Autumn Love

Fall is just about the best time of year. It's the season for college football, NFL football, Thanksgiving, white chili, pumpkin carving, the beginnings of college basketball, need I say more?

There is nothing better than the crisp feeling of the air as it starts to get chilly... which is like the end of November for Alabama, playing some corn hole outside, grilling out on a Saturday and never leaving your spot on the couch as you mindlessly watch game after game after game, while yelling "War Eagle" or "Role Tide" depending on who we are watching it with. Matthew and I have found we can adapt easily.

Not too many people appreciate our UK attire down here, not to mention that in Alabama pro football does not exist, if it's not college, it's a waste of time. I spend countless Mondays gleaning the paper for any piece of info about the Titans, which is definitely a waste of time. If there's anything in the Sports page about them, it's about a paragraph, right underneath an article a page long on what Nick Saban ate for dinner.

Regardless, fall is the best. Here are the things I am particularly looking forward to this year:

1. UK- Vandy game in Nash (thanks Dad!)
2. Getting to see Bobby Flay do a cooking demonstration in Lex ( yes it's true)
3. My 23rd birthday (although as I get older, birthdays are getting a lot less exciting)
4. Possibly going to an Alabama game in Tuscaloosa.
5. My Fall Break girl's trip with all of my best friends... cannot wait
6. Finishing my 3rd semester of nursing school!!
7. Thanksgiving- the BEST holiday
8. The return of all our TV shows. Who can't wait to see what happens on Grey's? Not to mention that Jim and Pam are pregnant on The Office!
9. The Blink 182 concert we're attending :)
10. and my favorite: the leaves changing color

It cannot get here soon enough.

"Now baby I hear the blues are calling, tossed salad and scrambled eggs"

So avid readers of this blog should know that Frasier is our favorite show. What we haven't told you is that as our relationship (mine and Matthew's) grew, so did my love for Frasier and Niles Crane. Matthew grew up watching this show a lot, maybe because J and M share some commonalities with the Crane boys. I, however, never knew about this TV gem until my parents started watching it, and I made fun of them for liking such a weird show. Little did I know...

Matthew and I started watching Season 1 almost since Day 1 of our relationship. Whenever he was in Nashville, we would watch a couple of episodes, and every time I went to Bham I brought the DVD's with me. A lot of Saturday afternoons were spent having picnics in front of the TV and taking a half hour trip to Cafe Nervosa in rainy Seattle.

We finished the series a couple of weeks after we were married, and it felt like we had closed a chapter of our lives by losing our friends in the Crane clan. It will always evoke special memories for the two of us.

While there are several clips/episodes that are our favorites, unfortunately Youtube does not have most of them. However, we were able to find one of the classic Frasier moments.

PCB 09

I promised a post about the beach...I forgot, but I was "gently" reminded by my father that I hadn't fulfilled my promise. I will allow the week to be recapped by photos. Cause, at the beach, things are just blissfully boring.

I will say that I was tickled pink at the prospect of being able to read anything I wanted for pleasure as opposed to school. My favorite book of the week was Mockingbird, which is a biography of Harper Lee. If you know me, you know that To Kill a Mockingbird is my all-time favorite book, so I was excited about reading this biography. If you love her novel, I think you will like this book about her. It turns out that the novel was loosely based on her own childhood, and the character of Atticus Finch was modeled after her own father. She is a very interesting character to say the least, and I must confess that I thought she was dead until I read this book about her! Before you judge me, know that she has shyed away from the limelight pretty much since her book was published in 1960. I loved learning more about the woman who gave us such a compelling story of tolerance and justice with the moral lesson that "you will never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it".

We celebrated Matthew's birthday while we were there!

Little Buddy just started at David Lipscomb and he looked so cute in his uniform so I had to put up a picture!

I will leave you with the last line of the book that still gives me chill bumps when I read it... " He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning"

Happy Monday to all! 3rd semester starts tomorrow!

26 Candles

Today is my sweet husband's 26th birthday! Congratulations baby on making it these 26 years! May the next 26 be even better.

I tried to surprise Matthew this morning and make him breakfast in bed. Unfortunately, I married a very intuitive man, and he figured out my plan the night before. Bummer. Regardless, I dutifully set the alarm early (8:15 am :) to get up to make him sausage, eggs (fried of course), bacon, and his grandmother's Honey Bun cake that is just to die for. Matthew said I baked it exactly right, but you can never be sure if he's just saying it to spare my feelings:) I thought it was good!

Thanking me for breakfast.

Unfortunately, Matthew has this thing called a "job". So he had to leave to go pretend to work, although I am aware that most of his afternoons are spent doing the crossword with his boss! So...I became a busy little bee around the apartment. It's tiring being a stay-at-home mom...and I don't even have the mom part yet! I headed to Wal-Mart to get all the "fixins" for dinner, came home, prepped for dinner, made a homemade carrot cake, made homemade icing for the cake, cleaned the apartment, stuck in laundry, started packing, iced the cake, ran 4 miles, showered, cleaned some more, did more laundry, finished packing, etc... I know, you're just exhausted thinking about it. I honestly was more tired when I sat down today than I am when I finish a shift at the hospital! So thank you to my mother who has done this many more years than me.

So, I may be a little cheezy when it comes to birthdays. I decorated the apartment with streamers, balloons, and a Happy Birthday sign. No, I am not married to a small child, but on the account that we were not doing gifts this year to save money, I thought his birthday deserved a little extra pizazz, thanks to the Dollar Tree! I know that I am not very creative, but I should definitely deserve an A for effort and thoughtfulness! (Speaking of A... my Pharmacology professor wrapped one up and served it to me on a silver platter, considering that my average for the class was a 89.3. It's possible I may forgive her now for making me miss Katherine's wedding festivities, or I may name my first born child in her honor, Youngshook Hardison anyone?).

Even Lexi got Daddy a card.

Matthew and I made authentic Mexican fish tacos for his birthday dinner tonight. I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E. I felt like I was at Baja... without running into at least 5 Lipscomb people while I ate them. We were amazed at how good the recipe was, thank you Food Network. I am now so full that I may never eat again, at least until we cut into that carrot cake in 30 minutes!

yum.

Again... Happy Birthday Matthew. I am so blessed to have you in my life.

Alas, I almost forgot. I am beaming with pride and joy to tell you all that last night I beat Matthew in Scrabble. Take a look at that score. I slaughtered him. It's not like I'm competitive or anything :)

Wedding Whirlwind

It was wedding weekend last weekend for the Smith side of the family as Matthew and I headed to Cincinnati for my cousin Katherine's wedding. I have already discussed how my professor wouldn't let me miss class to make it to all the pre-wedding festivities, so Matthew and I had to get flights instead in order to make it to the wedding on time.

Unfortunately, a direct flight to Cinci is about as expensive as small flat screen TV. Thankfully, my benefactor of a father gave us his Southwest miles to use, but unfortunately, Southwest doesn't fly into Cinci, so we had to fly into Louisville instead. Matthew's parents wonderfully agreed to meet us in Louisville to give us a car that we could drive to Cinci, so that after the wedding we could drive back to Lexington Saturday night, wake up early Sunday morning for his parents to drive us back to the Louisville airport to catch our flight... Whirlwind. These are the places we were in a 40 hour time span... Birmingham, Louisville, Cinci, Lexington, Louisville, Birmingham. This is why I feel like my head is about to explode. I am exhausted.

Back to the wedding. It was absolutely beautiful. Katherine made the most gorgeous bride. She had the most amazing all lace dress, which is nothing like she thought she would get for her wedding dress. 6 months ago she wanted a full princess gown... it's funny how a lot of girls end up with something completely different than they thought! Her sweet dad, Uncle Grady, did the ceremony (he is the minister at the Northeast COC in Cinci), and he did a wonderful job. Here is something I wrote for Katherine for her rehearsal dinner in case they had people stand up to say something. I wanted to post it, because it never got read, and I think it accurately describes how much Katherine means to me....

Katherine,

There are so many things that I can say about you. I have known you since you were born, and I have had the joy of growing up with you as “cousins”. My childhood would have definitely been a lot more boring had it not been for growing up with you and Andrew, and I’m so glad that our parents have been best friends for so many years. One of my favorite memories is playing forts with Ashley and Andrew, and how they would gang up on us and always pick to be together so that they could always win! Or, how you and I are the ones that actually put the sheet under that infamous lamp, but Andrew is technically the one that broke it and had to pay. Or staying up late over Thanksgiving to sing Alanis Morisette songs while keeping Ashley up until all hours of the night…. There are many more, but they all just remind me of how thankful I am for you in my life.

Katherine you are so vibrant and full of life. I’m so jealous of how you view life as such an adventure as though you have never lived a dull moment. I hope that you will keep this same spirit as you continue on in your life with Ben, because marriage should be an adventure too.

You are a greatest listener. I always loved spending the night with you and sharing our deepest, darkest secrets. You always knew that I just needed to get things off my chest, and would let me rant and rave for hours.

You are sweet and kind. You would do anything for anybody, even if it meant giving the shirt of your own back. You would always call me just to see how my week was going or to check in…and it always seemed to be on a day when I needed somebody to ask.

My prayer for you and Ben is this (since I’m such an expert on marriage): That you will be in prayer daily together, because there is nothing better for a relationship than praying with your spouse. That you will be supportive of one another through everything…even when you don’t feel like it. And that you will just have fun, because marriage should be fun, and you should wake up every morning looking forward to what that day is going to bring.

I love you so much. I am so happy for you, and you will always be in my prayers.

Ann

She was so beautiful! Her something borrowed were the earrings I wore at our wedding.


Thankfully I got to walk with Andrew.

Back to the wedding... The reception was a blast. There was a head table where the whole wedding party sat. I had never been in a wedding where this was the case, and I for sure felt awkward eating knowing people were looking at me. Uncle Grady and Andrew got out on the dance floor to show off their amazing dance skills...while my own father displayed his spot on version of the White Man's Overbite. Katherine was very frugal and ordered her flowers from Costco and had family put together the arrangements, and they looked fantastic, and they saved LOTS of money. She was completely laid back, kept her cool, and just seemed to enjoy the day, which is what every bride should do! Regardless of the fact that she had lost at least 5 pounds the week of because she forgot to eat... I am also guilty of this. It wasn't on purpose...you are just busy!

Ashley and Keela trying to avoid the bouquet toss.

The Five kids!

Keela.. one of my new favorite people. LOVE HER!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time there, as short as it was. After the reception we drove back to Lexington to Matthew's parents house to enjoy a fabulous home cooked meal and laid back hangout time... while enjoying some Stephen Colbert clips from his show the Colbert Report. So funny. Wish we could have had more time in Lextown, looking forward to seeing D and S for an extended time this fall... maybe for the UK- AL football game perhaps?!

We are now back from the beach... I will post about our trip either tomorrow or Monday. Matthew is experiencing some PVSD (Post Vacation Stress Disorder). I took him out to get Mexican tonight to smooth over the transition of being back in the "real world". Let's all hope he feels like getting up for work Monday!

Lexi is super glad that momma and daddy are back home, and she no longer has to stay at her version of Motel 6... the boarders. Ok. Maybe her momma is more glad that she is safely home where she belongs. I will admit that I made Matthew call the vet to make sure she was doing well while we were gone. I'm just a concerned parent!

You can only tell if you know her...But this is Lexi's "I'm so glad I'm home" face :)

Yin and Yang

So I came up with this blog idea after having a conversation with Matthew's boss. He was talking about how in relationships it's important that you have just enough similarities mixed in with the right amount of differences for balance. So it got me thinking about all the similarities and differences that Matthew and I share. Since I am slightly OCD and could write a book about Type A personalities, I thought making a list was perfect!


Similarities

1. We are both extroverts, although since high school I have become more and more of an introvert. The last Myers Briggs Test I took I was 52% extrovert, 48% introvert. Matthew probably blew that scale off the charts.

2. We are both EXTREMELY stubborn. Matthew said he never thought he would meet someone more stubborn than him... Enter me.

3. Neither of us are very patient...but Matthew definitely has more than me. This is starting to sound like I'm bashing myself!

4. We both have loud laughs. And the first thing we notice about people is whether they have a sense of humor or not.

5. We love sports. Watching them on TV, going to games in person, etc... Of course, UK sports is a gift from God.

6. We both love to cook. I'd say equally, especially if it's something new!

7. We are both photogenic. I'm not saying that we look beautiful in every picture we take, but we both know how to smile :)

8. We both love anything that has to do with the health care related field. Including every TV show (Grey's Anatomy, House, Hopkins, etc...)

9. We are both planners. Matthew likes to plan meals weeks in advance and the very last detail of every trip we are taking. I would rather die than lose my planner.

10. We're both night owlsand definitely not morning people

11. We both love to read

12. We're both very goal-oriented.

13. My dad would say (actually not "would say" it should be "did say" at our wedding) that we both like to be the center of attention... I disagree :)

14. We both love animals... if they are an angel in the form of a dog named Lexi

15. We both appreciate a fine dining experience. To us...we'd rather pay the extra money to eat at a nice restaurant and skip the movie than to just do an ok restaurant and a movie.

16. We both love to travel, which he has done a lot more than me. BUT, I have been to Europe and he has not!

17. We both like the same music, although some of his can get a little too punk rockerish (I know that's not a word) for me.

18. We both love school... apparently cause neither of us can seem to get out of it.

19. We are both extremely family oriented and came from very close-knit families.

20. People either live to eat or eat to live. We are both most definitely live to eat. I mean... You're only here so long, might as well enjoy it while you can.

21. Traditions are a must, and they should never be broken.


Differences

1. I am Type A...Matthew is not, but he is not completely Type B either, a mix I would say.

2. I do everything way before a deadline... Matthew is a procrastinator

3. I am naturally neat... Matthew only does it cause he loves me... a lot

4. I am the BIGGEST worry wort. I think I have seen Matthew stressed maybe twice since we have been together. The day before his Qualifier and when we got a bunch of medical bills :)

5. Matthew loves a challenge... I call challenges cruddy situations

6. Matthew loves puzzles (like a crossword puzzle, figuring out a riddle, doing Math in his head, etc... I would rather someone just tell me the answer.

7. Matthew loves Seinfeld...I love Friends. You either love one or the other.

8. Matthew could meet a stranger and in five minutes be their best friend....me, I am much more reserved around new people... Just ask the following people- Geoff, Barak, J, K, etc...

9. I am indecisive...Matthew can make a decision and just roll with it

10. Matthew is naturally frugal....I'm only frugal cause I have to be :)

11. Matthew has much more self-confidence than me... maybe I'm just humble?!

12. I am fairly athletic.... Matthew is not.

13. I get car sick thinking about reading in the car... Matthew could do it all day long

14. Matthew is a pie person... I like cake, although I hate to discriminate here, all things made of sugar are a good thing.

15. I tend to be a little more sympathetic than Matthew, not to say that he isn't.

16. If we had the money, I would buy clothes, Matthew would buy electronics.

17. Matthew's vocabulary is out of this world... He would use a word like chagrin or umbrage... While I'd just say I'm annoyed. I guess we know why he scored so high on the ACT and SAT.

18. I love to nap... Matthew says it's wasting time.

19. Matthew would love to live other places for a while and travel around before we settle somewhere and decide to have kids... Me? I would be happy as a clam in Nashville :)

20. Matthew thinks we shouldn't tell our kids that Santa Clause is real... I think this is blasphemous. I may get in trouble for putting this, it's sort of a sore subject ;)

21. He wants three kids... For me it's a toss up. Today is a four day, tomorrow it will be three.


That is all I can think of for now! I would love to hear if you can think of any good ones, I'm sure our parents could come up with some. My brain is friend. Exams have taken a toll on me. 5 more days and I will have freedom for 2 whole weeks! Have a fabulous weekend!

The Home Stretch

I am 1 week and 1 day away from finishing my second semester and 1 week, 1 day, and 4 hours away from Smith Family Vaca 2K9. Cannot wait. Matthew and I have been super busy the last couple of weeks and desperately need the vacation, so thanks mom and dad for letting us bum off of you for four days!

I don't think lazy is an appropriate enough word to describe our weekend. Lethargic or comatose better describes how we spent our Saturday. We had grand plans of catching up on some studying, cleaning the apartment, going to look at houses/apartments (for fun mostly), laundry, etc... How much of these chores/tasks were done by 12:00 pm Saturday.... None. Clearly if you know me, you understand that these tasks are not chores to me... they are my stress reliever, so why I felt like I'd rather gouge my eyeballs out as opposed to check them off my ever growing "To Do" List...I am at a loss for words.

Lexi and Daddy resting

Our family of 3! Yes our dog is a poser... she loves having pics taken.

My only excuse is that we were super tired from working late the week beforehand for the UAB medical school. Matthew and I have been pretend patients for the 4th year med students this past week for their Senior Organized Standardized Clinical Exam. We get paid $10 an hour for 6 hours a night, 3 nights a week to be a fake patient... plus free dinner! Not a bad set-up if you ask me. We have great ideas on how to use the money...for you know school loans, tuition and such. Anyway, we don't get out each night until after 10, which is really late if you ask me, and we just lost out on some great sleep.

Friday night Matthew and I took our good friend Barak out to dinner since he is moving this coming week. We are incredibly sad that he is leaving, and we are going to miss him a lot! Barak was Matthew's first friend here in Birmingham and was one of two people who actually drove up from Bham to come to our wedding. Barak wanted to go to Dreamland, the famous barbeque place in downtown Bham, so we gladly obliged since we hadn't been there in a while. We took him around to a few of our (the three of us) favorite places in downtown Bham, went to hear some live music, and wished Barak well as he is heading to Jackson, MS for a job interview that we are praying he gets!

Leaving for Dreamland

We will miss you Barak!

Saturday...well you know what happened there, but Saturday night Matthew and I went to the Barons game (The minor league team here). Amit, one of the MD PhD's in Matthew's lab had bought up a bunch of tickets since it was Cystic Fibrosis night (Matthew's lab works on lung transplantation research for those who don't know) and invited us to come along with him and his wife Shilpa and their adorable two year old Akash. Geoff and Tricia came as well. We absolutely love going to Baron's games, especially on the nights when they have the fireworks show... which was immensely superior to the disaster on July 4th.

Geoff and Tricia

Geoff stole the camera.

Sunday after church we came home and I immediately went to study, since I had procrastinated the day before.... There are many reasons that I love my husband, but I was reminded just how much when he offered to clean the apartment while I studied. BEST HUSBAND EVER. It was a great joy for me to open up the bedroom door and see those beautiful vacuum lines across the carpet and to not see even a hint of dust on the furniture. Not only did he offer to clean...but he did it well! I know that I have high standards when it comes to cleanliness and I even get slightly nervous when I don't do the job myself...but Molly Maid couldn't have impressed me this much.

We had to go back up to church around 3:00, because our class was hosting a baby shower for a couple in our community group...First baby in our Sunday school crew! Daniel and Magen are expecting a boy on September 1st named Elijah Luke. They are also planning on moving to France to be missionaries and they currently have arrangements to move to Chicago in January to finish raising support. We are going to miss them! The shower was a lot of fun, we played some fun games and of course ate a lot. Matthew and our good friend Stephen (his wife is named Ally) are extremely competitive and really got into the games... Ally and I were very entertained by them to say the least.

This was the cake that the hostess LeAnn made... she just started taking cake decorating classes this summer!! I'm so jealous!

Now this isn't as gross as it looks... This was the dirty diaper game, you had to guess what kind of chocolate candy had been melted onto the diaper...this is Stephen.

Matthew smelling the diaper... :)

We are headed to Cinci this weekend for my cousin Katherine's wedding. Unfortunately, nursing school faculty is not that understanding when it comes to missing school. Their protocol for missing class says that the only reason you can miss is if you have a death in the immediate family and your name is listed in the obituary. A little ridiculous. So...I am missing the rehearsal dinner and bridesmaid's luncheon and will be arriving in Cinci about 12 hours before the wedding. Thank you UAB School of Nursing, I will remember this when you come calling me for money in 5 years.

Hope everyone has a great week! Prayers would be appreciated while I am finishing up this semester. 4 tests left....

P.S. I have to put these pictures up from last weekend while we were up in Nashville.... Lexi and Macy are two peas in a pod!