new years

Happy New Year one and all! I hope that you had a fun and safe New Years, and that today you are able to merrily welcome in 2006. It's kind of odd if you think about it. Yesterday was no different than today, except that yesterday ended in "2005" and today started in "2006." Somehow the change of the year offers a change in life - a fresh start.

Last night I was able to celebrate 2005 and welcome in 2006 with some people whom I enjoy a great deal. I headed down to Illinois last night to spend New Years with my brother & sister-in-law, as well as a few of their friends.


(Gina, Drew, Kelly, and Amy)

Good times, good times. We first headed to Flat Top - a very fun restaurant in Chi-town, and then headed to Navy Pier to watch the midnight fireworks. Getting to Navy Pier was quite the ordeal (but fun) - trying to find parking, figuring out what bus to take, and attempting to make our way through the mass of people. After a crazy and unsuccessful attempt at the bathroom, we made our way to a fudge shop to satisfy Amy's...uh...I mean, the group's chocolate craving. We then made our way outside, found a bathroom where people were oblivious to its existence, and were on our way to the fireworks. But by 11:45, we had our spot on the upper level of Navy Pier, and awaited the show.



Here's one of the shots I got of the fireworks... I still haven't gotten the hang of my camera yet, so most of my fireworks shots didn't turn out. This one was probably the least blurry. But here is my attempt at another:



We only came across a few drunk people, one of which seemed very fond of Gina and Kelly. He kept repeating, "Happy New Year! Happy F***ing New Year!" over and over to both of them, even calling Kelly an endearing name (b****) to which Amy, Drew and myself doubled over in laughter. The guy had no clue we were laughing at his drunken state until right before we departed from him, and he had some lovely parting words for Kelly. We made our way onto the bus - a SCARY accordian bus - where we stood right in the middle of the accordian part. Let me just say, it was really disorienting when that bus took a turn, and certain people moved, while others didn't. Weird. I'm not sure why I was so weirded out by the bus... Aside from clowns and revolving doors, there's very little that makes me really uncomfortable. It was strange... Anyway, after our interesting bus ride, we made our way back to our cars, and headed home.

Definitely a fun night all around.

With that being said, and a good New Years celebaration, I say - welcome 2006. Let's see what you've got!