i don’t think i’ve ever been a huge new year’s eve party-hard person. growing up the night looked like staying up late with family friends, drinking root beer through licorice straws and watching the end of the MTV top 100 music videos of the year. sure along the way i attended and hosted many a new year’s house party – always a good time but also a ton of work and come midnight, as i was ready to crawl into bed and call it a night, it seemed the guests were just getting started.

fast forward to last year – ABN and i decided with CURLY and our new friend NICOLE RICHIE, to skip the drama and institute a new tradition. there would be good food, good wine, good games and exactly four of us. it was such a success that on new year’s day i sent out an email letting them know that i planned to spend each new year’s eve for the rest of my life doing the exact same thing – and if CURLY or NICOLE RICHIE found themselves in new relationships, we had to come to a joint understanding over whether this new person could participate in our celebration.

so fast forward to this year, ABN and i make the trip to boston, just in time to ring in the new year. in addition to our original crew we included BESTIE and HIGHLIGHTS. again we played games (the new highlight being CELEBRITY – surprisingly ABN was a super star! i felt so proud) and ate an enormous amount of baked brie. while by 9pm i wasn’t sure we would make it til midnight, we rallied (except for ABN who was hit with a nasty migraine…and is still recovering 18 hours later).

while i never could have imagined that 2008 would send me on this wild journey, and i have no idea what 2009 has in store, i’m pretty sure i know who i’ll be with next new year’s eve.