Happy Birthday to Me!
It's my birthday today! Normally I would have at least dinner or *something* planned but Sunday/Monday (with bleed through to Tuesday) was the culmination of 2+ months of planning and work on what was I think I can safely say, the Birthday Party of the Century and the best way ever to commemorate turning 30. It was a small, private event with Scot and our 8 closest friends. The party left me exhausted and in serious need of recovery time (I'm getting old you know). I think my plan is to stay at home and watch some of the approx 14 hours of video from the weekend and rest. Dinner of some more formal kind may happen though.
My birthday party was amazing. Beyond amazing it was numbing, at some point the parts of my brain responsible for survival decided that too much happiness, too much beauty, too much coolness, too much surprise, too much laughing, and too much shock and awe just wasn't good for me and settled for a constant level of numb buzzy goodness that it thought I could handle. I knew it was going to be fun but after 2 months of working on the same thing I had lost more than a little perspective. Towards the end of the planning time I started to question if it was going to be as cool as I originally thought it was and so even I, the master party planner and Viridian Lodge Cruise Director was taken aback and surprised by the sheer coolness and never ending fun that was my birthday party.
It was a long, complicated, detailed event. I think I have decided to write up a separate, illustrated entry for each component. That will take some time. For now I will leave you with a bullet point style list of the highlights.
About 2 1/2 weeks before the party invitees received a 2 component puzzle contained within a hollowed out encyclopedia volume, they had to solve the puzzle in order to get the invitation details.
Saturday January 27th:
Scot and I stay up until 4:30 in the morning doing the final prep work for the party the next day. We get 2 hours sleep. It doesn't matter though because pure joy and adrenalin carry us through the next 58 hours.
Sunday January 28th:
Guests arrive at 8 AM; they have been given very few details except that they should plan on spending the night at our house. EVERYTHING is a surprise, Scot and I have planned and paid for everything.
A 6 hour team competition scavenger hunt (with t-shirts, GPS Units, and video cameras) begins. Events include a laser puzzle in the woods, birthday present shopping spree, dancing, art appreciation, singing, chocolate shopping, harassing innocent bystanders, etc.
The scavenger hunt leads them to Kenmore air where we are waiting with a chartered seaplane already loaded with their luggage.
The seaplane flies us to Orcas Island where we land in a private bay overlooked by the Inn that we had rented for the sole use of our group. We are met on the beach by the inn keepers who help us off the plane and into the inn.
We sit in the hot tub on the beach at sunset, the sunset seems to last forever
Monday January 29th:
8:30 AM we start day two with a two hour sea kayaking trip guided by one of our innkeepers. The weather was lovely and Puget Sound was nearly perfectly still, ideal kayaking conditions.
We drive to the top of Mt. Constitution and revel in the beauty of the San Juans from the top of an observation tower (not to mention the coolness of the tower itself)
We visit the home of an eccentric millionaire with a Vision and the money and personality to pull it off, tours are by appointment only so we have the place to ourselves
We stop by the gallery and workshop of a pottery collective and are surprised by the presence of a very cool tree house. We are so numb now that no mention is made of their amazing water views.
We catch the ferry (walk on) to Anacortes, during a lay-over on Lopez Island an impromptu double elimination paper-rock-scissors tournament occurs in a small shack the 10 of us shared with 2 bewildered bystanders
The final surprise: We are met at the ferry dock in Anacortes by our ride back to Seattle, a stretch H2 Hummer limo. There is a small present and personal note for each guest waiting in the limo.
Folks with work on Tuesday go home, those of us without Tuesday plans return to Viridian Lodge and spend the night playing games and reviewing video footage of the event
Tuesday January 30th:
The unplanned continuation of the birthday party that will not end
I cook breakfast for our overnight guests
We play a lot of games
Dinner at the Noodle Boat, we seriously consider throwing an impromptu fondue party for Wednesday night. The idea is wisely abandoned.
Everyone goes home to recover.
Scot and I go to visit my terminally ill former step-mother and reconnect with my half-sister. The visit goes very well.
Exhaustion and Bed.
My birthday party was amazing. Beyond amazing it was numbing, at some point the parts of my brain responsible for survival decided that too much happiness, too much beauty, too much coolness, too much surprise, too much laughing, and too much shock and awe just wasn't good for me and settled for a constant level of numb buzzy goodness that it thought I could handle. I knew it was going to be fun but after 2 months of working on the same thing I had lost more than a little perspective. Towards the end of the planning time I started to question if it was going to be as cool as I originally thought it was and so even I, the master party planner and Viridian Lodge Cruise Director was taken aback and surprised by the sheer coolness and never ending fun that was my birthday party.
It was a long, complicated, detailed event. I think I have decided to write up a separate, illustrated entry for each component. That will take some time. For now I will leave you with a bullet point style list of the highlights.
About 2 1/2 weeks before the party invitees received a 2 component puzzle contained within a hollowed out encyclopedia volume, they had to solve the puzzle in order to get the invitation details.
Saturday January 27th:
Scot and I stay up until 4:30 in the morning doing the final prep work for the party the next day. We get 2 hours sleep. It doesn't matter though because pure joy and adrenalin carry us through the next 58 hours.
Sunday January 28th:
Guests arrive at 8 AM; they have been given very few details except that they should plan on spending the night at our house. EVERYTHING is a surprise, Scot and I have planned and paid for everything.
A 6 hour team competition scavenger hunt (with t-shirts, GPS Units, and video cameras) begins. Events include a laser puzzle in the woods, birthday present shopping spree, dancing, art appreciation, singing, chocolate shopping, harassing innocent bystanders, etc.
The scavenger hunt leads them to Kenmore air where we are waiting with a chartered seaplane already loaded with their luggage.
The seaplane flies us to Orcas Island where we land in a private bay overlooked by the Inn that we had rented for the sole use of our group. We are met on the beach by the inn keepers who help us off the plane and into the inn.
We sit in the hot tub on the beach at sunset, the sunset seems to last forever
Monday January 29th:
8:30 AM we start day two with a two hour sea kayaking trip guided by one of our innkeepers. The weather was lovely and Puget Sound was nearly perfectly still, ideal kayaking conditions.
We drive to the top of Mt. Constitution and revel in the beauty of the San Juans from the top of an observation tower (not to mention the coolness of the tower itself)
We visit the home of an eccentric millionaire with a Vision and the money and personality to pull it off, tours are by appointment only so we have the place to ourselves
We stop by the gallery and workshop of a pottery collective and are surprised by the presence of a very cool tree house. We are so numb now that no mention is made of their amazing water views.
We catch the ferry (walk on) to Anacortes, during a lay-over on Lopez Island an impromptu double elimination paper-rock-scissors tournament occurs in a small shack the 10 of us shared with 2 bewildered bystanders
The final surprise: We are met at the ferry dock in Anacortes by our ride back to Seattle, a stretch H2 Hummer limo. There is a small present and personal note for each guest waiting in the limo.
Folks with work on Tuesday go home, those of us without Tuesday plans return to Viridian Lodge and spend the night playing games and reviewing video footage of the event
Tuesday January 30th:
The unplanned continuation of the birthday party that will not end
I cook breakfast for our overnight guests
We play a lot of games
Dinner at the Noodle Boat, we seriously consider throwing an impromptu fondue party for Wednesday night. The idea is wisely abandoned.
Everyone goes home to recover.
Scot and I go to visit my terminally ill former step-mother and reconnect with my half-sister. The visit goes very well.
Exhaustion and Bed.