Last Saturday night Jess had an epic 30th birthday party in the American Legion Bucktown’s basement with Rory Lake hosting as entertainer and karaoke DJ. You might remember Margaret had a fewparties like this before moving to New York. I found Jess’s party extra fun becuase I lost some of my karaoke shyness over the past year or so because of all the singing I’ve done playing Rock Band. Rock Band and the $2 cans of beer they sell at the Legion!
Jess’s older sisters came in from Boston and Iowa for the party and made sure the Legion hall was decorated with embarassing (and adorable) old photos of Jessica. Some of her old friends from college flew in too. It was a good showing of all of her friends. Dallas and I were the party photographers and tried to get at least one shot of everyone there. We took a ton of photos so I just made this slideshow below. Fun fun fun night! Will be hard to top that one!
Over the summer, Paul Baker and Kate bought a condo in a high rise on Lake Shore Drive. On Saturday, they had a Housewarming/Halloween party. We were not required to dress up to attend the party. About half did and half didn’t. Paul and Kate did.
Kate and Paul, Lakeview East, Chicago
Paul is a jester and Kate is a killer bee. The knife is actually part of her costume, even though in this photo Paul is holding it.
Conan, their cat, chose not to dress up. He was looking very debonair and was very social during the party.
Conan, Lakeview East, Chicago
Dallas used to live in the building next to the one Paul and Kate live in, but I’d never been to a high rise on Lake Shore Drive. The views were amazing.
Paul and Kate have a great home with beautiful views, and know how to throw a really fun party! Did I mention they got Portillo’s to cater? So yummy. Congratualations Paul and Kate (not plus 8)!
On Sunday Dallas and I planned to spend the day together. In the morning we didn’t really do anything. Just hung around the house, picked up a little bit. At about noon we left. He was going to help me get an iPhone for my birthday so we went to the AT&T store and then to a few other store in the shopping center.. Game Stop, Bath & Body Works.. nothing crazy. We stopped for a quick bite at Taco Bell (secretly love!) and then bought some groceries at Dominick’s. I was having a good time just doing nothing and hanging out with Dallas. We don’t often run these kinds of errands together or go shopping together. I remember commenting about it and how it was nice. Little did I know, we were just killing time while people assembled at our house. I thought the plan was to run these errands, go home and chill for a while, then go to a movie. But when we got home I opened the door, and SURPRISE!
There were about 15 people standing in our living room when I opened the door. I remember being so in shock. Dallas and I were just discussing what movie to see as we pulled into the garage! I couldn’t even take it all in. Everyone yelling “SURPRISE!,” Cory was standing on a chair taking my photo. A few people had never been to our place and I remember thinking that I hadn’t cleaned. And there was a cake with candles on the counter. This was running through my head instantly that first second. I didn’t even know what to do. SHOCK. 30 minutes later my hands were still a little shaky, my heart beating a little fast. Get me a beer – STAT!
Dallas is pretty laid back and “no nonsense” about birthdays and holidays. He doesn’t really care if a gift is given or a celebration is held right on the day. He doesn’t really plan ahead, what he wants to get or do. When it’s my birthday or Christmas, I’ll tell him what I want and he’ll go buy it, or we’ll go together and he’ll pay for it. With restaurants or parties, I usually say where I want to go, or what I want to do, then we do it. I’ve gotten pretty used to this over the last 5 years. I think this was half the shock. How did he manage to actually PLAN something, prepare everything ahead of time, and not only that, pull it off. I honestly had NO IDEA anything was going on. Of course, in hindsight I put two and two together on a lot of things…. why are you texting so much while driving? Why do we have to buy all this cream at Dominick’s? Things that didn’t seem odd when they happened but when you added them all up…
To plan for this, Dallas had secret lunches with Jess to talk about details and to give her keys. That Friday when he was just hanging out with Danny? They slow cooked 14 pounds of pork in the smoker to make pulled pork for the party. Danny also made a cold corn soup that was to die for. That pulled pork was gone lickity split. 14 pounds! It was soooo delicious. And Jess made me a birthday cake. Probably the first birthday cake that I’ve had in … I don’t know? A decade? Did I mention the cake was double chocolate Kahlua? The bar has been knocked up so high, I don’t know how we’re ever going to top this dinner!
Killian took these nice photos of me blowing out my candles. I was so happy I’d taken a shower that day. And dried my hair. And put on a trace of makeup. I didn’t get to jewelry or a nice outfit, but it could have been worse.
The party was great. We hung around inside. We hung out on the roof deck. It was nice out, not too hot, not too cold. We played cornhole all night. Our upstairs neighbors came down and made me do shots at their house. We played Rock Band later in the night. I hadn’t played Rock Band for so long and was having a great time doing it. Such an overwhelming day. Honestly, it felt like 3 am, but it was only 11 pm. Here’s a video of me dancing around holding a bottle of champagne and singing along to the song “Buddy Holly,” by Weezer. The video is kind of messed up because Danny was laying on the ground messing with my iPhone. Maybe also because we were all taking swigs directly from that bottle of champagne.
I had the best time and most of all it felt really great that everyone went through the extra trouble. For me! For my birthday. And I didn’t really lift a finger. I’m not used to that! It was so nice. I have the best friends and the best boyfriend! Thanks everyone for such a great day!
(Cory took more photos of the party. I’ll have to get them from her and post them later. It felt really weird that I was not the photographer for once!)
