A surprise was had.

Having thrown one surprise party, I will now consider myself an expert and share my basic tips for throwing any surprise party and getting away with it!

My Birthday last year

I promise I'll get to the "how-to" but first...a little background information.

Birthdays have always been a big thing in my family, I always had a big party and did fun things growing up... and as such, I think it is important to feel special on your birthday! However, not every family is the same and my fiancé did not grow up with the same sense of "birthday urgency" as myself. Naturally, my traditions are going to win out on this one.

I have to say, he certainly went above and beyond for my first birthday together, waking me up at the crack o' dawn to go on a hot air balloon ride that ended with champagne and strawberries back on the ground, followed by drinks at a great happy hour place and dinner at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon... an amazing restaurant I had been dying to go to.

Hot air balloon ride!!

An incredibly fun desert inside a white chocolate shell that melted as the poured warm raspberry compote over it.

Our 6 courses at Le Atelier


There were even more events and gifts for my birthday but you get the point...and this post isn't about my birthday...it's about HIS! As you can see, he went so all-out for my birthday that I was just itching to do something equally awesome for his!...and then I deployed.

I really deployed at the perfect time since I will be back in time for all of the holidays (and cough my birthday) but the one thing I did miss was his birthday.

When we went on our cruise, I took him on an excursion to swim with dolphins and said that was his present...but lets be honest, that was in March...I couldn't only do that!
So, I decided to plan a surprise birthday party...from around the world.

Looking back, here are the steps I followed

1. Plan Early
I got started on planning the party about a month and a half before it actually happened. I contacted friends to give them a heads up and emailed the bakery and the restaurant I was looking at to see if they would accommodate my requests. I created a facebook group in messages so that I could add people as I remembered and make sure everyone knew what I was thinking.

2. Be Sneaky
Obvious, I know. But more than just making sure no one spills the beans, I wanted to make sure he thought all of his birthday surprises were already complete! I won a free delivery of tres leches cakes from a brand new bakery in Las Vegas -- BakeShop -- when I told them my story and what I was planning! They delivered them the night before his birthday and even put a little birthday ribbon on them so he really thought that this was his surprise and his birthday cake!! It was even better since the 4th birthday card and one of his gifts were also delivered that day!

I was so jealous...If you are in Vegas, be sure to check them out!

3. Get people involved
If you have someone who really can't keep a secret...maybe invite them the week of...luckily I had no issues with anyone having loose lips!  I really wanted to be the one doing most of the work but I also knew there was only so much I could do from my laptop in my little room. I had friends pick up the cake and bring it to the restaurant as well as another friend bring in a balloon. I don't think it has to be insanely decorated to be a great time, but I wanted it to be obvious that yes, this was a birthday party.

4. Get a cake
Or some kind of unique dessert.  I know that a lot of restaurants will bring out the birthday person a scoop of ice cream with a candle or a slice of cake but I really wanted it to be inclusive. Whether it is a pie, a cupcake tray or a full on cake, make it so everyone can partake!

 

He loves ice cream so I thought this was a cute play on the idea of it

5. Low-key is key
I had originally wanted to do the party down at a restaurant on the Strip but during the week it just was less feasible for our friends and honestly, it would have been harder to be sneaky about. I picked Sammy's Pizza - a restaurant that was close to us and low-key enough to not create suspicion. I pre-ordered and paid for his entire meal and a bottle of wine to start the table off. The staff there was so unbelievably helpful and even accommodated my wish for a surprise on the pizza!

 

They wrote "I love you" in pesto!

6. Get them there late
Again, obvious I know. We have great friends who tag-teamed on confusing him about what they were doing that night...were they going out? were they going to grill out at home? So it didn't even make him think twice when they were running late (he did give me a speech about how people never plan ahead for timing though...oh the irony). It was important to me that everyone else be there for the big *Ah-Ha* moment rather then him being there and everyone show up right after.

Everyone starting to show up!

7. Be Grateful
I was so thankful for all of our friends who helped me with this and sent me pictures, I could not thank them enough. I immediately did a YELP review for the restaurant and by tagging the places again in this blog, I am trying to help them out some more so you can use them too!

8. Enjoy
It was not the most ideal thing for me to miss his birthday but I have to say, I had a lot of fun planning it and talking to him right up until he left for dinner. I was skyping with him and facebooking with our friends up until the last minute making sure everything was going to be as smooth as possible. It was hard not saying anything especially that week leading up to it but it was so worth it!

If you have tips or stories from your own surprise parties...leave them in the comments!

Your Self(ie) isn't Beautiful

Before I start. I didn't even notice my last post was post #100!! This blog I started as a travel journal in college has kept more momentum than I expected!
This was going to be another wedding blog, but I'm sure you can tell from the title that it is not. This is going to be more like the food and weight blog I did a few months ago.

I was browsing the news the other day, going through articles in Yahoo and CNN when I cam across this little gem: 7 Free Beauty Apps That Make You Look Flawless in Every Photo . Really???

It goes on to say
"we want you to have the tools to look perfect, too. Sometimes we all just need a little help from the App Store! "

Um, excuse me, but no. No we do not "need help from the App Store."

Whenever a celebrity is on a magazine that we can tell is highly airbrushed, there is some sort of outrage. So why are we slamming them for being "artistically redone" when we are pimping out these programs to do the same things to ourselves? This article, and attached apps, are basically trying to tell you that, sure, you may think you look cute in your picture...but you could be a lot better, and I will fix you for free. What kind of culture are we creating for our daughters? (I know, men may use these too, but one cannot deny the target audience) I am so thankful that my parents raised me to believe that my beauty came from the inside and not the outside - I was able to ignore a lot of what society was putting in our face about what was beauty and how to be prettier. But I didn't have all of this when I was a teenager, and it scares me to think about the girls who are growing up in this age, who have cellphones from birth and easy access to these free apps. What are we telling them? How can we help them? and why do people want to portray false images on social media?

So I downloaded the apps.

And I want to show you just how messed up it is that this article is trying to promote this crap.
First up, is Perfect 365 - "The easiest way to make sure you look great" ....there is so much I could say about that catch line....i

 

 

 

 

Here I am! Fresh-faced post gym and shower! No makeup and No filter. I was feeling pretty good about myself

 

The app first scans your face for the points of your features and then allows you to adjust them for more accuracy 

 

Ready for plastic surgery

 First it smoothed my skin.

 

 

Then it took me to the "pre-made" make-up faces 

mmmmm.....sexy

 This one is called "Sweet"

 

Don't I look "Gleeful" with this lipstick it added?

Aptly named "Goblin" may be fun for Halloween pictures....

 

 But then I got into the real meat of the app -- which is specific feature manipulation...and this is where it gets scary...or sad...

 

A nice smooth skin tone - I no longer have pores. Added some blush too (there are an absurd amount of colors that you can then weaken or strengthen in color)

Want to lift those pesky cheekbones? Let the app move them for you! need a slimmer nose? It can do that too! (And all along you thought your cheeks were just fine? HAH). Don't forget to bring in that chin too!

 

 Why not add eyelashes? I mean, just because I have always been complimented on my natural lashes doesn't mean they are actual suitable for real (media) Life.

And some lipstick....

 

Oh but I didn't smile big enough...don't worry, that can be fixed too.

Don't forget eyeshadow!

Close up of the eyeliner

 

And the side by side comparison of before and after.

 

I am pretty horrified of what I was able to accomplish in a mere 10 minutes and you should be too. What kind of message does this send? One can certainly see how the temptation to tweak a little here and tweak a little there can become an addiction...and obsession...and soon, you are looking at pictures of YOURSELF thinking..."man, I wish I looked like that."

Mmmhmm girl, look at that hair.

 Now, I have to state, that as much as I am against these insane picture manipulations, I AM a fan of filters. Sure, the lighting affects how things look...but that is not the same as restructuring your face. Which is why a couple of the apps on the list were not as offensive. Aviary and Camera 360 have some really fun filters that I cannot wait to use on scenery and landscapes when I get back home.

Another App -- "Beauty Plus" is addressed in the article by saying "No need for Botox. Beauty Plus is like plastic surgery (or at least a visit to the dermatologist) in an app. You can slim your face, enlarge your eyes, and even get rid of acne."
Why is this a selling point?! I don't need Botox in the first place!! Or plastic Surgery!! Just. No.
No need for a play by play, it is very similar to the one above.

Similarly, in an app not featured on this article, FaceTune...you can well...tune up your face and body


Here I am again! No makeup, No filter, and horrible deployed room lighting.

And here I am again, smooth, poreless skin, and glistening white teeth.

 

FaceTune does not allow you to apply makeup in the same way as Perfect 365, but it does allow you to manipulate your skin...and your shape.

 

Here I am, thinking I look pretty damn good 5 weeks into my deployment...working out regularly but not aggressively, and eating well (but still enjoying my gummy bears and a glass of wine)

 

But wait! Why work out, when I can app-out instead! Here I am with bigger boobs, and a smaller waist!

 

Oh and why work hard on squats when I can just expand my butt with the swipe of a finger!

So thaaaaats how all those fitness pro's do it on their advertisements!!

 I tried to make my butt even bigger for the sake of this post but it started to distort the lines of the suitcase. I actually read an article the other day making fun of a girl who had used a similar app to adjust a picture and it completely distorted the wall behind her....It's sad, it really is.

 

I am so glad that I do not have children right now and that by the time I do I will hopefully be able to learn through the trials of others with how to handle the technology/self-esteem conundrum. Even when I go on Facebook now I see girls who clearly use skin-adjusting apps...the seemingly haziness of their skin an almost dead give away.
When anyone has professional photographs, they are always slightly edited, skin smoothed, etc., even as far back as high school graduation/Senior pictures. If we accept that as perfectly fine (which we do, and I do), then is it equally appropriate for us to edit them at home? For free? I think it must be.  Yet it seems to be a slippery slope. Is removing a blemish from a picture of a fabulous night out a huge deal? I don't know. Where is the line on what is appropriate? What is healthy?

The marketing is what gets me the most. "The easiest way to make sure you look great" "No need for Botox" "you can create a whole new you!"

Disgusting. We should never be promoting the idea of "creating a whole new you" in order to meet a stereotype of beauty.

As Esther Honig  says in this pretty interesting article about Photoshop and beauty, " 'Photoshop allows us to achieve our unobtainable standards of beauty, but when we compare those standards on a global scale, achieving the ideal remains all the more illusive."