New Orleans and Granny's 87th Bday

Raise your virtual hand if you love free vacations! We got to experience our first ever all expense paid "business trip" to New Orleans 2 weekends ago.. Ok, I'm not being completely honest.. gas, food, and hotel were free, but we did have to pay for my Southwest flight back to Bham, since I had to leave early. Regardless, we had so much fun being away from work/school for a couple of days. Matthew had a poster accepted back in January to the the American Thoracic Society Conference, and Ed had been asked to give a talk on the last day, so the whole lab headed down for a little get-away... and I got to tag along :) My guess is that New Orleans didn't know what to with itself, having so many nerds in town at one time. I have never seen so many MD's and PhD's in one place in my entire life. And I'm allowed to say that, because Matthew said it first. We overindulged ourselves on food, hey it was free! And, I'm more than a little embarrassed to say that I definitely had my fair share of beignets. How could you not love anything made of fried dough and powdered sugar? Unless it's a funnel cake...gross. And guess what. The Conference is in Denver next year.. So Matthew, start working on a new poster now!

New Orleans bound!

"Dad are we there yet?"

Bourbon St

Cafe Du Monde.. AKA Best Beignets EVER

Worth every calorie

This past weekend we went to Memphis for my Granny's (mom's mom) 87th birthday and the Kobeck reunion. On Saturday night, we spent the night with Mimi and Papaw (dad's side) and then went to the birthday party on Sunday afternoon at my Aunt Waverly's house.

On Saturday night, Mimi and I went bowling while the boys watched the basketball game. My Mimi is an incredible bowler. She bowls in a league on Thursdays, and her average is above 150. I usually never break 100. She's also 78 and still throwing a 10 pound ball... the same size I use.

Apparently, Mimi was my good luck charm. 111!

Sunday morning, Lexi came in from being outside with Papaw looking like this...And with a tick on her back.

Love them :)

Happy Birthday Granny!

Granny with her children. (2 missing, mom's sister Linda passed away a couple of years ago, and Aunt Tiny left before the pic) Mom is the baby of 10. Yes, 10.

And a pic with the grandchildren. Missing A LOT. Obviously with 10 kids, there's bound to be more grandkids than this. We counted up with my Aunt Peggy while we were at the party, and all the siblings either had 1 or 2 kids. My mom is the only one with 3. Also, it is hilarious to note, that my cousin Tony (the one in front of me) has a child little Matthew's age. And my cousin Wendy next to me has a child that was born before little Matthew. ha

We had a lot of fun at the party. It was good to see family that I haven't seen in a VERY long time. Also, I was glad that Matthew was finally able to meet Granny.

Headed to Smith Lake for Hardison Family Get-Away this weekend. But more importantly, Samuel David Hardison (Sam) is due in less than 5 weeks. Hurry up! :)

Calling all Lipscomb High School Grads

Does this happen to bring back any memories? Especially to the class of '04...





Also, how hilarious is her owl sweater in the beginning of this clip? I guess her voice makes up for her lack in fashion sense :)


Ann

Going and Going and Going

We have had a full but fun last couple of weeks. We moved, I finished exams and started a new job, Matthew graduated, and I traveled 6 hours and back to Louisville in 24 hours!

Moving Day!

Thanks J!

My worst nightmare. No organization.

Goodbye 417 Oaks Drive! You were a great first home! I may or may not have cried when we left for the last time :)

So sad

Right after we moved, I decided I did NOT want another piece of brown furniture in our place... So, I decided that we should paint and distress our old table... M did most of the work.

The finished project! Didn't he do a fabulous job! And it looks even better in person.

I promise I will upload the rest of the pictures from the new place. We're almost completely done. We just have a few more things to hang, get organized, etc...


Ed and Shawn had a party on Friday night... with the 4th of July food menu!

This is Akash, Amit's (the MD, PhD in M's lab) son. He was loving on Lexi all night.


Graduation Day!

Ed and Matthew


3 Dr's.

I'm SO proud!

Yup, K was 33 weeks pregnant in this picture... She still looks AMAZING!


Louisville
We took a mini pledge class trip to Louisville this past weekend. Our good friend Emily (pledgesister) and my old roomie was getting hitched!

Carol and Heath packed the exact same t-shirt.



Beautiful Emily! She was gorgeous!

The "5"

The house in the background was where the reception was located. The ceremony was outside in a courtyard. Perfect day.

Completely worth all the traveling to see my good friend so incredibly happy. It was also a blast being able to catch up with old friends. There are some stories that never get old.

That about sums it up. I just got my assignment for my preceptorship this semester. Neuro ICU. I'm pretty excited about it. First day is Thurs! No weekends or nights :) Also congrats to Benjamin who also graduated this past weekend with his Masters in Accounting! Way to go bro :)

And Then There Was ONE....

I took my last final of 4th semester today, and I am PUMPED!

only...

1 more semester of constantly studying
13 more weeks of wearing those heinous white uniforms (which will be burned upon graduation)
3 more months of paying tuition to work a job that I will get paid to do in Aug/Sept.
94 more days of trying to hold back tears when I feel like I can't do it anymore (dramatic, I know) while wondering if I should be on anti-anxiety medications :)

Just 1 more. After that, I promise to my husband that I will be fun again.... until grad school (hopefully) ;)


*We moved this past weekend to a charming little townhouse in Hoover. We LOVE it! Post and pictures of the move are to come later on this week. E-mail me if you need our new address!

Dental Woes

I don't think anyone hates going to the dentist as much as me. Why is it that the 6 months in between cleanings flies by... every single time. Just like yesterday when I got the call that my appointment was scheduled for today, my reaction was the same as it always is, "Ugh Crud... again already!?"

Not that I have anything against dentists in particular. I have a fabulous father-in-law who is in fact a dentist.. but not MY dentist, irritating MY gums. It's not that I don't like the end result. Who doesn't love clean teeth? It's just that awful noise, that grating sound, that makes you want to pull every LAST hair our of your head. And seriously.. do you really need to use that hook like contraption to scrape over the same tooth over and over again?

I've grown to hate dental visits the older I get. I attribute this to a couple of reasons.

1. There is no longer the appeal of the bubble gum flavored paste when they polish your teeth. Just because I'm 23, does not mean I prefer mint to bubble gum!

2. To put it lightly, I have had dental "issues" in my lifetime. It all started back in the 8th grade when Tyler McGee "accidentally" knocked Heather and me over on a youth group outing, while Heather was on my back. We came tumbling down, and I first hit my mouth straight on, and then Heather fell on top of me, and I got a second blow to the forehead. End Result: Every last brace on my teeth came off, and I had to have all of them put back on. On top of that, I ended up with a dead tooth. yup.. dead. Which ended up in a root canal, that was even better than a teeth cleaning (sarcasm). If you ever happen to notice that one of my front teeth is slightly darker than the others... now you know why. No one actually notices this, except my mother.

Fast forward 7 years. I'm on my way to Bham to visit Matthew for my spring break (side note: we had only been dating a couple of months). In the car, I all of a sudden start feeling this gnawing tooth pain in yup... you guessed it. The same tooth. WHAT? It's dead! How can I be feeling any pain? As soon as I got to Bham, the pain was unbearable. So terrible, that I couldn't even eat... at this point I KNOW it's a problem. So, Matthew calls his father (my incredibly talented dentist of a father-in-law.) And he informs me that I have a tooth abscess. So after a sleepless night, we called every dentist in Birmingham the next day, to no avail. I couldn't see anyone until the next day... 2 days of unbearable pain. And NO sleep. I'm sure I was a complete joy to be around. To make a long story short, it was fixed eventually. Thankfully, my mom who has also had a tooth abscess informed me that it hurt worse than having all 3 of her children. At least I have something to look forward to?

So, as you can see. I HATE the dentist. Countdown: 6 more months.

5 things

I try most times to not be too materialistic. On a post-doc salary/student loans, we don't have much of an option. But there are times when "things" warm my heart.. and not in a bad way, at least I don't think. Here are the things that I particularly LOVED this past week.

1. My Kitchen-Aid mixer
I do NOT know what I would do without it. After seeing my own mother burn through countless hand mixers growing up (she used one with only one working blade for years), I knew that I HAD to have one. Now, thankfully, we did not have to buy one of these jewels ourselves, thanks to the Matar's in Lextown. But, even if we had... it would have TOTALLY been worth it. All you gotta do is throw in all your ingredients, turn it on, and you can go about your business until it's done. It's only making people of my generation even LAZIER :)



2. My stethoscope

I'm a stethoscope snob. Mainly because I think mine is better than everyone else's (when all reality it's most likely just as good... but still). I worked on a cardiac floor this past semester, and since my stethoscope was so awesome, I was hearing all sorts of murmurs, bruits, prosthetic valves, etc... Thanks to my wonderful in-laws. Now, I only need to get it monogrammed so no one can steal it!

And yes, of course it's a Littmann :)

3. Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte at Starbucks
I'm not a huge coffee drinker, but this is a lifesaver when I have to be at the hospital at 6:15, which really means 6:00 in order to catch the trolley to get from the satellite parking lot to the hospital (it is just wrong to have to be up at that hour). Thankfully the hospital I was at this past semester had one on campus! And apparently, it's only 90 calories!



4. My planner
I would be lost without it. I feel incomplete if I'm not able to cross through yet another day before I go to bed each night. It's just so satisfying. How do people survive without one? It is now currently counting me down until: Baby H's arrival- 9 weeks 5 days, graduation- 15 weeks 5 days, and hopefully our cruise!- date TBA (sometime in late August or early Sept)

5. Lysol Wipes
I could possibly go through a carton of them a week. Having learned that I used them so frequently, I have had to restrain myself and reuse them by washing them out and then spraying kitchen cleaner on the countertops and wiping it down with a wipe. But it's just not the same... not even close. I'd like to think that these babies are what kept me from getting swine flu back in Nov.

And of course you have to buy them in bulk... much cheaper.

Happy Birthday Lex!

This is what I found when I came back inside after taking Lexi out... Adorable.

What makes a great Saturday? Start it off waking up at 9:50 and that's about all you need. 9:50! Add going to the produce market with Ed this morning to get some top notch veggies and fruits, the gorgeous weather, going to the pool, and........... Lexi's 2nd BIRTHDAY! She "turns" 2 today. We're not sure when she was really born considering she is a rescue dog, but when we got her they thought she was about a year old... so her bday is the day we got her... April 10. A whole year later, and she is still the best thing that has happened to us as a couple... seriously. No, seriously, I'm not joking.

We might/or might not gotten her a few presents. Don't judge me! I have nothing else to dote on until Baby H makes his appearance in 11 SHORT weeks! She has a new flashy UK blue rhinestone collar, along with a new rope AND bone. She even got a few happy birthday phone calls from her aunt and uncle (Ashley and little Matthew) and Honey (my mom).

So Happy Birthday Lexi! What would we do without you?