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Keywords
Hallmark movies, Private Princess Christmas, holiday cheer, Bach Tower Gardens, coffee stroll, movie review, festive drinks, local cafes, holiday traditions, film critique
Summary
In this festive episode, Nick and Leslie dive into the holiday spirit with a review of the Hallmark movie 'Private Princess Christmas.' They share their experiences visiting Bach Tower Gardens, enjoying local coffee shops, and exploring seasonal drinks. The conversation flows into a detailed critique of the movie, discussing its characters, plot, and overall execution, culminating in a humorous yet critical assessment of its quality.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (00:00.286)
Nick and Leslie, Nick and Leslie, talking holiday cheer. Hallmark movies, cozy nights, and a festive review today. Hey, grab a seat and a sweet treat, cozy up push play. Movie cheers, what you'll hear this Hallmark movie day. Welcome to our latest episode of our holiday Hallmark review. This time we're talking about Private Princess, wait, Private Princess Christmas.
Let's play that trailer. Roll that boot camp.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (00:40.494)
Looks good on me, right? Before she can take the throne this Christmas If you want to be queen, you must put in the work. A boot camp? She must rise to the occasion. Let's go, Private Princess! Private Princess Christmas on Hallmark Channel. Alright, now that we're back from the trailer, I don't really want to talk about this movie. I So let's talk about what we did this morning. Yeah! So, actually let's talk about what we did last night. Ooh, we went to some interesting place called Lake Whales.
if you live there. So I thought it'd be like an hour 45 minute drive. It took us two and a half hours to get there. Yes, it did. So we left at 115. 117. Yeah. And we got there by 330. Traffic. I-4 traffic. Which we're used to, but we didn't realize by the time we got off of I-4 we would have over an hour to go to Lake Wales to make to our final destination for that day or
for the festivities to Bach Tower Gardens. It is not at all what I expected. It is not. I mean, it's amazing. It's gorgeous. Can't wait to go back. Wish we had more time. It's like on the one mountain in Florida. one. It feels like. Florida. Feels like it. Like when you get to the top, you can see forever. Yeah, it's.
Such an it be 192 feet above sea level I believe to us. That's a lot because we're only like 52 Yeah, we dig for a couple minutes. We hit water. Yeah, so It was something that was at late 1800 1880s. Yeah 1880s. It's a gigantic marble tower Edward Bach Who was part of the women's gardening? He was the editor of the editor of women's monthly
Women's Monthly Gardening or something like that. Yeah. And he is from the Netherlands. Yes. I think is where his family came came over from. Anyway, so he built this beautiful land tower home area anyway. So he gave it to the city, county, whatever to it's a public park gardens. And you do pay like twenty dollars to get in.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (02:58.637)
We went to the Silver Bells Big Band Holiday Christmas, which you... Performance. Performance. We left... It's at the base of the tower. Now, it's like a whole grounds. It's not just the tower. Yeah, there's gardens. there. There's beautiful, like, lakes. Not lakes, like ponds. There's wetlands. There's an endangered plants area. There's man-made wetlands. There's like a gift shop and like a presentation area. It's really beautiful grounds. Yes. We thought we...
We thought three hours would be perfect amount of time to walk around before the show. We also lost 45 minutes on the drive. Yeah, due to extra traffic that occurred in accident. Obviously I for. And so even when we got there, we walked around what we could and then we still didn't make it to actually to the tower. We also brought a picnic and we ate there and we ate right when we got there. Yeah. But it was we brought all the jackets with us. Thank goodness, because it got cold at night was gorgeous. The 45. Yeah.
sunset when it went down all the colors that just reflected. I took a lot of great photos. I'm thinking I'm probably going to like do a live stream of me editing those photos just because some people in my photography club were curious about like how to edit photos in Lightroom so I figured might as well make it a podcast. And if you follow our Facebook page for our board game that will be launching quarter one of next year it's called Propagation Station.
board game, we will link the board game Facebook page so you can see and we'll post photos of the flowers that you took over there because there was such, they also have an area where you see like what's in bloom, like they have pieces, they have clippings and so you're able to see what's in bloom and you can recognize whenever you walk through the park. And they sell clippings too. And they sell clippings too. The shop closes at like five o'clock.
but our concert started at six, so we were there just a little bit longer when the gates closed. And we found our spot on the ground. They did have a couple of chairs, you know, you bring your blankets and chairs and your food you can bring. We didn't know we were supposed to bring chairs, so we grabbed the... We neglected to read it on the website. from the truck of our Outback. Yes, yeah. But they had some extra chairs that they were placing out anyway, so we were allowed to take them. But we were already bundled up and everything like that. And we had drinks that we had brought.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (05:19.733)
in general for the drive and being able to see the sunset. There was a gorgeous owl that was hooing that we could see in the gorgeous oak trees. And then the stars came out and the moon came out and it was a delight. We were next to some very chatty people for the entire concert. We get it. It's an outdoor concert. But wow, they were they they were lovely. the big band was going to be like six piece.
Six or seven? Yeah. I would say, and then there's, yeah, so six pieces, but then there was two singers. I will say that they tried very hard. Mm-hmm. Enjoyed the slower pieces for the singer. Just feel like in general, we've gotten spoiled by living so close to the palladium. We frequent the palladium on the side door and,
It's like 20 bucks a ticket or 25. we have in And so last week we saw Zach Bartholomew, who's an amazing jazz pianist. Yes. It was a three-piece band and they covered the entire... They were a trio. A trio. Yeah, Vince Garaldi's Christmas...
It's Christmas the peanuts Christmas, but they did play I think a couple of no they didn't play anything from the Thanksgiving He did play his original which was about his cat. my gosh. I wanted I cried during that I was like this is so pretty anyway, we try to find that track and I don't know I'll probably just continue to cry every time I hear it. Don't like cats, but we kept picturing dogs. Yeah, but yeah Anyway, we're getting on topic. Yeah, okay, so this morning
This morning. So this morning we went on a coffee stroll. We've been trying to do this for a while. There's a ton of coffee shops around St. Pete and it is the season for festive holiday drinks. Yes. So we we didn't have to drive up. We were little lazy today and decided to drive instead of bike. So we drove like the 10 blocks to get to the general area and then we walked another 10 blocks to hit up a few different locations. So
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (07:26.817)
first one we hit up was in our mezzo. It's a very fancy cocktail place. Coffee and cocktail place at 5 PM. It turns into a cocktail bar at night and so we had a gingerbread latte and a carrot cake cappuccino. A carrot cake. They do make all their syrups in house. They I don't know if it's like the owner or the main barista person that makes all the blends but they do definitely listen to James Hoffman because they use his syrup recipes and their pumpkin spice.
Latte guy could do make the same exact one. Yeah, and Anyway, it's it's bougie. It's great It is a is still a hipster II scene We like it and the thought that it's always been around or we've been around since it's been around Even though we don't we're almost starting to seem a little too old for that crowd sometimes But anyway, if you're old whenever we go to black crow, very much so. Well, unfortunately don't go there anymore, but It was it was good
Well, talking about not going there, it's hard to go to local coffee shops when the best tasting coffee is the coffee we make at home. And so we have spoiled ourselves and we found the ratios that, me, our palates enjoy with the type of beef. It's a medium roast that we like. And these days we're like appreciating just a straight pour over more and more and less of the milky lattes.
At least I am. But it's fun to treat ourselves. I know, but I don't want to be that people like, I like my coffee black. We just know, again, our ratios that we can enjoy it at a black level to the juicy beans. That sounded weird. Black level to the juicy beans? Yes. Yeah. I mean, we also just enjoy beverages. We are beverage people. We are the most hydrated generation. We are the most hydrated.
We do put electrolytes in our drinks too, not our coffee though. So we went to Intermezzo, had those two drinks and then we walked up to T. Bella. T. Bella. I don't know why this place isn't more popular. It's such a gem. We haven't had it since February for the Valentine's Day. That's not what I meant. They're originally from Tampa. Yeah. And they're at places like Oxford Exchange. So well-known restaurants in the area that have high quality
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (09:50.209)
food service at, my opinion, still very reasonable price. And so they're known in Tampa, in least in my opinion, so they've been in St. Pete, I don't wanna say too long, but not as long as, say they've been open in Tampa for 10 years, they've been here five, something like that, so not as long. My bad, thank you so much. the...
The craftsmanship that they put into their teas and their blends, I don't know if it's ones that they make themselves, but either way, they are doing such a fine job and not just serving teas and like- Very elaborate tea latte mix. Iced and hot, yeah, as well as, excuse me, even matcha. I love the bitterness of matcha. don't like things, I don't like matcha that's-
that's not ceremonial, no sugar put in. I really enjoy the bitterness of it and they enhance it with, again, things that, I'm gonna say like a lemonade, but it's not sweet. Yeah. So we had an apple crisp latte, which was, it had pieces of dried apple in it. It had like little bits of crispiness or whatever, and then a cold foam, I think.
but the base was an apple herbal tea. And then Leslie had an incredible cacao. Smoky. It had also a milky flavor. There might've been milk in it. Yes, we did get oat milk. I think it was black tea based. Yeah, black tea, oat milk, some type of smoky, smoke flavor, and then lots okay, because there was whipped cream. There was whipped cream. was like, know, fireside.
It was like a hot chocolate, but you could taste the black tea in it. Yes, and a little bit of smokiness and it was delicious I loved it. was almost what sounds weird. But when you're at a fireside, especially outside We don't have a fireplace and you're getting that good smell of the wood Yeah, anyone is listening to this and you're curious, I'm sure you could look up t Bella t e a b e l la and they probably have it listed somewhere on their Instagram and you could probably just
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (12:04.205)
See the ingredient list and try making it yourself. And they do sell things as well. And they're not expensive. was like six dollars for this, like 20 ounce. 16 ounce. 16 ounce. Yep. And then after T-Bella, we walked down to Sorrento. Which is, don't know what to say. It's again, it's a local chain from Tampa. Might be two locations, probably no more than five. Yeah, I feel like there might be three. It's like it's an Italian cookie place, like an Italian bakery.
Yeah, and they had some seasonal drinks. We usually go there because they have the best the best cannoli best cannolis and the best lobster lobster tails. Yeah, yeah pastry big lobster tail. I like them a lot the pistachios on everything that they do. It's delicious. Their drinks on their hand not so much. We did toss them out.
Yeah, we had a, We're not people to complain to the actual makers of It was a cold brew with... Eggnog cold foam. With eggnog cold foam. Mhm. It tasted very sour for some reason. I don't know if... I don't know how to explain it. I don't want to say it went bad, but... It tasted like sour milk. Mhm. But instantly the coffee, don't... Because that's when I asked you...
I could for a moment, I was like, okay, eggnog cold foam. I'm tasting it. But then I got to the coffee. I'm like, this isn't right. It was just so acidic. And that's why I asked you, I'm like, do you see the bags or what they are? They were just black bags. couldn't tell what color was. don't know if it was like old and acidic, but and then all of it started coming together and I was like, I can't. So we just walked out and threw it away. And then the other beverage we had, what was that?
was shortbread latte. Shortbread latte. Took her a minute, the barista, to know what we were ordering. So the shortbread latte tasted to me like... So growing up in Miami, I'd always go to a Cuban cafeteria and they always had different flavored milkshakes or batidos, as we called them. I usually got mamey, but I always wanted to try a new flavor. And so a couple of times I'd get trigo. My grandfather told me trigo means wheat. And it's basically like...
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (14:26.207)
like, like sugar smacks, like a puffed wheat cereal that is like blended with ice, sugar and milk to create a trigo patido. And that's what it tasted like to me, like a cheap puffed wheat cereal, not like corn pops, not not like rice crispies, but like the wheat ones. I'm sorry. That's like not even popular anymore. Right.
Like it's hard to find sugar smacks around But I remember what you're talking But yeah, that's what it tasted like. Sorry for the noise. Also not good. And so we, we, about halfway through the day we switched it up with oat milk, but we are still, we also had a of cereal for breakfast. So... We were trying to get on the road quickly. Yeah. Anyway, so that brings us to back here where I'm having some orange juice to balance out all the dairy. Yeah, and I have a poppy. Anyway, prebiotic soda.
so, we did, unfortunately, watch Private Princess Christmas. Private Princess Christmas. So we start in the Eastern European nation of Windgravia, where Princess Violet Belle looks like she's maybe 37? Honestly. But acts like she's eight? I don't want to say 37. She's clearly almost 30. I think she's over 30. I don't know how women age.
Right. Well, the actress is 2002 is when she was born. okay. So that means she's actually 22. Right. So that's I was like, I don't think she's. she's definitely like an adult child. I don't know how to explain it, I feel like she was potentially 27. yeah. So the point of it is the mom is like, need to grow up if you want to be queen. So it's sending you to a boot camp in America who is the current queen, but the king.
Is the late father who passed away who died last Christmas. I don't know how it works for certain countries but for who was king and then for a queen consort to take over I don't think you can rule this that's how that works. But I don't know all the countries. It just seemed to me like it would have made more sense if it was the king. It was about her relationship with her dad rather than her mom. I don't know.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (16:46.541)
Well, but I mean, also, again, someone show me I'm sure there are countries I just can't think of the top of my head where it goes from the king to the queen and then to the next one. They never say in the movie how old she is. No. But if she is 22, then they're putting way too much responsibility on her for a 22 year old, I think. Like they're OK. But that's exactly what happened to Elizabeth the second. So.
Correct, she was queen at like 21, 22 at a very young age when she was crowned when her father passed away and she, you we should look at ages. But anyway, she was quite young when she took over, but they didn't crown her until like a year and a half later. Redjay, come in the middle. you have a box? Redjay. I'm to go in my Dutch, but I got sheets on my face. Careful with the microphone. sorry. anyway, but.
To begin with, you know, they're like, you need to grow up and think of your priorities. know, what's going who's just listening, our dog got on her lap. That's why we talked in weird voices. Yeah. And, know, you need to grow up. You need to make these decisions. What's going to be your your call for the country? And I'm just like, if she's this old and you haven't like gotten her in the proper rulings and characters or features of a person.
you did a bad job in schooling. Yeah, there's one like related to that. There's a moment, where we learn about how inept she is or whatever and how spoiled she is, at the boot camp and she's like, I don't read. I have my assistant read to me. There's no pictures in this book. That was unnecessary. That makes her sound like she's special needs or something. It truly does. Like
I if that's how you were raised and again family did a bad job in raising what should be a queen and our introduction to her. She's got chocolate all over her lying in bed eating chocolate They really made her think like she did nothing as it felt like this was written for a character who's eight years old Mm-hmm, then why would you send an eight-year-old to boot camp and why would she fall in love with the man there? Queen Elizabeth II did take the crown at 25
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (19:08.621)
Yes. Anyway. So I just didn't like how they portrayed her as what a princess is supposed to be. Like usually when it's like, hold on. Usually when like you have a prince, he's off and exploring the world and being a promiscuous man. But you know, a girl stays home and eats chocolate and is addicted to sugar. That didn't come up because like...
Why early on we're like, okay, she's super addicted to sugar That's probably gonna be something she connects with this guy about but that's not really well That's what it was. He connected on the advent calendar right but not like her obsessive obsessive for sweets And so one of her responsibilities as queen was that she's supposed to train a goat To find a large queen as princess train a goat for it to find a large Christmas train because they do some It was a cute ritual where like every year
This goat comes out named Sir Battles or Sir Bottleless and he is supposed to find the tree that will be the royal tree to go in the castle and he picks a really tiny tree and everyone blames the princess that this goat picked a tiny tree. It's silly. It is quite silly.
I wrote down suitcase because Leslie flipped out when she saw a suitcase. The same suitcases that they use, it's the white hard shell suitcase with the tan fake belt that rolls. Anyway, so they're just constantly using these same suitcases. And I think it's hilarious because we also saw the same same suitcases in the when they were flipping the home of the reality show host.
they, they had those suitcases in the, like, supply closet, or what's the... What are you doing? Sorry, I just noticed the Queen was played by Erika Durrance, who I want... Yeah, she was Lois Lane on Smallville. someone's at our front door. we're getting a delivery. Sorry. Anyway, see... The Queen was Lois Lane on Smallville! I've lost... No, I've gotta go back. Anyway, where was I at?
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (21:20.269)
Suitcases suitcases, but where's the storage of? Props prop storage anyway, then we saw them in the prop storage. I'm like, my gosh, really now they're actually using those props anyway Also the princess she Yeah, so the whole like sugar thing that was in the chocolate all over the face like that was disgusting But I'm like, how old are you and why are you still at home?
And she's like trying to she's upset that she doesn't get to go with her mom and do these like baking Christmas baking things that they would do. She's upset that the mom won't do that with her. And I'm like, you're you're how old and you're still trying to again, 22, 23. Again, I thought I was a little bit older than that. You're still trying to get your mother's love like you should know by then. Like if your mother's this way towards you, like just be done. Like she doesn't give a shit. Like don't like don't waste your time.
Like I have to convince you to love me and to spend time with me peace So and then so they send her to a boot camp in America designed to help people become leaders for ten days for ten days and You know as as Eastern European countries are to do So and then the guy who leads it was like working at a Best Buy
He runs into his old commanding officer and he's like, hey, why are you working at a Best Buy? You could be a leader in a colonel somewhere. He's like, okay, I'll do it So then he runs this place and he's being a real dick because the whole thing reminds him of his friend Benji who died in Iraq Afghanistan Afghanistan And so like all the people in this it felt a lot like the Holdovers
Cause it's like, you know, you're in this big, vacant place. Holdovers were fantastic. You liked them, honey? Yes. good. I told you. I know we watched it together. Yes. boy. So, I mean, I understand what you're saying, but at the same time, are we just trying to put like, Squibby, who was the... She was fun. Yeah, trying to put her with, I see I can't remember the actress or the character's name in the holdovers.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (23:43.693)
who was the, she won the other chef. Best supporting actress? Yes. Yeah. I mean, was she thanked Jesus? Anyway, any who. Any who. I don't know if you're just trying to put large woman with large woman at the Holdovers at a vacant place. I just don't see how it's the Holdovers, because then, anyway.
Squibby's character was interesting. I don't know If it's believable that she was in the army or military or something like that I don't know, but I was looking to say she's retired Which is like why is she then why I still don't understand I don't understand I guess this is a private company That runs these boot camps. I guess so I guess but then I don't know it so many questions very yes
So many questions, but also if that Ryan man, Captain Ryan, is a leader and this is what the military and all that produces, like, my horrendous leader. Horrendous. But that's a man not paying attention to himself and being self aware. we also have to talk about Scotty. Is that the boyfriend? Yeah. So that is Princess Violet Bell's boyfriend, who's like cartoonishly disgusting British accent. Yes.
I come to rescue you. you have to do things by yourself. just. I apologize if you all listen to that. We could go deeper into the plot of the movie, but I really don't want to. is the worst. It was the worst. Do not see it. Waste of time. Writing, I gave it a four. Acting four, directing three. Writing, you gave it a four?
I guess you're right. You've given movies that we say are a must see a four. No. Yes. No. Yes. I gave Five Year Christmas Party like a seven or an eight. Still a fine. Writing three. We got writing three. Acting a four? You're right. It's Scotty was terrible. Princess Violet Belle was terrible. They were horrendous. Captain Ryan was a bit much. When they do Finding Mr. Christmas. Squibby was great.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (26:07.197)
She was the only good one. was like, when they do Finding Mr. Christmas and whatever whatever actor person wins and they do it, like I expect it to be this level, but I hope it's better. like, this is horrendous. I. OK, so then writing three, acting three, directing three, chemistry-o-meter one one.
I like how they tried to have him with a shirt off one for one scene. You're right. You're right. It honestly felt like he's like 20 years older than her because he acts mature and she acts like a child. That as well. That's unlike- Yeah, you're right. He's a groomer. That's what military people- Never mind. So, yeah, that was a- A stupid movie. Yeah. Tonight, guess in a few minutes we're gonna be watching Sugar Plum. Yeah.
And we'll let you know how that goes. Bye! Happy holidays, Merry Christmas! Happy holidays! Bye!
