The day started out with a 5:30am wake up to get my parents to the airport for their 7am flight. We decided not to go back to bed, because we wanted to check out REI's garage sale I had heard a lot about. The sale was set to begin at 10am and tickets were to be given out 2 hours beforehand. We considered going straight to the store to wait in line after dropping my parents off, but opted instead to come home and eat breakfast first.
Arriving at the store around 8:15am got us #s166-167. The first people in line had arrived at midnight and slept in tents outside the store. Granted it is fairly mild in Raleigh, the overnight lows were in the upper 20's to low 30's.
Instead of waiting around until the store opened and then waiting some more inside the store until our number was called, we used the time to go grocery shopping and run a few errands at Target and Sam's Club.
Back at the store, our numbers weren't called until close to 11:30am. We managed to find some pieces we needed for a Yakima rooftop car rack (since 1 tower of the 4 that was supposed to come in the box was missing, we got 3 for $40) and picked up a few other small items. Some people got amazing deals on things like kayaks, bike frames, and electronics.
By the time we got home, unpacked groceries, and ate lunch it was already late afternoon. We managed to enjoy the rest of the beautiful afternoon outdoors with Darwin. By 8pm, we knew it would be a struggle to make it to midnight. We baked some oatmeal raisin cookies and made our own buttercream frosting as a special treat for the New Year and played some rock band to keep ourselves awake.
Oatmeal Raising Cookies
Colin's homemade buttercream frosting
Delicious cookie sandwiches!
Colin was the first man down. By 10:30, he was failing on the guitar and we were losing fans. We turned off the xbox and flipped through the channels (yes, we finally got a TV - but no cable), alternating between Ryan Seacrest/Dick Clark and the other New Year's show. I don't know about you, but it pains me to watch Dick Clark since his stroke. Colin fell asleep on the couch and decided to hit the hay not long before the ball dropped. I stayed awake to see the countdown, Gaga's kiss with Bloomberg, and a few minutes of 2012 before putting Darwin in his little apartment (aka his crate) and heading to bed myself.
It was a quiet night after an eventful week.
One of the benefits of a quiet evening, is that you get to enjoy your first day in 2012 without being hungover or tired. January 1st reached into the 60s in Raleigh/Cary and there was not a cloud in the sky. We enjoyed a huge portion of the day walking and jogging through new areas of Cary, NC. It was even better to have another day off after the first (extending my vacation to 10 days!). I hope this year is filled with lots of great things for us and for all of you!!
How did you spend your New Years Eve and day?
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