While on our annual camping trip with Brian and Alexa, I promised that we would come visit them in Seattle for my birthday weekend--it would be a fun fall getaway, right? Andy had to call Alexa and nix that idea, so that when Alexa considerately proposed that they come down to visit us for the weekend since it was my birthday, I updated the guileless Andy about our change in plans with no trace of his secretive rearranging on his face. I lined up my cousin Diana to babysit Alton so that Andy and I could go out to dinner that night with B&A, and then when I said that I wanted to confirm with her Andy insisted that no, no, it was my birthday, he would be in charge of the dinner plans. After Andy said that he wanted me to have a decadent "spa day" with Alexa before our dinner arrangements, I made a move to go call Alexa and talk about spa treatment appointments, but Andy hustled up once again and said that he would be in charge of the appointments and treatments and we didn't have to worry about a thing. I thought he was just being nice and wanting me to relax, because it was my birthday. And he did, of course, want me to relax, but he also wanted to time our appointments so that the hours we spent out of the house were advantageous for him and Brian to organize the surprise party!
One thing that you might not know about me is that I love surprises, especially surprise parties. If I see an opportunity to conspire to shock and delight someone, I relish planning a surprise party. In high school (maybe senior year?) I planned with friends a surprise birthday party for our good friend Julie. This is one of the few times that I was actually able to snap a photo of the birthday girl's surprised face as we shocked her.
Julie will have to remind me what our cover story to her was...she may have been under the impression we were going out to dinner? But we had a roomful of people and a banner waiting for her at my house instead.
After high school graduation, a big group of friends and I planned a trip to Tahoe to celebrate. But as the date drew closer, our good friend Jamie received an acceptance to a summer biology program (her major frosh year) at the university she planned to attend (ironically, not Brandeis). She very reluctantly withdrew from our Tahoe trip, but we consoled her with a surprise Bon Voyage party that, in an interesting twist, was held at her own house! We knew when she would be gone, got her mom in on the conspiracy, and had the whole gang waiting in her living room when she came in through the garage. She was so surprised that she screamed and fell down on the floor; still the most awesome reaction to a surprise party, ever. Here are Christa, Julie, me, Jamie and Megan at the party, and you can just barely make out the "We'll Miss You, Jamie" banner on the far left.
One surprise party that I worked on a few years ago I cannot take credit for conceiving. In 2006, both Julie and Christa were living near Washington, D.C., and Christa would be graduating from law school and moving away in a matter of months. For her March birthday, Julie had the grand idea to surprise her with a weekend trip and a visit from Andy and me! We were thrilled at the idea, not only to see Christa and surprise her, but because Andy had not yet seen our nation's capital and we had the chance to be escorted around by locals. Julie posited the birthday weekend celebration to Christa as a fun dinner party and trip to Pennsylvania to see, among other things, Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater." But imagine her shock when she arrived at Julie's house and the door was opened by...Katie and Andy, fresh from California! She was astounded and touched and we had a wonderful weekend yukking it up all through the grey East Coast.
And my most recent foray into the world of surprise party planning was here in Oregon for my friend Elizabeth--a baby shower for her little boy on the way. I was dying to throw her a shower and was hoping to make it a surprise, but how to do it? She lives 30 minutes away from me and was 8+ months pregnant with a toddler already, so I knew that if I extended the invite for a playdate, she could potentially have to cancel last minute, too tired to make the trek with her active little girl *B. I finally received my inspiration when she asked if I could watch *B for her on March 17th while she went to the dentist nearby my house. Hooray! I casually suggested that maybe after her appointment I could invite a few of our friends over for a "St. Paddy's Day" playdate, and she said it all sounded like fun. So as soon as she dropped off her little one, I raced around, with Alton and *B in tow, taping up a baby shower banner and setting out plates, putting the cake on the display stand and placing cups next to the lemonade pitcher. The guests arrived and then Elizabeth made her entrance, hearing our ecstatic shouts of "Surprise!" before she clocked the "Baby Shower" banner overhead. She eagerly started to tell her husband about the shower surprise that evening when he got home, but he had been in on the secret the entire time. Tee hee!
Quite fitting, then, that Elizabeth had the chance to turn the tables on me for my birthday surprise party. Earlier last week, we emailed about plans to hang out with the kids on Friday, the day before my birthday, and I deliberately waited until just two days before I was going to come down to her house to mention that it was my birthday, because I worried that even though she had just bid adieu to some houseguests, she would want to try to bake a cake for my birthday. I thought I was being so crafty...but in reality she knew that it was my birthday the whole time! She innocently asked me what my plans were for the weekend, and listened while I said that Andy seemed like he was going to make a big fuss about it and I was excited. She of course waited until I had left her house on Friday to tell little *B about the surprise party. As soon as she heard the word "birthday," precocious little Miss Chatterbox said, "Katie cake?" Good thing she didn't spill the beans!
Alexa might just get an Academy Award for her birthday surprise performance, because I am so impressed that despite talking with me all day about our fake dinner plans and Andy's considerate scheduling of all of our spa appointments, she didn't slip about the party once. Even when we arrived at home and saw balloons festooning our driveway and porch, she kept up a steady stream of misleading comments, hypothesizing that the boys must have gone to the store to make a nice "welcome home" for the birthday girl, and trying to distract my attention from the fact that Elizabeth's car was parked right outside our house. As I dazedly wondered whether Elizabeth was babysitting Alton, or possibly coming out to dinner with us, I opened the front door and SURPRISE!!!
My friend Carrie and her husband Stephen had also seen me just the previous afternoon with no hint of what was to come on my birthday. I mentioned that I was getting a pedicure for my birthday and she smiled and said how nice that was! My wonderful cousins were there in a partying capacity instead of a babysitting one. My friend Chris had played at the park with us just a few days earlier in the week, and Andy stopped by the park on his way home from work to play at MY invitation, but used the opportunity to confer with Chris about party plans when I wasn't looking. Brian had been hard at work with Andy all day, making trips to Costco and keeping Alton entertained while Andy hurried to make sure that the back patio was looking clean and fabulous for the party. Brian even sent little fake-out texts to Alexa, saying that Alton was sleeping and that Andy was also taking a quick nap on the couch in the middle of the day. Ha!
And my amazement continued when I saw the cake. The fantastic, stupendous, personal, custom cake that Andy designed for me. He said that he looked around on the websites of many local bakeries to find one that was up to the task of creating a knitting-themed cake for me, because after I attended the Cake Wrecks book signing on Friday night, he didn't want my birthday cake to be a professional creation worthy of that genre. He googled pictures, made suggestions, and even selected the colors of the "yarn" to be used in the cake.
And in response to your inevitable questions, the yarn balls ARE edible. They have cake inside and frosting outside, and even the little knobs on the ends of the knitting needles are made of pasty sugar stuff. My sister Cari has said that Andy is making husbands everywhere look bad, and I have to say that he certainly won major, sweet, incredible points and kudos for giving me a fantastic birthday party, a one-of-a-kind cake that is so ME, and basically making it a day of relaxation, pampering, and making me feel so special. This was the best birthday that I've had in YEARS, and possibly ever. My brain is still riding the high of happiness and sugar to settle down and think about whether I've ever had a nicer day. Thank you to all my friends and family and Andy for all of their secrets, hard work, and enthusiasm for this party. I LOVED IT!!!
Edit by Katie: And I can't believe I forgot to mention the time that we were newlyweds and I was traveling for work on my birthday in FRESNO, and Andy baked me a cake and drove out to Fresno to surprise me! He enlisted hotel staff to help him break into my hotel room, display the cake all frosted and ready, and then called my cell to track me down...at Mimi's where I was having lunch. Alone. He pretended it was a nonchalant call and then shocked the stuffing out of me in the middle of my bday French Onion soup. Oui!
2 comments:
What a wonderful husband you have and I am so glad that your birthday was as special as you! Andy is not making husbands look bad instead maybe making them try to out do him. By the way - I remember some special husband named Julio having a birthday present delivered to Hawaii to surprise his wife.
So true, Coleen! One of the reasons I said that was because Andy had said Julio made husbands look bad when he heard about Julio's extravagant overnighting of my present to Hawaii to surprise me!
We both have fabulous husbands!!!
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