Happy Birthday Joanna!

Today is my good friends birthday! Joanna is not a person who likes much attention given to her (sorry Joanna for me dedicating this post to you), which is really hard for me to accept sometimes.

For her birthday, I wanted to throw her a party or go out to dinner with friends, but Joanna, being the modest girl that she is, didn't want anything done for her. So, wanting to make her happy, I told her that her birthday present from me was not doing anything at all. What a great gift huh?

Well, it didn't quite work out as she wanted, but I did try to considerate.

Last night our husbands went to the NBA draft, leaving Joanna and I home. We wanted to do something to keep ourselves company during the evening. What a perfect opportunity to celebrate her birthday! It all worked out too perfectly.

I quickly called our friend Angie, to see if she was available to have a very small and quaint celebration, and she was! It all worked out perfectly.

Joanna came over to my house thinking we were going to spend the night in watching a chick flick. However, when she arrived at my house it was not just me that greeted her with a loud "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, but Angie as well!

We surprised her with a grim reaper birthday banner and a "Choose your own adventure" birthday. She had the choice of:

1. Getting a cupcake at Crumbs
2. Getting a shake at Shake Shack
3. Getting a cupcake at Sprinkles
4. Or staying in an watching a movie

Joanna chose option #3...Sprinkles. I was excited since this new shop is all the buzz and I had never been there.

Once we arrived at Sprinkles the next hard part was deciding on a flavor. They all looked so good. We decided to get 4 different flavors and split them, since we couldn't decide.

We "just happened" to have birthday candles and a lighter in my purse, so we quickly (very quickly) sang happy birthday as Joanna blew out her candle on her cupcake.

For Joanna's birthday, I was very sneaky and looked at her Pinterest boards, and got her a print from Etsy that she pinned as "Products to buy." Just another reason to love Pinterest. It was so nice because I didn't have to worry about Joanna not liking her gift, only worrying that I didn't beat her to the punch and already bought it. Luckily, I did beat her to the punch, and she hadn't purchased it yet.

Although, Joanna doesn't like surprises, I hoped she liked this low key surprise for her birthday. When I first met Joanna I was convinced that she hated me (more here). I am so glad that I eventual "grew" on her and that we were able to become such good friends and have been able to experience such exciting times in our lives together. Joanna is the most "real" person I have ever met and I admire and appreciate her loyalty and trustworthy nature. I am so glad that I can call her my friend.

Happy Birthday Joanna!