Welcome home Charlotte!

Charlotte Annabelle Erickson was born on March 27, 2007! She came a week and a half early and weighed 6 pounds and 12 ounces and is 19.5 inches long. She loves looking around at everything with those beautiful blue eyes. We are so glad to have her home.

Surprise!

My firm surprised me with a baby shower on Thursday afternoon! The only things that kind of tipped me off to it was a fake-sounding meeting scheduled at 4:30pm (when everyone knows I'm outa there at 5 sharp) and the fact that everyone virtually disappeared around that time. It was very fun though with an abundance of delicious cupcakes, treats and well wishers.
Everyone was so generous and kind, it is really nice to feel special especially when you feel like a whale waltzing around the office most days!

I started hanging up Charlotte's cute new dresses and outfits in the spare half of Helaman's closet. Don't her tiny little things look so cute next to her daddy's huge shirts?

Baby gifts!

Thanks to Ellen, Andrea, Julia and Kristy for hosting a baby shower! We were all in dark colors for some reason... makes me not look so big though!

Opening gifts that get the thumbs up from Ellen!








Sister-in-law Jen made a baby quilt! It is super soft which will be great in our drafty room.

49 Things About Me (Helaman)

Since Christina put 51 things about herself I will put 49 things about myself since I am supposed to be the "other half."
1. I have never had a full time job.
2. I auditioned for a commercial.
3. At the aforementioned commercial I met Mario Lopez aka AC Slater. I was not cast, but neither was he.
4. I was the Arizona mountain bike state champion in the 14-16 year old category 2 years in a row.
5. I placed 4th in the National mountain bike championship.
6. I graduated college in 3 years, a B.I.S. in Chemistry and Religion.
7. I attended Arizona State University.
8. I have never had braces. This said, my teeth are straight.
9. The sports I enjoy are basketball, cycling, golf, and dirt biking in no particular order.
10. My favorite drama on television is House.
11. My favorite comedy on television is Scrubs with the Office coming in close second.
12. I was the Paradise Valley Unified School District ping pong champion.
13. My favorite cartoon is The Simpsons. I own 9 seasons on DVD.
14. My favorite book is The Catcher In the Rye.
15. The above being said, my favorite author is Kurt Vonnegut.
16. My favorite Vonnegut book is Cat's Cradle.
17. One of my dreams is to live in Kauai and be a beach bum.
18. I currently attend Columbia College of Dental Medicine, class of 2008.
19. My favorite movies by category: Drama-Forrest Gump or Garden State, Comedy-The Big Lebowski or Bottle Rocket, Action-Apocalypse Now.
20. My favorite director is Wes Anderson.
21. I served a mission in the Charlotte NC Mission, 2000-2002.
22. My favorite band is Sparta.
23. The only bone I have broken is my left hand ring finger.
24. My favorite food is spicy Asian food. I have not had a spicy Asian dish from any of the Asian countries that I have not thoroughly enjoyed.
25. My dog's name was She-ra.
26. My favorite camping spot is Wet Beaver Creek next to Sedona, AZ. I have camped there 8 times.
27. I went skydiving my senior year of high school while on vacation in CA. It was fun and I would do it again.
28. I hit the game winning hit in the Little League Championship game.
29. My favorite stand up comedian is Jim Gaffigan. Hot Pocket anyone?
30. My favorite Simpsons character is Homer.
31. My favorite hamburger is a Double-Double Animal Style from In-N-Out with the Island Burger coming in a close second.
32. I would like to go on vacation to the Virgin Islands.
33. My favorite board game is Settlers of Cataan.
34. My career goal is to become an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon.
35. I have a group of friends that I have known since Kindergarten. We are all still in touch.
36. I am a germ-a-phobe. Not a crazy one though. Or am I?
37. I owned a dirt bike in college, a Suzuki RM-125. My bike in the future will be a little "beefier."
38. I have had multiple part time jobs in my life including dental assistant, credit card salesman, math tutor, research assistant, junior basketball coach, umpire, floppy disk duplicator salesman, and teaching assistant for college algebra and materials engineering.
39. I rented a houseboat with some friends on Lake Roosevelt in AZ.
40. My favorite Seinfeld episode is the one where Dr. Watley converts to Judaism for the jokes. I love all of the dentist humor in that episode. "I'm just a sadist with newer magazines."
41. I have always wanted to live back east and dental school has provided me with that opportunity, and now I want to go back west (or south).
42. I am currently working in a lab on campus that is involved in tissue engineering. My project is the production of vascularized bone grafts from bone marrow.
43. I still enjoy playing original Nintendo occasionally. Check out consoleclassix.com
44. I still love watching Saved By the Bell.
45. My favorite game show is Jeopardy followed by The Price is Right.
46. I enjoy just wandering around NYC looking at "stuff" and eating at random restaurants.
47. I abhor doing the dishes but still occasionally buckle down and do them. Sorry Christina:(
48. I enjoy technology and electronic gadgets.
49. Conan O Brien is my favorite late night talk show. I have been to the show twice, once in the front row.

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!

Charlotte's Crib

To celebrate Martin Luther King day this year we carved out a corner of our bedroom and set up Charlotte's bed. Making good use of it now are my old Raggady Ann and Raggady Andy dolls, freshly washed and ready for their new playmate. Special thanks to the grandmas who provided the crib and the bedding to make such a cute area for her! 

28 weeks!

To celebrate my 28th week of pregnancy, I got a really fun shot at the doctor's office. Since Christmas, my belly has really started to show and I'm happy to say that people have been really nice in giving me their seats on the subway as a result. Venturing to Target yesterday, I took a suitcase thinking that I could wheel all the groceries home instead of carrying them by hand. I didn't really take into consideration the 50 stairs to get to the subway platform though! Fortunately a really nice person helped me lift it up to the train, and another person helped me get the suitcase out of the subway when I got to my stop, even though he was going the other way. It made me feel good that there are so many thoughtful people around willing to help a stranger out on a rainy Saturday.

So here is a picture of me today in a dress that Helaman picked out at the Limited last week. 

Christmas time again!

Merry Christmas! We love the Christmas season. This year we lucked out and got a decent sized tree and filled it up with our ornaments. Of course, as you can see, our real Christmas present will arrive on April 6, 2007! In the meantime, little Charlotte is keeping me warm this winter as the wind unleashes its fury on unsuspecting subway riders. She's been amazingly good so far and hasn't made me sick at all, and just loves to kick and bounce around when we are at the movies. Maybe because she is trying to sleep...

We look forward to visiting Arizona which is the place to be during the winter. 

Weekend Fun

On the way to church each week we walk through part of Fort Tryon Park. Lately it's been really pretty so we got a shot in before the leaves are all blown away. In other news, I found a recipe for Jamba Juice's Pumpkin Smash smoothie which we love. At BYU, my roommate Christianne and I collected "buy one get one free" coupons for Jamba out of all our neighbors' recycle bins and enjoyed half price Jambas most of the year. This was one of my favorites. Here is the recipe:

1/4 cup Pumpkin Pie mix
2 cups vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream
1 cup soy milk
ice

So simple! I had always thought I was getting a healthy treat from Jamba - I guess not with all that ice cream! Oh well, it is a fun fall treat.

Another fun outing we had recently was to the Garden State Mall, 6 miles over the bridge. Heretofore it had seemed inaccessible, but we found a lesser-known mini-bus line going from our bus station to the mall for just $2.50! The best part was they leave every few minutes. They drop you in the parking lot and when you're done, they are usually waiting for you out in the parking lot. Better than a taxi service! And definitely better than driving a car through that maddening traffic. We're just bummed we just found out about this great resource and haven't been using it for the two years we've already been here! 

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! This year we carved a pumpkin named Wolfe

and watched a scary movie.

 

Fall Pumpkin Festival in Boston

Summer's over and fall has blown in quickly. Before it got real cold, we took a little trip to see our friends Aaron and Shara in Boston. We took the Chinatown bus on Friday after work. It is definitely the cheapest way to travel! There was a pumpkin festival in Boston Commons Park which was perfect because we love to carve pumpkins. They provided the pumpkins and people just showed up to carve. Unfortunately, most people focused on the quantity of the pumpkins (they were going for 30,000 this year!) instead of doing quality work. So our pumpkins put them to shame as you can see.

Aaron and H in a pumpkin patch. Working hard! Me and H at Harvard.

It was a fun festival. At Boston Common with George. It was a spectacular sight to see all 30,000 pumpkins lit up. I'm not sure who lit them all, but it must have taken a while! Some had Christmas lights in them, but most were lit with little candles.

Kona, Big Island Adventures

Our next stop was Kona, on the other side of Hawaii, the big island. We traveled up to a ranch which claims it produces 39% of all beef consumed in the US, with over 89,000 head of cattle. We didn't see any cattle, but took advantage of the huge expanses of grassland to ride their ATV fleet, which has replaced horses in rounding up cattle, which makes sense. The ATVs can go anywhere. Up and down very steep hills, through mud and sludge. On one hill, the guy in front of me took a corner too fast and the ATV flipped over on top of him. He was okay though. Helaman, Julie, Leroy and I made it out alive and unhurt, although covered with dirt.

Hilo, Big Island

On Hawaii, we took a tour of some of the volcano sites, a botanical garden and waterfalls.

Kauai

Kauai is the island where they filmed Jurassic Park, because it is sooo green and lush. They say it is always raining on some part of the island, and we got a small dose of it (not too much though!) when we went ziplining through the trees and over the ravines. It was a ton of fun!! At the highest we were 200 feet above ground.

Afterwards, we rented mopeds and once we negotiated our way out of busy traffic, rolled through some great, open countryside and down to some falls with a swimming hole.