2011 New Year Party

My family and I, successfully ended 2010 and began 2011 with celebration of life, laughter and good health. To begin 2011, I attended a Mardi Gras themed party at the invitation of my friends Strom and Margo. Initially, Mark and I, had talked of spending New Years in Las Vegas, but we decided traveling over the holidays was not what we wanted to do. I'm glad we stayed, the party was outstanding. The Mardi Gras theme, gave Mark and I, an opportunity to go costume shopping, which in itself was exciting considering I had not been to any costume parties in 2011. I bought beads, a mask, a Disney character hat (the wicked witch in Sleeping Beauty). The party was a 'Bring your own Booze' and some Cajun food. All of this brought back memories of my time living in Mississippi. I attended the Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 1999, an experiences that I never could forget.

For drinks, Mark and I, decided to go shopping for wine. We headed to 'Trader Joes' an exclusive grocery store that carries a variety of wines from all over the world. We chose from Spanish, Italian, French, Argentine, South African, Chile and California wines. I particularly dislike California wines, they give me headaches. After a recommendation from one of the store assistants, and Mark deciding he wanted to try a particular California wine with a smiley face on it, we dropped California wines all together. We were then left with Argentina, France, Spain, Italy, Chile and South African. We picked 2 of each country with the exception of Spain.

At the party, almost every one brought food, there was more to eat than could be eaten. Some people brought their sleeping bags for the night. Margo and Strom had particularly advised that we bring sleeping bags so we did not have to drive home after drinking. We did not stay the night as we had a 10 year old to come home to. I must say, it was an exciting way to bring in the new year, it reminded me of Amsterdam in 2008/2009.