Lizzie’s Birthday!

What. A. Day.

Not kidding. Ashley, Doug, Andrew and Sarah made this one a blow out.

At midnight on March 6 – Doug handed me a note form Ashley. I thought it was sweet, but little did I know it would be the first of many….(foreshadowing)

Doug woke me up at 6:30 am with the “kitchen on fire” = our family tradition of breakfast coffee cake and the house decorated! Evidently, Andrew, Ashley and Doug had decorated the house while I was in bed the night before! Those sneaky kids.

A little while later Ashley and Andrew delivered homemade waffles and poached eggs! It was delicious. (note the two origami cats Andrew made!).

Also on this breakfast platter of awesomeness was a card.

It was then I was told I would be getting cards throughout the day. I was SO excited.

I was told I had some free time to get my steps in so I went for a walk outside and got ready at for time I was told to be ready.

We got in Ashley’s car and drove to our first surprise. It happened to be the mall, but before we went inside I was surprised by Courtney and Rory in the parking lot!!!

They wished me happy birthday and gave me 3 bottles of ketchup so I never run out! I am already through the first one so I better slow down….just kidding. Thank you so much Courts (and Ken)!!

So we walk into the mall through Dillard’s and are heading towards the food court. As we were walking, Ashley cut hard right into Aveda. They asked us what our appointment was for and Ashley informed them I had an 11 am appointment. It was at that moment that it dawned on me…I had received an email a few days ago about an appointment at Aveda on my birthday and as soon as I got it I called and cancelled it as I had not made it. I had cancelled my surprise appointment! Idiot.

I announced that I had cancelled my birthday appointment and the whole group sighed. Well, maybe they just sighed in my head. We told the story to them about how it was a surprise and I cancelled it. Then they were off to see if they could make it happen. It turns out there was one stylist willing to assist even though she was actually suppose to be on her lunch break.

Ashley had scheduled a blow out and to let me relax while I got my hair fixed.

(Ashley even told the girl who scheduled it not to call me not to confirm with me. Not to contact me at all! It was a surprise, but alas the automatic email got sent out anyway.)

It was awesome and incredible! Thank you so much Ashley and Andrew! What a surprise and what a gift!

After she made me beautiful , we headed to my next surprise: LUNCH…WITH MY FAMILY!

We arrived at Equator on Severn to find my parents already at the restaurant. A few minutes later, Doug arrived!

It was a lovely, delicious lunch! I loved that my Mom and Dad came in town to celebrate. They are seriously the best parents ever.

After lunch, Ashley, Mom and I headed out to my next surprise. DB headed back to work while Dad had to run some errands. Ashley surprises me again! We were getting pedicures!

Then….when we walked in…..SARAH was there! The surprised just kept coming! (Note: About ever 45 minutes, Ashley gave me another card from friends and family….SO AWESOME)

After making my toes pretty (and boy did they need it), we headed back home for a few minutes of down time. Once there, Mom and Dad gave me a few gifts, Alex called (but I missed it) and we relaxed for a minute.

They also had apple turnovers. SO GOOD. These are one of my weaknesses.

It was then we opened Cynthia's packet of signs (you can see my dad looking at them in the back of this photo…and OMG…they are amazing.)

So we started posting the signs EVERYWHERE….on cars… 

on cars at the mall….

EVERYWHERE!

Then it was time to go to my next surprise! Sarah was in charge of me this time. We headed…..BACK TO THE MALL!

and then we walked to………………….MAC Makeup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Where I had a makeover appointment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I am SO spoiled!)

Sarah disappeared for a bit and evidently hung signs all over the mall…

As we exited, I found one of my signs near the food court!

The finished makeover:

So we headed back to the house to get ready for dinner!

Kim was my next surprise! Andrew, Ashley, Sarah, Kim, Doug and I piled into cars and headed to my surprise dinner…..SUSHI!

It was delicious and awesome!

Look for yourself!

Then we ran into Angela at the restaurant! Not a planned surprise, but a birthday surprise none the less!

Just when I thought it was over, they surprised me again!

A birthday cake!

(See the beautiful necklace db bought for my birthday in the photo above?)We ate cake somehow as we were so stuffed from sushi. We were all exhausted. They had planned and executed such an amazing birthday. It flew for me.

I loved the entire day. They completely outdid their selves!

I got home and laid out all my cards, flowers, some gifts and took this photo. I did forget the ketchup! and 3 cards that I left at Ashley’s house, but you get the picture….it was an incredible amount of stuff. I felt incredibly loved.

Thank you to everyone involved in my birthday! Thank you for the cards, notes, gifts, flowers, and mainly for your love.

Special Thank You’s:

• Ashley, Andrew, Sarah and Doug – Wow! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! You blew it away.
• Ashley and Andrew – Thank you for an amazing and delicious breakfast! Thank you also for making all my signs! I love them! Thank you also for my Bondi man!
• Ashley – Thank you for my hair makeover and not killing me when you found out I cancelled the appointment!
• Mom and Dad – Thank you for the makeup bag and flip flops! thank you for coming in town for lunch and thank you for being the best parents in the world! Mom, thank you for our pedicures!
• Alex and Janice – Thank you for my signs and notes from Boston! Alex, thank you for calling me on my birthday!
• Doug – Thank you for my necklace, new shirt, beautiful flowers, coffee cake and everything else you did!
• Sarah – Thank you for the makeover at MAC! and the Storyville t-shirt!!
• Courtney – Thank you for coming out to meet me in the middle of your day! and for the copious amounts of ketchup! Also thank you for the photo paper/card. I LOVE IT.
• DJ and Steve- Thank you so much for the beautiful card and generous gift! I promise to put it to good use! (Your card made me laugh out loud with the cat mom reference.)
• Cynthia – Oh the signs! O M G! You are too much. I have them all OVER!
• Jenni and Craig (and BG) – Thank you so much for the Pears! We are still enjoying them! You guys are too sweet!
• THANK YOU FOR THE CARDS---Becky and Ryan, Tom M, Cindy and Charlie (who sent separate cards!), Ms. Gay and Mr. David, Janessa and Matt, Sarah, Doug, Ashley, Gene (loved the tiara! I wore it for hours), Marlon and Charlene, Cynthia and Brock, Kelly and Dan, Jane and Jack B (the Mardi Gras colors were awesome AND the Blue Dogs were masterpieces!)
• MORE THANK YOU FOR THE CARDS ---Mom x3, Emi G, Amanda BR, Bailey Grace!! (so pretty!), Dad, Ryan and Courtney M, Leon C, Katie and Chris F, Matthew H, Courts, Kim M, QP, and Nhung!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really hope I thanked everyone! It really was an amazing day.

Love and hugs, Lizzie