Ahh, New Year’s Eve. A celebration of endings and new beginnings. The last party night of the year, which means it’s also the biggest party night of the year. And that’s exactly why I always get the urge to lock myself in my room and hide under my bed until January 1st arrives.

The anticipation and build-up for the evening mean it’s never as good as you expect it to be. And no matter how much planning you do and how much money you spend, New Year’s Eve always fails to be an extraordinary night. Just because it’s the last night of the calendar year, doesn’t mean it’s going to be any more fun than any of the others. Trust me.

Reason #1 I Hate New Year’s Eve: First of all, it’s essential that you plan ahead. If you don’t make your plans well in advance, you’re risking having nothing to do. Parties get booked up, your friends make other plans, and you’re stuck watching the ball drop with your parents. I don’t like planning ahead. What if I’m forced into deciding to attend a party and then something better comes along? What if, in November, I don’t know what I’m going to be in the mood to do in December?

Reason #2 I Hate New Year’s Eve: Then there’s the expense. If you want to go out, you’re going to have to spend money, and probably a lot of it. Take last year, for example. A group of my friends made plans to go to a bar. We dished out the $75 that would allow us access to an open bar, bought fancy dresses, and got all decked out for the night of our lives. When we arrived, the bar was absolutely disgusting, the food nasty, and the people incredibly sketchy. It turned out we were only allowed to drink well liquor (when we could get near the bar). It also turned out that we could have paid $10 at the door and been allowed to attend the same party and order our own drinks. As if I would drink $65 in Grey Goose. The bottom line is that bars can charge whatever they please on New Year’s Eve and people will pay it. People like me. Read More »

Q: What is New Year’s without getting hammered and downing a glass of champagne at midnight?

A: Awesome.

Yes, yes, I realize alcohol will be involved at most of your New Year’s Eve celebrations, and that’s cool with me, but it’s just not my scene. That doesn’t mean I don’t like to party, though! How do I enjoy myself without the booze, you might ask? With these tips, of course.

1. Be with other alcohol-free people.

Let’s face it—if your friends are a bunch of boozers, they’re probably going to want to hit the drink on New Year’s Eve, and you’re probably not going to have much fun without them. You could always stay sober while they knock them away, but I think it’s far easier and more fun to spend the night with a group of people who are more interested in enjoying each other’s company than getting totally smashed. If the people you’re with aren’t drinking, you probably won’t wish you were.

2. Do something really, really fun.

When was the last time you went bowling at a 24-hour lane or played billiards at a pool hall? Have you been to a theme park recently? What about indoor mini-golf? Plan an amazing night with your friends that is packed with so many fun activities that you won’t have the time (or the desire) to hit up the bars. Honestly, you’ll be having such a great time that you won’t even miss the alcohol. Read More »

Just because you’re a college student doesn’t mean you have to drink like one. I mean, come on; vodka and Crystal Light gets old after awhile. Why not try something a little more…sophisticated? (Editor’s Note: You can still chug it like a college lady.)

These cocktails are guaranteed to make all your friends love you, and, of course, get everyone very, very drunk.

So welcome to the world of sophisticated drunkery.

What better way than to start of the list that with a drink that compliments fall season upon us?

Warm Fall Evening

1 part Absolut Peach

1 part apple flavored vodka

1 part Absolut Mandarin

1 part cinnamon syrup

1 part hot apple juice / cider

Cinnamon

Combine and serve in a glass.

Fall flavors not really your thing? How about a drink that is guaranteed to warm you up in the cold days and put your drinking skills to the test? Can you handle hot sauce? Read More »

Though the weather is a little bipolar, it’s slowly but surely getting summery outside and mamma needs a new swimsuit. Mamma is also, incidentally, a total cheap-ass. Scope mamma’s favorite picks for under $50.

Xhilaration Polka Dot Bikini:

Clown-esque. Wear it when you bring your nieces to the beach.

Xhilaration Bandeau Halter:

For girls who love to shred.

Hot Topic Rasta Stripe Halter:

Perfect for enjoying the cheeba at a backyard BBQ. Puff puff pass!

Arizona Striped Monokini:

Sure that guy’s a douche, but he has a boat! Ideal for yachting.

Newport News Belted One Piece:

It’s belted so it doesn’t fall down while you’re fighting crime.

Newport News Lavender Swimdress:

For ladies who see no reason why one shouldn’t wear pearls while tanning.

Spiegel Print Tankini:

Doodles + swimsuit = funzies.

Spiegel Peach Brooch Halter:

So Sophia Loren. Comes with a bottle of champagne.

There’s just something about things blooming, birds chirping, and tank tops that makes me want to write out fancy invitations and say, let’s celebrate!!

Maybe it’s the the non-stop celebrations around this time, i.e. Valentines Day, St. Patty’s Day, Easter, Spring Break (yes, I consider this a holiday)…but even though I didn’t rise from any graves or invent green beer, I’m all about creating a holiday of my very own.

Any excuse I can create to bake sh*t, and get a group of my favorite people into a small room to eat, drink and be merry, I’ll take it.

So if you’re anti-holiday, consider this fun idea an excuse to step away from studying for a minute or an hour (or 24 of ‘em), and chill out, bake, drink mimosas, lick the beaters…etc.

Yes ladies, it’s cupcake time. The whole ritual of baking is calming and though scones are delicious, I prefer my tea/champagne with a cupcake. Why? Because they are God’s gift to man, so enjoy them.

Here are some of my FAV recipes: Read More »

We’ve almost hit the twenty four hour mark on the countdown to 2008 and you’re still standing there scratching your head.

What the HELL will you do to celebrate?

No enticing invitations, no parties planned in the small town suburb you’re forced to revisit for an entire month.

Sure it’s home and of course it’s nice to be back, catching up with old friends and of course the good ol’ folks, but new years back at college seems like such a more reasonable route to F-U-N. So now what? How do you ring in the new year when there’s absolutely nothing cool to do?

Don’t give up just yet. No matter what you do there’s three important things to boost your boring bust of a bash.

1. Be with Besties

If you’ve got nothing to do that means all your friends are stuck too, right? As cliche as this is, the fun is not where you are it’s who you’re there with. You can stand around all night in your friend’s basement, garage, wherever you’ve all hopelessly congregated and cluck about how much ‘this sucks’ OR you can have a little lack-of-plans-laugh and make the best of it. Read More »

New Year’s Eve. One of the biggest party holidays on the calendar. A time to wear something sparkly, drink pink champagne and not feel like a lame idiot, and count down the last remaining seconds in a year that was hardly what you imagined it was going to be this time 365 days ago.

If, like me, you live in a large city, you’ve been hearing about New Year’s Eve for almost as long as you’ve been hearing about Christmas. Giant parties in giant clubs, complete with open bars, fancy food, and “hot people!” have been pushing themselves into your email inbox and popping up in conversation; urging you to fork over $100-300 for a place on the guest list.

Even if you don’t happen to reside in a metropolitan area, you’ve undoubtedly heard about a house party here and there, polling your friends to find out where and how they’ll be saying goodbye to 2007.

The point I’m trying to make is—everyone always seems to have something to do on New Year’s. Some house to crash, some club with a bouncer who can get them in, some party of a friend of a friend’s, a First Night celebration out in the frigid cold…staying home just never seems to be an option.

But what if it is—at least for you? What if you don’t have any plans this year? What if the plans you do have don’t sound as appetizing as they usually do? What if spending a night sloshing in high-heels and trying to grab someone before midnight isn’t your idea of a good time? Read More »

It’s just a cocktail… or is it? Relationship expert Dr. Jackie Black says your drink of choice says alot more about you than you might think.

Click on a cocktail to see what secrets your favorite beverage reveals about your inner self.

                beer                          martini                          scotch                            red wine

                 lemon drop               champagne                  cosmo                             rum and coke

Recently I attended a faaaabulous champagne party.

Sure, the champagne was five bucks a bottle (Andre!) and most everyone was either making out or hugging the toilet, but I still felt quite classy in my white dress and uh, red Solo cup of champagne.

It got me to thinking about the wide world outside of beer. Which led me to discover the “world’s first canned wine.”

Thanks to a Buenos Aires distributor, Iron Wine is introducing this fabulous new twist on tipsy. Bottoms up!

Who wouldn’t love another fun way to drink wine? After all, repetitive Franzia rounds of slap the bag can fizzle the fun. Now you can shotgun the vino!

Unfortunately, despite the brag roll on the can that claims you can just crack open and chug-a-lug, I’ve heard it actually has a bit of a tinny taste if you don’t pour it into a glass. Read More »