Potential Felonies Averted

Last night WineGuy got on the phone with his med school buddy (The Radiologist) to plan the dinners and outings while he and his wife are here. WineGuy insisted we could not go to the fancy hotel for dinner because we took The Radiologist and The Writer, his wife, there on their first night here last year. WineGuy sat here, breathing down my neck, until I called a different restaurant and made reservations for Saturday night, March 24th. Aieeeeeeeeee! I wanted to strangle WineGuy for mucking up my plans.

I thought The Radiologist raised the issue of the restaurant, so I very politely sent a "pointed" email to The Writer saying how much we are looking forward to their visit but that I was going to shoot The Radiologist for messing with my plans. She wrote back, very apologetic, and offered me a way out. The Radiologist called me this morning with the perfect ruse for WineGuy: tell him The Writer absolutely loved the fancy hotel and was anxious to go back there for dinner. WineGuy bought it hook, line, and sinker. So, I don't have to worry about any potential victims of premeditated murder. Of course, I might have been able to argue manslaughter, but that's beside the point.

I had a meeting with the assistant food and bev. director at the hotel today. He and I discussed the menu, and he was willing to make slight alterations to fit my needs. I have a meeting tomorrow afternoon with the sommelier to choose the wines. Their prices are high, but I'm going to ask them to knock off some money for quantity. I can already see I'll be spending a fortune on wine that night because all our guests are either avid wine drinkers or wine connoisseurs.

The hotel will design and print menus for me. I need to make a seating chart and place cards. F&B Guy will put up the few decorations I have and set out the balloon bouquets. I'm toying with making an iDVD or iMovie presentation on my Mac, but I don't have a scanner. It may be too much for me to do this week. I'll have to see. I think I'm going to make up a WineGuy birth year and life trivia quiz for our guests; I'll give away a bottle of our own wine for the high score.

Any other party suggestions? I'm open to them.