Meet my husband...

Researcher, grad student, Kentucky fan, Jeopardy nerd, and most recently, cooking extraordinaire! My husband is a FANtastic cook, which is a newly developed hobby for him. Back when Matthew was living the bachelor life, he was a buy a Stouffor's lasagna and eat off of it for a week kind of guy. Whoever that man was, he no longer exists... because I now live with my very own personal Bobby Flay! Without the New York accent. We started cooking together a lot a couple of months after we got married. During the first couple of months, the cooking fell on this girl, rightfully so, since I was basically jobless and schooless (bored).

Since then, M's love for cooking has exponentially grown. He loves to experiment in the kitchen, with my personal fav ventures so far being... homemade Mexican salsa, tres leches cupcakes, chicken Parmesan, chicken cordon blue, homemade ice cream, homemade fudge and caramel sauce, etc... This is also a challenge on my waist-line. Most of the time I'm strong willed enough to say no when I need to, but this is proving to be an ever increasing struggle this past week since the girl scout cookies have arrived!

I love to cook as well. I would love to just sell baked goods from my home. You know I'm stressed if I'm baking. I'm the cookies, cakes, and cobblers girl. Matthew is the pie guy. So, I was delighted when yesterday afternoon, he said he was going to make some fried apple pies (with the cute apple pie mold mom gave us for Valentine's Day!) and homemade whip cream to take to his bosses' house for dinner last night.

They were I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E! And looked fantastic as well. Plus he was extra innovative and made cinnamon flavored whip cream to go with them as well... delish.

Again... incredible

Enjoy some pics from recent life...

So, after all of our loved ones got TONS of snow. Bham finally got 3-4 inches!

I don't think she was as excited as we were about it.

Lunch with friends... The other side of the table wouldn't let me take a picture. :)

Matthew's new suit from Mom and Dad. Doesn't he look great!

Valentine's Dinner at Bonefish

One thing I love about Bham- Almost 70 today in mid-February. Lexi's new favorite thing is laying on the porch for HOURS.

Helping mom study.

Have a great week! We will be in Knoxville next weekend to visit Heather and Russ! Cannot wait!

SC Squared

I know, I'm kind of on a music blog kick lately. Mostly because we haven't had that much going on, ya know except studying, Olympics, studying, American Idol, studying, The Biggest Loser (our new love), and more studying...

Let's all go back to the early 90's. What's the first thing that comes to mind, besides big hair scrunchies, New Kids on the Block and my personal fav MC Hammer (2 legit 2 quit)... Steven Curtis Chapman of course! Definitely the BEST Christian music artist EVER! I've long had a musical crush on Steven. Who wouldn't, with those beautiful blond locks and the voice of a celestial angel? Who doesn't immediately think of him when you think of great Christian music growing up... unless your my husband and you live and breathe Acapella? AVB was TOTALLY better by the way (I'm sure M and J will highly disagree).

I came to think of good ole' Steve the other day when I put an old burn mix of Christian music in my CD player. I was elated when I heard that wondrous intro, "Saddle up your horses..." Only to have my joy escalate when I heard my first ever favorite "rap" song, "Got To Be True" by Steven along with none other than DC Talk alum Toby Mac. I'll never forget singing that song in the car with my dad and sis... after turning the cassette over to Side B and taking 5 minutes to find the exact song you wanted... those were the days.

Right after we got married, we went to the SCC and Michael W. Smith concert here in Bham with J and K... It took no time for me to travel back to my childhood roots. I loved EVERY minute of it.

So... as an ode to my childhood.

Blue (and White) Moon

Becuase that's what it has to be for me to put up a post on here, now I know my post moves have nothing on DeMarcus Cousins (pause for polite laughter) but here goes. What a season it has been, and I mean that in every sense of the word, a bitter, cold winter that has chilled my wife and I to the bone, which I admit has been kind to our electric bill since we enjoy the cooler temperature inside. On the other hand, what a great basketball season it has been for our beloved Kentucky Wildcats! Coach Cal and the "Diaper Dandies" he brought in this season, along with the elder statesman leadership of Patrick "Black Kool-Aid" Patterson have created a squad that is as fun to watch as it appears for them to play. For those of us who suffered through the winter of discontent that was all of last season this year has been a breath of fresh air for the True Blue faithful!

But enought about the greatest team in the country, how about the best wife in the country? My smart-as-a-whip better half got a big, fat, scholarship from the stingy University of Alabama at Birmingham!! She has also been knocking the top out of her classes this semester which most of you will remember is the hardest semester in nursing school. In addition to this she has been keeping me well fed and happy as ever. I can't wait till she is done with school and wont have to stress about pointless papers and tests. Anyway this is probably going to be mainly a "Picture Update Post" We have had several visitors recently, Ashley, Mom, Dad, Benj, and haven't put any pictures up from then. Additionally I would like to take this opportunity to say Happy Birthday to Mom, Benjamin, and Vicki who all have birthdays this week!!

I realize that this post has been kind of disjointed but enjoy the pics and I think Ann will post some more in the next day or two...

One tired puppy

How good is our new camera?

Delicious homemade Bobby Flay coconut cake

Ash came to visit over MLK weekend!

Davenports... aka, the best pizza ever

The air mattress slept really well... sarcasm

Lexi was not ready for Aunt Ashley to leave

Why so serious? Lexi got her Joker get up from eating one of Ann's tubes of lip gloss. She got into BIG trouble.

I sent her to her "room" to think about her actions... I felt badly about getting onto her. So I crawled in to apologize.

We made up in a matter of seconds.

My parents and Benj came down this past weekend. Lexi loved Uncle Benj as well.

Happy Birthday!

"If Tomorrow Never Comes"

In a perfect world, I would be 5'7'', a world renowned cardiac surgeon, a mother of 3 beautiful children (one with curly red hair), and I would have tickets to see Garth Brooks in concert. But alas, the world is not perfect, I'm sure I will have cute kids (prob not with red or curly hair- I'd have no idea where they came from), I won't be a cardiac surgeon, maybe a cardiac nurse, and I have never seen my country music idol perform... ever.

I am obsessed with Garth. He couldn't be a better entertainer, and I'm not ashamed at all to tell anyone that I know all the words to the video below. When this guy "officially" comes out of retirement (instead of this one man Las Vegas business) I will be first in line to buy tickets. I would pay an exorbitant amount of money to see him, even if it meant that Santa had to skip over my house(kids) one Christmas.... not really, but maybe???

So, on this rainy Friday (oh I'm sorry, most of you are in Nashville with your pretty white snow... I strongly dislike all of you), that isn't even a real Friday considering I have to be at the hospital at 6:30 tomorrow morning. Enjoy the musical magic of Mr. Brooks and the sweet stylings of the classic 80's. Who wishes those jeans would come back in style?

Garth brooks - ain't goin' down
by rawestern

All Things Research

Within the last week, we have received the news that Matthew is going to be able to graduate with his PhD in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics on May 8th!!! Let us all breathe a long sigh of relief. We had been hoping since early fall that this would indeed be the case, but as research has its ups and downs, we weren't sure coming into this semester if it would be possible. But it is! And we will now be celebrating Matthew's hard work come to fruition in May, and watch him proudly wear those ridiculously ugly robes.

Let me take a few moments to brag on my husband... I just want everyone to know how hard he has worked the last 4 years, because he deserves a little extra dose of "well done". It is VERY rare for a student in his program to graduate in 4 years... I mean about as rare as a Republican in Congress (by the way, well done Mass). There are multiple people in his program who are working on the 5th, 6th, and yes even 7th year (Don't you think at this point, you would just throw in the towel?). Anyway... he has worked so incredibly hard these last 4 years, from challenging classes his first year (comprable to a med student's first year), writing multiple papers, articles, and book chapters, staying at the lab doing experiments until 3 or 4 in the morning, reworking experiments, and literally giving his own blood (which is apparently illegal to do...so shh!), sweat and tears (not really) into his project.

So let's talk about the next two months. In order for Matthew to graduate in May, he has to defend his dissertation publically and privately by March 26th (his is scheduled for March 22nd at 2:00). Not only that, but he has to have his >150 page dissertation finished and handed in to everyone on his committee by two weeks before his defense. Plus he still has a 3rd paper to write and submit to a scientific journal before he can finish writing his own dissertation, not to mention he still has a few experiments left that have to work to write the aforementioned 3rd paper. And then at some point, preparing his talk and studying for his private defense (where they grill him on all things research).

Needless to say, the next two months in the Hardison household are going to be less than thrilling. I am already feeling overwhelmed this semester with my toughest class load yet, while trying be a supportive wife while Matthew tackles this stressful time. I already feel guilty for taking these 20 minutes out of my own study time to post this. Basically... I cannot remember the last time we watched TV. Our poor DVR is suffering from the weight of unwatched shows. We come home, eat, and immediately study..every single night. I'm sorry American Idol, we miss you.

Silver Lining? I'm glad you asked. Once Matthew is done defending, he will be bumped up in pay from a grad student's stipend to a post doc salary... only 13,000 to 15,000 more a year... no big deal! For close friends and family, if you happen to have a day off on March 22nd, we and especially he would appreciate the support!

It will all be worth it come May, when I will proudly watch my husband become Dr. Matthew Hardison, PhD. How cool is that!?

"Let's Hear Those Sleigh Bells Ringling"

Think Fast! Here is Christmas in a nutshell!

Columbia- Hardison Family Christmas

Gearing up for White Christmas with weapon in hand... a good Diet Coke.

Dad-to-be pumped about the new video camera.

Meet Lady... Benjamin's new puppy. She has a proper Southern name.

I couldn't help myself. Kristen...I promise I will not buy the baby anymore UK gear.

Matthew's cousins McKenna and Kendall

Grandaddy Wayne rockin his sweet new hat

Aren't they just the cutest parents?! Along with Blake and Julie of course :)

Lexington- Matthew has informed me that he will post about our trips to Rupp. Therefore I only have two pics from our time in Lextown.



Nashville- Smith Family Xmas

After Harpeth Hills Christmas Eve service at Nana and Grandaddy's for our annual Christmas Eve dinner.

Matthew was super pumped about his food processor.

This was right after little Matthew opened a gift from Mom and Dad that he had already gotten from them earlier this year. I guess that's what happens when you get old :)

I finally got my wedding album!

Ashley got Macy and Lexi matching dog snuggies for xmas. Hilarious.

Freezing our bottoms off to watch the Titans get embarrassed on Christmas night.

Memphis- Christmas with my grandparents and extended family.

My baby second cousin Mia and her older sister Madison.

I LOVE my Mimi :)

And I'm of course my Papaw's favorite :)

This concludes Christmas. We had a great year getting to visit with most of our family. My motto for this Christmas was "Live it up!" considering there is a strong possibility I will work Christmas next year, and we could be living hundreds or thousands of miles away :(. Thanks to our families for allowing us to crash at your various homes for multiple days.

On a side note... My husband and I are currently doing the snow dance so we can get out of school/work tomorrow. I'm not holding my breath.

On another side note. Roll Tide!!

2010... Let It Begin!

I know, I know. I have been a blog slacker. It's so much easier to blog when I have exams and projects due. I promise I will post pictures from the holidays... at some point. But I need to unwind from our 17 day jaunt around the South in order to gear up to upload the massive amounts of pictures to the computer. As a reader, I would fully expect a recap in pictures, as opposed to a play by play of Xmas festivities. Cause, let's be honest, unless your family, you could care less about every detail of the last 2 weeks :)

We rang in the New Year by eating at Cheddars with the Allens, Joneses, and Hasselbrings. We went back to the Blake and Julie's place to play Wii and other games while waiting on the ball to drop... and we somehow ended up missing it completely. I was a complete failure and forgot to take a single picture. I'll do better next time.

While I contemplate the fact that we are now in a new decade, I look back at the 2000's... and I gotta say, now that it's all said and done...it was a pretty good 10 year stretch for me. Here are the events that transpired in the 00's: I started high school (and loved it), graduated high school and then made the 50 foot walk across the lawn to attend college, pledged, made some pretty amazing friends, spent the best summer of my college career on Quest Team, officially met my husband in '06, started dating my husband in '07, watched my best friend get married, decided I didn't want to go to PT school, got engaged Dec. 26, 2007, graduated college, got married Sept. 6, 2008, moved to Birmingham, got accepted into nursing school, started nursing school, and got our sweet Lexi pup in April of 2009.

Here is what I'm hoping the 2010's will bring: buying our first house, bringing home our 1st, 2nd, insert number, baby home, turning 30 for both of us!, getting an advanced nursing degree (whatever that may be), and hopefully finally settling down somewhere to raise a family...

But before we jump ahead 10 years, I'm much more intriqued as to what this year will bring. Most definitely graduation for both of us, becoming an aunt and uncle for the first time courtesy of J and K! (who can't wait to see how cute Baby H is gonna be!), starting big girl and big boy jobs and becoming Dinks (Double Income No Kids!), finally moving out of our pocket-sized 1 bedroom apartment, and deciding where we will be once it's all said and done here in the 'ham. Buckle up!