Race for the Cure

Last Saturday mom and I participated in Race for the Cure benefiting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation with my cousin and her family. It was our first time to join the race, and it really was a lot of fun. Here's out team right before the start.

My cousin's little boy, Solomon, had quite the get up with a wagon ride and all the free snacks from the vendors. He was sitting pretty the whole race!



My cousin Christina organized the team in honor of her mother-in-law, a breast cancer survivor.

The boys - Solomon and Elijah - call their grandmother LaLa, so the team name was "Laps for LaLa." Even Elijah in his stroller was all decked out and ready to go.

He was actually perky for 8 in the morning too!

Here's Christina and her husband, Jonathan, who's a high school teacher and recruited a lot of his students to join the race. (Can we say extra credit? ;))



My Aunt Cathy (Dad's sister) and mom.

Mrs. Judy - Jonathan's mom who's victory over cancer we were celebrating - and her husband enjoyed pushing Elijah. We all walked the 3K that wound through downtown Birmingham, starting and ending at Lynn Park.

I can't remember the total number of participants, but Birmingham drew a pretty large crowd.

You can see everyone packing out the street.


Here's the finish!

UAB Homecoming

Here it is ... the first ever work-related blog posting! We really had a fun week last week during UAB's homecoming. Here's me with my supervisor Daphne (left) and co-worker Melanie (middle) at our office luau luncheon on Thursday. Dr. Kahn, our vice president, catered Full Moon BBQ for all the departments under her purview. It was a lot of fun. I've really enjoyed getting to know Daphne and Melanie. We have a neat donor relations team. They've taught me a lot and we have a good time working together.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good the Homecoming parade was on Friday. The whole week embraced a Hawaiian theme since UAB played the Tulane "Green Wave." UAB even pulled out a win in the game. Here's Daph and Melanie right before the parade began.





Coach Calloway and the football team.

President Garrison in mid candy throw. She spearheaded a "Be Seen in Green" faculty and staff campaign during football season (and especially during homecoming) to encourage faculty and staff to support the school and build a sense of community. I think it's helping give UAB less of a commuter campus feel and more of a school identity.



Here's Dr. Kahn, my vice president, in the back.

The floats were really creative and cute.

These guys were just being stupid and crazy. Still, the "Your mom goes to Tulane" sign made me laugh.



A lot of the schools (medicine, dentistry, nursing, etc.) sponsored floats, as well as some student organizations.







This one reminded me of my dad. He would have liked it. Is it bad that whenever I see anything toilet-related I think of him? I guess that's your curse when your dad's in plumbing sales!



Ben and Leigh - this one's for you. Here's your former dean and dean (School of Health Professions) riding the Green Way! Most of the dean's really got into it and played the part!

This is the School of Public Health dean's actual lime green Gremlin!



I always have to take pics of cute kids! Apparently they make children's mascot costumes for every school. Or maybe this is a Halloween costume.

The School of Engineering took the cake with their metallic version of Blaze the dragon. I heard it was originally supposed to be fire-breathing (literally), but that got nixed at the last minute.



This poor guy had a little car trouble but eventually got things under control.

I work in the Admin building on 20th street, where President Garrison also works. She sponsored a spirit contest for all the departments in our building. Here's some of theUAB Events ladies who work in my department along with the development, stewardship/donor relations (my group), gift records, planned giving, prospect research, and alumni affairs folks. They're so fun. They served as back up singers for Joan (white grass skirt), our business officer, who made up her own UAB homecoming song, performed it in the lobby, and won our department a doughnut breakfast!

Needless to say, it was a really fun week. But I'm actually looking forward to a return to normalcy! Craziness can wear you out!

A Week of Julia!!

This past week we had the wonderful privilege of hosting Julia! She graciously decided to once again spend her fall break in Alabama - to the delight of Leigh, Morgan, Robert and I - and all of her many Alabama friends!

I hope after 7 days in Birmingham, Atlanta, Tuscaloosa, and Auburn she got her "Southern fix." Her Colorado accent actually started to go away as her southern one crept back in. But it always does that. I'm sure her 20+ second graders will comment on her voice sounding different Monday morning when she returns to class and slips out a "y'all!" She's always had this crazy knack to pick up an accent or drop one really easily.

It was great to all get together again - Leigh, Julia, Morgan, myself and Meg.

Times clearly haven't changed since we were college roommates as we still have to deal with the crazy boys (former boyfriends who are now husbands) who drink all our milk and pop their heads in our pictures...

...and who take pictures when we're clearly not ready.





Not sure why we're blurry in this one.

To be honest, Julia really wore us out. I don't think we've gone out that much since we've been married! You know you're old when can't revert back to one week of college life! We did have a blast at Cheesecake factory (here with some of Julia's education friends and Laura) and later in the week at Cafe Venice in Tuscaloosa for the Wednesday night "half off pizza and wine" special. It was just like old times. Only the freshman looked younger.







Thanks so much, Jules, for sharing your vacation with us! It always does my heart good to see you! Can't wait until we get to visit you in Colorado Springs - hopefully sometime soon!