Lily loves her birthday, and Marshall loves planning birthday celebrations, so they're a match made possibly in Heaven and definitely in Hollywood. This year, for Lily's 32nd, Marshall has planned a black tie celebration for our fab five -- in the privacy and comfort of DOWISETREPLA. Call me old. Call me Princess Sweatpants. Call me a Glamour-Don't, but lose my number if you want me to doll myself up to black tie standards in order to go to my friend's (formerly) slanty-floored walk-up for a party with her, her husband, and my other two BFFs. WTF?

As soon as the party starts, Lily opens her gift from Marshall -- a new camera. Now understand, Lily has lovingly compiled gorgeous albums full of the gang's memorable moments -- and is not afraid to ruin said memorable moments in order to get a great shot. Barney and Robin groan at her new present, but Lily's excitement at the prospect of celebrating her birthday with only her four best friends is infectious. And then...Ted arrives. But does he bring with him the promised cognac-pumpkin cheesecake? Oh no, instead, he brings Amanda (Brooke Nevin), his latest stepping stone on his way to the mother.

Amanda is a chef (whom Ted met at her restaurant, when he sent back his soup -- after finding a hair in it) and he's brought her to prepare Lily's birthday cake. Ted's friends (particularly Lily and Marshall), are less than thrilled that a complete stranger has come to their intimate gathering. In fact, they're downright rude. But of course, bringing a total stranger to an intimate gathering -- with no prior notice -- is also less than polite.

Amanda is lost playing the Lily-centric games Marshall has created (Lily-al Pursuit and Gilding the Lily), so she retreats to the kitchen to finish the cake. As soon as she's out of sight, Lily hustles to get her real friends into an Amanda-less group picture. When Ted realizes Lily is purposefully excluding Amanda, he is offended, so Lily breaks out her photo album to prove to Ted he doesn't even remember many of the She-Could-Be-The-One girls he's dragged to their friends-only shindigs over the years. Later, when Amanda presents Lily's cake and it reads "Happy 42nd Birthday Lori," Marshall blows his stack and kicks Amanda out of the apartment. Ted goes after her, leaving me alone in my hopes that Amanda shed lots of hair into her masterpiece.

When Ted gets back to DOWISETREPLA without his girl, the gang performs the Ritual Airing of Grievances and Photographic Documentation Review. When they come across the first picture college-era Ted, Marshall and Lily ever took together, we're treated to a flashback of how it happened. Just as a guy is about to take Ted and Marshall's first official roomie shot, Lily wanders into their dorm room, and Ted invites her to be in the photo. Marshall whispers his concerns. "What are you doing, Ted? What if we break up?" Ted replies, "What if you don't?" Awwwww. Back in the present, Lily, clearly moved, insists upon getting Amanda back to the party. The poor sucker returns, they pose for their picture, and live happily ever after... at least until Ted meets his new skank, because, apparently, that's what we're now calling all the young women who deign to date T-Mos.

The B-plot revolves around Marshall's inability to take a good picture, Barney's inability to take a bad one, and Robin's inability to accept the latter. It's neatly wrapped up in the end-tag, so I'll save that for the full weecap, on Wednesday morning.

Why It Gets an A-: I expected to hate this episode. At first, the premise bugged. Ted's faux pas and bad habits aside, Lily and Marshall's reaction to Amanda seems over the top -- nearly irredeemable. But then, that old HIMYM magic kicks in. The premise is subverted, and all the obnoxious behavior fades into the background (which reminds me, Barney is a flavor this week, not the only ingredient -- hurrah). This is my show. These are my people. This is why I watch. We all have inexcusable moments with our friends, but our best friends excuse even those. There are callbacks, and perspective plays aplenty. Also, the lovely and talented Laura Prepon reprises her role as Karen, Duchess of Douchay. And best of all, in flashback, we get an adorable (yet truthful) look at Barney and Robin, pre-breakup.

I'll hit the end tag and all the details in the weecap, so check back tomorrow. In the meantime, come on over to the forums, where you can have your skanks and eat cake too.