Surprise 29th Birthday Party

Apparently, I have very sneaky friends. While we were making plans to surprise our friend Tracey for her birthday, they were busy planning to surprise me for mine. A whole week before my birthday, so I wouldn't suspect anything! But, worried that I wouldn't love the idea of a true surprise (I'm not much for being the center of attention), they decided to tell me.

The night of the party as I walked to meet some friends for drinks, my roommate texted me, "Have fun at drinks! Please don't be too late for your birthday party in the garden. Starts around 7:30." The friends I was meeting for drinks were in on the whole thing! We drank bourbon-spiked Arnold Palmers, then we went back to my place to the party. It was perfect to be surprised by the fact that I was having a party, instead of by people hiding in a dark room. And oh, what a lovely party it was.



I was greeted by a garden full of my favorite friends and pretty sunflowers. Dinner was grilled hot dogs and burgers, followed by a make-your-own ice cream sandwich bar. I've been so obsessed with ice cream sandwiches this summer! There were snickerdoodles, my roommate's famous chocolate peanut butter cookies, vanilla ice cream, and my favorite coffee bean ice cream from Trader Joe's.





It's sort of impossible to put a candle in an ice cream sandwich, so Bethany held a tea light over my dessert while everyone sang "Happy Birthday." I'm sure my cheeks were bright red.

The funniest part of the night was the photo "booth" they put together. All the props were Liz-inspired, made up of my favorite items of clothing: cardigans and scarves. With the addition of some of my roommate's hats and a fur stole, there was enough in the prop box to make for quite a hilarious photo shoot.







At the end of the evening, when the sunflowers had taken up semi-permanent residence in my apartment and some folks had already headed home (it was a Monday night, after all) the last few celebrators stuck around to watch me open my present.



One of the lockets I've been coveting all year! I truly have the best friends. That birthday was so great, I think I'll just stay 29 forever.