Hi,i'm completely new to 3D,but the thing is 5months later is my wife's birthday,i wanna do something new for her so i first decided to do some visual effects stuff,but now i think it would be a heavy goal to go after for a beginner(is it?)so i'm going to create a building that somehow shows a happy birthday message,or maybe the building itself is a message or even her name and create a walk through like animation of it,so i think houdini would be the best,what do you suggest?can i do that in 5months?i really need help.

What a way to wish birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For your kind of basic work, it's quite possible in 5 months.
I highly suggest you to got through basic tutorials first.
here is link:
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=192&Itemid=351 [sidefx.com]