Surprise!

As many of you already know, I went into St. Louis this past weekend to celebrate my sister Jackie's 30th birthday with a party. Problem was - she didn't know about the party. Well, she did know there was a party, but she did not know it was a surprise party to celebrate her birthday and that her family and work friends would be there.... including me. The fact that she didn't know I would be there made things pretty interesting for my trip into town - and for planning my events.

I knew I wanted to come in early enough to beat the sun because I hate driving long distances at high speeds in the dark. My trip got me into town right about 4pm on Friday. I had been talking to Matt Stewart about hanging out, so we met at his house and had a few beers from his keg-o-rator... that thing is awesome! We were going to be meeting a few people up at Frankie G's to hang out that night, so I left to go to my mom's (where I was staying) to drop off my stuff and get ready to go out. The biggest hurdle here was that my niece and nephew were staying at my mom's because she was watching them while my sister and brother-in-law went to a wedding that night... Jeepers creepers! Since they were there and it was only about 7pm they were still awake, so they would have seen me had I walked into my mom's house conventionally - had they seen me, they certainly would have led on to my sister that I was there before she got to the party the next night. Instead I decided to sneak around the house and try to get someone's attention... luckily about that time my mom noticed my car in the driveway and slid away to call me on her cell. I told her I was right outside and needed to come in. She swept my little buddies away into her bedroom and I had free reign of the house for about 15 more minutes. That whole thing went off successfully and they did know I was there nor did they ruin the surprise. I made it up to Frankie's and met up with some old pals and shared some good times for the rest of the night.

The next day I didn't do much during the day. I watched HGTV all day and went all the way down to my old condo to pick up some stuff but didn't realize until I got there that I forgot the key... so I'll have to go down there next time, I guess - it doesn't seem like anyone else is ever going to live there, so I suppose I'm not in a rush. Anyway, I also ate a donut and some Jack-in-the-Box before getting ready for the party and heading out the door. On the way I stopped at O'Charley's to get my sister a gift card because I know she loves that place and we don't have them here for me to have gotten one before I left. Kristen laughed at me for getting her that because she thinks I should have gotten her something she can use for herself, but I knew this would make her happiest. We had the party and as I mentioned Jackie was pretty surprised. I need to toot my own horn and mention that she teared up a little when she saw I was there because she definitely wasn't expecting to see me and I am so awesome that she misses me so much! The crowd started disappearing at random times throughout the night, but the few of us party people left, including Jackie, closed the place down and then went home.

The next day (Sunday) I was on a mission to get out of town and back home, but had some things to tend to first. I had to go to my sister's house to help my brother-in-law look at some stuff for his house - so he needed my expertise. I also got to actually visit my niece and nephew since they were allowed to see me at this point - that was nice, they are so damn cute! I didn't get to see much of Jackie because she was "recovering"... haha! (By the way Jackie I left 2 Reese's Peanut Butter pumpkins in your freezer for the kids... whoops!) So...my uncle and cousins were at my grandma's, right down the street, so I stopped in there to make sure I said hey to them as well... My last stop was to have lunch with my buddy Todd who was a college classmate, softball buddy, and just all around good friend. We went to Hooters because that's where two guys go when they're trying not to look like they're on a date. We had HOT wings and they were delicious, so I got my fill of wings for a while (I had some the night before since the surprise party was at Show-Me's... I can explain why in more detail if you ask). Todd and I talked about all kinds of bullshit from softball to Chicago to work - he has taken a deep interest in my new business and I had a lot of particular information and experience to share with him. Nice time and looking forward to doing it again - including the same subject matter.

Then I drove home (half of the time in the dark, but it was fine, really). I watched a little football and fell asleep early because I was so damn tired from the weekend ('early' for me is before 11pm, btw). I think I am in town the weekend after Thanksgiving... FYI. Still trying to figure out how to squeeze in this 'Black Friday' football game around Kristen's work schedule...