Another year down

Happy birthday, Dan! In honor of the event, I threw him a surprise party this past Saturday. It was so fun! We're grateful for the many wonderful friends who came out. Since I am typically a terrible liar, I was rather pleased with my trickery this time around.

For months, I'd been thinking it would be fun to have a float party, since Dan loves ice cream soda floats of all kinds. My awesome friend Lizzie, ballet buddy and cake-decorator extraordinaire, offered to make the cake. Who could refuse? Sadly, I don't have a picture offhand, but will upload its magnificence soon. In any case, I wanted to go help her decorate it, so I crafted a fake email from her asking if I wanted to go over for dinner/girl time after last week's ballet class, and forwarded it to Dan. Of course, he said yes, and I was careful not to get food dye on my clothes.

Next came planning how to get him home while others were already there, and getting all the food there without him noticing. So I bought ice cream/weird sodas on Thursday during lunch, stored them in my work freezer, and dropped them off at a friend's house that evening. Then at the aforementioned ballet class on Thursday, I gave my keys to my fabulous friend Becca, figuring I could just call Dan excitedly when I got home in hopes that he'd run down to meet me. Luck prevailed - it turned out he was still on campus working on a group project, so we got to drive home together and he was none the wiser.

Friday got a little sticky - I had to take home a bunch of frozen food samples from work, and wanted to drop them off before we made our drive down to DC that night. I get home and walk up to my door and stop. DUH! Dan was at the previously-posted-about competition, from where I was going to pick him up, but I called and suggested he just meet me at home - it was probably faster for him to bike than for me to drive at that hour, and that way we wouldn't have to transport his bike to DC and back. :) He heartily agreed, and met me at home. I also told him that it was so nice out (thank heavens it was sunny) that I would just be reading outside until he got there (totally believable with my sun obsession). When he showed up, I was sitting there reading, and I feigned surprise and fluster (noun form of to be flustered?) and exclaimed that I'd been so absorbed in my book that I'd completely forgotten to take up the frozen stuff (again, totally believable). He rolled his eyes but didn't think a thing of it.

Saturday arrives and we're driving back from DC and a friend calls to ask what time the party is. "Um, 8." I was totally rude and brusque but then had my shining moment of cleverness as I turned to Dan and asked, "Branch council is at 8 tomorrow, right?" Finally, we arrive at home (me having sent a preconstructed warning text) and walk out the gate to the parking lot...fortuitously, I walked out first and noticed a group of friends standing on the doorstep. I quickly made some shooing motions and they turned and walked the other direction, the back of their heads going unrecognized by Dan as he walked out. We walked up, they screamed, he screamed, and the rest is history. :)

Thanks to everyone who made the party so fun!

Oh, and what birthday would be complete without a brief 10 things? In honor of all our recent road trips, how about things I love about him that I've learned on road trips?

1. He loves looking at barns, and taking pictures of them. He'd probably paint them if we had more time.
2. He adores American history, and fills in the gaps when I forget names and dates and such.
3. He's nice to me and only makes fun of me for falling asleep when it's within the first 5 minutes, and on rare occasions, 10.
4. He's not into the over-touristed places and exhibits and such, and would much rather pull out a map and wander and figure things out.
5. He really really really loves car treats. Especially Fruit Snacks.
6. He always likes going to Taco Bell and thus does not make fun of me for liking it, too.
7. He loves having a wide assortment of cartertainment, but is perfectly content reading Harry Potter for the majority of the ride.
8. He likes bringing the baben along. :)
9. He's excellent at starting random and interesting conversations, such as those involving aardvarks.
10. He is completely my favorite person ever with whom to travel. I can't wait until this summer. :)

Love ya, sweetheart.