New Years (formerly known as the "overrated holiday")

New Year's Eve Day...all I really wanted to do was lull about all day in my jammies and continue reading my new favorite book, The Shadow of the Wind, but I had to drag myself out of my deliciously cozy bed to run to the store. I also wanted to try and get lucky and find a purse that perfectly matched my shoes (which didn't happen, but I drove myself nuts for a little while running around trying to make it happen). Then, I decided I'd treat myself to some new perfume, but when I went to the little shop that I always get it from, the packaging was different. Turns out, it was a different perfume altogether and I ended up smelling like an old lady for most of the afternoon. I dropped a ton of my groceries on the way up the stairs to my apartment and accidentally scared the crap out of myself about ten minutes into putting things away because I thought someone was coming into my place when the door started creaking open! I was sure that a creepy man was on the other side of the door with a gun ready to rape and kill me. That's when I realized that I had forgotten to actually close the door all the way shut after coming inside and the wind was slowly pushing it open. The price you pay to live alone sometimes! That's when I also realized that I should have screwed it all, listened to my first instinct and stayed in my bed for the better part of the day reading. When I finally got settled, put the groceries away, and was on the couch with my book and a yummy cup of hot hazelnut coffee all ready to pick up where I left off, I dropped my damn mug all over the blanket on my lap, which of course, ran onto the couch! After cleaning up the mess, I decided to curl up in my bed and continue falling in love with Julian Carax (as all of the other characters in the book have done). So here I am, perfectly content with my book, where I should have been four hours ago...

And all of a sudden I hear a muffled noise...it's kind of a moaning sound...I sat up and wondered, "What the hell is that?"

Sweet...Jesus...is someone REALLY having sex at 3:30 in the afternoon on New Year's Eve?! Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen...don't kid yourself...it's true! Apparently, I have new neighbors and my complex has thin walls. Maybe I should bring them a welcome basket full of condoms and pregnancy tests.

Good thing it was time for me to get ready for my evening...turned up my iPod on full blast, sang my heart out in the shower like there was no tomorrow and left there hoping the evening's plans would work out better than my day.

Here we go 2008! Just when you get used to one year, 365 days swing by and POOF! you've got to get used to a whole other digit. I normally say that New Years is a very overrated holiday and unless you have something specific to do, it's probably going to be a let down. Let it be known that while I still believe this to be true, there's one more very crucial detail to add to that explanation of the annual event. Quick run down of the night...

After a lovely appetizer, cocktail, and fun little "what to look forward to in 2008" game at Marisa's house, we headed out to Hibiscus for dinner. Got settled at the bar in the back of the restaurant where we ordered yummy martinis and actually snagged a couple of seats to sit and visit.

This is the part when I spill the second drink of the day. I hate the traditional martini glasses. They are ridiculous. I turned to pick mine up, knocked it all down the side of me...lovely side car martini (ten bucks too!) all down the side of my dress...I knew there was a good reason why I wore black.

Wiped myself off in the bathroom (I swear you can't take my anywhere nice), got settled at our table and we're ready to toast...except my drink was still all over my dress...

There we go...much better!

After a beautiful dinner, we tricked Marisa into thinking there was no more chocolate cake for dessert (because instead, the rest of us really wanted the butterfinger ice cream in an oreo pie crust with other yummy things on top that I can't remember right now)..."No chocolate cake?!"

And Anna reminded us that when we are having a conversation, there's usually about four other conversations happening in her head (one of her goals for the year is to find balance...love it)...

Amanda (looking much like Angelina Jolie, I might add), laughed so much that her make up started running down her face...

I enjoyed that dessert like it was the last one I'll ever have...
Since it was close to midnight and we were ready to jet from Hibiscus, I made a quick phone call to check on the stats of the bar down the street...

Sweet! No cover! Works out well for us since we just spent all our money on dinner and drinks!

Went down to The Old Monk to officially toast to a new year...somehow I wound up getting purposefully shoved twice and yelled at by a rather unhappy girl who was displeased with my existence for one reason or another (I'm still unsure of why, but have decided that this year I must focus on having more compassion, so that is what I have for her). This is what the girls' facial expressions looked like when they thought this creature was going to seriously start a fight with me...And my lovely ladies and I continued to giggled our happy asses back to Anna's where we passed out for the evening...

And today while driving back to my house, on this, the first day of the new year, I realized the most important thing about how one spends New Year's Eve...in the presence of friends (and in my case, life lines), laughing so hard we forgot what we were laughing about in the first place...

Good night, dear friends...may this be the year for all of us!