8 posts tagged “parties”

Hope everyone had a happy New Year!  We went to Betsy & Richards for their 3rd annual party and had a great time, as always.  Looking forward to good things in 2009, although I have had bad luck with the odd-numbered years in the past.  Both 2005 and 2007 left a lot to be desired, while 2004, 2006, and 2008 were all great years for us.  I plan on breaking that pattern this year. 

I was pleased when Richard got the fire pit going and they passed out pieces of paper for people to write down the things they wanted to leave behind in 2008 and throw into the fire, and I really couldn't think of anything non-political to write.  Last year was a completely different story.  I had fun tossing a "Screw You AAA!" message into the fire.  But this year, Tadd and I have both had decent jobs and things have been good.

Plans coming up...Our office is closed tomorrow, so I am enjoying a four day weekend.  Tadd has to work tomorrow, so after vacuuming up the living room in the aftermath of removing the Christmas decorations, and writing out Christmas thank you cards, I may go to the movies by myself.  Not sure yet.  Saturday night, my cousin Brianna is spending the night at our place, and then  Sunday, Tadd and I are taking her to Epcot.  It's our one last hurrah before she goes back to Massachusetts and we go back to work post-holidays.  I believe Sunday is also the last day that Disney has their holiday celebrations going on, so we'll get to see Illuminations with the extra Holiday fireworks!  I'm excited for Brianna to see that, because they really are spectacular and we haven't gotten a chance to see them so far this year.

Next Friday, we are meeting a bunch of friends at Rising Star at Universal Citywalk for Tadd's 28th birthday.  That's the kareoke place where they have a live band and backup singers.  SOOOO much fun!  Even though I refuse to actually participate...I just like to watch everyone else make fools out of themselves!  It will be even more fun when it is Tadd and all of our friends doing the singing.

I know I'm a little late, but I wanted to update on my weekend.  Friday night I hung out at my parents house after work because my grandparents had come down for the weekend to watch the Kentucky Derby and place bets at the nearby dog track (they do this every year...my grandmother just LOVES the Derby).  I ate dinner with them and then came home to watch my Friday night shows.  Tadd got home from work shortly after I got back and we just vegged and watched TV for the rest of the night.

Saturday morning I went shopping for the finishing touches for our costumes for Joe's graduation party that night at Betsy & Richard's.  The party was school-themed and guests were encouraged to come in costume, so I decided to go as a librarian and Tadd went as a gym teacher.  I picked up some track pants on clearance and a soccer whistle for Tadd's costume, and some fake glasses and a scarf for mine.  I got home and cleaned a bit, then started getting ready for the party.  My brother came by to tag along to the party.  He decided to come last-minute, so he threw together a "school sports fan" costume by wearing a Boston College t-shirt, visor, and one of those giant "#1" finger things that people wave around at sporting events.  

Despite the fact that I really wasn't in a party mood for most of the day, we ended up having a GREAT time, as we always do at Betsy & Richard's parties.  As a matter of fact, we were among the last to leave at the end of the night and I didn't go to sleep until around 3:30am.

Sunday we got a late start, but we decided to head over to the Magic Kingdom for a few hours.  This is going to sound really strange, but I totally rediscovered the Hall of Presidents.  I know I had seen it before when I was very young, but it's one of those things in the MK that I always forget about completely.  I know it has the reputation of being the biggest snoozefest on property, but knowing that I hadn't experienced it in probably 15 years, plus with how much I love history, I decided to give it another try.  The waiting room is really neat...it's like a portrait gallery of various presidents, with a glass case on one wall containing all sorts of presidential artifacts. 

There's also a small domed rotunda in the center of the room with the presidential seal on the floor.  The show itself starts with a short film about the trials and tribulations of America's history and how it shaped us into the country we are today.  Then the curtains raise and you see all of the presidents in all their audio-animatronic glory, some are seated, some are standing.  All are in the contemporary fashions of their day.  The announcer goes through and introduces each of them, which takes quite awhile, but what I LOVED was that throughout the introductions, the animatronics stayed subtly animated.  They would randomly tap their feet, shift their weights, twiddle their fingers, etc.  When it was their turn to be announced, they would nod their heads slightly at the sound of their name.  And their heads would turn based on where the spotlight was at any given time.  Very subtle stuff, but quite effective and realistic.  We were seated close to the back, so I told Tadd I want to do it again and sit closer so I can take in the details better.  After introductions, Dubya gave a brief speech, followed by Lincoln.  It got me wondering...I wonder how soon after the new president is elected will they have their audio-animatronic added to the show.  I'm actually really excited about that, not just because I'd rather hear someone other than Dubya speak, but just because I want to see what they do next with this attraction to keep it current.  If we renew our passes as we plan to, we will very likely be able to see the new addition.  Anyways, all that to say that I give the Hall of Presidents two thumbs up.  No line, nice and cool, relaxing, great for history buffs, and you just HAVE to appreciate the amazing job the Imagineers have done with the audio-animatronics.  If you only have one day to do everything in the Magic Kingdom, this is easy to skip, but if you've already seen all the major attractions a million times, this is a HIGHLY underrated show.  A true hidden gem!

In the spirit of trying things we usually skip over, we also decided to give the Liberty Belle a try.  That's the giant white steamboat that sails around the Rivers of America.  This ride wasn't quite as big of a hit, but we were able to get some great shots of the Haunted Mansion and Thunder Mountain.  It wasn't bad, but not all that exciting either.  I much prefered Hall of Presidents.  We also did Tomorrowland Transportation Authority, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Carousel of Progress.  Believe it or not, this was Tadd's FIRST time on CoP!  With as many times as he and I have both been to MK (he used to WORK there, for heaven's sake), I couldn't believe it.  He thought it was hilarious how at the end, in the pseudo-futuristic-1989's-version-of-ultra-modern scene, the daughter says that she can't believe that there was ever a time when people lived without car phones.  That part REALLY needs to be updated.  Anyways, we ended our day with the Philharmagic 3-D movie, which I am a total sucker for.  I just think it's too cute!  Especially the part when Donald Duck is trying to fly with Peter Pan & Tinkerbell.  Anyways, it was a really relaxing day.  It was pretty crowded, but pretty much everything we did had no line because we totally avoided the most popular attractions.  I think the longest we waited was 15 minutes for Pirates (but since the line is inside and air-conditioned, we didn't mind a bit...it was HOT outside!).

My weekend was nice, but busy.  Saturday, I shopped for the party with my mom and then came home and cleaned.  Tadd got home early and helped with the finishing touches.  We had seven guests almost immediately, which was strange because we're used to most people being fashionably late.  Almost everyone arrived on time.  We had a lot of last-minute cancellations, but ended up with a total of 14 people.  By the end of the night, we had a fridge FULL of beer.  Seriously, I think we had around 50 bottles left over. 

Rick and Ryan stayed much later than everyone else, trying out that videogame I got Tadd (Dead Rising).  It seemed to be quite a hit.  I find it pretty disgusting.  It's all about killing zombies in a shopping mall and pretty much ANYTHING in the mall can be used as a weapon.  Very bloody, very gross, but actually kind of funny. 

I like how the main character can change clothes and hats in the different stores in the mall.  We laughed hysterically when he changed into way too small children's clothes in a kids clothing store.  It's especially funny because he stays in that getup during the cut-scenes, so other characters are interacting with him in a serious way when he's running around dressed like a complete buffoon.  He was also wearing a Legoman helmet, and killing zombies with everything from a nerf gun to a cash register to a park bench.   Good times!

Sunday, we celebrated a second time at my parents' house.  It was also my grandmother's 75th birthday, so we were celebrating both.  My dad grilled steak tips, hot dogs, and chicken and my mom made a chocolate cake from scratch with her brand new Kitchen-Aid mixer.  We pretty much just watched football and sat around and ate.  My parents gave Tadd some very comfortable black corduroy slippers as a gift.  He LOVES them and has been wearing them almost constantly since the moment he opened them (well, whenever he's not out and about).  He's wearing them right this minute, as a matter of fact.

Back to work today, and things actually weren't that bad.  I'm mostly trained at this point, so no more down time.  I actually worked nonstop the whole day and was quite busy.  And I think it's actually starting to all sink in now, so I'm starting to get more comfortable in my new position.  My boss and I had a good conversation about my progress, and he reassured me that mistakes are part of the learning curve, so not to worry if I mess up sometimes.  That made me feel a whole lot better.  There are so many little things I have to actively remind myself about and I'm always scared I'm forgetting something.  And someone had their first day in customer service today, so I officially handed over the title of "new girl" in record time!  Yay for that!

As expected, we had a great time at the party last night.  Everyone seemed more than ready to get rid of 2007 and start 2008 with a clean slate.  There was something comforting about the fact that Tadd and I weren't the only ones who had had a less-than-stellar year.  It seemed like everyone had parts of 2007 that they would rather forget.

Betsy came up with this great idea to create a small fire in a large metal container in their driveway and have everyone write down things that they wanted to leave behind in 2007 on strips of paper.  Then, about 30 minutes before midnight, we all stood around the container and ceremoniously tossed our misfortunes into the fire.  Everyone wrote down something; some people wrote down several things.  People wrote out their frustrations with former employers, current employers, past relationships, problems with school, general upsetting incidents that happened, and even just plain bad luck.  Some people stood up and vented out loud prior to burning their frustrations, while others just quietly tossed their pieces of paper in with the others.  A few people burned their old business cards too.  I think it was extremely therapeutic for everyone.  I wonder if this will become a new NYE tradition...

In about 30 minutes, I'm going to start getting ready for Betsy & Richard's NYE party.  If it's anything like last year's party, it's going to be a great time.  A lot of my closest friends will be there...Ryan, Manny, Stephanie, Rick, etc.  Poor Bet is stuck working tonight, so he can't make it, but it looks like everyone else will be there. 

Whatever your plans are tonight, I hope you have a wonderful time kissing 2007 goodbye.  I know I will!

Happy New Year!

Aside from job searching, job-applying, and job interviews, we were able to squeeze in a few holiday activities this month.   The first weekend in December, we half-heartedly decorated the tree.  It did help cheer me up a bit.  We had originally wanted to buy a new tree (we use fakes), but with our new financial hardships, it just wasn't much of a priority anymore.  So, for the first time in almost 30 years, my parents got themselves a brand new prelit tree and offered us their old one.  It was so much fuller and prettier than our 5 year old $30 6-ft skinny Charlie Brown tree, so we took them up on it.  This tree has been in use every year since my parents got married in 1978 and still looks great for its age!

On the 15th, we had our 6th annual Christmas party.  I'd say it was a success.  We did a mystery gift exchange this year instead of the usual gift free-for-all where we exchange with everyone.  I think it worked out much better this way.  People who wanted to participate could, people who didn't want to didn't feel obligated to, and it was less expensive and less awkward for just about everyone.  Everyone seemed really pleased with the gifts they ended up with.  I ended up with a $15 iTunes giftcard and Tadd ended up with a mojito giftbox (a handle of rum and a bottle of mojito mix).  Everyone seemed to have a good time, although the party ended earlier than I expected it to.

And for some reason Vox isn't letting me upload anymore pics right now, so I guess I'll stop there for now...  More later.

Stephanie's 30th birthday bash was a success!  It was a small, but fun gathering.  We ate, drank, played Wii games, watched the Red Hot & Boom fireworks that went off at Cranes Roost Park across the street, and had a grand old time.  Some highlights:

Here's the whole gang, aside from Bet since he hadn't arrived at that time.  We were out in front of our apartment complex, waiting for the fireworks display to start.  Left to right: Manny, Richard, Betsy, me, Stephanie, Rick, Ryan, and Tadd.

Tadd's oral surgery is scheduled for Thursday morning.  I can't wait for him to be out of pain, finally.  Bring on the gigantic dental bills!  We'll be ready for them (I hope).

Two parties to go to this weekend.  Betsy & Richard are having a party Friday night to celebrate Betsy's brother and sister being in town (Stephanie, you and Manny are invited too...it doesn't start until 9:30, so it won't interfere with your show!).  Then Lara is having a party Saturday night.  She got a new deck put in her backyard just for the occasion.  That one might be a little weird, because I don't really know most of the people there.  Some of them are vague work acquaintences, but none of them are people I talk to on a regular basis.  I'm really bad in situations like that, so we'll see.  I'm not really antisocial, per se...just not so good at mingling when I'm not familiar with the crowd.  I might also come in to work on Saturday afternoon for a few hours of overtime. 

I think Tadd and I might try to do a little work on the Pieces of Eight Council site tonight.  It needs...something.  We aren't sure what yet, but we're going to look at some other successful forum/community sites and see what makes them user-friendly and easy-to-navigate to get some ideas.  We want more people to funnel into the forum instead of just hanging out on the front page, but we aren't quite sure what the best method for doing that should be.