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

T-Box Bar Crawl

Ya'll heard of this? Its T-Box, a 12-bar crawl in Chicago that starts at 10:00 am this Saturday...and estimated to have 4,000 attendees this year.

My good friend (and 2006 campaign, um, "boyfriend," if you will) LBP is driving from Madison, WI to Chicago to attend...he called me tonight (returning my call from last night teasing him about how I was shopping for our Christmas tree in flip flops and he was in a blizzard) and told me about it.

I begged him to please be careful and to make sure he holds someone's hand when he crosses the street...he told me that he didn't think he'd have a problem finding some girl to hold his hand...SHEESH! Men... :)

Now I'm all for bar crawls and letting loose (in fact, LBP's brother (BP)'s girlfriend Dawn and I kinda sorta became part of one last weekend watching the horrible ASU football game)...but a multi-thousand, 12-bar crawl starting at 10:00 am? That seems a little ridiculous.

Thoughts?? Am I being a boring grown-up??

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

Happy Birthday Brother Bea!

That's it...basically just happy birthday Brother Bea! :) He turns a whopping 26 today. He then reminded me that he is "a spring chicken in comparison" to me...to which I gently reminded him that I am a mere babe of 23...

:)

Cheers!

Sweet Bea

New Year's Eve 2008 Ensemble

New Year's Eve 2008 by Sweet Bea

So unfortunately the J. Crew Isabella dress from this post didn't fit at all (bummer since it's now on sale...), so I went back to my original plan: this LOVELY asymmetrical dress from Banana Republic.

Other items here include:

Patent Belt from Ann Taylor

Maylie Shoes from Enzo Angiolini

Grandma Bea's vintage brooch (much prettier than the one in the pic)

Thoughts?? Particularly - I need your thoughts, sweet friends, on this burning question: to neck accessorize or not to neck accessorize?

Also - in a bit of abfab J. Crew news: a few years ago I had the most A-MAZ-ING personal shopper named Allan at the Pentagon City, VA J. Crew. He was wonderful to me and it was always a pleasure to be in the store (especially since sometimes being in that mall is a sheer nightmare!) Anywho - imagine my THRILL when I went to the J. Crew in Tyson's Galleria specifically to try on the Isabella dress...and who should be in there? None other than Allan himself! YAY! So that was an absolute treat and he was just as wonderful as always!

Cheers,

Sweet Bea

Funny email of the day

This comes from Mama Bea, and was sent to her by her Bible study friend. I just couldn't resist - I would have laughed out loud but was afraid of waking up the faux-roomies :) This absolutely, and appropriately, tickled me!

There is a factory in Northern Minnesota which makes the Tickle Me Elmo toys. The toy laughs when you tickle it under the arms.

Well, Lena is hired at the Tickle Me Elmo factory and she reports for her first day promptly at 8:00 am.

The next day at 8:45 am there is a knock at the Personnel Manager's door. The Foreman throws open the door and begins to rant about the new employee.

He complains that she is incredibly slow and the whole line is backing up, putting the entire production line behind schedule.

The Personnel Manager decides he should see this for himself, so the 2 men march down to the factory floor. When they get there the line is so backed up that there are Tickle Me Elmo's all over the factory floor and they're really beginning to pile up.

At the end of the line stands Lena surrounded by mountains of Tickle Me Elmo's. She has a roll of plush Red fabric and a huge bag of small marbles.

The 2 men watch in amazement as she cuts a little piece of fabric, wraps it around two marbles and begins to carefully sew the little package between Elmo's legs.

The Personnel Manager bursts into laughter. After several minutes of hysterics he pulls himself together and approaches Lena.

'I'm sorry,' he says to her, barely able to keep a straight face, 'but I think you misunderstood the instructions I gave you yesterday...'

'Your job is to give Elmo two test tickles.'

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I just couldn't resist!

Cheers,

Sweet Bea

Whoopsies! My bad!

Sorry for my extended absence, I promise to do better!

I've been in a bit of a funk lately due to am incredibly hard breakup, among other things, and since I'm not working and its really, really cold outside, I frankly don't have much to write about, unless you'd like some prose on HGTV's daytime lineup (Seriously Curb Appeal - you've used the same holiday special for the past 2 or 3 years! FILM A NEW EPISODE!)

Here's what I can give you: I'm moving boxes into new apartment this week, moving furniture (and me, hopefully!) this weekend, ugly sweater holiday party on Friday (ugh...NOT my idea...so f'ing tacky!), starting to search for jobs, and heading home for the holidays on the 22nd.

So, until then, please accept my apologies, and I'll try to post some fun happy stories this week.

Cheers,
Sweet Bea