Fancy Pants

I love the holidays because they give you the opportunity to get fancy. Whether it's a work party or a friend's party, you get to get dressed up and get out of the house for some fun. On December 12th, Warren and I attended the Novogradac holiday party at the Ritz Carlton in downtown San Francisco. I am a huge fan of the Ritz (and not one in particular, just all of them in general) and so Warren could have told me that he wanted me to go give a bone marrow donation there and I would have happily gone. The fact that it was a party with food and the opportunity to get fancy was just icing on the cake.

The Ritz was of course completely bejeweled and bedazzled in holiday decadence. There were dozens of beautifully decorated trees everywhere.

The evening began with a "mixer" game which essentially was a forced way for "Novies" to get to know the non "Novies". However, we're talking about a bunch of accountants here, so they weren't going around and meeting people and socializing but rather just going up to people saying "sign my card so I can win Bingo". After the drinks hour, we made our way into Salon I for our 4 course meal. While the dinner was fairly tasty, anytime you get mass produced food, it's never as good as if you got something freshly prepared for just you. And like every year, Warren was again served the smallest steak portion of everyone at the table- LOL!

Bromance- Warren and Matt Ras

Warren and the boys- Wayne and Nate

Bethany and the girls- Lacy and Marissa

Fancy schmantzy by the tree

The next day we went to our friend Neil Diamond's Christmas party. He might be Jewish, but he sure throwns a mean Christmas party. And really, there's nothing that makes you feel more in the holiday spirit then putting on your tackiest holiday sweater, grabbing a mug full of cider and listening to a little Neil while the yule log burns on. Our friends Meagan and Benj were kind enough to let Neil hold his party at their house again. Highlights of the party included winning a pad of Japanese stationary in the white elephant gift exchange, watching Kim cry from laughing so hard as Tim and Jen sernaded her with Lionel Richie's "Hello", and seeing the Kings stash the gift they'd won under the couch and then walking out the door for the second year in a row.

Our ode to Neil:

Everyone and their bounty: