happy new year/february!

My first blog of the New Year was going to be about blogging more frequently, but now it’s February. So I’ll write about Louisville instead. Why? Oh because the best sister in the world lives there, that’s why. And Olive. Olive lives there, too, and she’s the cutest puppy in the world. 

Sure, sometimes Olive is terrifying and we have to put her in a blanket straight-jacket,

Hey Olive. Don't look at me like that.

and sometimes she will stand by the couch every morning with her face on my pillow making little whining noises,

and sometimes when we come home from the wine shop she yanks Rachel's hand while trying to chase an invisible nothing and makes Rachel drop our new bottle of wine (it was $17! This puppy is really getting expensive), 

Oh wine, we will remember you forever by the stain on the sidewalk.

but sometimes she's precious and we dance around the kitchen.

F is for friends who do stuff together.

And she thinks Rach and me are the best. And the coolest, because we are now rebels with ear piercings and cute, trendy shoes from the Zappos outlet who drink mint juleps.

"Mom doesn't like it when you call me Rach!" -Rachel

Mint julep snow cone perfection.

So we did 1000000 fun things like go to a basketball game with Rachel's friends,

The sportiest of times!

 and drink Middle Sister wine because we're middle sisters,

U is for you and me!

and watch movies with Olive,

Olive isn't a very good couch buddy.

and paint sheds outside in the 15 degree weather for community gardens, 

N is for anywhere and any time at all down here in the deep blue sea.

and go to fancy bars wearing cheetah pants.

She's trendy and runs really fast.

and do arts and crafts together, and eat Chinese food, and bike to the grocery store, and make Ecuadorian feasts, and eat lots of ice cream, and go to Old Navy, and go to puppy wine shops, and have the best most fun sister time ever!

ice cream girl: an inspiration for us all.

Today on the subway, I saw a girl around my age shamelessly eating a pint of ice cream straight from the container. That means without a spoon. Literally shoving it into her face. She had even torn down the sides so she could get all the way to the bottom. And I love her. And I think everyone should hear about her. And she inspired me to be a better person. And she also inspired me to eat ice cream for dinner. 

And I'd like to tell you about it.

I took a little of this:

Ice cream is better in a mug.

Then I took a little bit of this:

Yeah. This totally exists. You're welcome.

And added a little bit of this:

Real ice cream. Real strawberries. Real dream come true.

And stuck in one of these:

This spoon is much nicer than my actual spoon.

And I topped it all off with one of these:

Our couch is just like this except more couch-like and less coffin-like. Also, it's not purple.

 
Because sometimes you just need to sit on your couch and shamelessly shove ice cream in your face while you listen to folk music and paint your nails.

 

I forgot.

Oh hello there. I forgot that I had a blog for a month. My bad.

I also forgot to tell you I went to a zoo wedding for my friends Erin and Tim in St. Louis.

This is the zoo. And a waterfall. And friends.

I forgot to tell you about my brother and my new sister's wedding. It was the best of times. Sometimes I listen to the songs they played at their wedding and pretend like it's still happening.

I forgot that Andy is exactly 1 foot taller than me. Rachel forgot to smile.

I forgot to tell you about Brunner Missouri reunion. For one weekend only, the Brunner children reconvened in Jefferson City for the first time in 100000 years or something. Oh. It was good.

Togetherness.

 I forgot that scarves exist. I should start wearing them again.

I also forgot that I should wear a coat when it's cold outside. And I forgot that 64 degrees actually isn't that warm.

I forgot how blue my eyes are. Luckily, some random guy on the Q2 bus reminded me
Q2 boy: (takes off headphones) I was just sitting here, trying to listen to my music, but I couldn't because I keep getting distracted by your beautiful eyes. What is your heritage?
Me: (awkward laugh) Um, I guess German and Irish and Scandinavian. 
Q2 boy: You have the eyes of an angel. You look like a teacher, are you a teacher?

Oh yeah, I also forgot that I look like a teacher. It's probably because I look just like this, except in color:

Julie Brunner. October 2012.

I forgot that I should clean my apartment occasionally. Not today, but occasionally. I wish little Logan the Bed Fairy were here to make sure I cleaned and to put a little candy on my pillow whenever I make my bed. Yes, that is actually a real life part of my childhood.

I forgot how much I have to work in the fall. A lot.

coney island.

This past weekend, Sara, Scott and I went to Coney Island. There are a lot of awesome things and there are a lot of gross things about Coney Island. Nothing in the middle.

Things that are gross about Coney Island.
1. Those plastic gloves. There were weird, used plastic gloves in the bathroom stall. And I also saw one on the beach. Ew.

2. Lack of clothes. Lots of people decided it would be a good idea to take of some/most of their clothes and walk around the boardwalk. I mean, I totally understand. Clothes are the worst, but there was just an overwhelming amount of skin showing all at one time in one location. It was kind of like being at Oceans of Fun/any water park, except it's free and had more men wearing tank tops.

3. The beach. Word on the street (aka according to my students) is that if you swim there you will get stuck by a needle and you will die.

Things that are awesome about Coney Island.
1. Corn dogs. Coney Island definitely gets 1,000,000 points for having corn dogs. They also have amazing chili cheese fries, made with that plastic-like nacho cheese. Scott and Sara didn't approve of the cheese, but I wanted to eat 4 gallons of it. And maybe I will. Hey Nathan's Hot Dogs, you should probably have a cheese-eating contest, complete with gallons of fake cheese, french fries, and stomach pumps.

2. The ElectroSpin. After shoving corn/hot dogs and fries in our faces, we decided it would be a really good idea to ride the ElectroSpin. And it was.

This kind of ElectroSpinning.

Not this kind of electrospinning.

3. The ocean. Sure, the beach may be filled with hypodermic needles and broken beer bottles, but it is still by the ocean and that is awesome.

Scott Tucker, Protector of the Ocean.

4. This guy. And this video, courtesy of Sara. Words cannot express...

secrets.

I have some secrets for you. Are you ready? They're juicy. Get excited.

I accidentally fed Phin1 like 4 times yesterday. And by "accidentally" I mean I did it on purpose, but regretted it right afterward every time. He's still alive.

Sometimes I pretend like New York City isn't as hot/humid/unbearable as Missouri is because New Yorkers complain about the weather a lot. And I mean A LOT. So I pretend like I'm not sweating profusely and the heat is no big deal. But it is. It's hot out there. Like I almost never want to go outside.

I drink black coffee for a few reasons. Sure I like the bitterness and it's easy to order, but mostly I drink it because it makes me feel really cool. However, the other week I put some fancy creamer in my coffee and I really liked it. Maybe even more than I like black coffee, but I don't think I'm ready to be that girl who actually puts creamer in her coffee because it would make me feel way less hardcore and awesome than I do now.

"Wow, is that girl drinking black coffee? She's hardcore and awesome." -Said everyone.

I want to dye a strip of my hair hot pink, but my students told me I'm not cool enough to do that. They also told me I'm not cool enough to have a sleeve tattoo. Ugh my life is so hard.

Last week I tasted some of Phin1's fish food. I know that's gross. It tastes exactly like it smells, in case you were wondering.

If you see me with my headphones in while running/on the subway/in public, it usually means I'm listening to Prairie Home Companion podcasts. Sometimes I pretend like I'm listening to rap or something and bob my head up and down. But I'm not. I'm listening to NPR.

I ate Mexican food 5 times in the last week. Cute, Julie. Really cute.

running is cute.

I was going to write a post about how I've been running recently and how it's so hot outside that going running makes me want to die but I do it anyway, but then I started to look at funny pictures of animals running and I decided a photo diary about them would be way better. You're welcome.

Here are a bunch of animals and one Olympian running and doing athletic things.

Miriam and I look at this picture in our office daily.

This dog terrifies me. No joke.

The bounciest fox of them all.

Yeah, that's a real life dog. I know, right?

Run, little friend, run.

 

 

America.

 

And you should probably listen to this song and then go back and look at all the pictures again. Miriam and I do it. No big deal.

marinara.

I sometimes (always) want to drink jars of marinara sauce, but I sometimes (occasionally) try not to do that because sometimes (always) people think I'm really gross/weird. So in order to be really (sort of) appropriate and not gross/weird, I have to find vehicles for my marinara sauce. So for those of you out there who sometimes (always) have to shame-eat marinara sauce in that hidden corner of your bedroom while sometimes (always) listening to that Adele song "Someone Like You" on repeat, these are for you. 

An Guide to the Various Vehicles of Marinara Sauce Consumption.

By Julie

Pasta with Marinara Sauce 

The best part of this meal is that the marinara:pasta ratio can be insanely high, meaning that you can eat 3 noodles of pasta with a cup of sauce on top and no one knows, meaning you can eat this anywhere, meaning you don't have to stay in your room, meaning people won't think you're cray.

Directions: Make pasta (approximately 3 noodles). Heat sauce (approximately an entire jar). Enjoy.

"Tomato Soup" 

The quotes around the name mean that it is just marinara sauce in a bowl. Shhhh.

Directions: Pour marinara sauce into a bowl. Heat. Enjoy. And if anyone asks what you're eating, you should probably get really defensive and yell something irrational like, "I'm eating tomato soup, what does it look like?! Gosh! What else would I be eating? It's not like I'm a freak or anything. People eat tomato soup all the time!"

What? It's tomato soup.

Mozzarella Sticks with Marinara

There is literally nothing better than marinara with cheese inside.

Directions: Go to this website. Make the mozzarella sticks. Dip them. Or, if you're impatient and poor like I am, you can buy tortillas and wrap a string cheese in them and then bake them until they're crispy on the outside and melty on the inside. No, I don't know how long that takes or what temperature to bake them at. I just know it happens. Plus, the most important part is the marinara anyway.

Pizza Grilled Cheese 

Because you can't eat something with the word "pizza" in the title if you don't add marinara sauce.

Directions: Get two slices of bread. Put some mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, garlic, red peppers, whatever your heart desires (because who are we kidding? We're not making this for the innards) inside. Grill on your stove until the cheese kind of oozes out the sides and burns to your pan so you have to scrub it forever to clean it. Put marinara in a bowl and dip the grilled cheese. Done and done. This could also be translated to Pizza Quesadilla, Pizza Biscuit, Pizza Wrap, Pizza Croissant, or Pizza Any Bread Product.

All of this is in my tummy right now.

 Italian Potatoes

Everything is Italian if you add marinara!

Directions: Cook a potato in the oven/stovetop/microwave/sunlight. Mush it up. Add marinara and literally any kind of cheese. Literally. My fave is cottage cheese and don't you dare judge me until you try it. Ricotta also sounds like it would be nice and Italian tasting.

You're welcome. Now, since I'm home by myself, I'm going to listen to Fleetwood Mac and dance around my coffee table while I try to figure out how to sneak some ice cream into the movie theater without it melting!