In with the new…

New Year's Eve 2010/2011.

It’s 2011. And that means it is either the year I turn 30 and do the most awesome thing I’ve ever done or that it’s the year I turn 30 and chicken out and be lame.

We’re going for option number 1.

That said, for the first time in probably my entire life I didn’t make any resolutions. None. I am not pledging to give up Starbucks or to lose weight or to stop watching American Idol. But I do have one major goal: to plan and get ready to do the most awesome thing I’ve ever done. That I can’t talk about here yet. But chances are if I talk to you you already know what it is.

I have this love/hate relationship with New Year’s. On one hand I love the idea of this symbolic cross from one year into the next as if in one stroke of midnight your life can really start anew. On the other hand it always seems to be a night of high expectations that never live up. And don’t even get me started on last year’s New Year’s.

So I was careful about getting too excited for this year’s celebration. We had had a plan to go to Lincoln Hall for a Flosstradamus show but when I looked at tickets a few days before they were sold out. Luckily later in the day they released 25 more tickets and we all managed to get them. Plan secured.

When New Years Eve came it was warm. Well, it was maybe 50 degrees but if you know anything about the mirage weather of Chicago you’d know that any 50 degree day in the city after being below 30 and snowing feels like summer. So we put on some cute dresses and headed over to Alyssa’s place at night.

Where we waited for everyone to be ready to go. And we waited.

Many people think of me as some high-maintenance girly girl. They think this primarily because I am obsessed with the color pink. But in actuality while I can be quite girly it also very rarely will take me more than 10 minutes to get ready to go out. I am also impatient and hate the feeling that others are having fun while I am not so I tend to be early to everything and get knots in my stomach when I am late.

So when the event started at 10 and we didn’t leave for it until after 10:30 and I’m on a budget and paid over $30 to be at something I was getting a little pissed off and I was beginning to think that New Years was really just one of those holidays I would never be happy on no matter what I was doing.

But finally we left and got to Lincoln Hall. And once I got there it was awesome. We quickly got drinks and we danced to the band. And I tweeted things just so they’d show up on the walls.

And sooner than I’d imagined we were huddled in a crowd, counted down until midnight, and being rained on by balloons.

And after midnight we found a table to chill for a while and finish our drinks and listen to a mix of the Lion King.

And then Heather and Jeremy and I left to cross the street for Mexican food. And at after 1 in the morning we shared chips and salsa and margaritas and quesadillas and nachos. And I ate flautas even though I wasn’t really hungry but damnit I think every holiday should involve going out for food. And they played Achy Break Heart in Spanish.

And then we left. And it had gotten chilly out. And we yelled Happy New Year to the neighborhood George Bailey style.

And I really need to get that dress dry cleaned from all the drinks that got spilled on me. And I didn’t end up puking or crying that night which probably makes this the best start to a new year yet. And I sent probably 14 unanswered text messages in a row. That are still unanswered. And I am somewhat OK with it.

Somewhat.

And I think it was a pretty good start to 2011. To the New Year. To the year I turn 30 and do the most awesome thing I have ever done…