A Charleston Wedding

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Tyler Gregg!

May 11, 2013

My Best Friend's Wedding, Part II

(BOLO -"Be on the Lookout"- for the bloopers post to come)

When me and my 4Runner pulled into Columbia, South Carolina, in August of 2004, the only person I knew in the entire state was my dad. He was with me. He left and I voluntarily threw myself into a gym of 700 other freshman girls so that we could voluntarily weave in and out of hundreds of other girls who were clapping and handing out coffee filters (to wipe off the August heat).

On the last day of the madness that is "rush," 50 of us lined up outside the Chi Omega house in alphabetical order. Wouldn't you know it: "Alliman" was a few girls in front of me. From that day forward we were wing-ladies. We lived in the super cool small and quiet out-of-staters dorms which led to copious amounts of socializing. Sometimes I credit our friendship to the fact that I would often say, "Peace be with you," to friends instead of, "Goodbye," and Laura was the only one who would respond, "And with you." We get each other like that.

During our pledge retreat in the fall of 2004.

While this was happening...

...this was happening.

Fast forward about 5 years...

Preface: The following Goggle chat takes place between Rhett and I on May 16, 2009, 

while Laura and I were traveling around Costa Rica.

 8:59 PM me: on another note, what do you think about laura and tyler having a summer fling?

 rhettcraig: who knows

 me: i mean they know it cant be anything serious because they both have law school to go back to in the fall

 rhettcraig: once again, who knowstyler's in town now by the wayme: ooooh yea. lucky yourhettcraig: yeahhe thinks that laura is a hottie

If you haven't already asked me this, you're probably thinking, "What took so long for these two to get together?!" At any given point during college, one or the other was involved with someone else...until that fateful summer of 2009. Fast forward about 3 years... they married! And here is that story:

Kickoff Thursday happy hour with my mom at Rooftop Bar at Vendue Inn

and getting lobster-faced with a steamed/tempura/ravioli trio at Peninsula Grill.

Friday morning mani/pedis at Aqua.

Champagne served with or without bagged hands.

Friday rehearsal at St. Luke's Chapel

and rehearsal party at the Harbour Club.

There are a hundred photos of them like this.

I could cry. #bromance

Perfect, 75 degree wedding gift from the man upstairs.

Putting on our faces and teasing the wedding mullet Saturday morningwith the mother of the groom's first look.
Taping up the feet for the marathon that is: wedding day.
Upstairs at the reception site, the Governor Thomas Bennett House.
Mother of the bride dressing her other daughter in a wedding gown for the second time inside one year.
She finally took a moment to look in a mirror :)
Surprise! We fixed the mullets.
Sneaking in a birds-eye first look shot.
The Greggs.
The ladies.
The Craigs.
Dipping into the banana pudding on the grounds of the Thomas Bennett House.
Kentwool strikes again!

Mrs. Gregg.

They had to leave. They had to catch a flight to Greece.

(honeymoon photos are up on Facebook)

Sunday King Street bliss.

Mother's Day brunch, bellinis, and bloodys at 82 Queen.

Sunday Funday with friends at Red's Ice House.

A boatload of thank yous to the Lee/Alliman/Gregg families for the entire weekend. It was perfect. We laughed, we cried, we plucked dusty millers, and the bride was breathtaking. We are lucky BFFs. 

My Best Friend's Wedding, Part I: A Seattle Wedding

[photo source: Mrs. WRCIV]

Lookalikes!

April Fools Day! Normally I call my mom to tell her I'm pregnant or got into trouble with the law. Nothing fancy. But because lately I've had this spell of "you remind me so much of..." (either physically and/or personality-ly), this year in lieu of tricks and treats, it's...

Lookalikes!

Aly and Lauren + Hotham =

Paula Abdul and Angelina Jolie.

Since starting the 2000s SNL on Netflix, I can't shake...

Jeff as a spitting image of...

Chris Parnell. And he's in the kitchen.
Come on.

Where the physical features lack similarity, the personalities make up the difference.


Shayla and Jama, y'all are so...

       
Sarah Colonna and Chelsea Handler!

This is a new development, but...

Scott is a Puerto Rican...

Ray Romano.

Brittany my dear, you are...

that girl that's going to win American Idol, Angie Miller.

In every way Kelly is...

a pretty Heather McDonald.

And, my love, you will always be...

Philip Seymour Hoffman.

That's all today folks. 

Stay out of trouble 

and happy opening day!

Keep your eye on former Gamecock Jackie Bradley Jr. this season!

"Bradley is one of the most hyped rookies in recent memory for the Red Sox."

-USA TODAY Sports.

Kintsukuroi

A friend passed this along to me. My favorite "viral stuff" is the kind that makes you pause in your day and think. The best jokes makes you think, but so does something like this: the art of kintsukuroi. Every now and then among the plethora of "egreeting cards" and "bad cat" photos out there, I come across a diamond in the rough. For my Dalai Lama post, I would have ruined the words had I added any commentary.

As a notorious optimist that now understands the art of kintsukuroi, I'll never look at the broken/the refurbished/the repaired the same way again:

While I'm in my happy place, I figured I'd repost a few of my favorite photos from the beautiful Best of 2012: 26 Moments That Restored Our Faith In Humanity This Year:

The parents who made their son's wheelchair into the best Halloween costume ever

A kind stranger who stopped a day from being ruined

["Didn't want your car to get wet. Have a nice day!"]

The people that helped out any way they could [after Hurricane Sandy]

The Disney security guard who is amazing at his job

This brave kid who stood up against hate

["God hates no one"]

The man who comforts the old dog that saved his life

[cradling him in Lake Superior to soothe the dog's arthritis]

Ellen Degeneres says, "Be kind to one another," at the end of every show. These people must start their day that way, not because they expected their gestures to go viral, they're just kind. Muchas gracias to all of these angels. I'll end with this: 

 "If life is a game, aren't we all on the same team?" 

-Kid President (a pep talk from Kid President to you).

Now let's all get out there and be kind! Go team!

[photo source: Buzz Feed, Tumblr]

Guinness World Records

I've been told a time or two that I can be quite the random individual. Eating hearts of palm out of the can, then wondering where on earth the delicacy comes from (I know, the heart of a palm, but more specifically), then my train of thought is up and away, out of my control. Outside of work, if I had a dollar for every time I clearly explained my thought process, I would have no dollars.

Anyways, the other day I was randomly remembering how much I loved to read The Guinness Book of World Records when I was a kid. Sometimes my friends and I would try to see if we could build the world's longest chain out of those white flowers that grow in clover. Then, of course, we would lose interest. By some odd coincidence (having not thought about this book for a long time), the Bachelor took a date to the Guinness World Records museum last night.

In my quest to rediscover this long lost hobby, I was pleasantly surprised at how interactive this world of record-breaking has become! On their website, you can register to set a record, invite a judge to your record-breaking event, search their archive of records, etc. I had to pick my jaw up off of the floor as I started to browse the outlandish records. My interest in mental health and the social worker in me immediately kicked in as I wondered what leads people to perfect such odd crafts. I had to share some.

As of January 2010, Niek Vermeulen of the Netherlands has collected 6,016 airline sickness bags from 1,142 different airlines from more than 160 countries. He has accumulated them since the 1970s.

In September 2004, Ilker Yilmaz of Turkey squirted milk from his eye a distance of 9 feet 2 inches.

In April 2009, Fan Weipeng of China broke 102 glass bowls with one finger in one minute.

In 2007, Ashrita Furman of the United States hopped one mile on a pogo stick while juggling three balls in 23 minutes 28 seconds.

Ahem... In 2004, the longest ears on a dog measured 13.5 inches and 13.75 inches and belonged to Tigger, a bloodhound! I, of course, went to measure Jack's. His measure about 8 inches apiece.

In 2010, Zach Wong of Canada played Guitar Hero for 50 hours 3 minutes straight.

In 2008, Ashrita Furman (of pogo stick juggling fame) traveled a distance of 5,472 feet 9 inches while balancing a pool cue on his chin.

In June 2010, James Thompson of the United States supported 407.8 pounds while skipping rope 10 times.

In 2011, Alastair Galpin of New Zealand put 13 gloves on one hand in one minute.

Anyone looking for a new hobby? The next time you need a five-minute break, I invite you to Google image search "Guinness World Records." It's a crazy world out there and it appears this culture of record-setters has left no stone unturned. What will they think of next?

[photo source: Wikipedia]

A good year

We like to keep our holidays cards short and sweet, but there was so much more to our year than 12 photos and a few words. I suppose that's one of the beauties of a blog? I'll go with that. Here is a look back on the priceless memories of 2012 with a special thanks to everyone we love for sharing them with us:

We took our first photo of 2012

and our best friends got engaged...to each other :)

Spent sunny afternoons at Falls Park after wedding planning

and Easter Sunday with the loves of my life.

Engagement parties and wedding showers

led to wedding weekend

and May 19th.

So we honeymooned in the Virgin Islands

then spent lazy summer days on the river with friends.


Our babies are getting a little older and a littler wiser...our silver foxes...

watched Gamecock baseball make it to the CWS Championship Game...

for the third year in a row (#gococks)

and made a trip to Kansas for my uncle's big birthday surprise.

I became Auntie Em to Aedyn

and we played around at the beach.

Rhett did his first triathlon

then finally scratched Chicago off of his bucket list.

Watched Gamecock football have the best season in school history (11 wins)

Rhett kept runnin'... and I kept watchin'

Friends upon friends upon friends got married

I'm blogging

and we voted.

Spent Thanksgiving with the Craigs in Aiken

then to Seattle for my best friend's wedding, Part I.

Back to Kansas for Christmas and to put science 

projects together with my favorite little ones

and washed the whole year down with champagne in Columbia.

My dad once said to me that the older you get, the more responsibilities you have, but the more fun life becomes. He's been right so far. Happy 2013 everyone! Make lots of memories and take lots of pictures. It's always interesting to me when people say, "this year just flew by!" I hear people say that every year. Enjoy the moments because this year is sure to "fly by," too! :)

[photo source: Mrs. WRCIV]