New Years Eve over the years has been spent out on Long Island in East Hampton and why should this year be any different. I thought the dinner crew would be small
but now I am up to 14. Fabio is one our new guest flying in from Milan, and Mike and I have not spent New Years together in a very long time so I am looking forward to it. What I am not looking forward to is cooking for 14, but Chuck said he will help me.

This year has been a good one, my family is together and Jay and I are still happy together. I am so glad I dont hear from a few people any longer who were not my friends at all, and one in particular. I am determined to work on releasing the past and staying in the present. This might be a tough year for my bf Jay since his brother is dying of cancer, but I will be there for him through it all. I also dont think my twenty year old cat Jasmine will be with us either for too long, but she has lived a great life.

I bless everyone in my life and prayer that this year is filled with peace, love and most of all understanding. Happy New Year.

The Feast is Over

"I think I broke my leg", she said as I helped lift her from the floor. Doris is ninety fours years old and at my Christmas eve dinner every year. She is a young ninety four if there is such a thing, but nonetheless ninety four. I noticed someone dropped a fork on the floor and as fast as I tried to grab it, Doris was trying to pick up it up, that's when she lost her balance. It all happen so quick.
Thank heaven she did not break her leg, but she was very embarrassed, I am sure being embarrassed is better than a broken leg.

On Saturday I created my usual Christmas eve feast but it was way too much food and way too much rushing on my part. Next year I will definitely scale down. Honestly my bf has the all American family and I think the whole Italian dinner thing is wasted on them.

On Sunday I went to my brothers house in Middletown, New Jersey for another feast. It was a crazy night, with my nephews lighting off a stick of dynamite in a nearby
field off from the house, but of course the house shook and no one expected this craziness, boys will be boys. We had a huge fish dinner with every kind of fish represented. We left around 2am and drove back to northern NJ.

On Monday back down to southern NJ to Holmdel to have Xmas dinner at my sisters house, too much food and I refused to drink any alcohol. This week will be slow at
work and I can get some much needed work done.

Merry Christmas

Almost Christmas

Its around 9am and I am thinking about the dinner that I have to prepare for thirteen of my boyfriends family members. I like them all very much so its basically an easy dinner. Since I am Italian and they are all German/Irish they love to eat Italian food. I am preparing an Italian fish dinner, just one day shy of Christmas eve when I am suppose to be making that kind of dinner. They also wanted to visit with other family members on Christmas eve and Christmas day so I agreed to make dinner tonight on Saturday instead.

I don't know why but around this time of year I get the blues. I should be happy but I sometimes feel so sad, its like a tug of war with my emotions. I think of my mom and dad, and also my uncle who are no longer living and it seems so strange to me.
I also think of friends I don't speak to over things that were so unimportant now.

This year I made one resolution, and only one, to release the past. I have tried this before and failed, but this year I am prepared. Many changes happened over the last year that have prepared me for my resolution, and I actually feel different within.

I know I am ready to start a different life this year, its as if I am shedding my old skin. My boyfriend says he has noticed many changes in my emotions, things that bothered me before, I don't even care about now. I wonder when I read this blog next year at this time, where I will be.

Sometimes I feel like the Charlie Brown tree, really not put together too well but still holding on to that one shiny glass ornament. This year I will try to put more ornaments on my tree.

Christmas Bonus

Today is my last day of work before having off for a few days for the holidays. Yesterday there was a blurb in the news about the chairman of Goldman Sachs getting
5 million for a bonus, It almost seems obscene.

I work for a top American designer. I arrange the travel for many of the top employees of the company and the designers family. I get a few gifts at Christmas from them all and I am really lucky. Last year I got two first class tickets anywhere I wanted to fly and numerous other gifts.

The best gift I received last year was from the president of my company who I have spoke to only once in person, he has two assistants. I received a tied up box with a beautiful red ribbon,in the box were brownies. There was a card in the box that said " a donation in your name has been given to Gods Love We Deliver".
His assisant didn't have to tell me but she did and said the donation was five hundred dollars. I started to think if everyone gave gifts like this to charities
it would really help out.

Its Only Gay If You Make Eye Contact

Waiting on New Jersey Courts

The legislative branch of New Jersey court is deciding right now on civilian unions. It should be interesting to see what happens and how this all is decided. New Jersey will be the third state to all gay people to have a union, only Massachuetstts allows gay marriage.

I definitely will have a civil union once this law is worked out. My bf is another question, I don't know how he feels.

My brother has made it cleared to me that he does not agree with this law, he is so crazy. Republican Gov. Mitt Romney has flipped on gay issues so often that it has really hurt his bid for presidency. This will be major issue as usual in the upcoming elections.

Crazy Italian Wedding

Tonight I am going to a Crazy Italian wedding and believe it or not looking forward to it. When my family gets together at celebrations like this, it is almost always interesting. This wedding has been planned for three years, the bride and groom are very young and hopefully will be together forever. It takes place in Brooklyn, where else could a crazy italian wedding take place?

Florence

Last week I was in Milan and Florence. It was amazing to see how Milan has taken over Paris as the fashion capital of the world. There were so many designer shops it was hard to keep up with all of them. Its cool watching all the Christmas decorations going up in hotels and shops. I left for Italy on black Friday and I didn't miss a thing by not being in New York. My whole family was ready to attack the stores on that weekend like they were going to war.

I stayed at the Four Seasons in Milan, quite a nice hotel, on the back end of the trip I stopped in Milan again and stayed at the Bulgari hotel.
The Bulgari was amazing with its bathrooms made out of black marble from Tanzania.
As I was checking in, Gisele the famous Victoria secret model was dropping tons of bags off in the lobby. The restaurant was really cool too.

Florence is just one the most beautiful cities in the world. I was there only three nights but could have stayed the month. The picture above is from the Four Seasons which was 15 century convent.

World Aids Day

Having just return from a great birthday celebration at a great restaurant in NYC,
I cant help but think its a great milestone. I celebrated my friend Michaels forty six birthday tonight. As we sat at the table I know Michael and I both thought about the friends that never made 46 years old, not even 35 years old. They were close friends and people we would have love to celebrate with but unfortunately they weren't there, they had passed by this horrible disease we call aids.

I know as each year passes we are lucky to have lived as long as we have and we appreciate life even more. I miss them terribly.

Keep up the fight, donate to research and dont stop until this fight has been won.
A CURE