Well, That Was Fun: New Year's Eve in Montana

So what did you do to celebrate the New Year? Me? Oh, I just flew to Montana to surprise my best friend for a combined New Year's Eve/30th Birthday Extravaganza.

And it. was. awesome.

You see, my dear friend Jamie has a tendency to freak out a little bit each January when she...uh...turns another year wiser.

I had looked at prices for plane tickets months ago thinking that maybe I could be there to hold her hand for the big three-oh, but flights were ridiculously expensive. That, as they say, was that.

When Jamie's friend Melina emailed me about the huge themed (sequins, of course) surprise party she was planning for Jamie on New Year's Eve, I checked again and - wait for it - the prices had gone down! I mulled it over for a bit and decided it was NOT to be missed. I pressed that purchase button, found an amazing sequined top on Etsy and got on a plane!

That was the most snow I witnessed during the entire trip, by the way. I'm thankful not to have traveled in it, but it would have been nice to see a little more snow while I was in Montana. We did, however, find this at the craft store during a quick pre-surprise bedazzle run:

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I flew into Helena and stayed with Melina and Brennen who were phenomenal hosts. They took me to the Helena Bighorns vs. Missoula Maulers hockey game, I met some of Melina's family and Brennen kindly offered to take me goose hunting the following morning (to which I replied, "No thanks, but good luck."). I essentially cheated on Jamie with her friends for a good 24 hours and it was fantastic.

On New Year's Eve, we drove from Helena to Missoula and saw a bit of snow going over the pass:

Then it was time to bust out those sequins:

Shiny, no? That's Melina, yours truly and Katie all dressed up and ready surprise the birthday girl.

Jamie's boyfriend was in on the whole thing, of course. He brought her to the restaurant for a nice romantic dinner for two. We got her. Good. Pssshh...romance, shmomance. We were there to party!

I apologize for the grainy iPhone shots. I'd also like to give a shout out to the 20 other people who were there. I was too in the moment to take decent photos...but that's how you're supposed to be at your best friend's surprise 30th birthday party, right? Right.

We then proceeded to get her drunk.

Okay, it wasn't that bad. She was the guest of honor, though, so drinks kept coming her way.

We wrapped up the night dancing to a fabulous cover band, The Mighty Flick. Seriously, they rocked it and we sang right along with them.

Cheers to the next 30 years, Jamie!