New Year's Eve.

What are you doing New Year's Eve? 

Me? Well, I'll be headed into Central to watch the fireworks with my brother (he's visiting!), so I'm hoping they'll be good as last year's...which were absolutely incredible.

Happy last day of 2012.

Happy New Year!

We got to the London Eye about 8 hours early so we could get a good view of the fireworks. And it worked! There was only one person between me and the rail along the Thames, and we were directly across from the Eye. I can't even begin to describe how amazing it was. They flashed a countdown of the final minute up on a building right next to the Eye, and the whole crowd was going crazy. Then the fireworks started. With every chime from Big Ben, they lit up the sky. The show kicked off with the announcement of London getting the 2012 Olympics, and from then on, all the fireworks were perfectly synched with music. They went on for almost 12 minutes and took up the entire sky. I felt like a little kid the whole time, and by the end of it all, my face hurt from smiling.

Here's the BBC video of the whole show:

They were predicting a quarter of a million people there, and I'll bet they were right. Trafalgar Square was jam-packed afterward. But we navigated our way back home like champs. I was so proud. Plus, the transport was free after midnight. What a win.

So if last night is at all indicative of what 2012 will be like, I can't even wait.

“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.” -Neil Gaiman

Wishing you a blessed new year from London.

"In spite of history, hope is January white."

I've told you that I like having a soundtrack for my life. So, obviously, I have a New Year's Eve song every year. It's traditionally been Death Cab For Cutie's "The New Year." This year it's Sleeping At Last's "January White."

Enjoy. And a very happy New Year to you, friends!

(Lyrics)

So let's press undo

Rearrange the old and call it new

January white

Every calendar is playing the same old trick

A year will disappear replaced with counterfeit

But we'll never really mind

If nothing else we're given a little time

To change the game, a chance to redefine

Everything we are

In our January white

This year's a sealed envelope

A culmination of hopes

The lottery result that we've been crossing fingers for

We could paint our walls a lighter shade of blue

We could pack our bags, change the entire view

To January white

If nothing else we're given a little time

To change the heart in which we change our minds

Our hourglasses turn

This year's a sealed envelope

With apprehensive hope, we brace for anything

I swear I understand nothing changes that

And the past will be the past

But the future is brighter than any flashback

We could let our guards down a little easier this time

We could trust that when there's joy, there's nothing dark behind

In spite of history

Hope is January white

This year we're starting over again

Letter openers in hand

A chance to take a chance

I swear I understand the past will be the past

And nothing changes that

But the future is brighter than any flashback