Above Average??

The story is that apparently the National Endowment for the Arts estimates that the average adult has only read six of these books. Here are the markup guidelines:

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Star the ones you love
4) Reprint this list in your blog

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. The 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 Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
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 - AA 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 Meany - 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 Austen5
5 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 Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
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 - EB 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
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

I guess that isn't too bad. You will notice that I didn't italicize many because I really doubt I would read some of these books.

Well, not much else is going on. Still waiting but I couldn't help but thinking last night that in a number of weeks I may be blessed to see the face of my little one. Hopefully, we will start seeing some infant referrals soon. I can't wait to see that beautiful face. I feel like we are so close yet at the same time so far. I know that the waiting is far from over but a picture would help. Please say a prayer for my forum family members waiting on birth certificates for almost a month. They are going nuts and rightly so. So my hopes for the weekend/next week are this.

1) Birth Certificates and Travel dates come flying in to the agency
2) Referrals, Referrals, Referrals

3) The Brewers win! (and Cubs lose)

Have a great one!

Happy Anniversary!!

We made it. Nine years ago today was my wedding day. It was so far the greatest day of my life. The weather turned out to be perfect. In fact it was in the high 70's low 80's and given that it rained the night before and it was August in the Silicon Valley, I would say it was better than perfect. It could be have been in the 90's or worse. I had bride freak out moment #3 when we were taking pictures before the ceremony. My Mother had some of the flowers in her car including my bouquet and she was late. My Mother is never late but that day she was. I had to use my Maid of Honor's bouquet for some of the pictures until she arrived. I was a little upset but it passed quickly when I got to see Dave all dressed up. Everything was just perfect. The day went by so quickly that I don't remember all of it. Thank goodness we had amazing photographers and a friend taking video.

I know I was young when I got married, 23 to be exact but I wouldn't change it for the world. I truly had found the love of my life and when I was least expecting it. I remember my Aunt saying that that is why girls went to college to find a husband. That was definitely not why I went but I consider it a huge bonus. Dave and I have been through some crazy times together especially the last 5 years of trying to have a family but he has always stood by my side and been my rock. I couldn't have survived this last few years without him. We were there for each other when we hit rock bottom in the TTC (trying to conceive) arena and the failed domestic adoption arena. He was there to celebrate on my good days and hold me on my bad days.

As we wait for our little one, he has been patient with me most of the time :) He is the only one in my life who will forever understand what this journey to our baby has been like and I couldn't imagine taking this journey with anyone else.

Since today is Thursday song day, I will share with you Sara Evans, "I Could Not Ask for More". The reason I picked this song is because it seems so fitting for where we are right now in our life story. We have been truly blessed even through all the hard times and we are almost there. Almost to making our dreams come true, to being the family that we have always wanted. I know Dave will be an amazing father, I saw it and I can't wait to see it again. So this song, is meant to bring hope that one day every word of this song will be true and I know that all our dreams will come true when we hold our beautiful baby.

"I Could Not Ask For More"

Lying here with you
Listening to the rain
Smiling just to see the smile upon your face
These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive
These are the moments I'll remember all my life
I've found all I've waited for
And I could not ask for more

Looking in your eyes
Seeing all I need
Everything you are is everything in me
These are the moments
I know heaven must exist
These are the moments
I know all I need is this
I've found all I've waited for, yeah
And I could not ask for more

I could not ask for more than this time together
I could not ask for more than this time with you
And every prayer has been answered
Every dream I've had's come true
Yeah, right here in this moment
Is right where I'm meant to be
Here with you here with me
Yeah

These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive
These are the moments I'll remember all my life
I've found all I've waited for
And I could not ask for more

I could not ask for more than this time together
I could not ask for more than this time with you
And every prayer has been answered
Every dream I've had's come true
Yeah, right here in this moment
Is right where I'm meant to be
Oh, here with you here with me
No, I could not ask for more
Than this love you gave me
Cause it's all I've waited for
And I could not ask for more
No, yeah
No, I could not ask for more

Flashback...1998/99

Now in 1998, I was a college senior writing a thesis and getting excited about planning a wedding. We were not going to get married until after Dave graduated in 1999. We both wanted to be done with school, well undergrad anyway.

In January of 1998, I had to get up early and stand in line to book the Mission church for the date we wanted. They only book the church a year and half in advance so when they opened the books for 1999 I was there with my good friend, Kerry. She got married in January and we got married in August. We put down our deposit and cemented the date. August 7, 1999 at 3pm. Perfect.

Here are the highlights of the wedding planning.

1) I remember going wedding dress shopping with my Mom and my Grandma. I actually tried on the dress I fell in love with in a magazine. It was perfect. One store, one day, great deal and my dress was ordered.

2) Registering for gifts. This actually turned out to not be a good day. We went to Crate and Barrell and that was easy. Macy's though was tough. Part of the reason, is that poor Dave was stuck with me and my Mom looking at china patterns all the while he was turning red and flushing from some medicine he was taking. We had to come back and add things on another day.

3) Flowers: If you you haven't gotten married yet don't bother bringing your future hubby to pick out flowers that was pointless. He hated every second of it.

4) Cake tasting: Now this was definitely the highlight. Yum.

5) Colors: We had decided on royal blue as the main color for our wedding. We picked out invitations with that color ink, napkins for the reception, decorations on the cake, and lastly bridesmaids dresses. Well, or so we thought. I had three freakout moments as a bride and the first was the day I picked up the bridesmaids dresses. They were ordered in royal blue and they were purple. Crayola Crayon purple. I cried; I secreamed; I got VERY upset with the poor girl at Bay Area Bridal. I was stuck. They were "royal" blue but the color swatch they gave me and the color of the dresses was VERY different. There was nothing I could do. So calls were made to change flowers, napkins and decorations to purple.

Through all of it Dave was very supportive and usually just nodded his head and he actually likes the color purple so he helped me overcome my freakout moment.

I had an AMAZING bachelorette party thanks to my awesome friends and bridemaids. My BFF rented a limo so we could go out and be chauffered around downtown San Jose. We had dinner at Tied House and enjoyed some beverages. It was the night I smoked my last cigarette.

Dave's bachelor party was fun. They played pool and had a few drinks. All I know is that when he came back from his party, he smelled. I was waiting for him with my friend Kerry, whose husband was at the party too, and when they walked in the door we both were like "wow, you guys stink". It was hard to pinpoint if it was cigars, beer or what but it was nasty.

Now it is a few days before our wedding, we are moving into our apartment in a dorm since I was now a Resident Director and we were getting pretty excited. A bunch of his friends drove out from Wisconsin, some we knew about, some we didn't. Everything was planned and ready to go.

I was so ready to get married. I had found the man of my dreams and was ready to move forward and start my life as a real adult. My best friend was my Matron of Honor and my closest friends were bridemaids as was my new sister in law. My little cousin was my flower girl and my dad was going to walk me down the aisle.

So nine years ago today was the day before my wedding. It should have been a beautiful sunny day in California but alas it rained. Here was second bride freakout moment. I was so upset. We were gettting married at Mission Santa Clara and our photos were to be mostly taken outside. It couldn't rain in August in CA, right???

Well tomorrow is THE day. Stay tuned for bride freakout moment #3 and a special song for the most important person in my life.

Flashback...1997/98

Okay so the rest of 1996 and the first part of 1997 went by fairly quickly and were uneventful. We were both in college doing our thing and in the summers we both worked full time.

Come fall of 1997, I was entering my senior year of college and starting to think about what I would do after I graduated. As a child, my dream job was to be a Supreme Court Justice. I even read books about the Supreme Court. As a political science major it was assumed that I would either teach or go to law school. I didn't really want to be a teacher so it was law school. I bought the LSAT prep books and was one my way until I realized that I wasn't sure I wanted to be a lawyer, what if I hated it and spent $100k on law school for nothing? I opted to get my Master's in Education Administration specializing in Higher Education instead. I loved working with college students in residence life, orientation and admissions so it was a good fit.

So now that my career/education goals were in place, what about my personal goals? Dave and I had already talked about getting married after college. It was kind of a no brainer. We even picked out my engagement ring together that October. I didn't get it right away, Dave hid it from me. He said that I would get it when he was ready to ask me the big question. So I waited....I am not a patient person, I am much better now but then not so much. I tried to figure out when he might ask me but I had no idea.

First, I thought it would be Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving with my parents so I thought maybe then. Well, Thanksgiving came and went and nothing. Then I thought, well maybe Christmas??? But he was going home to WI for Christmas and I was staying in CA so maybe it would be at our Christmas break from school??? Well most of December had come and gone and I was due to fly to WI the day after Christmas to visit. I had only seen snow once before and didn't really own a warm enough coat or gloves so that was an adventure and I thought just maybe on this my first trip to WI, he would finally propose.

There wasn't a lot of snow on the ground that year but it sure was cold. This coming from the CA girl that freezes if it gets below 50 outside. I survived and got to meet some more of Dave's friends and spend time with his family. On New Year's Eve, we were having a little party at the lake house. Some of Dave's friends from high school were coming up and spending the night. Well, I was one of the only people over 21 so I had to stop at the liquor store in Lodi, WI and sign my life away to buy some beer. And I kid you not that the name of the liquor store was "Ted Kennedy's Liquor" I so wish had taken a picture of that.

Anyway so we were having a good time with our friends and were counting down the last seconds of 1997. Okay--here is the funny story. As we started to say Happy New Year, I found Dave down on both knees with my ring asking me to marry him. I cried and then laughed and then cried some more as it appeared he was begging me to marry him. Everyone else stopped mid thought and started to stare at us. It was a little weird since I didn't really know them all that well. Everyone was waiting to see what I would say. Obviously, I said yes. I loved this dorky, smart, funny man so why wouldn't I say yes.

I will never forget that moment. I waited until the next morning to call my parents and tell them. I couldn't wait to show them my ring when we got off the plane in a few days. And I couldn't wait to call my bestest friend and tell her either. I knew she would be thrilled and then we could start doing wedding stuff again (she was already married).

Stay tuned for wedding planning, bachlorette/bachelor party and the BIG DAY.

Flashback....1996

This week my blog is going to go back in time. My wedding anniversary is this week and since we are going low key this year I wanted to devote my blog this week to my relationship with my husband from beginning to current time.

We start in May of 1996 in sunny CA. I was a sophomore in college and Dave was a freshman. Yes, I dated a younger man. It was towards the end of the school year and a friend and I went to a party. While at this party, at a house affectionately named "Chicken House", another friend introduced me to Dave. We spent the rest of the night, laughing, enjoying a few beverages and running through the sprinklers. We were up really late that night, in fact it was close to 4am when we went back to the dorms.

For me it was one of the best nights of my life. Why? Well, because what started as an ordinary outing to your typical college party led to me finding my knight in shining armor. We clicked instantly, like we were meant to be together.

My parents met him a few weeks later since it was my birthday and they wanted to take me out to dinner. That was a tad awkward because I had never done that before. I mean, my parents knew my boyfriends in high school but I had never had dinner with me, my boyfriend and my parents before until then.

School ended in June and I took Dave to the airport and I cried. A LOT! I had already made plans to go to Wisconsin and visit but I felt like that was too far away. We were just starting to get to know each other and now we were not going to be living in the same place. We were going to talk on the phone almost every day and email back and forth. Oh did we run up the phone bill. It was a few hundred dollars on my end and I am sure just as much on his end. One day we talked for a couple of hours. While it was hard to be apart, we got to know each other really well through our conversations and emails. I still wish he could have been my date to my best friends wedding that summer but it wasn't meant to be.

In July, I flew out to meet Dave in Wisconsin and thus meet his parents. They were so welcoming and everyone was so nice. I had a great time the week that I was there but it went by very quickly and I had to head home. Yes, I cried A LOT then too.

It was during this trip that I knew. I knew that Dave and I were meant to be together. We just fit. I can't really explain it any better than that. I have had that feeling only 3 times in my life so far. Once was when I was deciding where to go to college and as soon as I walked on to the campus at Santa Clara University this feeling overcame me and I knew I belonged there. It happened again when I met Dave. And the third time it happened was when we decided to adopt from Ethiopia. It just all felt right each time. All of the pieces fell into place and I found peace in my soul.

Things only got better that year when in November, Dave's parents flew to CA for Thanksgiving. They were going to eat at a restaurant and my parents insisted that they come over to our house for dinner. So 6 months after we had been dating, our parents were meeting. This was a HUGE deal but it went off without a hitch. It just reaffirmed that this was 100% right.

This is merely the beginning, stay tuned for the next segment, which skips ahead to December of 1997 and a funny story.

Awesome video!

I saw this on another blog and had to steal it. Totally made me cry.

Same old same old

Thursday song day will return next week, I had no Internet at home yesterday and really shouldn't blog while at work but I have done it before. Shh...don't tell the boss.

Anyway, I was so happy to see the Referral word on the forum this week. It went to a friend of mine. YEAH!! I was so happy for her family. She had thought that they wouldn't hear anything this week and out of nowhere they get THE call. I can't even tell you how happy I am for them. I even got a sneak peak at his picture. Too cute for words!

I hope I have a picture to share with her soon. I haven't started bugging my specialist since I am sure we are months away still. I sure hope that with the start of August comes more referrals.

We try and hit one show a year at the Overture Center and we were looking at the schedule and the shows we most want to see are in February. For right now we aren't making any plans for February since we are hoping to either be home from Ethiopia with our baby or getting ready to go get our baby so we don't want to buy tickets for something we might not be able to go to. That in and of itself if exciting that we can't make future plans, that means we are getting closer.

Well another weekend is upon us and we are hoping to go to the New Glarus Brewery for a tour and tasting and maybe stop in Mt. Horeb at the Grumpy Troll for some lunch. Then we have to clean the house. No fun but really necessary.

Hopefully next week will be more exciting but for now not much new is going on. Have a great weekend!