Weekend wedding

Ok, time for a happy post. :)

I attended the wedding of an old friend this weekend. Specifically, my first real boyfriend (i.e. we actually went out on dates), Luke. We dated for a few months in high school (circa 1996) and discovered that we made better friends instead of the dating pressure. We sang together at church & school and even danced together on the Broughton stage in show choir (ahhh, the memories).

Luke married his college friend "Rockie" on Saturday, September 23rd at Providence Baptist. The ceremony was especially special because Luke's father conducted the nuptials.

Their first dance





Cake cutting


Miles, Audrey & Brian saying hello to Luke


Ok, and for good old times sake - here's us back in high school (pictures I had to scan, so they ain't so pretty)

At the Queen of Hearts Dance (February 1996)


At our final Broughton "Spirit Show" (1998)

Are you freaking kidding me?!

From WRAl: "Area Mayor Proposes Adding Tolls To Northern Part Of I-540"

Ok, this is starting to get personal - tolls for ALL sections of I-540. Umm, how is this legal? The road has been PAID FOR and built as a state funded highway, how can it be possible to assess tolls on a PAID road?! (oh, yeah that's right, our governor who hasn't done a lot in his 2 terms, signed a bill last month to allow it) Next they're going to charge retroactive tolls for all that live along the I-540 corridor who've been using it. I can see it now... a bill comes to our mailbox for a retroactive toll of $5,000 for using 540, 5 days a week for 2 years.

"A Wake County mayor says tolls on Interstate 540 are just plain necessary, and everyone ought to bear the burden of getting the road finished and paid off."

Umm, how about not? We've born the burden with our tax dollars to build 540 thus far. TAX DOLLARS. Money we did not CHOOSE to pay for the roadway, but were REQUIRED.

"We in the south from our taxes have paid for the north part of the loop," said Sears. "Let's ask them to help pay for our part of the loop in the south by tolling the existing roads." (Holly Springs Mayor Dick Sears)

Umm, correct me if I'm wrong, but we've all paid the taxes for the road and are all still paying the taxes to fund the completion of the road. And how about at least 2/3 of your population have JUST moved there in the past 1-2 years from the northeast?! Hmm? How about that? They sure the heck haven't paid out taxes for the entire project!

"That way, Sears said, construction could start sooner and the roads would be paid off faster. However, mayors in the north, like Wake Forest's Vivian Jones, said it's a new idea that complicates an already complicated issue.
"I'm not immediately opposed to it, but I really don't embrace it either," said Jones. "I'm certainly willing to talk about it. This is a regional problem and we need to work on it in a regional way."

I'm trying to gather my thoughts to write to Mayor Jones this afternoon. Right now I'm just a bit too flustered and *SO GLAD* that we did not move to Holly Springs. We choose our northern county location because of I-540 and the fact that we could use it any time we needed.

News TOO good not to post

From Raleighing:

"Chick-Fil-A Coming to Cameron Village



Chikfila Ladies and gentlemen...the most obvious business opportunity in the history of Raleigh, North Carolina is finally coming to fruition. We just got word that a free-standing Chick-Fil-A will replace the old dry cleaners building behind the McDonald's in Cameron Village. The City of Raleigh better put all downtown and North Hills plans on hold because they will promptly need to widen Oberlin Road, Cameron Street, and Peace Street to handle the massive loads of traffic to be generated by this "cash cow".

OH. MY. GOODNESS. This is *right* across the street from my office. I am in SUCH BIG, MONSTEROUS trouble having a CFA so close. Previously, the closest was in Cary or out at North Hills. CAN'T wait! (also I was just thinking as I sat at McD's this afternoon how ugly that part of Cameron Village is - the rest has all been nicely updated and sadly right next to McD's (the old Balentine's Cafeteria/tempoary library location) looks ignored.)

I do strange things when Paul is away

Sushi. I love it. I don’t eat it very often and I’ve found myself craving it lately. We never had a chance to sample real authentic Japanese sushi while in Hawaii (yes, I know that I seriously missed out, but we were out eating other things like....Mexican, hee).

For the second meal this week I have found myself in a local supermarket purchasing sushi. [gasp?]



For dinner last night I decided to check out Lowe’s Foods to see if anything there struck my fancy. [ding, ding] Spicy tuna rolls came home with me. And today, just moments ago, I went to Harris Teeter with the intention of getting a salad or making one from the bar, however, the FRESH SUSHI bar caught my attention.

I thought to myself, “well, now is the perfect opportunity to compare the 2 grocery store sushi rolls!”

So, I bought their spicy rolls (tuna & salmon). How could I not?! Unfortunately, Harris Teeter capitalizes on their lunch crowd and prices their nice little bottled sodas and drinks at more than $1.39 EACH! Hello?! I can get that in my building for less than a $1. Then another idea struck me! [Lightning bolt across the head at the self check-out counter] McDonald’s was right across the street and they sell a large iced tea for just $1 AND they have nice outside seating (and I can get FREE refills to relieve the burn of the *fake* wasabi).

It was a nice lunch. I had a nice shady spot right by the drive-thru line surrounded by pigeons. I swear there was a ‘godpigeon’ among them (see “Animaniacs” if you don't know what I'm talking about) and they entertained me for a bit. The weather is absolutely beautiful today – around 65 degrees, sunny with a nice light breeze (enough to blow the paper napkin off your lap). I’m ready for fall, it’s my favorite season (especially with all the new show primiers returning – including Grey’s Anatomy tonight! you can check out their blog “Grey Matter” here)