Surprise Party!

How do I even begin to explain the whirlwind of a weekend I just had...

Let's just start with the fact I was thrown my first surprise party

and literally had no idea it was coming.

I'm still actually in awe thinking back.

And I'm exhausted. I am probably going to bed in an hour,

but not before I have my 13th slice of birthday cake.

I have so much to say about all of the shenanigans that went down

so I am going to try to be as brief as possible.

Thursday night-

Kenz and I drank beer like two old men

Cruised around downtown Chicago in a vintage Convertible

Drank Vodka Gimlets in a bar called the Matchbox Bar

(because it was literally that small)

and I don't even know what a Vodka Gimlet is...

Went to a gangster hole-in-the-wall bar

where they served hard boiled eggs

and middle aged women who still opted to smoke inside.

We made it home in time to cook a pizza and then accidentally flip in on the rug

but we still ate in anyway...

Friday morning came too early

and I had to go to the airport to pick up my sister and Knox.

On the way to picking up Jade I tried to call my parents numerous times to tell them that I'd been give a job offer YAY! and was obviously going to accept.

They never answered. Which is fishy because they ALWAYS answer.

But I was hungover and didn't think anything of it.

Jade, Knox and I got back to the apartment and I noticed Chris had picked up.

(like the pizza on the rug and the shredded cheese/dip/chips every where else.)

What a nice guy, he wanted the place to look good for Jade. Or so I thought..

Around 10:30 a.m. my doorbell rang.

I literally said "that never happens,"

(which is kind of pathetic huh?)

and opened the door to find my parents standing there.

This is the goofiest ass look I've ever seen,

but I had to post it because I don't think this expression has ever been caught on my face before

(and nor will it ever again.)

and just for the record the wall decor in the background actually says

"HOME" as opposed to "HO."

They surprised me and flew in from Nebraska just to celebrate my birthday weekend.

I was beyond elated with this alone.

Naturally, we headed right to brunch to celebrate even more with bloody's and mimosas.

At this point, I was thinking this day couldn't get any better...

After brunch my mom said she wanted to pick up a FEW things at Costco.

She came home an hour later with over 38 bags of food and beverages.

Meats and cheeses and dips and chips and fruit and wraps and

everything else you can think of.

Remember those two dips I made last week?

They weren't looking so impressive anymore...

My mom didn't say it,

but I knew she was slightly disappointed I don't own any serving platters because she would NEVER serve anything in its original plastic try.

And certainly not in ugly brown bowls.

I kept saying,

"this is so nice, but how are we going to eat all of this food?

who is all of this for?"

My mom goes a little over the top for parties, but even this seemed like a little much for six people..

And then the doorbell rang again.

My sister had told me a delivery was coming,

and silly old me thought it was an Edible Arrangement-

and mind you I was plenty excited to get one of those, they're so fancy.

But I was wrong,

it was Tye and Kim all the way from Nebraska!

By now I was beyond confused/surprised/whatinthehellisgoingon.

Dumbfounded. I was completely dumbfounded.

Everything I thought was going on for the weekend was no more.

They had taken care of everything.

So the only thing I could do was sit back and enjoy it.

When the nighttime festivities officially got underway,

I was certain all of the surprises were done until all of the sudden my brother and his girlfriend, Larissa, walked in the door having flown here all the way from South Carolina.

And after them came even more Chicago friends,

as well as Chris's family.

It was an actual surprise party.

I obviously knew about the party as of that morning,

but every time someone new walked in the door I was completely surprised.