Thirty Reasons - Birthday Edition

On her thirtieth birthday, I present--

Thirty Reasons Why Cecelia Larsen (my awesome sister) Rocks:

30. She has a cool name.  C-E-C-E-L-I-A.  Not many women have that name or spelling.  Which I know isn't really up to her, but what IS up to her is how awesome she makes that name.  I know for a fact that she is the coolest, most awesome Cecelia that any of her friends know.  Word.
29. She's just the right height.
28. Ummm, book recommendation QUEEN.  She will never relinquish this title.  She reads so much all the time that there is definitely something she can find for you that you will LOVE love LOVE and gush to your friends about.  Even if you're the younger sibling and you're going through a phase where "I-will-not-read-anything-my-sister-recommends."
27. She makes thirty years old look CLASSY.  And cute.  And beautiful.  She is gorgeous.
26. Funny faces.  Which is odd that this reason follows the "classy" reason, but it's true.  She makes really awesome funny faces.
25. She can be bossy when the need arises.  It's a good thing.
24. She's not a horrible driver.
23. She plays water polo.  And she's a good teammate.  We worked well together (and am assuming we still do because we have this "connection" in the pool), and she can pretty much rock any sport in which she participates.  High school: swimming and tennis.  College: swimming and water polo.  Now: Floor hockey.  << Like, DANG, that's hardcore.
22. She has good taste in nail polish.  (HEY! These reasons are MY reasons for why she rocks, not yours!)
21. She is tri-lingual (English, Spanish, and Portuguese).
19. She isn't stale.  She keeps learning, learning, learning.
18. When she belly-laughs and does that hand-clapping thing along with it, you'll laugh along with her.  Probably with tears in your eyes too.  She's that hilarious.  Unless you're soulless.
20. And! She knows how to make you smile! (Like sending you a picture of otters on a bad day you're having, or a text with the crazy secret code that means "I love you" just to make you feel better).  That stuff.
17. She likes eating food.  And reading, and doing normal things, like going to Costco [because of the Polish Dogs].  It doesn't have to be fancy around her, but Cecelia can definitely fit in if the joint is classy OR hoi polloi.
16. She finds good music and shares it with me.  Jack Johnson, Zee Avi, Florence + The Machine...
15. She likes Brie.
14. She is wise.  I wouldn't say that she has the best street-smarts out of anyone I know (that's a hard title to earn), but she definitely gets the prize for wise-ness most of the time.  She has helped me through some tough times, and she's sort of good at being the serious encourager--the "Ignore what they say about you," type of encouragement, because, "I know you're awesome."  That's the kind of wise I'm talking about.  
13. She writes the best postcards.  See my fridge.  It's packed.  *Le sigh*  Best traveling gift ever.
12.  She's allergic to awkward.  Sort of.  See, it's hard to explain--because I am so awkward sometimes and she still loves me, but let's explain using movies.  She can't sit through movies that make her feel awkward.  She's very empathetic, and/ or maybe she's had millions of awkward moments before that remind her of *that THING* in the movie, but she's pretty much incapable of sitting through any mildly or not-so-mildly awkward movie.  Although, I hear she is getting better at it.
11. Oh, yeah--she likes movies.  She's [mostly] a good movie-goer, and will laugh hard enough to literally make you feel uncomfortable enough to switch rows, seats, or theaters when she likes a funny part.  But seriously, we share taste in movies most of the time, and since I will usually like the stuff she likes, then she's a great movie-pal.
10. Trend-setting.  She likes steampunk.  And zombies (or maybe that was a phase).  She likes the fringe stuff before it gets really cool--which is like being a finder or a savant for new stuff.  Which she likes to brag about occasionally.
9. Cecelia can find the best gifts for anyone, anywhere, anytime.  She is the pro.  And the best part is, you didn't even know it was 184% perfect for you, because SHE did, and she got it for you knowing you would die with shock and pleasure when you opened it.
8. She is a great traveller.  I have loved every single trip we've taken together.  We have been to Spain, Italy, and Brazil together.  It was amazing.  We had really awesome times--fun and crazy times.  Good pictures, great stories, and memories forever.
7. She is a great writer.  As a result, she's pretty popular among book-bloggers, because she reviews books with pizzazz and truthfulness.  (I would tell you how many followers she has, and that she got invited to be a judge for a book award, but then I'd just be going overboard).  
6. She's passionate.  This one is hard to describe.  Her hobbies show her passion the most, but they're so much more than that.  If you get her riled up and talking about something she LOVES, then just sit back and enjoy the ride.  You'll get a glimpse of what makes her tick, what makes her smile, and what makes her cry.  It's part of what makes her awesome.
5. Protective.  She's the oldest child (hahahahahaha: SHE'S the OLDest!), and as such sometimes took on motherly qualities with the remaining four siblings (of which I am #2).  But, there were a few times in water polo (see reason #3) where siblings' physical wellness or honor was being impinged, and she jumped right in like a mama bear.  So hard core.  There were threats, and actions on said threats, and one girl got a bloody nose, and she didn't get caught (that was a long time ago).  It was almost scary.  I just know that she's going to be a great mom.  Because if she cares about me that much, then how much is she going to love her future little mini-mes?
4. She can bake, and cook, and create amazingly delicious dishes.  This girl is ridiculous.  She'll decide to make something for the coworkers on a Sunday night, and BAM! I'm sitting over here the next day reading the mouth-wattering reviews confirming that concoctions awesomeness in Washington just wishing she would overnight me a smidgen of that goodness.  Just check out her blog (www.ceceliabedelia.blogspot.com) if you don't believe me.  But you'd be silly not to believe me.  But check it out anyways.
3. Super competitive.  Don't play Monopoly, or Spoons, or water polo, or Bridge, or board games where there's only one winner unless you want to go home crying.
2. She is related to me--DUH.  I'm awesome.  Awesome rubs off onto other people.  That reason should be number one, really.
1. She's lovely.  She is loving.  They're interchangeable qualities.  I know that according to some people you're not supposed to be best friends with your siblings.  Well, it's kind of hard NOT to with Cece.  She's great.  I love her.  She's the best.