New York New Year

This is what I've learned for 2009. Champagne goes very well with barbecued gourmet sausages and mustard no matter how cold you are.
Our tradition is to celebrate "New York New Year" at the hangar where we keep our little airplane. What this means is that a small group of us get bundled up enough to be outside for hours and hope it stays above freezing. We use our summer BBQ to cook some snacks, which we munch on with sips of deep red wine. Then we break out the bubbly at 9 p.m. when our pals in NY are celebrating and hug and kiss with frozen lips and numb hands. Next we tell jokes to get sober and are home enjoying the hell out of our warm beds when the rest of Calif. greets the next year.
It's a good time for hardy --or crazy-- folks.
I'm thinking this year we are all going to have to be a little more hardy. Crazy may help too. Champagne & sausages, I'm not kidding.
On the fitness front, my Christmas shopping this year led to some neat ideas for using a bike instead of a car for errands. Turns out, the bum-around-town bikes are called beach cruisers and they've become a cottage industry far beyond beach towns. You can get baskets and bells for them and even cup holders for your latte. And it's impossible to take yourself too seriously on a cruiser. A good site to get started is www.beachbikes.net.
Now, not to rub it in for those outside of California, but it's sunny and 60 outside so I've got to go.....
cheers.
Joan