Whirlwind of a weekend

Party planning for Geiosee Froggie's surprise birthday/bon voyage bash

Saturday, July 9, 2005

10:00 am: I call Aki and we plan to meet at Party City @ 2:00 pm to pick up a helium tank & balloons. We’ll decorate until ~5. Then I’ll go home to pick up Fluffy before the party.

11:00 am – 12:00 pm: I spend a leisurely morning at the grocery store & library.

12:30 pm: Aki calls.

Me: Oh, hi Aki. I got some paper plates and candles. I wasn’t sure what our color scheme was going to be so I got blue plates to match the candles, and—

Aki: Muffinjr, we have a problem. Geiosee Froggie just called and said she can’t meet me for dinner, which ruins the whole plan. She said she’s hanging out w/you and LMH instead.

Me: What?! Uhhh….she didn’t say anything to ME about it! What’re we going to do? Okay, hold on, let me call LMH and get back to you.

I call LMH.

LMH: Geiosee Froggie said she’s coming over to my place, and she wants to hit a few buckets. But I’m still in the middle of making the salad & lasagna, and I don’t know if I’m going to be able to finish before she gets here. How am I going to explain this to her?

Me: Wait, back up a minute. She wants to hit a few buckets of what?

LMH: Golf balls! She wants to go golfing.

Me: Golf? (:Confused:—G.F. has never mentioned an interest in golf before.) Okayyyy…let me give her a call and see if I can’t get her back to the original plan.

I call Geiosee Froggie.

Me: Hey, do you want to come over for swimming this afternoon? (Worst comes worst, I figure I can kidnap her and bring her over to Aki’s.)

G.F.: Okay. You get off of volunteering at 6, right?

Me: (Shoot, I forgot she still thinks I’m volunteering today) Uh, yeah. Why don’t you swing by at 6:15 and we can go for a dip, and then dinner afterwards?

G.F.: Okay, sounds good.

I call Aki.

Me: G.F. is coming by my place @ 6:15. She thinks we’re going swimming. Maybe I can kidnap her & bring her over to your house.

Aki: Hmm, why don’t you suggest going to Fedora in Lawrenceville for dinner instead? Forget swimming. You can say you need to swing by my place to pick me up on the way. Better yet, have her meet you @ my place after your “volunteering.”

With that, plan B is set in motion.

1:35 pm: I arrive at LMH’s house in Montgomery to pick up food & help out. G.F. will be there within half an hour, so I have to be in and out. Michael & Jason are already in the kitchen chopping vegetables for the salad. If they’ve been recruited, I know things are getting desperate.

1:52 pm: Jason & I have just finished loading the sodas into my car. As I’m pulling away from the driveway, I see a silver VW bug coming up the street. I make a quick K-turn while hunched over & pray G.F. won’t see me.

2:05 pm: LMH calls and says she’s sent G.F. and Jason to the range while she “helps her mom” finish the food for a “baseball game” that night. I’m on Rt. 206 halfway to Princeton, but I turn around and head back to Montgomery.

2:30 pm: LMH & Mrs. Z. put the food in my car. I turn back around and go to Aki’s.

3-5 pm: Aki & I decorate, cook, & do last-minute preparations.

5:30 – 6:30 pm: I go home to pick up Fluffy. Of course the weather decides not to cooperate. There’s thunder & lightning & the skies open up.

6:00 pm: Aki leaves a message saying that LMH has to stall G.F. for another 15 min while she, Bruce, & Kiyo finish decorating. I pass the message on to LMH, & they end up stopping @ Starbucks on the way over. Beautiful.

6:15 pm: I’m stuck in traffic b/c a manhole cover blew on Rt. 1 and unleashed a flash flood in the right lane.

6:30 pm: I make it to Aki’s in time to help w/the finishing touches.

6:40 pm: LMH, Jason, and Geiosee Froggie arrive to a chorus of barking dogs. Except for that minor detail, it was a surprise.