Thank You.

I'm feeling a little mushy on this Monday. This weekend, my husband and some of my favorite people pulled off the ultimate surprise: they managed to plan a weekend full of birthday surprises for the Queen of Surprise Hating... a.k.a. Me.

You see, I didn't want/need to do anything big for my 30th birthday. I told my husband months ago that I didn't want to plan anything for myself and that as long as he made a reservation for dinner at a fab restaurant I would be a happy girl. Well, as my big day approached (it was yesterday) I started to get a little nervous that he hadn't given it any thought-- and he totally played along with the whole thing. He was so good at it, in fact, that I basically melted down on Friday night thinking that he had forgotten my birthday all together. And I was punishing him big time.

That went on until about 10 PM on Friday night when I heard a knock at my front door and behind it was my Chicago best friend Alexis along with these balloons and my best friend Meghan and her fiance Will, who flew in from New York City to surprise me! That's when I knew I had been had-- big time. And to my further surprise, it was only the beginning!

So, that night we drank a lot of wine and played some Cards Against Humanity while I calmed myself down and got over the shock of my surprise visitors.

And then on Saturday we headed over to our neighborhood bar Flagship Tavern & Grill for brunch where I devoured a plate of huevos rancheros. In the midst of my meltdown turned shock on Friday night, I may not have eaten as much as I should have. After that, Meghan and Alexis took me downtown for a girls' afternoon of blowouts at Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon. We were getting prepped for a birthday dinner that evening, which I knew very little about. I was told that Alex made a reservation somewhere downtown for the 5 of us and that we'd be going out for cocktails afterward.

I was super excited when our Uber rolled up in front of Cicchetti, a newer Italian restaurant that's been on my 'must try' list for quite some time now. I was even more excited when they led us into the private dining room where four other good friends were waiting to surprise me-- along with my parents!

I was so touched that everyone came out to celebrate my birthday-- and that they managed to keep the whole thing a surprise for months!

 

Oh and in case you are interested-- and this is a food blog, so you might be-- dinner at Cicchetti was amazing! With such a big group, we were able to try a ton of items off the menu. I'm planning on writing up a dedicated post about my birthday dinner, so come back for that later this week!

Alexis decided we should head on over to Three Dots & a Dash after dinner. It's an underground tiki bar in the middle of the city and another place that's been on my 'to visit' list. A few more friends joined us there and my mom and dad came along too!

The drinks here take forever to make, but they are so pretty! Mom and I were both drinking the Siboney-- a delicious and potent mixture of dark Jamaica rum, passionfruit, pineapple, and lemon.

On Sunday we were moving (understandably) a bit more slowly, so we kept things low key at our place. My parents came by to see the condo for the first time, the boys played some MarioKart, and we enjoyed a few pastries from Dinkel's for breakfast and a late afternoon pizza party from Pizzeria Serio. Then everyone was on their way-- back to Rhode Island, New York, or just across town. And I took a birthday nap. I am a 30 year old lady, after all.

So, I want to say thank you today-- to Alex for planning an unforgettable weekend even when I was being a brat and doubted that he'd planned anything at all. I am very lucky to have a husband like you! To my Meghan and Will for making the trip out to Chicago (in the home stretch of their wedding planning, no less) and to Alexis for helping them to coordinate the whole weekend. And to all of them for keeping it a secret for such a long time! To my parents for also making a top secret visit to Chicago and for the beautiful birthday dinner. To my other great friends for coming out to celebrate with me-- I'm lucky to have such great friends in this city! To my siblings and friends and everyone else: the gifts, cards, cookies, Facebook messages, shout outs, and texts/calls were amazing and made this weekend so special. Thank you all for the birthday wishes. You know how to make a girl feel good-- and excited about what my thirties have in store!