A cozy house party turned all night New Year’s celebration
A few weeks ago, my friends Amanda and Jennifer of The Lost Girls put out the suggestion of a New Year’s Eve party. My answer was clearly going to be yes. There was no thought process needed. I’ve come to learn that when any of The Lost Girls say to be somewhere, you be there. And this night was no different.
I met my friend Tara and we made our way to the PATH train. The wise ass in me blurted out a few comical observations at the expense of the well-dressed revelers. I was however hiding a little secret. No, I was not wearing a tuxedo, but I was a bit dressed up for me. And before anyone spills it, I was not wearing a Hawaiian shirt. It was just very (very) colorful and I was in a great mood.
From the PATH to the ‘F’ and then out on to Rutgers and Madison, we stopped off at this Twilight Zone of a bodega. Hot, loud and filled with an odd assorted characters, none of whom seemed to be doing anything in particular. And there was this funny photo on the cash register of a half naked fat baby wearing an equally fat gold chain. Baby bling?
From there it was a leisurely stroll to Amanda and Jennifer’s place until we noticed that the addresses stopped before we got to the right place. This is NYC urban planning in all it’s fantastic weirdness. The building had a Clinton Street address but was actually on South Street. Nothing a quick phone call couldn’t fix and once inside, it was smiles, music, chips, dip, pink champagne, Jello shots and bourbon.
I was never a big New Year’s Eve person. Getting all decked out and spending a fortune only to be let down at what is essentially an overrated holiday. But over the past several years I’ve been blessed with nearly perfect nights. Whether playing Pictionary with my family or going to the very last New Year’s Eve celebration at CBGB or bar hopping in the East Village, all have been golden.
This year was just as perfect. Surrounded by beautiful friends, all eager to have a warm, festive night free of the usual burdens of high expectations. Gazing out over the East River (and shivering), I chatted with Mike and Leonie from Sydney. We came to the conclusion that, the reason Sydney has the largest fireworks display in the world on New Year’s Eve and New York doesn’t is because it’s all nice and summer-like down there.
We waited for those final seconds of 2007 with more pink champagne in hand and noisemakers in mouth. 3, 2, 1 and silly string flew thru the room, entangling us all in sticky ecstasy. Kisses, hugs, smiles and more champagne and we all rang in 2008 just right. I ran into my friend Joanne who was there purely by coincidence. It was a very ‘friend of a friend invited a friend’ kinda thing.
