The Outrageous "Office" 30th Birthday Party!

I love "The Office." It is easily my favorite show EVER. So what happens when you have a 30th birthday, a favorite show, and creative friends challenged by "bring it on"? You get an "Outrageous Office" Party!

I didn't know much about the evening. I knew when I was being picked up, where dinner was, and that it was an Office theme. I knew there would be MUCH more than that, but had no idea what. Was I in for a surprise!

I first met the group at Chili's, which is where Dunder Mifflin (the company from The Office) has their hang-outs. I was greeted by nearly 20 of my closest friends. I immediately had to tape a sign on my shirt that read, "it's my 30th birthday!"


My friend, Amanda, made up these business cards. They had a picture of me in my 80's outfit from a previous party, then there were different names on the cards: "Mrs. Zac Efron" (High School Musical), "Diehard Dallas Cowboy Fan," "Desperate Housewife of Collin County," "Russian Mail Order Bride," and "Paris Hilton's New BFF." Hilarious, until I was told I had to network by handing out the cards to other customers in Chili's. EMBARRASSING! But, I was forced. Julie videotaped the entire thing.

We had dinner, and afterwards Julie presented me with a "Dundee," the Office's version of an Oscar. Julie made it out of a Ken doll!


Giving my thanks for the award:


After dinner, we all went to Julie's house. Everyone (except me, of course!) was given a Performance Review Sheet. They were told to review me on four different tasks that I would complete that evening. All of the tasks were related to an Office episode. Here's Lauri, Leigh Ann, and Margaret with their sheets.


Task #1: Identifies post-it note terminology within certain time period (from Diversity Day). The group was split into two teams. I had a stack of post-it notes taped to my forehead. Each post-it note had an office related item on it (Xerox, receptionist, water cooler, etc.). I had to turn to a team, they would give me clues, and I had to guess the items. I was very quick on this one! :)


Task #2: Extracts self from box with only a dull pencil (season one episode). I could NOT believe this one! I had to get into this cardboard box, they taped it shut, and I had to get out with only a pencil. It was close quarters, but absolutely hysterical!!

"I really can't believe you're making me do this."


"But don't worry, because I'm already plotting my revenge!"


Amanda and Joy taping it up with an evil laugh.


Both hands peeking through!


Joy, Ashley, and Zoe rocking the box. It freaked me out just a bit!


I made it out! I think this task was nearly everyone's favorite!


Task #3: Demonstrates products creatively and coherently (pick and Office episode!). The group was divided into teams and given random office supplies with the instructions to create anything they wanted. I was taken into another room so I could not see, and when the teams were done, I had to guess what they made and give an impromptu sales pitch, infomercial style!

Joy and Stewart diligently working on their creation.


Team #1's creation: a helicopter that flies around the office dropping supplies.


Here I am trying to sell team #2's creation, a family.


Task #4: Removes stapler from Jello without using hands (an early Office episode). What? Wasn't the box enough? :) Oh no, of course not! I did this pretty quickly too, but it was sloppy!

Trying to figure out how to do this! Dwight the Bobblehead is watching closely!


Here goes....


Got it! :)


What do you have at an office? Donuts! So instead of cake, I blew out my candle from a Krispy Kreme donut!


I read aloud all of the evaluations, opened my cards, answered some fun questions and we all sat around talking for a long time. Julie has the entire evening video taped and is going to try to make my own Office episode. Just what I need, huh? :) It was the perfect evening. I had an absolute blast. I am so thankful and fortunate to have such fantastic friends, both who planned and came to the party. What a great way to start the 30s!



The group (minus Brandon and Cheri, and Jessica - click to make larger):


The Party Planning Committee - these girls are AMAZING!!! (Front - Julie, Joy, Back - Lauri, me, Amanda)


Thanks everyone! It is easily one of the most memorable birthdays ever! Thanks for making it so special! And Kristi, thanks for taking so many pictures! :)

Road Tripping to Kansas!

Amanda has been one of my dearest friends since I arrived here in Dallas. We met in a Bible study and our friendship grew out of a shared love for football, queso, and authentic conversation. In the same breath we can go from ridiculing the other's football team to dreaming about being stay-at-home moms together. She's one of those people you know without a shadow of doubt will be a life friend.

Last summer, Amanda was working briefly in Kansas, and on the way home from my summer in Iowa, we met in Kansas City for the weekend. You wouldn't believe the amount of fun we had unless you experienced it with us. While there, we ate at this place called Stroud's, which we fell in love with. There's three locations: two in Kansas City and one in Wichita. We joked that when she was back in Dallas we would take a road trip to Wichita just to eat at Strouds.

We took that road trip this weekend. Reminisce with me....

Saturday morning we left in Amanda's car with coffee to go and nothing stopping us. Conversation was nonstop as we headed up I-35 to Oklahoma City to make our first stop. Neither of us had seen the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial for the Murrah Building:



Someone had recommended that we visit the riverwalk area in downtown Oklahoma City, so we hopped a trolley and took it to Bricktown.



Bricktown is where the city made a canal through an old business district. It's now a hot spot with a plethora of restaurants (including Toby Keith's), shopping, and entertainment. Outside the baseball field, there's a statue of one of my grandpa's favorite baseball players - Mickey Mantle.



Of course, you can't go to a riverwalk without taking water taxi cruise....



After we finished at Bricktown, we went to a BBQ restaurant called County Line. It's one of Amanda's favorite places from growing up in Lubbock, but there's not a location in DFW. It was fantastic! We both had the #1 food NOT to have on a date - barbeque ribs!

Early in the evening we drove to Wichita, which was about two hours from OKC. We had noticed plenty of lightning while we were driving, but didn't think much of it. We checked into the hotel and then went to a mall. We noticed a few stores were closed, but others were open. Turns out we were in a tornado warning at the time, which we found ironic! The worst of the storm was in a different section of the county, so we weren't in danger, but we joked about getting red slippers. :) We also witnessed a theft - a guy running off with belts from a kiosk. Craziness!

Sunday we ate at the long-awaited Strouds for lunch and were not disappointed! It was definitely worth the drive. In Kansas City I also introduced Amanda to the clothing store, Maurices. I've known it forever, but it's not around in Dallas. She loved it, so we made a stop at FOUR Maurices - three in Wichita, one in Oklahoma City. I know, crazy! We're planning to make this trip a couple times a year!



The weekend could not have went any better! We kept saying how much fun we had. Silly spontaneity - a benefit of singleness! :)

A Full Happy Tank!

Can I just say, the last couple of weeks have just been amazing, refreshing, joyful, smiling, (insert any positive adjective). I'm just plain happy. I find myself smiling at random points of the day. I don't know what's gotten into me, but I love it! I haven't felt like this in a long time. After a rough year+ of various things, I feel like I'm becoming me again.

A list reflecting on the good things in life lately:

1. Admittedly, I had been thinking for the past few months of making a move to St. Louis to be closer to home. Very few people knew that because I didn't want to make a big deal out of it unless it was happening for sure. I had started looking into school districts and applying for jobs. But, I have decided not to move, at least this year. I realized things are going too well here and there's too many opportunities going for me. So, I'm here in Dallas to stay!

2. I know I've mentioned it before, and I can't tell you how much I love my job. It's a big reason I'm staying here. It's a perfect fit for me.

3. I'm going to grad school! I'm going to be getting my Master's in Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a literacy emphasis through the University of Texas - Arlington. That's a mouthful! :) I've been thinking about it for awhile and have decided it's time. The bonus is that my school district will pay for it! woo hoo! Disclaimer: going to a University of Texas system school in no way, shape or form makes me a Longhorn!

4. Without going into details, I got up the nerve to have a difficult conversation with someone this past week. While there was some sadness there, I can now get back on track to living a life glorifying to God, something I was having trouble doing the past year.

5. Friends - oh my, I think this is what has helped me smile the most. I went through a weird time last fall where I felt disconnected socially. Many of my closer friends were in different places, I left my long-time singles group at church because I didn't feel like I "fit" and I was finding myself lonely. This past month I have had such meaningful times with friends, whether it's a concert, girl time, conversations, and Sunday lunch. It's been a huge help!

6. Exercise - I'm now halfway through bootcamp and surviving! I've also successfully avoided fast food for two weeks now! While I'm not totally eating healthy yet, I'm making small changes one step at a time that will hopefully lead to bigger changes down the road.

Ran out of time! In the meantime, I'm :) :) :) :)