Love and Resolutions

I would say that its unbelievable I haven't posted a new blog in two months, but really, it's not. You should see my journals. They start and pick up every couple of years like its totally normal. But, that's what happens when you like journals more than actual journaling.

But, New Year's Day and New Year's REDO have come and gone, which means I have no excuses not to start on that list of goals for 2013, one of which for me is to make a point of writing every day. (unless I happen to get stuck under a very large rock, which according to my favorite movie, "When Harry Met Sally" is the only logical reason anyone could be kept from anything.) I refuse to fall into the same cycle of my youth. I'm 30 now (yeah, missed that blog entry, too...) so it's time to shape up and get with it. Plus, its for my health. I've noticed a definite change in my mood after a day of writing and I'm finding that in the dead of winter I'm in desperate need of some extra endorphins.

So, I'll kick this off with New Year's REDO, the official start to 2013. To give a little background, we've been celebrating New Year's REDO back home in Texas since we rang in 2010 on January 7th. The idea is simple. We all think New Year's Eve is going to be awesome, but it's always a letdown. The best New Year's Eve before this one in Moscow was spent with my best friend from high school in a Bennigans because we got lost trying to find an imaginary location in Ft Worth that we thought would be picture perfect, like the green hill where they watch movies outside in "The Wedding Planner". And that certainly didn't go according to plan. The only reason it was the best to date was the level of ridiculousness we had reached jumping into a Bennigans, for goodness sake.

So, ringing in 2010 was a letdown for all of us in our circle of friends, we hadn't started our resolutions and had no desire to, seeing as how we didn't feel like the year had really started. So we took matters into our own hands, got some awesome party favors at half the price, dressed up nice and fancy, had a countdown to midnight and proceeded to waltz around our sleepy town yelling "HAPPY NEW YEAR" and blowing noisemakers into stranger's ears. It was a hit.

So after many years of success, our empire grew and the thought of leaving this timeless tradition back home was too much to bear. And although we had the absolute best, most surreal, awesome, storybook New Year's Eve this year, we couldn't pass up the chance to carry on the tradition. We took the franchise global.

If you'd like to try this at home next year, believe me, you will be a hit as well. You can't mess this up. It's a perfect formula.

In fact, I will give you the formula right now. And it works for all parties, but we will use New Year's REDO as our example. A. So you get the story and B. So that you, too, can make your own perfect party.

First, the food. Back home, New Year's REDO involves dinner at a nice restaurant before the festivities. Here in Moscow it's too expensive, so we do snacks. I hate cooking, but I love preparing snacks. And since there was no theme, I was free to use snack ideas I had found on pinterest that started with the words "easy" and "impossible to screw up". If "delicious" made it in there somehow, it was an added bonus. This time, thanks to some good friends who had gone home for Christmas, we had tons of Rotel and velveeta, so I was able to introduce them to the magic of cheese dip. Did you know that there are people in America, even (!!!), that don't know what Rotel is? It compels me to start a non-profit to distribute the magical, canned goodness to all our country men and women. Even those whose unfortunate circumstances leave them too far to the north.

Next, booze. Party hosting in Russia is a breeze, because if you tell people to bring booze, they bring it. Enough for everyone. It's so awesome. No chance of party moochers in this town. Plus cheap champagne in Moscow is even cheaper than cheap champagne in America, believe it or not! AND it's pronounced "champagnski" which I think is way more fun to say.

Party people, the most important part. It's nice to have a group of people that are not easily embarrassed, like to meet new people, eat cheese, and tell good stories. It's an elite group that we make up and not for the faint of heart. We've hosted a few parties now and every time, I've had a moment where I just take it all in and appreciate the fact that we have managed to find the coolest people in this city. Of course we miss our circle back home, but we couldn't ask for better subs. They came in off the bench ready to play, for sure! (But enough sentiment. Gotta save some for my closing statement...)

Neighbors can be tricky. Our neighbors especially. I'll spare you the story here, because I've already started that blog, so read on to "Love and Themes" and you'll understand the background. Bottom line? They don't like noise. So, in order to keep them happy, I wrote a note, copied it to Google Translate, where it magically turned into Russian words and had a few friends look at it. Once the note was approved, I walked upstairs with my new Russian note and a box of chocolates hoping beyond hope that they would accept my peace offering and be a bit more neighborly. And even though the chocolates and note were received without smile and/or neighborliness, it did work in the long run, considering my only goal for the whole thing was to not go to Siberian prison.

(As a side note, if you're ever in Russia, chocolates seem to fix everything. I'm going to start keeping boxes of chocolates in my bag for when someone yells at me on the Metro or I need directions. It stands to reason that people will be nicer if you give them things, and at the top of that list seems to be chocolate.)

Party favors are important because how else is anyone going to take you seriously at a redo party? Luckily, I found a party store close to my apartment and after only an hour of getting lost trying to find it, I DID find it! And it was totally worth it. Hats, noisemakers AND those tube things that you twist and confetti flies out were all there...IN BULK!! I can't wait to go back, although I'm not sure that I'll ever find it again.

We were going to head to Red Square to ring in 2013 at midnight, but at the end of the night the only people who wanted to brave the cold and the metro were myself and two of my Russian seestras, so we opted to go to the club a block away instead. And it was there, outside the club that we counted down and officially rang in the new year, surrounded by all the people who, for one reason or another we were not able to celebrate on New Year's Eve proper. Confetti, hugs, loud noises...it was perfect.

Unfortunately, it wasn't completely perfect since Hubs was out in Siberia freezing his sweet hiney off. Which only means one thing... New Year's REDO REDOOO!!!

Cheers to all the party people near and far. And how easy it is to find them when you have the right formula.