I am a fan of any celebration that allows for a party so I was really looking forward to New Years! We had our friends Nikki and Jon Jon, and Chelsea and Warren, and my sister and brother in law, Steph and Kenny over. It was a smaller number than invitees, but a good number for some good wholesome board games.
Aleksy and I started the night before everyone arrived with a rockstar vodka: A little energy boost to promote late staying up.
That day I spent preparing a couple of things: a veggie tray and crock pot homemade mac & cheese (which was scrumptious and buttery/cheesy). The friends brought shrimp, poppers, pigs in a blanket, and pizza. We finished everything but the veggies...
Once everyone arrived we brought out our new (For Christmas!) Apples to Apples game, and also brought out some shots because New Years wouldn't be complete without. However, we limited it to the mild Malibu and out pregnant friend Chelsea stuck to shooting the H20.
The men are a little more intense and had some whiskey.
My Rachel was very happy to see Kate. Everytime Rachel comes over she reminds me tat Kate missed her and I d up with about 5 new pictures of Rachel and the kitty. Rachel is so cute. While we played Apples to Apples and Truth or Dare Jenga, Rachel had her very own Jenga set to play with.
Once we switched the game from Apples to Apples (which I lost miserably at) to Truth or Dare Jenga, I selected the piece that dared me to touch noses with any person in the room. I decided to choose the most awkward person, which clearly was Warren.
Group shot! This group shot was taken after we downloaded a countdown app to my phone (because we do't have cable and therefore couldn't watch it on tv, and out computer is upstairs), popped our champagne, distributed the serpentines, and realized we definitely had to have a group photo!
Photo credit: camera timer.
Becuase we're still proving to ourselves that we're not old, we stayed up until 3am, with the exception of my sister who called it quits around 2am because she had to work the next day.
The next day, we had a ski day!! Aleksy and Jon Jon had a Board day... we all headed to Boler mountain, where we skiied the new hill which is much bigger than the small hills Boler exclusively had before. We got Costco passes for 28.99, which saved us almost $10 on admission. Plus, its 15 min from home. We always seem to travel hours to ski destinations so it was nice to have a short ride home. We'll have to get more Boler skiing in this year since its not as small and decently priced!
The men at the top of the hill. It was a very freezing cold day (-10 degrees) and the lift and the top of the hill were the worst. Jon Jon took a fall on one of the first few runs so once we took our inside thawing break around 4pm, Nikki and Jon Jon headed back to Mississauga (after we consumed some delicious poutine, chicken fingers and beer!).
Aleksy and I then did a few more runs by ourselves before calling it a day.
2014 Exciting Happenings:
OUR WEDDING! And everything leading up to it like the Stag & Doe, shower, bachelor/bachelorette, and the actual wedding day. So excited!
Our Honeymoon: So excited to explore the UK!
2014 Resolutions:
I am quite consistent with my resolutions that I wouldn't consider them resolutions anymore but "lifestyle habits" to continue participating in.
1) Eating healthy, fresh foods. Not eating out often. If eating out, eating at independently owned restaurants, rather than chains.
2) Continuing with our gym regime. I have been very consistent with gym attendance for the past year and a half. In November, I attended the gym every day except 3 days (which were due to Nikki's shower, and black Friday shopping!). I hope to have more of these monthly challenges in 2014.
3) Spending more time with family and friends.
4) Paying more attention to work boundaries, doing everything I can not to take work home when its possible and attending work early to catch up instead of staying late.
Happy New Year! :)
