Carol's Birthday

Ha! A NON-OVERDUE post!  How crazy is this, timely posting.  So this past Thursday was Carol's Birthday.  On Thursday evening, some of us went to the Olive Garden for dinner to celebrate.  It was a nice dinner with a FABULOUS waiter.  I don't know what the standard is for tipping anymore, but I tipped him 26%, he was that good.  Mind you, this is not just good compared to the previous waitress who was awful.

Anyway, we have a lovely time and then came back to the house to watch the season premier of Survivor, because Carol loves Survivor.  Then on FRIDAY, I had LONG planned to have a surprise party for her at the house.  I was going to make a cake and everything.  As it coincided with the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, I decided to make an Olympic Rings cake.  Making the cake was a huge project.  It took 3 days and many hours.  The cakes were all cooked in a 9in round pan.  We bought a GIANT can of pudding because the diameter of the can was the right size.  We use the pudding to make dirt and then I used the can as an inner wall for the cake pan.  All in all, I think it turned out quite well.  I have no plans to quit my job, and am certainly not as crafty as my sister (ask her about her amazing cakes) but I'm quite happy with it.

Well, a week before the party, Carol decided to invite people out to Cafe 210 for the night on Friday night... GAHH!!!  Through much trickery and planning, I was able to get everybody to leave Cafe with a 'reasonable' excuse around 8pm and head back to the house.  Carol was less than happy, as could be imagined.  Eventually I was able to drive her back to my house (while giving EXCELLENT answers to every question she posed as to what was going on) and not tip her off.  I got her upstairs and everybody jumped out to yell "SURPRISE!" and she was very very happy with everything, all of the frustration of everybody leaving was worth it I think.

We wound up eating delicious delicious cake and watching parts of the opening ceremonies for a while.  More pictures here.  More pictures will follow when I steal Carol's camera and upload the rest onto my computer and the web.