{ Books }

I love books!  I am always reading something. It is wonderful to snuggle up in my bed on a lazy morning or afternoon, and watch the snow fall outside while I dive into a wonderful new piece of literature. I found this list on a dear friends blog and decided to do what she asked. I think I'm going to use whatever overlaps from this list and the LOST reading list to populate Anna's 2011reading list. The library in Maryland won't know what hit 'em :  

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Have you read more than 6 of these books?  Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma -Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

{ What's your guess? }

The miniature human is coming any day now! I can't believe the countdown is under the twenty day mark. Nine months goes remarkably fast. Who knew?  In order to celebrate all of this holiday baby cheer we're going to play a little game.  You may even win a prize if I can remember to send it to you amidst all of the cuddling, diaper changing, and feeding in our near future.  Here's what you need to do. Post a comment, by FRIDAY 12/17 at 12pm and give us your guess on these three items (this is how we keep our baby-impatient selves occupied, amidst other things, these days):

1. What day the baby will come
2. What time the baby will come
3. How much the baby will weigh

We are so excited! Happy guessing!

Whoa there!

You know when there is so much pending but nothing coming through? You're trying to plan but you just can't because there's nothing concrete on your life laundry list. Then all of a sudden it's like a massive blizzard hits and after the white-out, suddenly, everything is in line and you are off to the races...

Well we are officially coming out the other end of the storm.  We've been trying to sell our housing contract, get Rob a job, figure out moving, have a baby, decide when and how to fit in visits to family once we have the baby, and Christmas to top it off.  Most of those relied on the unknowns of employment and a baby arrival date. 

Lo and behold, this past week everything fell into place. Rob got offered a job and we are moving to Maryland the last week of January, our housing contract sold two days after the job offer, moving is all worked out thanks to the company, and the doctor said this baby is ready to come any time!  We are blessed in every way imaginable. It's a wonder what a little faith and time can bring your way.

Oh and P.S. I have never even visited the east coast before (Florida doesn't count). This should be an adventure.

{ Another great workout idea!}

Saved by the Kettle Bell

I found this in my monthly Gold's Gym email and would love to try it as soon as this lovely little baby is out of my womb.

{ LOST }

Goodbye Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, Sun, Jin, Hurley and so many of my other lovely friends from the last few months.  It has been a wonderful, heart wrenching, adventure from start to finish.  I loved every minute of it and wish it had never ended. I do not want to be "free" of our 2 or 3 episodes a night. In order to keep the magic in our lives forever, Rob has decided he would like to name his first born son Desmond James. I agreed, especially if we can take an island vacation to celebrate.

On a more mind stimulating note...there are a couple of LOST reading lists which I am going to start working my way through. Anyone care to join me?

{ Mike Tompkins }

So my office mate came in late today because of the Today Show. The Today Show? Really? Believe it! You would have been late too had you seen them interviewing Mike Tompkins It blew my mind. Check this guy out and then please go check out his website. I have a major, star struck, crush. Oh and P.S. one day you will all be getting a Rob and Anna Christmas card DVD just like this.

{ Nursery }

My friend Tara made a little planning sheet like this for her nursery and I was inspired to make my own. Since I have no idea where this nursery will be located we'll see if this plan ever comes to fruition. I love the polka dot theme with all the light wood and white furniture. We have acquired a white dresser which will be just perfect. I also thought paisley birds and paisley fishes would add a little bit of ornate detail and a touch of femininity in my very gender neutral room. Also felt curtains add some whimsical texture (I've already started making these even though I have nowhere to hang them yet). Finally thanks to all the light colored furniture I can use lots of different and bright colors as highlights instead of being stuck to just a few colors. It seems thus far I have meandered towards blue and green with highlights of orange and pink. Please tell me any other ideas this plan inspires for you!

Good news about CHOCOLATE

I found this quote in an article about how to have a happier healthier baby...


Frequent chocolate consumption during pregnancy has been tied to a happier, less fussy baby. Pregnant women who eat five or more servings of chocolate each week have a 40 percent lower risk of developing preeclampsia, a high blood pressure condition [that can endanger the lives of both mother and child]. If you're dying to treat yourself when pregnant, I would suggest some chocolate.

http://health.yahoo.net/articles/pregnancy/how-have-happier-healthier-smarter-baby 

Good thing I follow this advice without even trying.

HALLOWEEN RECAP

KLAS Halloween Party 2010--Bowling Pin and Bowling Ball

Here is our awesome couple costume. Thanks Peanut for being a bowling ball. Not even out of the womb and we're already dressing you up. Also who knew it would be so hard to make Rob into a bowling pin. Quite a feat of engineering.

ONLY 17 MORE DAYS

Look what I made!

I love Halloween in every way imaginable. It is so fun to decorate for, and costumes are probably one of my favorite inventions of all time. I love to get dressed up. I just wish the Mr. got into it as much as I do. Oh well, he allows me to move forward with my plans (unless they involve tights) so I guess I can't ask for much else.

Anyways, I made up these cute window decorations out of spray-painted tin cans and other recycled kitchen containers of all shapes and sizes. We drilled holes and used a metal cutter in the wood shop to get these to work. Then I brought them to life with little tea candles. They span my whole window sill under the cob webs I hung up. Next project...Spiders! Let me know what you think.

Also this is a double dose of "Look what I made". I have a wonderful friend who got married this weekend and let me make a small wedding cake as a gift for the occasion.  I thought it turned out very nice, especially since Rob held it in his lap for the 2 1/2 hour drive and we almost had an accident 20 minutes before the drop off point. Yay hubby! I just love the sugar sprinkles on the top. Glitter always gives things a little bit of a boost.

Friday Morning Motivation!

...Well any morning deserves motivation. The word morning just implies that you'll need a bit of a pick me up. Watch this video and remember that today is a new day and you CAN do it!

Message in a Bottle

Today I read an article about a kid who had thrown a message in a bottle into the ocean, off the Atlantic Coast in Florida.  It was found 16 months later by another kid on the coast of Ireland.  The article relates three other delightfully, magical accounts of true-story-message-in-a-bottle-encounters.  Isn't that just dreamy?  I want to try this. Maybe I will start small and send a message into Utah lake this weekend. And the next time I'm out in the deep blue sea I'll try my luck at the real deal. Who knows what kind of wonderful/fateful encounter I could have?!

What should my message say?

Belly

I know I haven't put one of these up yet so I guess it's about time, seeing that I'm about 12 quick weeks away from the end of this adventure. I think I got lucky and have a nice cute round belly and I haven't gained to much weight anywhere else. I'm pleased as punch. Oh, and Rob told me to quit pushing out my tummy while he was taking this photo, to which I retorted, "I am not pushing out at all. That's all the straighter I can make my back these days." Ha ha. Go figure.

I'm growing hoofs!

Are these the best, ugliest shoes you have ever seen, or what?!!  I'm thinking these could lead to monumental Halloween success and would potentially sky rocket the giver to legend status in the realm of white-elephant-gift exchanges. I've got to find out where to purchase them.

I'm Pro Marriage!

If you know me well you know that I am independent, in every Beyonce/Destiny's Child worthy way. You also may know that I enjoyed my single life very very much. But if you know me, you also would know that I love being married and that really, as many things as I think I can do by myself, I can sure do a whole lot more with Rob by my side. So here is the reason I am posting this. I spend a good 15 minutes every morning reading addictive celebrity gossip from my yahoo messenger pop-up. Lo and behold, this article showed up the other day and I felt...well...edified. I enjoy celebrity news as much as the next person (hence the People magazine sitting on my desk at this very moment) but I wanted to stand up and cheer for this author. So take a second, read the article and do some of your own cheer leading for good quality marriages!

Three Cheers for Marriage

Friday Afternoon Thoughts

Posts without pictures are lame. So I found this stunning picture from a year ago and decided to write about it. This is a post about some things I wish I could do right now if I didn't have a belly with a baby growing inside of it...which there will be a picture of eventually.  Here is my list:

1. Long bike rides...I can ride for a bit, but this summer has been void of 3 hr Saturday morning jaunts which makes me very sad.
2. Eat Sushi...Raw fish + growing fetus = BAD, or so the doctor says.
3. Eat Ice Cream...So this is only relevant to me and not all pregnant women. I happen to have developed a bit of a lactose intolerance during this process. Only 3 1/2 more months till Cold Stone won't know what hit 'em.
4. Sleep on my Back...whoever made up this sleeping on your left side rule is just plain cruel. I know it probably won't kill me or the child if I do sleep on my back but I am so paranoid about it that I can't fall asleep unless I'm on my side.
5. Read books on my stomach...I am reading Atlas Shrugged at the moment which takes a fair amount of time and concentration and I can't do it all slouched in an armchair. I have been contemplating cutting a hole in a pool chair for my belly. Thoughts? 
6. Run without almost wetting myself...This really needs no explanation. A couple extra pounds bouncing on your bladder at all times just has certain implications.
7. Ride the Zipper at the State Fair...This is a once yearly pleasure that will be sorely missed, by all of me except my pocket book. Really, $5 to ride a single ride??

Here is a second list. A list of things I don't miss:

1. Buttoning my pants...Please people, I'm going to wear this belly band forever! It's just better this way.
2. Watching my weight...This baby thing takes like a million calories and since my lower abdomen has been my trouble spot for ages it's now not an issue...and I look darn cute in my new swimming suit if I do say so myself.
3. PMSing...enough said.

Please tell me your lists. I'd love to commiserate and celebrate with all of you. Cheers!

What are you going to do now?

I'm going to Disneyland!...Rob is now one semester away from being "Master" Rob (he says the baby can call him this instead of Dad, if she so wishes). He decided to walk with the summer civil engineering graduates since we won't be here for next April's commencement exercises. We enjoyed a fun filled weekend with the in-laws and then decided that the obvious way to celebrate anything is to go to Disney. So that's exactly what we did. This past weekend we drove to meet my family down in Anaheim for a little magic at California Adventure. You can have fun being pregnant at any Disney park. Thank goodness! 

 

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

 
...that is what little girls are made of.

So guess what? The wait is over. Little baby Paulsen is going to be a girl.  Now it's time to play the name game. Go figure, we had more great boys names ready than girls names, but ooo, just think of all the fun things you can make for a little girl.

On another note, I realized after the ultrasound that during the appointment I was very nervous. The anxiety of wondering if it was going to be a healthy baby first showed up as indifference before the appointment and is manifesting itself in a bout of bad temper now that the anticipation is over. This along with the slough of this weeks activities, have made me quite tired and irritable.

Sorry Rob...better luck next week.

Puppy

Well my outlook is down at the moment so I thought I would take the chance to post a couple pictures.  I am sorry to say that, no, this is not our puppy, but it is good practice. We are house sitting for my aunt and uncle this week, and with the house came these two adorable dogs.  I have never, ever, in my life, had a dog so this has been fun. Should we get a puppy once Rob graduates? Those cute little faces are sure swinging my vote to YES!

Jeep Makes Strollers?!

So I'm roaming around Babies R' Us this weekend, marveling at how much money they make you think you need to spend to have a happy healthy child, and lo and behold I walk down the stroller aisle and there it is...The Jeep Overland stroller.  Now, this is one item I am completely sold on, but the part that had me rolling on the floor, in fits of laughter, was this:

"For Parents and Babies Who Want Music on the Move®, the New iBaby™ Sound System Connects to iPods and MP3 Players for Everyone's Listening Pleasure."

The stroller had freaking speakers!!! So as I'm jamming out to Pitbull, Enrique and Katie Perry, I can share that experience with my infant...AND THE REST OF THE BLOCK! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Winston Churchill

I, like my father, am enamored by Winston Churchill. During a bit of morning study I came accross this Churchill quote in a talk I was reading:

“To every man there comes … that special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to him and fitted to his talent. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour.”

I have been pondering this statement ever since. It has caused an ample amount of self reflection; something I feel that goes missing far too often in the midst of a busy life, and plans for the future, of which I am deeply immersed. Am I prepared and qualified? Am I continuously preparing? Winston's statement is a brilliant call for action then (WWII) and now. Are you ready if you were tapped on the shoulder today??

I am continually amazed at not only Churcill's superior command of the English language but his extraordinarily superior ability to communicate.  He is motivating, witty, courageous and confident. Here are a few more quotables you may enjoy. Oh, and isn't eh portrait incredible?! That's a whole art lesson and blog post in itself...

"What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone? How else can we put ourselves in harmonious relation with the great verities and consolations of the infinite and the eternal? And I avow my faith that we are marching towards better days. Humanity will not be cast down. We are going on swinging bravely forward along the grand high road and already behind the distant mountains is the promise of the sun."

                                                                                        -Speech in Dundee, Scotland (1908-10-10)

"I hate nobody except Hitler — and that is professional."
                         -Churchill to John Colville during WWII, quoted by Colville in his book The Churchillians (1981)

"Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all."


"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."

And one of my personal favorites:

"I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly."

Joshua

This is my beloved brother...Elder Hawkins.

(He's the tall one, in case you didn't notice)

He is returning home to us from Cambodia, after his two year mission, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, this Saturday July 17th, 2010!

I am so excited to see him again! So much so, that I wanted to share him with all of you.

Let Freedom Ring!

Oh how I love the fourth of July! A warm summer day filled with freedom, BBQ and fireworks. What more could we ask for? Well Provo, UT sure knows how to throw a party, let me tell you. We started off the weekend with a 5:45am wake-up call to go watch the annual hot air balloon festival. It was so neat and there were hundreds of people. If you ever are in P-town, Independence Day weekend, you should definitely check it out.

Then we headed off to watch some excellent fire works after the Stadium of Fire.

Then for the real fourth we had a an awesome BBQ where we played the cheap man's version of being the host. We asked all participants to bring their own meat and a side dish to share potluck style. We provided the water for drinks, $4 worth of sparklers, and our apartment complex provided the grill. It worked out brilliantly. I made this delicious fruit pizza flag and was so happy with it that, yes, I took a picture of my food as one of the highlights of the evening.

Babymoon

ba.by.moon

-noun

1. Pre-baby vacation for expecting parents

You guessed it...I'M PREGNANT!  January 3rd, 2011 is the scientifically proclaimed "big day". Prayers for a December 31st (or earlier) arrival will be much appreciated for tax purposes. It will be the first grand-child on both sides and I forsee a bit of spoiling in Peanut's future. 

As for the babymoon, the proud parents-to-be decided to take a relaxing cruise to Mexico before we remove a solid night's sleep and extra spending money from our list of expectations for the future.

Story of my Life

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Ok, so let's be honest, I don't really like watching baseball, especially not on TV. I used to work on a baseball field, but I just don't love it.  Here's the thing, I do love the movie The Sandlot, and I do love the sounds of baseball. The crack of the bat on a great hit and the organ playing all of the classic tunes...and there are always really great hot dogs and french fries at games, so count me in. Anyways, we are on this topic because a coworker of mine enlightened me yesterday with the fact that there are more verses to Take me out the Ball Game. It is not just a chorus.  Who knew?! Take a look:

1908 Version

Katie Casey was baseball mad,

Had the fever and had it bad.

Just to root for the home town crew,

Ev'ry sou1

Katie blew.

On a Saturday her young beau

Called to see if she'd like to go

To see a show, but Miss Kate said "No,

I'll tell you what you can do:"

[Chorus] Take me out to the ball game,

Take me out with the crowd;

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,

I don't care if I never get back.

Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win, it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game.


Katie Casey saw all the games,
Knew the players by their first names.
Told the umpire he was wrong,
All along,
Good and strong.

When the score was just two to two,

Katie Casey knew what to do,

Just to cheer up the boys she knew,

She made the gang sing this song:

[repeat Chorus]

On Belay...Belay On...Climbing!

"I find that rock climbing is the finest, most healthiest sport in the whole world. It is much healthier than most; look at baseball, where 10 000 sit on their butts to watch a handful of players" 

-John Salathé, 1974- 

 

Man are we lucky?! We live near some really fun, friendly, and talented people. For Monday family night we joined a couple in our apartment complex for some outdoor climbing.  The weather was perfect, the company was perfect and we rocked the socks off each climb (I, just a little more slowly than the others). It's so much nicer to climb outside rather than in the gym. Fresh air, more hand holds and the adventure of forging your own way up the side of the mountain. I'll take orange rock over purple/pink/neon-green route tape any day.

Monday Morning Anecdote

"Work is an antidote for anxiety, and ointment for sorrow, and a doorway to possibility. Whatever our circumstances in life, my dear brethren, let us do the best we can and cultivate a reputation for excellence in all that we do. Let us set our minds and bodies to the glorious opportunity for work that each new day presents."

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Two Principles for Any Economy," Ensign, Nov. 2009, 56

I read this great quote first thing this morning and thought it was a perfect way to start the work week. There is my goal for the week...further cultivate my repuation for excellence.  I think the statement above is so very true.  I know the joy that comes from work and striving to be the best you can be. I can think of no better sleep then sleep I get after a hard days work; I can think of no better friends than the ones I have toiled with, and I can think of no better feeling than to say, "I gave everything I have. There is no more.".

Summer Has Begun

It was 80 degrees yesterday.  Hot weather equals bliss and the beginning of the most wonderful time of the year...SUMMER.  If you can't tell already, I love this season more than any other season. I love shorts and being tan. I love swimming outside and not having to run on the treadmill.  I'm also pretty sure that people are friendlier between the temperatures of 75 and 85 degrees.  Not sure how that works but it's true.  

The start of Summer also means the start of outdoor exploring season.  We got our adventures off to an early start this year with a trip to California.  D and Tara road tripped with us and we met my parents there as well. Then we made our way to St. George to visit Rob's Grandparents and Zion National Park.  I now pray everyday that I can be as spry and athletic as these two 80 year young wonders. Our retired years will be all the more golden if I can hike as fast and as far as Grandpa, and recover half as well as Grandma, who just had a hip replacement 5 months ago... 

DISNEYLAND

We ate a HUGE lunch at the Blue Bayou...the recipe for the Monte Cristo sandwich will be on my food blog soon!

SAN DIEGO

Following the trip to Disney we headed down to San Diego and checked out the shoreline. I can never get enough of the ocean.  I may grow some gills here shortly.

ZION NATIONAL PARK

Get me some climbing gear...stat!

G-pa and G-ma also known as The Incredibles!

Yes, I am pretty sure I am trying to fly up the water fall.