Rome: How to Ring in the New Year Properly


Happy New Year! As I wrote last year, each year a group of our friends gather to celebrate the New Year. We all live in different states, so we rotate hosting duties. This year everyone is cozied up in our house. Last night we celebrated the end of 2009 with Prosecco and lasagne. Today we are watching HBO's "Rome" -- a fabulous TV drama about the days of Julius Caesar in Rome. "Rome" is fabulous TV!



The cast is incredible -- filled with BBC all-stars including Polly Walker as Atia, Kevin McKidd as Lucius, and Ciaran Hinds as Caesar. And the costumes and sets bring ancient Rome alive in all its golden glory.


So, we are cozied up in our jammies, with a pot of coffee on, and we're starting the year off right -- in "Rome!"

Happy New Year to you all!

Links: HBO: Rome (view on Google Sidewiki)

The Happy New Years Giveaway!


Each year as the days are at their shortest and the holiday frenzy is at its peak, I set out on a great quest.  You see, I am caught somewhere between digital organization and paper calendars.  I have a smart phone, and I am a Google Calendars devotee.  But I also search each year for a beautiful paper journal in which I take notes, make lists, and plan with pen in hand.

This year I found a book in Venice that was just too beautiful to pass up, and I'm holding a contest to give it away.  This gorgeous, leather-bound 2010 journal can be yours if you win my Happy New Years Giveaway!


The Prize
Covered in the print of an antique map, the journal has a leather spine and leather trim.  The pages inside are dated (2010) with one page per day.  The journal also includes a yearly calendar, address book, and maps.  This gorgeous book is a perfect journal or datebook.  It is the work of G. Biasin, one of Venice's finest craftsmen of paper goods.   Both photos in this post are of the actual journal.


How To Enter

For a chance to win, leave a comment below before 11:59PM PST on Thursday, December 31, 2009, answering the following question:

What event are you most excited about adding to your 2010 calendar?

Please include your email address in the comment form (your email isn't shared with anyone, and I will not send you email unless you win).



Winners (Hopefully that's you!)
We will choose a winner randomly and announce the results here on Tuesday, January 5, 2010.

Share This Contest

If you have family or friends who you know will love this giveaway, just click the little envelope icon at the bottom of this (or any) post to email it to a friend.

Rules (because we must have some)
Please, only one comment per person per giveaway post. Duplicate comments and Anonymous comments will be discarded. Please make sure that the email address in your comment form is valid (email addresses are never public). Winners must claim their prize within three business days after the date of notification of such prize. A Sweepstakes winner's failure to respond to the prize notification within the specified three business days will be considered such Sweepstakes winner's forfeiture of the prize and an alternate winner may be selected from the pool of eligible entries. If an entrant is found to be ineligible, an alternate winner may also be selected from the pool of eligible entries. To enter, you must be a U.S. resident, age 18 or older. Employees, partners and vendors of The Gypsy's Guide and their immediate family members are not eligible to enter. We will disqualify any entries that we believe are generated by scripts and other automated technology. When applicable, the winner may be required to execute and return within five business days an Affidavit of Eligibility and a Liability and Publicity Release to be eligible for the prize or an alternate winner will be selected. All prizes will be awarded. No substitutions including for cash are permitted, except that The Gypsy's Guide reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for any prize. Winners shall be responsible and liable for all federal, state and local taxes on the value of their prize.
 


Good luck! And Happy New Year!

The Gypsy Stays Home


Every year since 1991 I have traveled at this time of year.  Often I've traveled to two or even three destinations visiting family and friends.  This year the Gypsy and her husband are staying home!  Our house is decorated.  We've been baking and cooking for days.  Friends are coming for Christmas Eve, family is coming for a few days, too, and our annual New Years gathering is happening at our house.  Our tiny little house will be bursting and the seams, and I couldn't be more excited!

There are a few gifts under our little tree, and I have one for you, too -- one of my favorite Christmas poems...

The Holy Night

We sate among the stalls at Bethlehem;
The dumb kine from their fodder turning them,
Softened their horned faces
To almost human gazes
Toward the newly Born:
The simple shepherds from the star-lit brooks
Brought their visionary looks,
As yet in their astonied hearing rung
The strange sweet angel-tonge:
The magi of the East, in sandals worn,
Knelt reverent, sweeping round,
With long pale beards, their gifts upon the ground,
The incense, myrrh, and gold
These baby hands were impotent to hold:
So let all earthlies and celestials wait
Upon thy royal state.
Sleep, sleep, my kingly One!

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

From my home to yours, Merry Christmas!