The One with Mike & Kelly on New Year's Eve

Adam and I had the wonderful opportunity to spend time for New Year's with our close friends, Mike and Kelly, at their parents' home in Palm Desert. It was such a treat to getaway from San Diego just for a little bit for a mini-vacay. Plus, they were so hospitable and we enjoyed staying in their "casita" (little home), or guest room that's detached from the main house. I should have taken photos of how beautifully they decorated it, but I forgot.


I love this decoration in the doorway. Too bad, I couldn't remember the actual line from the Frosty song.

We came in late Sunday and watched Ocean's Eleven in their newly renovated movie room. Oh, it was so sweeet. I could totally hole up in there for a week with movies and TV (if this stupid writer's strike would get resolved). The next day, the boys went to play golf while Kelly and I chatted about anything and everything (mostly wedding-related). I got to see her amazing wedding album and got excited to see what our wedding album might end up like. The boys came back and then everyone spent some time in the hot tub. The boys looked like they enjoyed it after their long day of golf.

Our New Year's Eve plans were to go to the party at the club, which felt a lot like a gala. We had a fun time getting dressed up. Here are some of the photos of us before we got to the party:


The boys in the movie room relaxing before the girls were all ready.


A couple of Adam looking oh-so-debonair... and he graciously smiled for my camera.



Mike and Putter. Isn't he precious? (Putter, I mean. hehe)


The beautiful newlywed couple. Isn't Kelly's dress from Anthropologie GORGEOUS? I couldn't never wear something like that because I'm so short, but... WOW! Very beautiful.


Putter wondering why he can't go to the party too.


I love this photo of Kelly and her mom.


What a beautiful family!


And finally one of Adam and I... the six-months-out-from-being-newlyweds...


I love this one of the boys... with the totally unintending light from the side.


We had a great time at the party. They had these amazing ice sculptures that were lit with shrimp cocktail and caviar. Adam and Mike both tried the caviar and Mike seemed to acquire a taste for it. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the shrimp cocktail, which could easily be one of my top ten favorite foods. YUM-O! Kelly's mom had this martini in a glass made of ice that was super cool, but started to melt because we were standing by heaters.

The party had a winter wonderland theme. Very cute. I especially like this picture I took using Kelly's camera, which only fed my desire for a new point-and-shoot camera that I can carry everywhere.

Centerpiece (Photo by Kelly's camera. Hehehehe)


New Year decor. Fun streamers and noise makers.


Adam and I at dinner. (Photo by Kelly)

The dinner was AH-MAZ-ING. Everything was delicious. I especially liked the cup of wild mushroom puree. (Very tasty and I usually don't like mushroom soup.) The lobster was delish... and the champagne sorbet came in it's own self-lit ice sculpture!


How cute is that?! I was a little disappointed when the server took it away because it was such fun to play with. Reminded me of the ice sculpture at Mike and Kelly's wedding that I kept playing with at the wedding too. hehehe. Shh... don't tell nobody.

And last but not least, our very creative dessert. A raspberry chocolate brownie-like cake with chocolate ice cream and a White Russian milkshake. Mmm. Too bad we were too full to fully enjoy this.


We were probably the youngest people at the party, but we were the ones sitting down and not on the dance floor. Like Kelly said, it really wasn't "New Years Celebration" music. But Peter Tork, which we later found out was one of The Monkees sang and I did enjoy the Monkees' songs. We DID however, have a great time playing with the streamers at our table and the noisemakers. Everyone put on their hats and there were streamers EVERYWHERE...


Kelly and I, wearing streamers. Hey, it matched!

We rang in the New Years at the table and celebrated a Cuban tradition of eating 12 grapes right at midnight, one for good luck every month of the year. Kelly was so cute about it and even brought all of us at the table, grapes, so that we could partake in her Cuban tradition with her.



Adam and I had wonderful NYE and it just makes me look forward to many more with friends and family that we love.


And one of Adam and I at our usual "best"... being dorks. I'm trying to blow the streamer in his face, but it wasn't working. I love the look on Adam's face.

On a photog note, I did get a chance to borrow Richard's flash and I'm just wondering, can you register for a flash? Hehe. It just totally changed my world as a photographer. Man!




Happy New Year, everyone! Here's to a 2008 full of blessings for you and your loved ones!