Part 1 : Chronicle of a birthday foretold

Ok, so I am sorry that I have not been able to write much this past month but I have a perfectly valid excuse : I have been planning André's secret 30th birthday party.

But that doesn't mean I haven't been blogging though, I have, I've just not been posting.


So let me take you on a little trip :


August 30th :

Ok, so last night André prepared for me one of the most delicious diners ever for my b-day... I better come up with a good way to top that ! Especially since this year is tha big 3-0 .... gulp !


September 7th :

pffffffffffffffffffffffffff!!!! Nothing comes to mind... I'm in total creativity block... I know that he really would like to go somewhere but being that I took him on a surprise gettaway weekend to Stockholm last year I guess I should try to come up with something else.

I've been reading some blogs of women who have prepared b-day parties for their husbands/boyfriends ... theme parties... that could be fun.


September 10th :

Ok, I've narrowed it down to two ideas : a poker theme party or a 70's theme party.


Poker theme : The idea could be really cool, set up a bunch of small tables around our living room and have a mini tournament. We could have drinks and mini canapés as diner and have a big birthday cake in the shape of the ace of spades.

Pros : André loves poker and this would certainly appeal to our poker buddies....

Cons : Don't see how we could set up more than two tables in our very small living room. Plus I know some of his friends dont like poker .... at all.... :s


70's theme : The idea is simple : André was born in the 70's, he loves this funky era and it could be fun to dress up. I could decorate the appartment in tones of funky orange, purple and green along with paper plates, paper napkins, etc ... get a compilation of 70's disco music, etc, etc...

Pros : Pretty original idea

Cons : Don't quite know how the french feel about dress up theme parties....in any case never been invited to one.... maybe it'll scare them away and I'll find myself sitting in my bellpants in the middle of an empty appartment...

pfffffffffffffffffffff.... I'm gonna send an email to Marion and ask her what she thinks...

P.S. What about my present? Note to self : THINK OF A B-DAY GIFT FOR HUBBY!!!!


September 12th :

Marion doesn't seem tooooo enthousiastic about either ideas which pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the guest list.... I think I better stick to a classic get-together with all his friends. I should send out an email soon to have people "block" their calendars....

Still no idea of what to give André.... maybe a nice gettaway weekend in the wine country.

September 17th :

After pondering on the gettaway in the wine country idea I've finally got it ! I found an oenology course that works out perfectly in terms of timing (mornings of October 27th and 28th), price (affordable), location (3hr drive from Paris) and program..... hmmmmm .... this could be fun.

The brochure says that both courses are intended to anyone wishing to know more about the Burgundy wines and cover wine classification, tasting techniques and examples. The place is not very far from Paris in a little town called Beaune in the heart of the Burgundy region... never heard of Beaune but I'm running out of choices and these courses sounds very interesting. Plus they begin at 10am and end around 1pm which should leave us plenty of free time to explore the region during the afternoon.

Only hick: not sure it's a good idea to plan a huge party the night before since we'll have to get up at 5am in order to be able to be at Beaune by 10am -- but what tha heck, we're young right?

I've checked hotels in the village and have booked a room so at least we'll have a nice place to stay at and if Beaune is really toooo boring we're only a 30min drive from Dijon which we've never been to.

Cool then ! It's settled !

P.S. I really should send that email to everyone to save tha date (I just hate writing that sort of letter in French, I never feel comfortable with the results!)

September 19th :

Save the date to be sent this evening -- no excuses.

September 27th :

Ok, I'm sending that email to everyone tonight............. or else !!!

October 1st :

Ok ! Email finally sent this morning ! Hope I didn't make too many spelling mistakes and that people will find the idea fun and be available on the 26th.

October 2nd :

No replies to my email... does that mean nobody will be coming??? :s


October 9th :

Ok, so I've gotten a good deal of replies and I now calculate we'll be around 15 -- Yikes! Will we fit in our small living room??? ... Marion has asked me if there will be a collective gift or should each think of something to give André.

This is not a bad idea actually. This could be the chance to give André the Wii Nintendo he's been drooling about for so long. Hmmmmmmmmmm..... let me ponder on that for a while.


October 15th :

So the Wii idea sounds like a good one. I'm sending out an email today to ask everyone what they think (and plus see if they agree to chip in for collective gift). For it to work out we should be 10 to pool in.


October 18th :

So not everyone wants to be in on the gift which I guess is ok... I can understand if people have a specific idea of what they want to give André for his b-day and from what they tell me I am sure André will like their gifts very much as well.

Meanwhile, so far we're only 5 people pitching in on the Wii... Still missing some replies though... hopefully we'll make it to 10....


October 20th :

Gulp ! only 6 days to go ! The trouble with surprise birthday parties is that you can't prepare anything ahead without risking to give away the surprise !

Still no confirmation and who exactly wants to pitch in on the gift and I don't want to sound too pushy.... :(

And then there is the small question of how on earth am I going to get André to get home later than usual on a Friday night and on his birthday in order to give everyone enough time to to come over before he comes home !!!

Better put those little gray cells to work 'cause I'm running out of time...

October 25th :

This morning before going to work I've told André that I want to prepare him a nice romantic diner for the two of us tomorrow evening. I've nonchalantly asked him if he'll be playing squash 'cause "that will leave me enough time to go shopping / come home and get everything prepared" by the time he gets home.

André liked the idea and said he'll propose to Eric, his squash buddy, to go play on Friday which will have him home "around 8:30"..... Of course I already know that Eric wont be "available"..... 'cause he's coming to the party... but this will give me credibility tomorrow morning when I'll have to ask André again to not get home before 8pm ;-)

October 26th

It's 6:30am and I am up "as usual" getting ready for work. Yikes !! The appartment is a mega mess.... André cooked grilled stake for us last night and now the place reaks of cooked meat. I must remind myself to open the windows when I come back home in a while.

As planned : no squash tonight being that Eric is "on holidays". I've therefore asked André to give me some time to get everything ready before coming home.... hopefully he doesn't suspect anything.

Meanwhile, if everything goes according to the plan I should have enough time to do everything I have planned. I only have to strictly follow the agenda bellow :

8:00 - 8:30 Go to the FNAC to buy A's present (thank goodness the store will exceptionally open early today as it's the release of Harry Potter's translated version of "Deathly Hollows"!!!)
8:30 - 9:00 Buy present
9:00 - 9:30 Take metro back home - stop at supermarket
9:30 - 10:00 Buy stuff to make cake and walk home
10:00 - 11:00 Mix and make cake (cheesecake) -- put in fridge to sit
11:00 - 12:30 Clean this appartment !
12:30 - 1:00 Move and prepare furniture (I have to make space for everyone to be able to sit down!)
1:00 - 1:30 Sandwich break
1:30 - 3:00 Go to supermarket(s) and buy stuff for diner and drinks
3:00 - 4:00 Prepare decorations / Prepare overnight bag for A&F
4:00 - 6:00 Cook and prepare canapés for diner
6:00 - 6:30 Fetch car at parking lot and park it near our place
6:30 - 7:00 Prepare for party
7:00 - 8:00 Guests should begin to arrive
8:00 André should be coming home !!!

October 26th (bis)

and of course this is what really happened :

8:30 - 9:00 FNAC not open until 10am (only open to buy HP book but not possible to buy Wii). Monoprix not open until 9am, so coffee at Starbucks waiting for both stores to open.
9:00 - 9:30 Shop at Monoprix stuff to make cake.
9:30 - 10:00 Wait for FNAC to open -- make time while cruising in Monoprix.
10:00 - 11:15 Buy gift, try and girft wrap it at store, take subway back home, stop at Franprix to buy last ingredient necessary for cake but not sold at Monoprix.
11:15- 11:30 Make cake
11:30- 1:00 : Clean appartment while moving furniture to make space in living room. Do dishes, hang out clean laundry to dry, clean bedroom.
1:00 - 1:30 Sandwich break
1:30 - 3:00 Go to Picard for all frozen food --> Back home to put stuff away / Go to Monoprix for all drinks and beverages as well as apetizers and stuff for salad --> Back home to put stuff away / Go to Franprix for last ingredients not sold at two stores mentioned above --> Back home to put stuff away.
3:00 - 4:00 Sit down to take a small break. Realized that I had not calculated correctly the guest list so panic attack --> Go to Picard for some more frozen food --> Go to Franprix for some more last minute stuff --> Go home to put stuff away.
4:00 - 5:30 Finish cleaning appartment, clean bathroom and vacum appartment. Put up decorations. Bake small cupcakes and apetizers, set out table and prepare plates and glasses. Set up cocktail bar.
5:30 - 7:00 Prepare overnight bag, make salad and cut crudités, take shower and get ready. Send text to André to let him know that "I'm leaving the office" and to give me enough time to "prepare diner" suggesting arrival at 8pm.
7:00 - 8:00 Arrival of guests.
8:05 : Arrival of André !

Next: Pictures of the party and the weekend in Beaune !!!!