Teachingmommy: New Year's Fun

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

New Year's Fun

I was able to go out for New Years! It was sooooo nice to be out again. Kevin graciously offered to babysit for Maelin so I could have dinner with Emily, Katey and Emily's mom Cathye at a great resturant, Prima in the Hotel Teatro downtown. (actually, it works out really well because Kevin doesn't really like to go out anyway, so it makes him happy that I get to go out and he gets to stay home)

We had a great time at dinner. Katey is newly engaged and we had fun talking about weddings and the like. Katey is my last really good friend to get married, so we'll have fun planning...AND she said MaeMae could be the flower girl if she's walking well by the time the wedding rolls around! We'll have to wait and see on that one...

Prima was amazing. Emily's husband works there and so we had an "in" which is always nice. We had champagne to toast the New Year and Kately's new ring and we had some wine with dinner and appetizers, amazing pastas and all sorts of yummy stuff.

The best part was when the bill came...normally for a fancy dinner the bill is the worst part of the experience but they had compd the whole meal! We figured it was about $260 for all four of us and they said it was free! Happy New Year to us!

Since we were right downtown, we walked one block over to see the fireworks on the mall. They were pretty and loud but it was so COLD! Plus, I'm used to seeing Disneyland fireworks so it's pretty hard for our city to match that...

We had a great time out and I had so much fun being with my friends again: all dressed up and celebrating. It was like old times and Maelin slept the whole time I was gone. You can't ask for a better New Year than that!

1 comment:

Ann said...: How fun!!! I'm actually jealous, we weren't downtown this year so I didn't get to see the fireworks (as dismal as they are). :(; January 3, 2008 at 9:32 AM

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Spanish Steps: Rome, Italy

Must Read Books & Great Authors

"A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" is a novel by Betty Smith first published in 1943. It relates the coming-of-age story of its main character, Francie Nolan, and her Irish-American family struggling against poverty in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. The novel is set in the first and second decades of the 20th century. The book was an immense success, a nationwide best-seller that was distributed to servicemen overseas.
"Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell. This is my all-time favorite book and you MUST read this at least once in your lifetime. It has won the Pulitzer Prize, it is available in 31 different countries and it has been hearlded as "The Great Amercian Novel"
"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult is a heart-wrenching novel about what it means to be a good parent, a good person and a good sister. Kate has had cancer since childhood and her younger sister Anna was concevied to be a perfect-match bone marrow donor for her. As Anna grows up, she struggles with how she and world will see the rights of her own body. This novel is the first book in years that had me crying. It was very well written and very enjoyable if you're in the mood for a tear-jerker.
"The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls is a memoir about a nomadic, deprived childhood told with the wonderment of a child who always wants to believe that Daddy will be a hero in the end and that Momma really does know best. You are enrapt reading about Walls and her siblings rifling through trash cans at school looking for food, doing the skedaddle in the middle of the night, or waiting for Dad to come home after another bender. It's a riveting story and a testament to Walls' desire to rise above a life that could have easily turned her into just another tragic headline. I really appreciated this story because of the very real probability that some of my students are living this very life.
One of my favorite authors (I have everything she's ever written) is Marian Keyes whose stories are set in Britian or Ireland. She is the internationally bestselling author of Watermelon (which is my favorite), Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Rachel's Holiday, The Last Chance Saloon, Angels, Sushi for Beginners, Under the Duvet, and her latest, The Other Side of the Story. Her books have touched readers around the world, and they are now published in 35 countries and in many different languages.