New Year’s Eve and My plans for year 2011

I realize this is about a month too late, however time doesn’t really mean much to me when it comes to things I want to do or write about.

New Year celebrations have a very special place in my heart. In Russia , Christmas is a true religious holiday, not commercialized by the people, and it takes place mid January. New Year’s, however, is the time when we see Santa, decorate a tree, gather the whole family around a table that is barely standing under the weight of all that fattening delicious food. It’s the time of gifts under the tree, and kids having to read a poem or dance or sing for Santa in order to get their presents. And while after 8 years of living in America I have completely “switched over” to this all happening on Christmas, New Year’s Eve is still pretty special for me, and not just an excuse to go out and get drunk.

And when I actually think about it, Russian way is a much better way of doing it. What does Santa and free presents have to do with the actual birth of Christ? How about the fact that Christ wasn’t born on December 25th but it was a pagan holiday celebrating the God of Sun? Seems really hypocritical, doesn’t it? It’s a holy holiday but we’re going to celebrate it on a pagan holiday rather than on a real birthday of Christ and we’re going to inundate it with free gifts and a fat bearded man who falls through the chimney to deliver them. Haha! 

So honestly, I much rather have my children celebrate true Christmas, if they choose to be religious and then receive gifts and the whole Santa experience on NYE. However I am a strong believer in not making our kids’ social life more difficult than it has to be, so I reckon we will do it exactly like the rest of America does ( no reason to have them be “that weird kid whose family has Santa come on New Years Eve), however I do like the idea of  adopting the whole sing/dance thing for the presents. So rather than them getting presents just because, they’d have to  do something creative in order to get them: make something for Santa ( even if it’s baking cookies for cookies and milk for Santa) and leave it under the tree, come up with a song or dance that we’d record and leave under the tree, learn a poem, etc

All that being said, we have been celebrating New Year’s the typical American way which is go out, party, get drunk, throw up all over the cab. Except for we don’t drink. So for us New Year’s has been a lot of water drunk from champagne glasses. This year we have been invited to attend a yearly Casa Tua All White party by a good friend of mine and his father. Casa Tua is this uber-cool restaurant/lounge/private house in South Beach and this year the theme was Brazilian ( while still being all white).

We all gathered at Robert’s house to get ready. One bathroom and  4 girls was brutal but we survived to tell the story.

On our way to Casa Tua in 5 inch heels on uneven dirty streets of South Beach

I absolutely loved the decor of the outside area where our table was: candles, crystal, flowers, palm trees.

All four of us sort of believed in horoscopes. Not the daily or yearly bullshit but the description of every sign ( for example, I am a textbook Leo), so in the midst of a horoscope discussion this photo was born!

Every menu on the table had a little band that by Brazilian tradition we were supposed to put on our wrists and tie three knots on it while making three wishes. My husband’s and mine were the same three wishes. It’s nice to be on the same page.

This is a great example of what my husband cares about when it comes to me. Boobs and ass 🙂

Check out the bright purple bougainvilleas in the back. It totally spiced up the white theme!

My two favorite men: hubby and Robert

That’s typical me.

Look at who’s kissing in the back. Haha! Caught in the act!

And finally, tired and winding down.

So  see? No drunken throw ups in the car.

This New Year’s Eve party turned out as good as my all time best in 2008 ( below). I hope that is a sign of things to come ( but of course i realize it has nothing to do with my 2011 year. I’m not superstitious in the least)

To finish up this post I’d like to list a few things I want to accomplish in 2011:

1.Our most important goal is a 2011 Pregnancy. We will starting in March ( or so) and we’ll see how long it takes us. I’ll be chronicling everything here, of course.

2. Get our taxes straightened out. When you own two or three corporations, taxes aren’t an easy matter. I want to work out a system that will keep it more streamlined during the year, so that it wasn’t such a horrible ordeal come tax season.

3.  Finish 2 websites I am working on for our businesses and move onto the other 5 ( Yikes!)

4.Exercise EVERY DAY ( i pretty much do that now)

5. Finish my Minerals table ( i have a Vitamins table that I spent 2 days working on, where it lists every food i tend to eat and the amount of each vitamin in it).

6. Take my last trip to Ecuador before I get pregnant

7. Organize my work desktop better

8. Go through all the old files and organize, organize, organize

9. Finally clean out the office closet and bathroom

10. Prepare the nursery room

Not too glamorous, I know, but very productive and I LOVE organizing! 🙂

What did you guys do for New Year’s?