SURPRISE

It's not easy pulling off a surprise party, but I did it (HA!). Mom turned 70 on Saturday and for months I had been planning, conniving, conceiving of a plot to lure my mother into a major surprise. It took coaxing and cajoling of my step-father who insisted we'd never be able to pull this off.

Thankfully, he was wrong.

I invited family and our closest family friends to join us in our now newly renovated back yard, which john toiled over for the last month. Having busted the budget a while ago, we no longer had the luxury to "just throw money at it" so John put in some long back-breaking days (with the help of a crew of some Guatemalan men from the Fruitvale District. So, maybe a little money was thrown at it, but John did a ton of work and it really paid off.

We hired Picante to cater, and our standby Joyce helped bartend and clean up. She's a dream.

In the end we had a successful party for 40, with around 100 cupcakes that I baked after weeks of testing. I think they turned out well, but I know the party did - YEAH!