I purposefully acted nonchalant about Ben's birthday on 3/9 because I wanted to completely throw him off. Mission. Accomplished.
I was getting the guilt trip all last week about his birthday, and when I arrived home from TX late Thursday night, he just assumed that his birthday had come and gone without any hoopla. Of course, I gave him a gift and a card before leaving for TX (on his birthday) - but that was about it. ;)
Little did he know, there had been a solid plan in action for about two weeks - to throw him a huge surprise fiesta with about 35 of our friends. Saturday (3/14) rolls around and I'm up at 7 a.m. cleaning the house. This struck Ben as strange because he knows that any opportunity I have to sleep in is one I don't pass up. I just chalked it up to nerves about the new job or whatever, and he didn't question it. I had been stressed all week about how I was going to get him out of the house the day of his party. I had about 35 people arriving to our place on Saturday night at 9 p.m. sharp for a planned Ben arrival at 9:30 p.m.
I had initially worked with Eric (one of Ben's best friends) to get him out of the house to Fort Lauderdale by 6:30, giving me about 2.5 hours to get things together in la casa. This plan was bust, however, when two of Ben's college friends unexpectedly showed up in Miami. At this point, Ben was dead-set on hanging out with them AND taking them to the Miami art walk.
I had wanted him to avoid the art walk for many reasons - primarily because he would likely run into almost everyone that was coming to his fiesta, but I quickly realized that I would have to roll with the punches and live with it. Thankfully he didn't see anyone.
On Friday night (3/13), Ben made it clear that he wanted to go to the art walk - and after continually acting like I had no interest (which was COMPLETELY unbelievable), I was able to swing a last-minute excuse as to why I couldn't go. When he wasn't looking, I grabbed his phone and snagged the number of his college friend (Taylor) who was in town (we had never met) and sent him a text message explaining who I was and what the plan was - he was quickly on board and in on the scheme.
Taylor had convinced Ben that he wanted an early dinner in the design district so Ben set out to pick him and Rachael (his wife) up around 6:45. Hemley was also in on it - and went along with them so that he could keep me in the loop regarding Ben's whereabouts until the grand finale. I was at home preparing the house for the guests.
As soon as Ben left the house it was FULL STEAM AHEAD. I had a to-do list a mile long of things that needed to be done before the guests started to arrive, not to mention needing to get ready and look halfway presentable. The moment he left I took a wet cloth and began to wipe down our chalkboard wall (as I wanted everyone to write birthday messages to him - see below):
Of course, he forgot his phone and walked back in the house as I was doing this - I am surprised that it didn't seem strange to him, but I almost had a heart attack. He grabbed his phone, turned around and was off.
Jocelyn and Ian showed up around 8 p.m. to help:
I couldn't have done it without them. Ian ran across the street to help me load up on mixers (and I had every guest bring either an app or drink to share) and we also grabbed balloons. Clearly I couldn't have tackled any of these things while Ben was still in the house or he might have been privy to my plan. Thankfully everyone showed up on time - before I knew it, the house was FULL of people. I was trying to coordinate everything, play hostess and make sure that we were on schedule for Ben's arrival.
Of course, these things never go as planned and I got a text from Hemley telling me that Ben was enjoying the art show and would likely try to show up at 10. Unacceptable, I replied. I had told everyone that couldn't make it for the 9:30 surprise to come at 10 - and if Ben was running late, we were risking him showing up at the same time as everyone else. I knew I had to pull out the big guns. And boy did I ever ...
I knew there was only ONE THING I could do that would pull him away from the art walk - I had to fake an emergency.
I called him in a panic,
"Ben!?"
"What's wrong?" he said
"Something is wrong with Ishka ... she is really lethargic and her eyes are acting funny"
"What!? ... try to give her something she likes, maybe something sweet?"
"She's not taking it - you have to come home!" I cried
"Is her nose warm or cold?" he asked
"It's warm ... please hurry!"
Slam. Dunk. By 9:22 he was speeding toward the house and I was running inside giving everyone the low down. I know it seems awful to make up a lie about the dog, but there was NOTHING else that would have pulled him home on time - believe me, I know my Moob well.
We all crammed in the house and Hemley agreed to call me and hang up when they were parking the car. I got the call. I saw Ben's silhouette through the shade over our door and the anticipation was awesome. Here's a shot of the door before:
And right as he walked in the door:
The big hug, right after greeting him.
Some of our friends, right before Ben's arrival.
Then Hemley had the idea to stuff two huge balloons in my dress and the result was hilarious - here's Ben taking advantage! PS - take a look at that amazing bar I set up!!
The surprise party was a HUGE success - I got him! He had NO idea! Please leave your birthday wishes for Ben in the comments section!
Happy Birthday, Ben! It looks like you were having a little too much fun with those balloons. Haha:). What a wonderful surp from the fiance?!
Posted by: Rachel | March 18, 2009 at 07:46 PM