This is Weekend Update...with Andrea Hardison

After a LOOOONG week, Matthew and I were so looking forward to the weekend. I had my second pharm test and a pharm assignment last week, and I'm so sure that I was just a joy to live with :) Weekend update later on in the post...


I know that I have been talking about Pharm so much, but I am also in other classes this semester! I am currently in OB (Obstetrics and Gynecology) this semester. It has been a very eye-opening experience. I got to see my first delivery two weeks ago and this past Friday I was in the neonatal ICU. Unbelievable how tiny some of those babies were. There was one who had been born at 22 weeks...incredible...she is now 14 days old. I could have held her in the palm of my hand. Another baby had to have open heart surgery in the middle of the NICU. Her ductus arteriosus did not close after she was delivered, causing her to have a murmur (it's a little more detailed than that but doesn't make the story anymore interesting!) The cardiothoracic team came up to the nursery to perform the surgery which is called a PDA ligation. The surgeon allowed me to look in and see her little heart...it was crazy. This baby was 27 weeks gestation and was 10 days old. There was a nurse-first-assist that helped the surgeon throughout the whole procedure, suturing, etc... Maybe a future calling for this OR loving student?!

Anyway... Friday night rolled around and I was exhausted! I decided to stay in for the majority of the evening and study while Matthew went to hang out with our good friend (his old roommate) Geoff. Later, Matthew came to pick me up and we all went to see Transformers II... Would not recommend it. The movie got out at 12:50...way to late for this girl!

Saturday we slept in, FINALLY! We made a quiche for lunch and then both studied for most of the day. We decided to cook dinner at home and tried out some new Food Network recipes. One being a pesto salmon on puff pastry...delicious. After dinner, we went to the Alabama Theatre to see Sound of Music! For those of you who know me, this is my favorite all time movie, and I was so excited to be able to see it on the big screen. I got chill bumps in the very first scene!

The Alabama Theatre is an old theatre built in 1927 by Paramount Studios to showcase Paramount movies in Alabama. Now they show movies on the weekends mainly, including the Mamma-Mia sing-along that J, K, M and I attended a couple of weeks ago! The theatre is absolutely beautiful. A one of a kind landmark. Matthew and I definitely agreed it's worth paying the extra buck or two to see movies there! At the beginning of every show they have an organist play, and at intermission he comes back and there is a sing-along....So fun!

Sunday morning we got up for church and community group (Sunday school). After Sunday school, our community group was headed to one of the couple's parent's lake house on Smith Lake. It was about an hour drive, so an easy trip for a day of fun in the sun! It was great to spend time with friends and relax a little before another crazy week ahead. Two tests this week!

We are Atlanta-bound this weekend for a mini-vacation with Matthew's family. Hooray for a Braves game! I'm also holding out for a trip to the aquarium..hint hint David :) An aquarium is a perfect solution for people like me who love animals..but hate the heat at a zoo! Happy 4th!

The Story of Us

So, I have been working on posting this video ALL DAY LONG (along with occasionally studying for my Pharmacology test tomorrow)! I still don't know if it will work, I keep staring anxiously at the bottom of the screen to see if is going to upload.

Anyway... This is the video from our rehearsal dinner. Matthew did such an excellent job and spent SO much time on it, I hated that people only got to see it once! And for his grandparents who have never seen it. It's about 20 minutes long...so I don't blame you if you don't watch the whole thing... ha. I just wanted to give credit where credit is due :)

You did such a great job Matthew! I know (as well as the rest of creation) that I could definitely not have done it! I'm so naive that I thought you just did slide shows in PowerPoint and somehow added music... this was NOT the case.




IT WORKED! If you could only see me now... I am dancing around our apartment!!! I take back what I said before.... Apparently I am a computer genius!!

P.S. There is one song that for some reason doesn't work at the end of Matthew's pictures.. No worries the sound comes back :)

The Little Things in Life

Since I'm in school and get WAY stressed, sometimesYouTube is exactly what the doctor ordered... either that or cleaning. You just need a good laugh sometimes lets face it. And clearly since I would rather blog than spend time studying for my Pharmacology test next week (that may steal my soul), I'd thought I would share some of my favorites with you... And since Matthew was clearly impressed that I knew how to embed a video. I said, "What the heck does embed mean?!" It's only because YouTube has instructions for people like me.... computer challenged. Hopefully you will get a laugh out of it... Enjoy:

This one is for Katie Foster Small (Bug) on her 24th Birthday today!! I love you! It only gets funny if you watch it a couple of times :)






I wish I had a zest for life like this guy...




And clearly this one since it's funny to laugh at news reporters... but never ones related to you with the initials JDH!




This one just gets you pumped up... Whose ready for a little college basketball?

Bigs and Little

This past weekend we had last minute Nashville visitors! Hooray! We will always welcome weekend guests and will do everything short of begging... or maybe not stop short of it :) My good friends Aimee Crick and Katherine Garman came to visit Matthew and me here in the 'Ham. Let me give you a little background:

Aimee and I pledged together back in the Fall of 2005 as seen below :)

Aimee is the one on the far left.. Next to her is my sophomore year roommate Emily Rickard (also a huge Kentucky fan), and of course my best friend from childhood Heather Mabry Clendenin...I know we look ridiculously young

Aimee and I also lived together in Royal Arms aka Lipscomb Campus Extended for two years together and I miss it! Aimee was also a bridesmaid in our wedding. KG or Katherine was my second little sister in Pi Delta. Aimee and I met her early on in Katherine's freshman year and did everything in our power to convince her to pledge Pi Delta...and it worked! Once we had reeled her in, Aimee at first decided she wanted to take Katherine as her little sister. I wasn't so sure I was going to be able to juggle all my responsibilities with pledging, not to mention school, to take a little... but I decided Katherine was worth it! So we shared her.

Katherine has known Matthew pretty much her entire life. Her family used to live in Lexington but they moved away when Katherine was 2. Fortunately, the Hardisons and the Garmans kept up with each other over the years. Let's just say that Katherine was the only pledge that received Kentucky memorabilia amongst all her Pi Delta stuff on Big Sis Night!

Katherine and me at Luau my senior year



Just the three of us... Four if you count Lexi (Laura I know you don't)

Anyway...Matthew and I were elated about having these weekend guests! They got to our apartment around 6 Friday night. We were all pretty hungry so we headed to Cocina Superior which is a trendy Mexican restaurant in Brookwood Village (near Samford). After dinner we headed back to our apartment and hung out there all night, playing games (Taboo!), watching TV, and eating yummy blackberry cobbler (that Geoff nor Katherine ate.... who doesn't like cobber!?) We went to bed at a decent hour ( Past 2 AM!...I haven't stayed up that late since I pulled all nighters for Anatomy exams... 4 years ago!)

Saturday morning, Matthew and I were up at 10:15 and agreed that we would let them sleep till 11:00 but no later :) Matthew and I had prepared a quiche ahead of time and decided to make pancakes as well for Saturday morning breakfast (which ended up being brunch). We coerced Katherine into eating some quiche even though she didn't want to, and I think she ended up liking it... picky people and their weird food habits?! After showering we decided to go see the 3D version of the new Disney/Pixar movie UP. My favorite part of the movie: the minute and a half preview for.... TOY STORY 3! Who else is pumped about this? But seriously, one of the greatest kids movies ever made (almost as good as Care Bears.. ha) Here's a little teaser for you!





However, the movie was fantastic! I encourage everyone to go see it! And I didn't even get motion sick with the 3D...it was a banner day for me! After the movie, we took Aimee and Katherine to NEWKS to eat. If you are an avid reader of this blog you know how much we love this restaurant. Unfortunately after dinner they had to hit the road to head back to the 'Ville. It was a great 24 hours! We loved having them as our first "no family" guest! Come Back SOON!

My Turn at 50

I have been promising my wife for weeks that I would take a stab at doing my own version of "50 things". So consider this "50 things 2.0" Or I may decide to one up my wife and do 51 :)


1. My favorite all-time favorite actors are: 1. Tom Hanks 1A: Bob Hope (Although I am torn between the two)

2. Sometimes I read recipe books just for fun

3. I was the king of 4 square in elementary school. God did not bless me with a lot of athletic ability, but what I did get unfortunately went to a meaningless sport

4. I took a final my senior year of high school on Hamlet based on my third grade knowledge of the play (And I made a B)

5. I have a deviated septum

6. The name of my car is Black Beauty (She is probably breaking down as I am composing this)

7. If I could have a dessert at every meal I would. My Favorites being: THE Coconut Pie, my wife's homemade blackberry cobbler, the Hardison fudge sauce with cake and ice cream

8. If I could provide for my family (wife, kids, dog, etc...) by cleaning fence rows, painting, and working on the farm with Grandaddy Wayne, that would be my chosen profession.

9. In third grade, Wade Hampton and I thought we were long lost brothers who had been separated by aliens.

10. There is no greater Christmas present than a new lego set.

11. I DVR record Jeopardy every day, and it is what Andrea and I watch most nights during dinner.

12. I think sometimes Andrea is convinced I love Lexi more than I love her. (Although it is most certainly not true :)

13. Sometimes as I child I would stay up all night and read a whole Hardy Boys book.

14. I was on a swim team as a kid for all of ten minutes, until I heard the coach say, "We're gonna do 40 laps for a warm-up." I immediately got out of the pool and went to the car.

15. I am a nerd in every definition of the word. I'm literally studying to be a scientist, I have all the Star Trek movies on DVD, and my day is not complete without finishing the crossword puzzle.

16. I'm determined that at least for one game, I will sit court-side in Rupp Arena.

17. I began saving up for Andrea's engagement about 4 months after we started dating.

18. I cannot fall asleep until I know that Andrea is asleep.

19. One of our favorite date nights is cooking a big elaborate meal at home.

20. I saw the movie That Thing You Do three times in the theaters... in one weekend.

21. My favorite not-homeish (i.e. Lexington, Nashville, Columbia) places to visit is Malibu, CA...assuming the Trevathans will be there.

22. My dog and I share the same hair clippers and Andrea says the same eye color

23. I don't notice eye color, it was months before I knew what color Andrea's were, only because she told me.

24. It's almost pathological how bad I am at returning correspondence (texts, phone calls, etc...) If you want to get in touch with me, call my wife (as Jonathan, Kristen, and Geoff have learned to do)

25. Easily more than 50% of my wardrobe is either blue or UK related much to Andrea's chagrin.

26. One of our (Andrea and me) dreams is to design and build our own house someday.

27. I'm a sucker for any musical, although my favorite is Pirates of Penzanz

28. The only house cleaning chore I enjoy is vaccuuming, and that's because I get to empty out the dust bin when I'm done

29. Unless I have a 3 hour window, it is impossible for me to take a nap

30. The summer Andrea and I met, I dressed up as a pirate to attend the midnight showing of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

31. We give Russ and Heather (Mabry) Clendenin 50% of the credit for getting us together.

32. My favorite board game is Monopoly. I could play it for hours.

33. Andrea hates to play Trivial Pursuit with me or Nerts. We don't play well together.

34. After studying for 25 hours for an Organic Chemistry test and not seeing a payoff, I went the remainder of the year without studying and kept my B.

35. I was All-State in high school... Chorus

36. I don't think I broke 100 pounds until 7th or 8th grade.

37. Up until I met my wife, I always wanted three boys, but now I want at least one girl.

38. Whenever I hear Billy Joel's River or Dreams, it makes me think of doing Saturday morning chores

39. I've been fortunate enough to know my best friends for most of my life.

40. And actually got to marry my bestest friend.

41. I like sweet potatoes more than I like mashed potatoes. As long as the sweet potatoes are mixed with lots of sugar and brown sugar.

42. My favorite vacation other than my honeymoon was the first cruise my family ever went on.

43. If Andrea and I ever had lots of extra money that I could do anything with, I would spend it a lot of it in the UK bookstore.

44. I made a deal with Andrea that if I go to med school we can have 4 kids (if she wants) instead of the already agreed upon 3.

45. If Andrea and I could go anywhere after I finish my degree, it would be California or Italy.... or Nashville (added by Andrea)

46. Jonathan and I had a pretend radio show called The Love Doctors

47. Benjamin and I played and beat Zelda on Super Nintendo too many times to count.

48. I invented a game called Western Town that I played with mom when I was a kid.

49. In high school, I practiced writing my D's so that they would look more like my dad's handwriting (Just cause I wanted to, not because I was trying to forge his signature)

50. Even at 25, I still don't think Matthew is a very adult name.

51. The one thing I remember about 6th grade Latin is how to say, "May I use the restroom?" Mihi Liki ambulate ad latrinum

The Lexi Diaries

My name is Andrea and I have a problem. A BIG one. My husband and I are officially way too obsessed with our dog. It's embarrassing really. We're that couple that you hate that talks about their kid all the time. Except were not talking about little Suzie's last piano recital, we talk about how our dog has ups like Michael Jordan. I mean seriously? Someone needs to tell this dog that she isn't a person....and it's not going to be me! I see her staring into the mirror for minutes at a time, and I know she is just thinking, "I know that CANNOT be my reflection" because I don't look anything like my parents.

Not only does this "child" have about a million nicknames, she seriously has the face of an angel. I'm not exaggerating. Matthew and I have found that a lot of our conversations center around the little fluff ball. We will be driving in the car and I will look over a at Matthew and ask, "What do you think Lexi is doing?". Where did our lives go?! Of course we know what she is doing, she is asleep in the same place she was before we left!

We fear leaving the house now so that she doesn't have to be alone. We MUST snap out of this or are early 20's are going to pass us by! Or mid 20's in Matthews case :) What will happen to us when we have a human child! It will only get worse!

Until then, our little family of three is just perfect

Lexi loves to sleep with her mama




And she definitely loves her Uncle Geoff!

Happy Wednesday to all!

Lextown Visitors

The weekend finally arrived for Matthew's parents to come visit us in Birmingham! We had prepared for their visit all week. After multiple grocery store trips and a good deep clean of the apartment we were ready for their arrival Friday evening. They rolled into town around six fifteen. Jonathan was working, but he came and met us for dinner at one of our favorite Birmingham eateries, NEWKS! We LOVE Newks. If you come and visit us, we will most likely take you there, plus a million other places. Hands down, I think Bham has better places to eat than Nashville (Who would've thought!?)



Friday night we enjoyed a late night tour of the Fox news station with our very own expert. That's right....I have a famous brother-in-law :) Here he is....



J gave us an insider's tour about the ins and outs of newscasting. It was WAY too involved for me. By the way...if you are ever in public with Jonathan he loves it if you walk up to him and ask him if he's "Jonathan Hardison from FOX 6 news?!" I promise it doesn't embarrass him AT ALL :)


Saturday we went to lunch at one of our favorite downtown spots, AL's. It is Mediterranean AND American food...and it's awesome. Matthew and I love it, and it's conveniently right beside the nursing building :) I got my normal cheeseburger and Matthew got some weird gyro plate, that was goat meat and gross. I don't think he will get that again. After lunch we went to the McWane Science Center to see Night at the Museum II on the IMAX. Movie was funny, a worthy sequel in my opinion. Regardless of the fact that we all needed to take large doses of Ibuprofen afterwards to get rid of the terrible neck pain! Who would've thought you would have to look up the whole time at an IMAX?

Dinner was at our place. Matthew and I made chicken enchiladas, various sides, and my mom's awesome chocolate pecan pie and chess squares for dessert. After dinner, everyone graciously headed over to J and K's apartment so I could get some much needed studying done. Unfortunately, I think I made it about an hour in before I dosed off, and Matthew found me an hour and a half later asleep with my notes in my hand...woops :)

Sunday we went to church at J and K's church Shades Mountain Baptist. And I definitely got to meet Rick of Rick and Bubba and definitely got to shake his hand in the meet and greet :) For those of you who don't know, Rick and Bubba are radio show hosts in Birmingham and are local celebrities here. I listen to them most mornings on the way to school, though I will confess that it does not fill the Gerry House shaped hole in my heart...miss you Gerry!

We went to Olive Garden for lunch to celebrate a belated Mother's Day for Sandra, and it was of course super yummy. We then headed to Edgewood Elementary (where Kristen is a first grade teacher) to take a clicker quiz about J and K. The clicker works so that the kids can answer questions on their own remote and the statistics show up on the board for the whole class to see. It's really neat! Anyway, we took a quiz on Jonathan and Kristen, and I think you can guess on who came in last! No, it wasn't Benj, it was me! I claim that it's because I have been around the least amount of time :) Although I would probably think that K would win if Matthew and I did a quiz...all those late nights talking :)

Saturday night we had dinner at J and K's and it was absolutely delicious! Parmesan chicken, mac and cheese, mandarin orange salad, etc.... highlight of the meal was definitely the strawberry pie, incredible! We enjoyed several board games after dinner, including Jonathan's favorite Family Feud. Who doesn't love a little John O. Hurley!




Overall the weekend was a lot of fun, we love entertaining! Hint hint...anyone who reads this blog and has not come to visit...your turn is now!