Happy 30th Birthday Sistercat!

My sister Jamie turns 30 today.  We had a surprise birthday party for her last Saturday.  I picked her up at her house a little before 9 am to take her out to breakfast for her birthday.  We had breakfast at one of my favorite places, Downtowner Woodfire Grill in St. Paul.  After, we went out to Opitz Outlet in St. Louis Park, a place that both of us really wanted to go to.  It turned out to be a bust.  Despite being an outlet, a lot of the designer clothes/purses/jewelry still had designer prices.  We ended up going to a store in West St. Paul.  Little did she know, we were on a tight time schedule.  We had somewhere to be at 12:15 pm.  This was the plan: Dana gets Jamie out of the house early enough where her husband Tom can get everything set, organized and prepared. Michael calls Dana at 10:30 "reminding" her that he is doing a motorcycle ride at the VFW (not really) and wants her and Jamie to meet him at the VFW for a quick drink before going back to Jamie's house to get ready for a BBQ that their cousin Chris is having at 2:30. (again, not really) Jamie agrees to meet Michael at the VFW and then calls Tom to tell him.  That's when Tom tells her that he is already down at the VFW picking up some tacos for his mom.  Jamie thinks this is a huge coincidence and tells Tom that Michael is also there!  We arrive at the VFW at 12:15, only for Jamie to have her family and friends yell, SURPRISE!!!! as she walks through the door and around the corner.  

Jamie is shocked and then asks me if I knew about this?  Knew about it??  I created the deterrent plan, the invitations and bought the decorations! I thought it was funny that she still didn't realize that the BBQ at Chris's house was not happening later that day.  After we told her all of the details of everything, she started to realize the correlation of all the stories and plans. The plan went off without a hitch.  It was perfect.  She was happy to see a good mix of her friends and family there.  We celebrated there for a hour or two and then went back to their house for a BBQ and cake.  

This is the only picture I have of her walking in.  I am off to the side laughing because she was shocked!

There were meat raffles going on through out the day.  I think 5 of us in our group won the raffles.  I won and this is what I picked.  Yum! Only the best for me!

On Tuesday, I took Jamie out for all-you-can-eat (AYCE) sushi at Akita in Woodbury.  I went here for Kristi's birthday in February and from that day, I made plans with Jamie to take her there.  It was great.  I didn't force myself into a sushi coma by eating too much so that was good. We tried many different kinds of sushi, sashimi, tempura and teriyaki.  You have to when it's AYCE! 

Jamie's not really that much taller than me.  I had flats on, she had heels.  That's my yellow car through the window in the prime parking spot.  I would come to find out when I got back out to my car that it was a handicap spot.  Hey, there was no posted sign and the painted wheelchair on the ground was almost gone!  Oops!

Happy 30th Birthday, Sistercat.  We all love you.  

P.S. Jamie, we'll get your shoes soon!