There is no moral to this story at all...

...and everything I tell you very well could be a lie...

(It's not - but it's a line from a FANTASTIC Peacemakers song, Nada, that is in my head and I needed a title for this hodgepodge post!)

The already-too-short weekends are even shorter when you have to work on Sundays...what a drag! :(

Friday I had the day shift but Florida came and picked me up at 7 or so and we headed back to my place for happy hour with BP and his girlfriend, another friend from college BA and his fiancee. BP, his girlfriend, and I are very close - the 3 of us do lots together and it's never awkward. And when one or the other is out of town, then I play with whomever is left - I'm an equal opportunity friend I guess.

But BA's fiancee is another story. I've only met her a few times...and it is literally like pulling teeth.

The first time I "met" her we were all at a bar watching the ASU vs. U of Arizona football game. Game sucked, but BP's girlfriend (really need to get her a nickname!) and I had a blast talking to people from the Santa Bar Crawl that invaded our tiny bar. BP and BA were watching the game and chatting...but BA's fiancee had her friends in town and refused to even speak to us girls. In fact, when BA tried to introduce her to me, she was all "Umm, I'm taking a picture?" completely rudely and sarcastically.

She was, in short, awful.

She's also gone around to some of our college friends and bad-mouthed BP's girlfriend as being "high-maintenance," which can be true sometimes, but rarely and there is no way that the fiancee would have ever experienced it. I rarely have and I'm with them all the time.

The next time i met the fiancee was at a wine and cheese party at their condo and she didn't even acknowledge that I had walked in (with BP and girlfriend) until I was chatting with her fiancee (who I've known for going on 9 years now) and then she butted right in and proceeded to try and make out with him in the middle of our conversation. Yuck.

So, needless to say, I was hesitant to accept BP and girlfriend's happyy hour invite since BA and fiancee were going to be there...but I hadn't seen BP since they returned from Europe and sitting outside having a beer sounded lovely, so I dragged Florida and off we went.

Well, to our shared surprise, the fiancee - once she warmed up (didn't even say hi to me and barely said hi to Florida, who she had never met) she was actually pleasant to be around - what a refreshing change! So the happy hour was actually lovely and we all had a good time and good food.

After happy hour, Florida and I headed off to an impromptu bbq at Roommate's boyfriend's house down the street from where I and the BP's live. Florida immediately got into deep conversations about Air Force funding and so I was wandering around chatting with random folks when I had a blast from my recent past: my Chief of Staff for the campaign I was on made an appearance.

I hadn't seen her since Election Day and it was not the most pleasant way to leave our relationship. But, she gave me a big hug and congratulated me on a job that she heard I had just gotten (which, sigh, was the result of false information...I didn't get the job and had just found out a few hours before) and chatted about the really messed up situation from this post. See, she left right after the campaign to go run another office. Apparently, the agreed upon plan was that if the Communications Director was leaving right after the election, I was supposed to take over once I got back to DC. If he wasn't going to leave for 6 months or so, then the Deputy (who is also now her boyfriend) was supposed to take over. Needless to say, we both got screwed. But she offered her services to try and send out my resume to as many places as possible, which was so great and will be really helpful. All in all, a great night!

Saturday was fantastic too - so incredibly toasty warm! Florida and I lounged around like bums all day and then finally got out act together and met The Northerner and her hubby for drinks up in Dupont. Unfortunately, the schizophrenic DC weather made us run inside partway through drinks and dinner, but we still had fun. This was the first time Florida met anyone from my blog world...he was really nervous - it was so cute! :) But we had a blast and finally went home to crash since we both had to work on Sunday (boo.)

After work Florida picked me up and we headed back to Bolling to drop off his friend who he brought with him and came back to my place to cook chipolte shrimp and eat/watch Forgetting Sarah Marshall on my rooftop deck. Unfortunately, my deck is stupidly small for the size of the building, and the people out there wouldn't take their feet off the chairs so we could sit down...so we carried everything back down to camp out in my room (since my roommate was watching a movie on the couch and it was apparently she wasn't going to move for us.) Unfortunately, my stupid laptop won't let me play the DVD and, as usual, as I was trying to figure out what was wrong, Florida fell asleep on my shoulder. I almost got up to take a pic of him snoozing for the blog because he is so cute when he sleeps (hell, he's so cute anytime!) but i couldn't remember where the cord for my camera is so I gave up that plan pretty quickly. Oh well...maybe another time :)

And now I should be catching the bus to work in 20 minutes or so but here I am, in bed, chatting with all of you. :) Don't you love my priorities????

Wishing you all a comfortably cool Monday (as it is 90 here in our Nation's Capital!)

Cheers,

Sweet Bea

March Madness Reminder

Just wanted to send out a quick reminder about signing up to do a blog bracket for March Madness.

As I'm sure you ALL know, the Big Dance starts tomorrow, which means you need to get your brackets set TONIGHT.

If you want to participate - comment me and let me know ASAP (if you haven't already) and I will get the group started and send you an invite.

If I don't get a good response, I'm not going to set up a group because I've got a few others to manage already.

SO - recruit your friends and readers and let's have a fun March Madness! Remember, this is a free league and the winner gets online bragging rights.

Hope everyone is recovering from whatever their St. Patrick Day plans included...I'm still reliving the awesome memories of last nights festivities and Shamrock Shakes!

Cheers,

Sweet Bea

St. Patrick's Day! vol 2.0

Friends if you are anything like me right now, you feel like a roly poly.

A fat roly poly.

But, a fat, happy roly poly.

I want to curl up in a ball and have someone gently flick me to my destination - in this case, bed.

This evening, I was introduced to McDonald's Shamrock Shake - a delightful concoction of a vanilla shake and green mint syrup.

Green + Mint = YAY!

After festivizing for St. Patrick's Day with Always a Northerner, her hubby Alson, and Wearing Mascara, Alson was wonderful enough to not only call for the free cabs roaming around DC tonight for both me AND Wearing Mascara, but also went to buy the happy foursome Shamrock Shakes.

Extra large Shamrock Shakes.

Which I downed in the 10-minute cab ride home.

Which then prompted me to send Florida this adorable text:

Can you come home and roll your girlfriend to bed please?*

And sent him a picture of my blowing my cheeks out with my jacket and scarf still on making me look much larger than I am.

See sweet friends...I have priorities. I haven't even taken off my cozy scarf or jacket before I came to chat with you all.

But now you know why I feel like a roly poly.

Cheers!

Sweet Bea

*No Florida and I are not boyfriend/girlfriend yet...but I am too full of Shamrock goodness to text anything else. He just has to deal with it. :)

St. Patrick's Day!

Hello my little shamrock friends!

AP Photo/Ron Edmonds

Happy St. Patrick's Day to each and every one of you!

Of course, your dear Sweet Bea loves this "faux-liday" because (in case you couldn't tell) green is my favorite color.

I started my celebration with a second interview at a retail establishment here in DC, and I got the job! It will certainly be a change from political life, but I think it will be a battery-charging change for the time being.

The celebration then went on to a Mongolian BBQ joint for an early lunch (seriously, we opened the restaurant at 11:30 a.m.) with a friend, complete with ginormous beers. YUM. We took pictures of us with our beers and sent them to our friends. Ha ha.

For my job interview, I decided to keep is simple - old Gap white camp shirt, black J Crew cashmere tee, and my Ann Taylor kelly green patent belt, jeans (yes, it was a jeans appropriate interview), and my black boots.

But now I'm conflicted as to what to wear tonight!

Green polo with jeans?

Green long sleeve t-shirt?

Green cardigan?

Green argyle sweater?

Green J Crew Sophia dress? (HAHA that would be totally ridiculous, but hey, it is green!)

So confused... :(

But, this is a wonderful type on confused - it means I am fortunate to have a closet full of wonderful green things to choose from. Many people these days aren't so lucky.

I hope you all have a wonderfully fun and SAFE! St. Patrick's Say!

Cheers,

Sweet Bea

An Irish Blessing

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
May the rains fall soft upon your fields,
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

-St. Patrick

Update from Florida (in Alabama)

So as I've whined about before, Florida is in Alabama leading USAF Drill Camp for a month.

Le sigh...

We've been keeping in constant contact via text messages (thank GOD I now have unlimited texts) and since I upgraded my text plan so I don't get another $350 cell bill again, I also can send and receive picture messages...so that's been fun. :) I wish I knew how to get them from my cell to my laptop...I'd post some for you - I have a great one of him drilling with bayonets all around his face (a very, very dangerous move obviously, but he trained his men well and trusts them completely...even if I don't!)

Anywho, they are down at Maxwell AFB outside Montgomery...and from what I understand, there ain't a whole lot to do. Basically Hooters, Buffalo Wild Wings, and a movie theater.

So last night, Florida, his best friend, and some of the other guys (all married or with girlfriends, except my poor Diet Boyfriend) decide to go to BWW for food and beer.

Florida is a goofball. He is the life of the party. He's the kind of guy who enters air guitar contests - and wins, hands down. He's just a funny, funny guy. We're always laughing when we're together, which is awesome.

Florida is also competitive. Very competitive. And, (and I've seen this in person so I can attest to it) he is a human garbage disposal.

We went to grab food at Panera one night, and I ordered my standard Asiago Roast Beef with extra horseradish sauce, apple, and water. Florida ordered a bowl of soup, one of their large salads, AND a sandwich.

And proceeded to eat it in about the same time it took me to eat my one, solitary sandwich.

It truly is impressive to watch him eat. As weird as that sounds.

So back to last night...

The boys get to Buffalo Wild Wings and decide to order wings and beer (obvi. What else would you order there?)

My Florida orders his wings, and the table looks at him like they can't believe what they heard.

FLORIDA ORDERED 50 WINGS. FOR HIMSELF.

Now, I know wings are small. I love me some hot wings. LOVE hot wings. But 50 wings???

I wish I could post the picture of him with a HUGE grin holding his 2 BUCKETS of wings. I would not, however, post the picture of him midway through the wings, with sauce all over his face (as funny as it is.)

Needless to say, not only did my Florida put down the 50 wings, he also polished off 2 pitchers of beer.

Like I said...he's the human garbage disposal. Unbelievable.

So - you may be asking yourselves...why on earth is Bea posting about her quasi-boyfriend's digestive abilities?

Well sweet friends, the answer is simple:

He wanted me to.

He loves hearing about my blog, about my blog friends, what I post about him, that I call him Florida, and trying to come up with clever ways of getting me to tell him what it's called (he'll never figure it out, I'm positive.)

And he's very proud of himself. One of his guys tried to keep up with him and only got to 37 before quitting.

So, in honor of my man proudly serving his country by shoving as many chicken wings in his mouth as humanly possible, you have this humble post. :)

Sigh...

I hope you all are having lovely Saturdays - it's mild but cloudy here, and supposed to rain...so I think I might hunker down in the apartment and work on organizing my closet (right now there are dressed mixed in with polos...it's anarchy in there!) while blasting my iTunes' "Getting Stuff Done" mix (basically my fave songs to keep me motivated.)

Cheers!

Sweet Bea

I. Can't. Move.

I am sore from head to toe. Even my fingers hurt...and it's not from texting Florida 24-7.

See, this weekend in our Nation's Capitol, Spring made her first wonderful appearance. It's hard to imagine that one week ago we were under the largest amount of snow of the season...and this weekend it was in the 70s and I have a little sunburn on my shoulders.

Thursday was starting to get warm - I walked to Eastern Market for some fruit for the chocolate fondue I was making for Florida and my first cooking date at my house. He was in charge of the salmon and the veggies, and I was in charge of wine and dessert...but I forgot the wine because I suck.

As I was walking back from Eastern Market nom'ing on the strawberries I just bought (and ate half of them on the walk back...) this big black truck pulled up next to me with a very cute driver...and I realize it's Florida who happened to drive past me en route to my house. Which was awesome, except I wasn't wearing my cute date outfit and had no makeup on yet. Boo :( It had now been 2 weeks since he'd seen me in makeup. Luckily, he says he doesn't care...the first night we had a sleepover he looked at me in the morning and said that I was one of the lucky ones who was just as beautiful in the morning as I was at night. Yay me :) But I still want to be cute, damnit!

Friday was great - Florida and I went out on King Street with some of his friends to Murhpy's and Rock It Grill (scene of Karaoke to the Death last month) and then headed back to my house because he had to be on base at 8:00 a.m. to catch the plane to Alabama. Needless to say, after joining my friends at Cafe Berlin on Mass for happy hour and then going to King Street to meet up with the boys, I was a little tipsy by the time we got back to my house...and promptly fell asleep. When that darned alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. I wanted to shoot myself - my head hurt SO MUCH! Needless to say...we didn't exactly get to have the goodbye either of us wanted. Stupid, yummy, delicious stupid Hefeweizen... :(

Saturday was so warm and toasty outside so the bestie, BP's girlfriend, and I decided to hit up the rooftop bars on U Street. Line at Marvin was too long, so we headed across the street to Tabaq. I had never been there before...but let me tell you, I will be back. I loved the rooftop bar and the food and drinks were quite tasty! After Tabaq, we decided to head back to Marvin to see if the line had calmed down. It had, and so we hiked up to their rooftop deck.

It was a cluster. It was so uncomfortably crammed with drunk idiots that we were only there for one round. We literally had to listen to a migrating duo discuss the virtues of dryer sheets. DRYER SHEETS! Ugh. I say migrating because they literally started off on my right side and drunkenly wandered/stumbled all the way over to my left. The guy literally had his ass on the knee of another poor guy who happened to be sitting at the fence talking to a girl. It was insane.

After a very rude driver refused to take us home (would not even unlock the door so we could get in and almost drove over BP's girlfriend's foot in the process of peeling out away from us) we finally got a cab and headed home, where I started to late-night text Florida...for 3 hours. Poor kid :(

Sunday was even warmer than Saturday so the crew decided to head to B&B (Bagels & Baguettes - our weekend breakfast spot) and then play a little softball.

Now, you probably remember what happened the last time we played softball...lucky Florida and his balls weren't here to be hit this time around. I did text him and say that I was going to avenge them for him... but it turns out not only can I barely hit I also have absolutely no control where the ball goes when I do actually made contact. I am, however, getting better at fielding...which basically means that I only sometimes hide from the ball when it's hit to me. Sigh...I did make quite a few faux double plays though (I was playing 2nd base) so I was proud.

But...now on Monday...it turns out that I might have played a little too hard (and without stretching...naughty Bea!) because I. Can't. Move.

Literally every part of my body is aching today...my arms, hands, upper back, butt, thighs, and calves. I am in soooooooo much pain :(

BUT - it felt so great to be outside this weekend playing softball and playing with my friends. Though the weather isn't supposed to be nearly as nice the rest of the week (it is so windy today I literally thought we were having an earthquake because my windows were shaking so badly!) but I know that spring truly is JUST around the corner. And how lovely is the extra hour of sunshine?

Hope you all are enjoying the first day of the week!

Cheers!

Sweet Bea

O Happy Day!

Sweetest friends, I haz a happy today!

Nope, nothing major happened, but I am happy.

I'm coming to you LIVE from Jacob's Coffee House on Capitol Hill.

The weather is warm and the doors to the coffee house have been thrown open. The breezes are AMAZING.

My bedroom is clean and organized. My APARTMENT is clean and organized.

I get to see Florida tomorrow.

I'm nom'ing (eating, for you non-lolspeakers) on a turkey panini and drinking a soy chai latte.

I'm wearing my favorite ASU fitted t-shirt and FLIP FLOPS!

And I'm getting to share my thoughts and feelings and life with all of you wonderful, wonderful people.

O Happy Day indeed!

I had to share this video with you - not only do I LOVE Sister Act (both of them!) but this song is awesome, AND my choir sang Joyful, Joyful AND we won the singing contest this movie is based on my senior year.

Cheers!

Sweet Bea

My 25

Like Ms. Mindless, I keep getting tagged, so I decided to post my 25 random things. Enjoy!

1) I love to cook. I love to make intricate things...but my roommate had to teach me how to scramble eggs last week

2) I am fiercely loyal to my friends, relationships, and jobs, even when it is to my own detriment

3) My mother is one of my best friends, but she drives me absolutely insane sometimes

4) I was adopted when I was a baby

5) I am Persian and Irish, with an adopted German last name, which in Hindi sounds like the word "love"

6) I have a horrible weakness for dark-haired, blue-eyed boys. Please keep them away from me

7) I have a little brother who is brilliantly smart - he's the reason I passed calculus. I call him Stupes :)

8) I am a state champion in Parliamentary Debate. Which basically means, don't argue with me, as I will make you cry

9) Speaking of debate, I chose Arizona State partially because that is where my coach Kevin went to college. He died when we were at Nationals my first year. Debate is what got my life on track (and it's fun to make people cry)

10) I'm not a huge movie person...I often say "ooh I want to see that" and then never, ever watch it. The one movie I watch any and every chance I get is Love, Actually. I watch it every night as I fall asleep over Christmas, because I'm a hopeless romantic and I love the airport scene in the beginning. It is actually filmed at an airport, and they are real scenes of people greeting each other - not actors or scripted

11) Children annoy me greatly, and I don't plan on having any. Mom swears that will change when I meet "The One" but I'm not so sure

12) I can be ruthless in getting what I want. I'm always respectful, but I don't back down until the job is done and I've emerged victorious. It really sucks to be on the other end of that...

13) I am horribly allergic to cats

14) If I were to leave DC, I would move either to LA or Wisconsin. I would not move back to the Bay Area. I lived in WI in 06 and fell in love with it...

15) ...but I HATE being cold and my goal in life is to live on a beach

16) I am apparently very clumsy. I dislocated my ankle 2 years ago while walking in heels, dislocated my hip at the Inaugural concert 2 weeks ago (still no sure how I managed that,) and fell on the ice last week and ended up with a concussion and bruised tailbone

17) I am a blogger [this was done for Facebook...ya'll get an extra one at the bottom!]

18) In the summertime, you can often find me with a bottle of Moscato sitting on my front stoop, watching the world go by

19) I am a karaoke FREAK. I love to sing, and I have no shame. I qualified for a karaoke contest this summer, and took summer. While I won the crowd portion, I decided not to sing on key that night. Le sigh... :( I took second place and won a guitar. First place was a Mexican cruise...and I really needed a vacation

20) Speaking of vacation, I've actually never been on an a vacation without my parents...

21) I love country music, classic rock, and good, loud, smoky Southern rock

22) And whiskey and water

23) I love pearls and try to wear some every day. It's very interesting when I'm at a dirty dive bar listening to some dirty Southern rock, drinking whiskey, and sporting a double strand of pearls.

24) My favorite flowers are blue irises and I love that my neighborhood has some of the most amazing iris gardens

25) Teams I love: Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Arizona State Sun Devils, Wisconsin Badgers, KU Jayhawks, and NASCAR's #26 Jamie McMurray. Teams I hate: Florida Gators, University of Southern California, Oakland Raiders, New York Yankees, New England Patriots, any team from Pennsylvania, and the Busch brothers. I'm sure there are many more, but those are the top ones.

And for my sweet bloggy friends:

26) I love laminating machines. I've been known to laminate my NCAA Tournament bracket so it doesn't get destroyed, and carrying it around with me at all times. I once also laminated the bracket of the Congressman I was working for, because he was going overseas on a trip and I wanted to make sure his sheet didn't get messed up :)

Tis all for my, sweet friends!

Cheers!

Sweet Bea

TEAR! :(

I'm a sad little Bea right now...the Cards were SO CLOSE to Superbowl victory. Tear, indeed :(

BUT - I did win the Superbowl Grid so I ended up winning $20...but alas, there isn't enough money to heal my broken heart or to buy back my dignity after I have to wear a Florida Gators sweatshirt...in public...on a date later this week TONIGHT! SIGH.

Introducing...new boy who shall be called Florida.

Florida and I met last weekend when I joined some girlfriends at a hick country bar in Alexandria, VA. It's always a great time when we go, but it has a cover charge and I ABHOR cover charges and usually refuse to pay them, but we were celebrating a friend's divorce so I didn't choose the location.

So I mentioned the night and what happened to my divorcee friend TDubs in a recent post, but what I didn't mention was that I too met a boy that evening.

So in this bar, there is a wooden fence. Seriously - a wooden fence. It is up against 2 sides of the dance floor, and we lovely ladies were hanging out taking up one side of the fence, and Florida (with BollingBoy and others) was around the corner on the other side of the fence.

Here is a diagram for easy reading:

As you can see, Florida was standing closest to the corner on his side, and I was closest to the corner on mine. We were both pointed away from each other when we were talking to our friends. Even when we were both watching the karaoke singer (or the girls who were celebrating a bachelorette party and literally doing cartwheels on the dance floor) we never were facing each other.

At one point in the evening, Florida left his side of the fence, and asked me if he could stand on my side. I said yes (because I'm polite!) and so we started chatting.

At the end of the night, he went to close out his tab, and my friends literally took off through the back door while Florida was up at the bar. I felt rude just peacing out like that, so I went up to the bar to say goodbye. As I was stepping up next to him, he handed me a piece of paper with his number on it, and said "I wanted you to have my number." I thought it was sweet, thanked him, and left with my friends.

And then I got into the cab and texted him with "Wanted you to have my number as well." (I am so clever!) So then we texted for an hour or so, and have been texting since.

He actually called me on Tuesday night but it was during Idol so I didn't answer, haha. I didn't return the call because then I got an email about a job interview on Thursday so I started preparing. He texted me Wednesday morning saying "it's icy outside, be careful" and clearly I didn't listen to his warning. Alas...

Anywho, we text all day, every day, but haven't talked on the phone. Which, I think, I am ok with? We decided to make a wager on tonight's Superbowl, which I lost. My punishment? I have to wear a University of Florida sweatshirt (because we spent most of our first conversation at the bar talking about how much he loves the Gators and how he can't wait to go to school there once he's done with the Air Force - and about how much I HATE the Gators) on a date this week tonight.

I don't know how I am feeling about going on a date with him for a variety of reasons...but first and foremost because...

...I've never been on a date with a stranger before.

I haven't been on many dates in general (I tend to makeout with boys and then convince them they are my boyfriends and skip the whole awkward dating thing.)

So, I need to rally to get excited for this potentially unbelievably awkward encounter this evening. I have no idea where we are going, other than that he's coming into the city (he lives out in Fairfax - about a half hour-ish away from me) so we'll go somewhere closer to me, which is nice.

Since I'll be wearing a Gators sweatshirt (but apparently he's being nice and letting me wear the grey one and not the bright blue one...OR making me wear his Teebow jersey...) I'm thinking jeans and a fitted long sleeve t-shirt and heels (since I think he's about 6'5 or so)?? Thoughts?

It's times like these when I really miss my Blackberry or wish I had an iPhone so I could live blog the date under the table :)

Cheers!

Sweet Bea

GO CARDS!

image courtesy of Fanster

Hooray! I heart the Superbowl! Even though it means the end of football season, which makes me sad.

Now, I will admit, the Cards are not my first choice team, nor my second choice either.

Frankly, my heart belongs to the Cowboys and Packers, but I'm pretty stoked for the Cards.

After all, the first and only professional football game I ever went to was a Cardinals game (granted the played the Cowboys...but whatevs!)

And Emmitt Smith, the former Cowboy, played for Arizona (his first game was against Dallas - the game I went to.)

And I did go to school in Arizona and spent much time in their original stadium, Sun Devil Stadium.

So clearly, it's natural for me to cheer for Arizona in this matchup.

Bea will be making her famous artichoke dip (which easily beats out all other dips in taste tests year after year) and will be drinking water because she's still not feeling 100% (ugh!)

AND - she met a cute boy last week (more on him later!) and while she is not watching the game with him, they have a bet going (don't know why I'm referring to myself in the third person...)

If Pittsburgh wins, I have to go out with him this week and wear a University of Florida hoodie (UGH! I HATE THE GATORS!)

If the Cardinals win, he has to karaoke ANY SONG I CHOOSE.

Awesome. :)

Ok sweeties, I'm off to gather the ingredients for the famous dip - sit back, relax, and have a GREAT Superbowl Sunday!

Cheers(ing for the Cardinals!),

Sweet Bea

PS - if you're more of the Steelers variety than the Cards...head on over to Wearing Mascara and give her some love!

NYE 2008 Recap

Some pics from last night's festivities...



I hope you all had fun and that the champagne fairies were as kind to you as they were to me...even if it meant a wicked headache all day today. I'll be posting recipes from some of our *amazing* food later...but for now, here is the champagne punch we made (courtesy of Epicurious.com):

Yield: Makes about 16 cups, serving 12

• 1 cup Triple Sec
• 1 cup brandy
• 1/2 cup Chambord
• 2 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1 quart chilled ginger ale
• 2 chilled 750-ml. bottles dry champagne

In a bowl combine the Triple Sec, the brandy, the Chambord and the pineapple juice and chill the mixture, covered, for at least 4 hours or overnight. In a large punch bowl combine the Triple Sec mixture, the ginger ale, and the champagne and add ice cubes (we froze fruit in the ice cubes.)

We had about 25 people and tripled the recipe and it was gone before the party ended. Very tasty, not too sweet, and it packs QUITE a punch...trust me. ;) Even the guys liked it!

Cheers,

Sweet Bea

NYE help needed!

Hi ya'll!

So...we're throwing a *fabulous* formal NYE bash here in DC to ring in the new year (and hopefully shed all reminders of my 2008!) and I'm looking for some ideas for equally fabulous hors d' oeuvres. Any thoughts?

We don't have a particular theme...and the party should be small (approx 20-25 people) and with the craptastic economy and all we don't want to break the bank throwing the bash (plus we're saving up for the inaugural party), so I'm very open to suggestions!

Thanks loves!

Cheers,

Sweet Bea