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.