In honor of Julie's big day, Kristen and I have compiled a list of things we think are pretty great about her:
1. Much like a boy scout, Julie is prepared for any situation with that purse of hers. What's that, you want to go bowling on the spur of the moment? No problem, she has her socks ready to go. Need a button sewed on? She'll whip out her sewing kit. You put Michelle Pfeiffer in One Fine Day to shame Julie Bird!
2. She loves ABC Family movies, and setting surprises which consist of Danielle Stelle movies, for herself on her DVR. And she actually enjoys them! So cute.
3. She loves to get things shipped, and tracking her packages. Once when we were in Hawaii, I was going to buy something, and she asked me why I would buy it when I could just get it shipped. Keep in mind that the item was right in front of me, but she thought it would be more fun to instead wait for it to be shipped.
4. Julie is a great hostess and always makes everyone feel welcome in her lovely home. She will often stay up until 3:00 in the morning to get everything done, which is why she ends up passing out on her very comfy couch. :)
5. Julie totally magnifies her callings. She and mom used to stay up until the wee hours of the night coloring pictures for their lessons, and she has carried that over to all future callings. For the last two Sunday's, she has made breakfast for her visiting teachee's, and her Young Women, and she whipped up gourmet spreads for both. If she didn't live 112 miles away, I would have totally invited myself over.
6. She. is. hilarious. She usually doesn't know she's being funny, but she cracks me right up. If you don't believe me, ask to see her list of Gardner Village Pet Peeves.
7. Julie likes to know what's going on. One of my favorite memories of her is when we were in the old MSW, she and Eve Wilson would sit in the choir seats. Not to actually sing in the choir, but to see what was going on in the congregation. Julie doesn't have the quietest of whispers, so we could always hear her comments as she would point out funny things and giggle. It was highly amusing.
8. She has a great sense of style, and always looks real nice. She has converted many of her friends to the beauty of a pointy toed high heel and sassy skirt. Even when we were younger, she was always the hit of our family Christmas party's with her fancy sweaters. If I don't like something, she will say, "I can pull it off." And she can! Just recently, we were shopping and she found a pair of red shoes that she loved, and I told her that I hated them, and not to get them. She of course bought them, and on their first outing, everyone could not stop raving about her fantastic red shoes.
9. Julie is a great travel buddy, and understands that a nice resort, tropical drinks freely flowing, trashy magazines and miles of beach makes the perfect vacation.
10. Everyone likes Julie! I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't love her. She is kind to everyone, and people love being around her.
We also polled our nieces and nephews for things that they liked about her her, and here's what they came up with:
1. She loves us.
2. Always kind.
3. She always helps me (Jacob).
4. She is very loving (Emma).
5. She has nice shoes (Sara).
6. She always does fun activities for us and has fun sleepovers.
So as you can see, Julie is pretty great! Happy Birthday!
In honor of Julie's big day, Kristen and I have compiled a list of things we think are pretty great about her:
4. Julie is a great hostess and always makes everyone feel welcome in her lovely home. She will often stay up until 3:00 in the morning to get everything done, which is why she ends up passing out on her very comfy couch. :)
8. She has a great sense of style, and always looks real nice. She has converted many of her friends to the beauty of a pointy toed high heel and sassy skirt. Even when we were younger, she was always the hit of our family Christmas party's with her fancy sweaters. If I don't like something, she will say, "I can pull it off." And she can! Just recently, we were shopping and she found a pair of red shoes that she loved, and I told her that I hated them, and not to get them. She of course bought them, and on their first outing, everyone could not stop raving about her fantastic red shoes.
On Fridee, the ladies and dad went to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse. You would think in this time of financial ruin that restaurants in general are not as busy. Not so much! They were packed. I had hustled over there to get on their waiting list, and by the time I got there at 6:00, there was already an hour long wait. What do these people do for a living that allows them to be seated for dinner at 4:00?? But we were prepared to dig our heels in and wait because we knew that if we could make it, we would soon be enjoying the sheer delight that is their rolls. 
If you've never experienced them, I don't know if I can adequately describe how enjoyable they are. I need Julie to write a description for me (see her prior description of the Chicken Mini's). They are hot, soft, doughy and slathered in butter! Which basically makes the perfect food for me. I think I had four or twelve of them. They also have food there, but I was basically in a roll coma, and can't remember what else I ate. So please, if you haven't tried them yet, run, don't walk over to the Roadhouse, and enjoy a warm hug in the form of a dinner roll.
I love the pumpkin season. The smell of pumpkin, the yummy taste of basically anything with the pumpkin pie spice in it. Thanks to a blog that is regularly stalked, we learned about a little secret at one of my favorite places, Nielsen's Frozen Custard. In addition to the usual yummy flavors that you can get in cones or concretes (a huge cup of custard goodness), apparently in October only there is an unadvertised special of Pumpkin Concretes. One Saturday after Melinda and I treated ourselves to pedicures, we were in the neighborhood and thought we should try it out. At the counter we said that we had heard a rumor that we could get pumpkin concretes, and the boy behind the counter said, "Yeah, we can do that." He proceeded to go to the back room for the special stuff and whipped us up a delicious Concrete that we split. It was delicious!!!! Thanks to the blogs for sharing these little tidbits with us. You have about a week left to give one a try!
