According to my sister, Leah, she has been planning this party since July. I myself had no clue that we were gonna have this party since, as you all know, I was in the PI enjoying my "summer" vacation. I was only informed about it when my other sister, Lee, told me that Ate Leah filled her in about what was gonna happen in a phone conversation. So, during the my time in the PI, Ate Leah filled me and Ate Lee in about what the theme was, which is Hawaiian, that she's gonna have it catered by d'Unik (a Filipino store near our house in Shoreline), that I'm gonna be the official photographer, that Tita Chi was the one in-charge of bringing our Mom over to the place and that we should buy the candles for the coconuts souvenirs when we get the chance. She also told us that our lola (my mom's mom's sister, go figure..) and our aunt is flying over from San Francisco on the day of the party and relatives from Canada where also coming over.
A week after I arrived from the PI, I slept over at Ate Leah's house for the purpose of going shopping with her for the last minute embellishments and decorations for the place where the party will be held and also to help her "tag" the coconut shell souvenirs.
On the eve of the party, I slept over at my sister's house again, because I had to. I'm entitled to help her set up the place, get the last minute items needed for the party, and to make her sane because she gets antsy, nervous, excited, and forgetful when it comes to hosting events such as this party.
On the big day, we were out of her house by 8 am, we stopped by Top Foods to get flowers and extra plasticware, afterwards we headed straight to the center to set it up for the party. Mind you it was only the TWO of us who put the place together. WE, who are both skinny, unloaded heavy boxes and bags from the car. WE, who are both skinny, prepared and arranged heavy tables in the hall of the center. WE, who are both skinny, took out stacks of chairs and arranged them to fit each table. Thank goodness our cousin, Inee who came over to deliver the balloons, helped us with the decorating part.
black and white and colored view of the decked out hall/center. Imagine the place with no decorations whatsoever. BLAND.
Two skinny sisters who made the place look fab.
After we put the place together, we went home to eat lunch and got dressed for the party. My sister told me that before we go back to the place, we were gonna pick up my mom's cake and she put me in charge of holding it. Since I was thinking that the cake wouldn't be big, it wouldn't be a big deal for me to hold it wearing a skirt (yes, I'm that maarte). To my surprise, the cake was big and heavy, thank God my sister came to her senses and instead of letting me carrying the it, she placed it in the trunk of the car.
Hawaiian/Lilo Cake
After the cake, we went back to the center to wait for the catered food and to be on standby for early guests. People started pouring in one by one, but around 5pm, there were still a few guests and we were expecting my aunt to bring my mom at around 5:30 pm. I told my sister that we should call Tita and tell her to bring our mom at around 6. The clock stroke at 5:30pm and guests started pouring in by the numbers. My cousin Inee played "decoy" and called her mom to tell her to bring our mom na. So far, the plan was working without any hitches.
main course and dessert
poor piggy became the "main" course of the evening
Excitement was building up upon all of us. We were all looking outside the window of the hall to see if the guest of honor have arrived. In the perfect hour, my cousin, Eric, shouted, "they're here!". So we all shushed down the talking crowd and we waited until we heard a knock on the close door.
Kuya Eric's the one carrying the girl
SURPRISE..SURPRISE.. When my sister opened the door and we all shouted SURPRISE!, my mom was in shocked, it took her a second before she could come in the door that my aunt had to pull her inside the hall. I was surprised that she was surprised, because I kinda had the feeling that my mom already knew that something was up. But, she didn't know NADA. The surprise was a success.
60 candles were blown away
On a side note:
Here's how my aunt played the whole thing to my mom: She told my mom that she was gonna attend a dinner party that was hosted by Northwest Hospital. She told her that she was allowed to bring one guest, ergo, my mom being the perfect candidate for that 'guest' part. Little did my mom know that the party that she was going to attend was actually a party for her. Sneaky...sneaky.
The people in this picture duped the woman who's wearing the peach colored blouse
No comments:
Post a Comment