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Totally Overrated

January 4, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

I remember as a kid thinking someday when I grow up, I’ll attend glamorous parties and wear fancy dresses and stay out dancing until sunrise…
New Year’s Eve is so overrated.

In our neighborhood, we have a New Year’s Eve crawl. We walk from house to house (3-5 houses) at designated times, eating and drinking among friends. At the stroke of midnight we crawl home. There is no driving which is a good thing. There is also no dancing although a few of the girls do wear fancy-ish dresses. And Kevin R. is dapper in a bow tie.

I really didn’t want to go this year. 
I wanted to stay home in my new Ugg tennis shoes (love!), drawing Zentangles with my new pens (also love!). 
Does this make me anti-social? Weird? Boring? Normal?
Instead, I forced myself to dress, donning the same black sweater I wore to the neighborhood Christmas party, only this time I didn’t wear it backwards…

Wearing my favorite black and brown taffeta skirt and suede boots, I looked as festive as possible after wallowing around on the couch playing Angry Birds all afternoon. Plus it had been drizzling…BadHairDay.

The neighborhood crowd was smaller than normal and more subdued than typical. Because we teetered on the edge of the fiscal cliff?

Because we are 50-ish?

Depressing weather? 
Sting of the Dallas Cowboy loss? Nah, that’s normal…
We counted down, kissed, greeted a new year then crawled home as random gunfire filled the East Dallas air.
Back to my Uggs!
talya
Musical Pairing:
The New Year – Death Cab For Cutie

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Comments

  1. Lauralew says

    January 4, 2013 at 5:38 am

    We haven’t gone out for years. Usually we are in bed by ten, and when we get up the next day we call everyone. But I do like the idea of a neighborhood crawl. We’d still have to drive in our South Dakota neighborhood as all of the lots are by covenant at least one acre, and some of the older folks just can’t do that much of a walk.

  2. Talya Tate Boerner says

    January 4, 2013 at 5:39 am

    The neighborhood crawl is a great idea. I usually go to one or two houses and I am in bed before midnight. This year I only went to the last house and actually rang in the New Year. Ten years ago I went to every house:)

  3. TimH says

    January 4, 2013 at 8:51 am

    Well, usually we do something for New Year’s Eve, usually in Memphis, but we had to be home this year to take my youngest son to the airport in Nashville to catch a flight to Tulsa. The weather here was nasty (cold and wet) and as far as a New Year’s celebration at my house, well, after my wife and I dropped our son off at the airport, she and I rented some Redbox movies, and the last one ended about five minutes before the new year arrived. It was our first empty-nest New Year’s in many, many years, and it was nice. Maybe next year we’ll go out on the town, but then again, nothing beats chilling at home when the weather outside is frightful, and the movies are so delightful!=)…Also, I think you are quite normal and your Zentangle drawing ROCKS!

    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      January 4, 2013 at 11:54 am

      I think staying home w/ a movie is the best! Zentangles are fun:)))

  4. Colene says

    January 4, 2013 at 9:01 am

    Life is all about change and I don’t think it has so much to do with age but maybe just being wiser. Besides, isn’t New Year’s Eve for amateurs? Your zentangles are very neat!

    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      January 4, 2013 at 11:54 am

      Thanks Colene:))

  5. Anonymous says

    January 4, 2013 at 3:21 pm

    I’m gonna say I vote for normal, #TimH, you mean people would leave Nashville to fly to Tulsa? What? Those are cool Zentangles BTW!

  6. Staci Sandquist says

    January 4, 2013 at 4:14 pm

    Jim did cook us lobster and we stayed in. Nice evening ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. Dorothy Latimer Johnson says

    January 6, 2013 at 12:59 pm

    It’s true. Your are a writer and an artist! Great Zentangle!


Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (2022)

THE THIRD ACT OF THEO GRUENE (coming 2025)

Recent Ramblings:

  • Sunday Letter: May 25, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: May 4, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: Rainy Day Edition
  • Spiderwort: my love-hate relationship
  • Sunday Letter: March 23, 2025

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