Two months of planning… and it WORKED! 🙂 I have to admit, I am not the best at keeping secrets or hiding anyyyything… so this surprise birthday weekend was a HUGE success.
About two months ago, I received an email from Stacie, Lisa (my BFF)’s other BFF about meeting up in NY to surprise Lisa for her birthday. Welp, you don’t have to ask me twice. After running the weekend by her husband, Kevin, and getting the official OK – plans were in the WORKS. Since Kevin is a NY police officer and works nights (and needs to sleep during the day), we needed to reinforcements to help us steal her away for the day. Kevin enlisted her in-laws to take care of their two little munchkins (4 and 2) so that we could give her a weekend full of relaxation and girls time. Reservations were made. Plans were coordinated. My plane ticket was booked. This was happening!!!
Since my flight didn’t arrive till close to 9pm on a Friday night and we knew Lisa was going to be alone with the kiddos (and more than likely in BED), we decided to keep it relatively low key when it came to the actual surprise. The logistics of what/where weren’t figured out until Stacie picked me up from the airport. We formulated our plan through our crazy excitement… we could barely talk about anything else.  Based on her hubs advice, we decided texting her a picture of us near their home was the best way not to scare her to death/wake the kiddos/set the dogs off.
So just after 9pm, we pulled up to her street corner/street signs, snapped a picture of us holding some wine/champs and sat in the car outside their house… waiting. Stacie sent a group text to Lisa and I asking if she was ready for the weekend…. and after what felt like 45 minutes of no response (okay… 5 minutes), we assumed she didn’t have her phone near her (or EEK.. she had fallen asleep). Slightly panicked she had passed out early, we had Kevin give her a call and see what she was up to. Fortunately, she answered and Kevin was able to report back. Shortly after that, we got a response and hit her with the photo and wrote… “No… REALLY… Are you ready for your birthday weekend?!?!” I wish I could have seen her face when she realized we were outside… but her reaction when she came running outside made the weekend. A mix of shock, tears and happiness – she hugged us both super tight and just kept repeating “what are you doiiing here?!” Best.Feeling.Ever.
So with that “Operation: Surprise Lisa” worked and we were off. It was an amazing weekend filled with wine, spa-filled goodness, water-front-eating and BBQ’ing good times. Happy Birthday, CHAPPY!!!!
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