It's raining in the office

I have so much to update, so much to do, so little time. I'll begin with my last day at work before the BIG day. My group of co-workers threw me (and Dear too, but he couldn't make it) a shower. It wasn't a surprise at all, since they asked me when I was free (this is a very busy time for us) and what theme I would like. Not knowing much about showers and feeling very odd about planning my own party, I told them I really like board games like Cranium for the competition (and trashtalking) aspect and I left it at that. Well, the work they did for the party blew me away.

They printed out large Scrabble letters saying "Congratulations R____ and J____", complete with the correct point values for each letter. (Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera, but my co-worker took pics.) They also decorated the conference room with all sorts of board games, from Boggle, to a game called Compatibility, to Scrabble, Candyland, Checkers, Cootie, and of course, Cranium! They also got two crazy delicious cakes: chocolate marble cheesecake (so creamy, so good, and I think someone trekked all the way to Brooklyn to get it), and a German chocolate cake from Mangia. It was the best German chocolate cake I've ever had, and I can't believe I hardly ever order it (not that it's usually on the menu) since I love chocolate and I love coconut! There were a dozen long-stemmed red roses (gigantic sized heads -- so pretty!) and other snack foods, including a single serving of juice, which I had requested, under the guise of being healthy. :D

the beloved Cranium!

the cheesecake -- YUM!

the German chocolate cake -- double YUM!

There was also a rumor circulating that we may not go on a honeymoon just yet so they collected suggestions from the office about things to do in NYC, to "rediscover" it. There are some neat ideas that I got and the creative, somewhat-newly-married girl put them all into a nice little album for me. She designed the pages with little images and interesting layouts and printed them in color -- I wish she had time to do more!

album cover

sample of pages

The primary party planner introduced the event with the description of "bloodthirsty competition" and presented me with a set of fake rubber knives (we once bonded over our "violent" extracurricular activities, me with kung fu class, he with stage combat class) -- the type that he used in his class.

After all the non-fun-loving jerks got their slice(s) of cake and left, a few ppl stayed behind and played Cranium with me. It was so fun to win three times(!) but also fun to see different sides of people that you work with everyday. (My boss went so far as to snap one of the rosebuds off the bouquet, and then to stick it in my hair in order to win a round.) What I love about Cranium is how you need to work as a team and use different talents in order to win, so it was good to play both with ppl I don't usually work with, and also with my group. Other ppl also stayed behind to play Candyland or Scrabble on their own. :)

Someone said it was the "best office party" she's been to (I completely agree!) and I can't believe I had doubts about inviting them to the wedding (I hope I don't regret that later :P). (Unfortunately the two slices of cake I had are wreaking havoc on my waistline!)