HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!! 

It is now very late, so will quickly recap the day and get to bed.

Look how pretty the sunrise was this morning.  “Red in the morning, sailor’s take warning”.  Came true today, wait until you see what happened to the day.

I was up super early this morning, and knew I wouldn’t be eating for a few hours so I toasted two pieces of thin, high fibre bread with 1 tbsp almond butter and a banana.

We had brunch at our friends Lindi and Jeff’s place today.   WHAT???  You are going out without me??????

The table was all done up for New Years.

Jeff and Dennis are very very alike in many ways.  Lindi and I married similar men, which makes sense, and Lindi and I are very alike in many ways too.  We have great friends, and are very lucky.

Lindi’s 2 sons Aaron and Ben and their friend Laurel’s little boy Oliver weren’t TOO interested in the hats, but we adults were!!!  Here are Lindi and Laurel making bold fashion statements.

Lindi and Jeff.

Dennis and I.  We felt like the characters from early SNL, the coneheads because we felt the need to touch hats.  silly.

Lindi proved herself to be quite the gluten-free crepe maker. 

One batch has xanthan gum, one didn’t.  I admit, I didn’t know what xanthan gum was, so I googled it when I got home.   And the first site I found was FAR too scientific for me….so I’m no further ahead.   ”it is produced by the fermentation of glucose, sucrose or lactose by the Xanthomonas campestris bacterium.”  Huh????   I may need my friend Melisa to put this into layman’s terms for me at some point…  :)  

I digress…..Lindi’s crepes had banana, strawberries and chocolate.  OMG…soooo good.  We also had fruit, healthy scones, tomato and cucumber, coffee (my coffee mug wore a hat) and one of Lindi’s cookies.    Delicious, thank you SO much L&J!!!!

Remember I said the sailor’s warning thing?  It was pouring sleet on the way home. 

Then a big ‘ol rainbow came out.  (tough to see in the photo below, but it was very bright – if it wasn’t late, I’d enhance it in Picasa, but for tonight, nah) Then it rained again.  What a weird weather day. 

This afternoon, Dennis and I threw caution to the wind and had our own private toast to 2012 with a small glass of white wine and snacked on sweet potato and beet chips. 

We also prepared some appetizers for our dinner tonight.  We took crab salad in little cracker cups and white bean puree with fresh herbs, sun-dried tomato, olives and lemon on crostini. 

WHAT???  You are going out AGAIN without me???????

We rung in the new year with our good friends Janice and Alan, and Ken and Karen. 

I have to share this photo of my feather headband thingy – I bought this on a lark when my friend Pat was visiting from Victoria at LEAST 2-3 years ago, long before the days of royal wedding fascinators and silly head pieces.  I’ve never worn it before, so thought tonight was the night.

Remember a couple of weeks ago we went to the red underwear exchange party, and had to wear the undies we received tonight for the first time.  They had to be on at midnight to ensure luck, health and prosperity in the coming year.  My undies left VERY VPL (visible panty lines) when I wore them, so I toted them with me and slipped them on just before midnight.  To ensure I didn’t forget, they were hung from a light.  Very classy….. :)

I just have to share some of the fun decorations from their place. 

Janice made us some celebratory sangria!

Alan is a professional chef, and made an amazing meal while wearing his jaunty new chef’s hat (complete with price tag and hook on the back!  funny). 

The starter was a crab and avocado salad stack.

The main was a cioppino with some crostini.  YUM!!!!!

And dessert?  OOOH….Karen made a New Year’s Trifle and Alan made a pound cake with salted caramel sauce.  Dennis and I split a bit of each.  Not because we were too worried about points, we were just really full.

At midnight, we had sips of champagne and 12 grapes.  I THINK Janice said it was a Spanish custom to eat the grapes at midnight, and we are ALL about tradition and luck. I didn’t take too many photos of the midnight celebrations, I was too busy eating grapes, sipping bubbly, hugging my friends and smooching my husband.

Janice also knows of a custom that says the first person to enter your home in the New Year should be dark haired, and that’ll bring you luck.  So, we booted Ken out onto the doorstep, he rang the bell and came back in.  That will ABSOLUTELY ensure Janice and Alan’s home will be graced by good luck in the coming year!  Funny.  :)

Janice’s kitty Gus was less than impressed with all the hoopla.  Her tabby Zack was even less interested, and spent most of the night upstairs.  Awww. 

So that’s it for the holiday season.  Bye 2o11, helloooo 2012.  I’m optimistic that this will be a good year.  And I wish that for ALL of you.  Happy New Year!!!!!!