New YEar's Eve

All that glitters

2013

New Year's Eve

glitter shoes

Happy New Year, everyone!

Every year, I try my best not to build New Year’s Eve into the emotional ordeal it so often turns out to be for me. I tell myself it’s a beginning as well as an end, and that regardless of what the date is on the calendar, life will be exactly the same as it ever was on the other side of midnight. Which is inidsputably true, if a little less dramatic than is my usual way.

Despite all of this, though, I always find it a melancholy time of year. I just don’t do well with endings, and while most people seem to view the New Year as a blank slate, I see it more as a sleeping dragon, just waiting for someone to come along and poke it with a stick. We just don’t know whether it’ll turn out to be a friendly dragon (Er, like some dragons totally are, obviously…) or whether it’ll up and destroy the village, and honestly? I’m scared of dragons anyway. You should be too. I mean, I know it’s super-negative and all that, but some years are just bad ‘uns, aren’t they? And as the clock strikes midnight, I always find myself worrying that this will be one of them. That, and that people I don’t know will come over and expect me to kiss them. I’m not good with that either. I’m just a whole barrel of laughs today, aren’t I? Happy New Year, everyone! Please don’t unsubscribe!

Anyway, with that bit of teenage-like angst out of the way, what I WAS going to say in that first paragraph, before I got derailed by talk of dragons and suchlike, was that every year I try my best to NOT BE LIKE THAT, and instead to view the New Year as a whole bunch of opportunities waiting to be discovered, and… I’d add some other pithy, optimistic stuff here, but I’m sure you’ll all have had your fill of inspirational “New Year, New You!” sayings on Facebook, so I’ll just leave it at that. I’ve only ever managed to pull this off a handful of times, but you’ll be relieved to hear that this year was one of them, and that I’ve worked out what the key to a non-depressing New Year’s Eve is: it’s basically distraction. Surround yourself with lots of people, and lots of noise, and before you know it, you’ll have sailed through midnight, and be living in the future, without even realising what happened.

With this in mind, Terry and I spent New Year’s Eve in exactly the same place we spent it last year: with both of our families, at a local bar/restaurant which throws a big party, complete with food, drinks and the waiters dancing on the tables. It’s a pretty good way to do it, because we get to celebrate with all of the people we love most (or a lot of them, anyway – not everyone was able to be there, but there was still enough of our favourite folks to make it a lot of fun), and I only had to kiss one complete stranger, so that was a relief, too. Oh, and I also chose to celebrate by dressing like a glitter-ball for the occasional. Well, I figured if you can’t wear something sparkly on New Year’s Eve, you basically never can, can you?

And that was our New Year’s Eve. I have no idea what kind of dragon 2013 will turn out to be, but I sincerely hope it’s the fluffy, cuddly kind, and that you all have an absolutely wonderful year!

New Year's Eve party

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books by Amber Eve
COMMENTS
  • Happy New Year to you, Terry and of course to the Rubinman! I don’t know if 2013 is going to be a cuddly or a prickly dragon either, but as long as it’s filled with stunning shoes and beautiful dresses then I’ll be pretty happy. Oh and I have been meaning to tell you! I have decided that 2013 is the year I finally take the plunge and colour my hair red, so thank you in advance for all the visual references on how the heck to pull it off!

    January 2, 2013
  • You look absolutely gorgeous in these photos! I loved the dress and the matching shoes, and it wasn’t too much, on the contrary it was really elegant for the occasion.
    Happy New Year to you and your family! May 2013 make all your wishes come true.

    January 2, 2013
  • My little sister and I spent New Year’s Eve in two separate cities, with lovely people. When we met again in the evening, turns out we both said to our revelling companions: ‘Here’s to hoping this time next year we’re still talking…’ So you aren’t alone in your anxiety. 😉

    Fingers crossed for fluffy dragons. 🙂 Happy New Year!

    January 2, 2013
  • I am exactly the same, I get this crushing feeling in my throat as midnight approaches like I am giving a massive part of me away (how emo and dramatic is that?! haha) but this year I distracted myself like you said you did and I spent midnight with a very quick drunken kiss with Mr Bertie and then it was straight on to wood and teddy bear foraging (all fuelled by the sock) it makes more sense if you read the blog post (ah yes see how I led into that then, seamless! haha) Happy New Year, and just in case you do want to read…
    http://bakeglueandtrend.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-sock-strikes-again.html

    January 2, 2013
  • Happy New Year to you, Terry and Rubin! (I hope Rubin is a bit better?)

    Sounds like a fab night, distraction is a good plan. Like you I get incredibly sentimental and choked up (for slightly different reasons than the dragons, although I like that analogy. Mine is more about the new year eating a part of my soul up or something, cos I like to get all emo and things like that)

    I love the glitterball look and also really like flash shiny face photos (my blog photos definitely demonstrate this, hellooo shiny happy people!) I hope this new year is a good friendly dragon for you (a bit like the one on ‘how to train your dragon’ if you haven’t seen it you must see it ASAP, it will quell your fear of dragons instantly)

    Janine xx
    BakeGlueandTrend

    January 2, 2013
      • 🙂 That is good to hear, he might be doing his yoga in secret, you just never know…

        January 3, 2013
  • Oh I’m definitely in the gloomy new year camp. I just don’t see what all the fuss is about? I was comfy in the last year and now I’ve got to start another one….dragons ‘n’ all? Pffft! LOL!

    January 2, 2013
  • Happy New Year! I never used to understand the fuss about new year, but I’ve got the blank slate feeling this time – 2012 was treading water; I hope 2013 is a bit more interesting. That said, there’s a little bit of me worrying that it’s going to be a let down – there are specific things I hope happen this year and I’ll be disappointed if they don’t. I’m going for the ignore-my-fears-and-they’ll-go-away approach.

    January 2, 2013
  • I love your dress and the heels. You look stunning. Happy New Year.

    January 2, 2013
  • I would love to know where this “all that glitters” thing comes from, as the original phrase is actually “all that glisters”. It annoys me every time I use the MAC eyeshadow “All That Glitters”!

    Anyway…. Happy New Year to you Amber. I feel the same as you abou this time of year. I am not one for endings either, but I hope that you had a wonderful evening and I look forward to the daily photos.

    January 3, 2013
  • Aaah, I love those shoes, Amber! You take such wonderful photos!

    I get rather sentimental too on new years, I don’t think it helped when my housemate and I were looking out our vlogs on youtube from the previous year! What did help, was the 3 of us getting dressed up (with nowhere to go!), drinking and dancing to music in the kitchen. I have about 1hr 30 mins of video of this which I am TERRFIED to watch/edit. Haha, embarrass!

    Hope you have a wonderful new years!

    Corinne x
    http://www.skinnedcartree.com

    January 3, 2013
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