Today is Berry’s 29th birthday.  Berry and I both arrived in this city within a week of each other and we both arrived knowing no one.  We met about a week in, had some very traumatic interesting experiences during our first month, and have been firm friends ever since.  I recently sent a card to her thanking for for her friendship throughout this rollercoaster ride that we call living in New York city.

In honor of her 29th birthday I am am going to give you 29 reasons why she is simply fabulous.

1. She has great taste in shoes (yeap, that is the first thing I wrote, what of it?).
2. She will send me links for clothes, shoes, etc that she thinks will suit me and she always gets it right.
3. Make her say the word ‘off’ and prepare to die laughing.
4. She has a quick wit and a way with words that always has me laughing.
5. I can make fun of Americans with her.  Military time, anyone?
6. I get to tell people she is African which is just plain cool.
7. She introduced me to the divine Kevin Devine (see what I did there).
8. She is so funny.  I know I already said that but she is so funny that it needs to be featured twice.
9. She is the kind of girl that is trying her best to lead a vegan lifestyle but then breaks down when she sees the most amazing leather handbag on Gilt.  
10. She is a girly girl but can totally down beers with the boys too.
11. She is a friend that I can rely upon without question.  
12. She is an expert present buyer always thinking of something unique and perfect for the person in question.
13. She loves dogs.  Nuff said.
14. She bops away to bands I’ve never heard of it.  Cool bands I’ve never heard of. 
15. She is also very embarrassed to tell people what it is we do for a living (we have similar jobs) so tells people she is a Mosaic Tiler.
16. We both loved Anderson Cooper when we first moved to New York.  Then we found out he is gay.  And we still loved him.
17. She didn’t even flinch today when Winston peed on her towel.  Instead she laughed.
18. I honestly thought she made up the whole calling people ‘bitches’ as a term of endearment.  Then I realized all the cool kids were saying it.
19. She is an awesome surfer.  OK, that’s a lie.  But she definitely tries her very Berry best.
20. Her manicure and pedicure always look amazing.  And she mostly does her own manicures and pedicures.
21. She has approximately 42 magazine subscriptions (because they are so cheap in America) and only likes reading Wired.
22. She is a good cook. I’m obviously envious of this skill.
23. She is Smart with a capital S.
24. She is unbelievably generous.  She bought us all presents for her birthday. Yes, you read that right.
25. She adores her family (which includes the family dog Bommel, the only member of the family I have yet to meet).
26. She creates phrases like ‘Be A Metre’ which become everyday lingo in our group of friends.
27. She is the only South African that John can understand.  
28. She is super efficient.  When she needed to move out of her apartment she moved into an apartment in the same building on the same floor.
29. She has amazing hair.