xmas in boston.

This year, instead of celebrating Christmas the normal way ("No one ever invites Stefon to normal Christmas"), we all jumped on a plane and headed to the East Coast to visit my big bro, Andy. He's a doctor so he didn't get to have Christmas break...another perk of still being in school.

Anyway, here are a few highlights from the trip:

1. We got to use public transportation! I really love public transportation.

2. We went to the midnight service at the Old North Church, which is the church that Paul Revere did the "One if by land, two if by sea" stuff. Exciting, I know! And when we walked in, they put us in the Bay Pew which is apparently a super special pew, right in the front next to the preacher. I told them I felt really special and they said I should. THEN, as if things could get any more exciting, the candle-lighter put Katy (Andy's girlfriend) and me on fire duty, meaning that we had the responsibility of blowing out the advent candles if they looked like they were going to set the church on fire. We're important, I know.

The Old North Church, that is still standing, thanks to Katy and me.

3. After the midnight service, we were walking home and there was a little bakery open so we stopped to buy pastries and cookies. Because Brunner's love carbs. I have no idea why they were open so late. Maybe just to catch all the midnight service people? Or maybe that's just how things work in Boston? Anyway, it was awesome.

4. It is blizzardy outside! Which is great now that we're inside, but really stunk when we were walking home from shopping downtown. Especially when your name is Julie and you forgot to wear a warm hat.

5. I applied for my first ever real-life-grown-up job! I'm an adult!!!

6. We watched Muppet Christmas Carol, the greatest Christmas movie the world has ever seen.

"It's good to be heckling again!"

"It's good to be doing anything again!"

7. We ate cheese every day. And if you know me at all, you'll know that I seriously love cheese. The first night we were here we had a cheese platter for an appetizer, and every night after that we've had cheese appetizers before every meal. It's divine. Brunners love cheese.

I think I shall move to Boston.

food=life

My life kind of revolves around food and I don't care who knows it. From the second I wake up, when I'm thinking about coffee and bagels, to thoughts of sandwiches and cheese around lunch time to fantasies of grilled chicken and potatoes at dinner and back to dreams of coffee, I am always thinking about food. I look up recipes online and can literally look at pictures of food for hours. And though I may or may not look like a fatty on the outside, I'm a fatty at heart. My grandpa always asks me if I "Eat to Live" or "Live to Eat" and I tell him that I "Live to Eat." He says I'm allowed to do that because I'm young. Apparently old people are only allowed to "Eat to Live." He insists that he "Eats to Live" because he's old, but I know better. His favorite french toast, bacon, and cinnamon roll breakfast doesn't fit into the "Eat to live" category. Neither does his cookie intake or expensive fish dinners. But I'll let him think whatever he wants.

Anyway, if I could do anything in the world, I would probably open a bakery in the middle of a city where I could give free cookies to homeless people and hold baking classes for children. But for now, I guess I'll just have to bake things for my little brother while he serenades me with Bob Dylan songs on his guitar. Honey Peanut Butter cookies coming right up!

mani.

So, yesterday my roomie convinced me to go get a manicure with her. I don't know why, but I'm really weird about my nails. Normally, they are cut down to the nub and painted bright pink (I work with children...), but Danielle convinced me that I need to be fancy for the holidays. I have no idea why this made sense at the time, but I decided to go for it.

I got acrylics with white tips (whatever that means. Danielle just walked up there and told them what to do). I'm still not sure how I feel about them. When I was little, I used to beg my mom for those fake press-on nails from Walgreens and she would never get them for me (rightfully so...they're pretty ridiculous. I always wanted the super long ones, too). Now I'm a grown up and can get them whenever I want! It's kind of like how I used to think: "When I'm a grown-up I'm going to buy Gushers every time I go to the grocery store!" And now that I have that power, I never buy Gushers. I do buy ice cream, frozen pizza and beer every time I shop, however. Those cashiers definitely judge me.

Anyway, to decide how I feel about them I've made a pros and cons list:

Pros:

• They make me feel more like an adult. I mean, I am 25 years old. I'm closer to being 50 than I am to my birth! I can have fake nails! I AM AN ADULT!
• They make a clicking sound when I type. That's kind of fun.
• It feels like I'm getting a massage when I wash my hair. And since I hate taking showers more than anything, this makes showering more bearable.
• I baked some cookies called Melt-aways today and aside from being some of the most amazing cookies I've ever tasted, they also matched my nails. That was nice.
• They glow under black-lights! And you may be wondering: how often are you under a black-light? Well, as a matter of fact, I went Galactic bowling last night and I had the brightest nails on the lanes!
• I guess I look fancier.

Cons:

• They make me feel more like an adult. I'M OLD!
• They make a clicking sound when I type. I mean, it's fun for a little bit, but now I'm afraid I'm going to damage something with my intense typing. I'm a great typer, not to brag or anything.
• Texting is hard. I mean, look at my fingers. They're chubby. I already have enough trouble typing the correct buttons without fake nails to deal with.
• Bowling is also hard. Of course I go bowling the day I get fake nails.
• My sister judged me. I'm going to make her come and get them with me next time (if there is a next time).
• They cost money. I'm living on a graduate student stipend.

darn the luck.

When the clock strikes 10pm, all I want to do is sleep. Seriously. Unfortunately, however, my body hates to give me that pleasure. For instance, currently it is 2:15am and I have been trying to go to sleep since 11pm. Come on, body, you've got to be kidding me! I mean, I might as well be working an overnight shift! This is AWFUL! I've tried singing songs in my head, moving locations (bed to couch to futon), changing blankets and pillows, drinking water, and pretty much everything else aside from a tranquilizer. Life's hard. I do have a few predictions to make sense of this insomnia:

1) I'm allergic to dark beer or alcohol. And I had a Fat Tire tonight. Whenever I drink dark beers or red wine, I wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat with my heart racing. It's actually quite terrifying. If you have never been woken up by heart palpitations, you're lucky. And if you have, I feel your pain.

2) I think that I have trouble sleeping whenever the barometric pressure changes. Laugh at this prediction if you choose, but that's my theory and I'm sticking to it. Whenever there are big changes in weather, I just lie awake in bed until all hours of the night.

3) I'm sick. My stomach has not been feeling so content recently. I think I may have the H1N1. Sure, I'm self-diagnosing myself, but this lady at work was telling me how the symptoms of H1N1 are basically off and on stomach problems and you can have it for weeks and not even realize it. And that's what I have. That's the ONLY logical answer.

4) I also think I'm super sensitive to caffeine. And by super sensitive, I mean SUPER sensitive. Like I usually don't allow myself to indulge in caffeinated beverages after 1pm (just to be on the safe side).

5) My body hates to let me sleep.

Well. That's all I got.

sometimes...

Sometimes I go to preschool and little kids pee on me. Like the other day...children like to sit on laps, so I let them (I'm a crowd pleaser). Usually the lap-sitting comes with no consequences, however sometimes I leave preschool smelling like pee. Then I get to go sit in class with graduate students.

Sometimes preschoolers can't pronounce my name. So instead of calling me "Miss Julie," they call me "Miss Jelly." I'd correct them if it weren't so stinkin' cute.

Sometimes I do my laundry. And I hate every second of it. Laundry is probably my least favorite thing to do. Unfortunately, after 3 weeks, it is pretty crucial. I mean, I only have so many swimsuit bottoms I can wear when I run out of clean underwear. I would venture to say the only thing I like about laundry is the smell of the detergent.

Sometimes Brunners run around Stephen's campus singing songs from musicals. We have voices like angels. Or something like that...

Sometimes I look at pictures of food for hours. Literally. Is that sad and pathetic? No. So don't judge me. I mean, try and tell me you couldn't stare at this cinnamon roll for approximately forever.

Sometimes the only thing I have to do during the day is go to class for a few hours. Life is hard. Unfortunately, this isn't very common.

Sometimes I accidentally buy jeggings (jeggings= jeans + leggings) at TJ Maxx. Whoa. I guess I'll keep them since they were super cheap and feel more like sweats than jeans. Who knows? Maybe I'll become one of those jeggings/leggings wearers. Like when I was a child and refused to wear anything that wasn't soft enough. Meaning, the only things I wore were stirrup leggings and sweatshirt dresses. I was the softest kid in the neighborhood.

Sometimes I blog instead of doing my homework (obviously not very often, however, since the last time I posted was October 2).

what i think.

I've been thinking a lot lately, and here's what I think:

I think that all people should stay up all night. I've been working the overnight shifts at work all week (meaning Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday) and aside from the fact that IT'S KILLING ME, I think that everyone else should stay awake and chat with me on facebook. Speaking of facebook, I think I've had too much time on there. I'm going into facebook overdrive. It's to the point that I sit up at night and just refresh my window hoping something else will happen on there. Sure, I could be doing homework, but I don't think that sounds like much fun. (Don't worry, Mom and Dad...I always do my homework, too).

I think that porn shops should have to label that they are, in fact, porn shops. Today at Jumpstart we went to our school and took a walk around the neighborhood to orient ourselves to our surroundings. We had to fill out this sheet to describe what resources and landmarks were within walking distance to the school, and there is, unfortunately, a porn shop within walking distance. And to make this more unfortunate, it isn't labelled and two of my Corps Members walked in, thinking it was a restaurant, to see what kind of prices they had. They didn't stay long. Actually, I don't really think there should be porn shops anyway, but that is a whole different thought.

I think that someone should make Twitter more exciting. I mean, who are we kidding? It's boring.

I think that my eyebrow should stop twitching. Sometimes my eyebrow twitches and I don't know why. Well, I have a theory. I think that my eyebrow twitches when I don't get enough sleep. I'm not joking. Everyone makes fun of me for going to bed at 9pm, but they obviously don't get the twitchy eyebrow. Or get insanely cranky and lose the ability to form sentences.

I think that I should probably buy some PajamaJeans. Watch this video and try and tell me you don't want some, too. Looks like denim, but feels like PJs!

I think I'm finished with this post.

fall.

So, last week I thought that it was fall. Why is it now ninety degrees again? I'm sufficiently confused. I thought the days of sweating your bodyweight were over, but I was apparently wrong. Now, this may not be a big problem for some of you non-sweaty people out there, but that is not the case for the rest of us. I don't understand why my body chooses to sweat when the weather is anywhere over seventy degrees. My mom says I should just embrace it because I'm "sweating out impurities," but it's hard to have that positive attitude when I'm worried about getting pit-stains down to my waist. Additionally, pretty much everything makes me sweat.

Things that make me sweat:

1) drinking coffee. Sure, I could stop drinking coffee, but I'm not going to. Like right now, for example, I'm sitting on my couch drinking a cup of coffee and just sweating profusely.

2) moving. And by moving, I mean any time my body is moving, I'm probably sweating. You should see me at the gym. Wait, no. I hate when people see me at the gym because I'm always that sweaty girl who sweats through every article of clothing on her body. I go to these exercise classes at the gym and I'm pretty much the only person that gets super sweaty. I DON'T GET IT! Other people in the classes come in from work, exercise, and then just go back to work because they look the same as they did coming in. But me? I'm so drenched in sweat I have to reserve time to shower before I do ANYTHING else. I'm even embarrassed to go to Walmart after I exercise.

3) typing. Currently, my palms are sweating. Maybe it's because I've become such a speedy typer. Seriously. I remember middle school when I could only get like 30 wpm (that means words per minute, for those of you who didn't have to take typing classes in middle school). You should see me know. I'm a typing fiend!

4) sleeping. Even when I sleep without covers, I wake up sweaty. Ugh.

5) cooking. This is probably a semi-normal time to sweat. Standing by a stove or oven would make anyone sweaty, right? Then why do I literally drip sweat from my body when I cook. Sometimes I'm so hot I just open the refrigerator and freezer and stand there, letting the cold air freeze the perspiration to my face.

6) being outdoors. And I don't just mean being outdoors in the summer. I mean being outdoors at all, in any season. Maybe it's because I live in moist Missouri.

Anyway, I have to end this post because my computer exerting heat and making me sweatier than I already was.

The end.

hello again.

It seems like every blog I post is apologizing for my lack of blogging. I remember the days when I was an efficient, timely blogger; back in the days of retirement and apple butter. Well now those days are gone (at least for another 50 years or so).

But, I vow to at least attempt to be more punctual in my blogging. I mean, if my law school and med school friends can do it, then I can too!

Let me start by saying how I am insanely happy that I'm NOT in law school or med school. I mean, no offense to those of you who are, but I just don't think it is for me. I hear all these stories about killer tests and job interviews and it makes me sick to my stomach. Literally. Then, you all tell me how you never get to sleep and it makes me throw up in my mouth a little. You all know how much I love and need my sleep. I couldn't do it. But I'm glad you guys can. Mad props!

Anyway, here is a little update on my life:

1) I think I'm starting to like chocolate! Isn't that crazy!? My roomie made brownies this weekend and I actually like them! I mean, the aftertaste is still terrible, but I like them while I'm eating them. I know, I'm practically a grown-up now!

2) Speaking of being a grown-up, I'm now 25 years old! I'm probably over a fourth of the way through my life!! I'm half-way to 50! Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh!

3) I got another job! Shocker, I know. I mean, how could I go through an entire year with only 2 jobs?! Now I have 3 and I'm sufficiently busy. Something must be wrong with me, but I still get my 8 hours of sleep every night, so I'm doing okay. And before you start telling me how I overbook myself, you should consider the state of my bank account, which is very bleak.

4) I also discovered that I like mustard! Man, I really am a grown-up! I really like the kind of mustard with all the little mustard seeds in it...maybe it's called beer mustard? I'm not really sure, but I love how the seeds explode in your mouth when you bite them. And if you listen really carefully, you can hear them "pop." Speaking of popping, the other day at work, I was giving some kids Rice Krispies and we were listening to them snap, crackle and pop and I asked them if they wanted sugar on their cereal, and do you want to know what they said? They said "no!" Can you believe it?! I always put sugar on my Rice Krispies and I'm 25 years old! It really caught me of guard. Kids these days.

Well, that's about all that I've got right now. Basically everything else in my life is still the same. I still like ice cream, I still go to class, I still do homework, I still have brown hair and short fingernails, and I'm still really bad at video games. A few days ago I was playing football with one of the kids at work (and by "playing" I mean I was attempting to play catch with him, but was mostly just flailing my arms and trying to catch the ball) and after a while, he told me we could play video games instead if I wanted since I'm not very good at football. Unfortunately, I am not very good at video games, either. So after a few minutes of playing with me, he told me I could just watch him play. Oh well. Isn't it nice to know that some things will never change?

the simple life.

So, it had been a while since I'd seen Grammy and Papa, which is not okay. Thus, to fix that dilemma, I was going to go down and visit Papa two weeks ago. Grammy and my mom had gone to the west coast for my cousin's graduation, but Papa refused to go. He said that it would be more fun for Grammy if Mom went. Really, he just wanted to have a week all to himself. Anyway, I called him on Wednesday because I was going to go down and have dinner with him or spend the night since he'd been all alone all week. His response was:

Papa: Wellll, maybe you should just come next week when Grammy is back. I'm going to the Lion's Club for dinner on Thursday and I know Grammy would really like to see you.

Julie: Are you scared to hang out with me by yourself, Papa?

Papa: (chuckled) Yes, I'm terrified.

So, I waited a week and headed down for dinner the other night instead. When I called Grammy to tell her Mom and I were coming down to see them, she asked me if I wanted to eat dinner at the house or eat dinner out. However, we both know that Papa makes the final decision and it didn't really matter where either of us wanted to eat, because Papa likes to go to Kline's in Rosebud, MO. And that's where we went.

We all ordered the same thing: grilled catfish, green beans, a baked potato, hushpuppies and a roll. Except Papa got applesauce instead of green beans. And it was so good. Kline's makes the best rolls that I've ever tasted. Sure, that sounds like an exaggeration, but it isn't. Ask Grammy. Whenever we eat at Kline's, Grammy gets a napkin and wraps up her roll and any extra pieces of roll from other peoples' plates and takes them home. She says they make great toast in the morning. And they do. I can vouch for that.

After we ate, as if we hadn't eaten enough already, we went back to Grammy and Papa's and ate a fresh strawberry pie that Grammy made especially for us. And it was good. Really good. I wasn't going to put ice cream on mine because I figured I would cut back on calories, but then Papa came in and said:

Papa: Aren't you going to put some ice cream on there?

Julie: No, I wasn't going to.

Papa: But did you see what kind I bought? Lactose free.

Julie: You bought special ice cream for me!? You're the best. Pass it over.

I'm glad I put the ice cream on. Ice cream is probably one of my favorite things ever created. I don't know why I even thought about skipping it.

summer.

Today is the first day of summer! Well, for me at least. I'm not sure when the real first day of summer is, but mine starts now. So, in honor of the season:

1) I'm not going to wear pants. I'm tired of wearing pants.

2) I'm going to sit in my bed all day and read a book Sarah gave me called Same Kind of Different as Me.

3) I'm going to eat frozen pizza and drink coffee. I've decided to venture through the infinite varieties and brands of frozen pizza because I love frozen pizza. Yes, (get ready for this)... I love frozen pizza even more than delivery. Even more than Papa John's. There. I said it. Thus, with my mad Excel sheet skills, I'm going to make a chart categorizing the different kinds of frozen pizza and the pros and cons of each. Don't worry, I'll let you know the outcome. So far, however, Palermo's Rustico Rising Crust Pizza from Hyvee is winning. Lots of toppings, lots of sauce, crispy on the edges, and the box is really awesome (which is the reason I chose it). It has all of these old timey pictures on it. I just ate the Vito's Supreme Pizza. I highly recommend it. I think that if I had the choice and the metabolism, I might eat frozen pizza every day.

truluv.

I was just sitting here thinking about ice cream and wanted to tell you all how much I love Yogoluv. Seriously. I could eat it every single day. Maybe you're not from Columbia, and maybe you don't know what Yogoluv is, so if that is the case, here are the reasons your life is not complete:

1) Yogoluv is basically like the dorms except 1,000,000 times better. Imagine walking into your old dorm dining hall and heading to the soft serve ice cream section and multiply that excitement and wonder by 1,000,000. What does this even mean, you may wonder? Well, it means you can pick any flavor of frozen soft serve yogurt and any toppings you want!

2) It's really cheap! And who doesn't love things that are awesome and inexpensive?

3) They have these little green bucket chairs that make you feel like you're in another world. And the colors are super bright. Like Playdoh bright. Now, I really love Playdoh. The mushy texture. The bright colors. The wonderful smell (Sometimes at preschool, I make a Playdoh mustache so that I can just sit there and smell it). The way it makes spaghetti with the spaghetti machine. The salty taste (Yes, I like the taste of Playdoh. Judge me. I don't care. It isn't like I just go to preschool and start eating all the Playdoh, I just remember how wonderfully salty it is from my childhood, when I did sometimes eat Playdoh). And, believe me, if there is one thing I love more than Playdoh, it's Yogoluv. I hope that gives you a sense of Yogoluv's power.

4) I tell myself it is healthy, because it is frozen yogurt. I bet it even has probiotics in it.

Currently, I'm trying to make Matt go with me, because what is better than Yogoluv on a sunny, perfect day? NOTHING.

A wonderful day in the neighborhood.

I just want to tell you all about my day so far. Why, you may ask? Well, because it has been AWESOME!

1) I thought I had a stain on my shirt, but I don't! The other day, I went to Old Navy and bought a really cute shirt. Then I was eating chips and salsa and obviously dropped a huge blob of salsa on my new shirt. Bummer. BUT, for Christmas, Grammy gave all of us this soap thing called Fels Naptha and told us to use it on our stains. It looks like this:

And it worked amazingly well! Grammy knows everything.

2) I went to Hyvee this morning because I'm making German Potato Salad this afternoon and when I was putting my groceries in the car, I looked down and there was a penny shining back at me! Wahooo! I'm one cent richer!

3) It is BEAUTIFUL outside and when I was walking to class, my sis called me and biked alongside me all the way to my building. What a great sister!

4) THERE IS A DIPPIN' DOTS STAND ON CAMPUS! I mean, what could be better than that?! I think it is here because it is State Band day or whatever, but maybe they'll realize how awesome MU is and just set up a permanent stand. How wonderful would that be?!

5) There is also a huge farmer's market on campus and I'm going to eat a fresh hamburger and some honey ice cream for lunch! Mmmmmmmmmm! AND, I'm going to buy some baked goods from the Amish people!

6) Today is my last day of Jumpstart. Which is actually sad, but I'm really excited because Sarah let me borrow her camera and I'm going to take pictures of my adorable children. THEN, after our session we're having a big Jumpstart BBQ. Which means I get to eat ANOTHER HAMBURGER! AHHHHHHHH!

7) I showered this morning! Which means that I don't have to shower again for another day or so!

Happy Thursday!

Found it.

So, I had to start a blog for one of my classes and I apparently posted this one under that blog instead of this blog. AHHHH TOOO MANY BLOGS! Anyway, here's my life update. Pretend like you're reading this last night, because that is when I wrote it:

I don't really know if anyone will even see this, but if you were wondering, I am alive and have been reading your blogs, even though I haven't been posting. Yes, that might be selfish, but what are you going to do about it? I'd like to say that I've been eating yummy things like Abby or being fashionable like Ashley or something, but I haven't. In fact, I eat a toasted cheese sandwich for every meal and I wear sweatpants and a t-shirt smeared with snot and saliva every day. No, it isn't my snot or saliva, don't worry. I go to preschool.

It is amazing how many bodily excretions children have. Seriously. Maybe it's because I'm a pushover or maybe it's because I'm really good at hugs, but crying children are magnetically attracted to me. It's crazy. Today I walked into preschool and within the span of 15 minutes, three crying children came over for hugs and consolation, smearing a tear/snot/saliva mixture onto my shirt. This happens so often that I've decided to stop caring about it. I mean, everyone has snot, right? Plus, even if I have snot all over myself, one little boy always tells me that I look beautiful and he loves me. That's why I work at preschool.

Hm let's see...I joined a gym and currently am so sore that I can hardly breathe. Literally. I didn't know that was possible, but it is. I went to Cardio Kickboxing yesterday and thought I was really in-shape because I made it through the entire class. Then I woke up this morning and was sure I had malaria. Turns out, I'm not in shape.

Uh, what else? I got a new computer! Yes, the Mothership finally died. She led a long and fulfilling 6 year life, but her time had come. Conveniently, she crashed while I was studying for a test. Perfect. So I just went and bought a new one. It is weird being able to open .docx documents and being able to use the internet without waiting 3 minutes for each page to load. I'm a whole new woman! Look out, World, here I come with my cute, trendy MacBook! AND I have a camera on my computer now! Isn't that exciting!?

I also got a free flower pen from the Mexican restaurant the day after Valentine's day! Awesome, I know. It's one of those pens that restaurants have that are really big so people don't steal them. Why do I like this pen? Because it looks like I stole it, but in actuality, the lady at the cash register gave it to me! What a great day.

That's about it. I'm getting ready to go to Addison's for happy hour. And by "getting ready," I mean I'm putting on sweatpants and a t-shirt. Why, you may be wondering? Well...

1) I'm tired of dressing nice to go places. No one really cares what I look like, and if they do, too bad. I'm declaring it the Dress-Down Movement. This is gonna be big.

2) At least I'm taking of the snot-shirt.

3) I'm an independent woman, remember?

Constant.

So, I had an entire post written to update you on my life, but for some reason, my computer/blog-world decided to delete it. Isn't it comforting to know that technology still hates me? No matter what changes in this world, good or bad, at least we all know one thing stays constant...I will never be good at technology and technology will never love me.

So, until I find the energy to retype all I had written, just know that I'm alive. Even though I haven't been posting, I've still been reading about all of you. And yes, I meant for that to sound creepy.