Surrey with a Fringe on Top
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: exactly
Topic: Elisabeth's Entries
EDIT: E's probably gonna kill me but I took some pictures off... I think those involved would't want said pictures to be up on the net. Sorry, hon!
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Ok, so I've been challenged to explain Stephen's Birthday (non)planning:

It all started when I didn't know what to get/do for Stephen. His crazy schedule soon ruled out planning a weekend away, or even taking the day off to spend together since Stephen was schedule to work the afternoon/evening shift on his birthday. So right, I must get a really nice present for him. However, I've found that after almost three years of marriage, the "special" and "romantic" and "thoughtful" are not in material presents. (Or I wasn't imaginative enough to think of something). I did give London a try however, but if you read back a few entrys, London disappointed me in several ways that day, so I came back empty handed for Stephen.

With the birthday only a few days away, I did the only thing a sensible person could do: surf the net. I found a party site that offered some wacky things, and had a delivery slot open for Stephen's birthday. But before I went ahead, I wanted to check with Stephen's co-workers that I wasn't going to duplicate any party things they were going to do.

It turns out they were happy to have the party stuff sent over, and I joked around that I'd get Stephen's old Manager to dress up in balloons and be a singing telegram. I was given his old manager's mobile number, and made the necessary arrangements. Through all of this, I thought I had communicated that I would send over some party stuff, and maybe show up after I finished work with some cakes, and bring Stephen's manager with me.

So the night before Stephen's birthday we went out for a few drinks and dinner to celebrate. I told Stephen I hadn't got him any presents (partly true) and was he disappointed? The answer was both yes and no. So I set his sights low hoping to surprise him the next day.

The morning of his birthday I had arranged to go into work late so that I could treat Stephen to a nice breakfast etc... but he was not feeling well for all the pizza and deep-fried cheese he'd eaten the night before (the pints of beer, 1/2 bottle of wine and naughty coffee surely didn't contribute) and so he wasn't hungry. Luckily, I had some marzipan men on hand to whet his appetite:

Not feeling well, and having no presents, Stephen felt like calling in sick to work (NO!). But he went in the end of course.

Stephen's boss picked me up (early) from work where we then gathered supplies (cake, balloons, ribbon, pizza) and made our way to the project.

It was a windy day, but the balloons held (bar one).

SURPRISE!

"It's daddy's birthday, oh yes it is, and it is today"

And then pop!

>BANNED!<

It was at this point that the misunderstandings surfaced: they hadn't opened the party things yet and they were all waiting for me and Stephen's old boss to arrive, and had been stalling for hours causing lots of confusion (um, I thought it was obvious that I had to work a 9-5 job and would arrive with desert, but hey, it's 3 o'clock where are they?)

So we opened up the boxes and found Mr. Wayne, hit the pinata, ate cake, sang songs, and the whole jing-bang gang just chilled out...

>BANNED!<


...until the food fight that is.

And how could I forget the lap dance?

>BANNED!<

Thanks to Susan's trip to cuba, I had a cuban cigar in my bag to offer to Stephen on his walk home. And thanks to his co-workers, they not only bought him a very nice bottle of whiskey, but had a flask engraved with "Just give 'r" (FUBAR reference).

The confusion escalated when Stephen spoke to his mother later that evening "Well Elisabeth didn't really get me anything, but my co-workers threw me a nice party". What?! I couldn't believe it. He thought his co-workers loved him more than me, and that was an unpleasant feeling.

Now I hope things are sorted and we can resume our life as a THIRTY year old and a (ha ha) TWENTY FOUR year old couple.

Stephen's working (of course) this weekend, and so I must off to market to buy some non-supermarket produce and local eggs.

I must confess that I ate 1/2 pint of Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice cream last night. But I'm telling you this because I was shocked to read the ingredients list and discover all sorts of things are going into the ice cream. I was always under the impression that B & J's ice cream only had the purest and fewest ingregdients. What's going on? Never again I tell you. I dumped the rest down the drain this morning (well, it had melted).

SIDE NOTE: Happy 53rd Birthday to Stephen's father!
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EDIT: Stephen here again. Dad: I'm not sure if E's being funny or not but I know your real age and don't worry; I won't post it here!