SURPRISED!

Saturday night Mark and Jackie, my two best friends, threw me a surprise 30th birthday party. Mark had me completely fooled - I honestly thought that he wasn't going to throw me a party because that's really not his style, so when his friend Bobby sent us an email asking us to go to dinner on Saturday night because he was in town, I didn't think anything of it. Plus, for the past couple of weeks Mark has been so busy finishing the basement that he even apologized that he just never got around to planning a party. (SNEAK!!)

We showed up at the Lowell Brewery and I saw Bobby standing there, and then all of a sudden I noticed Mark's friend Dave behind Bobby and thought to myself, what are Dave and Sarah doing here?? Then it just clicked - I "zoomed out" and saw about 50 of my friends and family all cheering!! Talk about SHOCK!!

Katy, Mark's sister Michelle and Jackie made this HUGE collage of pictures that they had and that Mark stole from my family albums. It was awesome (See picture below). The biggest surprise, though, was seeing my friend Meredith who lives in NYC now. I haven't seen her in MONTHS and when I saw her standing there, I freaked and started crying! I felt SO loved and had an absolutely wonderful time.

Mark was right when he said on the evite that what I wanted most in the world for my birthday was to be surrounded by all the people that I love. It was amazing and I would turn 30 every day of the week if it meant seeing all the people I love in one room! LOL!! THANKS to everyone who was in on the surprise and to everyone who came to my party... and SPECIAL thanks to Mark's parents who volunteered to stay home so they could watch Matt and Jillian. :)

Some pictures:
The collage:


Most of the group (some had left already):


My family (front: Mom, my sister's boyfriend Steve, Katy, me, Michelle (and future neice or nephew!!). Back: Dad, Mike and Chris (married to Michelle).


My friend Mere from NYC and Jackie:


Mark and his college roommates (Gregg, Jamie, Mike and Mark):