the time i surprised my best friend by showing up at her wedding shower

My best friend Amanda (who wrote a fantastic guest post awhile ago, meditating on the stresses of adult life) is getting married next month.  I get to officiate!  How fun, and what a perk it is, to get to join so many of my friends in matrimony with one another.  I also got to marry Amanda's brother and his wife almost five years ago - the first wedding I did!

Amanda still lives in New York City, where we met and forged our very strong connection at Columbia.  I love visiting her there, and still manage to make it just about every year.  Vicki Jo hasn't been yet . . . but soon!  We might have to wait until our imaginary RV shows up because I wouldn't subject an airplane to her for the next several years.  Traveling with newborns > traveling with toddlers.

So anyway, back to Amanda.  Her sister-in-law, sister, and other friends invited me to her bridal shower in New York on February 24.  It's no secret that money has been tight for our family, and I reluctantly declined the invitation, knowing that two flights to New York within a month just wasn't in the cards for our budget.  One of my great budgetary sadnesses has been the many weddings and other events that we have had to skip because we just don't have the funds to cover the trips.

But then . . . but then!  An amazing friend who shall remain nameless (okay it's Audrey!) emailed me and offered to buy me a flight up for the shower.  I could surprise Amanda, and make the shower all that much more special!  Audrey and her husband Hal have been such kind and generous friends to me and to Jeff, always offering rides and help when we come to visit in the city.

So we booked the flight, I bought some spatulas off their registry at Williams-Sonoma, and away I flew on Saturday morning.  I'm glad I'm not pregnant enough yet to have this be a big issue.  Flying up for the wedding in three more weeks is going to be another story, I'm afraid . . . but it will still be fun!

Okay, photos.  Here is the grand surprise!  Amanda was having the makeup trial for her wedding at Saks 5th Avenue . . . it was fun for us to guess which counter she might be at.

She was totally shocked.  It was great!  (And I was right:  it was MAC.)

And it was a great little solo vacation for me.  Thanks to my husband, I got a chance to run free and wild (okay hobble around the city like a woman 30 weeks pregnant) for a few days before settling down with a newborn again.  It was really refreshing.