January 2009

This year we decided to have the New Year's celebration at our house again. Last year we went to a friend's so we could have the year off. This year we figured we could have a more sedate gathering of our closest friends. In previous years we've had huge parties with people showing up that we didn't even know. That made for a stressful evening. So, we figured a smaller crowd of people we know would be much more manageable.

I wanted to serve a nice dinner beforehand so I smoked a turkey breast in my new smoker! It was amazing! Too bad not everyone else got to enjoy it. Everyone showed up either not hungry or they had already eaten. Their loss!! More turkey for me!!!! Let me tell you, I enjoyed that turkey for a week!

Someone that usually isn't in attendance is Sam. Sam is a friend that sells beef jerky at several of the fairs we do. He usually stays in Arizona or Texas over the holidays but this year he was visiting his sister in Tampa. When I found out, I told him he better come hang out with us or else! He made it, but of course he wasn't hungry either. Screw all of you! That turkey rocks!

Enough about turkey, we had a great night. We drank into the wee hours of the night. Some friends showed up late and others left early. My friend DJ told us about a private rave happening on New Year's Day. We stopped by to check it out. He was still up from the night before! It was very loud so we didn't stay. New Year's Eve and day were great and not too crazy. Just what we wanted. I'm sure my neighbors appreciated it as well after the years of craziness they've put up with.

Other than celebrating the New Year, all we had to do was finish tearing down all of our Decorating Elves displays. We were able to do it in a week! Two months of installs gone in a week! WOW! We had a great run. We're projected to double our sales. I hope that's true. It'd go a long way to getting us outta debit. And, I know we could all use that now-a-days.

Toward the end of the month we were invited to go to Orlando to stay at Earl and Therese's timeshare. We thought it would be a great way to end our off season. Kind of our last hurrah. And, since Earl was picking up the cost of accommodations, we could keep expenses to a minimum.

I have some great connections in Orlando. Some close friends that work at all of the parks can get us almost everywhere at a discount if not for free. So we headed out to Orlando, coolers stocked, to have some fun. Our friend Howard had a DJ gig on Sunday so he met us out there to hang out the first day.

Since we were in Orlando, it was a chance for Sharon to visit her best friend Anne. She's the friend we threw the Bridal shower and Bachelorette party for a couple years back. She just had a baby, so she wanted to pay the new spud a visit. After she got her baby fix in, it was time to head back to the Room.

The resort was awesome! The suite was magnificent! Since we had a full kitchen we could cook instead of eating out. We hung out at the room the first evening. Therese made stuffed shells. Yummy! After dinner we headed out to Downtown Disney.

We checked out this new English pub that was really cool. We had plenty to drink. By the way, almost all of Pleasure Island is closed, even Mannequins Dance Club. I guess they'd been having trouble with the locals and gangs for a while. So the plan is to re-concept the area to be more family friendly since it sits between two major family areas. Then they are going to move Pleasure Island to a more remote region for the adults.

The girls were shot after we wandered all of Disney walk, so we drove them home. Howie was the first one down. But, he did have to work the next day after all. Earl and I still wanted to go out so after dropping the others off we headed out to Universal's City Walk. It's Universal's equivalent to Downtown Disney.

We went to The Groove and Pat O'Brien's. Those are our two favorite places. We hung out at both for a couple hours. It was great but we didn't want to drink too much so we decided to head back to the room as well. When we got back the girls were still up drinking like champs. (I'm so proud) The girls went to bed and I think Earl and I stayed up till like 5:30am.

We got up at like 9:30 and decided to stay in the room and watch the AFC and NFC championships instead of going to the parks. Not because we were hung over (I actually felt great!) but because we just wanted to enjoy the resort and room.

We went to the pool during the day. What a beautiful day! It was 65 degrees and sunny! I love Florida in the winter! While lying out, a sky writer started drawing religious propaganda in the air above us. It was actually neat how precise he was in his ability. I got some cool pictures.

The girls went on a liquor and food run. We ate and watched football and just had a great relaxing time. And, all the teams I wanted to win made it to the Superbowl. (Which is happening on my front doorstep by the way)

The next day we headed out. Sharon and I went to see a movie at Downtown Disney. Earl and Therese had to head home for work. (haha) Anyway, we had a blast and now we're ready for the new season.

Look out world, here we come!!!

See ya soon!!!!