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.

Tyler the Miler (and Amber the Ambler)

Well done Ty and Amber for the half marathon today. I await the details, but pretty good times for both of you. I expect we'll see 13.1 stickers on your cars soon. That's quite an accomplishment!

Have been fooling around with social media today for our nonprofit, Franklin Tomorrow. With Ty's help, we created a wiki that I am calling All Things Franklin (thanks, Ellyn, totally ripped off the name) which I hope will turn into a site that all people will turn to as a central depository of information on Franklin. This is one of the goals of Franklin Tomorrow, to provide an information source for its citizens. You can check it out here

Destroy him

Take no prisoners; don't let him breathe; scrape the skin from his bones; does he know with whom he is dealing, and yes, I said that grammatically correct; someday he will be a democratic senator's staffer; you might as well take him out now.

UNreal.

okay so just kidding about the flunking out part. but on another note, there is a coup going on in roosevelt@UGA right now. i think it's a ridiculous story and wanted to let you all know that yours truly has been attacked. there is a junior on our board who has got to be one of the most power hungry people i've ever met. and let's just all remind ourselves that this is a student run campus organization. how much power can you get from that?! at any rate, he has attacked me as someone who "should have never have been put on the board" and has said that as one of the event coordinators i should "not be a part of discussion" and should not weigh in on policy matters. i have never been so frustrated with someone in my life. this is why i don't ever want to run for office or be involved in partisan politics. i mean seriously, why are you wasting your time blashpheming my name when you should just be doing your job? and on top of all this, i've been on the board longer than he has, have written better policy than he has, and have been more involved in the roosevelt institute national organization than he has. why are some people so ridiculous? it is clear to me and everyone else on the board that this has got to stop. this may be the first time in history that we kick someone off the executive board.

sorry to vent on the family blog, but this is insane and i knew you would all still love me anyways. i want to hear what's going on with everyone else's life. i'm sure it is not as immaturely dramatic as mine. Brad and Lea, kudos on the save the dates. they were beautiful!

love to all.

i guess now is a good time to tell everyone i am flunking out....

yikes.

Good Times

Nothing to talk about. Poppop is progressing; Dad is doing well; Ellyn is not flunking out; Brad is killing the right people; Tyler is sitting next to music people. We are content. Mom and I have a social life; Ty is apologetic that we didn't have one for years. Does it get any better than this?

gooooo dawgs. (kind of)

hello family! i hope everyone is well. thanks, mom, for updating us all on the situation with the grandparents. i'm so glad that pop-pop and granny noni are back at home with you guys. i know that's a much better environment, especially for granny to be comfortable. i know this time is hard for grandaddy and kakki and you guys, but i'm so glad they have you to go check up on them and take care of them. you guys are truly an example for all three of us of what it means to take care of and love your parents. hopefully, we can be as good of children to you guys as you are to your parents (c:

i just got back from NYC on Sunday night. the girls and i took our fall break to have a much needed girls weekend/reunion time. we stayed with the terrells (olivia's future in-laws) on roosevelt island. they have a beautiful apartment and it's a great location for traveling throughout the city. it also had a swank rooftop with a beautiful view of the city. i have been so blessed to have this group of Christian girls in my life and i'm so excited to see where life takes us because i know we'll be friends for a very long time into the future. we did some touristy things, but for the most part just enjoyed walking around and being with each other. i'm definitely exhausted from the weekend, but on to bigger and better things!

november is research month for me. i have a couple research papers due in december and am planning on completing my honors thesis in the spring so i'm looking into making that proposal pretty legit before i turn in my application. i cannot believe i'm graduating in may. it seems like these 4 years have passed so quickly and i'm a little scared about the future. but in'sha allah i'll be speaking arabic somewhere next year!

i love you all very much and wish i could see each one of you!

much love from the classic city.

Kakki and Grandaddy updat

Hi from Mom! Just wanted to give all of you an update on Kakki and Grandaddy's situation. We went down for a visit yesterday. Kakki is in Northside Nursing Home in Gadsden. About two weeks ago, she collapsed at home and Grandaddy and Mary, the caregiver, got her to the ER. She was in the hospital for about 10 days with a severe urinary tract infection and sepsis, which is an infection in the blood. Durng the hospitalization, she did not improve as far as strength and she was discharged to the nursing home with the hope that she would regain her strength and be able to go home. This did not happen and she has not improved so now she will remain in the nursing home. We visited her in the nursing home with Grandaddy. The nursing home is a very good one and I was impressed by her care there. She cannot communicate with us anymore and is really unable to respond to us in any meaningful way. For all intents and purposes, she has left us already. It is a matter of when God chooses to take her home. The thing for you all to know is that she has always been such a godly woman, and when she dies, she will surely be in the presence of God as she has served Him her entire life. She was always an amazing example of the best Christian mother and wife I had ever seen. She prayed for each of you before you were born and has always expected that God would honor his covenant through you all. Grandaddy is no less strong in his faith and remains an amazing example of a godly husband who trusts God even in the midst of sorrow. You may be wondering...what can we do.. or is there anything we can do? Your grandfather is so very proud of each of you and your accomplishments and the fact that you are his and mom's legacy. Give him a call when you think of him or Kakki. His home phone # is: 256-442-6070 and his cell is:256-337-4620. His email address is :jecholsjr@aol.com> He reads his email every day and is very interested in your lives and what you are doing. Send him an occasional email or give him a call. It will mean the world to him. Dad and I love you all very much. Mom

Here are some options!

Here are some 5ks in the near future we could do together:

29th Annual Rudolph's Red Nose Run 5K Run/Walk on December 4 @ 6:30 pm
http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1796895&assetId=4B1014B1-E7D6-4782-B446-BCEEB0DD80D8

Dunkin' Donuts Family Fun Run and Walk-a-thon on November 7 @ 8 am
http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1750648&assetId=CC3C74AD-0CF1-41EA-8940-24C5E616D45A

...Does anyone else see the irony in Dunkin' Donuts, Applebee's, and Baskin Robbins sponsoring ANYTHING that causes elevated heart rates?

Saint Henry Tiger Town 5k and Fun Run on November 7 @ 7:30 am
http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1797694&assetId=FFCEE0AF-1801-4D26-B23C-2888C3B65153

Resolution Run 2010 on January 1 @ 10 am
http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1794630&assetId=7F4D9731-02F7-4CB1-8BA3-D106EAF44A54

...just a few suggestions. Both Mama and Papa Alwahab are in for the Boulevard Bolt. I think it'll be fun for both of us to do events with each set of parents before the year is up.

Oh, yeah?

So, we take that challenge, but don't know exactly when. We have to go to Alabama this weekend to check in on Kakki. We can definitley do the 5K walk; it's just our usual Saturday trek. By the way, have you seen Slim, the mother previously known as Laura? She has shed the pounds dramatically. I've started looking for feathers in our bathroom. Can you say eating disorder? But seriously, she looks great.

We just bounce from ill parent to ill parent. It's a great time to be alive, but we still have Wheel of Fortune.

We've got the runs...

Tyler and I just registered for the I Run for the Party 1/2 Marathon on November 14th! I've been training for the half for a while and was supposed to do one yesterday, but Spirit Week combined with Fall Break laziness sabotaged my training and I decided that it would be in my best interest to sit this one out. I was kinda sad because it was the Haunted Half and I was going to dress up...

BUT NEVER FEAR! I've found a Halloween 5k that has a costume contest and everything-- $100 for the best costume, $100 for the best Michael Jackson look alike!

Mom and Dad E, it's a run/walk. Ya'll should come out and join us! You don't HAVE to dress up. You can just laugh at all the heathens out there.

http://www.irunfortheparty.com/index.php?page=events_view&event_id=6

Tyler and I are also going to do the Boulevard Bolt with Papa Alwahab on Thanksgiving Day! Want to make it an Alwahab-Echols family event? It's for a good cause (www.boulevardbolt.org) and it's a lot of fun, from what I hear. It's a 5 mile run/walk down Belle Meade Blvd and it supports homeless services in Nashville.

Anyway. That's what's new with us. We've been inspired by all the weight loss going on over there on Jackson Lane and don't want to be the only 2 fatties in fabulous Las Vegas in April. Brad, Lea--I think that was the perfect motivation to put a little hitch in our giddy up and get moving again. (Tyler's comment to that last sentence, "When did we become 45 year old people?!")

Hope all is well with everyone else. Can't believe the holidays are approaching so soon--Christmas is less than 9 weeks away! EEK! Let's get those Christmas lists circulating, people!

PopPop Update

PopPop was released from the hospital on Tuesday, and had a great day yesterday. They are at John and Janice Findlay's house. I am going down on Friday night and will drive them all back in their car. I think Mom is ready to be home after two weeks. She says PopPop is looking great and feeling much better.

Thanks for all of the updates.

Vegas Baby

This blog seems to really be rocking now, so I guess it's only appropriate we fill you in on our glamorous Vegas life. From working the midnight to 8 am shift to shopping for home furnishings, it's basically the rock star life. And I am proud to say, now that Lea is feeling better, we are a cumulative $1.75 up on the house! She really knows how to use those video blackjack machines! A little more and we might not be welcome at the casinos. Seriously though, our house is really coming along and we are open for business if anyone would like to come visit. We love having guests and we've already hosted a few pretty awesome weekends with Academy friends, Steve and company, and the Markovics plus Leo. As of now Val, Andrew, and Audrey are going to visit for Thanksgiving, so we are really looking forward to that!

Even if you can't visit soon, get excited for the wedding. It's going to be great! We've been planning all the details to make it a great time for everyone and the website should be up soon with lots of pictures and information to check out. Besides the wedding being a great time, we're just really excited for the whole week/few days leading up to it. It's going to be a giant Echols/Markovic family reunion in fabulous Las Vegas! I've got a feeling Mom E or Mom M is going to hit it big, just a feeling. Also, Lea and I are fairly certain we want to go to France for the honeymoon, so we'd love it if all you world travelers gave us some advice for cool things to do. We were thinking of a few days in Paris then a drive south to the coast. And Dad I know you have experience grabbing dinners in small French towns from the locals. I think it involved hand signals and animal sounds; sounded like a solid technique.

We're really glad to hear everyone in the family is doing better now though. Mom, you really are a great nurse, Lea and I have used your vast medical knowledge more than a few times already. But it is kind of ridiculous to ask about my BMs at the Thanksgiving dinner table, I'm just saying. Everyone stay healthy, it is the flu season and it's hit us pretty hard. Can't wait to see everyone sometime soon if not in April. Love you all!

B and L

fall.

hello family,

i hope everyone is doing well, wherever you may be. i'm glad to hear pop-pop and kakki are both doing well. mom, i know you're exhausted but you're a wonderful nurse and daughter and i'm so thankful we all have you to take care of us. Athens is beautiful in fall and i'm continually reminded that i made the best choice ever coming to school here. my house is freezing and the gas company can't come until tuesday to hook us up. guess i should have gotten that together earlier. whoops.

i recently took on a job with olivia's boss at plainjane designs in five points. it's a kitchy little everything-monogrammed and pink&green shop but they also print invitations and stationary (which is what olivia's job is). i've become her social media person, so i'll be updating a blog, twitter and facebook page for the store. i think it'll be a really good way to learn about business and promoting things using all the wonderful technology we have at our fingertips. and there's nothing bad about a little cash flow.

me and the roommates are going to new york for fall break (halloween weekend) and while i'm excited there's a lot in athens i should be doing. i suppose we're all trying to spend some time together before everyone scatters to the ends of the earth.

anyway, just wanted to drop a line and say hello. brad & lea, get on here and update us all on the glamorous happenings of las vegas!

love you all.

So, Kakki has been moved to an assisted living facility in Gadsden for physical therapy. They are going to try to get her on her feet. She has been weak and unable to stand for acceptable periods. Grandaddy is doing a good job taking care of her. PopPop is getting better and may be discharged tomorrow, but if not then then probably on Wednesday.

What a week!

So, I'm in Nashville by myself, realizing I don't do solitude well. Mom is in Jacksonville taking care of PopPop. He is doing well, but the truth in our modern healthcare system is that you do not rely on hospital staff to care for patients. So Mom is sleeping in a chair all night, and doing that nursing thing. She is trying to get some sleep and a shower in the afternoon, then going back for the night shift.

Grandaddy is taking care of Kakki in the hospital in Gadsden. She is doing fine; just getting some IV antibiotics for an infection.

Tyler came over yesterday before taking off for St Louis to visit Eric Becker. Sounds like fun, and a lot of beer.

Back in the office tomorrow to catch up on the work I missed while out. Hopefully back in a schedule again.

swim team, grades, and fall break...oh my!

we started practice this week at TSU. it has been mildly terrifying meeting the other coaches at different schools and worrying that i have no idea what i'm doing, but hey...it's cool. i've done this before and i think we'll be alright in the end.

my grades are due tomorrow morning at 8am. that's literally 36 hours after the quarter ends. not a lot of time. especially when i'm expected to write meaningful comments for all 80 of my students. i had to proctor the PSAT this morning so i maaaybe got 5 done. this is probably going to be a long night. but that's okay because...

...parent/teacher conferences are tomorrow and friday!!! wait...i'm not excited at all about that. in fact i'm terrified. i would ask...why is it that out of 80 kids, i only have 3 conferences scheduled and none of those 3 are with parents i actually need to talk to? mom, didn't you always go to parent teacher conferences? did you ever really need to? probably not...i mean...we were really awesome kids...right? ...right?

the good news is that over this mountain of work and worry is the promised land: fall break. we have a wedding to go to on saturday (amber's high school friend Rudy) and then off to st. louis to hang out with eric and lu! that is i think probably the most exciting thing that has happened in a long time. i've realized that one of the hardest thing about being an adult, is that your friends move off (or you move off) and then you only see these people that you care about deeply once a year! or less! i don't know how you guys (mom and dad) did that with the military. and then with us. i'm sure we prevented the last minute trip to wherever to see whoever (whomever? grammar sucks...) or at the very least made it difficult. well i'm sure you can understand how excited we are to see our great friends.

ellyn, i totally envy your time in morocco. hopefully at some point we'll be able to visit you when you're working there...right???
mom & dad, you guys look like you're having a blast. and mom, that hat is so you.
love you guys.

it's raining here, too ...

but then, it's Portland. Have had dry weather for several days, but today the rain started and apparently won't stop for 9 months. Had classes at the Land Trust Alliance Rally 2009 all day yesterday, but today don't have classes until this afternoon.

its raining...and pouring...

hello family!

i'm so glad to see people posting and reading already. I'm working on the template and trying to make it a bit more exciting than it is right now. it has literally been pouring in Athens for 5hrs straight now and everything's starting to flood. i'm glad to have my rain boots and even more glad for the umbrella/rain jacket combo i've worked out since my jacket seems to no longer be water proof....odd. it's hard for me to get up and go to class on days like these, especially because my tin roof over my room amplifies the rain to 11 (tyler, you should get this reference) and i just want to lay in bed and listen to it.

i'm so glad you guys are enjoying the great northwest, mom and dad. i'm jealous of your adventures but am so glad you get a vacation. tax-free shopping sounds legit- is it always tax-free in portland?

i've been missing morocco a lot lately and have a serious itch to travel. i'm working on polishing up my fulbright right now and thinking of re-vamping my personal statement in order to really communicate my passion for the middle east. it sounds so silly, but i can still smell the markets and hear the flow of native speakers arabic- its something i really love and need to get back to. just thought i'd share some pictures with you guys from it.

i hope everyone is well and let's keep this blog going....whooooooop!

Mt Hood

Mom and I are sitting in the Timberline Lodge 2/3 up the slope of Mt Hood at abour 6k feet. We just went up a ski lift to 8k feet and froze!

We have had a great day up the Columba River gorge.