Jell-O

Jell-O makes everything better. Lime Jell-O + Orange Jell-0 = Khaki Jell-O (but its fab-u-lous tasting!)

Jell-O Shots

A few nights before we graduated from Smith, we made jello-shots. Unfortunately something or someone *cough* went awry and they ended up as these super-bouncy solid squares of beautifully colored jell-o. We were literally bouncing them off the floors and walls. (This entry alone is worth 50 search engines hit from people searching for "jell-o shots.")

Julen

Julen is a nickname, first bestowed upon me by Michelle Haines in 1992 as part of the inevitable transition my friends and family had to make when I legally changed my name to Julia. Julen, or J, was an easy transition for many people to make. My original name was Jennifer, and I was named for my great-aunt Jennie and as the modern equivilent of Guinevere. My mother would have never named me Jennifer if she had realized how popular Love Story was going to be.

Julia

I was not born a Julia. I merely became one. Julia is a family name, as are my new middle names. I had always wanted to change my name (well, since the age of eight), but I started seriously considering it in December of 1991. I gave myself six months to change my mind, and than, in the summer of 1992, I filed the paperwork.

Junk Shop

For my money, the decline of the Junk Shop (and the Junk Yard for that matter) in the fabric of American life is a tragedy. We have depressingly few places left that even merge the junk and the antique shop, much less the dusky stores rich with odd and unusual things. My favorite place - Leonard's outside Culpeper (one of those merged-genre stores) - is now gone, replaced by some sort of heating-coolant company that competes less with the mediocre antique shops (who probably own the building) next door.