Meet the (not-so) Little Brother.

So, I've mentioned my brother Brian before and how he's pretty much my favorite.

Without further ado, friends, GET READY, because now you get to see for yourself!

A peek into the life of the one person who shared my childhood and thus can fully appreciate what I mean when I reference Mom's cackle, Dad's "cooking" and Grandma's hilarity.

He also has full access to photo albums full of Sara pre-hair gel and sporting those lovely braces but DON'T EVEN TRY!

So, here he is. I know you'll love him. I just don't know if you are prepared for how awesome he is...

1. Hey little brother. Introduce yourself. ...feel free to mention how awesome I was as a big sister. Steer clear of stories like the time we were playing kickball and I (ACCIDENTALLY) tripped you.

I'm a man's man that doesn't follow any major sports and who can't change the oil in a car...but I can rock a mean V-neck. Will that suffice for an introduction?

2. Yes, yes it will. Time for faves:

Memory under the age of 10:
I dunno if I have just one. I remember my babysitters chocolate chip cookies. They were great. Also, I remember going to St. Louis for my 8th birthday. It was awesome. We were supposed to go to Six Flags but it's closed in October but I didn't even care because 1) turns out I'm terrified of roller coasters (until recently) and 2) the family had a good time none-the-less. Like in the hotel pool. It was me and the fam in the pool pretty late at night and there was a honky tonk ho down thing going on in the common area pretty close to us. Brooks and Dunn's 'Boot skoot boogey' was being blasted so naturally I busted out the air guitar in the middle of the pool and went to town. It was so much fun.

Beverage:
Beer- I'm a fan of wheat beer. There's too many to name.
Liqour- Captain and Coke. I'm working my way up to Scotch on the rocks....
Non-alcoholic- It's a split between orange juice and the 68 cent flavored water at Walmart

McDonalds Happy Meal toy from back in the day:
The limited edition Space Jam stuffed animals. I had Daffy Duck. It was the best, hands down. Dad got it for me, unbeknownst to mom. She was so mad.

Meal our momma makes:
Her homemade Mexican Chili Soup. It's cheesy. It's meaty. It's spicy. It's great. Sidenote- it used to be her homemade Cheesy Potato Soup but then I got the flu one time when she made it so naturally I lost my appetite for it. I've just recently started to be able to eat it.

3. Hi-larious. Sooo you junior in college, you. One word to describe this time of life? Things you are learning outside the classroom? Biggest challenge? Biggest surprise? Best Lawrence hot spot?

My Life in a word: Maintaining- I'm doing what I need to do...but nothing illegal. Don't worry.

Lessons learned out of the classroom- O goodness....where to begin. 1) You'll get eaten alive if you don't stand up and have a voice. You have to have an opinion, an opinion you believe to be absolutely true, which means you have to know what you believe in and why. Read, research, analyze, and become familiar with other arguments. Do what you gotta do to prove your point because if you can't back-up your statement, you got nothing and no one will take you seriously. Which leads me to number 2) Not everyone is gonna like you but as long as you stand for something, they have to respect you. If they don't, then they're definitely not worth worrying about. I think I'll keep it at just two....

Biggest Challenge: Lack of money

Biggest Surprise: The impact the previous has had on my everyday life. But it's for the better. I think more before I buy. I think everyone could use a little more thought process before they buy.

Best Lawrence Hot spot: I frequent Quintons. It's a fun bar with awesome specials. I also enjoy the Barrel House. It's a dueling piano bar, and being a musician, I'm always down for listening to some live music and drinking some burrs (beers).

4. Thank you for clarifying. Alright, level with me. You work in a restaurant. How has this shaped your view of people? Have you ever spit in anyone's food? Have you ever eaten the scraps of someone's leftover delicious-looking meal? BE HONEST.

One thing I've learned by working in the restaurant is that some people are just crappy people. They are bad people, to the core, plain and simple. Granted, it doesn't help that I work at one of the fanciest restaurants in Lawrence so we get our fair of pretentious a-holes. That said, not all rich people are d-bags. I'm sure we're all guilty of automatically assuming that someone who is obviously loaded is a jerk. This is not always the case. People who have worked for what they have are usually really cool, down to earth people.

As for eating someone's scraps...I'm happy to say I have yet to hit that rock bottom.

5. QUICK! You just won a trip of your choice. Anywhere. All expenses paid. You must leave immediately. Where do you go?!

I'd go to South Africa. World Cup yo!!

6. Word. Okay, a family tradition you want to continue someday:

Well we kinda stopped doing it but one that I'd like to start up again is the big Thanksgiving lunch at the house. Jamming 40 people of the same bloodline in a medium sized, ranch style home is a feat only we could pull off. I know it was a headache to arrange but I always enjoyed it. Also, I liked having Christmas Eve at grandma's...in her little apartment...with pizza...and KFC. What's not to love about that?

7. How would you describe our generation? (yes, I said "our" because I AM NOT OLD EVEN IF I DO OWN SHOE INSERTS AND OWN A PLETHORA OF CARDIGANS!)

How would I describe our generation? What about, we're the generation of pissing-off-the-previous-generations-with-our-change-and-adaption-and-our-crazy-antics-that-may-or-may-not-make-sense-but-at-least-we're-trying-something-new-and-refreshing. I think that sums it up nicely. We're the generation of 'why not?'

8. You wrote a really interesting post about the pressures of life, our natural aversion to change/The Unknown and the trappings of sticking to "The Plan" to one's detriment. So, let's say in 10 years, you have a full time job, are married and own a home. Will you be disappointed? Can you still have those things and continue to embrace The Unknown/avoid getting caught in a rigid life of rules others have imposed? AM I STRESSING YOU OUT?!!?!?*

I won't be disappointed. I should clarify...constantly seeking change isn't my definition of happiness. I think we seek out change in order to open another door to potential happiness. So if I am in fact married with kids and have a career I enjoy, well then it'd seem as though I have found my happiness. That's not to say I want that now because, well, I don't. But maybe in 5 years I will. Or maybe I'll want that next year. If that's the case, then I'll do something about it. But as for now, I'm not worrying about it.

As for 'getting caught in the rigid life of rules', I think that just because you have a family, doesn't mean this has to happen. You can still have fun when you're an adult. But at the same time, you have to make sacrifices for your family because if you're not willing to do that, then you probably shouldn't have made a family in the first place because you're obviously not ready. If I had a family and live like I do now (aka living and working for my own gain), that'd be incredibly selfish because I'm not the only one I'm living for. Being your own person in the context of a family is a gray area. It's a delicate balance between getting caught up in the everyday and still living a life worth mentioning. I'll stop there or else I could go on for miles and I'm already at three pages and your readers are probably getting tired of reading.

(*note: I-Sara-should also clarify that I only asked this question to dig further into what you said initially...not to suggest that in ten years you SHOULD or SHOULD NOT have the job/marriage/home.)

9. So, really, how tall ARE you?!

A strapping 6'3". Tell your friends...

10. Closing words. Final thoughts? Your chance to tell the world ANYTHING at ALL about living with me EVERY DAY for the first (glorious) years of your life??? Or uhhh anything?!

This was fun. Thanks for the opportunity sis. Prepare yourself for one from me...

Thank YOU B-ri. Come visit!!! ...bring chocolate! And "burrs."