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?