Ten (more) things you may not know about me

Maybe I'll make this a monthly feature on the blog - is it fun? Interesting? Self-indulgent? Whatever, it's connected me to people who I may not have ever known I had things in common with. Bonding over a shared hatred of sweet potatoes? That's serious stuff, people.

1. I've done a "secret Santa" gift exchange with the same girls for 10+ years. It's morphed into " secret seashell" because we now do it at be beach. We also have an email list serve that was started when we left for college. I couldn't begin to guess how many messages have been sent but I'd guess its in the tens of thousands.
2. My number one choice for pasta sauce is Alfredo. It's one of the only things Ben will not eat. I don't understand how anyone could hate something that's pretty much just cheese and heavy cream?!
3. I have (almost) matching scars on my elbows from surgeries that were four years apart. Ulnar nerve transpositions. I have no funny bone.
4. When I die, I want to be cremated, after medical science has taken anything they have any use for. I'm not yet sure where I want my ashes scattered.
5. My first plane ride was to Disney world with my whole family. Best fifth birthday ever!
6. I started walking at nine months. So, when London turned ten months without even a step, I felt a little bit guilty, like I had let her down as her mother. Don't worry, I realize that is 100% ridiculous and I'm just happy she's taken her first steps before she's two.
7. I had a fake ID in college that Ben referred to as a baseball card because it was SO fake. But I never got caught, even when I bought beer standing in line in front of a cop.
8. My favorite song will always and forever be "imagine" by John Lennon. My least favorite song is "amazing grace". "Celebrate" and "I like big butts" are also up there... Err, down there. As in,  hate them too.
9. I can cook but I cannot bake. I can probably count the number of things I've baked completely from scratch on two hands. I think it's the same reason I was good at biology but horrible at chemistry. I'm not good at exact sciences.
10. I have horrible bunions on both my feet. I know I need surgery, but I'm not, nor have I ever been, in a position to be off my feet for 4-6 weeks. I mean, who has time for that?!

TAG! You're it!

Sweet Fran over at The Jenkins Family tagged me in this fun post, so what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than telling you a little more about me? Especially now that there are actually a few "virtual strangers" that have started following my blog since the pregnancy. So thanks, Fran!

First Things First, The Rules:

• You must post the rules.
• Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
• Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.
• Tag eleven people and link them on your post
• Let them know you've tagged them!

Eleven Fun Facts About Me:

1. I was born with a dislocated hip and a dislocated elbow, so poor little baby Aubrey had to have a brace and a cast. To this day, I have a gigantic scar on my arm from the surgery that the elbow condition eventually resulted in, and if I'm sleepy or drunk my left foot turns in pigeon-footed from the hip thing. I'm going to demand that they check my baby girl for both of these when she's born.
   
2. I AM HAVING A BABY GIRL. In June. I don't know if I've ever been more excited about anything than being a mommy to a sweet baby girl.
3. My husband Ben & I are taking said baby girl to London next summer to go to the Olympics. We had already planned the trip with friends, and going to the Olympics is definitely on our bucket lists, so when we found out we were pregnant we decided that we'd try to make it work so as to not miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Hopefully it works out!
4. If I had been a boy, I would've been named Frank Edward Harris, Jr. YIKES! But my mom wanted to call me Teddy, I guess it could be worse. They had the same boy name picked out for my sister.
5. I had a lot of "best friends" at various points of my childhood, but I met my lifelong best friend (besides, of course, my husband. and then my sister) when I was 14. We became especially close when I got mono from sharing her Chapstick.
   
6. My favorite color has been pink since I was old enough to talk. I am the ultimate of girly girls, and baby will be too (at least until she's old enough to protest it, but I hope that never happens).
7. The one food I will not touch is sweet potatoes. My uncle made me eat them when I was four and I vomited all over the Thanksgiving table. Ben also cannot stand sweet potatoes - that's how I knew we were perfect for each other. The bad news? Baby is currently the size of a sweet potato. The good news? At least we know I won't eat her...
8. I can always always find something to buy in the Yankee Candle store. I love candles and am terrified of my house smelling bad / weird.
9. I'm a sympathetic vomiter. As is my best friend. This has made for some horribly painful hungover mornings for us.
10. I was proposed to in front of nearly 60,000 people. My husband is amazing.
11. I love falling asleep on the couch. I think our couches are so comfortable, even though I hate that they have couch covers on them (because they're from the Goodwill). I'm not sure if we'll ever find couches we love as much as these ... we've been looking, but so far, no dice.

Fran's Questions For Me

1. Favorite Blog you follow? Momastery - Glennon is amazing.
2. Favorite Pandora radio station? Wicked, I am a sucker for musicals.
3. Last thing you ate? A lamb gyro and some potato soup from this adorable little cafe in downtown Cary. It's like 3 minutes from our house and we just discovered it last weekend!
4. Last thing you bought? A really freaking cute outfit for the baby to wear while we're at the Olympics.
   
5. Favorite date spot? Any restaurant that's new to both of us. I love trying out new places and trying to find something delicious on the menu. It's always funny to me how adamant Ben is that we not order the same thing when we go out to dinner, even though normally our first choices are the same. Luckily he normally lets me order first.
6. Pets?  Do you have any?  If so, what are they? I firmly believe in adopting dogs and cats from the pound. Our sweet pup Lucy, who will be six on Valentine's Day, is a pound puppy that we rescued when she was about 6 weeks old. We named her Lucy because we had seen The Chronicles of Narnia that weekend. We think she's part pit bull and part border collie.
   
7. Favorite book you have read? Divine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood, I think. But I also love Summer Sisters, Fahrenheit 451, The Shack ... most books I've read in adulthood, I love, because if I don't love them after the first few pages I don't continue reading them.
8. Favorite kid friendly apps {if this applies} or favorite app in general? Not sure yet about kid friendly apps, but the apps I check most frequently are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and What To Expect When You're Expecting.
9. Who is your favorite actor / actress?  Why? I love Julia Roberts, she's so quirky and cute. I also really love Kristen Bell, but she reminds me of my husband's ex-girlfriend and that's slightly irritating, even though his ex is really sweet.
10. Favorite baby names? boy & girl? I would love to name a boy Benjamin Colt Eckerson, Jr and call him Colt. I'm not crazy about the idea of a "junior" but I think my husband's name is awesome. And for a girl, my favorite name will be forthcoming in an overly dramatic blog announcement ;) But second favorite is Eisleigh Grace.
11. Favorite Sunday afternoon activity? Falling asleep on the couch while watching football with Ben.

Who's Next?

• Yaeli at Mummy in Progress
• Page at It's Marvelous
• Ginna at My Pretty Pennies
• Megan at Wades of 108
• Mary at The Rook Family
• Megan at Los Dos Daubertos
• Kelsey at Ode to Fetaus Dirte
• Jessica at Who's That Girl...It's Jess
• Caroline at Clumsy Crafty Happy
• Brett at The Bakery
• Kara at Burrell's Plus One

My Questions For You

1. What's your favorite color?
2. What's your favorite thing about your husband / significant other?
3. Do you have / want children? How many?
4. What would you choose as your last meal?
5. What's your favorite bible verse, if you read the bible?
6. Where is one place you'd like to visit before you die?
7. Which room of your house is your favorite and why?
8. What's your favorite day of the week and why?
9. Which store can you never go in without buying something?
10. What is your favorite physical quality about yourself? Emotional quality?
11. If you could be any animal, what would you choose?

Craft Corner: Tressa's Wedding Gift

We spent our 4th anniversary in beautiful Savannah, GA and then headed up north to Hilton Head, SC for my dear friend Tressa's wedding. The whole thing was a blast, but unfortunately my camera was dead when we got there, so photos are limited. Luckily, Tressa hired an amazing photographer (also, our friend Abby's husband) and here's one of my favorite shots that he's posted so far:

More to come on the trip & the wedding, but I wanted to share this gift, as I'm very proud of it and I'm just certain Tressa will love it. She's a travel guru and when I found these prints on pinterest, I just had to do something with them.

So, 3 antique-y ribbon frames + 3 Michael's 40% off coupons later ... here's the result. Ignore the poor picture quality from my sad little iPhone 3G.

Our Trip to the West Coast

The Eckersons took our first trip out west to the great state of California! We were there Friday - Saturday, hit 3 major cities, and saw some very dear friends and family. It was a great trip and we came home EXHAUSTED Saturday night (our flight got in at midnight).

Chapter 1: San Francisco

We stayed with our dear friend Talya and were joined by another dear friend Hank from LA. Both used to work with us at McKinney and moved out to Cali in the past year. Both are terribly missed. The four of us have traveled together before, and had such a lovely time, that we knew this time would be a blast - and it was! We were greeted in SF by rainy cold weather, but Saturday morning brought warmer temperatures and even a little sunshine! We had a delicious lunch at Cha Cha Cha, joined by Ben's friend Roe, spent the afternoon walking through Haight-Ashbury, driving over the Golden Gate Bridge, shopping, drinking, visiting the Ghiradelli factory, enjoying our very first In 'n Out Burger, and drinking some more. 

 We took a twilight tour of Alcatraz, which was AWESOME, and only a little bit spooky, and then had more delicious food - this time dinner at Limon. We danced - and drank - the night away, and Sunday morning found us on the long road to LA. We wanted to take the PCH down, and got about as far as Big Sur before finding out it was closed, so we backtracked and found another route. Despite it being longer than expected, we had such a nice time visiting - just the four of us. You know those moments where it just feels like "home"? That was one of those moments for me, Hank & Ben "talking shop" and scheming in the front, me & Talya draped across each other in the backseat.

After a short stop-over in Santa Barbara (which is adorable!) for dinner at Los Agaves - thanks Yelp! - we finally made it to Hank's apartment in El Segundo around midnight.

Chapter 2: Los Angeles

Our first day in LA, we were lucky enough to have a tour guide in Ben's friend from the Outer Banks, Tyler Nilson. We had the most amazing tacos & gazpacho from a taco truck in Santa Monica, drove around on mopeds (against my will), hung out on the beach and had AMAZING beautiful weather. 

 The evening was spent briefly hanging out on the beach (until it got too cold, so pretty much immediately), and dinner at Father's Office for, I'm not exaggerating, the best burger of my life. Tuesday was spent being tourists - cruising Beverly Hills, shopping on Rodeo Drive, strolling through Hollywood, and - something not so touristy - going on an audition with Tyler! We had another yummy dinner at The Library near Ashley & Tyler's House and called it an early night (after learning a new game - Ninja! ask me to show you how to play ... after a few beers). Wednesday, Ben & I visited a great Farmer's Market in Santa Monica, shopped in some adorable boutiques, and had a farewell lunch with Alina & Hank before heading down to San Diego!

Chapter 3: San Diego

We arrived in San Diego just in time to have dinner in La Jolla with my mom's cousin Johnny, his wife Eve, and their two beautiful children, Ecco and Gray. Dinner was followed by playing on the beach - Ben had a great time with Gray, and vise versa - and visiting with "the grown-ups" after bedtime. Thursday we took on the San Diego Zoo! Something I've been looking forward to for so long. I saw so many animals I've never seen before, the zoo is beautiful, the staff are so friendly, the exhibits are amazing ... I couldn't have asked for more. We got FREE passes from Eve and my friend Jenny, so we "splurged" for the Skyfari ride and the bus tour. My favorite parts were the pandas, the koala, the pregnant and newborn giraffe, being 6 feet away from a male lion, and the POLAR BEAR! I finally got to see one. Highlight of my life. 

 After an exhausting, full day at the zoo, we decided to catch an impromptu Padres game with our friends Jenny & Greg - and they won! Friday Ben & I were left to our own devices, which included a delicious lunch reco from Jenny (Neighborhood, great beer selection! get the steak tacos) and seal-viewing at La Jolla Cove. We ran around for a bit in that area, then joined Jenny & Greg for dinner in Old Town - HOW CUTE! It's all very old-timey, Mexican-inspired buildings and street vendors and restaurants. Lots of fun. Then we headed to a dueling piano bar, Shout House, for a fun night out of singing ... and maybe a little dancing.

Saturday morning, we were awoken by a call that we were bumped to an earlier flight, so we rushed through our packing and goodbyes, grabbed one more In 'n Out Burger for good measure, and began a long day of traveling home.

Our bodies are still readjusting to East Coast time, I think, but it was such a wonderful trip and I'm SO glad we got to do it. Thanks to ALL our friends and family who put us up, out of the goodness of their heart.

James Taylor Said It Best

"Oh, Mexico

It sounds so sweet with the sun sinking low

Moon's so bright like to light up the night

Make everything all right"

Ben & I spent last week in Playa del Carmen, Mexico with two of our favorite couples: my sister Ashleigh and her boyfriend Scott, and our friends Lindsley & Tarik. After our Presidents' Day ski trip, we needed a warm vacation; "Spring Break 2011", as we called it (which Ben did not appreciate). We arrived at an all-inclusive resort on Sunday and didn't head back stateside until Thursday afternoon. Despite all our "white whines", there's really nothing to complain about - trust me, we tried. Drinking fruity drinks out of coconuts, getting our exercise in turquoise waters, laying on chaise lounges in the pool, getting massages on the beach ... it was pretty much the perfect relaxation vacation. The only times we had any idea what time it was were the mornings when we had to be at the most delicious breakfast buffet or our various dinner reservations each night. It was exactly the recharge I needed to make it through to our next day off (Memorial Day).

A few of my favorite pics from the trip:

 

The Whole Crew! We finally arrived at the Cancun Airport\

Walking onto the beach for the first time: White Sand, Blue Water ... Paradise

After taking a "Tequila Boom Boom" Shot

Me & Ben on the beach