This past weekend we were assisting my brother and Dad in moving David (brother, naturally) into his new digs in Durham, North Carolina. For those who are unaware or generally don’t care about David (it’s okay if you don’t), David is going to be conducting a Master’s program at Duke University.

Being the model sibling and sibling-in-law, we made the five hour trek down from D.C. to help physically move very heavy things, piece together cheap furniture, and collate David’s somewhat extensive and large collection of books (seriously, this was obviously his pride and joy).

I am certainly not above self-moves, but after saving a few hundred dollars and paying someone else to do it, I don’t see myself going back to the “oneself option” anytime soon. That being said, Dad once again rented out the elephantine Penske truck, hired some strapping young go-getters to assist in the loading (in this instance, our second cousins once removed – right Brittany?) and manhandled the behemoth on wheels up to Bull City (much respect). After this move, I can say with full confidence that Dad is officially retired from this type of move (I think I am too).

Another thing, those particle board based bookcases which can be bought on the cheap at your chain superstore, pieced together by dowels and screws and will undoubtedly be assembled wrong (there are a few pieces that may or may not be upside down) — I’m through with them. It took Dad and I (both marginally handy) about two hours to put together a five shelf six foot high bookshelf. There is certainly something to be said about not only a quality piece of furniture, but clear and concise diagram design (neither was found this weekend).

Unfortunately, with all of the manual labor and heavy lifting (literally), we did not get a chance to check out Durham. That spawned a conversation on the way home about college towns.

Essentially, there is no way, however much we have more than likely romanticized it, that Brittany and I will ever fall out of love with Athens. We have plenty of reasons (rational, irrational, sentimental, momentous) so wherever we end up in the coming years (most likely a college town), Athens will be number one in our minds and hearts.

But, we have had the chance to take a small sampling of collegiate burgs the past few years. In short, tops on my list would definitely be Ann Arbor. The size, the variety, the history … Despite spending a few days there, it definitely wasn’t long enough to take in the shops and the food and drink (oh the glorious food and drink). The downtown was very, very awesome. On the flip-side, unfortunately, College Park has got to be worst excuse for a college town. There is one very small strip of local eateries (not even local shops) and the atmosphere is the pits (Brittany concurs).

Hopefully, in the coming years when we are looking at collegiate towns to move to, we will have a clearer idea of our wants and ideal characteristics.

What a side bar.  The above paragraph is nice, but not really what I set out to write.  As August marks our moving-away-anniversary, it’s become somewhat of a tradition for me to go “back home” to Georgia some time during the month.  And last week, that’s what I did.  I spent nearly a week in the Atlanta metro area, visiting family, friends, and my favorite restaurants.

Family:  I crave the time I get to spend with my parents that doesn’t involve a telephone.  The parents took some days off, so we could share some extra time together.  And, the ominous threat of a jury duty assignment for mom did not interfere one bit.  Mom and I also took a drive to visit Will’s family in Thomaston for an afternoon.  And, finally we spent a bit of time with G&G where Grandma used her magical powers to claim that I will be having a boy because I am carrying baby weight “all in the front”.  We shall see Grandma.

Friends:  Well the impetus for coming home in the first place was the baby shower that Melissa, Deena, and I planned for Heather.  Sweetly, these girls also met me for dinner after Melissa retrieved me from the Atlanta airport.  I was also able to see Grace in all of her teacher glory, and sneak some time with Monica and Erin after church.

Restaurants:  My parents and I drove to Athens to dine at the Grit.  I enjoyed a scrumptious Publix sub, which I’ve been craving.  There were some fries had a Steak n Shake.  I ate at Panera for the first time in forever.  And, apart from restaurants, Mom made some yummy dinners:)

Enjoy some pictures from the baby shower and the Grit.  (It’s clear from the quality of these photos that Will is NOT the photographer…my apologies).

Elephant cake.

Heather opening the gift from Mom and me.  Loving the little hat.

The lovely ladies of apartment 728.

Angelic Dad with his Mondo Burrito at the Grit.  He cleaned his plate.

Mom with her Pasta Fagioli.

My beautiful House Salad with sauteed tofu cubes.  I’ll see you in October, Grit!

There is one thing I love to write about and that is running (the proof is in the pudding). I could wax poetic every week, as long as I am in some sort of state of training, which I find, I am usually within if you are going on the past few years.

I like it, I love it, I hate it, I loathe it. There are definitely feelings that range and vary in the most extreme fashions.

That being said, I have more to say about the topic.

I have finally secured, as I have mentioned before, what I will dub “The Half Marathon Marathon Week” which will run (pun intended) from October 16th thru the 24th (okay, so it’s actually one week and an additional day – sue me). During this week, I will be attempting to go 26.2 miles (and then some … with the travel and all) over the course of two days with a sizable 7 day break in the interim.

The first leg will take place in Baltimore, the second in Athens (where you go when you die if you have been good).

The hardest part has been lobbying my collegiate roommates to join in the final leg. Thus far, three-fourths have accepted the gauntlet I have laid before them. We are still working on that last fourth (with methods varying from reason to shame).

October looks like  it is going to be a month of redemption (deferring the Baltimore Half to this year) and reunion (see above).

Most recently, we visited my family in Pennsylvania last weekend.  I still get a kick out of the fact that the drive is less than 3 hours (compared to 13 when growing up in Georgia).  We helped to celebrate Alex’s (my cousin Jill K.’s (I have two cousins named Jill) little boy) fifth birthday.  We hung out at the Schaeffers’ on Saturday and stayed the night with my Aunt Fay.

On Sunday, we visited the Hibshman family reunion.  This is my mom’s dad’s side of the family.  Although I didn’t know many people, everyone was really nice and welcoming once they figured out that I was “Annette’s daughter”.   It probably would have helped to have mom there as a reference point.  Still, it was great to enjoy time with my mom’s sisters and my cousins.

More generally of late, I’ve been swamped with teaching my first course as an instructor.  The course is an introduction to American Government.  I have five students…yes, five students.  And, they are high school students…yep.  The class lasts for three weeks, and I teach every day for about 3 hours.  I’m tired to say the least.  And, it’s been a challenge to keep the students engaged for that amount of time and to communicate expectations for a college-level course.  Next week we’ll cover political behavior topics, which I’m excited about…hopefully I can generate some excitement in the crowd.

In other news, it’s been hot.  Continually.  And humid.

Run for your lives!

With apologies to John Tenta, apparently we were on the receiving end of an earthquake this morning. Our official statement on the events that transpired? You could’ve fooled us.

The news of the earthquiver got me to thinking about the fact we have been lacking somewhat in the Update Department (are you following my train of thought here?).

With the summer here, we have been putting our noses to the proverbial grindstones. Brittany has been swamped with a three week class she is conducting and I have had a few side projects I have been working on. That and trying to convince my collegiate roommates to run the Athens Half the week after I run the Baltimore Half.

For now, textual posts may be few and far between but we will constantly try to have photos for you to gawk at (Hello Pennsylvania weekender). I mean, the whole “thousand words” thing works, right?

Say "Hey", Kid.

We’ve told our family and most of our closest friends, so now we share the news with the blogosphere.  Will and I are expecting a Baby Bram in early January 2011.  It’s exciting (and scary), and we are so thankful.  And, yes, if you do the math, that means our baby traveled to Africa.

Will has designed a special edition blog dedicated to the Bramlett-let.  Check out the couple of ultrasound photos up there now.  Not sure how active this site will be; we’ll see how it goes.

For anyone interested, Baby Bram is about the size of a medium sized shrimp this week.

I think it would be fair to say that we both are already smitten with our location. When we first began the search, Brittany was definitely more deliberate in seeking out a place in Park View or Petworth. Me? Well, honestly, I kept getting drawn to either the “fashionable” (think Columbia Heights, Capitol Hill, Atlas District) or the familiar (Logan Circle, Mount Vernon Square, Shaw) ignoring, to a small degree, that we have vested interest and commitment to the community we ended up in. I think we are fortunate and blessed to be where we ended up.

All and all, location wise, we are near a handful of our friends, close enough to a Metro, and can walk to bodegas, shops, bars, restaurants, etc. without too long of a stretch of the legs.

Brittany: Just to clarify, we really enjoyed the house in Greenbelt (and have really sacrificed on space here), but we just didn’t ever feel the Greenbelt/suburb love.  And, believe me, there is a lot of it to go around among residents.  People love Greenbelt.  We just loved and missed DC.  So, we’re back!

We live in a basement apartment which is pretty small but has really efficient storage areas–which make it work.  It’s been great to walk to the post office, coffee shop, metro; and it will be even better when it’s not hot and/or humid.  We’ve had a happy first week and hope to stay here for another 2 years.  Plus, moving in consecutive years just stinks (and it’s expensive).

Check it out!

Our new bedroom.

Moses has found himself a new place to hang.

Living area — "Hardwood" floor!

Look at all of that counter space!