Day 1: Tinapalooza 2008
I was too excited to wait for morning this year, so shortly after midnight, I knocked on Tina's door and said I needed help with something in the living room. ^^
On the coffee table, I had set up a chess board with five pieces on it, a bottle of Vitameatavegamin (from ep. of I Love Lucy with a tag saying "eat me" tied to it, 25 pennies, and a 1/4 sheet of paper with a picture from the original Alice in Wonderland on it.
On the flip side of the page was this:
"It's time to begin!" declared the marmoset, "Your journey starts now and what better to energize you for your path than coffee?" Alice nodded and reached for the nearest cup. "No, dear," the marmoset admonished, "__________ simply won't do! It won't give you the energy you need to solve the puzzle! Take the other cup. And you must not forget your vitamins!" Hesitantly, Alice followed the old marmoset's advice.
The clue on the chess board spelled out the word "Decaf." Later, I'll post what the above bit of story means. (don't want to spoil the surprise in case Tina reads this!)^_^
Tina's reaction was so great! She was sooooo happy and her jaw literally dropped! She then spent twenty minutes trying to figure out the puzzle, which she was making too hard because she was really tired. ^^ Another fabulous thing was that she read to the bottom of the page before she realized it wasn't a quote from the book! So I apparently did a good job mimicking his style. ^____^
**happy dance** ^_^
-----Edit-----
Tina says that she will update her LJ with the birthday week festivities, so I will detail a full account here. However, I will do a synopsis just in case she never updates her LJ. Plus, some of the curious out there may not be friended with her on her LJ.
For the evening of day one, the plan was to head straight to Grounds for Thought for coffee (chai tea latte for me!) and games! However, when I got home, I realized I was starving and Tina would probably be starving because she wouldn't have eaten because she wasn't certain what the plan for the evening was, so we made a brief stop at El Zarape for tasty, tasty Mexican food before heading to grounds. ^^ Towards the end of our meal, Tina's boyfriend, Shane, joined us and then we headed off to Grounds.
At Grounds, I insisted on buying Tina's coffee (Double mocha with almond, coconut, and whipped cream). Shane didn't understand this at first and we went back and forth a bit on who was going to pay (Dang it! I am the official planner of the sister birthday week! ^_~). In addition to the coffee, I surprised Tina with a piece of baklava and around the drink and dessert, I tied little tags that said "Drink Me" and "Eat Me."
For entertainment, we played a fabulous game of Scrabble, but as usual, Tina and I are not satisfied with normal Scrabble rules. Today, it was Alice in Wonderland themed and words did not have to be spelled correctly or even be real words, provided you could justify your answer. My two favorites from the evening: banjo (Shane said that it is a little known fact that it wasn't originally a caterpillar with a hookah, it was a marmoset with a banjo, but they thought it didn't sound English enough so they changed it. And no that is not a true story) and uthipexa (I said it wasn't in the Jabberwock poem, but it should have been, which I fully believe, and yes, I made the word up).
And no, we do not keep score, we just play for fun, which Shane was confused by.
And thus ended Day 1 of the birthweek. W00t! ^____^
On the coffee table, I had set up a chess board with five pieces on it, a bottle of Vitameatavegamin (from ep. of I Love Lucy with a tag saying "eat me" tied to it, 25 pennies, and a 1/4 sheet of paper with a picture from the original Alice in Wonderland on it.
On the flip side of the page was this:
"It's time to begin!" declared the marmoset, "Your journey starts now and what better to energize you for your path than coffee?" Alice nodded and reached for the nearest cup. "No, dear," the marmoset admonished, "__________ simply won't do! It won't give you the energy you need to solve the puzzle! Take the other cup. And you must not forget your vitamins!" Hesitantly, Alice followed the old marmoset's advice.
The clue on the chess board spelled out the word "Decaf." Later, I'll post what the above bit of story means. (don't want to spoil the surprise in case Tina reads this!)^_^
Tina's reaction was so great! She was sooooo happy and her jaw literally dropped! She then spent twenty minutes trying to figure out the puzzle, which she was making too hard because she was really tired. ^^ Another fabulous thing was that she read to the bottom of the page before she realized it wasn't a quote from the book! So I apparently did a good job mimicking his style. ^____^
**happy dance** ^_^
-----Edit-----
Tina says that she will update her LJ with the birthday week festivities, so I will detail a full account here. However, I will do a synopsis just in case she never updates her LJ. Plus, some of the curious out there may not be friended with her on her LJ.
For the evening of day one, the plan was to head straight to Grounds for Thought for coffee (chai tea latte for me!) and games! However, when I got home, I realized I was starving and Tina would probably be starving because she wouldn't have eaten because she wasn't certain what the plan for the evening was, so we made a brief stop at El Zarape for tasty, tasty Mexican food before heading to grounds. ^^ Towards the end of our meal, Tina's boyfriend, Shane, joined us and then we headed off to Grounds.
At Grounds, I insisted on buying Tina's coffee (Double mocha with almond, coconut, and whipped cream). Shane didn't understand this at first and we went back and forth a bit on who was going to pay (Dang it! I am the official planner of the sister birthday week! ^_~). In addition to the coffee, I surprised Tina with a piece of baklava and around the drink and dessert, I tied little tags that said "Drink Me" and "Eat Me."
For entertainment, we played a fabulous game of Scrabble, but as usual, Tina and I are not satisfied with normal Scrabble rules. Today, it was Alice in Wonderland themed and words did not have to be spelled correctly or even be real words, provided you could justify your answer. My two favorites from the evening: banjo (Shane said that it is a little known fact that it wasn't originally a caterpillar with a hookah, it was a marmoset with a banjo, but they thought it didn't sound English enough so they changed it. And no that is not a true story) and uthipexa (I said it wasn't in the Jabberwock poem, but it should have been, which I fully believe, and yes, I made the word up).
And no, we do not keep score, we just play for fun, which Shane was confused by.
And thus ended Day 1 of the birthweek. W00t! ^____^