Deb does Dallas (June 4-6)

Andrea and I decided to blow it out for Deb's 60th birthday. We both know how amazingly blessed we are to have Deb as our "God-chosen" mother, and we wanted to show her how much she means to us by taking a whole weekend and spoiling her rotten. Andrea & I got to fully reap the benefits as well. I wish I had more pics but here is the recap:
Friday night:

Deb & Andrea arrive. We all get dressed and she thinks we are going to dinner and a movie. As soon as we got in my car, we blindfolded Deb! It was hilarious. We told her she was on a need to know basis. We rolled down the windows, honked and shouted for people to look at the birthday girl. She was so embarrassed. It was greatness! She had no idea we had a PARTY waiting for her. We rented out the entire "Painting with a Twist" studio. One of Deb's passions is to paint and she's told us how much she wants to own a Painting with a Twist franchise. So we called up her best friend from first grade, family members and some of my friends, and put together an amazing evening. We had her very favorite birthday cake from childhood, a strawberry cake with strawberry icing (from Magnolia Bakery), pizza and more wine than anyone could handle.
When we arrived at Painting with a Twist, we left Deb in car and shouted, "sit and behave" while we frantically decorated and got everyone situated. We walked Deb in and took her blindfold off and she looked around and realized where we were and freaked out! Then, we spun her around and the whole group yelled, "SURPRISE!!!" It was perfect.
We chose the painting "Three Poppies" for a very specific purpose. The three poppies represented Deb, Andrea, and I. While in Italy, we were called the "Three Goddesses of Italy" and posed for several pictures like the famous statues. We also bought leather books with the Goddesses, so it's been a recurring theme for us. "Three Poppies" is a beautiful painting!
We had a blast painting all night long. I don't think I've ever painted like that before. It was so fun and relaxing and cathartic. Here are a few pictures from our night:

Blindfolding the birthday girl

Our entire paint party

Andrea, Erin, Deb & Mel show off their works of art

Saturday:
We woke up early and headed out for the day. We had to blind Deb AGAIN and leave her in the car so we could get all of our suitcases packed. She thought we were staying at my house and that we were headed out for a shopping day. We had a "little"more action up our sleeves.
We arrived at Hotel ZaZa in downtown Dallas and immediately rushed Deb to the spa. We all three changed into robes and started an entire day of pampering. Deb had a facial, pedicure and a bathing ritual with an hour massage. ROUGH DAY, huh?
Andrea had reflexology and a massage with a pedicure.
I enjoyed a facial and a bathing ritual with an hour massage. I think it was the best massage I've ever had. Andrea had her anniversary and birthday in May and so did I, so we've been saving for months and used our holiday money to enjoy the spa experience as well. We were all so relaxed and chill. We kept the surprises coming by having the staff prepare a special lunch with roses and a chocolate cake. Words can't describe how cush, awesome, and crazy cool ZaZa was. The spa was insane. The food was killer and the company was perfection. Deb assumed we were headed back to the house after our spa services.
While Deb finished up her massage, Andrea and I ran and got the hotel room all ready to go. We blindfolded her, once again. and brought her up to our room. We had sparking apple cider, magazines, junk food and presents waiting. Oh and the room wasn't so bad either ;)
She was so surprised! It was awesome!
Later that night, we got all dressed up and had a fantastic dinner at Palomino at the Crescent.
We walked around, took pictures and had a blast just catching up. Later that night we went back to the room and talked until 2:00 in the morning. We had some tear-jerking discussions (all great!) and thanked God for our relationship. We know we have something truly special.

Sunday morning we woke up, checked out of the hotel (sadness) and went to Cafe Express for a patio lunch. We decided to cram one last event into our day, by going to the Inwood theatre and watching "Killers." I had never been to Inwood before-- we sat on couches instead of typical theatre seats. How fun! We walked around and shopped and grabbed a few prizes for the kids and then Nathan and the kids came to pick me up. I have to give Nathan huge props-- he kept the kids the whole weekend, was such a great host and took care of us girls too. Love you babe! Thanks as always for giving me breaks and time to enjoy the fam!

At the spa getting pampered

In the ZaZa lobby headed out for dinner

It was one of the best weekends of my life. Thanks to Deb and Andrea for making the drive to the big D. I love you both more than you'll ever know!