Last Thursday, unbeknownst to just about everyone (with the exception of Gerrick’s roommate Christine and our gorgeous pal Danny), Greene Bean and I hopped on a plane from LAX and headed to Dallas to surprise Gerrick for her birthday.
I should admit right off the bat that I was a nervous wreck. Jacob suggested I take a Xanax on the plane – I should have taken his advice because I was freaking out – couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, was too nervous that the surprise was going to be ruined! (I had been planning this with Christine for months – I booked my ticket way back in September! For the past month every time I spoke to Gerr on the phone she would yell at me for missing her birthday. I lied and told her I had a work commitment, and created a completely elaborate story involving my broken cell phone – I knew she’d call and my phone would be off.)
Anyways, it was all worth it – when she opened the door and saw us standing there, she COMPLETELY FLIPPED OUT. She started screaming and crying and for the next forty five minutes, and could only say “I can’t believe y’all are here! I can’t believe y’all are here!” over and over to the point where I grabbed her and said “BELIEVE IT.”
(This is a link to the video of us surprising her. I really hope you can see it!) The surprise ended up being perfect, and so was the weekend! We did tons of fun stuff, and of course, I was dying over the food. You all have NO idea how much I love the way Southern people eat, and we went to some fabulous places.
Friday we had lunch at this yummy BBQ place Sonny Bryan’s. I was clearly all about the sausage – no joke intended. I LIVE for tubular meats. Then we all headed over to the Gaylord Texan Hotel to see the Ice Winter Wonderland. It was amazing! We got to go down slides made completely of ice, and they gave us these huge coats to wear because indoors it was EIGHT degrees.
I may or may not have reenacted the nativity scene and starred as baby Jesus Christ. Don’t worry, none of my Christian friends were offended – I made them star as Mary and Joseph.
Of course, none of this compares to what happened next – when I met SANTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my god, I was flipping out. He was SO NICE and he asked me if I had been naughty or nice. My response? “Honestly, Santa? Medium.”
On Saturday, we had lunch at Babe’s Fried Chicken. I am still dreaming about their honey mustard. We had one more surprise for Gerrick – once we all got back in the car, we threw a blindfold on her and drove her to the roller skating rink, where everyone else was there for a surprise 80s-themed roller skating party! I totally rocked it out in hot pink leggings and the world’s biggest bow headband. And trust me, you have not lived til you’ve seen me on roller skates.
Saturday night (after I had stuffed my face with Chickfila and was taking shots with a sweet tea chaser) was the big birthday bash, as Gerr was finally turning 25 at midnight. We spent the night at a bar called BlackFinn and had a fabulous time drinking and dancing – special shout out to Daniel Conroy, whose moves are OUT OF THIS WORLD.
Sunday we headed over to Gerr’s mom’s house for a Hanukkah/birthday brunch, which was lovely. Then, Greene’s sister Amy (who I call Original Greene Bean, who we also surprised in Dallas!) came and took us to the airport :( I was sad to leave. I love Texas.
All in all it was such a fun weekend. I’m so glad the surprise worked! And now that it’s over, I have about six months before Gerrick starts talking about her NEXT birthday….
Jordan- I just want you to know that I have wanted to read your blog for a while (I think Jacob told me you had a new one or something) and now that I am on winter break and I had time- I just sat down and read the whole thing! I loved it! and will now be receiving the Zoe report as well... Hope all is well!
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