my day as a celebrity

Through some twist of fate I manage to work with the coolest, sweetest, most kick-ass ladies on the planet, and because of that had one of the best birthdays of my life (including that year I got detained at the Canadian border).

Tuesday's story begins in my building's Hogwarts-like atrium. Unbeknownst to me, these ladies had planned a surprise birthday party. The best part is that every time I walked through the lobby, they were ninja dodging behind pillars to avoid detection. Apparently Amanda even entered  an elevator when I happened to look her way. The other person in the elevator was extremely confused when she hopped right back out as soon as I turned around.

When they were ready, I received a message to hand-deliver a fax across the hall. So, of course, I was instantly in a grumbly mood. But when I went to deliver the fax, the requester wasn't even at their desk. And instead, an email titled "Juli's Surprise B-Day Party" was pulled up on her computer. I could see a list of duties and instructions on remaining stealthy. At this point, I was grinning like an idiot. To keep from embarrassing myself, I peeked over the top of the railing instead of heading straight into the party. They were waiting for me. In a conspiracy that surely dates back to the architect's design of the building, I had to have a fully blown "Hermione at the Yule Ball" descent down the stairs as they cheered me on. Did you think that was embarrassing enough? Because it wasn't. Here is the next level:

These creative, brilliant, well-meaning dorks found out that I was in a band, printed out dozens of pictures from our gigs, and set up a booth for me to sign autographs for all of my "fans".

There were selfies.

And hand-made signs.

The paps got all up in my business.

They pulled in Alex, people from the labs, and people who work on other campuses all so they could line up to get an autograph and have their photo taken.

Needless to say, I was a total giggling mess.

And the fun didn't stop there! They made all sorts of amazing treats! They had bagels with records on them, my favorite sparkling water and check out these BADASS homemade microphone cupcakes!!!

The point is, as ridiculous as this entire party was (the autographed photos now undoubtedly reside in someone's recycling bin) I had the time of my life. These ladies are so precious to me and I can't believe I am lucky enough to work with them. So here's to the real celebrities:

<3 Love you guys.