that one time I lied to my husband for weeks on end...{surprise!}

I've been a sneaky wife lately. Text messages set to private, running mystery errands after work, lying about what I was doing. But last night, it all paid off.

See, today is Alex's 30th Birthday, and I wanted to do something special for the milestone. So I threw him one awesome surprise party with a very manly theme: a beer tasting contest.

Saturday night, we were "going to dinner" (or so Alex thought) to celebrate his birthday a little early with his parents. Alex was out of the house almost all day playing golf with his dad, allowing me plenty of time to cook, clean and get everything set for the par-tay!

When he got home from the golf course, about 20 of his closest friends were waiting for him in our living room. He was shocked! SURPRISE!

The tasting contest: very serious business.  

It was pretty simple, really: I mailed the invites with our Christmas cards. I asked everyone to bring a 6-pack of their fave obscure beer for a tasting contest. And I asked everyone to keep it a secret so we could surprise the birthday boy. And no one slipped! Amazing!

The tasting contest was TONS of fun: we had some pretty random beer in the mix! Everyone tasted the varieties using shot glasses (err, "tasting glasses," if you will) and wrote down their top 2 choices. The winner got a prize of a 6-pack and an iTunes gift card. Plus, there was tons of man food - lots of Alex's favorite things like Chick-Fil-A nuggets, BBQ sliders, and pigs in a blanket - to fill everyone up.

Beer, anyone?

A special shout out to all our friends and our parents for helping make the party so special and pull off the surprise. We even had friends come from Atlanta, Columbia and Charleston to celebrate with Alex and it meant so much to him (and to me!). The night was a huge success and I think we really surprised him! (And BOY am I glad I don't have to be sneaky anymore!! I really did not enjoy that part!)

With the surprised birthday boy!

Happy, happy birthday to my sweet, funny, silly, handsome, smart, affectionate, and adoring husband. I love you SO much and I can't wait to see what the next 30 years brings! Cheers!