Quick Update!

Hi there!

Today is Christine's last day of freedom before she resumes work at her firm indefinitely.  So here's some of what's happened since Mardi Gras:

1. Christine's life continued in Philadelphia until we moved her back at the end of August.  The clerkship ended as well as it began and it was a great experience.

2. Curtis is still at Airbus, and is still in school.  He continues to get good grades and plans to be done in June 2015. Until then he's planning to travel to San Francisco and London as part of his business school program.

3.  Kenny is now approximately 5 years old, and has calmed down a bit.  He split his time earlier this year between Philly and Alabama and loved both equally.  He just came back from CA with Christine, where he had a great time hanging out with his grandparents. Once Christine is back at work he'll be at daycare 3-4 days/week.

4. We celebrated our 5th Anniversary in Philly in May.  We had dinner at a Starr Restaurant, Butcher & Singer, saw the Phillies play the Dodgers in great home plate seats, and went for a long walk to the Art Museum (and Rocky Steps) and had a picnic in Washington Square.  It was busy and fun, and hard believe that it's been 5 years.

5.  Our road trip back to AL over Labor Day Weekend was eventful.  We woke up early Saturday to drive to Charlottesville, VA to see UCLA play Virginia.   Then we drove to Chapel Hill and walked around the campus on Sunday morning before driving to Atlanta, where we ate at Cheesecake Factory and then made our way home.   Since then we went to Dallas for UCLA-Texas, and Christine and Kenny did a long trip to Ca/Az to see family and friends.

I'll post pictures at some point, but most of this is documented on Facebook and on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hardinghart)

Happy Fall!

Mardi Gras 2014

Mardi Gras is back in full swing!  Curtis once again got to stock up on "throws," load his float (with help this year) and "ride" with the Knights of Ecor Rouge, who's theme this year was "Night of Knights."  Here's an article slideshow about their parade.  To make it even more festive Louis & Sophie came for a long weekend to join in the fun!

Here are some highlights of the festivities so far:

Curtis is on the left! 

Post-parade

Curtis' float while it was still in the barn

Louis & Sophie waiting for the parade

Christine with the best work friends :-) 

Christine before MOT's ("Mystics of Time")

Waiting to go downstairs after "Callouts"

Christine & friend Megan

Update and What's Next?

So wow, it's July 2013!  Curtis moved to Alabama 2 years ago, where did the time go?!

(We still have a report on our Hamburg trip due, I'll try to get that up this weekend)

In the meantime, we have some planned and unplanned (not of the pregnancy variety, I know it's not just me that perks up when they hear the word "unplanned.") changes ahead!

As you may know, I (Christine) will be in Philadelphia next month for the next year.  I am still looking for a place to live but the picture is getting clearer of what I need and want.  We already have a daycare lined up for Kenny.  We will drive up there August 14-15 or so, and I start my new job on the 19th!    The biggest challenge will be what I can fit in my car to take with me, and whether I decide to ship anything as well.  I'm definitely looking forward to a new city but will feel calmer when it's all over. 

 I'm also in the process of moving out of my office - I have so much more stuff to take home than I ever expected after less than two years of work! 

It doesn't help that two other attorneys departed recently (one became a judge and the other went "in-house"), so the recycle bins are in high demand

As for Curtis, he will stay with his job at Airbus in Mobile.  With that said, and I don't want to go into details online until we know 100% for sure, but we are starting to tell friends and family that it looks like there might be a short-term change to that plan (as to location, not company).  It's probably less exciting than it sounds as a teaser but it will simultaneously make our lives more complicated and less difficult during for at least a part of the clerkship.  Lets just say that the distance might not be so "long" this fall for us to be apart.  

And as a side note, Curtis got the highest grade possible in his first two business school classes at MBA@UNC.  It was completely expected and we've very proud.  Only 7 quarters to go!

Also, a delayed happy 4th of July, from my two favorite guys (Kenny is, as we say, in "full cuteness mode," because of his cut): 

At the Fairhope 4th of July Celebration

It's Official

Curtis sent his deposit in for the MBA@UNC program. He's starting Business School next Spring! 

Curtis News

Without giving too much away, lets just say that Curtis will be likely doing this: 

next year during Mardi Gras!

Congrats babe :-)

(and don't worry friends and family, it's just costumes and throws and fun, no crazy stuff!)

Late night cuteness

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Kenny playing with his Daddy :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

More Good Times in the South

This last weekend started very well! I went out to Foley to spend the evening with the Martin Family. The drive to Foley is about a 45 minute drive from my apartment. The drive out to there is very nice. There are is a lot of trees and green that makes it look very nice.

After I met James' wife and kids at his house. He took the time to give me the tour of his garden that he is very proud of. He has a lot of time into it and the outcome looks amazing. It has given me a respect for the effort that good landscaping can do for your yard.

We went to dinner over by Orange Beach at a location called Calypso Joe's. It was a great little Caribbean style grill. I had the fried shrimp and fries. They were absolutely delicious. We sat outside at the restaurant right in front of the docks they are next to. They also had this hilarious (in my opinion) thing for the kids. Every half hour or so, they would do a crab race. I could not get the video to load up. =( Let me know if you wanna see it an I can email it to you.

After the dinner we drove around the town. We first went to the beach. I tried to get some pictures of the Gulf, and this was the best one. I was able to put my feet into the Gulf!

After the beach we drove over to the recreation center that his family would go to play Tennis. It was a very location. They also had some little league travel team playoff happening at the center. It was fun.

The rest of the weekend was very low-key. Not much on Saturday or Sunday except computer and cleaning up the B-pad. =)

This week at work has been great so far. I am still working on the same project and really getting to dig into some very interesting information. The one little hiccup was this morning with 2 of the air conditioning units got knocked out from the thunderstorm that rolled through yesterday.

It was really nasty, but not as loud a couple of weeks ago. It had a lot more constant lightning and thunder. Of course, it was pouring like crazy.

All in all, still really enjoying my time out here. I found this picture on the stupid app that I have on my iPhone. It reminded me of Chrisine. =) ... Miss you!!!

Steaming in Alabama

Hi All! Sorry for the delay... many apologies! I hate how my glasses fog up all of the time! :-/

Last week was a great first week at work. I am going to be learning a lot and I am coming into a project where I have the opportunity to set things up the way I want. It will be fantastic! I am very excited about it. I am learning a lot of Microsoft Access in the process which to me is quite fun. The people I am working with are fantastic also. That makes it great to go into work too.

Outside of the work, the first week's weather was terribad. Yes, terribad. 3 or 4 thunderstorms. The worst of which was Friday late at night where it sat on top of my apartment (it sounded like it) and was very very loud. I am just glad it was on Friday so I didn't have to get up the next day for work.

On Friday afternoon, after I got off at noon, which is freakin' amazing, I went view an apartment. I went to The Arlington at Eastern Shore and saw an available 2 bedroom apartment they had with an attached garage. We thought it was pretty good, but we thought I should look around some more before we just jump into it.

Later that evening, I went down to Fairhope on the outskirts of downtown to Happy Hour with my new boss and his wife. The restaurant was very homey with a live band. We had a great chat and I left about 8. I just played on my computer for a little while before the thunderstorm started. The first picture is the scenic road on the way to Fairhope (I know, I know, I shouldn't be doing that while driving). The second is a picture from outside of the restaurant.

On Saturday, I went to a few more apartment complexes (in the pouring rain) and saw some of the available places. There were a couple of really nice places, but they all had a major issue, so we decided on the Arlington. I went back and the apartment that I saw was rented, but I was able to reserve another apartment with the exact same floor plan, just no garage. I am very excited about the new apartment! Here are some pictures of the new place. The last picture is a picture of the woods at the apartment complex that I am at now.

After the apartment hunting on Saturday, I saw the Harry Potter movie. It was a great ending to the movie series. I was sad that they did not spend more time on some things, but oh well. Hopefully they will have an extended edition out soon.

Sunday was miserable weather too. Lots and Lots of rain. This weekend is shaping up to be much better. Not sure what I am going to do about it...

All in all, a pretty great first two weeks! I look forward to having Christine out here! I miss everyone so much! Shout out for Christine's videos of Kenny! They are so cute. Also, Apple, you are amazing for making facetime so easy to use.

I will blog again soon.

Alabama!

Hey Y'all!

This is Curtis in Alabama! i flew out yesterday early in the morning. There was a really good deal that Continental had on an upgrade, so I took it! I flew first class from LAX to Houston. Boy was it worth it! The breakfast was really good and it was very comfortable.

I slept on the next flight from Houston to Mobile was a little delayed, but I wasn't really in a hurry so I didn't mind. I ended up sleeping pretty much the entire flight. I am glad that I did. It gave me a bit of energy that I needed from the early morning that day. I got to the temporary apartment and the complex was very nice. I am on the second floor in the apartment closest to the parking in the picture below. Yes, that is my car! I was able to get it today!

The apartment is very nice and perfect for what I need for the first days here in Mobile. I really like the kitchen and the color scheme of the apartment.

I just went to Wal-Mart and picked up some groceries and essentials (soap, gel, etc.) The people are really nice out here. I was wearing my Stanford hat and shirt today and I have gotten a couple comments about how good they are going to be this year!

It has been a really good experience so far, but I really do miss everyone! Stay tuned for more from the South!

Next blog: Pictures of the area!