Texas time & New Year's festivities

After Bryan Family Christmas Cruise 2009 (which I promise will get its due recap shortly here on the blog - I'm just a little overwhelmed by the ridiculous number of pictures I took over that week), the family dropped me off in Lewisville so I could take up residence with Diana and Trinity for the better part of a week and use Vaughn Central as a launching place to meet up with my Dallas people.  Nothing like another week of vacation after spending a week sailing the Caribbean!  Thank you, PwC, for the extra couple holiday freebie days - I assure you I put them to good use.  I'm so, so glad I got to spend some quality time with my Vaughns and other dear friends in the greater DFW area.  And some quality time with Mexican food, of course.  I ate Mexican food every day.  My body may not love me for it, but my taste buds were thrilled beyond belief.  Tipico's with Diana and Trinity, Chuy's with Sarah (just look at the joy on that face!  I'm going to say that was half for seeing me and half for going to Chuy's), Jorge's with the Broussards and Petersons, Cyclone Anayas with Carolyn, Kami, & Diana...just delicious.  Good times with good friends and good food - a girl finds herself in heaven. 

Oh, and as if my suitcase wasn't full enough, Diana and I got some good shopping time in with Jen where I stocked up on a few too many shirts, and of course I had to stop by Half-Price Books where I bought...well, ten books.  But they were all clearance!  AND an extra 20% off!!  I HAD to buy them!  I also had to borrow a small suitcase from the Vaughns to then get myself and all my crap home.  Totally worth it.

You know what one of my favorite things to do with old friends is?  Totally play board games.  We love them.  This time around we gave Settlers of Catan a try, and I have to say it was a rousing success.  I'm a little scared of the expansion packs, though...this thing could get out of control.  Enough cannot be said about plenty of chill downtime with good friends.  Love you guys.  I'm getting all mushy, so let's move on to the festivities.

In celebration of Trinity successfully completing an entire year of his crazy experiment known as The Book, the Vaughns threw a New Year's bash at their place to celebrate the coming of 2010.  I think the evening is best told in a small photo series, and if you want even more, you can catch the full photo show here.

We invested in sparkly clothes for the New Year.  Definitely a hit.

Kicking the night off with fancy red bubbles the Vaughns brought back from their trip to California.

My Christmas gift to Trinity from Mexico had to make an appearance.

Our charming hosts for the evening...and wee hours of the morning.

Living room dance par-tay!

More crazy dancing...or at least attempts at it.

Duncan loves parties...he's in full-on begging mode.

Sparklers are fun!  And we only had two burns for the night.

You can catch the full photo show here.  Lots of dancing, lots of bubbles, lots of fun.  Here's to 2010!