Favorite Friend

I have been very fortunate to have some wonderful females in my life who I call friends.  Very fortunate.  I have a handful that I would do anything for, I love for their own special reasons, and I value immensely.  Today, one of my very favorite friends, actually one of my favorite people to ever grace the planet, is turning the Fabulous Forty.  I'm going to tell you forty reasons that Katy is so fabulous and why she is a favorite friend.

1. You know when you meet someone that is going to become very special in your life, often people say that there is an "instant connection"?  Yea...they may be talking about a love interest, but I feel Katy and I had that instant connection.  As cliché as it sounds, we just clicked.  It was love at first sight when I met that curly headed, long-legged, big grin of a nineteen year old.  We were both dates to a frat party.  Neither of the guys were in the frat, but it was one those parties that everyone went.  Katy and I shared a bottle of Crown Royal, and we knew we'd be forever friends.
2. Katy was my roommate in college for 3 years.  During that time she was a bartendar at a variety of local bars that were popular with us crazy college kids.  Katy poured a good drink, and she gave free drinks to her roommate (me!).  
3. One Halloween, Katy let me dress her as Sandy from Grease (you know, at the school fair when she says "tell me about it, stud"?).  I put her in black spandex, I teased her already natural curly hair, I threw some heels on her and a leather jacket.  She looked hot!  Really, I just wanted to be Stephanie Zinone from Grease 2, and I thought we'd make a cute duo.
   
4. Katy accepts me for who I am.  She doesn't just accept me, she loves me for who I am.  There are a couple less desirable traits of mine that she accepts.  Like my messiness.  She is very clean and neat.  I'm a messy slob.
5. Katy is fabulous at setting lofty goals for herself and achieving them.  From graduating early to having career success; owning a home and being a triathlete.
6. Katy is super smart.
7. Katy is extremely generous...almost to the point that I worry others may have taken advantage of her.  But, I trust Katy's intelligence and instincts.  Plus, she's a big girl who can make her own decisions.
   
8. Katy is great about making me feel special on my birthdays.  From giving me a sentimental snow globe for my 30th to organizing a night out on the Cowtown Cycle Party for my 40th. 
   
9. Katy has a very special bond with her cat, Nkosi.  He is protective and loyal to Katy.  All who enter should fear Nkosi, but their love for each other is evident.
10. Katy has been known to call herself Katy the Krazy Kat Lady.  See above.  
11. Katy and I have many memories involving road trips - to Austin, to San Antonio, to Houston to see Stone Temple Pilots with her date who was wearing leather pants.  He was gorgeous.  He was allowed to wear leather pants.
    
12. Katy took care of me when we suspect my drink was drugged at a bar.  We researched, and we feel confident this is what happened.  Not a good moment.  But, she was a trooper and a nurturer.
13. Katy sings a mean rendition of Rick Springfield's "Don't Talk to Strangers".
14. Katy gives really thoughtful and insightful advice.
15. Also, and sometimes more importantly, Katy is a great listener.
16. Katy has selected Fort Worth for the place to live her life.  Fort Worth is a fabulous city, a Texas gem, that often flies under the radar.
    
     
17. Katy has a devious mind when it comes to planning pranks. 
18. Katy and I had a girl's trip to Vegas.  We stayed at the Wynn, hung out at the pool, saw Butch Walker open for Avril Lavigne, and sat on the laps of American Storm.
    
19. Speaking of Butch Walker, Katy and I flew to Minneapolis to see a Butch show.  It was amazing.
    
20. Katy and I used to snuggle up in her bed and watch marathons of Beavis and Butthead when she was suffering from insomnia.
21. Katy does some fabulous disco dancing.
22. Katy is a super strong woman who is extremely self-aware and always looking to better herself (although, I think she's pretty close to perfect just as she is.)
23. Katy and I shared a bathroom for two years.  Never once did she get mad at me listening to me vomit (from debauchery) through our shared door.  Teased me, yes.  But she never got mad.
24. Katy lets me pick out her shoes.  Admittedly, she doesn't always make the best choices for stylish footwear.  She lets me help in that department because she knows how much I love shoes.
25. Katy has a gorgeous smile with full lips.  I suspect that a guy who she dated that was in a college band may have written some song lyrics about these lips of hers.
    
26. Katy is an immensely loyal friend.
27. Katy recommends great books.  She is the one that told me I needed to read The Book Thief and recommended The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, two books that became favorites of mine.
28. Katy visited me in Australia where we did memorable things like climb the Harbour Bridge, get in a tank with sharks, scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef, and have breakfast with koalas.
    
29. Katy has an ability to make me feel good about myself.  There've been conversations when I've been feeling pretty darn lousy, and Katy is able to give me enough encouragement to feel better about things.
30. Katy is loyal and trustworthy, and I can honestly say I trust her with my deepest, darkest secrets.
31. Katy is open-minded.
32. Katy is open-hearted.
33. Katy challenges herself each month to do something she's never done before.  She's been doing this for years.  It guarantees that she is always experiencing something new in her life.
34. Katy and I are very similar in some ways, and very different in others.  Our friendship works perfectly well like that.
    
    
    
35. At a time that I needed someone to say "are you sure about this?", Katy said it.
36. When I make terrible life mistakes, Katy is the first person there to give me moral support and help me pick up the pieces.
37. Katy and I have helped each other through hair disasters, divorces, hurricane evacuations, alcohol poisonings and more.
    
38. Katy and I have a grand plan.  If we find ourselves retired and single, we want to live together again like the Golden Girls.  I'll be Blanche to her Dorothy.
39. There is no doubt in my mind, if I were to ever find myself in an emergency situation where I absolutely needed Katy to be by my side, she would do everything in her power to be there, even if that meant flying to the other side of the world.
40. If those forty reasons aren't enough to convince you that Katy is fabulous, you'll have to wait until she's fifty or sixty so I can list some more.  Because we'll most definitely still be friends then. 
    
    

 Happy Birthday, Katy!  I love you more than I love shoes.

***i forgot to add the Friday Favorites link for Amanda at meetatthebarre.com and now I'm on my phone (not laptop), so I don't know how to add the link. Sorry!!!  Will fix tomorrow.