Happy New Year?

When I envisioned my first New Years Eve as a 21 year old, I envisioned big plans. Parties. Bars. Alcohol (because I can partake in that now!), and most importantly friends (because what's a good party without people to enjoy it with?)  Well, plans changed drastically slightly when our family was invited to go on this amazing trip to Colorado (more on that later). Amazing as this trip was (and it was amazing, did I mention that!?), I went to Colorado sans any friends. Instead, I went with my family and four of my sister's friends (who are great, but not exactly who I envisioned spending new years with).

Anyway, as a result of being in Colorado sans friends, I figured New Years plans were out of the question. You know, other than maybe toasting at midnight with my parents and then going to bed. Except, my sister and her friends had other plans and for some reason they wanted me to come. Begged me to come. Obviously, I said no right away, and named off all the reasons I just couldn't possibly go. "I don't have anything to wear." "You just want me to go because I'm 21." " I don't know anyone there." Eventually, though, after all my excuses were shut down and I had a couple glasses of wine at dinner I decided I had nothing better to do, might as well go out with them. Plus, at least when people asked me where I rung in the new year, I could say "The Ritz" as opposed to "At home with my parents" or "in bed" (which could have easily been the truth if I had stayed in). So off we went to a party at the Ritz Carlton because obviously that is where the party is at. And, oh boy, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. (Well, really, I did but I tried to be optimistic and think it would be better than I assumed.)

Me and my "friends" for the evening!

Anyway, I put on my party hat and went in to the Ritz to see what was in store for me. As soon as we got there, my sister and her friends were running off to the bathroom and all of the sudden, for what would be the theme of the night, I had no idea where they were. The rest of the night was spent what I came to call "making rounds; I would occasionally get up from my super exciting activity of sitting in the lobby drinking the night away my few glasses of champagne to walk into the party to check on the girls to make sure they were A) still there B)Not doing anything I wouldn't do inappropriate.

The real fun came around 1 AM when I tried to round everyone up because my mom (driver for the night, lucky her) was on her way to pick us up. Have you ever tried to round up 5 17/18 year old girls who are in party mode?! Let me tell you, it is no easy feat. I went into the party room and I found 4 out of 5 of the girls. The one missing? My sister, of course. "Where's Anna?", I quizzed. No one knew.  Awesome. This is where I turned into, what a friend described as "Mother Hen"; I went into overprotective, older sister/ mother mode. I told the girls I found not to move and went to search for my sister who I found with a boy, of course. "Let's go," I told her, "Say goodnight." Yeah, as if it could be that easy! She informed me she needed to talk to this guy for awhile, and my protests failed. The guy was no help; he promised me he would take care of her. At this point, I was stressed out trying to round everyone up, I was tired, and frustrated with the way my New Years was turning out and I snapped back at the "Oh, yeah, I can trust you." Oops. A little harsh I think. To prove his trustworthiness, he promised me I could punch him where it hurts if he didn't bring my sister back in 5 minutes. What do you say to that!!?

Anyway, she goes down the hall to talk to this guy and I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to watch them without them knowing I'm watching them. Because, you know, what if he tried to run away with my sister!? Once I was confident that he wasn't trying to run away with her (ok, well after I got caught spying on them) I went back to check on the other girls. And what do you know? Another one is M.IA. When I asked where she was the answer was "she ran off with some guy." Fantastic. So I send the other one's to go hang out with Anna and her new found lover, who by the way, did declare his love for my sister in the exact words "I love Anna." Thank you so much for sharing. Now please back away from my sister, thank you. Finally, by some miracle thanks to my great rounding-up skills, all 5 of them are together. I did have to double check a few times, even counting off "1, 2, 3, 4... there's only 4 of you? Who's missing? Oh you're right behind me. Great, we have everyone." Seriously, I felt like a mother counting off all my children. (Thus the "mother hen" reference.)

So, if my New Years Eve has any indication of what my 2011 will be like, let's just say I'm not looking forward to it. Just like I had big plans for New Years Eve, I have big plans for this year (what they are, I'm not sure, but they are big plans, trust me). I definitely do not plan on spending my year chasing around partiers, but hey, you never know. One thing I can say, is that New Years Eve was definitely an adventure, and I'd be up for some adventure in 2011... why not!? If I can handle crazy teenagers, I can handle anything! Bring it on 2011...

I am linking up at Mama Kat's Losin' It for Writer's Workshop today. I used the prompt "If the way you spent your New Year’s Eve is any indication of how the rest of the year will go, how would you say your future is looking right about now?"