you're a star, baby

So this year for something completely new and different, we all went over to Sacha and Toni's for Chinese food and drinks to ring in the new year.

The original plan was to have some dinner, then go to our beloved hookah bar for awhile, returning to the apartment for champagne toasts at midnight.  The dinner part of the plan went smoothly, though the restaurant we got our takeout from has a limited menu on New Year's Eve and it does NOT include scallion pie.  Which is quite possibly the worst decision made by a restaurant ever, as scallion pie is delicious and magical.  Anyway.


After another freaking New England snow storm (let me just quickly tell you why winter here is crappier than in Michigan.  NE lulls you into a false sense of security with no snow for weeks and weeks and weeks and then BAM!  Like 10 inches of snow in one day.  Add the crazy wind whipping off the ocean that shakes the house and no amount of winter armor protection will help, and you've got yourself a recipe for a completely miserable three months weather-wise) we all bundled up as much as we could and piled into cars to head to the bar (we had perfectly sober drivers, do not fear parents!).  As the first couple people walked in the guy informed them that there was absolutely no room.  However, as soon as the rest of the party made their way in and he saw that there were 6 and not 2 of us, the manager took it upon himself to take another look around and see if he could find a table for us.  He came back a couple minutes later and said, "ok, I can get you in for $20 per person."  After this completely outrageous statement we left in a huff and went back to party central grumbling all the way about our bitterness toward the once beloved hookah bar (which will probably be beloved again in a couple weeks).


Upon our return to party central (by the way I have decided that Sacha & Toni's place needs to have a name so that we can reference the place we all spend most of our time by one word instead of having to constantly spit out 'Sacha & Toni's place'... suggestions are welcome) we consumed more adult beverages (Sacha kept trying to sell us on some drink called a 'French 75'.  It sounded and tasted kind of gross, so most of us opted to stick with our gin & tonics) and awaited the ball drop.


Which brings me to the absolute most fun party game ever.  Yes, even better than Rock Band.  What I'm talking about is the wonder and majesty known as "SingStar".  It's a game for the PlayStation 3, it comes with two microphones and a little camera that affixes to the top of your television.  Basically, it's karaoke in your house with video.  A-maz-ing.  It may not sound like much, but add a little alcohol, 'pass the mic' mode (which makes it a team event) and as much insane backup dancing as possible while filming is taking place and you've got yourself hours of entertainment, my friends!  It was pretty spectacular, and probably ended up being more fun than spending a bunch of money at the hookah bar and just sitting around the table blowing apple flavored smoke rings.


When all was said and done we enjoyed our extra second of 2008, celebrated with champagne and noisemakers and awesome paper tiaras, and (at least I) had the appropriate amount of hangover on New Year's Day.  The biggest downside of the evening by far was the walk back to my apartment at 3am.  It was cold, cold, cold.  Definitely the longest 5 minutes of the year so far.

 

We make the best faces for the camera