Happy Quarter Century Kate: 25 reasons to love Lalu

Girls don’t get birthdays. They get birthWEEKs.

To be fair, it’s usually because the friends and family that surround them want to make the woman of the hour know how much she is loved, how special she is and why one sole day could not possibly be enough to express it.

The second of the nuts is turning 25 on Sunday and, to mark this grand quarter century mark, we’re kicking off LALUPALOOZA to celebrate our dearest Kate – not only an important piece of the in a nutshell clan, but someone we all admire and cherish everyday.

With Bluesfest, HOPE Beach Summerfest, a Toronto Reunion featuring Justin Timberlake and Jay Z – AND – maybe a few other surprises, Kate’s birthweek is shaping up to be one for the books.

So to start it all, us nuts – who get to enjoy this vibrant and adventurous woman on the daily – want to enlighten you all on some of the reasons that makes little Kate Lalu so unique.

While you’ve come to love her as our resident foodie and go-to wine expert, there’s so much more to the hilarious, compassionate, spontaneous and ever-so stylish girl we are all lucky enough to call a best friend.

Kate, we absolutely love you … here’s just a few of the reasons why:

1. Her square mouth laugh. Kate has the best and most infectious laugh. When she gets going, so do you – trust me. And she laughs with a square mouth. Literally her mouth forms a square.

2. You can put Kate in any situation and she will handle herself and have the whole room loving her within 20 minutes.

3. She can go from being sound asleep to raging with the best of them in under 5 seconds.

4. That she didn’t used to be funny.

5. And that now, she’s hilarious – most of the time without trying to be.

6. When she is trying to be funny, she’s the first one to let you know with a huge cackle, toss of the head and slap of the knee.

7. There’s nothing like telling a story to Kate, she’s the best listener around. While others are nodding blankly, she is jaw-dropped, collecting a myriad of questions and hanging on to your every word. It’s one of the rarest things in this world, and she does it so well. She is always SO genuinely excited by her friends stories and memories, even if they’re her own and she can’t remember them.

8. Kate will do anything to please a crowd. Even if it means jumping on stage, grabbing an abandoned guitar and a mic and solo-jamming like the rockstar she is.

9. While Kate is the life of any party, it’s the quiet moments with her that are the most poignant. If you’re ever able to share a laugh, a bottle of wine and the latest life updates with her, you are truly lucky.

10. Kate has an eye for beautiful clothes. She can pull off just about anything, from rompers to short shorts, sky high wedges, girly sundresses and ripped jeans. She’s that person you look at and think, “I need to go shopping.”

11. On that note, Kate has a Club Monaco addiction. She recognizes it and is seeking help – but whatever non-penny she might have in her pocket at any given time, she’ll still make time to wander over and purchase a Club Monaco dust bunny from the change room if she has to.

12. Kate may be small in stature, and wear pearls on occasion, but she can release her gangsta side when she raps to Kanye ….. We may have a video to prove it.

13. Kate is allergic to Paprika, but quite regularly eats it anyway to not make the server and kitchen go out of their way.

14. Kate’s expressions are the best. Whether she’s staring blankly at you, is in complete shock, or says “I’m pissed” and means it, your reaction will likely be to laugh. Even if you’re not supposed to.

15. If you’re a nutshell reader, you already know that Kate is a wine connoisseur. You may not know that she’s actually a trained sommelier. One look at a wine menu, and she can speak to each selection in great detail …and she’ll make sure you end up with a wine you love.

16. Kate actually spent six years of her childhood growing up overseas. It seems in these six years she missed several crucial North American pop-culture references. So when all of us are reminiscing about the Fresh Prince and Kate looks at us blankly, we simply nod sympathetically and give her a knowing smile.

17. Kate is spontaneous. It never takes much convincing for her to abandon her previous plan for a better one, or hop in the car for an unplanned trip. She’ll be the first one out the door and the best shotgun you’ve ever had.

18. Kate feels it all. She is such an amazing friend she will shed actual tears when you’re upset. A testament to how big her heart is.

19. Kate’s a natural born leader in everything she does – whether it’s taking charge organizing a Nutshell meeting (an impossible feat) or getting asked to step up and be a frosh group head when she was only in second year.

20. Kate takes dressing up for themed parties to the extreme. Many who attended university with her will not have any trouble remembering her monkey costume, since she sported it on more than one occasion. She’s not afraid to look absolutely ridiculous, and we love her for it.

21. Kate is fiercely competitive. She would lie down across the beer pong table if it means impeding your vision or scream in a tone only dog’s recognize if you’re bringing her game down.

22. Kate has excellent taste in music. Having dabbled in vinyl for years, her housewarming gift to herself was a new record player for her to spin the classics, Black Keys, Kings Of Leon and whatever else is tickling her fancy at that time.

23. Speaking of KOL, Caleb Followill, the sexy front man, saw much more of Kate than he bargained for when Kate attended their concert for the second time. She hoisted herself onto the shoulders of a stranger and showed her… appreciation… to the band. A little wild, yes, but she got a big sheepish smile out of the lead singer and the night went down in history.

24. Kate lived her first 25 years to the fullest. She’s worked hard, loved with her whole heart, explored, defined who she is, put family first and has been the most wonderful friend any of us could ever ask for.

25. There’s no doubt, in any of our mind’s, that Kate will make the absolute most of the next 25.

And that we’ll be by her side for all of it.

Happy birthday, beautiful. xo