Successful surprise!

Randi’s Surprise 25th Birthday Party

As many people reading this will already know – because you were there! – last Saturday was Randi’s surprise 25th birthday party at Carnivale. It had been a stressful two months of constant lying, but everything paid off and it was a completely wonderful evening. There are way too many photos to include here, but obviously a huge thank you to the many, many people who came to celebrate with us or sent videos for my (excessively long) video montage. And special thank yous to:

  • Georgelle, who flew in from New York just for the party, and then stayed up chatting on our sofa until 2am before turning around and getting a super-early flight back.
  • Randi’s parents, who came from California and hung around Chicago sneakily all Saturday.
  • Catherine and AJ, for helping me to organise everything including the venue, food, balloons and emotional support when Randi didn’t understand why we didn’t care about her birthday.
  • Todd for running a traditional Todd Trivia session!
  • Carnivale for being awesome to organise with. And for including those chocolate cannoli. (Amusing moment: when I first visited, the event organiser apologised for the delay in getting back to me, as “we’ve just been so busy with the NRA in town this week”. I was concerned, before she clarified it was the National Restaurant Association.)
  • Jake at Friends First Photographyย for taking the beautiful photos below. Even though we weren’t a wedding.
Successful surprise!

Successful surprise!

Catherine, AJ, Randi, Taylor and Billy

Catherine, AJ, Randi, Taylor and Billy

Georgelle is a hero and flew in from New York

Georgelle is a hero and flew in from New York

Side-note: the carrot cake in the background was delicious

Side-note: the carrot cake in the background was delicious

Todd adjudicates his trivia

Todd adjudicates his trivia

Randi's parents

Randi’s parents

"Randi, you're short enough to just go in front"

“Randi, you’re short enough to just go in front”

Team flatmates!

Team flatmates!

On Randi’s birthday itself we went to a fundraiser with sloths, and then after the party Randi’s parents stayed in town for the next couple of days, which was lovely. Now I’m largely exhausted and happy to spend an atypical Memorial Day long weekend travelling nowhere and discovering no new states. Last night, however, I did venture out to Todd and Carolyn’s to play Mario Kart with Marte IN WHICH I DID NOT COME LASTย (capitalised, bolded, and ready to flag to Amy and Ben) before seeing the new Star Wars film Solo.ย Which was totally fine, but not very wondrous. And as ever I have some questions about the economics of the Empire which I will spare you all.

Randi Lawrence, Katie Self, Natasha Self, Michaela McGill, Aaron TaylorMays, Catherine Tarsney, Amanda Schalk, Debra Cohen, Beth Dubowe-Lawrence, Mairi Nolan, Phyllis Lawrence, David Boss, Saujanya Gumidyala, Jonathan Jenkins, Jake Miller, Amory Wynn Richards, McKenna McConnell, Maria Dallow, Deborah Herrick, Sharon Dinkin, Helen Hudspith, Marcie Shelansky, Andy Regan, Jonah Freedman, Adam Lannonopolis liked this post.

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8 Comments on :
Randi’s Surprise 25th Birthday Party

  1. Cough cough Amy Banting Benjamin Yates. Skip to the final paragraph and observe my Mario Kart glory. Look how far Iโ€™ve come!

    1. Benjamin Yates on Facebook says:

      I like to think the many months of not-so-gentle ridicule had a small hand in this (half) victory. Triumph over adversity. Well done!

    2. I’m immensely proud, but it does make me wonder about Marte’s ability….

  2. ๐ŸŽˆ๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽŠ๐Ÿ›๐ŸŽˆ๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽŠ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’•happy quarter century xxxx

  3. The party was wonderful! Three cheers to Dom for orchestrating such a wonderful evening.

  4. Birthday greetings to your gal-pal Randi๐ŸŽ‚๐Ÿ˜ธ๐Ÿ˜Ž

  5. Looks like a fab party Dominic, very well done. Such gorgeous pictures and the cake looks delicious. What smiling faces. XX

  6. Jackie Freedman says:

    You did it!! Guess it was a huge surprise. Fun. Happy Birthday, Randi and good relaxing, Dom.
    Jackie F.

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