42nd and 3rd

On the corner of 42nd and 3rd is a vendor stand. This guy sells an assortment of things and each day is a new product. I love walking by each morning wondering what he is going to be selling. Some days it's jewelry, other days it's watches. Today was a treat - SOCKS!! Unfortunately they were men's dress socks or I might have picked up a pair - just so that I could say I bought them on the street. How cool would that be.

Maggie

This weekend the Erickson clan gain another member. Introducing Maggie:

She's an adorable gray/orange calico. She's 1 year 6 months old. Maggie was a stray cat that the ASPCA picked up about 2 weeks ago. They told me that she was shy, but when I was at the shelter Maggie came right up to me and began cuddling with me after only a few minutes. I was sold! She definitely won me over.

Maggie's adjusted quite well to her new home. Last night was a little long, though. She was mewing all night, but I'm hoping to stop that habit soon. They said to ignore the mewing/crying during the day so she doesn't think that it will be ok to do it at night. I just hope that my neighbors don't hate me for all her mewing. I left today and could hear her from the floor below me. I hope that she wasn't doing that the whole time I was gone.

I sure do love having Maggie around. She's my little cuddle buddy while I'm watching TV and she's my shadow wherever I go. Soooo much fun!

Best Weekend EVER!

This past weekend my mom, my three sisters, and one of my sisters-in-law came to NY to visit me. We had SOOOOO much fun! When they first arrived they didn't know what to do with such little space. They are used to large homes with large back and front yards and big comfortable beds. But all 6 of us squeezed into my small one bedroom apartment. Kacee and I shared my bed, Kelli and Inger shared the fold-out couch, and Mom and Cori shared the air mattress (Mom insisted that she did not want to sleep in my bed - I did offer, I promise!). We did lots of fun things while they were here. The first night Kelli, Kacee, and I went to WICKED!! and Mom, Cori, and Inger saw 39 Steps. The second night we all went to Guys and Dolls. All the plays were great! The third night we saw 17 again (Jo joined us - she had to meet the fam).

But we didn't just have fun at night. Friday was spent in China Town. That is definitely NOT my favorite place in NYC, but I was with family so it made it more bearable. We got kicked out of one store because we tried to touch the shirts and then the purses - Heaven forbid!! That was definitely a first for me. We got lots of purses - thanks Mom for buying us each one! After hours of battling the crowds in China Town, we went to Little Italy for lunch/dinner. It was DELISH!

On Saturday we went to a LATE brunch (1:30 pm) at my favorite brunch place in NYC - Sarabeth's. It's up in my old hood so it was fun to show my fam where I used to live. Then we walked around Central Park. The trees are all blooming right now so it's BEAUTIFUL!! Most of the tulips and daffodils were up - except in the tulip garden. We got lots of pictures with the flowers. I also took them to the outside of the Metropolitan Museum. We didn't have time to go in, so we just walked by. And of course I couldn't let them leave NYC without tasting Pinkberry!! So we grabbed some before the movie.

After our long days of walking around NYC, we came home and talked until the early hours of the morning. They were all on Utah time, so going to bed at 2 meant they were really only staying awake until midnight - but for me it was 2. No wonder it was easy to sleep in until 9:30 am.

As you can tell, we had a ton of fun! While it's nice to have my apartment to myself, I miss having the family here. It made me really wish I lived closer and their pleas for me to move to California or Arizona are starting to sound really appealing (although not Arizona - you get the HOT without the benefits of the BEACH). So who knows - maybe I will be going west in the future.

Thanks family for such a great time!! I love you all and can't wait to see the rest of the fam this summer!

PS - I didn't take any pictures while the fam was here. They took all the pictures with promises that they would send me a CD of them. So if I get it in the near future I'll post some.

Going Public

Since I was young I have always struggled with weight issues. I'm not saying that I've been really FAT, but I've always had weight to lose. Even in elementary school I had people tell me that I needed to go on a diet. For the past couple of months I have tried to lose weight, but my self discipline is...well...terrible! So I'm going public. I've started a new blog to track my weight loss success (and failures). I'm inviting anyone who would like to join me on this journey to follow this new blog. I hope that it can become a way for people who have weight issues like myself to share ideas of what works and what to stay away from as well as give people motivation to lose the weight they need to lose. But if I'm being completely honest, the reason that I started this blog is so that it will force me to be accountable to more than just myself. I welcome any support from my family and friends, but completely understand if the thought of following someone's weight-loss journey puts you to sleep. Hahaha! If you are interested...here's the link: http://kejourney.blogspot.com/

One more thing...

I got cable yesterday (I've been living with just the network channels, but decided to splurge now that tax season is winding down) and what do you think I watched first? MTV? HBO? TLC? Nope - Disney Channel. Oh how I've missed Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, and Disney Channel Original Movies. This summer will be great! Now if only my DVR could record more than 2 shows at once...

The count-down begins

Mom, Cori, Inger, Kelli, and Kacee are coming to NY on Thursday to bunk with me in my one bedroom apartment! Next weekend will be the BEST weekend EVER!!! No work, hanging out with the best Mom and sisters in the world, and sharing a bed w/ my older sister again! What else more could I want? Maybe...Wicked...and Guys and Dolls...and shopping! Oh and warm, sunny weather would be nice too. I'm not asking too much am I? Ok - well I gotta go buy a bed and blankets and pillows and sheets and...well you get the picture. My apartment isn't really equiped to house 6 people yet. But it will be by Thursday!

Too much to take in

I've been MIA from the social scene for a few weeks. I've been completely involved in ME (well I should say annoying clients and taxes...). I didn't know what was going on with anyone besides myself (and Jo - who is an extension of me so that doesn't count). So when I finally decided to click on my Google Reader this morning I was BOMBARDED with new blog posts from my friends. And what did I find...96 new posts which were filled with babies, spring sun/winter blues, and more babies. (I'm not saying I'm jealous...but I might be a little.) Anyway...96 new posts to read through in one morning was a lot to take in. Oh - and this doesn't account for the private blogs that Google Reader won't pick up (darn you private bloggers). And no - I did not "READ" every word each of you wrote (sorry), but I did read the ones that caught my attention and also I scrolled through all the pictures. I'm a little overwhelmed by all the information that I just put into my brain and I'm vowing to myself I can never go this long w/out checking Google Reader again. And usually I like to pride myself on a blog commenter - but not today (sorry again). I'll be better from now on. Promise!

The Last 24 Hours

It's been a while since I've had a great 24 hour period - but this weekend I was blessed. It all started Friday night when I came home from work around 8 pm with the mind-set that I was going to fix the disaster area that is also known as my apartment. I made a quick stop at Duane Reade to pick up a few cleaning supplies then got to work. I washed dishes, put away clothes, scrubbed the kitchen, scrubbed the tub, swept the floors, cleaned the toilet, threw out junk mail, got my stove/oven lit (yes - after 3 months), and even more. I was going, going, going until 2 am. I went to bed completely satisfied with my night and excited to sleep in.

Well that didn't happen. For some reason I woke up at 8 am fully awake (which is amazing since I can barely get up at 8:30 during the week to go to work). So I got up and started on my to do list. Here is what I did today (in order):
- took out the trash
- did my laundry (which means I dropped it off to be picked up later in the day)
- returned movies to Blockbusters
- bought a table for my kitchen
- hung pictures that I've had sitting on my table since Jan.
- framed and hung a painting I got in Nov.
- organized my bathroom
- did my taxes
- disassembled the huge bookcase that was in my kitchen
- assembled my new kitchen table
- watched conference
- got a pedicure
- picked up my laundry and put it away (a BIG step for me)
- showered
- watched afternoon session of conference
- went over to a friend's
- went to a movie with some fun girls
- stopped off at Pinkberry on my walk home
- came home and blogged

Wow! Who knew so much could be done in one day? It's a good thing that my manager emailed to let me know the work that was supposed to come in wouldn't be ready until Monday. Busy season isn't quite over yet - but this weekend gave me hope that it will end soon and I look forward to having more productive Saturdays like today and even more lazy Saturdays.