Yeah. So here we are again at the start of another year. The days leading into it were pretty dang hectic with time for a wee bit of fun. Here’s some pictures ’cause everyone loves pictures.

Friday Night:
Anne, Franke, Christy and myself joined up with Mark to celebrate his birthday. We ate a delicious meal at Tupelo Honey. Mmmmmm, Grit Cakes! Then we traveled off to the new Sante Wine Bar ’cause Mark had met the owners and wanted to check it out. Cool place with a nice relaxed vibe (and “no smoking”). We drank champagne and I tried to act a little more “upscale” than I really felt. It was fun.

Saturday:
PT called early as we had talked about doing a hike. I wasn’t feeling 100% but decided that actually getting out of the house would do me some good. We have been toying around with going back to the spot where I lost my nice double-wall, insulated camp mug back in October. You know … just for a laugh to see if we could find it. So, that is where we ended up.

PT on a rest break. This is one steep trail.

This is me on a rest break. Did I mention that the trail is really steep?

Water and woods going up the Casade on Sam Branch.

We cut down by Sam Branch instead of following the proper trail up in an attempt to find my mug. After a bit of dangerous rock climbing (talk about slippery), we ended up on another trail that followed the branch pretty closely. And, low and behold, what was right in the middle of that trail? My nice double-wall, insulated camp mug!!! It was just laying there waiting on us. How cool is that?!?!

Here’s the overcast and misty view from our stopping point.

Sunday/New Year’s Eve:
It was a really messy day here. The rain that had threatened to come all day Saturday showed up with a vengence. It poured all day long and into the evening celebrations. First was the annual theater party and then it was off the Jennifer’s for some proper drinking and partying.

There was a big crowd munching food and hanging out.

This is Steve (our Executive Director) at the start of the annual awards ceremony. The Board of Directors recognizes folks that they feel deserve something special for the work they did that year. Mark and I ended up sharing the “Phil James Spirit Award” because we stepped up at the last minute and rocked the house during the final performance of “The Full Monty.”

A good group of folks were at Jen and Dan’s for some serious partying.
You’ll notice in the top photo that Kat is camera shy.

There was some MagicSing madness as well. I rocked the house singing Duran Duran’s “Rio” (if I do say so myself).

Michelle, Mark and Mary look like they are plotting some evil scheme.
Eh … not really.

Franke spent the evening sipping on some Maker’s Mark. Mmmmm!

It’s post-midnight and you know what that means. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!