My brother John is awesome.

My little brother John came to visit. He was here for almost a week and, believe it or not, the above is honestly the best picture of the two of us that we got. But we had an awesome time. To give a brief accounting of his visit, I have decided to make a list of why my brother is awesome. (In the order inspired by the photos.)

1. He bought me watermelon!!!!!!
I love love love love love watermelon!!!! And for some reason, it is an expense I can never justify, although when I think about it logically, it is worth it. I've always thought that if a man really wanted to sweep me off my feet, he could bring me a "thinking of you" watermelon. I mean I love flowers as much as the next girl, but a watermelon is super romantic. It says "I know you. I know you love watermelon. I know this is something nice you wouldn't do for yourself." I loved my brother even before he bought me a watermelon, but even more afterwards (which I would not have thought possible). And he is so cute--he didn't eat any of it himself, even though I managed to save him some (for a day or two, then it was gone). Bless him.

2. We saw Patti LaPone in Gypsy!!!!

even though John wanted to "Phantom of the Opera" he went and stood in line at tdf and got tickets to Gypsy because it was what I wanted to see (even though Phantom would have been good too). And he bought my ticket! John is super awesome.

3. We had fun adventures and went some places I've never been. Seen here, Katz's Deli (you know, the one from When Harry Met Sally) John had the famous pastromi sandwich. As you can see, the sandwich is as big as you've heard.

Also, we went on the Staten Island ferry. Here are some pics. (oh my goodness--sometimes I think I could explode I love New York so much!) (in true manly fashion, John was very interested in all the forts)


4. John is a good photographer. I like this one of the George Washington bridge.

5. With John in town, every event became another chance for Team Bluemlein to dominate. John did an awesome job at the "Paper Bag Game" which involves mass amounts of flexibility. You have to bend over and pick up a paper bag with your mouth--the catch is the bag gets progressively smaller and smaller. John made it to the final round! And he was the tallest one by far, which was a major disadvantage on this game.
(he was so fast, it's blurry!)

6. John was so excited about the Indiana Jones premier, he was my inspiration to accept an invitation to go to a midnight showing. We had a fun time. My review--the movie is good to the extent that you are willing/able to suspend your disbelief. And overlook some faulty props. And plot holes. But the ninja monkeys were cool.
(this picture is a shout-out to the Lego Museum that we wanted to visit, but we found out it was in New Jersey, so we didn't go)

7. The event I have been waiting for happened--28oz cans of tomatoes went on sale for a dollar! Luckily John was there to help me pack them home. Here's a picture of him with 30 pounds of canned tomatoes on his pack, hiking up the hill.



Here's a picture of the contents of the bag I was carrying (as you can see it was pansy light). John is the embodiment of a gentleman and insisted on carrying anything heavy that we came across during his whole vacation. I love him.







8. John has a great sense of humor. Any of you who spoke with him know what I mean.

9. It was so nice to be with someone who saw the city with new eyes and was delighted with or intrigued by things I take for granted--street performers, the candy sellers on the subway, beggars, parking lots with elevators for the cars

10. John is such an incredibly person! It was so wonderful to have him around. He is so kind and charming and thoughtful. I was discussing it with a friend and we decided and that is the epitomy of masculinity.