Birthday with the Girls

Sometimes I'm really good at taking pictures and documenting everything via film. This is not one of those times. This is the picture I took to remind me of the fabulous evening my friends put together to welcome me into the thirties:But there is so much more to the evening than the place settings! First of all, it was supposed to be a surprise. April called John (which in and of itself is a major sacrifice on her part - she is NOT a phone-talker) to find out what day we would be celebrating my birthday and could she and my other friends could surprise me on Friday. He said that would be fine and she, along with a few other cohorts made all the secret arrangements.

Then one day while at the park a week before such secret arrangements were carried out, I casually mentioned how I would be going to Monterey the following weekend. April's face turned to stone and asked, does John know? I, thinking of John and I's conversation just the night before -- where I informed him of my plan to go to Monterey the following weekend, replied, yeah, Why? The jig was up. April spilled the beans and told me of some of the surprise arrangements and contacted everyone to change the date so I could come. Wasn't that so nice?

So the evening came and the girls banded together to bring my favorite foods. April J made April P's lasagna (which of course I love even more since I still need to get the recipe - you know how you want things more when you can't get them yourself?), Tammy made thanksgiving yams, Liz brought fruit salad, Jen brought a green salad with tons of veggies, and Teri brought a Caesar along with some sparkling apple cider. For dessert, April made Lemon Angel Food cake with Strawberries (a really big sacrifice again since it requires over a dozen eggs to make it --sheesh!)
I am so grateful for these girls and their friendships. Thinking of each one of them brings a smile to my face. We have so many funny memories -- most of them I'm embarrassing myself again.
Oops, there I go again with the embarrassment thing again. Oh and why the pink snugglie you ask? Only because I'm crazy cold. Meaning that I'm cold even when it's like 80 degrees outside at night. So yes in June, snugglies are a requirement for me.
And of course. I couldn't forget April P's contribution of making the Time magazine cover. It's a tradition now among our group of friends to get this when one of us turns the big 3-0. Something to take the edge off!
I couldn't ask for a better group of girls. Or a better night of food and chatting. Turning thirty has been awesome!