New Year's Eve and Beyond...

It seems like so long ago (6 days!!) but I'm finally getting around to posting about New Year's Eve and the weekend that followed it.

The evening began with Dan, Luis and I meeting up for dinner, and then we made an appearance at a party. We excused ourselves from it so that we could make our way to Jackhammer, our regular watering hole where we were being joined by our friends Tina, Denise and Polo. I could not think of a better way to ring in the new year. Drinks were poured, laughs were had and when the big ball dropped, there were hugs and kisses all around.

Dan and I, celebrating the end of one decade and the beginning of another.


Teri Yaki, the hostess for the evening. Please note that the original picture is in landscape, but for some odd reason, this site decided the picture should be in portrait.


At about 2, Denise, Polo, Tina and I had our fill of drunk people, drag queens and messy strippers losing their clothing so we left Dan and Luis at the bar and went all of 10 feet south to the Mexican restaurant for burritos. We crowded around a tiny table and enjoyed our feast and each other's company. Alas, it was time to head home. Unfortunately, this was made difficult by the car that had blocked Polo's car in the parking lot. Tina felt festive so she left the offending driver a new year's greeting on their windows "Happy New Year, ASSHOLE!" We laughed, and hailed a cab. I saw to it that Tina and Denise got home, Polo went back in the bar for a little while.

Friday was a quiet day at home, I had company over for New Year's Day dinner. Denise joined mom and me, along with my sister and our friend Karen. Traditionally we eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day, for good luck. My mom grew up in the South so this is something we've done every year. I've grown to like them. Denise and Karen, who have joined us in the past look forward to their yearly dose of good luck.

Saturday, I joined Dan, Luis, Polo and Denise for a movie. I don't often go to the movies, I blame it on my short attention span and the fact that a movie has to really interest me otherwise I won't sit still through it. Well, we saw "The Blind Side," and going in, I wasn't 100 percent sold that I wanted to see it but once it began, I was glued. I loved it. Sandra Bullock gives such a great performance. I highly recommend it.

Sunday was Christmas, revisited. Try to get six relatively busy people together around the holidays and it's a crap shoot. It wasn't until January 3 that the six of us could get together to have our gift exchange. We decided to turn it into an Italian feast. Dan and Luis opened their home to us and made pasta with sauce and sausage (Luis makes the most delicious marinara saucee!), along with some delicious puff pastry appetizers. Tina brought a huge antipasti platter, I brought a roasted tomato caprese salad, Polo brought enough garlic bread for two dozen people, Denise brought delicious desserts.

Knowing that we were attending this party without a Christmas tree, Denise and I took matters into our own hands and created a tree for the party. I had a gold tinsel tree in my store room at work. I brought it home, we adorned it with colorful ornaments and a giant glittery poinsettia. We stood back and were very proud of our creation. I believe that Dan and Luis were momentarily speechless when they saw it, no doubt they were stuck by it's overwhelming beauty. Perhaps a tear was shed.

The Christmas tree, and some of the delicious food on the table.

Round 1 of the food was served. We cleaned off Tina's platter of goodies and were too full to move. So, we rolled ourselves into the living room and exchanged gifts. In no time, paper was flying, laughter filled the room and a series of "oohs" and "ahhs" along with an "oh wow" or two were spoken.

Well into the gift exchange, yet there are still more gifts to go. Luis is wearing one of his gifts, a yellow down vest.

When the paper finally settled, we went back to the table to finish our dinner. Round two left us all pretty close to unconscious but happy.

What a great way to end a long, fun weekend. 2010 is off to a good start.

Me, cuddling a present from Dan and Luis. It's a beer bottle shaped sausage. Mmm...

Happy New Year!!