Once There was a Girl on Rocky Top

I’m receiving a lot of excitement that I’ve finally posted new blogs following two months of inactivity—but, my sister is wondering why I didn’t blog about her recent wedding (hence the reason I haven’t had much time to blog). Normally, I don’t like to blog about places I travel simply because this blog is about living in the City. I also try to shy away from mentioning full names to respect people’s privacy, but since she asked for it…..

September 15^th one of the busiest years of my life ended (and that’s only coming from the perspective of a bridesmaid). My middle sister, Megan, got married in our hometown in North Carolina. During her 10-month engagement, we celebrated in true Southern fashion. From engagement parties to dress shopping to wedding showers to a cross-country bachelorette party, this past year has been an amazing one for my entire family.  

I began writing this post and found myself practically writing a novel. So much happened during the wedding weekend that I’ve decided instead to write my Top 10 highlights from the Skidmore/Simmons wedding weekend:

1)      Hair Salon: Getting ready at the hair salon with Megan and her bridesmaids was the perfect time for us. My sweet grandfather brought us applesauce donuts from Barber’s Orchard and mimosas, and we all spent hours laughing together while we got pampered.

2)      Drinking buckets of beer on the golf course: Following our trip to the hair salon, we spent more than an hour taking photos. We didn’t want to lose our buzz, so we ordered buckets of beer at the Club and continued the party on the green!

3)      The wedding photographer: Our old friend, Dani Rose, was the photographer for the weekend. For someone who’s so intimately a part of the wedding, it was important to our family for it to be someone we knew and felt comfortable around. Dani was such a blast…and she drinks on the job ;)

4)      Watching Sam do the worm: I began babysitting Sam when he was 3-years-old, and yet, he’s the same awesome kid just in a bigger body! He entertained the crowd at the reception busting out the worm on the dance floor. So funny!

5)      Avery walking down the aisle: My niece is exactly like her godmother (Me), and she has the sassiest personality of any little girl I know. In true sassy flowergirl fashion, she strutted up the aisle with her tongue hanging out, batting her eyes at everyone sitting down.

6)      Matt’s speech: My sister’s husband, Matt, finished off the rehearsal dinner speeches with a tribute to Orange Country. Touching on NC State’s embarrassing loss to University of Tennessee the previous week, Matt discussed how he listened to Rocky Top play over and over again. One line stuck out to him: “Once there was a girl on Rocky Top, half bear the other half cat. Wild as a mink, sweet as soda pop, I still dream about that.” He then explained how this line said it all—he does dream about that, and he was happy to say he found her and was going to marry her the next day.

7)      You got Iced: In the middle of the reception, two our friends—twins, nonetheless—got onstage to explain they had gifts for Megan and Matt that couldn’t wait to be opened. With the couple in the center of the dance floor and surrounded by guests, they opened the bags to find a Smirnoff Ice waiting in each bag. They got down on their knees and chugged those gifts (Matt had to help Megan)…as the young folks had to explain the joke to our elders.

8)      My dad’s speech: To kick off the reception, my dad welcomed the guests and touched on a few of his favorite stories. In particular, he noted that he was proud to say he not only had three daughters, but now also had two sons. Unfortunately, he turned the tender moment into a punch line by stating that I was the last to get married, and rumor had it that I was joining the convent.

9)      Gas station trip: The wedding party rode in a trolley to and from the wedding, and on our way to the reception, we decided we needed more beer. We made a quick pit stop at the gas station for Megan and Matt to run in and grab a case. It really turned out to be a picture perfect moment—bride and groom with a case of Bud!

10)  Rain storm: Following dinner at the reception, a huge rain storm came out of nowhere. Although the reception was outdoors, the event was protected by a massive tent. When the storm blew in, I was worried everyone was going to leave, but it had the opposite effect. Instead, everyone put on glow stick necklaces and danced for hours!

As much fun as I’ve had helping to prepare for this wedding, I’m now looking forward to a less exciting year moving forward.

If you’re interested in looking at all the wedding photos, you can click this link. 

Boring Island

I’ve often said that I live part of my life in costume. Some of my best memories are dressed in costume, and I find myself always making solid plans to attend any event that requires a little dress up. With that being said…Halloween (aside from St. Patrick’s Day) is my favorite holiday.

Every morning I wake up to dozens of daily deals. Anything from Groupon to Living Social to Bloomspot to Life booker to Google Deals—literally, I think I’m signed up to at least a dozen clothing deal sites in addition to these. A couple weeks ago an alert came through that immediately caught my eye: Coney Island Horror Nights. A trip to the home of the Coney Dog has been on my bucket list, so there was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity to not only go ride rides on the boardwalk, but go on a Halloween-themed night.

Following our weekly kickball game last Sunday, my friend, K, and I headed East on the D train and exited on the last stop at Coney Island. Of course I envisioned a Jersey Shore scene-- guidos, t-shirt shops, funnel cakes, hot dog stands and a working ferris wheel—and how disappointed was I to find an eerily quiet town where the two bars in the town close at 7:30. In fact, I was waiting for the mafia to pull up beside us on the sidewalk and kidnap us to never be seen again!

Despite our fears, we ventured into the theme park, where the only relation to a boardwalk was the location of its entrance. The park was isolated from the rest of the boardwalk, as well as a sister park with what appeared to host the only good rides. Nonetheless, we decided to make the most of our journey, so we hopped on the first ride we came to (called “The Tickler.” Yea—terrible name) and from there we rode nearly all of the 10 rides that were actually operating (the ferris wheel was not).

We also walked through two haunted mazes, which actually were pretty scary. We were grabbed by different masked characters and chased with chainsaws. For some reason, I constantly kept having scenes from Criminal Minds play in my mind, and I was sure if I was going to die early, this was going to be how—in a haunted maze with a masked killer, armed with electric tools.

After our fill of rides, I was looking forward to a Coney Dog and funnel cake, but they didn’t even have any stands that offered this! I was SO disappointed! While our evening adventure was fun, I would not recommend anyone spending the time or money to venture there. I think the glory days of the Island ended after its mention in “Five People you Meet in Heaven,” considering most people would rather end up in heaven then to have to endure the bore of the theme park.

In the interim, I’ll look forward to sharing a post following the upcoming Halloween parties I’m set to attend on Saturday. My costume is sewn and ready-to-wear. Stay tuned to see what it is!

Ballin' with Bill

Can you believe it has been months since my last post? I’ve recently been feeling like I’ve crossed over and actually become the jaded New Yorker I’ve tried so hard not to become. But last week knocked me back to reality with an event so exciting that it makes even the most obnoxious star-chasers jealous.

Toward the end of summer, I organized a kickball team with my City friends. Our team, Brews Your Daddy, plays through a non-profit organization called ZogSports. The company offers many sporting leagues in which you can create your own team, or act as an individual and join another team looking for team members. It had been such a blast for all of us…a good excuse to be outside playing an elementary school favorite AND an excuse to drink on a Sunday afternoon.

Last week our standard weekly game took an interesting turn when a Ghostbuster joined us. Yup, that’s right, folks—Bill Murray! The event happened so quickly it wasn’t until afterward that I actually learned how everything came about. Apparently, our referee met him on the tram on the way to the game. That particular Sunday we played on Roosevelt Island, which you can get to on a really cool tram that runs above the East River-- similar to a ski lift. Our referee invited Bill (yes, we’re on a first name basis now) to stop by our game to play, and what would you know, but he did!

He kicked the ball once for us, making it to first base. My teammate, M, then kicked the next ball, which was caught by the other team, and in turn, causing Bill to get tagged. As he was leaving, we decided it was probably in our best interest to get a team photo with him.

What a smart decision that turned out to be because in less than 24 hours, that picture went viral! You can see more about the story on Gawker, College Humor, Bro Bible, Huffington Post, Washington Post, Eonline, Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine and my ultimate favorite…PerezFit!

Of course my teammates and I (whom the Gawker audience commented “look like hipsters who just left work”) took every opportunity to flaunt our 15 minutes of fame all over our social networks and attempt to invite other celebrities to join for the next game. Needless to say, Snooki did not show up at our last game as I hoped, but there’s always next season!

As a side note—I’m taking requests for public appearances and autographs, so just leave a comment on the post if you’re interested. Oh, and keep your eyes peeled because in 2013 yours truly will be appearing in a comedy documentary with my teammate, L, to talk about our time with Bill and, in his very own words, “…say a prayer, and drink to world peace.”