My husband, Steve and I have been married for 22 years and it's not often he can surprise me with things I can't figure out on my own. So when he mentioned he had the perfect gift in mind for my birthday but wasn't sure if he should tell me or not, I said I don't want to ruin it for you trying to figure it out.
Then he mentioned if he didn't tell me I might be mad they he didn't. Wouldn't that make you wonder why someone might be upset by the gift he had planned?
I told him it was up to him and that's when he revealed that one of my friends from my Private Wreath Making Group, Gail Cela, was going to be flying out from Florida to celebrate with me for 5 days but unfortunately would be flying home on my actual birthday. Now mind you this was 30 days from that actually happening and I was more than ecstatic!! He said, I know how you are about cleaning and I wanted you to know about it beforehand so you wouldn't be upset if you didn't have time to prepare for a visit.
He knows me too well.
I am not OCD by any standard, but he knew I would want to do what I could to ensure her stay was perfect. This would mean picking up things I knew she would like, making the guest room as comfy and organized as possible for someone coming in to stay for 5 days. It was so much fun making all the preparations with finding little things I knew she might like, with fragrant shampoos and soaps, lotions and of course all her favorite drinks and snacks.
I love making people feel at home when they stay with me. I had even planned on taking time off from my public and private group tutorials, but when I revealed to Gail that their secret was out, she insisted the one thing she really wanted to do, was be on my Friday Night Live in my public group because she would be doing this as her first live and wanted to understand everything it took to make that happen.
The planning that I began to make sure we did everything she wanted to do was underway from making a shopping trip to our floral and design center wholesaler here in Southern California, and she was even bringing in an extra large bag to make sure she got to take home everything she wanted.
Steve was super accommodating and offered to be our driver the entire time and was willing to endure a very long and arduous shopping trip with us. We spent Sunday working on perfecting her wreath making tips with a request to show her how to jump down to the second level working on the pouf methods and mastering making a bow. Trust me, she's a total pro when it comes to her skill set and planning.
So we planned on picking her up at the airport on Friday night, grabbing a quick bite to eat at Mimi's Cafe, heading home and preparing for the Facebook Live at 5pm. We would top off the night the way Steve and I usually do, with dinner at our local hot spot Paulina's Mexican Grill. Saturday would consist of a huge shopping trip to the design center, followed by lunch at the beach before heading home. For dinner, we would visit Texas Roadhouse to be waited on by my youngest daughter Kailee and meeting the infamous, Bacon, from a previous Facebook Live from Cracker Barrel. Sunday was a slow crafting day at home.
Monday we all planned to visit Disneyland and California Adventure for my birthday with my youngest Kailee and her husband Isaiah since it had been 25 years since she had been to California. We had a blast that day simply enjoying the parks, seeing Frozen at the Hyperion theater, lunch at the winery and topped it off with visiting Galaxy's Edge where she picked up a light sabre for her son Alec.
Sadly like all good things, the end came after breakfast at iHop by the Ontario airport and ensuring Gail had no issues with her check ins and luggage. I didn't expect the tears that came from both of us as we said our goodbyes, but know we will get together again real soon.
Thank you Gail and Steve for your creative plans to pull off one incredible and lasting birthday that I will remember forever.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment