Because we love people who make us look normal

How I came across this gem, only God will ever know. I skipped the boring parts and went right for the juice.

From the Wilmington local newspaper, published this weekend:

"At seven o'clock on the evening of July 7, 2007, Crystal D. Ross and Richard E. Cummings, M.D., exchanged wedding vows. The celebration took place at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside, which had been completely transformed into the ruins of a Scottish Chapel. The reception which followed was a masquerage ball set to a "Phantom of the Opera" theme.

A lavish 15-foot archway drenched with red roses was the setting as guests entered the exquisite ceremony chapel desinged to portry the ruins of a Scottish Chapel. The chapel was enveloped with a romantic red glow from a hand-painted sunset on a canvas that stretched the length of the room....

...As the ceremony concluded, a harpist serenaded guests as they made their way onto the concourse which had been transformed into the lobby of a Broadway theatre, complete with a box office...as guests were escorted by ushers through a candlelit labyrinth, their first glimpse of the ballroom was a grand sweeping staircase and the bridal party, adorned with beautiful, hand-designed masks...

...Once all the guests were seated, the bride descended the grand staircase to the dance floor to meet her husband, who was attired in a black cape and mask as in "Phantom of the Opera." The couple entertained their guests by re-enacting scenes from "Phantom of the Opera" to perfection."

You can't make this shit up. Further research (because, let's be honest, researching this is more fun than catching up on celebrity gossip) reveals that her hubby (who was the one in a black cape and mask) is a plastic surgeon. More specifically, a boob doctor.

And because I'm a nosy bitch, I've included a few photos (courtesy of google) for full visual enjoyment.

Not that I'm an expert on the subject, but I'd like to clarify just a few things for the world at large.

Trashy: getting married at a hotel that has been transformed to look like the ruins of a Scottish Chapel.

Classy: Flying your guests to Scotland to get married at the ruins of an ACTUAL Scottish Chapel.

Trashy: Transforming your wedding reception into a Broadway Theatre.

Classy: Going on a date with your husband to an ACTUAL Broadway Theatre.

Trashy: Re-enacting scenes from "The Phantom of the Opera" at your wedding reception.

Classy: No re-enacting any scenes from any musical at your wedding reception.

I could go on, but I think you get the point.

A little more black than gold

As many of you may have heard - especially those of you who follow sports closely - our beloved Wake Forest basketball coach, Skip Prosser, died yesterday. I was shocked when I heard the news and I even teared up a bit. I know that sounds dumb, considering that I didn't actually know the guy personally - and he wasn't even the basketball coach until the season after I graduated - but what makes it so tragic was that it was sudden. He was only 56 years old and literally dropped dead of a heart attack.

What I remember about him is that he totally transformed basketball at Wake. He got the student section moved down so we were right next to the court (before that, the close seats were saved for the big-money alumni). He stole students' hearts when he delivered pizza to everyone camping out for tickets (no other coach in recent memory had ever done that before). He ate dinner and lunch at the student center.

And he was just a nice guy. So down-to-earth and someone you could see becoming a mentor or friend. Truly, Wake Forest basketball will never be the same again.

For those interested, here's an article from the Winston-Salem Journal. You can also click on the link to see a photo slideshow. Also, there will be some tributes tonight on ESPN and ESPN Classic, so watch for those.

It's always sad when someone dies. It's sadder when someone dies unexpectantly. And it's sadder still when someone dies who left a mark on a small part of the world and still had so much work left to do.

Friday, July 27, 2007
WFU community 'rolls the Quad' in honor of Prosser The WFU community began paying respects to Skip Prosser early this morning by doing something the beloved basketball coach loved to participate in - "rolling the Quad."

Prosser often joined Wake Forest University students on the Quad to stream the trees with toilet paper after big basketball victories.Rolling the Quad is usually a loud, jubilant celebration. This morning, it was quiet and somber. More than 200 came to the Quad about midnight to show their respects to Prosser, who died yesterday at 56. They included students, former students, faculty and athletes and former athletes. The basketball team was on the Quad at the beginning. They were joined by former WFU basketball stars Chris Paul, who now plays for the New Orleans Hornets, and Justin Gray.

"He was such an honorable, well-respected guy," said Lindsay Donohue, a WFU senior from Winston-Salem who wore her tie-dye WFU T-shirt. "I just wanted to come out here and pay my respects. Also for his family."

Prosser made students feel like they were a part of WFU basketball, and they said they wanted to roll the Quad as a sign of what he meant to them.Senior David Curameng of Fayetteville said he thought it was a cruel joke when Donohue called him to tell him Prosser had died. Then he was in shock, as were many others."He was always up even though our basketball team took a downfall a little," Curameng said. "He really did inspire the student body to always be active with the team, and he just made just made us feel like we were a huge part."

Many people had left campus by 1 a.m., but a few stayed quietly watching as light breezes moved the streams of white paper.

"He was just a great representative of Wake Forest, and I just felt like he played a big role in my life as a student, so I figured it was the least I could do to pay respects to him and his family, " said Todd Augustus, a 2003 graduate of WFU who works at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

Steven Elliott, a 2004 graduate, said he also wanted to be part of the tribute and couldn't believe Prosser was gone. "I was a Screaming Deacon for four years. He provided so much entertainment when I was here."

Jason Carter, a WFU senior from the town of Wake Forest, was among a number of students who spread the word to come to the Quad at midnight.

He described this morning as the most somber Quad-rolling ever. Seeing so many people together quietly on the Quad was powerful, he said. "I guess in a way we're celebrating Skip's life," Carter said. He recalled the times that Prosser would come out to help after a big win. Prosser threw toilet paper on the trees and mingled with everyone else in celebration.

"Everybody's got a story of seeing Skip," he said. And he remembered what Prosser told students before the important games: "I'll see you all here at midnight."

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173352158368

Three years and counting...

On Wednesday, Scott and I celebrated our three year anniversary!

I can't believe it's been three years...for the sake of sounding like a walking cliche, the time has truly flown by. Since it was the middle of the week and I had a big report I was working on, we just went to an Italian dinner. We're planning on beaching it this weekend and hoping to get some time together to celebrate properly.

I have to give props to our best man, Pat. Every year, he remembers our anniversary and gives us a call. Which is a big deal not only because he's a guy (and guys just don't do that kind of thing), but also because I'm surprised he even remembers we got married...he was half dead during the wedding from drinking so much. Let's just say he had to get wheeled out in the wheelchair at the end of the night. Don't worry - we have pictures. And I'm waiting for just the right time to pull them out!

Happy Anni to us!

WTF?

This week, I was in New York City for business. Our flights got in around 5:00 and, fortunately, we made it downtown and to our hotels before the steam explosion. By the time we heard about the explosion, it was in context, so we weren't frightened by the news. However, I read reports where people thought it was something on the scale of September 11 when it first happened. And who could blame them?

But, I ask, if that's the case, then what the hell are these people doing?

Seriously? You think we just had a terrorist explosion and you're busy busting out the cell phones and digital cameras so you can catch it all on film? How about getting the hell out of there?

People will never cease to amaze me. This happened on 43rd Street and my sister lives on 41st, so she was displaced for a bit, but is back in her home safe and sound. A big shout out to her for hosting me this weekend in her abestos-filled apartment! And another shout out to Carson for bringing us out for a night on the town...I believe that was the first time I ever boarded an airplane still drunk after pulling an all nighter. For the record, I drank my younger sister under the table!

Mysteries of the Universe

Today's random thought comes courtesy of a drive down the local highway. As I was passing underneath a set of power lines, I looked up and saw a pair of shoes dangling. We've all seen this before....and not just once. Many times. And I wonder:

What brings a person to throw their shoes up on the power line?

Is it a way to dispose of old running shoes, by whipping them around and around your head only to let them go at full velocity, climbing, climbing until they wrap themselves around the power line?

Or is it a grade-school prank played by a big, fat bully on a poor, skinny nerd, taking his shoes away from him so he has to scamper off barefooted, only to perpetuate the nerd's reputation?

Who's shoes are these? And what posesses someone to throw them up on power lines? I've never done this myself - or had this done to me - so it's hard for me to imagine the situation and to understand why this seems like a fun idea.

If anyone can shed some light....

Taking care of business

Everyday, most of us do something to take care of our health. Maybe we choose the salad over the burger. Or we walk up a flight of stairs instead of taking the elevator. Perhaps it's as simple as taking a multi-vitamin every morning. Whatever it is, most of us have our health on our minds and take steps - however small - to keep our bodies healthy.

We should the do the same for the environment. Everyday, we should all take steps to preserve our planet and make the world a healthier place to live in. They can be big steps, like taking public transportation to work everyday. Or small steps, like recycling glass and plastic. If, everyday, every one of us took steps to save the environment, the impact on the planet could be huge.

Scientists are in dispute as to whether the Earth's rising temperatures are a natural, cyclical event or man-made. Few things in life are black and white, and I believe that, while there may be some natural event going on here, it has, at the very least, been exacerbated by man. (Have you seen the pollution put out by China every second? There's a reason most of us had problems literally breathing in that country). As people who know and understand what we're doing to our environment - with or without the help of nature - we have a personal responsibility to take care of our planet. A personal responsibility.

Today, I walked to and from the grocery store, bringing my own bags. The total environmental impact of my trip was 2 plastic meat bags, to keep the meat from leaking. I could probably do even better. But it feels good to know that I didn't burn natural resources (gas), I didn't emit excess CO2 into the air, and I didn't add plastic bags to the landfill. And I got exercise! A small step, but if I could do that every time I go to the grocery store, think how many bags, how much gas and CO2 I would save over the course of a year.

We have a personal responsibility to take care of our bodies. We have a personal responsibility to take care of our planet. Maybe it's recycling glass, paper and plastic. Or grouping errands together to reduce car trips. Perhaps it's as simple as reusing a shopping bag as a garbage bag. Whatever it is, most of us should have the environment on our minds everyday and take steps - however small - to take care of our planet.

The quickest negotiations...ever

We gave an offer on the house around 1:30 pm. We received a counter at about 3:00 pm. Scott and I discussed a counter at 3:15 pm. They called to confirm at 4:00 pm.

Scott and I are officially under contract with a house and are super excited! Just one step away from true home ownership. To celebrate, we did a Tour de Pottery Barn et Restoration Hardware, just to get some ideas.

The home inspection will hopefully take place next week. Barring any catastrophe, we'll close on August 17th! All these years of tearing out pages from home furnishings catalogs will hopefully pay off.

Today was definitely a lucky day. I don't know...the number 7 just may trump my lucky number 22!

Round Two begins

Scott and I put an offer on a house today. This will be our second offer since, as you may remember, our previous offer on another home got rejected. (As a side note, that house still hasn't sold yet, confirming our judgement that the house is overpriced and the sellers are being stubborn).

I'm hoping the stars align on this new house. I had an appointment on Friday to go by to look at the house we got rejected on, trying to decide if we wanted to put in another bid and open negotiations with the sellers again. Our agent happened to find another home that just went on the market that day and suggested we run by to look at it.

It's really almost perfect. It's everything we want in a home - big, remodeled kitchen with granite countertops, master bedroom bathroom, great entertainment area, cute yard, in the area of Raleigh we wanted to live. It will need a little TLC - there are some things we'll need to do to make it cozier and more up to our tastes. But structurally, everything is there; anything we do will just be cosmetic and require some minor contracting work.

So we made an offer. Really, we gave them asking price, since we felt they were fairly pricing the home and we really felt like this was a steal. Every other time, we've stumbled across a house after it had been on the market a few hours, only to find it was already snatched up. I'm hoping - praying, really - that, this time, we're the ones who are doing the snatching.

After all, it is 7/7/07. That's got to account for some luck.