Today is my beautiful older sister, Annie's, birthday. Happy, happy birthday!!! And did you know, Annie, that you have like, no pictures of yourself anywhere? Hence the old wedding picture I stole from Matt's Facebook. :) With no further adieu, some reasons why she is truly awesome:
-She inspires me to be a better mom. Case in point: One day, Kayla was home from preschool because she wasn't feeling the greatest, but wasn't like deathly ill and confined to her bed. In order to liven up the day, Annie thought, "Hey! Let's have a birthday celebration for Hello Kitty!" (Kayla loves her.) So they threw a spur of the moment birthday party complete with a homemade gourmet cake and everything. And she does stuff like this a lot. She's just awesome like that.
-She is absolutely gorgeous. Growing up, I was always the tan sister, and she was the beautiful one. Don't get me wrong, I'm just fine with the way I look thank you, but her beauty is on an entirely different level. Dark, dark, almost black hair, crystal blue eyes, long black sweeping eyelashes, ivory skin, and curves in all the right places.
-She is one of the most naturally creative people I know. She has always, always been this way. She is an amazing photographer, seamstress, baker, chef, and crafter extraordinaire. Pretty much every skill that defines a "homemaker," she rocks at. While I have to work and practice a lot to even begin to be good at stuff like this, it all comes to her naturally and always has. I remember many a time growing up seeing her baking and cooking away while I thought "Gosh, that's so boring. Why anyone would ever choose to do that by their own free will is beyond me. I think I'll just go lay out." Ummm.. yeah. I get it now. And I wish I would have honed these skills a tad earlier (Deek does too :) ).
-She is funny, and fun, and feisty, and full of personality. Yes Annie, I just called you feisty. I really love it when she laughs hard. She's one of those people who you can't tell if they're laughing or crying. I can just picture her right now wiping tears from her eyes and slapping her knees as she laughs. Love it.
-She has a really great talent of being able to sense the needs and emotions and thoughts of others. A 6th sense, if you will.
-She lives in Texas. And she's starting to get a drawl, ya'll.
-I don't think it's a secret that we weren't the best of friends growing up, but somehow we still managed to make some pretty great memories. We shared a room the majority of our younger years and there were so many nights we stayed up laughing and whispering into the darkness. There were also quite a few tug o' wars with my treasured blanket. We both had a love of American Girl dolls. Between our 2 collections, the doll stuff took up half the room. She always let me be a little tag along to her own birthday parties. I felt so cool. And somehow she managed not to kill me for stealing countless clothing items, makeup, CD's and the hot shower water. Oh the memories.
-But, ze past is ze past, and our fights over blow dryers and crossing battles lines drawn down the center of our bed are long gone. In fact, she is truly one of my greatest friends and examples. Every day I want to be more like her. I really do like Texas, but a bigger part of me holds a little grudge against it because it takes her far from home, and I really wish she was closer. Alas, I'll just have to keep crossing my fingers that someday she'll find her way back so we can just bake and chat and hang out till' our hearts content. Sigh... someday. Someday..
I love you Annie! I hope your day is full of sunshine and beauty and joy! XOXO
Much Love,
Jen
