Surprise! (aka 2nd Best Birthday Ever)

What a weekend! And I'm not just talking about that glorious return of the big bright shiny thing called the sun. No, I just pretty much had the most fantastic surprise pre-30th birthday party EVER. Which would go down as the best birthday ever, but that position is currently held by last year's 29th b'day, when Mr. T got right down on his handsome knee and proposed to me. So even though this year's birthday hasn't arrived yet, it has already shaped up to be right up there in second place.

So it all started with my husband, bless his sweet heart, and my friends Tera and Melissa, who used to be his neighbors. I pretty much knew the night I met them that we would be fast friends. Well not only do I love the girls, but it turns out Tera and I got engaged within two months of each other, and Melissa and I have birthdays that are exactly a week apart (hers on the 4th, mine the 11th) so we're also birthday buddies! Here we are celebrating her birthday at Germantown Cafe...

Before heading out in this way too much fun limosine! And yes, I am in fact wearing a faux fur coat. I figured it was my last chance before spring AND it makes me feel a tad rich and famous.

Yes, the newlyweds WILL gladly pose for a quick photo...

Until lo and behold, the limo pulls up to one of my favorite local watering holes and I saw THIS!


Along with about 20 of my favorite peeps who yelled "Surprise" at the top of their lungs when I walked in! I like to have fallen in the floor, yall! I had absolutely NO idea but was beyond stoked to have a surprise party - on my 30th birthday, nonetheless! They had the whole thing planned out to a tee, and going out for her Melissa's birthday was all part of their master plan to set up the surprise. I mean, are they the best or what? More pictures are forthcoming, but I'll leave you with one of the favorites from the night...which was blown up POSTER SIZE and definitely got a lot of conversation -and laughs -throughout the evening. (Which, in a nutshell, is that this was taken just before my friend Marcie's wedding in Birmingham last July, when her mom decided she should tease my hair to high heaven before putting it in an up-do for me. I hadn't seen the tangled mess she created until the photographer died out laughing and snapped this lovely picture.) So thank you, Marcie, for sharing this little beauty with the free world. I seriously look like a TROLL!