As is traditional, here is my post birthday entry.

As you might imagine, I hadn�t been feeling very excited about turning 29. One step closer to a thirtieth year without a full-time job, boyfriend and financial stability. But I had so much fun at my party last year, I decided to buck up and have another shin-dig at the Garden Bowl.

I started the process of getting ready for this thing about four hours before we were supposed to be there. I have these awesome curlers from like 1993 called Rock and Roll that I found another set of a few years ago at Salvation Army, so I put nearly all 40 or so in my hair.

Pretty, eh? I swear it looked great later.

Also, I decided to wear my favorite jeans, a blue silk top from the Renaissance Festival and these little heels. Last year I wore a dress, which was nice, but this year I wanted to make sure I didn�t flash anyone.

I tousled my perfectly crazy hair and Leah and I drove the quarter mile to the Garden Bowl.

First I saw Jay, who I know from going to 5 billion shows in the Detroit area. He wished me happy birthday and wondered why I thought my life was �one big mistake� (That�s Leah�s impression of my recent stance on my station in life). He went upstairs to the show that I mistakenly scheduled my party on the same day as, and we went to the bar for my first Long Island Iced Tea.

It was shockingly empty in the bar downstairs, which made me happy as I was sure the place would be wall-to-wall hipsters waiting to see Deastro, Thunderbirds Are Now and The Go Team. It turns out that they had let everyone upstairs already. I slid two tables together and we planted our asses waiting for whoever would arrive first.

It was Amanda and her friend Vicky. They got drinks and we talked until April showed up. It�s always a party when April arrives. She entertained us with babysitting stories and telling us about catching her kitchen on fire.

At some point, Wayne, another show buddy stopped by and basically made me drink my drink down so he could buy me another. I obliged and switched to vodka and Red Bull. Amanda discovered a new drink called the Marvin Gaye that tasted good but scared me a bit because it was so dark and sweet. I really hate puking, but there�s nothing worse than puking in public, so I�ll have to save Marvin for another, less drunk occasion.

Darlene, Justin and Jess stopped by on their way upstairs and fluffed my hair.

Then the Vermiglios arrived. My cousins Janelle and Sarah and Janelle�s boyfriend Todd carried the party to a whole new level. Loud guffaws, the Locomotion, cigarette-smoking and hair styling ensued.

So I�m cruising along happily through my drunken night, talking with everyone and having a good old time when a taxi pulls up right outside our window. Janelle�s finger points out, �Oh my God. It�s Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore!� I smack her hand down, because I don�t want to be all freaking out about celebrities (even though I totally am, inside). They head upstairs to the show and it now becomes my cousin Sarah�s mission to get us near the celebrities. I am displeased with this mission, but I don�t seem to have a choice. A few minutes later, Sarah is hollering from the top of the stairs that it�s free to go up now, and despite my pleas for help from Wayne, upward we go.

We go out to the beautiful new deck area and hang around and drink, all the while in my peripheral vision I see a swarm of people around Fallon. I�m cringing inside because it seems like they should be able to just go out and get a drink without all this. In retrospect, it wasn�t that bad, they really did seem to be having fun.

At some point, Janelle and Sarah come clamoring toward me excitedly yelling, �We told him it�s your birthday! He wants to take a picture with you!� To which I replied, �Tell him to come over here�. Heh. Eventually, they grabbed me and took me over to Jimmy Fallon, where I waited for my turn. I think I said �hi� and he practically yelled, �Happy Birthday!�. I told him it had been a few days ago and he said, �It�s going to be a good year, I can feel it!� He then GRABBED me, squashed me to his side and we posed for this photo:

I�m not sure when he kissed me twice on the side of my head, but he did and he was all stubbly.

I gotta tell you, he was one nice man. Not just a nice celebrity; a nice human being. He seriously meant his birthday wish and seemed more excited than I did about the photo. So, kudos Jimmy, I�m totally watching your show when you take over for Conan.

The rest of the night was spent sort of squashing my desire to squee about what had happened to me. And also to try to carry on a normal conversation while Jimmy and Drew danced like idiots directly behind Wayne. Drew Barrymore is so fucking skinny, by the way. I�m not sure if she always looks like this, but man, it was not what I expected. Jimmy is sorta short, I guess, but way more broad and manly than I expected.

I tried to entice people come back to my apartment to sit around and talk, but we could only manage to convince Wayne to come, and only for a little while. We sent him on his long drive home with coffee and I updated my Myspace to reflect the very strange thing that had happened.

So there it is. Also, I got the Wii Fit, an iTunes gift card, and some make-up (which can be seen in the picture below).

Thanks everyone!

One more picture because I think it�s funny.