I can see the Eiffel Tower, almost...

One of my favorite New Year's Eves (after last year's on a ship north of the Arctic Circle and the year before's on a beach in the Dominican Republic): home! Lunch with Gogo followed by an afternoon spent reading in bed while watching THE TWILIGHT ZONE marathon. At 7: Hors d'ouevres and champagne by the Christmas tree. Spaghetti carbonara and Caesar salad while Burt Bacharach crooned by the fire. And then my still flu-achy self sunk into bed and was blissfully asleep my 10. At midnight Annabelle burst in shouting "Happy New Year". I shouted the same and went back to sleep. 

Woke up in 2014 with frost on the windows, thinking about Paris. We leave tomorrow! Visions of macarons are already dancing in my head. 

My vow for 2014 (I've done this one before) is to read a book a week. This week I've read two (thanks to the flu) and recommend them both:

THE STORY OF A NEW NAME by Elena Ferrante (book 2 in her trilogy)

and for mystery lovers like me, RANDOM VIOLENCE by Jassy Mackenzie (takes place in South Africa and is terrific!)

Coming to Paris with me are Donna Tartt's GOLDFINCH and Elizabeth Graver's THE END OF THE POINT, as well as either the first in the Louise Penney series or the first in the Maurizio de Giovanni series. 

And all the yarn to knit a super long colorful scarf. 

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes, which kind of sums up my own philosophy. Thank you, Audrey Hepburn, for saying it so well!

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.