Basset Birthday Surprise

Birthdays are always a big event at our house, especially mine since it happens to fall on New Years Eve.  This year Mister planned a more low key evening and friends dinner party for us (compared to last year) and I was over the moon to celebrate.  But before we had our NYE/Birthday celebration Mister had a trick up his sleeve.  And even before that I had plans of my own (unaware of his secret plans).

Earlier on Wednesday I had it in my mind to pick up a dresser from Ikea for Floyd's room to switch things up in there and create more usable storage.  And when I get those things on my mind I want them done and put together right then.  So that's what I did.  Thinking nothing of it at 7:30 that evening, wine in hand, I went to town putting this dresser together.  

Mister came home with birthday groceries in tow and started cleaning the bathrooms.  This was sort of unusual but I didn't think much of it.  They were on my list to do before the dinner party and I thought it was just helping me out.  Because he was doing that and I was taking on Ikea craziness, we didn't eat dinner until about 10:30 and so by the time I finally sat/laid on the couch I was in and out of sleep pretty quickly.  He continued to be up and around which was again, sort of strange, but not totally.  

During this time, Mister snuck down and opened our front door and a few minutes later I heard the pitter patter of basset feet and knew they weren't Floyd's.  I shot up to see Pierre and his parents Casey and Eric walking up our stairs!! It was THE best birthday surprise.  I had no idea and I could NOT believe they were in our house.  I was literally in my pajamas and here they were having driven from Charlotte!! I couldn't believe it!  

They really all out did themselves and I felt so loved and happy to be able to share my birthday with them.  

Thursday was just the best birthday day.  We lounged around and had coffee, a delicious lunch at Nation, a trip around Party Source and headed back home for our dinner party.  

We had some gifts in there too :)  Mister loves theme gift giving and this year did '31 years means you get gifts for your ears'.  These included headphones, BEAUTIFUL earrings and other goodies.  He really outdid himself. 

He then outdid himself AGAIN with our dinner.  

He (and Casey!) made two kinds of ham (I love ham), asparagus, burgundy mushrooms (told you we loved them) and roasted garlic mashed potatoes.  

We had such a great night with our friends and managed to stay up to see the ball drop.

 The rest of the weekend was spent lounging and hanging and doing lots of basset snuggling. 

 It was perfection.  I was just so so happy the entire weekend, thankful for our friends and just generally over the moon to have such loving friends around me to help me celebrate.

I can't thank everyone enough for such a fabulous birthday weekend!! 

#totalthirtycase

Welcome back to reality.  Back to work.  Back to blogging.  

Let's talk about more exciting things...like my birthday party.  

And grandmother's fur shaw that needed to be worn. 

(dress)

Since our wedding was before the era of hash tagging events, it was only right that my 30th birthday party had its own hash tag.  So #totalthirtycase was born.  And it was a great time by all.

Seriously, I keep thinking about the party and want to relive it again and again.  

I put a lot of time, effort, planning and about 4,000 lists into the party and it was SO fun to see it come to fruition.  Not to mention getting to celebrate with (almost) all of my loves.   There is something so heartwarming about having a large majority of your favorite people all in one room.  

I insisted on making my own cake (because I'm crazy) but I was obsessed with how it turned out.  I followed this recipe and the polka dot cake was born and devoured.  I used food coloring to make plain white frosting BRIGHT pink and finished off with gold glitter and sprinkles.  

Because nothing says 30 like glitter and sprinkles #amiright  If you are crazy enough like myself and want to attempt this cake, feel free to email me and I can give you some pointers.

Besides cake, drinks and champagne (of course, it was New Year's Eve!) we had a make your own taco bar, pulled pork sliders, cinnamon sugar pretzels and bacon wrapped crackers.  Sadly, I was having so much fun I had ZERO to eat.  

It was so fun to have an evening celebrating and getting dressed up all snazzy.

And that concludes the pictures that I can show on the internet ;)

We wrapped up the evening with a big ol slumber party at our house just like the college days.  I was in heaven having so many friends stay at our house, it made my heart so happy.

My only regrets are not taking MORE pictures and not recording the super cute toast that Mister said as I blew out my sparkling candles.   And to that I say, let's do it again next year! 

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone that helped us celebrate the big night!  I had an absolute blast and a really, really fabulously spoiled birthday!  Definitely one for the history books.

Happy New Year! 

Surprise of a Lifetime

I teased you guys yesterday with our New Year's surprise for Casey but I'm back today with the full details.

And a bajillion pictures of Pierre and Floyd.

So about 2 1/2 months ago, I sprung this crazy idea on Kait that we surprise Casey for New Year's/my birthday. She jumped right on board and we immediately started texting Casey's husband who also immediately said YES come on down to Charlotte. 

God bless our bloggy husbands that entertain our crazy ideas!

I absolutely LOVE surprises and I'm still amazed that Kait and I were able to keep this a secret for so, so long.  (On top of Christmas present secrets as well, I was about at my secret keeping limit!)

The three of us group text allll day long and the fact that we didn't let it slip ONCE is nothing short of a miracle. 

So amidst a lot of secret texts, emails, gchats and planning we were able to pull it off!

Mister and I left after lunch on Monday drove to a tiny town in VA and met up with Dane and Kait.

Much to Floyd's dismay, he had to share the backseat with Kait and I for a couple of hours.

Even though I felt like the minutes were CREEPING by, we finally pulled into Casey's neighborhood.

We parked across the street and Kait and I ran, hand in hand, to her front door, trying to not to make a bunch of noise.  We collected ourselves, rang the doorbell and waited.

After what seemed like forever, Casey appeared at the door and the screaming ensued. 

And the jumping and hugging and more screaming.

She honestly had NO idea we were coming and it was the absolute best thing ever. 

The rest of the night was spent talking, drinking wine and just loving life. The amount of times we've dreamed of having a wine number is astronomical and to actually have it come to fruition was amazing.

2 bassets in one house? Us Crazy Dog Ladies could not be happier.

Tuesday was my birthday and we started the day off with a bang with Bojangles for breakfast.  I had never been and I'm not sure why.  Great way to start the day!
The rest of the day was spent gabbing and shopping...so perfection.
When Kait traveled to Italy last fall she picked up these beautiful bracelets for the three of us.
This was the first time we were able to wear them all in the same place.

#grownupfriendshipbracelets

That afternoon Alexa came over to hang out!! It was so great to finally meet her in person and let me tell you, she is just as sweet in real life!

Kait and I didn't want Casey to be overwhelmed with having to feed all of us so we loosely planned a menu for NYE evening.  We all ended up cooking at the same time in Casey's kitchen and it was so amazing.  We were (all 8 of us) in heaven.

Photo shoots, DELICIOUS food, fabulous gifts, yummy cupcakes, wine for days and Cards Against Humanity rounded out our night.

Keep an eye out for this Christmas card shot in your mailbox next holiday season.

The rest of our time was spent praying we didn't have to leave and all go our separate ways.
Pierre and Floyd included...they secretly love each other, I just know it.

We all had such a great time and I really wished it didn't have to end.
Mister and I are so thankful that these friends were brought into our life.  (And I think all of the boys are very thankful for the free therapy that comes with the gloriousness of group texting.)  I sincerely love that these ladies are real life friends of mine and no longer just someone online.  I have always been the biggest believer in 'everything happens for a reason' and these fine friends being in our life is definitely not an exception.

I'd say it was a successful trip all around ;)

#Godblessblogging

Ding Dong

Sorry for the blog absence but when it's your birthday and you are in the midst of carrying out the biggest surprise you've ever been a part of, I say it's allowed ;)

Because not much sleep has happened the last few days, I'll be back tomorrow with a full recap but for now here is a teaser.

Kait and I had been planning to surprise Casey for New Years for about 2 1/2 months now and finally were able to carry it out on Monday.

And it was THE BEST THING EVER.

Video evidence below...warning, there is a lot of screaming and jumping in that video.

(I'll spare you the longer, even more screaming version ;) )

Come back tomorrow for all the details and a million pictures of the dogs.

Happy New Year everyone!!