Happy '08!

Hello there and Happy 2008. Leo and I are enjoying the last day of relaxing as tomorrow officially marks the first day of reality. We slept in (way in - we were up til 3am partying) and took our time cleaning up after the party guests. I started playing one of our new video games too and I now have a new addiction - Super Mario Galaxy. It's AWESOME!

Going back to last week . . . we had a fabulous Christmas! Sunday night we went to Mom & Ed's cute little apartment in Stony Point. Their place is really nice and they have a great view behind them - so much land before you get to the river. The snow on the ground made it look like a whole different place - like the countryside. We then to dinner at Pasta Cucina. Mmmm...NY Italian! Later Leo and I went back to Danielle's parents place. We didn't do much. We actually felt lost without some form of entertainment - video games for example. What has the world come to!

Monday we made a quick trip over the border into Jersey to see Mom & Stan and - surprise - Grandma & Grandpa! We didn't know we would get to see them too! The visit was short but we knew we would see them again REALLY SOON when they made the trip to NC for good. We stopped in Pearl River for another little visit with Cousin Kevin & Family.

Monday night, we went to the 76 House in Tappan for Christmas Eve dinner with Dad and the fam. It was a super long dinner as the service was a bit slow - BUT we really did have a chance to enjoy each others company. In the past, we would go to Dad's house to open gifts then part ways to enjoy Christmas morning elsewhere. Since we were spending the night at my dad's this time we got to actually wake up and and open gifts on Christmas morning! I haven't had that experience in many, many years - it was very special. Even Leo admitted that it was worth waking up for. He hadn't been so thrilled with the 8:30am agenda.

Christmas Day after morning gifts and breakfast, we went to Big Leo's to spend time with him, Grandma (Babci) and Dave. More gifts exchanged! Then we trekked back to VC for Christmas dinner at the Martins. We never shared the holiday before and it was a very pleasant change. I love that family! The kids basically hung out together in the kitchen while the adults were in the other room; but as over-aged kids we got to sip some of Mr. Martins special scotch. It's fun to be a big kid!

Wednesday Matt joined me for a trip into NYC. I saw my lovely old friend Hadas for a quick visit at a diner on Broadway. It was too short a visit as usual but I'm very lucky to have seen her a couple times this year.

We then made the trip downtown towards Brooklyn to Greg & Danielle's place. Danielle saved me a spot the size of my car (good b/c I fit but bad b/c if Matt and Danielle weren't there to direct me I don't know how I would have fit into it!) Their apartment is super cute and I can tell they really love their neighborhood. We ventured to a Barnes and Noble and back while we waited for Greg to get home from work then we went out to dinner at a Thai place right around the corner. Good thing it was close b/c it was frigid out and the rain started to fall right when we got on the road again. I was hoping it would come down as snow still!

Thursday was a hang out day. It was tough to see the holiday magic unravel. Tim left to join his Jen in LI, Greg and Danielle were back in the city and most everyone else was back at work. I just didn't want it to end.

Our ride home was long and uneventful as usual. It was early enough that when we got into Raleigh we joined Kerri & Rob for dinner while Sharon & Stan were in town too. They were making thier first trip to NC to leave a car before their final trip down this week.

And this weekend was all about relaxing while also getting prepared for our little New Years party. We had a lot of people in and out of here and had a great time. There is a nice new stain on the carpet (all my fault - oops! Anyone wanna help us put in hardwood?!)but other than that - no other casualties. We had the regular activities and our regular friends. Funny to think that just last year we were meeing most of these people for the fist time and now we are buddies!

And so we prepare to move forward in 2008. I am super excited as we have a lot to look forward to. In April Mom And I will be going to Atlanta for NTC (an Arbonne event) and today we found out they will have a special performer - Tim McGraw!!! So cool! We also have new weight loss products this month so I'm pretty excited to see what that's all about. I can use a kick start after all this partying! Then of course we have our LA/ LV trip, a possible trip to Cancun (that I am working towards earning with Arbonne!) a big birthday for a certain special grandmother in August and, much sooner, parents moving into the state. We will be visiting Mom & Stan his weekend to see their new house near the beach!