NOVEMBER?! Where the heck did you come from?!

So...here we are...November!

November third!

When and how, exactly, this this year fly by?!

Wow.....

Well...anyway....

This weekend was amazing.....

First...

Thursday was my 28th birthday. Pretty crazy in and of itself. Twenty-eight?! When did I get old enough to be twenty-eight?!

Jeremy got me the most thoughtful and awesome gifts ever...a pair of cute yoga-y capri length pants from the Augustana bookstore (he picked them out and purchased them when we were there for Augie's homecoming earlier in October. I love them! I was surprised :). I love his ability to pick out clothing-type items for me :)), a new rechargable battery and battery charger for my camera (he had gotten me the camera three years ago as a wedding gift...and within the past two months it crapped out. Turns out it just needed a new rechargable battery :)), and an iPod adapter for my car! I need to still make an appointment to have it installed (it is the awesome hooks-directly-into-your-stereo-with-a-legitimate-cord kind of iPod adapter, not just the kind you plug into your cd player and tune to a radio station! I'm excited!). Thoughtful, awesome gifts! Little did I know...but the best, most thoughtful gift was still to come later that weekend :).

Jeremy and I went out to Famous Dave's for dinner on Thursday (my choice :). I was super-craving a baked potato loaded with lots o' calories in the form of butter/sour cream/cheese, as well as a ceasar salad).

Friday night I went to a friend and co-worker's home (Kristin) for a get-together of speech therapists. It was great! I do love those girls :). Lots of snacks, some wine, and hours of chatting :). Very nice unwinding time :).

Saturday...we had plans (OR SO I THOUGHT!) to go out to dinner to one of my favorite restaurants with awesome GF options, Firehouse Pizza in Normal. We were meeting (again, so I thought) my friends Jillian/Lynden and Jamie/Steve.

Turns out Jeremy had a huge surprise party planned :).

It was...amazing.

Amazing doesn't really even fittingly describe how I felt that evening, though :).

Counting myself, there were 22 of us there. I posted a picture on my nerdy Thankfulness blog

Going around the table, let's see....we had:

Jen and Matt and baby Jackson...all the way from Fenton (3ish hours away).

My sister Megan and her husband Danny.....all the way from Davenport (2.5ish hours away...they actually met up with and rode with Jen/Matt/Jackson)

My grad school roommate, Brooke and her husband Jamie...all the way from Rockford (2ish hours away...AND they spent the night with us!!!! :) :) What an awesome surprise!!!).

Jon (my brother-in-law, Jeremy's older brother. Jon lives here in town :) ).

Aaron and Katie...all the way from Eldridge (2.5ish hours away!)

Dan and Laura...Dan came all the way from Purdue (2ish hours away) with his brand-new 2010 Mustang GT! ;) Laura goes to Weslyan here in town :).

Chuck....who resides here in B-town :).

Lisa and Paul...who reside just outside of B-town.

Ashley and Jason...all the way from Peoria about an hour away.

Jillian and Lynden...now townies with us as well :).

and...

last but DEFINITELY not least! Jamie and Steve (also from here!).

WOWSA!
It was SUCH an amazingly fun night :). I want to be able to do it again every weekend!! :) :) :)
Maybe I'll post more about the party later, who knows ;).

Brooke and Jamie spent the night (I was SO excited...even though I was a bit stressed about the "surprise" guests since my house wasn't quite as clean as I would've liked for hosting out-of-town overnight guests!! ;)) and left the next morning a bit after noon. We hung out, ate a leisurely breakfast (I experimented and baked a new-to-me-recipe of raspberry muffins...which actually turned out really yummily :)...along with some cheesy scrambled eggs :) ), and then went to a scrapbooking store :).

Sunday night we had dinner at our friends', Josh and Laura's. It was an awesome weekend full of lots of fun and lots of friends! The kind of weekend I didn't want to end. The kind of weekend that flew by too quickly. But, what a great way to usher in the month of November!

And, here we are....soon Thanksgiving will be here! And after that...Christmas!! And...after THAT...baby McG will be here! My good friend Jillian's due date is December 30th! I am SO excited to meet "Mini McG" (as she refers to him on her blog).

Ah...life is good :).

Speaking of good...we had dinner tonight at Flat Top (I had a free stir-fry coupon for my birthday since I joined their e-mail club!) with our friends Jamie and Steve. It was a great, impromptu dinner. Jamie and I were both leaving work around 6:30 and I suggested that she and Steve go out to dinner with Jeremy and myself! Jamie also happens to have a birthday next week...so she also had a free birthday stir-fry e-mail to use as well :). We had a yummy dinner and lots of silly, fun conversations (par for the course whenever Jeremy is around ;). HA! ;)). It was a great night.

So thankful for all of the amazing people in my life :). I'm definitely lucky/blessed.

:)

*Have a joyful day, all*