23 Reasons Why Danielle Rocks

Today is Danielle's Birthday. And since I'm poverty stricken and can't afford to buy her a really good gift like she deserves gifts that you make are so much more personal, I'm writing a tribute to here in my little corner of the blogosphere. Now, Danielle is not much of a technophile, although she is a photo-acholic. In fact, she doesn't read my blog postings unless they contain photos (and even then, I'm pretty sure that she only looks at the photos). So my "23 Reasons Why Danielle Rocks" posting* will contain plenty of photos... and I hope she reads the words to go along with the photos!

1. She's adventerous. Case in point: this is her packing for her trip to Belize! She decided that she wanted to do some traveling and she just went and did it!


2. She is very laid back. She has taught me to chill, to not take things so seriously and that sometimes it can be fun to walk to Shopper's in your PJs.


3. She's an amazing cook! Whether it's dinner (or a whole dinner party!), baking or a creative snack, if Danielle made it, you know it's going to be tasty!

4. She's a photo-aholic! She's the only person that I know who takes as many pictures of every crazy thing as I do (translate: she's the only person who would put up with me trying to take pictures of everything, let alone be taking the crazy photos right alongside me!) A photo to illustrate that: see above, where we took photos of pretty meals that we made.


5. She's bringing sexy back.


6. She's a vegetarian. Vegetarians rock.



7. She's extremely thoughtful. Exhibit A: Check out this sweet picture frame she made me for Christmas! She'll bake people cookies to thank them, or make them a card or present to let them know she's thinking of them. She's always doing thoughtful things like that.


8. She's a snowboarder. And everyone knows that snowboarders are just cool.



9. They say you can tell a lot about a person by the company that they keep. And judging by the fantastically amazing friends that Danielle has, you know that she rocks!! (My apologies to the many, many, many great friends of Danielle of whom I don't have a picture here! I just don't have photos of you all! If you email me a pic, I'd be happy to include it!)























10. She's a true Aggie! Aggies are cool! Aggies ride mechanical bulls.




11. She is really, really ridiculously good looking. Check out that model look (is that Blue Steel? Ferrari? Le Tigra? Magnum?)



12. She has a tongue ring. It is cool. You know you are jealous (I know that I am!)



13. She is giving. OK, in this picture she happens to be giving away shots. But she is giving in so many more ways than that! She's giving of her time and expertise to help others with nutrition questions (whether through her many volunteer endeavours or when friends and family ask for help), she gives sage advice (and is wise much beyond her years!), she gives support when you need it most.... well, you get the picture! She's the friend/roommate/daughter/sister/cousin/etc. that keeps on giving!



14. She's the best hockey captain ever! We met when we both started playing for the Aggiettes hockey team - "We are Aggies, we are great! We will score and irrigate! Go AGGIES!"



15. She is disciplined and hard working. You'd be hard pressed to find a more studious and responsible individual!

16. She may know when to be disciplined and responsible, but she also knows how to party!



17. She practises what she preaches. As a dietitian-in-training, she's preparing to educate others on how to eat more healthily. But she's not one of those people who is all talk - she takes her healthy eating seriously! And she loves it!


18. She has a fantastic sense of humour. It's hard to capture something like a "sense of humour" in a photo, but I think this photo of her and her best friend Tamara does a decent job of it.


19. She's intelligent. What to put as a photo for that, well, if I were more intelligent perhaps I would know!

20. She looks great in neoprene! Not everyone can pull that off, you know!


21. She's environmentally friendly! She's the one who inspired me to take my travel mug with me wherever I go, bring my own bags to the grocery store, wrap my Christmas gifts in magazine pages and all the other things I do to try lead a more sustainable life. She leads by example! This is a picture of her on public transit (she often rides her bike to school, but I don't have a photo of that!).



22. She's super athletic. She plays on ultimate, football and ball hockey teams this term. And she's training for a triathelon right now. And after that she'll run a half marathon, her fourth since last May. See that shirt she's wearing? That's from the Seattle half that she ran!


23. She's the best roommate that a girl could ever ask for!! She took me in when I would have otherwise been homeless, she made me feel welcome from the day I moved in, and has continued to make me feel well each and every day since. She made her home into our home and for that I will be eternally grateful.

Happy birthday, roomie!!

*note: this is not to imply that there are only 23 reasons why Danielle rocks, nor that these are even the top 23 reasons. The ways in which Danielle rocks are too innumerable to count, so I've picked 23 that came to mind. And for which I had an appropriate photograph or two.