Putting a little Hope in the holidays (I know she’s wincing over there…heh…)

Please jump over to visit our friend Hope Tarr and check out her Holiday Goodness Challenge.  Good things, people.  Good things.

Liz

The Rebels Holiday Party

Since no one’s employer seems to be throwing holiday parties this year due to the bad economy, Liz and I decided to throw one of our own at The Dove Parlour in the West Village Saturday night.

To make it extra fun, I made up little gift bags for each attendee – stuffed with silly toys and candy you might remember as a kid.

The dress code was swanky – but I decided to add a festive Santa hat just for fun. Here’s my “before” pictures, in front of our lovely Christmas tree! As you can see from photo #2, Molly got a holiday haircut earlier in the day. She still doesn’t love the santa hat though.

Liz did a cool menswear kind of thing. And Elizabeth wore this amazing vintage Betsy Johnson dress.

After scouring the menu, Stacey and Leanna decided on hot mulled wine. Perfect for a cold, snowy winter’s night!

I was very happy to have my friend Jamie stop by! She’s a dear old friend I met when I used to live in San Diego.

The talk went far into the night. And while I swear everyone got along just fine, for some reason, everytime we took a candid photo, someone ended up looking kind of mad.

The gift bags were a great hit. And soon our table was full of toys.

This demonic snowman – inside one of the gift bags, got a lot of attention.

All in all, a fun time was had by all! Happy Holidays everyone!

Dear Parents, the policy has now changed…

Dear Parents,

I’m writing this letter to inform you that I will no longer be accepting checks.  Should you wish to give me money during this holiday season…

(I’m not suggesting anything, mind you.  I’m just saying that if you happen to find yourself in a scenario which involves funding me in some way, please be advised.)

…I now only accept cash and PayPal.  If you would like to pay with a credit card, I’m sure we can work something out.  Hope you’re keepin’ warm!

Your Loving Daughter,

Liz

Christmas in Texas

I’ve been a super lazy blogger this week and I apologize. Just a lot to do to get ready for the holidays!

So this past weekend we headed down to Kingsland, Texas (about an hour outside of Austin) to celebrate Christmas with Jacob’s family at their lake house.

They had a gigantic tree that puts ours to shame. Of course, so do their cathedral ceilings.

Jacob’s mom had a Christmas stocking all made for me! With my name on it and everything! Made me feel like one of the family.

As my dad used to say every morning at Christmas, Uh, oh. I think Santa made a mistake…and left TOO MANY PRESENTS! (This was never true, by the way, since it’s literally impossible to ever have too many presents!)

Jacob’s sister must know her brother well, judging from the Batman t-shirt she bought him.

Not to mention the Dallas Cowboys baseball hat.

I, myself, got tons of great presents. Some highlights – a gift certificate to the UGGS store online. Can’t WAIT to pick out a new pair of boots. I cried when my old ones wore out last year and I to throw them away. We also got a beautiful set of wine glasses and decanter as well as some martini glasses and a mixer. (Perfect for our next party!) I got some great earrings and other jewelry, too. Yay!

Afterwards, we baked like five kinds of cookies.

And got ready for our surf and turf dinner. (I just went with the turf, as I’m allergic to shellfish.) The steak was cooked on the grill and tasted absolutely delicious!!

Jacob’s friend Josh came over with his daughter Abbey. So adorable. She loved the Christmas stuffed dog Jacob’s mom gave her. It played one Christmas song. And she wanted to hear it over and over and over again.

At night we played games and spent some time in the jacuzzi. Now THAT’S something you don’t do on Christmas in New England!

The next day we drove to Dallas to watch the Cowboys beat the Giants. You might remember I had bought the tickets for Jacob (a die-hard Cowboy’s fan) for our anniversary. So I was glad the present ended up coming with a win as well.

I liked the Christmas halftime show with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

They’re tearing down the stadium after this season, so this was one of the final games. You can buy one of these seats!

All in all, an excellent trip – and a great time to get out of the cold! I never thought in a million years I’d say this, but I really like Texas.

Marianne

One Santa, okay. Several hundred? Whoa.

[Everyone here was laughing that this California girl was so excited about the first New York snow.  I can't help it!  For the rest of you unjaded snow afficionados, I made it snow on the blog.  Whee!  Hope you like it.]

So Megan and I were minding our own business (assuming that by “minding our own business” one is including the act of observing and making up back stories for random strangers) on the way to Chinatown for some experimental cuisine, when we came upon a couple of people dressed as Santa.  Suddenly, there were more like twenty people dressed as Santa.  Actually, hundreds.  There were literally hundreds of Santas out on the streets of New York.  Maybe thousands.

And we said to ourselves, “This cannot be mere coincidence.  A couple of Santas, coincidence makes.  Several hundred is either an epidemic or a hallucination.”

Coincidence?  Epidemic?  Hallucination?

Here’s a snippet.  You be the judge.  (You can hear me say something about being smothered by Santas.  I think I was trying to determine whether the evening was going to be more Generic Comedic Holiday Film or more Hitchcock’s The Birds, but with Santas.)

Liz

P.S. Apparently it was all due to Santacon.  The day that everyone randomly dresses up as Santa, just because.  “Just Because” costuming.  You know I’m down with that!

Santa Hats Cont’d…Mar’s turn

I’m heading to Texas this weekend to celebrate an early Christmas with Jacob’s family. We’re also going to see the Cowboys play the Giants in Dallas (and hopefully not get slaughtered!)

In the meantime, thought I’d share with you a couple pictures of our Christmas tree. We put it up this week!

As you can see, Molly isn’t a big fan of her Santa hat.

Be serious, now. No, really. Do try.

Went to Brooklyn today for my weekly writing date with Megan Frampton. While she managed to write half a book, I spent my time fighting (successfully) the Facebook virus. That is, until our session degenerated into a Santa Hat photoshoot.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Ha-ha-ha! This is so much better than working! Wheeeeee!

Mean Santa.

There were a couple of Santa hats lying around. What did you expect us to do?

Ba-da-bing? Yeah, whatever.

Whatever? What-evah!

Does the average elf have this many teeth? Damn.

Liz

Manhattan Party Hat Trick, Part III (Video! Yay!)

MANHATTAN PARTY HAT TRICK

PART III

Bowie Ball

What. A. Fabulous. Scene. It wasn’t as outrageous as I’d expected, but that could be because a) this year’s theme was Warholian which is, by it’s very nature, not as glam as the usual Bowie theme or b) because once you’ve seen the scene in SF, that’s a damn high bar. That all being said, it was still fierce and fabulous. (By the way, I should mention that I am struggling with my camera’s low-light issues, but there was a fog machine that made things even more difficult. Those pesky fog machines!)

Marianne actually did a wardrobe change. Hee!

 

The performances were AWE-SOME. My favorite was Michael T (see left…he had these amazing moves and so much charisma it was almost ridiculous!) but I can’t find any decent video of him performing. And I swear to god, I’ve never seen a human being look so good in a suit. (so very Tim Curry crossed with Richard Gere circa American Gigolo)

 

 

 

 

 

 Marianne did manage to capture this clip of Ziggy Starlet:

And this…which doesn’t even begin to do the real experience justice.  Notice how that one performer has LED lights embedded into his face.

More Bowie Ball snaps:

That’s it for now. Later, bitches.
Liz 

Manhattan Party Hat Trick, Parts I & II

Give it up for the hat-trick, will ya? Two birthday parties and the Bowie Ball in one night. That’s a lot of terrain to cover. We’ll start out nice and slow with Parts I and II today, and then ramp it up to outrageous with the costumes and video in Part III for Monday.

Marianne Note: Liz has a thing for taking photos of bartenders when we go out. I have to say, this guy is in the top 10.

 Marianne’s Note: While Liz decided to get glammed up from party #1, I somehow seem to prefer to lugging around bags of clothing for cramped bathroom changing fun. I did, however, this time, manage to wear half my late night costume and make it seem relatively normal. 

Birthday Girls

Marianne Note: These are Buttercup cupcakes procured by Liz. If they’d been procured by me, they would be from Magnolia. Just sayin’.

PART I

Stacey Agdern’s b-day celebration was first up. Team NY gathered at The Dive Bar* to fete the birthday girl with cupcakes and this crazy-scary food-stuff concotion courtesy of our Canadian neighbors called poutine. By crazy-scary food-stuff I mean gravy, greasy french fries and massive globs of cheese. I’m not saying it wasn’t good. I’m just saying. The partygoers arrived in waves, but included in the scene were Rebels blog regulars Elizabeth Bitsy Mahon, Leanna Renee Hieber and Hope Tarr and a Very Special Appearance by the elusive Isabo Kelly.

* That’s Dive Bar as in the name of the bar, not the level of niceness of the venue. Manhattan has this weird thing about calling places dive bars that are not at all dive’y…I guess to be kitchy and fun? If you’re looking for a TRUE dive bar in Manhattan, go to the Subway Bar. You’ll see the difference.

PART II

The second wave of Stacey’s partygoers arrived and Marianne, Hope and I headed over to pick up Jacob and wish the Sweenster a bon fete. Sarah’s shindig was at Brass Monkey in the trendy Meatpacking District. And just as we emerged from the Dive to head to the Monkey, the FIRST SNOW floated down upon us. So magical! Just last week I was watching surfers take the waves under the Golden Gate Bridge. I’m so not jaded on this snow business, I tell ya.

But this isn’t about that. This is about this. Sarah Sweeney at Brass Monkey. Snaps:

Cosmos and Manhattans seemed to be the drinks du nuit but I really loved that draft apple beer at the poutine joint. (Marianne’s note: Question: Isn’t draft apple beer, actually just apple cider that has a name that makes it acceptable for boys to drink?) And could I use just a few more italicized foreign words? I think not. After tipping a few, we had to say goodbye to the lovely Sarah (Um, that’s *my* camera, Sarah. Really, it is.) and head over to the Bowie Ball. Tune in tomorrow, ’cause you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Liz

Liz and Mar – Honorary Socialites

Last night Liz and I took part in the second annual Luxe Cause – a holiday charity event hosted by socialites Mina Jacqueline Au, Tracy Stern, Anisha Lakahni, and Gillian Hearst. Taking place in Tracy’s breathtaking Upper East Side apartment, each partcipant displayed their wares for well-heeled guests to peruse and purchase–all in the name of charity, of course!

Liz and I perched on a window seat, high above the city, and sold copies of our books–the proceeds going to our favorite charities. The people watching alone was amazing–okay, the shoe/boot watching alone was amazing in and of itself. And Liz got to get her tea fix on with Tracy, who, as I’ve mentioned here before, does the fabulous SalonTea line of products. (I think Liz bought out half her supply.) And we met a ton of really nice people who were so gracious in coming to check out our books.

We even got written up in one of the big Manhattan society blogs, Guest of a Guest–a definite first for me!

All in all – a night to remember – and a great cause too! I’m really happy Mina invited us to participate.

Marianne

Liz Addendum: (First, we’ll pretend my ass doesn’t look like a German Panzer tank in that photo. We won’t even discuss my hair.) Mina’s event *was* absolutely fantastic–and she’s such a gracious hostess!  I also must gush a little extra about Tracy Stern.  Not only was I completely in heaven over her product line, Salon Tea (*swoon* I love the modernized pixelly 18th Century logo), but she was so much fun…we had a grand time bandying about names for new teas.  All of the teas are named after the denizens of society salons.  I bought L’Artiste which is white tea with ginger and Le Dandy which is the line’s Earl Grey.  Given that my favorite tea is the Mariage Freres Earl Grey French Blue, I am particularly excited to compare Tracy’s version.  I hear the water boiling now…