Me In Real Life


She loves reading, writing, and watching movies—anything that transports her to another world. She picks Captain Wentworth over Mr. Darcy, firmly believes in second breakfast, and never leaves home without her verveine.

Julie is an award-winning and best-selling author, and her novel, Unraveled, was a contender for the ALA’s Schneider Family Book Award.

Enough of me in the third person. If your curiosity has still not been sated, then here’s a little more of the interesting stuff:

Things I’ve done:
  1. BulletThrown a frisbee off the top of the Eiffel tower.  It was a group effort.  

  1. BulletRemoved my own stitches.  The nurse was doing a terrible (aka painful) job, so I demanded the scissors and finished it myself.

  1. BulletKilled a rat with my bare hands.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.

  1. BulletPulled a snake tooth out of my finger--on my honeymoon.  True story.  The snake (a Rainbow Boa Constrictor) bit me a few weeks before my wedding.  I couldn’t figure out why it was taking so long to heal--until part of the tooth started sticking out.  Did I mention it was on my honeymoon?  

  1. BulletTalked my way out of three speeding tickets.  Seriously, it pays to go to the judge and argue your case.

  1. BulletTaught myself to play the Irish whistle.

  1. BulletSnuck out of the hotel (age 18--three girls--alone) in Moscow to meet some strange (but hot) guys at a local disco.  Did we ever find them?  No.  Did we ever find the disco?  No.  Did we get lost on the subway system and find ourselves wandering deserted streets late at night in Communist Russia?  Yes.  Were we stupid to try?  Absolutely.

  1. BulletStole a flashing barricade from a road construction site.  It’s important to note that they put those barricades up for a reason--to warn sneaky teenagers of the deep and dangerous hole.  Picture roadrunner slapping down a black circle-hole.  Picture Wile E. Coyote walking along then suddenly disappearing into the aforementioned hole.  As a follow up, I’d like to say that, riddled by guilt, we put it back about an hour later.

  1. BulletHeld a scorpion in my bare hands.  A live scorpion.  

  1. BulletGot car sick on the way home from Disneyland.  I was trying to finish my math homework in the very back of a station wagon.  To this day, any mathematical work still makes me a little queasy.

  1. BulletBeen chased by a moose.

Things I’ve Never Done:

  1. BulletHad a facial, pedicure, or manicure--or been to a spa. 

  1. BulletEaten sushi--I just really can’t stand seafood!

  1. BulletTired of seeing the full moon through wispy clouds as it rises over the mountains near my home.

  1. BulletBeen to Hawaii. *Update* Hawaii family vacation 6/13

  1. BulletChanged a flat tire on my car.  My awesome husband always does it for me!  I am, however, pro at changing my road-bike tires.

  1. BulletBroken a bone.  Or had my tonsils out.

  1. BulletBeen stuck in an elevator.

  1. BulletBeen stung by a bee.  A wasp, yes.  It was hiding in my pants and when I put them on--yeow!

  1. BulletHit an animal while driving.

  1. BulletCheated on a test.

  1. BulletEaten brains.  They tried to serve me some in South America.  But I started having a nervous breakdown and told them, in my not-so-fluent-spanish, that I didn’t want to eat any “mind.”

  1. BulletJumped off the high-dive.  

  1. BulletWon the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes.