Southern Inspirations: My New Years Eve!

New Year's Eve morning - Ellie let me sleep until about 8:30 before she jumped up on our bed, and slapped me in the face (her way of letting us know to get up and let her out). Knowing that I needed to make a good four stops to get ready for our spur-of-the-moment New Year's Day open house. I had decided to forgo my jog, have a cup of coffee and make some notes.

8:40 - Sent buddy, Susan, a Happy New Year e-mail. Explained, no time to talk, I was off to Target!

9:30 - Sylvia called as I was washing my face. She & her husband Danny would be attending, & she asked what she can bring. Sylvia wanted to chitchat about her cocktail party the night before.

10:30 - Finished getting dressed & gave hubby his To Do list! Told him not to screw the cake up!

10:35 - Hubby busy reading about his precious Saints. Opportunity for me to sneak old frame in car.

11:15 - Arrived at framers with old, beat-up frame. Hoping to see to see if they could pop a beveled mirror in it for me to pick up later that day. Not going to happen...poor dining room!

11:40 - Called Ballards Back Room to check on Parson chair slip covers (another thing that I put off). Don't want to waste time if they don't have slips in specific colors!
12:00 Arrived at Target...Thank God they have a Starbucks! Ordered coffee & decided to call buddy Helen.

12:05 - Called Helen, haven't spoken in months! Explained in a nutshell what's happened last few months. She's coming tomorrow too. Offered to bring spinach dip. Sounds great, but I say, "just yourself"! She senses I'm on a mission!

12:20 - Decided to take a little time strolling around Target. Stumbled upon the office supply section.

12:30 - Being around cute office stuff reminded me to call Jill. Needed confirmation she had directions. We chitchat about all the great office supplies at Target.

12:40 - Moving on...Spotted a Kitchenaid mixer for $249.00 in red...Hmmmmm!

12:45 - Finally, found an employee to ask about clear cellophane bags and the white appetizer plates (one of my objectives). All Targets south of the Mason-Dixon line are out. The nice girl recommends several stores not on my list or schedule! Decided to head to Crate & Barrel.

1:30 - Arrived at Crate. White appetizer plates...Yeah! Spent 30 minutes going back & forth on a wine glass dilemma! I had discovered earlier that half of mine were broken! Decided to wing it with glasses. Started browsing Crate's after Xmas foods. Still needed to get bags..head to Paper Affair.

2:30 - Arrived at Paper Affair (it's close to Crate). I knew it would be a crapshoot for my bags. Got lost looking at Valentines stuff, clearly don't need... yet!

3:00 - Arrived at Michael's for bags...Yeah! Decided I should get to the grocery to get ham, black eyed peas etc. etc.! Pit stop by Ballard's Back Room to grab slip covers -they were holding.

3:30 - Arrived at Ballard's Back Room. Looked at the slip. Checked bins, spotted a few green ones. Sales attendant and I started playing around with slips. Went with safe choice!

4:30- Finally at Publix. Never seen the parking lot like this! You would think it was a holiday or something. Checked out flowers - tempted to buy something already cut but decided no, not with my financial statements! Started gathering everything on my list. Wondered to myself if it was too late to call Helen for her spinach dip! Searched for black eyed peas. No choice but to go frozen. Darn! Debated a nice bottle of champaign. Ended up grabbing it & left!

5;30 Arrived at Trader Joe's--gathered wine. Picked up winter bouquet.

6:00 - Arrived home...exhausted! Hubby in the kitchen finishing up with Sylvia's cake. Noticed pudding on the counter -- was supposed to go in cake! Sheesh!

7:00 - After unloading car, went for a run to decompress.

8:00 - Started to clean, & mess around in dining room. Hubby complained that he is hungry!