Today is Tavi Gevinson‘s sixteenth birthday! Hard to believe, since she’s been changing the world one amazing blog post/outfit/video at a time since she was only 11. Here’s a refresher course for those of you who need it: Tavi started her blog, Style Rookie, four years ago. Her parents had no idea what their little sixth grader was up to until she asked their permission to participate in a New York Times magazine story. Soon, she was attending fashion week as a special guest (at age 13!) and gaining critical acclaim for her sophisticated and unique voice as a blogger. A few short years later, Tavi founded her own website for teenage girls, the unbelievably honest and appealing Rookie. Despite the fact that I’m (tragically) many years past being a teenage girl, Rookie is one of the only websites I read daily, and I know many women in their 20s, 30s and 40s who do the same. It’s a testament to the awesomeness that is Tavi that she is able to connect to so many people of different ages and backgrounds through her writing. I never thought I’d say that a 15 (now 16!) year-old girl would be one of my heroes, but she so totally is.

Tavi is undeniably cool despite the fact that she’d probably describe herself as a dork. Gorgeous, humble and startlingly articulate, she’s obsessed with pop culture, including books, movies and TV shows created decades before she was even born. Her preternatural ability to find beauty and art in objects and ideas that might otherwise have already been discarded is evident on every page of Rookie. She celebrates weirdness and encourages the girls around her to do the same. We all should have been so lucky as to be a teenage girl with Tavi at the helm.

Here are a few of my favorite Tavi-approved morsels:

Tavi writes about the miracle that is Rayanne Graff from My So-Called Life, complete with pictures of her most memorable style choices.

Tavi exudes brilliance, charm and lots of really, really good ideas in her TEDxTeen talk.

Tavi teaches us how to make our rooms look like our favorite movies (and in doing so, demonstrates her immense creativity and artistic ability – not to mention her positively ageless appreciation of the most beautiful girl movies of all time).

Tavi stars (and sings!) in the magically delicious animated film Cadaver.

For those of you who haven’t explored Rookie in its entirety yet, take the rest of the day off and you won’t regret it. You’ll seriously wish you were 16 again in the best possible way.

Tavi, we love you and worship you and wish you the sweetest, saltiest, sassiest, strangest and silliest sixteenth birthday ever. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Image via standardhotels.tumblr.com