February is Liz's Birthday Month, pt. 1

February 3: Now… as everything was coming together for our house purchase (quickly and smoothly, I might add) I was also preparing for Liz’s big birthday AND the accompanying bevy of secrets and surprises lined up for the celebration. One of the first things Liz did when our offer was accepted was pack up our guest bedroom bedding and linens which, ok, that’s fine BUT I had two surprise guests coming out for the party! So on the Tuesday before her birthday I took a sneaky solo trip to the Gardner residence to pick up some bedding that they and Anne leant me.

February 4: Final walkthrough of our new place to be. Everything looks pretty good!

February 5: It’s Liz’s birthday! An atmospheric drive into work and then after work I dress up the party house for the celebration.

Now, the Big Surprise of the party was that Liz’s friends Tawna and Jese had flown out to celebrate with us. Liz came into the party and greeted her assembled guests but when she saw Tawna and Jesi just standing around all casual like your normal party goer Liz just said “No! No! No!” And the partying kept on partying, thanks to assembled friends and family and an excess of Jets Pizza.

February 6: After Liz’s Big Day, another big day! We sign on our house and start owning it! First things first: pancakes at Mercury Diner.

And then we go sign a stack of papers and the house is OURS!

Big shout to to Jesi for her endless support during our visit and always helping with a project or finding a project. Here we are, the day almost done, making a stop at Home Depot to find replacement locks for all our doors, which she would install the next day.

February 7: And speaking of the Next Day…we wake up on Saturday and it’s moving day number one. Today’s project: Boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes!

We couldn’t have done it without the mob of helpers who showed up, of which I barely got any pictures at all (because we were working!)…but the team got the truck loaded in about an hour. Wish I had a picture of all the boxes filling the old house, but, actually, kinda glad to forget what it looked like, too.

Unpacking at the New Place was a little bit more work but we did it and Jesi got so many locks installed before having to zip off to her flight and Tawna was able to stop by for a group photo.

And with all those goings on going on that Saturday, would you believe that that night Liz still played a gig? She sure did!

February 10 & 11: Two days of calm. Waking up at the old house. Dropping things off at the new house. Making special guest appearances at the Bridgeway recital. This is the calm before the storm that would be Liz’s Surprise Birthday Trip!