Happy New Year!!!

Paul and I had a wonderful New Year's visit with our good friends Robbie & Jenni from Boston. These are just 2 members of a NY group that meets in one of our respective cities each year. This year was our year to host and we were very sad that not all of the group could be with us this year. It's the first time in over 5 years that we haven't all been together. Love you all, we missed you!

Regardless, we had a great time reminiscing with Rob & Jenni. They got in on the 30th and we had lunch with Jenni's Mom and Sister at the Tavern on France - GREAT burgers, by the way! That night we stayed in. On New Year's Eve day we headed out to one of our favorite brunch places - Maria's Cafe in Minneapolis. They happen to have the best huevos in the cities. Unfortunately, with my aversion to eggs, I had to avoid the huevos pericos and instead went for a couple of banana pancakes with peanut butter and maple syrup - it was FANTASTIC!

Then we went off to Coastal Seafoods to pick up some fish for homemade sushi and Surdyk's for some champagne for our party that evening. We got home and chilled on the couch and spent the rest of the afternoon making the most amazing sushi for our party. Unfortunately, I can't have raw fish in my current "state", but we got some cooked shrimp and crab to put into rolls for me and some of our friends. I have to say, we may have outdone ourselves on the sushi rolls - we made 14 rolls and they looked pretty professional! We're getting pretty good at this sushi-making.

Our party on NYE was a small group of close friends and sort of low-key, but it was exactly what I wanted. People stayed until about 1am to ring in the New Year and I enjoyed my one glass of champagne that I allowed myself that night and we called it a night.

New Year's Day was spent chilling around the house. We also dumped our Christmas Tree off the back deck. That was pretty awesome, although we were left with millions of tiny razor-sharp pine needles in our living room, which I'm sure we will be finding lodged in our feet for many years to come. Photos and video of that to come soon! That evening we went to the Red Stag Supper Club for dinner. If you haven't been there, it is probably one of our new favorite restaurants. Delicious food, great cocktails (even a N/A one for me) and good atmosphere (although it was a little chilly in there that evening).

Sadly, today we said goodbye to Robbie & Jenni and sent them back to Boston. We keep hoping they might move back, someday. Probably unlikely, just hoping! Tomorrow it's back to work. We have another showing on the townhouse (the other renters fell through) and we're hopeful we'll get it rented very soon! Keep crossing your fingers for us!

Happy New Year, everyone!