13. The Christmas Episode
In this week's episode, Merritt shares some of her all-time (and recent!) favorite Christmas movies, holiday tunes, seasonal candles, go-to gift ideas for her mom, sister, step-dad, godchildren, the hostess, etc. She also shares a peek into her own holiday wish list! In the beginning of the episode, Merritt gives a detailed recap of her trip to New York over the weekend! Discover who she saw, where she ate and stayed, what she bought, and more.
In the Beck and Call Q&A segment, Merritt answers your questions on how she gets ready for a fun holiday night out and some holiday gift ideas for friends! Call into the Beck and Call Hotline at 214-620-0473 to ask Merritt anything - she answers two new listener questions at the end of every episode.
For visual guides and behind-the-scenes podcast content, follow along on Instagram @beckandcallpodcast! You can also visit the website beckandcallpodcast.com to listen to episodes, get in touch, and more.
EPISODE AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION
Hey guys welcome back to the beck and call podcast. I'm your host Merritt Beck I am a fashion and lifestyle blogger and on this podcast I'm talking about all things life work and love as a single woman in my 30s Hope you guys had a lovely weekend. I certainly did. In case you missed it. I went to New York over the weekend I left on Thursday and had the best time I am so exhausted though I swear every time I go to New York, I'm just so drained by the end of it that I'm desperate to get back home. I kind of feel like it's similar to Vegas and that there are always so many plans and fun things to do and you're shopping you're on your feet like all day exploring and then of course fun dinners and going out at night. So by the end of the trip, you're just like get me like I truly don't know how people live there and like keep up with such a fast paced lifestyle. I'll get into exactly what I did all weekend. But first let's chat about how I packed because I am so proud of myself you guys. If you can believe it. I only took a carry on and I honestly don't remember the last time I've ever just flown with Gary. I check every time I travel. I didn't this time because it was such a short trip. I did all of my workouts before I left town so I worked out Monday through Thursday. I left on Thursday and was coming back Sunday and so I made a deal with myself not to pack workout clothes or sneakers since you know I definitely didn't need to it just felt like it would take up a lot of space. And so that helped. And then also because it was such a short trip I didn't want to have to pack like a bunch of different coats a bunch of different shoes. So I packed only two coats I wore one on the plane one was in the bag and it was the lighter weight one of the two and then I packed three pairs of boots two of which I wore every day and the other pair I honestly just used for the shoot because there was a much higher heel I wasn't going to walk around in and I probably could have done without packing those because I did have a bit of a moment as I was packing up to leave a little issue fitting it all in because I did buy something while I was in New York which might have mistakes it's like all the back to carry on but I'm so proud of myself for not packing a checked bag for such a short weekend trip. It was so nice not having to deal with the check in process at the airport or deal with the baggage claim. Now I know what people are talking about when when they say carry on is the only way to go. But honestly I don't know if I could do this for any any longer trips like any I could never do it going to Europe. I don't know how people do that. I like to have options, but this time I really did it and I'm proud of myself and glad to know that it can be done. For me. I just have to be really careful about how I pack. In addition to the two coats and three pairs of boots I packed a festive dress I packed my gold sequined skirt that I shared in the capsule wardrobe. I packed my two feather sweaters I ended up only actually wearing one on the trip but I brought both and I brought a few other sweaters to wear with the same black jeans. So kept it pretty simple. I did end up buying one piece while I was there and that's what was causing the issues when I was packing up to go home. But otherwise, anything else I bought while I was there, I just had shipped home I bought some stuff at Bergdorf some giftee items. I bought another gift I got my mom's gifts while I was up there not at Bergdorf but I shipped that back. So I did buy some stuff but luckily a lot of the places offer complimentary shipping and that was really really helpful. The forecast for Thursday ended up being much warmer than I'd expected. And of course I brought all these sweaters and so I ended up wearing the lighter weight dress that I bought for Friday night on Thursday. So on Friday, I went in search of something festive to wear that night I wanted to wear something festive every night on my trip because it's the holiday season in New York I had really fun plans scheduled with my friends and I just wanted to look fabulous so I went on a search after lunch on Friday and I honestly had no luck finding a dress that's really what I wanted to find. And then the last place I went was Ralph Lauren and I found the most darling skirt. It's this tartan plaid, I think I don't I'm not very preppy so I don't know all of the names for different plaids or anything but it's got black, dark green, navy, red and cream and it's got these little fringe details at the hem. It's got this little buckle detail at the waist. It is super cute. I worked with a black turtleneck that night and my knee high boots so it kind of draped the skirt draped over the boots, but I loved it and I tried to link it for you guys on stories this week, but it's pretty much sold out everywhere online. With that said the store on matters ave the Ralph Lauren store was fully stocked in every size. So I'm not sure if that's still the case. I shared this on Insta Stories over the weekend but you could certainly call the store and order it from the store directly. Good luck finding it online but definitely call the store if you're interested in it. I'll post a photo on the beck and call podcast Instagram if you want to see the skirt I wore. And then the other skirt I wore that weekend was the gold sequined skirt. It's actually also by Ralph Lauren. They're apparently killing it in the skirt game and I bought that after including it in the capsule wardrobe I did for holiday winter on my blog so you can find links to it there. It's available at Neiman Marcus which is where I bought it and it's also available on the Ralph Lauren website and I got a medium in that one and it's got a stretchy waistband so super comfortable. With the plaid skirt I would size up I tend to find that skirts like that at Ralph Lauren run a little narrow, their styles are a little more narrow. So if you're hippy or curvier, like I am definitely size up I got the eight but I got so many wonderful compliments on both skirts when I was out so love them they're perfect for the holidays, the gold one you can wear for Christmas or New Year's and further on into the winter season. The plaid is obviously very appropriate for the Christmas holiday. So definitely check those out. Alright, so let's get into what I actually did while I was in New York. So Thursday I flew out from Dallas at 10 and landed about three o'clock in New York. I went straight to the hotel to unpack and get settled before meeting up with Becca for drinks at 530 but quick note on the hotel I stayed at the Ludlow which is somewhere I've stayed and loved before it's on the Lower East Side and it's such a cool hotel. The bathrooms are stunning. Obviously the rooms are small. That's kind of true of every hotel in New York but I always love it they have a fun hotel bar they also have a great restaurant called Dirty French downstairs. It's always sort of a scene but it's really really a chic and cute hotel and pretty walkable to everything down there so you can walk over to no whoa no Lita, I walked over to Soho and then on to West Village I explored everywhere by foot over there so it's it's a great spot to check out if you're looking for a cool new hotel. So as I said before, my very first plan after I got settled at my hotel was to meet up with my friend Becca Freeman for drinks. And if you don't already know Becca, she is the co host of bad on paper podcast which she does with one of my friends and fellow bloggers Grace Atwood. Becca also is the CO writer and producer for rom com pods and Showmance, which are two other podcast she does with one of her other friends Rachel King, and she announced some really exciting news last week that I wanted to share and I shared on my Insta Stories, and it was so fun to chat with her about it. But her big news is that she and Rachel wrote a script for a romantic comedy movie, starring Sarah Hyland, who was in modern family and it's called Bone Mary Berry, which is hilarious. And it will be out in February and I cannot wait to watch it. It was so much fun catching up with her. I haven't seen her in forever, obviously. But I feel like I've met her a handful of times, but I feel like I know her really well. Just like you know, you feel like you know people when you follow them on Instagram. That's how I feel like I know her so well. And also obviously when I listen to her podcast every week, and it was really fun to catch up and see her and hear about that project and other things going on. I would eventually love to have Becca and grace and honestly everybody else I saw in New York on the podcast eventually. But this was just such a fun quick trip. I didn't want to make it about work. So next time. Right after drinks with Becca I headed to my friend Mallory's birthday dinner, which was at little ways in Soho, and Mallory is one of my friends from Dallas. She has lived in Dallas for a long time. But just at the beginning of the pandemic, she decided to switch things up and move to Manhattan. She literally moved while things were shutting down but she has no regrets and I can totally see why she's she's just loving it. And it was so fun to meet some of her New York friends and hear about her life up there obviously celebrate her birthday, and the dinner was delicious at little ways. I'd never been to or heard of that restaurant, but it's very cute and cool. It's got a good vibe good scene and the food is fabulous. They ended up going out after they I think they went to American bar for a drink but I had already had quite a bit to drink and I had to wake up early to shoot outfit photos for the blog. So I called it a night after dinner. I didn't sleep very well that night, probably partly because of drinking but also I'm such a light sleeper and obviously the street noise in New York is very different than what I'm used to in Texas. So an ambulance woke me up at like 530 in the morning wasn't great, couldn't go back to sleep. And I did give me a lot of time to get ready for my shoot but I was just up and like waiting for a long time but it was fine. I you know I rallied. I shot with Ali Provost who is a New York based photographer she's also an influencer and pretty big on Tik Tok. I didn't know that until until we were shooting because a girl came up to her and was like, oh my god, I love you. You're on. You're the girl. I'm from Tik Tok. And I was like, what? I'm not big on Tik Tok. I do not know who's cool or what's up, but that was sort of fun. And my usual photographer from New York just moved to Florida during the pandemic, so I thought it would be fun to mix it up and try somebody new and Allie was so great to work with. So that was very fun. We basically just shot around the hotel which was super easy and then I ran up in between each outfit to change. After my shoot with Alli, I hopped in an Uber to head up to the Upper East Side, I decided that Friday was going to be the day I wanted to do you know Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue and go to Bergdorf and all of that. But first I was starving. I'd been up since 530. So I went straight to lunch I went to match 65 brasserie, which is a darling French restaurant right off of Madison Avenue. It is literally across the street from Jeevan. She it's just this small little bistro Cafe thing and they've got a pretty large menu, lots of great wine. The service is incredible. The food is so good. This was my I think second or third time to go. I had a delightful solo lunch there a few years ago and decided to recreate it this trip and I ordered the tuna tar tar which is fantastic. It is so good. It might be my favorite tuna tartare I've ever had anywhere. They serve it with these little crinkled chips. They're delicious. And then I followed that with French onion soup, which was also delicious, but honestly I didn't need it. I was full because I'd had the tuna tartare with lots of chips. I'd had a very large glass of wine, so I probably didn't need the French onion soup, but I was glad to have it because it was chillier that day and just a little cozy, warm meal. But that may be my new tradition when I go up there and shop on the Upper East Side is to eat there, obviously St. Ambrose, obviously the big Cafe Those are fun, but if you're looking to try somewhere new, definitely check out match 65 I highly recommend it. I have only ever had delicious meals there. After lunch I spent pretty much the entire rest of the day wandering and shopping along Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue I literally popped in everywhere. As I'd said earlier in the episode I was really looking for a dress and didn't have any luck finding one that I liked but I did find that skirt a Ralph Lauren and it was really fun to see all the fun holiday displays and of course the windows at Bergdorf and Saks they always have great windows, but mostly an unsuccessful shopping trip. I didn't find all that much for myself anyway, it was a lot of resort stuff out already. There wasn't so much sale merchandise, which I was a little surprised by considering it's only like one week after cyber week, you can usually count on a ton of amazing sales stuff still out and I just didn't see a lot of that. After I found the skirt though I decided to head back to the hotel to freshen up rest my feet and just chill before dinner. And then later that night I met up with some of my SME friends at Emilio's blato, which I had never been to before. And my friend Savannah works in PR and is also friends I think with the sun and maybe, you know some people who helped us get it. But we sat in the back room, which was so much fun. And I think it's sort of a special spot because they sometimes have celebrities rented out or it's just like a more private area. And so we sat back there, which was so fun. The owner was back there while we were there and also his son Emilio Vitolo, who you might have heard of, because if you're a do ma follower, you might recognize that he's the guy who dated Katie Holmes earlier this year. They were spotted everywhere making out all over Manhattan, and he sometimes helps out at the restaurant. He's a chef, but he was there and he I guess knows Savannah and was coming over to say hi and brought us some of the dishes that we'd ordered. And he was really charming and nice and definitely definitely confident. And I'm not surprised by that. His pants are a little fitted so obvious to see why there's definitely some BDE going on. And also this is sort of wild. So we obviously got this reservation but the night of the reservation Savannah texted us all and was like we might have to find somewhere else to eat. There's apparently a huge celebrity coming in and they want the entire backroom and so we were all like, Well, shit. We wanted to eat there. But we also wanted to find out who the celebrity was. She wouldn't tell us but when we got there, it all obviously worked out. That's where we ate dinner, but we found out it would have been Zoe Kravitz and Channing Tatum. They wanted the back room but I guess they ended up going somewhere else or figured something else out. We didn't get to see them. But that's so cool. That would have been so fun. And while I didn't really see any solid celebrities, you know, except for Katie Holmes X. We did see a couple of guys came in like kind of when we were finished. dinner on like 1030. A couple guys came in the back with two bodyguards. No idea who they were truly no idea. They sat at a table for five but it was just them too and the bodyguards didn't sit with them but would like occasionally check on them to make sure they were all right. It was interesting.
I've never experienced something like that it was sort of funny to watch. But it was a really fun night. We ended up not going out after dinner because Savannah wasn't feeling great. And, you know, that worked out for me. I want to do avoid hangovers on this trip because I had stuff planned during the day. I didn't want to feel bad and waste any time while I was in the city. So I went home afterwards. I probably got home at midnight. It was such a fun dinner and such a fun night. The food was great. I know it's hard to get into but if you can definitely try. It was such a fun vibe. I didn't sleep very well on Friday night either. But I woke up early and grabbed some breakfast pastries and my favorite dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookies from Levine and Noho they have a Noho location now I've only have had them one other time and it was in the Hamptons. And uh, just like everyone else, I was immediately obsessed with them and I know you can actually get them frozen. I think it's central market or heb are somewhere in Texas but I prefer them fresh. And my favorite breakfast pastry that I had I tried three things I tried the sour cream coffee cake, the banana chocolate chip loaf and the blueberry muffin. To be honest the blueberry muffin had like one blueberry in it. So that wasn't my favorite and the banana chocolate chip loaf. It was alright but I don't know it wouldn't wouldn't have been the flavor. You know that I would have picked the sour cream coffee cake. However, it was so moist and buttery. It was so good, ate the whole thing. And then I just walked around with a bag of cookies. For the rest of the day. I ended up eating one for breakfast Sunday morning before my brunch because I was so hungry and just honestly needed help. The cookie helped. After grabbing my breakfast I wandered around SOHO and West Village to shop. I didn't end up finding anything for myself, but I did find my mom's Christmas gift. She's always so hard for me to shop for her because she already has so many beautiful things and while I know she'd appreciate any gift I gave her whether it was like silly or beautiful. I'd like to find her something special and spend more money on her because she's always so supportive and does so much for me so I'm not going to tell you what I got her cuz she listens but fingers crossed. She loves it all. I'll spill the details after the holiday side note speaking of my mom, since last week's episode, I've gotten such great feedback from having her on. So thank you all for listening and for the positive encouragement because I want her to come back. All right back into New York. After a few hours of shopping I met up with my friend Mallory again. She has an apartment in West Village and I hadn't seen it yet. So while I was over there, I texted her and we met up and I got to see it. She is on a corner in the heart of West Village. It is so cute. She's got lots of light and great views. And then after the apartment tour we walked over to bar to see which is lar Tuesday's second restaurant. It's more of a casual wine and snacks spot so we got a couple glasses of wine had some meatballs at a Caesar we split those for a little afternoon snack and it was really nice to be able to catch up with her one on one since her birthday dinner was more of a group thing. But fun fact about bar Tuesday apparently Bradley Cooper lives right next door and one of the townhouses on that street and goes there a lot. In fact, he'd gone the day before to bar twosie. Unfortunately, we didn't see him. I didn't see any celebs there but that was still really fun. And then after a few glasses of wine with Mallory, I went back to the Ludlow where I stayed and wanted to freshen up and sort of relax my feet again, walking all day is hard. And then I got myself together for dinner for my last night in New York and I met up with my friend Megan Donovan. If you followed me on Instagram for a while, you've definitely seen Megan there before she and I traveled to Portugal several years ago together and then in 2019, we went to Provence which was the best trip it's always so much fun traveling with her. And in fact, you know, I had a detailed destination which was kind of me creating itineraries for different international destinations. I went to obviously haven't done that in a while since I haven't been traveling but would love to pick that up eventually. And then she actually has Paris perfected which is basically the same thing but just for Paris. She is always there she goes there at least once a quarter and so she decided to put her knowledge to good use and create customized itineraries, she shares updated roundups of the best cafes and places to stay and things to do so definitely if you're in the market for go into Paris and you want some assistance with your travel plans, definitely check out Paris perfected and then Megan also writes Witten wimzie, which is her fashion blog, so I've known her for a long time. She's a great A friend of mine and I always love catching up with her. We actually tried to make a reservation at the Polo bar about a month ago, but we're both on hold for over an hour before getting through to someone. And obviously at the end of that we did not we were not able to snag one, it's so hard to get in if you don't have a connection or a hookup. And so we ended up making a reservation at Minetta tavern instead, which I was actually even more happy to go to because I hadn't been there yet. I love the Polo bar, but I have been there before and it also exists in other cities. In fact, I've heard a rumor that it might be coming to Dallas in Highland Park village not confirmed but it would be great if it did Minetta Tavern and the Polo bar are very similar. The vibe is cozy and kind of lounge like which is also very similar at the Polo bar. It's got low lighting booth seating and the menu is also very similar. So lots of meat like burgers, steaks, that kind of thing. We ended up getting the burger and the most delicious, cheesy mashed potato dish. It's called I think it was called Ali goat or Ali go potatoes, broccoli Zega wrong, but really, really delicious. And we also had chocolate souffle and chocolate mousse for dessert and I had multiple Manhattan's it felt appropriate. They tasted delicious. I love a cherry and fun fact, we actually saw Molly Ringwald she was seated at the table directly behind me and I only got to sneak around and look at her twice. Like when I was leaving. And when the waitress was talking to me, I was able to turn around, sneak a peek. She looks great, by the way. And then after dinner at moneta, Megan and I went over to the Gemma which is at the Bowery hotel for some wine and we got to catch up a little bit more and I could hear about what her travels have been like she's been going abroad already. She's been to London and Paris and I think is going to be going back in a few weeks. And all of her travels have been really fun to follow, especially since I haven't been going anywhere. So definitely follow Megan at Meghan Dano, like Donovan M eg HANDONO on Instagram and Paris perfected just a reminder if you are interested in Paris content, definitely follow her there. Sunday morning. I wasn't feeling too hot. I did have a lot to drink the night before. That is a common theme from the strip apparently so don't judge me too much for that, but I wasn't feeling too hot. And it was nothing that a little hair of the dog couldn't solve though. I had brunch with Carly Hill who is another blogger friend of mine. And we met at a place called Dudleys, which is on the Laurie side near my hotel. I had never been there. And it was such a cute spot. They had a great brunch menu. I ended up getting the fried chicken sandwich on a croissant. Very good, I will say didn't eat that much of it because it wasn't feeling too hot. But it was really tasty. But the two mimosas really, you know, made it great. I felt a lot better after having one of those. It was just what I needed to put a little pep in my step that morning before my flight. So thank God for that. In addition to being an influencer herself, Carly has actually become kind of a manager slash agent of sorts working for some of her friends in the industry. She was working at a PR firm in New York and then transitioned to working for herself full time during the pandemic. So it was really cool to hear about how that's working and who some of her clients are and the kind of work she's doing for them. But it's really fun to catch up and see her obviously it's been a long time since I've seen any of these people. So it was really, really nice to have some one on one time and see everybody. And then after brunch, I just went back to the hotel, picked up my luggage and gotten an Uber to LaGuardia, which I should say is so nice. Now, I don't know if you've flown through LaGuardia anytime recently, but it is very much refurbish and looks great. tons of restaurants. They even have a Centurion Lounge, which is the AMEX lounge. I definitely use that before my flight was great, but they spent a ton of time and money restoring and making the airport so much better. So bravo. Anyway, that's pretty much it for my New York City travel recap, I had the best time I cannot wait to go back. I am totally in the holiday season mindset after that trip. It's always so charming and wonderful that time of year or this time of year rather. But anyway, hopefully that was helpful. If any of you guys are going sometime soon. I will share more about this and maybe some photos on the at beck and call podcast Instagram page, so head there for a visual guide to this episode.
Now that I'm back from New York, things are really picking up in terms of social plans over the next few weeks. Luckily, I don't have a ton of work I have to do now that cyber week is out of the way I still have a few collaborations I have to close out and finish before Christmas. But otherwise, I'm just kind of taking it easy workwise because of all of these social plans going on, it'll be nice to have a better balance with that. This week I have three dinner and drinks plans after work. I am also hosting a small holiday happy hour at my house for a few friends. It's just a few of us. So it's not like I'm going all out or anything but I did go to the store this morning to stock up on some wine and some mixers and some snacks. I think I'm just gonna do sausage cheese balls, it's like my go do it's so good and easy. I also might do a little charcuterie cheese plate. And I do have some of the best of kitchen frozen cookie dough in my freezer. So I might do some of those red velvet cookies for something sweet. And so those dinners in the holiday happy hour, those are all in the middle of the week. And then on the weekend, I have a brunch plan with a friend and then I'm hosting Mahjong night. On Saturday night. This will be our second time to get together for a lesson. The last one was a month ago. And I am not sure I remember all of it Fingers crossed. I've been so busy and haven't had any time to practice. So Caroline, who is teaching us how to play mahjong told us that there's a website where you can play online and I plan to do it over Thanksgiving if I got bored, but I didn't get bored and the Wi Fi was terrible. So couldn't have done it then. And then I've been otherwise too busy. But I really do need to develop my skills I did not do very well. Our first round and I'm hosting this time, so I probably need to get some food for that. But I'm really looking forward to doing more of mahjong and having the group over on Saturday. And then next week, I have a fun birthday lunch to look forward to a different friend's birthday dinner and a night out. I have a white elephant party, a holiday happy hour and then several other dinner plans on different nights. Needless to say, the next couple weeks is going to be very jam packed. I am not going to have many nights off until the week of Christmas, which is going to be fun. I'm actually really looking forward to all of this, but I'm probably going to head home on the 21st or 22nd and then stay in Austin through the rest of the week and weekend. I still don't know what I'm going to do for New Year's Eve. But I kind of want to go somewhere and I was thinking about going back to New York, maybe go to Austin, I don't know. I just want to do something not in Dallas. And since we're on the subject of the holidays, I thought we could make this a Christmas centric episode, I thought I'd share some of my favorite Christmas things like Christmas movies, gift ideas, what I want this year or what would be on my wish list. You'll hear more about that later. But just share kind of a variety of topics within Christmas today. So let's start with Christmas movies. My personal favorite movie this time of year is Love Actually, I probably watch this movie five or six times throughout the holiday season. It is just so heartwarming. I love every second of it. The cast is phenomenal. I don't think my mom likes it that much. I try and get people to watch it when I'm home and Austin and I just can't so I just watched it on my computer now. If I want to watch it when I'm home, but I love Love Actually, it's just my favorite. The holiday is a close second. Nancy Meyers can do no wrong. I love the cast of this one too. It's really cute. And then for silly stuff. Obviously elf is great. Another one I really like is the Santa Claus with Tim Allen. I just find it really charming. I love watching that every year hobble on is obviously a good one. But I've been a little less interested to watch that over the years. I don't know why it's just I don't know, it was funnier when I was younger, I guess. And then some of the newer ones I've enjoyed in the last few years include Noel with Anna Kendrick holidayed with Emma Roberts. I think those last year I love that one. I thought it was hilarious. And most recently single all the way which is really new, and it's on Netflix. It's from this year 2021. And I watched it last night and loved it. Okay, so spoiler alert, I'm going to tell you a little bit about it, but skip through if you don't want to hear my synopsis. But anyway, single all the way it's about a gay man in California who's known for being the single one when he comes home for Christmas. So he ropes his roommate and best friend who also happens to be gay into coming home with him for Christmas to avoid flak from his family. You can probably see where it's going. The ending is very predictable, but it was such a cute and funny movie. The cast is awesome. I laughed out loud at several parts, which if you know me is kind of rare. I'm not somebody who laughs out loud at TV shows or movies very often. It's got to be really good to get me like that Jennifer Coolidge is in it and she's hysterical. And also Jennifer Robertson who was in shits Creek is also in it. They are great additions to the cast, but it's just cheerful and yes, it is cheesy. All of these Christmas movies are cheesy, but it's cheesy in a good way. It's not unbearably cheesy. It's all the good stuff. Last year I saw happiest season which is the one with Kristen Stewart. And while I enjoyed it, it was just not as enjoyable as single all the way in contrast to single all the way which was funny and lighthearted, happiest season had a more anxiety inducing storyline. And honestly, it was a little depressing throughout because Kristen Stewart goes home with her girlfriend for Christmas, who it turns out has not yet come out to her parents. So the entire movie Kristen Stewart's character is forced to keep up a facade and there's like a lot of anxiety about the girl's parents finding out and honestly the main character that's not Kristen Stewart. I can't remember her name was just really her character was so unlikable. I just I enjoyed the movie, like I said, but I did love single all the way a lot more. Another one that's newer that I watched last week. That is maybe the worst movie I've ever seen. Get like Christmas at a castle. It is Brooke Shields and Kerry Ellis from The Princess Bride. And it's about a writer Brooke Shields his characters a writer and she's written this you know, great famous series. And I guess the latest book she did really pisses off all of her readers. And so she escapes for Christmas to this Castle in Scotland. And it's a castle, I guess that her family has some history with and she gets into it with the owner, the current owner of the estate of the castle. Anyway, the acting is horrendous. It is so bad it is every moment is cringe worthy. Honestly, the storyline could have worked it could have been good if the acting or writing was.
The music was bad. Like the songs are really dumb and cheesy. I mean, I I thought it was it. Like I said it might be the worst movie I've ever seen. And that's saying a lot. I've seen a lot of movies. I do not recommend Christmas in a castle. It's on Netflix, by the way. But of the new movies I would definitely say holidays from last year was a great I thought it was really funny and the guy and it is really hot. So there's that and then single all the way is this year, and I really enjoyed that. So definitely watch both of those. Now in terms of Christmas music, obviously Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas comes to mind, but my favorites are the old timey songs like the Christmas song by Nat King Cole. I love all of those. I love anything Frank Sinatra, saying I love anything that Ella Fitzgerald or Bing Crosby saying just any of the old timey tunes I'm really into. In fact, if you're looking for a good holiday playlist, Josh Yang, who's an artist he lives in DC now he used to live in Chicago. He has an account on Spotify called Josh young design house and he has a holiday party playlist that is so good. It's got all the classics. I've been playing it on repeat. He also has another one that's a little too classical for me. It features like Tchaikovsky and things from the Nutcracker and I do like those but I some of the other ones are like too much for me. So the holiday party playlist is the best one definitely check that out. And then I'm not afraid to admit it. I loved Ariana Grande Christmas CD. Good. Justin Bieber's music is great, too. If you're looking for more poppy stuff, definitely check out Ariana Grande though. If you're not sure where to start. Try Santa. Tell me that's probably my favorite song of hers. All right, let's chat about gift ideas now. So I actually have a white elephant party next weekend that I've got to find something for but in the past, I've done a variety of different things. For a while I did a lot of games like Cards Against Humanity, or catchphrase or something like that. And then last year, Italy had just opened and I made basically just a big gift bag of a bunch of different things like truffle risotto, truffle oil, pasta. I mean, who doesn't love that? It was just an easy gift to throw together. My sister who works at Neiman's always give something like a Kiehl's gift set other popular gifts at our family white elephants have been like really soft blankets bottles of wine with like cool wine glasses, anything from the Yeti brand. The white elephant party I'm going to next weekend is with probably some people I'm not going to know so obviously I know who's hosting it. But it's they have a different group of friends that I don't think I've met so I'm not entirely sure which direction I want to go in terms of what gift to get like if it needs to be funny or if it needs to be useful. So I may need to do a little digging and ask the hostess what what she recommends, but I need to hurry up and get something. As I mentioned earlier, my mom is probably the hardest person to shop for during the holidays. I generally get her something home or fashion related. And I originally was thinking I'd get her something home related because she and Morris just got a new house in Carmel. But I actually ended up finding her something while I was shopping around New York last week, so hopefully it's something she'll love and it'll be useful. I do think it will be but we'll see. But in the past I've gotten all kinds of things from like Lux robes and slipper sets to beauty and skincare tools, designer accessories, sometimes a pretty blouse or something like that. A reason gift I got her that I don't think it was a Christmas gift. I think it might have been a birthday gift or Mother's Day gift. I'm like forgetting now but I've got her a multicolored set of wine glasses from Estelle colored glass and she flew them to Carmel and they were perfect for her beach house there. I might have to get her a different set now that it's a different house and not going to be as colorful. So as she mentioned in the last episode, the buyers who bought her beach house bought all the furnitures so they're starting from scratch. So maybe I'll have to get her all one color that's a little more subtle. We'll see. And then in terms of what I get my stepdad he loves this pair of Ugg Newman slippers i got them a couple years ago. So I may end up getting him a couple of new different pairs he can take and leave at his ranch and in Carmel so he has them everywhere. I don't think the Newman style he has is actually made anymore, but the Tasman style ugh does now is very similar. It looks almost identical and it comes in a bunch of colors so I may get a couple of those for him. In the past. I've gotten him things from Beretta or Orvis, he loves to fish he likes to hunt. So those are good places for like hunting shirts and vests and jackets and accessories. I've also gotten him some of those zip up sweaters from Peter mylar. He loves those like I said before hunting shirts and accessories in the past I might have gotten him a Yeti cooler. I honestly don't remember it's been 10 years. I don't know what all the gifts are that I've gotten him but definitely gonna get some of those Ugg slippers actually have some other things that I've gotten him I'm not going to share just in case he does. Listen, he did listen to the last one with my mom on it. I don't think you'll listen to this. But just in case, I'm not going to tell you what I get him. And then my sister is also hard to shop for because she works at Neiman Marcus and she can get just about anything she wants with a discount. So basically what I try to do is to buy her something that she can't get at Neiman's, whether that's an outfit from Lululemon or a piece that is exclusive to the Zimmerman website. She loves Zimmerman blouses and dresses. So like last year, I got her a pretty blouse. From there, she actually ended up having it already, but she could exchange it for something else. So that worked out really well. I've gotten her fun cocktail earrings before from places like Shopbop or my Teresa, I just want to make sure she gets something that she wouldn't be able to get herself and get a gift receipt because oftentimes she'll return in exchange for something she'll use a lot, which I totally do too, and have no feelings for August. So the other people that I get gifts for a lot are my god children. So my friends and I don't really do gift exchanges anymore unless there's a white elephant party. But one new addition to my gifting list is my god children and growing up my godmother would give me a silver bell ornament every year for Christmas, she still does it to this day. So naturally, I have quite the collection. And it's been such a special tradition that we've shared over the years. And I'd love to do that with my own god children. So after they were born, I decided to start giving them each a Christmas ornament every year I also get them a fun gift that they can use then but I love that this way they'll be able to build their own little collection of ornaments and I can give them something fun from my travels or something special and when they're grown up and decorating their own homes and their own trees they'll have a good collection to work with. The first ornaments I got them were these beautiful little angels that I found at the Christmas markets in Germany last year because I didn't travel I found two really pretty snowy church scene ornaments at the St. Michael's women's exchange in Highland Park village and those are really pretty and then I'm obviously not going to share what I got them this year but I got them in New York so I do try to find them when I travel obviously you can find them anywhere online but I just think it's fun to find ones from different places I go so that they can have ones from as many places as possible for hostess gifts. I love to do personalized stuff or festive stuff so like a festive embroidered cocktail napkin set, monogrammed hand towels, maybe even a monogrammed blanket, something like that. I also love a seasonal candle because it's something they can use right now. It's easy to just have on hand like if you forget you have plans and you need something to bring I just like to have a collection of seasonal candles that I can just quickly wrap or put a bow on. I always love diptychs holiday collection candles specifically the green ones because they usually include pine or some other wintery green scent in there. And if you want to give more than just a candle diptych also does these gorgeous gold carousels. I got one from my mom several years ago and she brings it out every Christmas it has all these pretty little Christmassy charms on it and when you place the carousel on the candle and then light the candle the heat makes the carousel spin and it's really pretty creates like a sparkly pretty light show. It's just a really pretty decorative accessory for the holiday season and they can put it on any candles of course but you Give it to them with a dip to kindle that would make sense. diptych also does the holiday candles and gift sets you could give them a vote of set with all three or even the full size set. So diptych is a great spot for kind of host to see holiday II gifts and then the other candle I'm obsessed with this time of year is Jackson bonds Hawthorne candle it's a Black Candle so a little more modern and cool looking and the scent it is so fragrant. It's similar to the dip teak scent and that it's very pine and wintery greens and it kind of makes me think of a forest it's just so wonderful. I love it. It's what's burning in my house right now. They're often sold out online but if you get them I think the store is called society. It's a candle store here in Dallas. There's one in Preston center and I think there's also one in the bishop Arts District still, but they I love their candles Jackson bond so good. Now one thing I'm not very good at is gift wrapping I am the least crafty person you will ever meet. My handwriting is horrible.
I am inept with wrapping paper and tape and I do not have an eye for any of this stuff. My sister and mom are so good at it that like my sister is an artist and she is fabulous handwriting my mom does calligraphy so just my sister and I always feel like so ashamed when I bring my gifts in comparison to theirs. They always have it beautifully wrapped. It looks so elegant with chic paper and mine just look so shitty. But luckily I have a solution this year. A family friend of mine who now lives in Dallas reached out to me a few weeks ago offering her services as a professional gift wrapper and she recently started a business called Mrs. Claus concierge and she charges $65 an hour to wrap gifts which in that time in one hour, she can average about five to seven gifts and this prize includes the paper the handmade bows, gift tags, boxes, etc. It covers all of the costs of the production and labor and all of that and she's got a bunch of pretty options to choose from whether you prefer festive bright colors or more modern clean black and white neutral looks like that metallic, she's got it all and what she does is she'll come by your house and pick up your gifts or you can drop them off but she will wrap them all up and then drop them back off at your house and they're ready to go so I will definitely be be using her services this year. I'm still waiting on a couple of gifts to arrive from New York that I bought while I was there and once they get here they will be going to Mrs. Claus concierge to get wrapped so if you want more information if you're in Dallas I don't think she's doing it anywhere else right now but if you're in Dallas and interested in more info go to at Mrs Mrs dot Klaus concierge so it's at Mrs dot c l a U S c o n CIERG on Instagram and definitely check her out. I've received a few requests to share what I'm hoping to get this year but I actually already got my Christmas gift. So if you recall earlier this year I bought a diamond tennis bracelet at the real real when they open their store in Austin. I was there I want to say this was over Easter I can't remember exactly but I think that's when I got it. The bracelet was out of my price range and I was with my mom so she and I split the cost and her portion of the bracelet was my birthday and Christmas gifts this year. I'm sure I'll get some small items under the tree but I'm not expecting anything big for Christmas because the bracelet is my Christmas gift. I would however like to gift myself with something I would really like to get a new designer bag for myself for Christmas. The current issue though is that I've got a ton of open commissions on LTK right now and I just need to get paid. I think I mentioned this in Episode 10. When I talked about how I make money you can head there for more information about that but sales are closing later and later right now thanks to extended return policies with COVID and also because it's the holiday season so I'm getting paid a little later than I normally would and I really need to get paid especially since I have to pay taxes on both my house and my income tax in January so I would love to get paid soon. I also would love to be able to buy myself a gift I would love to get a new designer bag and as far as what bag I would get I'm really loving Bottega Veneta styles right now which is a shoulder slash crossbody bag with this big chunky gold chain you've probably seen it before and I'm honestly late to the game with it because I haven't purchased a new designer bag in a while but I really love that one and the color I think it's porridge. It's like a really light neutral. There's also an almond one which I actually ordered this fall but I ended up not at all liking the color in person it's too orange looking but the porridge color looks way more up my alley. It's a little softer neutral, a little cooler in tone.
The other bag I really love that they're doing right now which is sold out I think everywhere now but it's called the double knot bag and it features these like little leather strands throughout that give it a very Cool textural look. And then the handles have big double knots with the strands. It's just it's a different, it's unique. I just love the way it looks and it comes in that same porridge color, I don't think the double knot bag would be nearly as useful because it's not something you can really wear over your shoulder or wear across your body. It's sort of like a top handle bag, but it's super cute. If I'm being honest, though, I really shouldn't be spending any money on bags and I should be spending more money on my house because there are a ton of areas that need to get more fully furnished. I still haven't ordered the hardware or drapery from my office, which I could definitely use it just looks so unfinished right now. And then I also need to get a breakfast table and chairs, counter stools for my kitchen island, my conference table and chairs for the office drapes for the guest rooms and more. Needless to say, decorating takes forever and it's so expensive. You have to spread all the purchases out. I mean, you look at some of these bloggers out here who are decorating their entire house in like a week. And I mean, it just like makes you so mad because it's gonna take me like four years to finish this. I didn't really even ever finished decorating my last house before I moved out of it. It just it takes a long time. Anywho there's probably a lot more I could talk about when it comes to Christmas. But hopefully this episode gets you in the holiday spirit. It's my favorite time of the year and I can't wait for all the festivities to begin and I hope you enjoyed that.
We have reached the beck and call segment. I skipped it last week when my mom was on the podcast but we're gonna get into some voicemails today as a reminder you can call in and ask me anything Whether you need advice from a non expert I'm not an expert on anything but ask away or have a question style question travel question asked me anything you can call in and leave a voicemail at 214-620-0473 and I will answer your question in a future episode. Let's get into the first voicemail!
Hi Merritt! My name is Alexia I'm from Seattle, I love the podcasts. With all of these events coming up during the holiday season. I was wondering if you could share your routine for a big night out where you want to look and feel your bath. I would love to know thank you bye!
Sure thing So as you've heard, I've got a lot of holiday season plans going on in my social life coming up. I'm gonna have to get it together and hopefully look cute for those but my routine is pretty simple and standard obviously I shower and then I get ready I put on makeup. I have done my makeup the same for so long. But occasionally during the holiday season I'll play with different colors. If I'm wearing like a festive color, I might wear a festive lip like if I'm wearing red, maybe I'll do a bright red lipstick or if I'm wearing green or something sparkly I might work that color or theme into my eyeshadow but I almost always at least do my makeup the same way so with my eyeshadow I usually have a lighter color on my lid and then in the crease do something darker to really make my eyes pop. If I'm really trying to have a striking look on my eyes I will add sort of a cat eyeliner and either black or gray. Gray is usually better on me because Black can look so contrast it against my very pale skin and then sometimes I'll add like a subtle highlighter to my cheeks and nose to add a little sparkle but in a good way not not anything too crazy. I almost always curl my hair and then as far as outfits go I'm always gonna be wearing a dress or a sweater and a skirt. Those are just the items I feel most competent and comfortable in but I love a festive holiday dress whether it's sequins or metallic or a cool bra Kate or Jack card. I love festive colors. Like I said I love metallics and shiny things. I'm also really into further details right now but if a dress isn't for you or you want something a little more dress down, I would say go for a really really nice sweater I usually do like a mock neck or a turtleneck style tucked into a skirt whether that's a metallic pleated skirt, whether it's sequins or like the plaid one that I told you all about earlier from Ralph Lauren. That's really festive. And then depending on what the weather is, if it's really cold, I'll wear my knee high or even over the neat over the knee boots under the skirts otherwise I might wear pumps and I may or may not wear tights depending on what the look is. I'm also a huge fan of cocktail and statement earrings during the holiday season. So I definitely break those out. I love Jennifer bears so much. I would say most of my statement earrings are by her. But like I said before, my makeup routine doesn't change that much. I don't do my hair in a bunch of crazy ways. I'm just not that creative. I'm not very good at mixing it up there but I do like to play with different colors and things with my makeup up, even though I might still be applying it the same way. And occasionally I'll do something different than my hair. But generally I just curl it and want it to look voluminous and pretty. Alright, let's get into the next voicemail.
Hi, Merritt. This is Shannon, I'm loving your podcast that success finding easy weapons. I just had a quick question about a Christmas guest. I was wondering if you had a go to Christmas gift suggestion for friends, just something that's easy and simple, but also so meaningful. And I'd love to know if you have any thoughts on that. I hope you have a great day.
Thank you for calling in Shannon. Happy to answer your questions. So like I said earlier, my friends and I don't really exchange gifts anymore. We're all busy, we all have things going on. And it's really hard to get everyone together in order to do something like that. We've done like white elephant gift exchanges over the years. But occasionally and occasionally I'll like get if I think of somebody when I'm when I'm shopping, or there's something specific that calls out to me that I need to get for somebody. Like for example, when I was in Germany, and at the Christmas markets, there were so many beautiful, unique ornaments. And so I bought a bunch and brought them back and gave those to my friends. But otherwise, we don't do like a big gifts, gift exchange or anything like that. But with that said, I'm happy to offer some gift ideas for you. So one thing that I've done in the past is get some cute earrings for my friends. And oftentimes I'll go on places like Tuckernuck or Nicola bathy, or nearly felt full and I don't know how to say your last name, fill in fill in, fill in. But the price points on those pieces are all very reasonable. Most of the items are around 75 or less. So I feel like that's a good one to get friends. If you've got a close group, you could do that. Another cute gift idea would be to gift friends reusable cups. So Liza, Sister Meredith actually has a company where she designs all kinds of creative stuff for businesses, but she also does like party cups and stuff like that. And when I moved into my new house, Liza got me a really cute gift from her sister and it says Musonda Reese's, the Senate as a picture of Reese's on there. But there are reusable cups, and I can use them for parties or just you know, around the house. But that's a cute idea. You could do something specific to each friend. So if there's one that has a dog or that moved into a new home, or just there's like a catchphrase or something that you'd want to use. Those are sort of fun, personalized gifts that wouldn't cost you an arm and a leg. Meredith's company is called Moxie party. And I think that's what it is on Instagram too, if you wanted to check it out and see some of the options. Some other little giftie things I like. So Caroline Boykin is an artist that I follow on Instagram, and she does a lot of paintings and ceramic pieces. And one year for Christmas. I got my I think this was last year, it might have been the year before but I got her this beautiful ceramic cross that was sort of a porcelain color, but then there was some gold on it and had these floral decorations. And while that was for my mom, that would be a great gift for somebody who's religious or just anyone who likes beautiful home pieces. I also have this other beautiful wooden cross that has some gold on it that I found at a store in Austin, but just kind of keep your eye out at different stores online. Or if you're shopping in person for little trinkets or little home accessories, decor items like that, that could be useful for a gift. Anyway, there are probably a ton of other gift ideas I could come up with if I had more time to think about it. But I think the earrings are a great budget friendly option, the cups, the personalized cups or even you know personalized cocktail napkins or something fun like that would be a pretty but useful gift and then the cross or maybe a beautiful picture frame with a photo of your friend group in it that could be really both useful but also just something memorable and something she'll be able to display. Alright guys, that's it for this week's episode. I hope you enjoyed the Christmas themed podcast. As always, you can call in to the beck and call hotline call 2146 to 00473 to ask me anything, as always be sure to rate review, subscribe and share the podcast. It means the world to me every time I see y'all share it on stories and tag at beck and call podcast on Instagram. So definitely keep doing that. And in the meantime, you can also follow along and find more fashion content by following me at Merritt Beck on Instagram. And with that I will catch you guys next week. Bye!
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