Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is my dad's birthday. I will be nice and not divulge his age, but only give you these clues: he was a child of the 1960's, a teenager of the "glorious 70's", and he was born in 1957...woops, sorry Dad.

I firmly believe that I have the best dad in the entire world. I mean could anyone else's dad make a game out of how long a box of toothpaste from Costco would last? I think not... not to mention that my dad's white chili makes other people's homemade chili taste like it came straight from the can. No offense, my dad's is just that good.

But in all seriousness.

Daddy, I am so blessed to be your daughter. You have been my hero since day 1. You taught me how to live a life pleasing to God through your example, you taught me how important it is to work hard/ complain less, you taught me to own up to my mistakes and not make excuses, and you taught me to think for myself and be my own person.

There's something about dad's and daughters that's special. It must make it worth it, because we sure do cost a lot. But Dad, let's be honest, you kind of had it easy. Neither Ashley and I were girly girls, we had more sports equipment that dolls, we hated dressing up, and to this day I would rather listen to someone scratch their nails against a chalkboard than go shopping.

I think it's no coincidence that I married a man who reminds me of you in almost every way. I love you Dad! Happy Birthday.

p.s. No, I am not sucking up...I do not need money :)

We have been pretty big buds since birth... my birth that is.

Weekend Reunion

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them"

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I was able to get away this past weekend to spend a night hanging out with my best friends from high/middle school. I have the greatest friends in the entire world... in fact, my friends are better than yours, there I said it... and it's true :)

Like good ole' Ralph, the best part about having life long friends is that they know everything about you, they know all your weird quirks, they know how dramatic and crazy you were in high school, and they know every boy you have ever had a crush on (and make fun of you for it). But the best part is that even at 23, it's still refreshing to be around people who accept you for who you are.

God has blessed me with pretty amazing friends, from high school, college and now nursing school. I am forever grateful to Him for putting these girls into my life.

Yes, Heather really did take that much luggage for one night.

And here is sneak peak on Lexi's attire for Halloween, a banana! Isn't she just the cutest peel you have ever seen?

Rain Rain Go Away...Come Again... NEVER!

If I have to see another cloudy Birmingham skyline, I may never wake another day. Rain... seriously, take the hint and go AWAY! My husband and I absolutely sick of it, not only does it make you feel gloomy, it makes Bham traffic go from bad to I might have a conniption on my way home worse.

Not only is it always rainy, it's only ever sunny when Matthew and I decide to leave Rainy City 2.0 for the weekend. I mean really? We might as well live in Seattle, which would be way cooler(i.e. The Space Needle, being near a coast, it's where Frasier Crane calls home) like I said... a lot cooler.

Why can't I have a Saturday that's sunny and chilly? Instead it's misty and about as miserable as living inside a cigar humidor. Not ideal corn hole weather. I just want to wear my North Face fleece and feel comfy, I want to cook white chili and it be worth it, I want to never see my umbrella again, and I want to be able to take my dog to the park without having to hose off all the nasty mud when we get home. I mean if it's going to be wet...can't it at least be snow?

Is there a solution to this problem? I'm guessing either pray that the local weatherman might actually be wrong about the rain for once, or get out of this town! I'm voting for the latter.

I hear it doesn't rain a lot in southern Cali...

Lexington, Joe B's, and Bobby Flay

Blogger decided to go all crazy on me yesterday... I tried posting this on Sunday, but Monday came around and the blog was unrecognizable and you couldn't read the post or see the pics. Again, I am pretty illiterate when it comes to computers.. my only solution was to delete and start over. So.. here is the post again.

This past weekend, Team Hardison, including our furry third, headed up to Lexington to visit the Hardison ‘rents. We had originally hoped to get tickets to the Alabama-Kentucky game, but after the Florida debacle the week before… I’m slightly ashamed to wear blue in public, unless it’s a t-shirt with a head shot of John Calipari (sorry Mom).

Regardless, we were pretty pumped about going to Lexington for an extended period of time, something we hadn’t done since last Spring. We left after clinical/work on Thursday, stopped at Baja Burrito on the way up (that and SatCo are the things my tummy still craves after a year), and got to Lexington around midnight. Friday, Matthew and I had the whole day to peruse around Lexington. We hit up one of our favorite restaurants, Cheddars, and enjoyed lunch despite the horrendous service. Afterwards, we went to see the new Ricky Gervais comedy, The Invention of Lying. If you like Steve Carrell/ Office humor, you will like this flick, although I thought it was a little slow at times.

Sandra always makes us welcome home signs when we get to Lex...this time she made one for Lexi!

They are big buds

Friday night we headed down to Joe Bolognas (the BEST pizza place EVER), and then headed over to Memorial Coliseum to check out the thousands of people camped out in line to get Big Blue Madness tickets.Unbelievable. Some of these people had been there since Wednesday! I wish we had stuck around because we heard the next day that Calipari showed up with his son to camp out with all the fans!

Pumped about my bday present...a pillow from PBarn I really wanted!

David’s birthday is next weekend, so Matthew and I planned to make a homemade german chocolate cake and take it up to Lexington. Little did we know that this little project would turn out to be a 4 hour endeavor Wed night! Let me interject here to inform everyone that this was a Bobby Flay recipe…but more on Bobby later. Despite the time commitment and someone’s mistake of adding whole milk instead of buttermilk (it was either Matthew or Lexi), the cake turned out looking and tasting fabulous! We were super impressed with ourselves, and now I even more want to open up my own bakery… baking is always a good reason not to study! So after a very healthy meal of Joe B’s pizza, we cut into that baby and it was awesome.

I made the cake, Matthew made the homemade caramel with coconut and roasted pecans...and then the homemade ganache on top!

After 4 hours... finally done!

I think he liked it.

But…. Everyone get ready, because here comes the best part of the weekend. Saturday, D and S had gotten us tickets to the Lexington Food Show…with special guest BOBBY FLAY! Now, everyone knows that Matthew and I adore this man. He is the butter to our bread, the cheese to my macaroni, etc… We watch every show he is in on Food Network (Throwdown and Iron Chef are our favorites), and always bake/cook his recipes. We had been looking forward to this for months. As soon as he stepped out onto the stage, we were mesmerized. How can a guy be so funny, nice, and a good cook… all at the same time?! My excitement however took a turn when he asked a lady (who was not me) up on stage to help him cook. I was so jealous. In my head, I kept thinking how much more clever and funny I could be on stage with Bobby than this woman! It did not damper my mood for long, because the show was fantastic, and it only deepened our admiration for Bobby. Matthew promised to take me to one of his restaurants for an anniversary…someday.

So excited!

Bobby working his magic!

Then the Cats lost… No need to dwell on this, basketball season is on its way.

We headed home early this morning because Matthew has a stats test on Tuesday. We’re glad to be home, but sad we’re not in Lex anymore. Always so fun to visit and get away from the “real” world for a while! Thanks D and S for a great weekend!

Please watch this video below. Had it not been for Bobby Flay, this would have been the highlight of my weekend. Also, please note that Lexi is ok... Watch it more than once, it only gets funnier.