Sa-prize!

For the last month or so, I've been working behind Kate's back to plan a surprise 30th birthday party for her at Austin Karaoke. In doing so, I had to respond to her hints about wanting a party with feigned obliviousness. There were several occasions when I had to bite my lip to stifle a giggle.

I took off from work early on Friday afternoon and picked up a mess of party provisions at Central Market and Costco. My friends Clay and Sonja let me drop everything off at their strategically-located house on Justin Ln. While I was back home primping up for phony 8:30 dinner reservations at Restaurant Jezebel with Kate, David and Rachel picked up the goods and ferried them to the BYOB private karaoke room I'd rented.

On our way downtown, I told Kate I needed to stop off at Walgreens on N. Lamar at Justin to pick up some photos. There we "bumped in" to my pal Ol' Steve Hunt, who said he was over at Austin Karaoke across the parking lot with a group of friends and insisted we drop by to say hi. Steve led us to the karaoke room, where about 25 of Kate's friends yelled, "Surprise!" as we opened the door.

The next three hours were a happy mess of warbling, beer-fueled revelry, as the photos below will attest.

Greg and Kate sing the swinging hits of today's youth!

Ol' Steve does Philly proud with Hall & Oates' "Maneater"

Joon Yee and Jean woo the crowd with Radiohead's "Creep"

Lance slays the ladies with Judas Priest's "Hell Bent for Leather"

I'm not a details man, but I've got to give myself and my accomplices a hearty slap on the back for pulling this whole shebang together right under Kate's nose. Fun times, indeed.

By the way, we had legitimate reservations at Restaurant Jezebel for the following night.