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

Big news folks, big. HUGE!

I got a job.

And the crowd goes wild!

It's in Arizona

And a hush falls over the crowd.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers,



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

Circus Mexicus...or how I like to pretend I am still in college

So when I was in college, I was *slightly* obsessed with a local band, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers.

photo courtesy of Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers

(My college friends who are reading this are probably laughing at the number of times I dragged them to concerts!)

Anywho, they are amazing and I don't care and I still go to see them every time they are in town (usually once a year.) their music is always positive, about living life to the fullest, never having regrets, and tequila. :)

They are a Southwestern rock back - so a little country, a lot of rock, and some Latin influences too on many tracks.

Think you've never heard them? Think again, if you watch King of the Hill - they wrote the theme song. Remember the song "Banditos" by The Refreshments? Yup...that was them too, before they became the Peacemakers. (Apparently Banditos is on Guitar Hero 2...which makes me NEED to go buy it. Like NOW.)

Well, each summer they do a weekend long performance in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) Mexico, and I've NEVER been.

So I'm trying to decide if I want to throw caution to the wind, put on my tank top, jeans, and flip flops, don a beat up cowboy hat and hop on a plane to Phoenix to head down to Mexico.

Just wanted to share my Sunday mornings thoughts with ya'll! :) I know how much ya'll love it!

Here are some vidoes for your viewing pleasure:


The official video for Banditos


And of course, one of their signature songs, Mexico (from Circus Mexicus 07)


Girly/Baba O'Riley


Green and Dumb


Mekong (from Circus Mexicus 08)


One of my absolute favorites, Switchblade (this song is nothing less than HAUNTING live)


And, since this is how they often close out the sets,I thought ending this post with Nada was appropriate. Hearing this song in an Arizona monsoon is an incredibly spiritual experience. (And yes, I know that sounds nuts but you'll just have to trust me on this.)


So, as Roger says...

Thank you for your time, and here's to life!

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

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??