In 2012 we welcome in the New Year on the beach in Costa Rica
In 2013 we welcomed in the New Year on a yacht in the British Virgin Islands
This year, we welcome 2014 in Jersey. 
I’d say life is moving in the right direction.
After a few years of pretty intense trips with our friends, we decided to tone it down a bit and stay local. Thankfully, a lot of our friends made the same choice. And our two favorite San Fran natives added the dirty Jerz on their east coast tour, so they were in town to celebrate with us as well.
Matt and I spent December 29th making our own decorations for the party. Needless to say, Matt was thrilled with this idea.
We made a few garlands and added some NYE-themed artwork to our faux “mantel” shelves.
To make the circle garlands, Matt used a 1.5″ circle punch on gold, silver and black glitter paper. I then broke out my sewing machine to stitch the circles together in one long line. I chose not to put any spacing between each circle but if you want to make a longer garland, you can certainly do so.
To make the tassel garlands, I followed these instructions (thanks Linen, Lace and Love).
It really doesn’t look like we did a lot, but somehow we were up until 1am making these things…
We ended up having 13 people over our apartment – a good number but one that proved a little challenging for food. It was a small enough group that we needed to provide more than just appetizers/snacks, but a big enough group that a full sit down meal would be a little challenging.
Dun dun da dah — Crock pot to the rescue!
After starting with a few different appetizers: Spinach and Cream Cheese Pastry Puffs, Buffalo Chicken Meatballs and a new Flatbread (this one Matt liked, as compared with this)
Our main menu consisted of the following:
Pulled Pork Sliders w/ creamy coleslaw
Baked Beans
Mac and Cheese Casserole
Cape Cod Potato Chips (regular and salt & vinegar)
Matt went out the morning of the 31st to pick up a pork butt. He came back with a 6 lb piece of meat. It goes without saying, we will be eating pulled pork for a while. Thankfully they make GREAT leftovers (and Matt will actually eat them)
Starting the year off with leftovers!
Thank you to all of our friends who helped us ring in 2014 in our new place and in style. We are so lucky to have you in our lives. Can’t wait to see what the new year brings for all of us!
“Family” photo
