So far there have been two big social events in January.

First up, we had Sue and J's farewell party at Opera Bar. Sue and J moved to Hong Kong in early January. Andrew and I returned home in November 2009. Since then my brother has moved to Hong Kong, my sister has moved to London and now one of my closest friends has also left the country. Andrew and I are trying not to take it personally. Good luck Sue and J! We hope you have many exciting adventures.

Andrew's birthday was the next "big" event. It was really only a quiet one as you should stop expecting people to make a big deal out of your birthday after you turn eleven. Andrew and I started his birthday celebrations with drinkies at Orbit Bar at the Summit. You'd think it was a place only for tourists but even as a resident Sydneysider you can appreciate the view. It's a lovely place to be at sunset. We then headed to the Chophouse where we proceeded to eat way too much meat. Great meal and great service. For his birthday this year I got Andrew a voucher for an hour flight in a Boeing 737 simulator. He's planning to try some aerobatics on his flight. I'm glad that there aren't any real passengers.

New Year's Eve is one of those nights that always seems to disappoint. I think it's the expectation that we place on the evening. There is this feeling that it's the last night of the year that you can have a good time so you better make the most of it.

Earlier in the year, Sue and I had been discussing and planning what we should do to make NYE 2010 a good one and had decided that a relaxing week at the beach was the way to go. Luckily, the Bell's 70s retreat at Copacabana was available, so we booked that and invited a few of our friends. Voila! We had the ingredients for an awesome NYE.

And our week away was lovely. We were really lucky with the weather and had sunshine, blue skies and warm temperatures for the entire week we were there. I went to the beach twice a day. I had a swim in the morning, went home for a Budgewoi lunch and a nap and then back for a swim in the afternoon. (Yes it really is as good as it sounds.) We played lots of games - Pictionary, Taboo, Gin Rummy, Diminishing Whist, Salad Bowl and the Mulukins introduced us to Croquet. There was only a little bit of yelling.

NYE was a great night too. While organising our week away, our group had joked about making NYE a Copacabana fiesta themed evening. After this discussion I realised what a fantastic idea this was and told everyone to plan for dress ups. Everyone played along (it's not fun if you don't) and on the night we dressed in Hawaiian shirts, leis and grass skirts. We even had a parrot (named Lily) and an inflatable palm tree (named Fernando). We had a BBQ with much meat for dinner, followed by a rousing round of Salad Bowl (I love Salad Bowl. So many in-jokes) and a delicious pavlova made by Clare for dessert. We headed down to the beach for the countdown to 2011 and celebrated with champagne, sparklers and an illegal fireworks show.

It was good end to a crap year and a lovely start to the new one. Thanks to the Copa group for making it awesome and thanks to Annie and Rich for owning Copa.

Now, what to plan for next year...

More photos on Flickr (slideshow) and on Facebook.