Okay, are you ready for the rest of my story from yesteday? So far, I shared that I wanted to do something epic for my Rock and Roll Buddy's big birthday, and I was stumped.
That is, until my friend at work came up with the perfect gift...
She suggested I take him to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Wha...?!
"Where is that?!" I asked, realizing we had just struck gold.
"Detroit", she replied.
Well, not quite.
I googled it and it turned out that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland, Ohio.
(Of course, it is. Cleveland rocks, after all.)
...
And so, the idea was born, early last October. (It was a no-brainer, what with his background in music, and being a Beatles fan since the age of six...)
The real kicker came less than a week later, when I discovered a thing called a Hall Pass on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website. A Hall Pass is a ticket you purchase that gets you into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Shut the door.
Oh yeah, I knew then that I had the makings of an epic birthday present, and for once, I was planning things far enough out to leave no detail to chance.I decided it would be a total surprise, with us flying out the morning before his birthday, and I would give him his present the night before we would fly out.(Wow. I made that sound more complicated than it was. I gave him the presnt Frday night, we flew out Saturday morning at Oh-dark-thirty, and his birthday was Sunday.)
Anyway.
Week by week, I planned and plotted, becoming quite well acquainted with the folks at the Rock Hall via email. (They were the ones who recommended we stay in Fairlawn Ohio because it is halfway between Canton and Cleveland.) The trip became more and more elaborate, and all of the teeny-tiniest details became focal points for me. (Things like Goody-Bags for the plane ride, and printed movie schedules, and thrift store and brew pub maps...)
As the time for the surprise birthday trip neared, I realized I needed a fantastic-never-to-be-forgotten way of presenting his present.
That's when I found this company. (Thank you, Pinterest. And as it turned out, they are just outside of Portland, Oregon...I love this place.)
I designed and ordered a teaser slide show from them to get things started. (It's so easy! You can use photos, or colored backdrops, and you can add text over any of them!)
There were so many details I felt I needed to share with him before we took off, that I decided to create a book from my most favorite book design company.
I ended up crafting this book with all of the pages done in a chalkboard backdrop, and creamy letters, with pops of orange throughout. I answred the who-what-when-where-and-why's and then walked him through the day-by-day itinerary of the milestone birthday surprise. You can see (and read!)my book creation here.
Suffice to say, the presentation of my Rock and Roll Buddy's Big 6-0 Birthday present was spot on!
