Happy New Year

After spending what feels like days and weeks away from the internet, I'm sitting home tonight, surfing the internet, catching up on blogs, and just having a quiet night. Ralph has the flu and I'm trying to boost my immune system with chicken soup, hot tea and vitamins to keep from getting it myself!
We had a lovely holiday though and are ready to face the new year. We spent five days in Catskill visiting R's family and friends then came home in time to host dear friends who were visiting from CA. Mom & Dad Cutler got us an Xbox 360 for Christmas and Ralphie got me the Mortal Kombat vs. DC Comics game, so that's been entertaining us since we've gotten back to Brooklyn. Ralph also got me some oxblood red Doc Marten boots that I totally love. I'm sure all of the 2009 photos of me will feature these. So happy.
We ventured out to Jackson Heights on Monday and sampled some amazing vegetarian Indian food and bought some amazing, beautiful sari fabric that I made pillow covers and curtains from. I've never fallen in love with any of the Indian restaurants that I've been to in Manhattan. Finally, I know that I can just skip them altogether and head out to Queens for simple, amazing Indian food. Oh yeah, and the high on Monday was something like 63 degrees!
David & Katrina arrived on our doorstep on Tuesday night and we got to spend a lovely evening with them catching up, at our apartment and the Diamond Bar nearby on Franklin Street. Wednesday we went shopping for a couple of items that we needed in order to host the annual Katrina's Birthday/New Year's Day Brunch. When we left the house around 2:30 it was like 30-something outside -- totally bearable. By the time we started walking back home from Williamsburg around 5pm, it was like 20-something but felt like 14 with the wind chill. I thought we were going to freeze in place walking home. The temps continued to drop throughout the night. We met up with our friends James and Kristin for dinner and drinks, and walking the four or five blocks from the subway felt like an immense challenge. By the time we got to the Bell House, where we were meeting other friends for dancing and drinks, I think it was around 2 degrees with the wind chill and we ended up having to wait outside for like 15 minutes. It was unreal how cold it was!! We had a good night nonetheless, and hosted a wonderful brunch the next day, getting to see many old friends and meeting some new ones. I think we should host the New Year's Day brunch every year. It's such a great way to start the new year, surrounded by lots of yummy food and good friends.
I'll upload some holiday photos to the flickr site soon and try to do more frequent updates in the new year!