Pooh Girl

I have a friends 20th birthday coming up.

Let's call her Pooh. She's not yet legal at clubs, but is really cute when she gets tipsy. She was under my wing at the New Years party and I couldn't help but be amused at her shenanigans.

(I was mighty stern the next day though, she didn't remember a thing - naughty, naughty)

We met about 2 years ago and hit it off like a house on fire.
She sat 2 seats away from me at work and soon became my breakfast buddy, lunch buddy, tea-time buddy, the buddy of Buddies. She'd call me on the phone and yell my name in her Mexican accent, as softly as she could, simply coz it made me laugh - Rosssaaaaayyy!! She drew a smiley on the bottom of my office coffee mug, how cute is that?
We talked through my romance with dude, her college flings, friendships gone sour, bad days at work, home woes, you name it. Over a period of only a few months, we became very close, she was the sister I never had.
When Dude and I decided to get married and I told her about it at work the next day - her joy and excitement for us lit up her eyes and warmed my heart. When I asked her to be one of my bridesmaids, she totally lost the plot and went quite mad!

Oh and the lists that followed. Goodness me.

She had a list of what she 'thought' she wanted to carry, what she was 'sure' she wanted to carry, what she could 'maybe' put in my bag (yeah right), what she 'wanted' to buy, what she 'had' to buy.......apart from planning my wedding, for the next few months, I reviewed her lists and constantly convinced her that she wouldn't need that and this and the next thing and that I didn't live in some sort of jungle tree house community.

The reason my Pooh went so barmy - it was the first time she ever got on a plane in her life. And it was for a wedding. Where she was going to be a bridesmaid.
There you go, I knew you'd catch on eventually :)

The youngest of my bridesmaids, Pooh was a great strength during the lead-up to my Big Day. Like any normal bride (she said, defying someone to disagree), I was running from pillar to post, convinced that everything that could go wrong, would go wrong.

Pooh travelled with me everywhere and kept me sane, laughing at the silliest things. She convinced me to sit down in the middle of an empty road and take a photograph, simply coz, in her words, 'it's such a pretty road!!'

She didn't let me get upset or overwhelmed. A lot of amazing people contributed to our lovely wedding, but I will never forget Pooh under the layers of my taffeta dress, desperately trying to smoothen stubborn taffeta wrinkles, which no one could see, but I could feel.

That's a special bond you forge, when you've been under a girls bridal gown. Believe you me.

It's been almost a year since then. She's since shifted offices, completed her second year at college, has lots of new friends and has had a roller coaster of a 2009 so far. But we're still right where we were then, just as close. We may not talk for weeks, but we know exactly what's going on in each others lives, down to the fact that she had soup for lunch yesterday (work e-mail is but a brilliant thing).

I've got a few ideas on what to do for her birthday. Amongst others, I want to gift wrap a tin of cheese and put a pretty gift tag on it saying, 'You're cheesy, but I luv ya anyway!'

She's mad on cheese. Eggs, pasta, corned beef - all incomplete without cheese. Psycho.

You know what's funny? In college, I loved (don't judge me) Winnie the Pooh. So much so my number is saved on several peoples cell as 'Pooh girl'. What a coinky dinky huh?!

She's very important to me, is my Pooh. I think my post conveyed how close we are - I'd love a few gift ideas, for her 20th birthday. It could be girly, silly, funny, corny, anything.
She's my favorite oddball.

Oh and that picture I mentioned, the one on the 'pretty road'?

The bottom half of it is my blog title pic.

4 days before my wedding, that's what she had me doing.

I couldn't love her more!!