Surprise!!!
May I begin by saying that I have the best friends in the whole world? Knowing how many amazing friends that I've made in the past 6 years in Portland is certainly re-assuring when I think about starting from zero again in Amsterdam.
Okay, that being said... I'll start from the beginning. A few weeks ago, I was getting pretty sad about leaving, and I wanted to make sure that Sean and I had some quality "date time" before I left. Thus, being the Outlook nerds that we both are, I scheduled date time for us in our calendars for Friday, March 13th (yes, yes, I can see the eyes rolling already!). Anyways, we didn't really decide on anything concrete, so when I saw that Cirque du Soleil was coming to town, I asked Sean if he wanted to go to that for our date night. He quickly replied that he had planned a surprise for that night. "Oh, goody", I'm thinking in my head... fast forward to the next morning. Sean tells me that he isn't good with surprises, and tells me that the surprise for Friday night is that we are going to a French Society of Portland event (long story) at El Gaucho. To be honest, this wasn't exactly the romantic evening I had in mind, and so I let Sean know that (can we just keep in mind that I've been a WEE bit emotional over the past few weeks?). He let me know that I was being a wee bit emotional (a common theme these days) and we settled on Saturday for Cirque.
Meanwhile... my two awesome friends, Michelle Wald and Amy Smith, have been planning a surprise going away party for - you guessed it - Friday, March 13th. With the help of many other friends, they put together such a fun party for me at Rogue Ale House in the Pearl.
So, last night, I'm all ready to go the French Society event. I had purchased a new dress to wear to it the prior weekend, which had unfortunately lost a button almost immediately (great craftsmanship!). Michelle Wald fixed it for me, knowing darn well I wasn't wearing it to El Gaucho! :) Sean and I went to Blue Hour for a drink, and I was kind of wondering why he was so antsy about how long things were taking there. Well, it was because everyone was waiting! He was so funny - we walked up to Rogue, and as we passed the window where you could see everyone, he tipped the umbrella backwards so I couldn't see! It wasn't until I walked into the back room and heard "SURPRISE" that I realized what was going on!
The evening was unbelievable. All of my friends did something special, and Michelle and Amy co-ordinated for my friends to each make scrapbook pages celebrating our friendship, which they placed into an album for me (if you know me, you know that I have an entire ROOM for my scrapbooking tools, so this was perfect!). I didn't cry - I think I'm just really numb right now. It felt more like a birthday party than a going away party.
Anyways, it was amazing. My friends really got me this time. The planner got out-planned. :)
Okay, that being said... I'll start from the beginning. A few weeks ago, I was getting pretty sad about leaving, and I wanted to make sure that Sean and I had some quality "date time" before I left. Thus, being the Outlook nerds that we both are, I scheduled date time for us in our calendars for Friday, March 13th (yes, yes, I can see the eyes rolling already!). Anyways, we didn't really decide on anything concrete, so when I saw that Cirque du Soleil was coming to town, I asked Sean if he wanted to go to that for our date night. He quickly replied that he had planned a surprise for that night. "Oh, goody", I'm thinking in my head... fast forward to the next morning. Sean tells me that he isn't good with surprises, and tells me that the surprise for Friday night is that we are going to a French Society of Portland event (long story) at El Gaucho. To be honest, this wasn't exactly the romantic evening I had in mind, and so I let Sean know that (can we just keep in mind that I've been a WEE bit emotional over the past few weeks?). He let me know that I was being a wee bit emotional (a common theme these days) and we settled on Saturday for Cirque.
Meanwhile... my two awesome friends, Michelle Wald and Amy Smith, have been planning a surprise going away party for - you guessed it - Friday, March 13th. With the help of many other friends, they put together such a fun party for me at Rogue Ale House in the Pearl.
So, last night, I'm all ready to go the French Society event. I had purchased a new dress to wear to it the prior weekend, which had unfortunately lost a button almost immediately (great craftsmanship!). Michelle Wald fixed it for me, knowing darn well I wasn't wearing it to El Gaucho! :) Sean and I went to Blue Hour for a drink, and I was kind of wondering why he was so antsy about how long things were taking there. Well, it was because everyone was waiting! He was so funny - we walked up to Rogue, and as we passed the window where you could see everyone, he tipped the umbrella backwards so I couldn't see! It wasn't until I walked into the back room and heard "SURPRISE" that I realized what was going on!
The evening was unbelievable. All of my friends did something special, and Michelle and Amy co-ordinated for my friends to each make scrapbook pages celebrating our friendship, which they placed into an album for me (if you know me, you know that I have an entire ROOM for my scrapbooking tools, so this was perfect!). I didn't cry - I think I'm just really numb right now. It felt more like a birthday party than a going away party.
Anyways, it was amazing. My friends really got me this time. The planner got out-planned. :)
Michelle made one of her amazing cakes!
The tricksters - Michelle Wald and Amy Smith - I couldn't ask for better friends!
Toh, Amber, and I proudly displaying our offical costing gang symbol (hey - we have to do SOMETHING to make our job fun! :))
Catching up with all my friends
Thanks for the yummy cupcakes, Katie!
Jen, Raelee, Les, me (celebrating National Pie Day), and Rhonda - Old Running Buddies!
Anna and Susan - Anna will be my first visitor - she'll arrive in Amsterdam on April 20th, just in time to help me get through my first nervous breakdown! :)
Brad ate his entire Kobe beef burger with chopsticks - and won a beer on a bet in the process!
2 comments:
What a wonderful surprise! Knowing what great friends you have there has made it a little easier being so far away from you. We have enjoyed meeting many of them on our trips to Portland and feel that they are like family. Thanks to all of you for providing our girl with another special memory of Portland. Hope to see you all in the future.
How nice. Looks like you have a great group of friends. And that scrapbook will come in handy when you are missing them. What a great idea!
Carolyn
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