Happy New Year! We are on the third day of 2012 and it is already off-kilter for me, mostly because I am sitting at home instead of at my first day of family medicine because of icy roads in Harriman. Ohhh well, that just gives me time to write about all things Christmas and NYE.

First off, I am pleased to say that I am fully recovered from surgery and I have the tiniest scar in the world to show for it. Ok, maybe not the smallest but it’s definitely barely there.

My first christmas with E was just wonderful and I am looking forward to many many more with him. He gave me the best gift, a first edition of Julia Child’s “The Art of French Cooking”. I was stunned and very excited that he remembered from way back when that I wanted it very badly. Good job love! I gave him a pretty fab trench coat if I do say so myself. He loves it but I was really nervous every time we went shopping and he picked one up. So glad he didn’t buy it for himself. In other Christmas news, my sister gave us a wonderful a gift Christmas eve with the announcement that she and her hubby are expecting a baby in the summertime. Such a happy holiday for us!

E and I returned to knoxville the day after christmas but not without a little emotion from my mom and myself (thanks to my out of control emotions). The next day we wandered over to E’s sister’s house to exchange gifts with them and, of course, eat some more. It was all fun and games until E was presented with a 3-volume set of cookbooks his sister had put together complete with family photos. This was a little bit of a tear jerker for the both of us because it’s like having a little piece of his parents whom I never had the pleasure of meeting. Thanks Karen!

The rest of the week was pretty lazy…E and I spent a lot of time together which was nice because we didn’t get a whole lot of alone time at Christmas. Ok, so we really didn’t get any. NYE was lovely because it was just us and we went to Savelli’s, drank a fabulous inexpensive champagne, and ate yummy pasta. The champagne deserves a plug here because it actually has depth of flavor. It’s Korbel Blanc de Noirs and we were introduced to it by the World of Beverage in Peachtree City, GA on christmas eve. According to the seller it is made from Pinot noir grapes which makes it a more flavorful sparkling wine. It also has a very pretty lighter than blush pink color. Highly recommend. After dinner, we went to Sapphire where we spent our first new year’s together. Another good time but not without some post ball-drop trauma drama from some neighboring celebrators. We can’t quite figure out if the tussle was over a seat that the guy’s date was clearly not sitting in most of the evening or if there was lemon juice in the eye that started the whole thing. I just know that there was a broken champagne flute then a beer thrown in said guy’s face with excellent accuracy. The bartenders at Sapphire were ready for action as they were on top of then over the bar before E could pull me out of the way looking for a fast exit.

All in all it was a wonderful end to a wonderful year and a promising start to the new year with wedding planning (details to come) and me finishing up PA school. YAY!

Happy New Year again!

P.S. to my wonderful fiancé …. I Love You