"All About You"

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That is the caption on the front of the birthday card I gave Missy. Indeed, she takes her birthday seriously. I've been reminded about it every other day for the last eight weeks. And, she sent me a two-page birthday list, complete with helpful links to Crate & Barrel... so failure was not an option and certainly not a valid excuse.

We started off the weekend hosting Dawn and Brian for dinner. Missy made a delicious Chicken Piccata and Tomato Oreganatta. We topped the meal off with a creamy cherry cheesecake. We kept one eye on the HDTV, as Brian's alma mater, Virginia Tech, came from behind to beat Illinois.

On Saturday, we went out to Manassas Park to celebrate Dawn's Green St. Patrick's Day birthday. Missy won a shamrock cookie for wearing the most green -- socks, shirts, belt, earrings, and nail polish to boot! I settled for wearing a green sweater -- which was possible since the temperature plunged back into the 30s!

Sunday was the big day. Since I was teaching Sunday school, we started off the morning early with some baked chocolate chip muffins. Missy got to open two gifts, including a grill pan. The tag suspiciously said it came from Rachael Ray. I didn't know they were on such close terms -- I suppose that's what you get when you watch 30-minute meals on the food network everyday.

After church, we came home and she opened the rest of her gifts while I baked my first angel food cake. Rest assured, it is what she asked for -- I was fully prepared to bake a simple chocolate cake. Continuing our food theme for the weekend, we trekked to McPherson Square near the White House for a celebratory dinner at Georgia Brown's. Known for its fine "low country" Southern food, it's a popular DC spot. It was also featured in a James Patterson novel. We ordered flavorful fried green tomatoes to start. The restaurant was very busy but the service was good. Our entrees -- Mahi Mahi for Missy and bacon-wrapped Filet Mignon for me were both excellent.

In an awkward exchange, we let the people at the table next to us know that it was Missy's birthday, which must have been overheard by our waiter -- because next thing we knew, he brought Missy a complementary peach cobbler dessert, complete with lit candle! A weekend topped off with a sweet surprise.

Now, maybe she'll give me a week off before we start counting down to March 18, 2008 ....