published. BAM.

dear family,

i am officially published. i'll sign autographs later.

love,

me.

(you can download the PDF here)

http://www.rooseveltcampusnetwork.org/policy/solutions-south

this is not a complaint.

the title of the post is the preface and disclaimer for what comes next. dad, i am so appreciative and grateful that you allowed me to live in the cute and cozy house of my choice in the up and coming neighborhood that is still sketchy sometimes and trusted my judgement. so, please don't say 'i told you so' but...

my house is a piece. of crap. i mean i knew it was a piece, but needless to say i'm excited to move out in may. tonight's edition of 'the poplar house is falling apart' resulted in olivia and me listening...that's right, standing there and listening....to a squirrel munch on a chestnut in our kitchen cabinets. i mean clear as day. having no idea what it was, i bravely grab a flashlight and open the cabinet door, broom in hand (i needed a weapon obviously). while it wasn't as terrifying as the time the raccoon clung to the doorframe of the garage door in brentwood hissing at mom and i while dad batted it out of the house with a broom, and tried not to let it run inside, tripping on the stairs and falling down, leaving himself vulnerable to attack (if you read that whole sentence in one breath it really adds to the drama of the story) it was indeed nerve wracking. luckily the little guy had already left our house but the flashlight shed some light (see i can make puns, too...is that a pun? okay, i can't make puns) on the real issue. we have no less than 30 cracked nuts in the back of our pantry, leading me to believe that there is a hole between the outside world and our kitchen. a hole through which mr. squirrel brings in nuts and munches on them amongst our pots and pans. this thought disgusts me.

and so now we embark on the emails to my landlord in which i will demand that someone more qualified than me armed with a broomstick come figure out what is living in the walls of our house and how to get them out. to which he'll stall....i'll email some more....yada yada yada. i will prevail though. this cannot end up like the call i got from my roommates while i was in DC telling me there was a dead squirrel rotting in the ceiling above my room, and they were sorry but maggots were falling onto my desk. unreal.

i love you all. it's really late and i've been up since 630am so this is probably a little ridiculous but i feel i've neglected the family blog so i'm making up for it with a super post.

sadness

UGA VII...noooooooooooooooooo!

Love you all

Loved the challenge to my grammatical judgment. Amber and Ty did such a great job, and were obviously suffering the consequences as of Sunday when we visited. We are getting excited about our Disneyworld trip in December. Just had a good conversation with Susan Perry. Are looking forward to time with Susan, Ellyn, and the Mindy's.

just fyi, echols...

executive decision is on!

Ambler? That hurts me. The Truth hurts sometimes.

Yes, yes. Amble I did. I clocked in at the breakneck speed of 13.1 miles in THREE HOURS!

Usain Bolt's got nothin' on me!

While neither of us set any land speed records, Tyler and I did in fact complete our first half marathon yesterday. The I Run for the Party's inaugural Nashville 1/2 Marathon was a great success and I think a good time was had by all.

A good time, however, is NOT being had by my knees right now. So this is what rheumatoid arthritis feels like! Golly Moses do I ever wish I had some chondroitin right now!

I guess I can't complain too much. The race benefited the Cancer Awareness Project and part of the organizers' goal was to get more people to join the Bone Marrow Donor Registry (which we both did!). To tug on the heartstrings, they had a 7 year old patient there named Angel who has to get weekly blood transfusions because they can't find a marrow donor match. I think the pain in my knees is nothing compared to THAT, so it provides a little perspective.

tailgating and politics.

so a million points to dad for the best blog title....tyler the miler and amber the ambler had me giggling for a least a minute. yesterday was gameday in the beautiful classic city and what a gameday it was. there's nothing better than walking all over campus, stopping in a tailgate after tailgate, eating copious amounts of food, drinking ice cold beer and talking about healthcare? it occurred to me yesterday that perhaps a tailgate is not the best place to engage in a political discussion. however, let me just preface this by saying it was not initiated by me. i was simply asked my opinion and obliged. after talking to this nice man who was a pharmacist by trade, i realized that people are actually terrified about what's about to happen if this bill goes through the senate. and more importantly, just what can be passed in this administration in general. it's not just left versus right or a slight case of "oh well, i don't really think this is the best option, but what do i know about politics?" people legitimately believe their world is about to end. and while i'm not crawling in a bunker, i don't disagree with them. don't get me wrong, it is not that i've never realized that people care about what Obama is doing. but, after you hear/see the most annoying people in the world calling themselves teapartiers (new word) and citing inconsistent facts as their basis for being so pissed off on the national mall, you kind of want to stop listening. so it was nice to talk to a sane person who legitimately has concerns, has read the facts, and knows why he should be worried. anyway, this man was super honest about how scared he is and basically wished me well in trying to solve the world's problems.

thank you, mr. pharmacist. i'll try.