"Let's buy red lipstick and neon hats for the world."

Right after school Mary Ellen picked me up and we started the drive to Chicago. It's Sarah Briggs birthday and Ben, her boyfriend, organized a surprise birthday party for her. Obviously we couldn't pass that up. So we drove listening to songs of the summer and wrote down memories with Sar for one of her presents and told stories of our lives and got some Chick Fil A and took a little accidental detour in the city and finally arrived to Mal's apartment. 

Sar and Ben had actually already arrived and been surprised by all the other friends there. She thought the surprises were over when we walked in the door. It was a great reaction. Sar just stared at us and kept saying "How is this possible?" and hugged us and was in shock. Mary Ellen and I couldn't stop beaming we were just so happy to have all three of us there. Sar moved to the city over a year ago and this is the first time all three of us have been together in Chicago.

All of her Chicago friends did such a good job of throwing a celebration for her 23rd year. We sang Happy Birthday and blew out the candles on the cupcakes--the beautiful, delicious, pastel cupcakes.

We had a feast of cupcakes, chocolate covered strawberries and Katherine's S'mores bars. I met Katherine last Spring when I visited Sar and it was so fun to get to hang out with her again. She's been reading Overlap so she knew all about camp and we decided she would fit in perfectly with her bright green sweater and pink pants.

We played Fishbowl and Team Bring It won. Holla. They set up a photo booth and it was fun trying to do a different pose for each of the four rapid fire takes.

Kevin, Ben, Benny and Steven attempted their poses multiple times to get it just perfect.

I just really loved getting to be around Sar. During camp I go into a hiatus from the real world, so we've only had a few phone calls and letters over the past two months and May was the last time we actually saw each other. She just gets me and I love how our friendship works.

When I think about how friends should treat each other, how they should support and encourage each other two of the first people that come to mind are Sar and Mary Ellen. They've taught me so much in the three years I've known them and I love that even when we're far away our friendship is just as strong because we know it's worth it.

We played Just Dance 2 late into the night and laughed while everyone tried to master the moves of Kriss Kross and Kesha. Eventually we headed back to Sar's new apartment for a grand tour. She opened her present of all her favorite things before we headed to bed. Mary Ellen tried to get us all to sleep squeezed together in one bed but we opted for a blow up mattress.

Beyond thrilled that we have the whole weekend to play together.