Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Woowee, what a way to start the new year! We had a blast tonight and it was great being with such wonderful friends!

V, M, R (M's friend), Jas and I spent the evening at R's place for potluck dinner. She was so kind to host the New Year's Party at her quaint little apartment (2 blocks from my place). Boy was there a lot of food and such splendid dishes! So much food! Party started at 7.30ish because Jas and I were 30 minutes late getting there as we didn't realize that her apartment was on the other side of Cambie! Since we were on the wrong side of the road and we could not cut across due to the construction, we had to walk back 4 blocks cross at the light on 19th and walk back up again! How silly of us!

Upon arriving, M and R were cooking in the kitchen cooking up a storm and V, being the great host he is, poured us a couple of drinks and keep us entertained while M and R were finishing up. R has a really cozy apartment and the layout / style of the apartment is very similar to mine. She had started painting her walls to a pretty green colour (didn't like the boring cream walls) which made the room really warm and cozy. R does not own any chairs for her dining room table so we decided to use it as a buffet table, helped ourselves and sat in the living room around the coffee table. We finished our meal around 10.00pm which meant we still had some time before the countdown. V brought out his fancy camera and tripod for this dinner so we all took some group photos together. I took a photo of V setting up his tripod and I forgot to bring my tripod so I will have to get those shots from him. We did a couple of fun poses and serious ones! We hadn't really decided on what and how we were going to count down so we chatted and gave ideas on where to go.

Around 11.20pm, we ended up deciding to head downtown for the countdown. R wanted to drive up Davie Street first to see if there was a crowd and if anything fun was happening because for her, Davie Street is the place to be. Oops wrong street because there wasn't a crowd at all which means we were in the wrong area. Next stop, Granville. As we started getting closer to Granville, we noticed a large group of people surrounding the Future Shop on Granville / Robson street which meant we were def. in the right place. We parked in the parking lot below Future Shop and headed onto the street. We had less than 10 minutes until midnight and boy was the crowd going crazy! We realized why there was such a huge crowd on the corners of Granville / Robson, Future Shop had the big TV with the countdown. There was a large police force presence in the areas and I am sure they were going to be very busy tonight. The crowd was getting rowdy and people were getting excited as the clock ticked it's way to the new year. 2007 was less than 2 minutes away but we ended up running across the street so we could watch the clock countdown. As it was getting closer to 2007, traffic was at a halt and the crowd was flowing onto the streets to catch a glimpse of the clock. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2007 has arrived!! I took a few photos, hugged all my friends and wished them a happy and prosperous new year. Looking around, we decided it was probably a good idea to leave this part of downtown as we knew we were not going to get very far with the crowd. Granville street has quite a number of bars / pubs / restaurants but with the crowds on Granville, we didn't think we'd make it to any of the places.

We decided to try our luck in Gastown. We just wanted to celebrate the new year with a drink at a bar or club. I had my doubts about getting in to any place as it was New Years and I'm pretty sure all the bars / pubs / clubs are charging a huge cover fee to get into their establishment. I was not mistaken. $20 min. cover charge plus water down drinks at $8 a glass, no way ~ I don't think so! It was quite scary walking around Gastown past midnight, lots of crazies out and you couldn't tell from the party goers to the drug addicts! We decided no one wanted to pay that kind of money to get into a sleazy pub so we headed back to the car. On our way to the car (we parked by Tinseltown), we caught a burlesque show at a bar (peeping through the windows) and their backstage was through the private lobby of the motel. R managed to sneak our group backstage to take a group photo with the ladies from the show. It was quite hilarious! R is full of energy and this is without alcohol! She is very daring and outspoken/going, full of adventure and fun! After photos, R decided to go to 7-11 to pick up a slurpee because she really really wanted one. Even though we were heading back to R's place to finish off the wine we started and open the bottle of champagne in the fridge.

Traffic out there wasn't too bad on our way back. Once we got back to R's apartment, we all let loose esp. V. V finished off the alcohol and boy was he silly! A very silly drunk! But it was so much fun and I am glad to have spent the night with such great friends. I really don't know what else to say except that I could not stop laughing the rest of the night because V was getting a little buzzed and he is quite funny when he is buzzed. The girls managed to get him to sing, dance in a skirt and wear girlie accessories. Lucky for me to have my camera and I was not at all buzzed. Caught all these moments on camera. New Year's Pics

Hope everyone had a great New Year's!

Oh yes one more thing, to start off the new year, I decided I needed something new. Check out my most latest purchase!