Tampa, FL, January 31, 2009 – We arrived in Tampa the day before the Super Bowl, in time to catch a couple of the celebrity-packed pre-game parties. 

Blake Lively was the life of the 3rd annual Celebrity Beach Bowl in St. Petersburg on Saturday.  Wearing jeans, she wasn’t dressed properly for playing football, but she did jump into the game half-heartedly for a few minutes towards the end.  Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford and Christian Slater were dressed appropriately for sports, and they did partake.  However, Blake was everywhere, giving interviews with Gossip Girl co-star Chace Crawford, and issuing directions with NY Giants’ Eli Manning. 

Blake also goofed around a lot with her guy, Penn Badgley; and feigned annoyance when Penn towel-snapped her behind with the red fabric strip hanging from his uniform (see photo at left.) 

That evening we headed over to Tampa’s T. Pepin Hospitality Center, where Kevin Costner, Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Michael Strahan and Nicole Murphy were among the celebrities at the 3rd annual Saturday Night Spectacular event.