hello, '08. how YOU doin'?

i spent the first day of 2008 doing a whole lotta nothing. we slept in till 10:00. all of us - including the bean. ain't that great? and then while i hopped in the shower, the hub took the kid and the bean to pick up some starbucks. mmmm. a caramel macchiato is my favorite way to start my day.

BIL showed up right as i was turning my flat iron off, all decked out in his new nikes and USC tee. he and the hub were headed to pasadena to watch the trojans kick ass at the rose bowl. i'm not really an SC fan, but even i know that their football team is damn near untouchable. and he had a tee for the hub to wear to the game, too. cute. he was really, really excited to be going to the game. i had a feeling that it was more to check out the cheerleaders than the game, but i could be wrong. maybe.

and then after the menfolk were gone, the kid and i got to work taking down all the ornaments from the tree and putting everything christmas-related back in the boxes. it seemed like we'd just put the stuff UP - and a little of that post-christmas depression set in again with every festive item i packed away. another holiday season, over and done with. [sigh]

and when we were done, the kid took a quick shower and then i took her to her BFF's to hang out. on the way there, i rattled off a conversation that i was certain would take place later in the day:

[cell phone rings]
me: "hi, babe. whatcha doing?"
kid: "nothing. so, mom, i'm pretty sure you're gonna say no, but i got invited to spend the night. can i?"
me: "is your room clean? do you have any homework to get done?"
kid: "i'll come home early tomorrow and take care of it. pleeeeeeaaaaaaase, mommy (she knows she can get damn near anything she wants if she calls me "mommy" like when she was little)?"
me: "okay. what time do i pick you up in the morning?"

she cracked up - because she totally knew that would happen. "you know me too well, mom."

um, duh.

after dropping her off, the bean and i headed out to the hub's grandparents' for a BBQ. the ILs had called me yesterday to invite me over, while we were standing in line for "tower of terror", and i'm not one to turn down a big fat steak.

but i was running late, so i got onto the freeway and zipped right over into the #1 lane, doing about 85-ish.

and then i saw it.

that familiar light bar across the top of a black-and-white chippie car, about three cars behind me in the next lane over. shit.

i took my foot right off that gas pedal and prayed for the speedometer to inch back down to about 70. and then the chippie got right behind me. damn. i really loved erik estrada back in the day, but this was most certainly not ponch back there.

my heart was totally pounding in my throat as i kept my eye in the rearview, waiting to see if the light bar of doom came on. i was down to about 67 mph, no light bar, and he got back over into the #2 lane. then he got stuck behind the geriatric driver in front of him in that lane and got back behind me. crap. and then he finally signaled and got over into the carpool lane. i gave him a cheesy, toothy, sheepish grin as he sped past me, and he caught my eye, shook his head in amusement, and sped off. oh, happy day! i'd managed to escape a fine and boring ass traffic school. yay for me! except for that i was stuck with the theme song from "chips" in my head for the rest of the day.

i got to the grandparents', the bean got passed around, i ate a lot of steak and some yummy, soft rolls and butter, and then at 7:00 the call from the kid came. and because i'd already recited the conversation earlier, the call went a little something like this:

me: "hi. yeah?"
kid: "yeah. okay?"
me: "sure. love ya."
kid: "love you too. see you tomorrow."

ha! and it seems that FIL's been doing some planning for NEXT year's NYE. he pulled me aside and said "how do you feel about going to new york for new year's next year?"

again, i say - um, duh.

and so now, i'm assigned the task of researching hotels at or near times square.

and you know it'll be here before we know it. you know this.