10 Most Beautiful: Julie Vanvig-Burnell
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Name: Julie Vanvig Burnell
Age: 36
Occupation: Freelance media consultant
Hometown: Goodrich, N.D. and Ozark
Family: Husband, Mike, and two step-sons, Dylan and Jared
Give me three words that describe you
energetic, inquisitive and enthusiastic
How do you deal with pressure?
I try to find something to laugh about every day, and I try to go outside every day. I get outside and get some fresh air and find something to laugh about whether it’s reading a good book or e-mail, talking to a friend, roughhousing with the kids or my husband.
What motivates you?
My family and children, my listeners, my community. I’m naturally curious, and I can’t wait to see what adventure the next day brings. I come with a tremendous amount of internal motivation.
If you could start a new career, what would you do?
I would be an attorney. I’ve always been fascinated with the inner workings of the law. I think that’s because that’s the boundary or guidelines of what we do. It’d be a good way to make a positive impact on people.
Who are your real-life heroes?
My mom, she is the most resilient and resourceful person I know. I admire the children I work with as part of Saint Jude’s because much of their childhood has been lost or changed because they’re dealing with a potentially fatal illness. Until you’ve played basketball with a little boy who has lost the ability to walk or you’ve heard a child who’s dealing with a catastrophic illness express concern for one of the other kids who’s being treated, you don’t know how good you’ve got it. It really adjusts your perspective to remember what is important. Families that know they only have six months make those six months count.
What’s your biggest fear?
I fear a little for the world our children are going to grow up in. It’s a whole lost faster and sexier and bloodier than it was when we were kids. I look at little girls now putting their makeup on and wearing their short shorts. I’m pretty sure we were still playing Barbies. We’ve worked really hard to raise a generation where shame doesn’t matter. They truly believe the rules don’t apply to them, and that’s alarming. I fear that we’ve lost the importance of family and demonstrating how to treat one another. Daddies are disposable in our culture, and they’re not at all. Children need a full circle of love around them. The things that used to bind us to our communities have disappeared.
What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Best book ever is The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. I also like 101 Reasons Why, it explains random things you don’t understand, like child proof packaging adults can’t open but kids can.
What’s your favorite quote?
Live each day like it’s your next to last. I was told that by someone who gave much wiser advice than I do. What they said is if you live your last day like it’s your last you’re either frantic or morose. But if it’s your next to last, you evaluate and choose those things that really matter.
When are you happiest?
I’m happiest playing outside with my husband and children.
Do you have a prized possession?
My ancestor owned a tea box that has passed down from generation to generation. On my mothers side, we’ve traced lineage back to the Mayflower. It’s passed from woman to woman in my family every generation.
What part of the world would you like to visit but haven’t?
Morocco. If the pictures are half as good as reality, I’m there, on a beach. It looks amazing. That’s the place I’m planning on going. I also would like to go China. My mom took a walking tour of China and got to visit a lot of local sites. She went with a special tourist group.
If you could share a taxi from the airport with any celebrity, who would you choose? Why?
Brad Pitt because he’d probably talk back. It’d be one person I’d be able to have a legitimate conversation with. If it’s only a taxi ride, I’m not sure how much chatting [anyone else is] going to do. I think it’d be really cool to be in a taxi with Margaret Thatcher. There’s a woman who has accomplished a lot.
When you look in a mirror, what do you see?
I got some very good advice when I was a young woman, and I was restless and was out on my own for the first time and I was lonely and felt like I needed to have someone with me at all times. When you feel like you’re home all alone, go look in the mirror because there’s someone there. And that’s someone you should really get to know. I’ve been trying to live that advice ever since. It’s easy for a woman to be so busy forwarding her career, and it’s easy when you have so many things you’re responsible for to forget that you exist, too.
If you could eliminate a trait of your own, what would it be?
Oh I’m bossy. Terribly, terribly bossy. I’d just minimize it a little. And I’m absentminded.
If you could go back to a certain age again, what would it be?
I really liked my middle twenties. I had a little more energy. I’d say 25. I would spend more time with my grandparents, who are still living but now have some dementia. I’d spend more time with my dad who was killed in an accident. Take more time to enjoy stuff and not be in such a hurry to be a grownup. There were things I got to do then that were just amazing. I started doing stories that were featured on national television. I didn’t take time to appreciate the events I covered. I covered a presidential election, got to meet the candidates personally. I think that by the time you’re old enough to appreciate them you’re beyond that. I’d start at the beginning of my professional career because I’ve had so many wonderful opportunities to be exposed to different things. I have not always taken the time to enjoy or reflect on them because I’ve been worried about the minutiae of the job.
What are your goals?
I suppose they’re much like everyone else’s. To make it a difference.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My charitable outreach efforts. On a greater sense, I’m proud of our children and my family and that with any luck, we’re going to raise two young men who understand why it’s important to care about others in whatever they choose to do in life.
What talent would you most like to have?
I wish I could sing. I can’t sing at all, not even a little bit. Even the children are like ‘don’t sing so loud at church.’ I have no sense of rhythm. I can’t even clap to the beat.
When was the last time you did something reckless?
Two or three months ago. I raced barstools. Those little suckers go 50 miles an hour. There’s a group called the Hillbilly Lawnmower Association, and the main attraction was I was going to race one of the professionals on a barstool. It sounded okay. No seatbelts, no cages. They’re basically a barstool with wheels and a lawnmower motor. I’ve ridden a bull. I’ve done a wide variety of crazy things. My husband drew the line at skydiving. I’m an adrenaline junky. They don’t make roller coasters high enough.
What is your philosophy in life?
I think my philosophy in life is to attempt to be kind and not jump to conclusions. You never know if the person who just cut you off in traffic is rushing to the hospital because their child is having an emergency. You never know what motivates someone else, so it’s better to give them the benefit of the doubt. You cannot control another’s actions, but you can always control your reaction. I’ve learned to be more patient. To try not to judge. And there is no such thing as a dumb question.
If you had $1 million, how would you spend it?
I would pay off our bills and set up a fund for the childrens’ college education. Then I would establish a foundation to give grants to assist with individuals with special needs. I’m very inspired by the effort Doug Pitt put together to have a direct source of funding for school children who have an immediate need. Sometimes we layer so much bureaucracy on the urge to do good that we kind of snuff it out.
What sort of work do you try to avoid or put off?
Housework. I am not the girl to clean your house. I will re-landscape your yard. I will re-roof your house. I like tools. I absolutely draw the line at scrubbing the bathroom. The boys have had to learn to do that.
What do you worry about most?
I worry that my husband and kids eat well and get enough rest and that their health is okay. I worry about where our country is going and whether people still take the time to get to know other people. Money is just money and stuff just stuff. Last time I checked, dollar bills don’t have feelings and stuff doesn’t think. It’s just stuff. And if we’re all gone tomorrow, it wouldn’t matter much
What mistakes in your life have you learned from?
All of them I hope. I’ve learned it’s more important to do right than be right.
What was your first job?
I was an ice cream maid at the Dairy Cup in Ozark. I can make a banana split that will blow your mind.
What do you know for sure?
That I can do anything I set my mind to.
Is there anything you’d like to add?
The person I’m most likely to make fun of is me. I guess the one person I missed in my list of heroes is Lucile Ball. She was the first public person who was a woman and a mother and a professional who had the ability to laugh at her self and let her slip show.
