Happy New Year!

We spent the last evening of the year quietly, at home, just as we wanted it. We watched Australia with Nicole Kidman, which took time to unwind and made the evening a bit boring, to say the truth :)
Usual calls to family past midnight, and here we are in the New Year!

For me, 2009 was a crappy year beyond words. Bad, bad, bad. Entirely forgettable. The crisis hit my business really hard and work really picked up only in November. Hopefully it will continue! I already have a few texts to deliver next week. Money, money issues and money worries dominated my thoughts and humor most of the year, sadly... In October, we lost my grandma after a long and painful fight. In November, my cousin's 14 years old daughter found a 1,3 cm "ball" in her breast. Oh the scare... she lost one ovary at the tender year of five. Turns out it is not dangerous, but it was a stressful wait. I was also badly shaken by the loss of a translator colleague in Paris who died after giving birth to her 3rd baby, leaving a one year old and a four year old. Unbelievable that at in our age, women can still die giving birth, but the doctors did whatever they could to save her. Sad, sad. Reading many friends' blogs and their sorrows confirmed it just wasn't a good year for many of us. I'm writing this with a warm smile towards Donna and Gabi, whose year was equally difficult...

I really wanted to write this yesterday, but time ran out fast. I am entering 2010 with lots of plans, hope, energy and smile. Actually I haven't felt that strength since many, many years. Cheers for the New Year! May we all have reasons to smile, stash to sort, lots of joyful moments to remember, few days to forget... Happy New Year, everyone!

Here's what I missed by not being home in Warsaw yesterday evening. A huge fiesta set up just three houses from mine (mine is on a nicer side street). Here are two movies from our main newspaper showing the preparations for the big party. You can see a bit of my usual surroundings. That big place called Plac Konstytucji was a "gift" from the Russians, built in the 50-ties. Remember, Warsaw was almost totally destroyed during the war. The style of that place is, well, what it is. We hate it and there are ambitious plans to hide and mask this and that and built modern facilities and expensive shops to turn it into Warsaw's own Champs Elysees. Chicken will grow teeth before it happens but we have faith in that day will come! LOL

Sylwester w Warszawie: Ogromna scena na pl. Konstytucji

Sylwester. Wielkie przygotowania