It's 10:30 New Year's Eve.... I'm all round and happy. I've been cooking since 2PM today. What did I make?

Starters:
A lovely cheese spread (Smoked Gouda, La Tarentaise, monteray) complete with olives
A gigantic shrimp ring (compliments of Joe & Julia).
And, a VERY stiff chocolate martini

Main Course:
Chicken & scallop fritters with a spicy gazpacho sauce (Julia licked the bowl)
Bacon-wrapped scallops (my very own secret recipe)
Lobster with drawn butter
Served with a fantastic Italian chardonnay (Joe ALWAYS picks the good wine).

Dessert:
Julia made some cake that made the oven smoke (not joking)
I whipped up some pecan lattice sandwiches with an orange whipped center.

We are all now waiting for midnight... I'm itching to open up the 1995 Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame. HAPPY NEW YEAR Everyone!

Hopefully, I'll figure out a what my New Year's resolution will be. Perhaps it will simply be to stay happy & healthy and plan for my wedding in October.

CNN: "Death Toll Leaps To More Than 116,000 In Tsunami Disaster"

It truly amazes me how devasting water can be. It amazes me even more how the media plays off it. TSUNAMI: Wave of Descruction [cue music], ratings go up, and the network seems compassionate while the 12 nations affected try and rebuild their cities & towns.

AND, I just love how they manage to throw 9/11 in to the mix: "echoes of 9/11 in hunt for loved ones". egads.

And, so the wedding planning begins! Didn't take us long to put the guestlist together... is 200 too many? Eeeek... I had better start working overtime!

Needless to say it was a lovely Christmas and I am looking forward to an exciting 2005. We'll keep you posted on the wedding plans!

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve... We'll be ringing in the new year with Joe & Julia... there will be lobster, champagne, and lots of giggling.

Today in History:

Have a happy and safe Christmas everyone.

'Tis the weekend before Christmas
And all through the house...
Not a creature is stirring,
except Henri & Toemas.

Okay, so my rhyming is off.

Nonetheless, I'm gearing up for the last week before Christmas.

I'm still recoving from "asthmatic bronchitis" (another doctor visit Friday).
I have an enough steroids to make any pro-athlete jealous!

I recently found out that a high school friend's husband is serving in Iraq. So, I wanted to throw out an extra special thought and prayer to him and all the other men and women serving overseas. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but my father is a full-time active National Guardsman and helps facilitate the deploy of NH-based troops. I have been fortunate enough to have not had him deployed anywhere, but my thoughts are with all those families who have.

I received this email from a co-worker today:
"> Starting Jan 1, 2005, all cell phone numbers will be made public to
telemarketing firms. So this means as of Jan 1, your cell phone may
start ringing off the hook with telemarketers, but unlike your home
phone, most of you pay for your incoming calls. These telemarketers will
eat up your free minutes and end up costing you money in the long run.
>
> According to the National Do Not Call List, you have until Dec. 15th
2004 to get on the national "Do not call list" for cell phones. They
said that you need to call 1-888-382-1222 from the cell phone that you
wish to have put on the "do not call list" to be put on the list. They
also said you can do it online at www.donotcall.gov ."

AND, of course, I immediately went to the website and registered my cell phone. Had I done a wee bit of research, I would have found out that telemarketers are still barred from calling cell phones. Apparently someone sent this email around a couple weeks ago and more than 3 million numbers have been added to the government's national do-not-call list since then.

WashingtonPost Article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53668-2004Dec9.html

ARGH! I hate when I get sucked into email scams (although, still not a bad idea to get all your phone numbers registered, if you haven't already done so)!

Why am I so susceptible to bronchitis? Every year, without fail, I am hoofing it back to the doctor with a nasty cold that inevitibly turns into brochitis. I then suffer for a few more weeks, coughing, hacking, and shaking (from the steriods they prescribe).

I often wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that as an infant I was hospitalized (in a croup tent) with bronchiolitis (not to be confused with bronchitis). Be that as it may, I'm home sick for the next two days.

My remedy:
Lots of fluids, plenty of OTC drugs (one for each sympton), and an expensive nebulizer (that would make a pothead jealous) filled with xopenex. Oh and getting some TLC never hurts!

After a long couple of days, everything has been moved and more importantly, I have cable & Internet (nevermind the fact that Comcast was well over an hour late). To help celebrate, we ate lunch at Buff's Pub in Newton Corner with the lovely Joe & Julia. And, I'll have you know, their dirty martini is just lovely. I will not be ashamed of drinking vodka while everyone else is drinking beer! Did I mention how fabulous their honey-hot wings are? Mmmmm...

And, in case you missed the game... the Auburn Tigers won the over Tennessee. Grrrr...

Okay, so it took me a couple extra days to post the pictures... but here is the King Platform Bed: pic 1, pic 2, pic 3

On another note, I spent the morning fighting a speeding ticket - 77MPH in a 45MPH contruction zone. The magistrate was going to reduce the fine to $125 (from $250), but I chose appeal it one more time. What do you think the odds of me winning are? It's worth a shot. I at least have another chance of getting it dismissed and the off-chance of not having my car insurance go up. AGAIN!