The Eyes of Texas Are Upon Me

Me in my burnt-orange best with loyal blog readers Gregg and Melissa (Hi, guys!).

I turned 29 on Wednesday. Twenty-nine. That sounds older than I feel, which is somewhere between college grad and Responsible Adult Professional.

It was a great day. Woke up crazy early (9:30 for me) and managed to drag myself to the gym for a painfully slow jog on the treadmill. This helped assuage the guilt of later gorging.

Saw "Pride and Prejudice," this year's birthday movie. (Last year, it was "Sideways.") Highly recommend "P&P." I recently reread the book, and I wasn't sure the film would really do it for me (And how could anyone but Colin Firth be Darcy?), but it totally won me over. Faithful to the book with several charming new touches. What can I say, I'm a sucker for sweeping love stories. And, man, this was Big Love. *swoon*

But the big highlight of the day was my Rose Bowl party -- my pals around me watching the Longhorns win the national freaking title! So excited. The number of folks in my living room (18!) probably was some sort of fire code violation, but folks seemed to have fun. I didn't know I knew so many people! Also had the bestest cake ever thanks to my pal Beth, who called in the order to Cakelove from Indiana! Endless gratitude to Doris, the grande dame of entertaining, for providing chairs and cushions and keeping me from flipping out.

Other high points of the night: yummy sangria, fun with the juicer, chocolate fondue (mmm ...), giving out prizes! Low points: running out of plates and utensils (eek!) and screeching like a girl during the game.

Some things can't be helped. Hook 'em!