a non-event
When I was growing up New Year’s Eve was always a non-event.
I know I’ve already discussed how it went each year but can we rehash for a second?
- At 7:30pm we’d bake up a Boboli for dinner.
- At 8:00pm we’d chill a bottle of Martinelli’s in preparation for midnight.
- At 8:30pm we’d settle in for a long evening of John Hughes movies on TBS, interspersed with CNN’s coverage of the Times Square scene.
At Rockefeller Center, Christmas Day, Our Gingerbread House
- At 8:32pm I’d promise myself – yet again – that one day I would move to NYC and be witness to the ball dropping on New Year’s Eve.
- At 10:15pm we’d all be fast asleep on the couch. (With the exception of my brother, who’d take advantage of the lack of supervision by doing something Terribly Bad and Not Allowed.)
A poached egg and crab cake @ Fig & Olive, Crostini Dessert @ Fig & Olive, Salmon @ La Bergamote, Salmon @ Tommy Bahama. (Tommy designs clothes and apparently dabbles in food. Who knew?)
Now that I live in NYC you’d think that my dream of celebrating in Times Square would finally come true. This is not the case. Why?
Because it’s flipping cold.
Complete Madness.
Here’s what we did instead. We enjoyed an Early Bird Dinner, walked around the corner, took the following picture of the Times Square madness, and then caught a cab, went home, and turned the heater on high.
Best New Year’s Eve ever.
While I'm not going to win Mother/Wife of the Year Award anytime soon, I haven't killed anyone yet or shot myself in the head. And that, my friends, is how I calculate success these days. 
FANCY THAT FANCY THIS 
Ah but you had the choice, that’s the difference! I’d choose heat and home any day! 🙂
Heat + Home…well said. 🙂 And yes, sometimes having the choice is really just all one needs!
Happy new year:) I’ve never done the crystal ball thingy although i lived in NJ for few years, I agree its complete madness..
Happy New Year ELB! Hope 2014 is off to a great start for you.
Hah…perfection. Thats what we did. And its better than being out…for me atleast.
happy new year xo
Happy New Year Z! I hope you are doing well. How was your trip to LA?
I totally get what you’re saying! We never attend New Year Eve’s parties and when we got a chance this year I was all excited. But by the time it was 10 p.m. I was so hungry and tired and cold, all I wanted was to crawl into my warm bed and sleep!!! Happy New Year to you, Ali and Maya!!
That happened to us the one or two times we went to a NYE party…10pm hit and we were ready to call it a night!
Happy New Year Fab!
Ah I am like you, I hate the cold and the dark. I’d rather just stay in. One day though, you need to go, just so you can say you did it. It would be a shame living in NY and never doing it.
Anyways, wishing you and your beautiful family a very happy new year.
*kisses* H
Thanks H…hope 2014 is off to a great start for you. Wishing you many good things this year!
Seriously…it is COLD. Good call staying in.
It was 10 degrees yesterday with a windchill of zero. Crazy!
My mom took me to Times Square in NYE for my 18th birthday. We lasted about 5 hours in the cold. Went and got pizza and then celebrated the new year in our warm hotel room, stepping outside right at midnight to see the ball drop in the distance. All that was missing was Jake Ryan 😉
Jake Ryan! One of my favorite people…
What a nice way to celebrate your 18th birthday! 5 hours is a LONG TIME. 🙂
Happy New Year Heather!
My dear girl, no one in their right mind with a New York State residency would ever dream of going to the ball drop in Times Square. That sounds like the worst thing ever. It’s not just a “lets take a stroll over to the square at 15 minutes before midnight to check it out” situation, it’s a get-there-10-hours-before-to-wait-in-police-barricaded-pens-and-no-you-can’t-leave-to-pee-or-you-won’t-be-let-back-in situation. I feel like that’s the way you can tell the New Yorkers from the non New Yorkers, anyone who thinks they MIGHT want to go clearly isn’t from here. Soooooooooooo you’re good.
(I’ve spent many hours in conversation with non-new Yorker friends about how going to Times Square for the ball Drop is the grossest worst touristy thing anyone could ever do, ever. Ever.)
Happy new year!!! I was running errands the other day and really needed a restroom, and remembered Maya in Dylan’s so I ducked in there – for all the sticky sugar covered kids, they have some really nice bathrooms! Ha!
How does the bathroom situation work??? So confused by that.
So good to hear from you Ilana…would love to meet up at Dylan’s again, any time you’d like!
A very Happy New Year to you! Hope 2014 is off to a great start.
Bonne Année Ameena! Sounds like you spent the holiday like a native New Yorker:)
Happy New Year Elaine! Hope Paris is treating you fantastically!
I just cringe at the thought of sharing airspace with complete strangers that closely. I say that like a broken record every year as I see the ball drop on TV, so yesterday my husband said it for me before I could utter it 🙂
Happy New Year, Ameena!
Sharing airspace…I love that. I feel like that on long flights.
Happy New Year Priyanka!!
Great food. Family. & John Hughes movies!! Yessssss, that’s a great New Years! Xx
Happy New Year Kim! I hope you had a great one and 2014 is off to a great start!
thats how we do it in nyc!
What did you do Eva? Hope it was more interesting than my night. 🙂
Sounds like a good night! I, myself, had an exceedingly quiet evening where I read, took a hot ginger bath and was in bed by 945, I think.
Many blessings for a happy New Year ahead,
Lindsey
A ginger bath? So intrigued. I think I could use a few of those in 2014.
Happy New Year Lindsey!
My detox bath consists of 2 cups epsom salt, 1 cup baking soda (not necessary, but highly alkaline) and 1 cup ground ginger. Now, the water is the real trick. I usually draw the first 1/4 tub full of comfortable temp water. Then I get in and crank the water heat on full blast, that way, I can adjust to the rising temp better. I don’t pour the ginger in until after the tub is full as that will make it hotter. Also, in the beginning, if you aren’t used to ginger, I’d start with like 1/8 cup of ginger and over time increase as you feel your body can handle it. I prefer this detox bath to the infared sauna, as I find it much more effective. It’s not comfortable… So bring a book or music or something to kind of something to focus your attention on. Oh and you should stay in for 20 minutes… No more than 25 as your body will start re absorbing toxins.
I’ve taken Epsom salt baths in the past but this sounds even better. Thank you Lindsey for sharing this! I will definitely be trying it soon. Must find the ground ginger first. 🙂
Oh my gosh, it’s been so long since I had Boboli Pizza crust. I love that stuff. I don’t know how those people stand out there in the freezing cold. I simply don’t think I could do it as exciting as it seems. Your NYE sounds perfect!
We used to eat Boboli almost daily…so good.
Happy New Year Cece!
Sounds like a perfect evening. Happy new year Ameena!
Thanks…a very Happy New Year to you as well Zarine!
Aww, I’m sad to hear that the weather was too cold to realize your childhood dream, haha ;).
I turned in at 11pm and had a wonderful night’s rest. Then this morning, worked out at a gym that was practically empty (guess it says something about how much alcohol people consume where I live…)
Happy New Year Ameena!
I would think the gym would be packed on Jan 1! And then totally empty somewhere around Jan 15. 🙂
Happy New Year P!
Happy New Year!!!
What a sweet post, love how you spent it.
I hear you the cold is a bit too much. We in SF complain, can’t imagine how it is NYC.
SF is cold too…that fog is a killer!
Happy New Year Ash!
Such a great post, you really love New York! I could only imagine how cold it must be to watch the ball drop. Glad you had fun! Happy New Year to you Ameena, and Ali and Maya. I hope 2014 is a great year of health and happiness for your entire family.
Thanks Honey…I also hope 2014 is full of more lunches with good friends like you. 🙂 Maybe at JG finally?
New Year’s Eve is bet avoiding the crowd! I sat on my butt at Covell and drank wine with a friend in town from your fair NYC who likewise likes a non-event New Years:)
A non-even New Years is exactly where it’s at. 🙂
Happy New Year Ellen! I hope 2014 is off to a great start for you.
sounds like my kind of NYE this year watching ball drop on CNN as well. I cant imagine the cold in NYC and the crowd at this time of the year. Happy New Years to you, Ali, and Maya 🙂
Thanks Dixya! A very Happy New Year to you as well!
I guess just being in New York is enough, right? I did the same in Paris – didn’t bother going to see the fireworks. Just watched the Eiffel Tower light up at the stroke of midnight with my friends from my apartment. Priceless (and warm).
One day I want to be in Paris for New Year’s…but I’d likely celebrate just like you did!
Happy New Year Razwana!
LOL – that’s my kind of New Year’s Eve! We were in bed by 10 here at home, too!
Glad we weren’t the only ones. 🙂
Ahhhh I hear that ball drop business isn’t all that anyway. Happy new year Ameena!
Happy New Year Deepa!! Hope you did something far more interesting to celebrate. 🙂
Inside and warm is always the best on NYE!
Happy New Year YC!
Haha- I love this. I don’t follow through on plans often when it gets super cold, but I forced myself to buy us tickets to a show this new years so we wouldn’t spend it hibernating again, but the cold did make us come home before midnight after all to drink some beer in the warmth and ring in the new year. Cheers!
Meri
merigoesround.com
Tickets to a show is a good idea…you can stay indoors and warm and still feel like you are marking the evening in a unique way!
Happy New Year Meri!
Hahaha… my kind of NYE.. I was on my pj by 10 PM 😉 … do not have energy anymore to stay up pass 10. Stay warm, it’s freezing today, at least in part of my NY, it’s -10! Have a great weekend!
10 pm seems to be my cut off as well….
And it was 10 degrees yesterday -cold but not as bad as I thought it would feel. Was a little worried about my toes though…must admit. 🙂
Happy New Year Lydia!
I don’t blame you Ameena, it must be so cold there! Happy New Year to you!
A very Happy New Year to you as well Amelia!
I honestly wish I stayed home for New Years! Getting home in a cab was one of the most frustrating times of my year. I will be in NYC from the 11th to the 14th and would love to grab lunch with you! Are you available? I will e-mail you on Monday in case you don’t get this.
That sounds like a great NYE. I spent this year alone for the first time ever. It was fantastic. I watched Orange is the New Black 🙂
That’s the kind of thing you have to do when you’re young. I did it when I was 23 and it was fabulous! But I wouldn’t want to do it again, that’s for sure. 😉
I really prefer low-key NYEs. I almost did a big thing in the city this year, and it had me all nervous with having to plan sleeping arrangements and work out train schedules. I ended up just doing something with my family instead, and it was so much better.
That sounds fantastic to me! It really was cold. My sister went to Times Square for NYE and I didn’t envy her a jot. It sounds like you had a much better NYE 🙂 Happy New Year to you and your family!
We stayed home too and it was so comfortable to be in our PJs and watch a fantastic french movie that I wanted to see for a long time.
Happy New Year!
HAHA, I always say that “if I am in NY..I will defi watch that ball drop” and Amit always laughs his ass of cause he knows that me and the cold do not mix 🙂