Friday, January 1, 2010

Bonne Année!

Happy New Year!! Here is to a blessed and joyful 2010!

New Year's Eve was a blast, and incredibly memorable. After a quick nap, we headed out to dinner (I had the most delicious duck confit) and then took a taxi to the Eiffel Tower to watch the light show and countdown to the New Year. When I was here in the summer of 2004, we started our Bastille Day celebration at the Eiffel Tower fireworks display. The lawn outside the Eiffel Tower last night was just as packed as I remember it being in 2004. Luckily, we nabbed a prime spot on the street.

After staking out our spot, we broke out the champagne and toasted to 2010. At midnight, the Eiffel Tower glittered to announce the new year.


I adore this picture. Not only because it turned out cute of both of us and commemorates an awesome night, but also because of Technicolor Dreamcoat & Co. behind us.


Right after midnight, we decided to walk to the Champs-Elysées to enjoy the festivities there. The streets of Paris were packed.


And we were getting a little, er, silly. :)


The Champs-Elysées was incredibly gorgeous with the lights and all of the people hugging, drinking champagne, and shouting.




Kohl tried taking a picture of us, but a bunch of guys jumped into the photo, resulting in a pretty ridiculous set of photos. Here's one of my faves.


Finally. :)


Josh and Kohl.


We continued to walk along the Champs-Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe.


Then, we turned around and headed back to our neck of the woods. We stopped at The Highlander, a pub I remember from when I was here before. We had a few beers, danced, and had a little too much fun! By 3:30am, we decided to head back to our hotel so Jody and Kohl could catch their airport taxi at 4:15am!

It was a wonderful night, and a great way to welcome in a new year and a new decade. Although 2009 was a little touch and go, the past decade has been incredibly good to me. It started at a condo in Girdwood, Alaska and ended in Paris, France. Over the past ten years, I had an incredible college experience, studied abroad in Rome, moved from Seattle to Ithaca for law school and made more dear friends, studied abroad in Greece and Paris, graduated from law school, moved back to California, married my high school sweetheart, passed the bar, started working at my first firm, bought a house, made more wonderful friends, went to China, and switched firms. I have gained, lost, and regained more weight than I care to admit; I have been stretched, tried, and tested in ways I wouldn't have anticipated; I understand more now what I am made of, who I am, and who I am not. I would not trade the past ten years for anything.

Happy, Happy New Year to all of you! May the next year and decade bring much happiness, peace, and joy for us all!

5 comments:

dapotato said...

looks like so much fun! love the photos and your fellow revelers. happy new year!

weezermonkey said...

So amazing!

Winnie said...

Wow! How fun! Love all the photos. Happy new year!

amber said...

Dude, the Parisians really know how to celebrate the New Year. So happy you got to ring in the new decade in such a fantastic setting. Here's to a fabulous 2010!!

wan said...

every time they showed the eiffel tower, all lit up, on the news that night, i thought of you :)