51 Things About Me

First of all - how in the world do people come up with 100 things?? That is a full time job! As it is, this post has been sitting in draft form for weeks waiting to be finished. So in the spirit of "good enough!" (same attitude as my apt cleaning lately) I present 51 things about me. Maybe someday I'll have the time to do 49 more things, but for now, I opt to use my free time to sleep instead.

1. I’ve had 5 full time jobs since graduating from college and have liked two of them including current.
2. I’ve lived in 6 states so far (CA, FL, NC, UT, AZ, NY).
3. Helaman and I were immortalized in a permanent camera shot Conan O’Brian uses in his “flying desk” bit.
4. I’ve had braces and invisalign.
5. I finished college in 3 ½ years, majored in Public Relations and didn’t like doing that after all.
6. While in New York I’ve seen Don Cheadle, Matthew Fox, Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric (saw her in SLC too) and Beyonce in person.
7. I met my husband at the drive-in movies in Scottsdale AZ. I noticed he was wearing interesting shoes. That is most people’s first impression of him.
8. Rudy Guliani and I worked for the same law firm. At different times.
9. I was a cheerleader in high school.
10. We went on a cruise on our honeymoon to Mexico but Catalina Island was our favorite stop.
11. I’ve started wearing contact lenses recently since I noticed I couldn’t see street signs in order to figure out where to walk.
12. I adopted a kitten I found in the parking garage in college and named her Caroline. That was also one of our baby name choices.
13. I’ve waited outside Serendipity for ice cream in 20 degree weather for 2 hours.
14. I love elephants.
15. My favorite (on the air) shows are ER, 24, House, The Office and Scrubs.
16. My favorite off the air show is Felicity.
17. I organize the shirts in my closet by color.
18. I drove a completely embarrassing astro van to high school my junior year. It turns out my husband drove a full size one!
19. I love autumn/pumpkin/spice and pine scented candles.
20. I always seemed to have two best friends to form a trio, wherever I was.
21. I love roller coasters.
22. I always return milkshakes if they don’t have the right consistency.
23. I dated a bunch of pre-dental guys at BYU.
24. I was a reporter for The Daily Universe for a semester and had four stories make the front page. I can't believe it - they are all still online. http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/11162
    
25. Mint chip ice cream is my favorite ice cream overall.
26. Godiva White Chocolate Raspberry is a specific favorite.
27. German Chocolate Cake is my favorite Coldstone Creation.
28. Helaman and I are majorly competitive at mini-golf against other couples.
29. We have played Jeopardy against each other every weekday for the past three years. He usually wins. He’s faster, not smarter.
30. My part time job at BYU’s Evening Classes dept paid $6.15 an hour.
31. I love buying scrapbooking supplies. Now I’m just waiting for a room to do it in.
32. I also worked at The Gap in college for an average of two hours a week.
33. I love big breakfasts like waffles or French toast.
34. I like to bake more than cook.
35. When I started BYU, everyone said I had a southern accent. It’s gone away.
36. My brother broke my right arm, a horse broke my left (18 years later).
37. I love Asian food – Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese especially.
38. I’ve sold thousands of dollars worth of Helaman’s and my old stuff on ebay. Most lucrative: his old Lego sets.
39. My first time sledding in Utah I scraped up my whole face.
40. I love carving pumpkins - always have!
41. All of my grandparents are living.
42. I love reading good books. When I had a slacker job I reviewed them on amazon.
43. We went to Hawaii and took a cruise around the islands. Kauai was our favorite.
44. I’ve never had a passport.
45. We drove from Tempe AZ to Houston TX in 22 hours straight through in a moving truck.
46. Historical fiction books are my favorite kind.
47. My first live concert was Dave Matthews in North Carolina.
48. I don’t like soda.
49. I’ve never had a cavity (hmm are those two related?).
50. I HATE being late. As a result more than a few times I’ve been unfashionably early.
51. I can’t pay full price for anything.

A few of my favorite things...

One of my favorite things I discovered when moving to New York is online grocery shopping. It only took one round trip down to an actual market to convince me that hauling groceries was NOT what my life was going to consist of on Saturdays. I saw some ads on the subway for the delivery service and it has been a wonderful relationship ever since. I have heard that grocery delivery is catching on in other parts of the country as well which makes me very happy to know that I won't have to give up my habits when we move away from the city.

Some things that our grocery service doesn't provide (at least in bulk or in reasonable prices) are toilet paper and diapers. I've luckily found a solution for the diapers issue at 1800diapers.com which has great prices and free delivery if you spend $50. If anyone is interested in saving $2 off their first order, enter code CHER1804. Once you order, you'll get your own code.

Anyway, so I am glad about that website and the new elevator at our subway stop (seems like that was timed perfectly for me!) but haven't found any good solution for the toilet paper problem. Any ideas? Currently we buy huge packs of it at Target and haul it home on the train but there has to be a better way!!

Dirty Snow and Narnia

Since getting our new camera, it is so much more fun to post the pictures we take with it. Last week we got some snow on Valentine's Day, and it was pretty at the time but has turned into a mess since, reminding you more of sand than snow. This is me standing at the bus stop waiting for the bus we take to church. My poor knees are freezing because my tights are just too uncomfortable to wear at this point. Luckily it was not too cold today. Tomorrow though we expect "arctic winds"! That might put a damper in our plans to go to Coldstone.

The park (remember our fall picture here?) was much more beautiful than the street, with a relatively clean blanket of snow, unsullied by cars and garbage. We like this lamp post because it reminds us of the one in Narnia.

33 Weeks!

So I've gotten a lot bigger since my last picture! I'm not sure my t-shirt will ever be the same. Other than that not much change except she has become a lot more active lately and I tend to eat a lot! If it's there - I'll eat it. If it's not - I'll bake it. Good times. Helaman and I had given up ice cream before our trip to Hawaii last year, but now we are back on it big time. The past few weekends we have braved temperatures in the teens to go to Coldstone Creamery (no cheap stuff for us, thanks) for our favorite flavors and mix-ins. Yum!

It's cold outside!

The past few days have been very cold, dry and windy in New York. We have yet to have a giant snow dump like last February's record two feet, but even then we didn't see the Hudson River freeze over like it did this week. It's quite a sight today from our living room, and was even more icy a couple days ago when I left for work in 9 degree weather. No jet skiers out this weekend!

Indian Circus adventures

Thought this cartoon sums up the 7th month of pregnancy pretty well!

This weekend we went down to the east village in 20 degree weather (explanation for the red face) for some Indian food with friends at a place that strongly resembles a circus inside, it is really unbelievable. They pack as many people as possible in. We saw some fire department people checking it out and just hoped we'd be able to eat before they shut the place down. We did and it was yummy!