The Best Birthday Ever

this past week was my 30th birthday. wowser. i have to admit, i was not at all concerned about turning 30. just didn't seem like a big deal to me. my actual birthday was really sweet-all the well wishes, sweet cards and great gifts (yup, i'm saying it. i like getting gifts.). friday was what i was really looking forward to. eric was coming into town and all my friends here were going to meet me out at a bar close to our house. fun! so eric came into town and we had fun that day-eating lunch, getting pedicures, getting my hair done and having a cocktail. i went home, got ready and lp took me to where we were all going to dinner for the night so we could have a drink before dinner. as we sat there, he told me "eric and i have one more surprise for you" which i thought would be like a cupcake or something. wrong. it was our other best friend kristen!!!! they had all conspired to surprise me by having kristen come in without me having any idea. i started crying. apparently that's what i do when i'm 30. it was absolutely the best surprise i've ever had. after having a drink, we went down for dinner at marvin! great mussels (or if you're kristen, chicken and waffles).

birthday girl

my favorite people in the world

my sweeties

after dinner, we headed to the bar to meet up with everyone else. i had picked up some party hats for the occasion. one of my better ideas.

jj and me, ready for fun

stacey, bob, pete and chris-note the hats

pete loved his house

even chris took a break from law school to come out for my birthday! i feel so special.

eileen made me some sweet glasses- "birthday broad"

yea, i also bought those party blower things too.

the bar let us hook up our ipod so of course my party turned into a dance party. just the way it should.

birthday broad

just dancin'

i had to take a break. kristen gave me a pep talk to get back in the groove.

bob and i are gangsta'

booty shakin'

blair has a couple of these shots floating around

we decided to head to another place where there was live music so we could do some more dancing. eric, kristen, lp, blair, chris and perry and i all headed out, where more dancing was done and somehow a bottle of veuve was ordered- and drank out of plastic cups.

just peeking in the shot here

the next day, lp, eric, kristen and i headed over to brunch at tabard inn. tasty. from there, we went to the jefferson memorial to check out old jefferson. thankfully, both eric and kristen had been to dc before, so after the memorial, we decided to head down to the water to hang out for a little while. after hanging out, kristen and i did some light shopping and then we all went to get ready for dinner. that night we went to cava, which has tasty greek food!
after dinner, we wandered around and went to a few places to hang out for the night. the next morning, i decided that we should go to maryland for crabs! eric, kristen and blair had never been, so i piled everyone in the car and we headed out to annapolis to eat some crabs!

eric getting his crab on!

blair was really good at getting the crab meat.

lp's contribution was building this hammer tower.

that night, kristen, eric and i went to the w rooftop where there is a great view of the city and had a few drinks. it was honestly the best birthday i've had yet. i've never felt so loved and cared for and am so thankful for all of the sweet and caring people in my life.