Channeling Mama Bea

Ever stop to realize how silly the things are that we form emotional attachments to?

Mama Bea is notorious for keeping items simply because of their emotional value - my elementary school artwork, Brother Bea's many sports trophies, our graduation gowns and toys/blankets/stuffed animals...and I always tease her because our small house is stuffed to the gills with stuff.

Not artifacts, collections, or anything like that. Just stuff.

Florida and I were moving things around in "his" bedroom in our apartment today and I asked him what this big blue piece of material was. He answered that it was his graduation gown. I laughed.

He blamed it on his mom...but then again if he didn't want it, he could just get rid of it...after all his mom lives in Florida and probably wouldn't notice if it went missing.

And yet, just now, as I clean out my closets and continue the never ending process of packing I find myself channeling my inner Mama Bea (and Lord knows how I try to keep that woman out!)

My denim mini-skirts that I only wear on my birthday...

Mama Bea's vintage t-shirt that says "100% Fat Free..."

or Mama Bea's vintage t-shirt that says "Never trust anyone under 6,000 feet - Lake Tahoe..."

The sequined tube top Grandma Bea made for me...

hell...all my sequined tube tops (there are few. Don't judge...)

The many pairs of pants and skirts that simply no longer fit but were expensive and therefore in my mind should be kept...

It's all so silly...and yet it's causing a major delay in my packing.

I know that I don't want to pack, ship, and store these items...yet my emotional attachment to them is so strong I just know I will break into tears if one day I open my closet and don't see my favorite 100% Fat Free shirt.

Nothing more to this post - just my random thoughts on the packing process thus far (which is terriboo!)

Happy Tuesday evening, sweet friends!

Cheers,



PS - yes I know that I am a woman of a certain age and women of certain ages do NOT wear sequined tube tops and denim miniskirts...

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

A little Friday miscellany for ya'll

Whoopsie!

Instead of showering and properly prepping myself to head to work for 9 or so hours...I stayed in bed and caught up on your blogs.

And I don't regret one minute second of it!

Hope ya'll have a lovely Friday evening and an even better weekend, in case I don't get a chance to come back and chat. I'm working tonight and going to a party with Florida's Air Force friends tomorrow night...wish me luck. They are all hammering him as to why he hasn't brought me around yet (ahem, ya'll were in ALABAMA for a month!) so I have to be on my best behavior and charm them (and their girlfriends/wives.)

I might be social...but in crowds where I know very few people I get quite intimidated and tend to clam up, try too hard to be funny, and drink. Not a good combo.

There is a rumour however that Rock Band will be played...and as we all know your Sweet Bea loves to sing :) Rock Band to me is just in-home karaoke! So maybe I will wow them with my vocal stylings?

Anywho, no real topic here...I've been meaning to post all week but Florida has tended to fall asleep on my shoulder while I work on stuff (I had an interview this week - keep those fingers crossed!) which gives me an excuse to cheat and come to blogland (my happy place!) and catch up on your lives...but makes it impossible to catch you up since I can't move my right arm as he is snoozing away on it.

Cheers!

Sweet Bea

I need to do laundry like WHOA

I do not know what is wrong with me lately!

I have so much paperwork to do - stupid taxes (which will be a nightmare because of the campaign), medical insurance claims due to the fall, and I know for a fact I need to organize my files that have been neglected since before I went to CA for the campaign (read: May.)

So what am I doing?

Laying in bed, in my jammies, on the blogs.

Now, I could have grabbed all my paperwork and worked on it from my bed. But no.

I'm trying to figure out what to wear to do laundry. Seriously.

I need to wash my pjs.

But if I change out of my pjs, what do I put on?

Jeans? Nope, need to wash them all TODAY.

Other pj pants? Nope, those need to go into the "colors" load.

Workout pants? Nope, those need to go in the "darks" with the jeans.

Ok ok, I'll leave the PJ bottoms on, whatevs. But what about the shirt?

Need to wash the t-shirt I'm wearing with the "darks." UGH!

This might be the stupidest conversation with myself I've ever had. And believe you me...that's saying something. But I felt like sharing with all of you.

Somebody please put me out of my unemployed misery!!!

Cheers,

Sweet Bea

PS - does anyone else have massive problems with the Italic button not functioning? When I try to write something in italics it's fine...but when I try and go back to normal font, it won't stop writing in italics, even when I edit the HTML. The only thing that works is highlighting what I've written in italics (that is supposed to to be normal) and then unclick the Italic button. It's driving me CRAZY!

Still hiding...

...seriously, I'm still in my room.

I haven't even gone out to eat lunch. It's almost 6:00 p.m. I'm quite hungry.

I seriously need a life, and a new roommie.

BUT that is not what this post is about.

This post is about how RANDOM my life in DC is.

So my Bestie's boyfriend is in town. He lives in LA and is a lawyer, moving back to DC (yay!) I'm not sure if Bestie or I are more excited for this. He's HILAR.

Anywho, he called me at 11:00 am this morning and woke me up (jerk) because I stayed up until past 4:00 a.m. chatting with Florida (the boy) and planning our vacay to Florida (the state.)

Her boyfriend, gK, wanted to know what Friend's email address was. They know each other, so I didn't think twice about it.

But then, once I started to stir from my dogmatic slumber, I started wondering why gK had asked. So I asked him.

Turns out, my old boss is nominated for an Assistant Cabinet Secretary post. (And gK is trying to get a job.)

This is not an old Congressmember I worked for, no no. My old direct supervisor. My old Chief of Staff.

My old Chief of Staff who makes us play a really inappropriate hazing game when first starting in the office.

My old Chief of Staff who I used to get HAMMERED with in the office!

My old Chief of Staff who made me drive her to her Craft Club after work one night while we sang and danced in the car.

My old Chief of Staff who told me I should have taken Friday off to go to Ocean City, MD for a FIRST DATE! (long story...)

My old Chief of Staff who used to make up silly names for my ex-boyfriends.

My old Chief of Staff who sings loud, off-key Happy Birthday songs.

My old Chief of Staff who made me the cutest green and navy headband (which she learned at Craft Club) as a going away present, along with a bunch of bath productes that were all green (color, not organic)

My Old Chief of Staff who set me up with her waxer (Debbie at Fusion Day Spa if you're out there, I love you!) and gave me intimate details about Brazilian bikini waxes.

My old Chief of Staff who is a mere 4 years older than me!!!!!

I suppose this is how DC works. But it is just so, so, so strange to me to think how people move in this city.

Anyways, I just thought I'd share that with you. Thinking about our very frank conversations about Debbie always makes me giggle, and I need a giggle today (especially when I realize that someone just 4 years older than me is going to be Obama's freakin' Cabinet(!) and I can't find a job anywhere on the Hill...)

Ok...I NEED food...I'm starting to get a headache. Wish me luck as I try to find something I don't have to cook (since I'm fairly certain each and every pot and pan (all mine, of course) are dirty...

Cheers!

Sweet Bea

Selection Sunday!

Selection Sunday starts in ONE HOUR!

I heart NCAA Basketball.

After a devastating loss to the horrendous Southern California (gotta love refs who get paid by conferences that get money for each conference team they get into the tournament...) my spirits are picked up to see just who will make it into The Big Dance.

My Arizona State Sun Devils? Check - probably with a 6 or 7 seed.

My second team, the rascally Badgers of the University of Wisconsin? Should be in...though with a high, high seed (am thinking around 12...but 12/5 upsets are my favorite and my specialty)

Hometown Saint Mary's Gaels? They are on the bubble right now...but I think they should be in. If they don't get in, Roommate (and St. Mary's Alum) will be horrendous to deal with...since her rival Gonzaga (and boyfriend's alma mater) will be in for sure.

My rival, University of Arizona Wildcats? Not looking likely (which means I win a $50 bet I made over Christmas that Arizona would not make it into the tourney) though I wouldn't put it past the selection committee to continue Arizona's streak of consecutive March Madness appearances (the longest in the nation.)

And last but not least? FLORIDA WILL NOT BE IN.

Who will be the overall #1 seed? Louisville.

Other #1 seeds? Memphis, UNC, and perhaps Duke or Michigan State. Ugh to all of them.

Just some of my thoughts as we get ready for Selection Sunday (yay!)

Cheers,

Sweet Bea

An early morning helping of Meatloaf...

So...I'm heading off to a food service retail job interview this morning.

I heard yesterday from the person who would be my boss' boss that they have a great field of applicants, more like what they are looking for than in the past.

"You know, people 19-21 years old, college kids."

I'm staring 30 in the face.

And found a grey hair today.

On my temple.

And my hair is pulled back.

And wearing it down is NOT an option.

And I'm rocking out to Meatloaf's Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

My competition probably doesn't even know who Meatloaf is.

Happy Friday the 13th, darlins...

Cheers,

your blogging elder,

Sweet Bea

My life list - just for funsies!

So I've been finally catching up on all your lovely blogs finally, now that my computer and I are friends again. I saw this on DC Prep's site, and thought it would be a fun thing to do - I love things like this! :)

Basically, you put an X next to the things you have done.

(X) Gone on a blind date (It was a really blind date...neither he nor I knew we were being set up. Turned into a year and a half relationship...)
(X) Skipped school (um...like all the time??)
( ) Watched someone die
( ) Washed, groomed and dressed someone after they died.
(X) Been to Canada (technically...I've been to the Calgary Airport...)
(X) Been to Mexico (TJ and Rocky Point (Puerto Pensaco)...classy, eh?)
( ) Been to Florida (not yet! We shall see...)
( ) Been to Hawaii
(X) Been on a plane (::shudders:: I hate flying!)
( ) Been on a helicopter (hell no!)
(X) Been lost (teehee! Many, many times. My favorite was the first weekend I lived in the DC area and my bestie and our roommate decided to go to Ethiopian food. We didn't know how to drive around the city, and bestie was driving, with me in the backseat looking at a map. All 3 of us are chain smoking out the window (note: I have not smoked in 2 years and 2 months!) and she turned on some random street and hollers to me "I'm turning, find me!" The night ended 3 hours later with us hitting up the Wendy's across the street from our apartment...we never made it to the restaurant - we couldn't find it!)
(X) Gone to Washington, DC (um...yes?)
(X) Swam in the ocean (Pacific, yes. Never actually seen the Atlantic...pathetic, I know!)
(X) Cried yourself to sleep (Many, many, many times. Too many to count.)
( ) Played cops and robbers
( ) Recently colored with crayons (no...but Roommate has. She looooooves her crafts...ugh!)
(X) Sang Karaoke (DUH!)
( ) Paid for a meal with coins only
( ) Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't. (yea...they often have names...)
(X) Made prank phone calls (teehee, who hasn't! The best was in the days before cell phones when you had to make COLLECT prank calls from a PAY PHONE! Like at the local skating rink. AWESOME!)
( ) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose (it burns...)
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
( ) Danced in the rain-naked
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
( ) Been kissed under the mistletoe (sigh...any year now!)
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone (umm, with Florida this weekend? Though, does watching imply you are actually watching...or that you are still awake when the sun rises? He does look lovely at magic hour though...yum yum)
(X) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating (technically when I fell I slid on the ice...that counts, right?)
(X) Gone to the movies
( ) Been deep sea fishing (I really, really want to though!)
( ) Driven across the United States (ugh...Mama Bea won't let me. Seriously.)
( ) Been in a hot air balloon
( ) Been sky diving (hell no. Scared of heights AND falling)
( ) Been bungee jumping (see above)
( ) Lay down outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets (that will be my plan this summer in the back of a certain boy's truck...)
(X) Seen a falling star and made a wish (never seem to come true...)
( ) Enjoyed the beauty of Old Faithful Geyser
(X) Seen the Statue of Liberty

My photo, from my Memorial Weekend trip to visit Badger in NYC :(

( ) Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle
( ) Been on a cruise
(X) Traveled by train (LOVE train travel!)
(X) Been horse back riding (almost got bucked off...I did not get back on the horse!)
(X) Ridden on a San Francisco CABLE CAR (yup!)
(X) Been to Disneyland OR Disney World (the ORIGINAL Disneyland!)
( ) Truly believe in the power of prayer
( ) Been in a rain forest
( ) Seen whales in the ocean
( ) Been to Niagara Falls
( ) Been to the Olympics (been to the Olympic Village in Munich and Squaw Valley...)
( ) Walked on the Great Wall of China
( ) Saw and heard a glacier calf (I don't even know what this means?!?)
( ) Been spinnaker flying
(X) Been water-skiing
( ) Been snow-skiing
( ) Been to Westminster Abbey
( ) Been to the Louvre
( ) Swam in the Mediterranean
(X) Been to a Major League Baseball game

I HATE the Yankees...I spent this whole game taking photos and playing with the settings on my new camera because I was soooooooo bored. Also from Memorial Weekend trip to see Badger.

(X) Been to a National Football League game (Cowboys, baby!!!)
(X) Been to Las Vegas (Cousin's 30th bday last December - AWESOME!)
( ) Been snorkeling in any ocean
( ) Been naked or topless on a beach
( ) Called 911 because McDonalds was out of McNuggets...

I'm back, lovlies!

Hi darlins'!

Sorry for my bloggy absence...but as I mentioned here, my computer (and me, at the time) had a nasty virus. Well, the computer virus didn't like my repeated attempts at eradicating it...and it fought back. Hard.

Well, I am smarter* than the virus and prevailed, finally. It got so bad that not only could I not Google anything, I couldn't even get onto the interwebs! Hence, no bloggy goodness from me.

It also attacked my emails - so I apologize for not being able to respond to all your sweet comments!!

Good news however, the virus is totally GONE and I am (obvi) back online, thank GOD!

It's cold and SNOWY out here in DC today...my plan is to clean my apartment because it has gotten a bit nasty since I was so sick last week and I played with Florida all this weekend (seriously...he met my drunk ass one glass of wine self at the bar Friday night and went back to his place at like 10pm last night) and turned all domesticated and Martha Stewart on him by not only cutting up my very own chicken, but then making homemade stock, and using the poached chicken to make a VERY tasty chicken salad (technically the chicken salad was after he left, but whatevs.) Bless his heart for staying up with my until 3:00 a.m. on Saturday night/Sunday morning straining the HUGE vat of chicken stock I made. With coffee filters, because I was out of cheesecloth. Note to all: coffee filters don't filter anything but coffee.

Anywhos, while Roommate is at work (boo no snow day for her!) I am going to surprise her by getting our place nice and clean and actually looking like a real apartment (we've had a twin bed in the living room since I moved in...long story...)

Hope all you DC'ers have a SAFE time getting to and from work (clearly, I am not allowed to go outside...and have gotten several texts and emails reminding me that it is icy out and that I am not to leave my apartment unless there is a fire.) If you are outside DC - I hope you are having a warmer, less snowy day than we are!

Cheers,

Sweet Bea

* It should be noted that I got the computer virus directly as a result of my own stupidity...I downloaded something I shouldn't have (NO it was not porn, people!) and I KNEW BETTER but did it anyways...and got the virus. :(

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

I haz a sad... :(

My sweet friends, I'm a little bit blue today!

First off, it is absolutely frigid outside and my apartment refuses to get about 60 degrees, regardless of what the thermostat is set at. I am going massive amounts of laundry and leaving the door open in a vain attempt at having my washer and dryer heat up my apartment.

Then, as I'm busily working in my room, trying to FINALLY get everything unpacked, put where I want it, and organized, my cell rings. I assume it will be a call from Florida (even though we've only spoken on the phone once...mainly because I don't pick up when he calls during Idol), but it is a Capitol Hill number. My heart skips a beat...

...it's the campaign I worked on so hard this summer and fall back in California. Their Communications Director is leaving, and even though it was still supposed to be mum, your sneaky Bea got very early word (so early in fact most of the staff hadn't been informed yet!) of his departure and sent my resume over to the Chief of Staff.

Alas, the Chief of Staff is calling to tell me that they have hired someone from inside the office, who just moved out here from the California office last month to take a legislative position and she wanted to take the Communications Director position.

Someone with, to my knowledge, absolutely zero experience (in a field where experience, especially experience speaking on the record, is gold.)

But - all is not lost! The Chief of Staff said that he clearly knows what great work I do and that I'd be a great Communications Director and he's willing to make calls to other offices for me. OH, and the going away party for the departing Communications Director (my boss on the campaign) is tonight and they'd like me to come say goodbye. Oh, goody! (sorry for my snark in this paragraph, but I'm frustrated and hurt!)

This comes a week or so after not getting a ComDir job with an office I've already worked for with a Chief of Staff who for 2 years has told me that he'd hire me in an instant if a ComDir job opened up. And then hiring someone else when the job opened up.

I had an interview last week that I'm really excited for...but at this point I'm so demoralized and feeling so down on myself that I really don't have much hope for it. Which is too bad, because it would be an awesome job! We'll see...

And then I go to pay my monthly bills (which I usually do on the 1st but I forgot!) and my cell phone bill is 3x what it should be...because I have $100 in TEXT MESSAGE CHARGES! What am I, 15 years old??? Sheesh! And since Florida and I text instead of talk ALL DAY EVERY DAY I'm sure it is only going to get worse! ¡Aye caramba! indeed.

But, I've been chatting with my campaign manager about the current job funk in which I find myself, and he helped put things into perspective, so I'm starting to feel a *little* bit better, which is good.

And to end on a positive (because I HATE being all negative, even though I do use this little blog 'o mine to vent more often than I'd like) I've been making great strides towards getting my room finally put away. There are a few things I can't move and lift because of my tailbone still hurting (but not nearly as bad as it could have been!!) but my roomie is strong and tall so she'll help me (our kitchen is quite funny...I'm only 5'2 and she's about 6'0 in flats...so her stuff is way up high where i can't reach it, and she put all my stuff on the lower shelves for me.)

Sigh...well thank you for letting me vent and moan and have a pity party for one over here in my sad, cold DC. I promise I'll be back to my chipper self ASAP!!

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

Sorry for the delay, ya'll!

Hi friends,

Sorry I've been slacking in the whole blogging department...it's been a looooooong week. Lots of emotions (good, bad, and everything in between), parties, changes, job stuff, friends...let's just say I've been physically and mentally very busy, and haven't really had the time to sit down, decompress, and put together a thoughtful post.

I hope to be better tomorrow...in the meantime, I will do my best to sort through the hundreds (if not closer to a thousand) pictures from all the inaugural festivities (Concerts! Galas!) to put up - WARNING (and super-secret identity spoiler alert) your dear Sweet Bea is only a wee 5'3 (ok FINE, 5'2 and a half!) and we were usually pretty far back (but we made it in!) but I'll see if there are any decent photos to post.

Cheers,
Sweet Bea

BRRRRRRRRR!

DANG it's cold out!

Your beloved blogger-Bea is refusing to leave the house!

Here's the weather outlook for this weekend...including Sunday night for the free Springsteen concert on the Mall!

(Image from Weather.com)

Of course...it could be worse...I could have decided to go to Madison THIS weekend, instead of last weekend:

(Image from Weather.com)

With this little gem:

HIGH TEMPERATURES TODAY WILL STRUGGLE TO REACH 3 TO 5 BELOW... DESPITE PLENTY OF SUNSHINE. CONTINUED GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS OF 10 TO 20 MPH WILL PRODUCE WIND CHILL VALUES AROUND 30 BELOW THROUGHOUT MUCH OF THE DAY.

BRRRR BRRRR BRRRR! :(

Stay warm, bloggy friends!

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)

Round One: Mouse

So newly-named Thundersnow (my mouse from this post) has beaten me in the first round of Get the F Out of My Room! :(

After spending the last few nights "sleeping" (because there really is no sleep when you know a mouse might jump on your bed again) with the light on to try and keep Mr. Mousie away, I finally cracked down and bought mouse traps.


Round One Product: JT Eaton's Stick-Em Glue traps. They are little tubs (sorta) filled with sticky gelatin with some peanut buttery goodness in the middle for Thundersnow to eat. They are humane (as humane I suppose as mouse traps can be) but unfortunately, at least last night, they were useless.

I thought I heard Thundersnow scratching around a little bit around 4am or so...but I was so blasted tired that I fell right asleep (light off, but completely cocooned in my comforter so Thundersnow wouldn't come snuggle with me again.)

When I awoke this AM (to my roomie knocking on the door to see if she could use any boxes) I peeked down, half hoping to see Thundersnow in one of the 4 (4!!!) sticky traps I so carefully placed (all around my bed) for him, half hoping that he wasn't there so I didn't have to deal with him!

Lucky for one half of me, Thundersnow is nowhere to be found. Perhaps he left? Perhaps he outsmarted the Bea? We may never know just what happened.

My plan is to leave the traps up tonight, and possibly put out the other box around the room (because I misread the box and didn't see the ginormous "4" on it indicating that each box had 4 traps in it...) and leave the light off while I'm out and about at a wine and cheese party (outfit coming soon, I hope.)

Cheers,

Sweet Bea

Keep it in the family, folks!

You know something that just absolutely burns me up?

Its going onto Ebay and looking up my sorority's name to see what cute stuff I find...and am welcomed with an onslaught of badges.

I get that even thought you say you are Greek for life that sometimes that life interferes and you take on other priorities. I won't claim for one moment that I've been the best alumna - not even a good one.

But I would never, no matter the cost, give my badge to someone outside of the sisterhood.

I realize that many of these are from deceased members who didn't leave instructions for their badges and pins. I get that.

But, even if you were dealing with the death of a loved one and in cleaning our their items stumbled onto their badge, why on EARTH would you think it was acceptable to give that person's badge away???

Grandma Bea is in a nursing home and we know that she will never live in her home again...so when I was home during the campaign I'd try and help Mama Bea go through some of her things. I was specifically looking for her pin, from Alpha Delta Pi (Psi Chapter, UC Berkeley, 1930 I believe), because I want to make sure that it doesn't get into the wrong hands. I will return it to the headquarters where it will be properly looked after.

Even if I wasn't Greek, Mama Bea (who didn't go to college and doesn't really understand the whole thing) wouldn't just give Grandma Bea's pin to someone, or sell it on Ebay!

When you enter into a sorority or fraternity there are certain rules, certain standards and traditions, that you subscribe to. Your initiation - and the several weeks of hard work that often precede it - teach you these rules and traditions. Just as I don't sign off as Sweet Bea, MD because I didn't earn it, you don't get to wear my letters because you didn't earn it. I didn't get to wear an honor cord at my graduation because I didn't earn earn it, and you don't get to learn the history and symbolism of my rituals because you didn't earn it.

Please don't think that just because you purchased a Greek pin on Ebay you have the right to wear it, display it, share it, or do anything with it. You do not. You did not earn that right. Speedos can be purchased on Ebay too, and Lord knows nobody, outside of this guy has earned the right to wear them.

Chill out Bea...calm down Bea! I know, I know, I'm ranting like a lunatic (I'm actually on Ebay procrastinating setting mousetraps...ugh!) but still, it just really frustrates me to see people pledge themselves to something with so little care and thought.

Ok done. Soapbox neatly tucked away under the bed (with the mouse, who my cousin says should be named Thundersnow, after the crazy phenomenon happening in Wisconsin, my second home, right now.)

Cheers,

Sweet Bea (MD)

Seriously??

I just had a mouse on my bed.

Not in my room of my new apartment.

Not in the walls of my new apartment.

Not underneath the bed in my new apartment.

ON. MY. BED.

Seriously. (?!?!?!?)

I heard all these weird scratching noises and figured that it must just be boxes settling and packing tape moving around, but I decided to sit up and take a look around just in case (in the dark, mind you. My bedside lamp had its CFL lightbulb stolen by my friends who watched my stuff while I was in CA.)

So I sit up...and there I see it to my left. I jump, and it takes 2 hops off the edge of the bed and disappears.

And now there is silence in my room. Which is somehow more terrifying than hearing the scratching noises.

A mouse. ON MY F'ING BED. Thank God I was awake and have a queen size bed.

I am seriously so freaked out right now I just don't know what to do.

I can only assume that it hitchhiked from my friends' basement where my boxes were, in a box (since they were ALL OPENED AND GONE THROUGH! Even my box with my new Victoria's Secret stockings and other miscellaneous lingerie! But that's another angry post altogether), was sealed up by me in said box on moving day, and then decided to hop out and see what it could find ON MY BED.

OMG what if it had crawled INTO my bed??

I know I'm craving some bedtime snuggling right now, but with a Badger, not with a MOUSE.

Photo courtesy of icanhascheezburger.com

Hope you're having a better sleep than me! (grumble grumble)

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??