Surprise!

My professional photographer finally came through with the goods (thanks Megan!), so I finally get to recap Joanne's 30th Birthday surprise party:

1. She was surprised. As I've explained a number of times, Joanne is very observant when she has a reason to be (reading, movies, etc), but when she doesn't... not so much.
2. Mongoloid! And I still choose not to play.
3. The cake. Since it was an ocean theme, the only cake that fit was a Finding Nemo design. The bakery person did look at me oddly when I selected that for a 30th birthday.

Returning to the surprise element, I think it's generally more difficult to do a surprise party at one's own house, but through a serendipitous collection of events, Joanne never had a reason to suspect why I was so adamant that the house be clean, which were:

• Matt & Melissa coming over for a movie after dinner
• Jason being in town and staying the night after the ASU-CU game
• The kicker, Joanne's comment that "at least one of us is doing some work around the house, cause it sure ain't me these days," which made me realize the house wasn't looking all that hot.

There were a couple of moments that could have aroused suspicion, but Joanne didn't pick up on them: my quick refusal of dessert at The Siamese Cat after initially suggesting it; Matt & Melissa walking into the restaurant with a present; Matt indicating some knowledge of Andy's wedding (not really a giveaway, but a surprise to joanne). I'm sure there were others, but, fortunately, it wasn't enough to tip her off.