happy new year!

I arrived safely in Ohio on Christmas Eve eve after an uneventful (thank god) 15-hour road trip. I had a quiet and nice Christmas at home with the familia plus my Aunt and Uncle, the latter whom I almost killed because he gave away the twist in "Million Dollar Baby". Aaanyways, i've been enjoying my little break here so far, meaning my break from reality. I'm in the process of finding a job (full-time with sweet benefits, anybody interested?), building my strength back up so I can actually exercise again, and trying to find some sort of direction for my life. I'll keep ya'll updated on how all of that goes.

Ok so now the main event, New Years Eve! I think this year was the best so far. As you can see, we played Twister. This picture shows just how much I love the Van Arsdale family. Above you see me smashed in between Greg and Lauren. It was her bright idea to play with six people (that doesn't work so much). As you may be able to predict, I ended up in a pile of Van Arsdale. We spent most of the night playing ridiculous board games. If you don't think that would be very exciting, you have not met my friends. We had the best time. I laughed so hard at some of our word choices in Balderdash that I almost busted my gut several times :)

According to Karlie's family tradition, cramming twelve grapes into your mouth within the first minute of the New Year is good luck, so of course we did it. We drank champagne and made a half-assed effort to bang pots and pans (I told you guys I was doing that this year no matter what). We sorely missed our poor Malaysian jungle boy Zachary, but I had a great night with my lovely friends and am SO happy to be back in their presence :) Happy 2006!