I kissed in the New Year ...

...with chocolate hersey kisses! I handed out a few, and then for the realest kiss of the night I was dipped and kissed-which was fun and spontaneous. It was a pretty gutsy move by Dave. (Thanks Dave!)

New Year's Eve was great. I have found that I really like to put parties together. I love having people over, and lots of them. The more the merrier. And so I threw a bash! Luckily, Ben's given me the best advice when it comes to parties. "It's all about food. Food makes a party."

My whole life I've had reservations about being a hostess. I just didn't know quite what to do. So, what's worked twice so far is having lots of FOOD and something for people to do (Guitar Hero, Karaoke, Games). It's worked. I also promote invitations. A hand-held one is always best (for something like a Masquerade), and a text one wasn't so bad for a more casual party, like I did for New Year's.

Sam and Charlie showed up to my place and will vouch that I did okay. Sam counted 65 people and one point, and I know that more people came after he left. Yippee! Unfortunately, neither Charlie nor Sam stayed for the midnight hour. This is what went down: I started out the night with Guitar Hero upstairs (Thanks Aunt Jan!), Karaoke downstairs (Thanks Sabrina!) and Games in another room. I put out the typical food items, and chocolate fondu! (Thanks Natalie for the fondu set!) YUM. Sometime in the 11th hour, I passed out fortune cookies-I thought people might need another topic of conversation, some noise makers and hats then at 5 to midnight, we gathered in front of the T.V. to watch New York count down for us.

I would have loved to see more people kiss in the New Year, but understanding everyones reserves, I thew out a chocolate kiss to everyone. I should have flirted with the guy I really wanted a kiss from, but it's hard to stay in one place for too long as the hostess. Also, I gave him space since he's been so coughy lately. Too bad for me, but probably lucky for him! (I am pretty sure I could scare the poor guy to death being so forward- if I haven't already. Hahaha.) After midnight, we broke out some waffle irons and made some breakfast. I thought I was so smart to have milk, and juice and chocolate milk too. Funny thing about the chocolate milk was that it was so thick my friend Ryan had to check the label. Silly me, it wasn't chocolate milk for the drinking. It was chocolate ICE CREAM milk. Oops! The party dwindled after about 1:00 a.m., and the last folks left sometime around 2:00 a.m. I happily believe the party was a success.

So, for anyone who has a Facebook profile, you can see 60 of the 88 pictures I took there. It's always fun to look at them, and some really make me laugh. I had a good time. If you ever need a party let me know! I believe the next party I'll participate in will be at my friend Ryan's house, or I thought about having a Super Bowl party. We'll see, We'll see.

Happy New Year to all. I wish prosperity and love to everyone! I feel something good about 2008. It's going to be a wonderful year.