kids!!!!!!!!!

4 Rebooking lines a-stood in

3 Terminals a-walked through

2 Broken planes a-boarded (and number of In n' Out burgers shoved in my mouth upon arrival)

1 Happy Sweet Bea at home in California (15 hours later)

2008 White House Christmas Tree

National Christmas Tree and White House

I was very happy that I was able to get this picture...my camera's night settings were not cooperating much of the time...

The White House

We were taking our sweet time getting out of the house to go look at the tree, but thankfully I was able to snap this before they literally turned the lights out.

The California Tree

Each state had its own tree, spread out throughout the grounds...it took a bit to find the California tree, but we finally did :) The unlit National Menorah is in the background,

The Wisconsin Tree

Because I was with one of my favorite Sconnie friends and his girlfriend, and because Wisconsin is my home away from home. I suppose this then is my tree away from tree :)

TAG! I'm it!

YAY! My first tag! In the holiday spirit, its a Candy Cane tag, courtesy of Lulu (double yay!)

The instructions are to Copy, Paste, Answer, Add a Question, Tag the 3 bloggers with the most recent updates on your blog feed/roll, let them know they've been tagged in a comment, and learn about your fellow bloggers.

So...here are the questions and my answers:

1. What is your favorite Christmas Movie? It's a tossup between White Christmas and Love Actually. Daddy Bea and I always watch White Christmas together, so it always makes me think of him. When I first watched Love Actually I wasn't crazy about it, but I watched it again and absolutely fell in love. Poor Brother Bea has to put up with me begging to borrow his copy (yes, HIS copy. I don't own either movie!) every single night when I'm home for Christmas (so I'll start begging him on the 22nd of this month.) The other sleepless night I was actually Googling Vera-Ellen, one of the female leads in White Christmas because she was such a beauty and was so under appreciated in her time. Very, very sad.

2. Favorite Christmas Song? Ummm, is it wrong that it's again a tie...this time between Santa Baby and Do you Hear What I Hear? I also love David Bowie & Bing Crosby's version of Little Drummer Boy. Tee hee :)

3. Favorite Holiday Memory? Hmmm, this one is tough. It would have to be the last Christmas where my whole, tiny family was together, before Grandma Bea went into the care facility and my cousin Jean passed...Christmas 2006. There was nothing particularly memorable about it per se, but we were together and it was just very, very nice.

4. What is your favorite cookie/treat to make? If I made them, it would be gingerbread men. I just love them!!! But we try not to have too many cookies and treat in the Bea household (NOT your dear Sweet Bea's idea!)...

5. Have you ever made an igloo? Umm, no? I'm from Northern California...and not the part that has snow, sorry :(

6. Do you love Starbucks? Not particularly. I don't drink caffeine, but I do like their spiced cider. I am, however, a HUGE fan of Wilson's in Racine, Wisconsin. Our 2006 campaign office was next door-ish and we were constant visitors. Their decaf soy chai latte was to DIE for...I've never had one so good in my life. Their teas were excellent, and THEY were wonderful people. I miss it! :(

7. What makes the perfect Snowman? Again...being from NorCal I would have to say snow? I've never made a snowman, unfortunately. Even here in DC we don't get enough snow for a snowman...just snowballs, which are very fun to make. I suppose I could make mini-snowmen next time??

8. Maids a-milking...(for some reason, no #8!)

9. Best gift you have ever received? Jeez, these are hard! I've had many Christmases in my advanced age! Let's see...best gift ever was probably my diamond earrings from Daddy Bea. They aren't big, but they were the first real jewelry I ever received from anyone, so they mean a ton. I wear them every single day (which reminds me, I need to buy some jewelry cleaner!)

10. What is the snowman's name on Rudolph? FROSTY, duh! Right? I mean, it must be Frosty? Those claymation or whatever movies frighten me...

11.Silver or Gold? In terms of what??? This is a trick question! In terms of decorating? Gold. (more like champagne gold, not gaudy gold.) In terms of jewelry, silver colored jewelry.

12. What is your favorite Christmas decoration? OMG I just found it on Friday too! When I had to spend Christmas here in DC a few years back, Mama Bea sent me all my ornaments...so all the Barbie collectibles that my relatives (who I think refuse to believe I grew up...) send me every year, and all the other ones that are "mine." But I don't do family keepsake ornaments and things like that...I like an incredibly polished tree, with white lights and ivory & champagne ornaments, ivory silk ribbons with gold trim, etc. So needless to say, the ornaments that Mama Bea sent me sit in their boxes year after year (apparently her idea of cleaning is shipping me things I don't want.) BUT - there is a vintage cardinal with paisley wings that I absolutely ADORE. It it meant to be clipped on to a branch or garland, not hung. I love, love, love this cardinal. So Mama Bea sent me that too, and it is the only thing that made it out of the big box of other ornaments that made it to the holiday party on Friday night. I'll take pics of it so ya'll can see and post back later.

Photos from Christmas 2004

13. What's your Christmas decorating style? Oh...well sugar! I should have read the questions more closely before answering the last one! Well, my decorating style is pretty traditional - I love fresh greens and soft colors and white lights. Very classy, very elegant, and very simple. OH and I LOVE wrapping presents in matching papers...this year I'm thinking toile with a gingham ribbon (I saw it in a commercial...don't remember what it was for...and I loved the look!)

14. Do you hang stockings? Yes...if Mama Bea can find them (its always an interesting hunt!) We've had the same ones since we were little, but Brother Bea's name is spelled wrong (well, they shortened his name, which we don't do in our family.) They are hand knitted, and soft and fuzzy. Just perfie! :)

15. How many days do you celebrate Christmas? Well I tend to put on the holiday songs the day after Thanksgiving and keep the tree up through New Year's at least. One year, however, I remember Mama Bea not putting the ornaments away until we needed the dining room table for Easter... (she'd KILL me if she knew I wrote that!)

16. What was your favorite ornament on the tree as a child? Oh this one is so easy. We have these thin metal ornaments that have very intricate, almost lacy, patterns cut into them, in gold, red, and silver (one color each.) There is one that is a box and you can actually open the box and put something into it. That was always fun to look for that ornament and see if there was anything in it (even though we couldn't touch it yet.)

17. Where will you be spending this Christmas? I'm going, going, back, back, to Cali, Cali :) I feel like I JUST left...but Mama Bea STILL likes to guilt me about Christmas 2004 when I stayed here...

18. When you do open presents? We open our ornament from June (family friend) on Christmas Eve night, stockings Christmas morning before parents get up (though these days I'm usually the last one up!) and then main presents once the whole family is together, but before "breakfast" (tee hee, usually around noon!)

NEW QUESTION 19. What is your favorite Christmas tradition? On Christmas Eve, we eat crab and chili with French bread. From what I remember, my godfather "Uncle" Ian's family used to do this, and somehow the tradition was passed from their family to ours (but I could be wrong about that.) On Christmas night, we eat "plum" pudding that Grandma Bea used to always make until a few years ago. I think it is supposed to be made with plums, but she couldn't find them one year, so she used persimmons, and its more like a loaf than a pudding. And then we have hard sauce (a thick, stiff rum & powdered sugar sauce.) And when she used to make it ooh-whee was it STRONG! Mama Bea has tamed the rum sauce a but, unfortunately. And the rule is: no hard sauce without pudding. But sometimes sneaky lil Bea's like to forage in the fridge for a nip of the hard sauce :)

Because I'm still new to this whole world o' blogging, I'm only going to cheat and only tag one lady: Newly Wed, Newly Bred.

Hope you all had a wonderful, fun, and safe weekend and a fantastic week! I just moved today, so I'll try to get some pictures for ya'll (now that my camera connector has been more-or-less located!)

Cheers,

Sweet Bea

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

So I've been in a funk since I got back to DC, and it was made worse when my boyfriend (who lives in NYC and I haven't seen since June and was totally looking forward to FINALLY seeing once I got back...) broke up with me the day after Thanksgiving.

Joy.

So, after several days of crying non-stop and not eating I decided that I would pick myself up by my bootstraps and head over to Eastern Market, a historical farmers' market on Capitol Hill.

Usually, Eastern Market is split into 4 areas: the flea market where you can find all kinds of awesome things, the farmers' market where you can get fresh local produce, the indoors market, perfect for more produce, flowers, meats, cheeses, and pastries, and finally the art and artisan portion, where beautiful hand painted and hand crafted goods can be purchased.

OH - and they also have Market Lunch in the indoor market, where you can get some of the most amazing crab cakes outside of Maryland. YUM-O.

Anywho, Eastern Market burned down last year April 2007 (can't BELIEVE it has been that long!) and thankfully, the DC Government got right to work to make sure that the vendors who are here daily don't lose their livelihoods (though in looking for the original article about the fire, I stumbled upon this) and built a new temporary building for the indoor vendors. The community really pulled together as well, hosting fundraisers to help support the rebuilding efforts. (If you're interested, you can still help here - and I encourage you to do so!)

Trips to Eastern Market are usually the highlight of my week, and I hadn't been since my return to DC. I figured that this past Saturday was the perfect opportunity, since I was having such a rough time (what, with not having a job, a stable place to stay, losing my cousin Jean, and of course, getting dumped by my previously-awesome boyfriend, Badger) so I picked myself up and headed on over.

What I didn't realize was that people along my travel route (all of 5 blocks or so) was that people would be putting up their Christmas trees in their lovely bay windows. I stopped in front of each and looked through the windows and felt much better.

I continued on my way to Eastern Market and ran into a vendor who was cleaning up his stand who told me that I was very pretty today (I still felt puffy and red from all the crying) but I took his compliment as graciously as I could and felt even better than before.

When I turned the corner, my heart literally stopped as I saw Eastern Market for the first time in 5 months and saw that it had turned into a wonderful Christmas tree lot. And I was absolutely on cloud nine.

I wandered through the beautiful trees smelling them and picking up the garlands that were on the tables next to the trees and decided that the visit was exactly what I needed to boost my spirits.

I finally left my happy place of trees and wandered inside to buy cheese for my new faux-roomies, but unfortunately forgot that at the cheese shop they don't take credit cards and I didn't have any cash on me, so I left with just some pumpkin ravioli and a smile.

So this weekend, my faux-roomies are throwing a holiday party and we are going to Eastern Market to get our own beautiful Christmas tree and trimmings, and I just can't wait! :) Hopefully, this next trip to Eastern Market will make me smile as much as the last one! UPDATED: The trip was a success! We went last night (in flip flops and t-shirt because while it had rained during the day, it was fine and WARM! at night)and picked out a beautiful tree, I haggled with the guy, got the tree for a STEAL and he threw in a free 28' garland. YAY! Tree was delivered today and will be decorated in time for the holiday party tomorrow night. Will have pics, I promise (but of course, that depends on me getting my camera charger from a box at friend Eric's house...where it has been since I got back to town. UGH!)

Cheers,

Sweet Bea