Welcome to 2008

Welcome to 2008, everybody! Wow, I had no idea I could have so much fun with just one day off in a week. Vivian and I started off the evening by getting her hair done down at her parents' house. Viv's mom has been a hairdresser for decades, so she was able to pin up her bright red hair in style before we headed on to the formal dance at the Eagle's Lodge.

Viv and I stopped in downtown Omaha to watch the elaborate fireworks show around seven o'clock (midnight, GMT). Then we stopped at 13th street coffee to warm up with some caffeine before moving on to the Eagle's Lodge. Most everyone was dressed up for the somewhat-formal swing dance, and we got to hear Takashi playing Bobby Darin as he sang Splish Splash.

Before midnight, Vivian and I stole away to the Great Adventures 80s party down in the basement of the 1316 building on Jones street. It was much more fun to swing dance to some songs I knew by heart, and I was sure to request Hungry like the Wolf before the night was over. Vivian had some fun playing some mean tunes on guitar hero in the backroom before we broke out the sparkling apple juice and toasted the new year. By some amazing coincidence, the last song of the night was Something Beautiful by the Newsboys. It's somehow become "our song."

After midnight, we headed on down to Troy and Merinda's house for an extended New Year's party with our friends. A couple of us managed to put together an ensemble band to play downstairs on the big screen, and I tried my best to sing along to a couple songs I may have heard just once in my entire life. Later upstairs we played a few rounds of Last Word, which Merinda and Becky found much more hilarious that they should have been, thanks to a little extra champagne.

Vivian and I had the next day all to ourselves, waking up around noon and then going to get a late breakfast at Perkins. We dropped by HyVee and grabbed some toppings for a couple spicy tortilla-shell pizzas that we cooked and ate that evening. I can't think of a better way to ring in the new year!