Today, we had some very low-key plans for my 30th Birthday; Ray had a late meeting, we have a show opening on Wednesday and the weather today was cold, windy and very rainy, so nothing big sounded good to me. Ray and I had made tentative plans for a Movie-Marcos-Monday to see Sherlock Holmes, and Jen had the day off, so the plan was she would join us. As a birthday treat, Jen came and picked me up after work and treated me to a manicure downtown. We were sort of biding our time, as we weren't sure when Ray would get out of his meeting. We window shopped, had a drink at VPB and by this time Ray called. His meeting had run very late, so we headed straight to the theatre to meet him.
Little did I know what was waiting for me....
Ray, along with help from Tonya, Jami, Danielle, Sarah and Jay had organized a 30th Birthday Extravaganza! When Jen and I arrived at the theatre, Ray was waiting for us in the lobby. We were going to be late for the movie, so he ushered us in, without even a stop for some popcorn (I was hungry... we hadn't eaten dinner yet...) and I was greeted by a room full of friends and family!
Ray had rented out the ENTIRE theatre for the party! Shocked doesn't do justice to how I felt! I was completely overwhelmed, so touched and I think I burst into tears almost immediately! My parents had come up for the surprise, as had two of my childhood friends, Dave and Janette!
Actually, there was a moment after I walked into the theatre and I saw the back of Dave's head. Dave lives 3 hours away, but I thought to myself "that looks like Dave... but it couldn't be"... but it turns out it was!
Ray and team did an AMAZING job!!! There was a slide show of photos and Corinn-related-trivia up on the big screen while everyone waited for me to arrive! Ray had pulled music from my iPod to play in the theatre and he had been grilling me the week before asking what my favorite movies were! It turns out he had rented an assortment of my favorite 80's movies (including The Muppets Take Manhattan) for us to watch on the big screen. After the pizza arrived (from Marco's, of course), we cut the cake - full of my favorite movie theatre candy - Reese's Pieces! I opened presents, and then there was a door prize drawing!
Sarah and Jay had put together a basket of "Corinn's Favorite Things"! It was full of Diet Coke, Reese's Pieces, Dark Chocolate, a calendar featuring The Office, Lady Gray Tea and a Dallas Cowboys Football! Everyone who was in attendance had put a ticket in, and I drew the winning name - Jen, who had spent the afternoon with me! :o)
Then we all settled in to watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, my favorite, probably because of Sean Connery!
It was a truly amazing, overwhelming and absolutely fantastic birthday! I cannot thank Ray, Jami, Tonya, Danielle, Sarah and Jay enough for all the time, thought and effort that went into absolutely every detail in planning this party! It was so wonderful and I can't thank everyone enough! This is the best way to start off a new decade - the 30's are gonna be great!