Charlotte

I have always said that I love to share the things I love with the ones I love, but that belief doesn’t just go for LL Bean Boots, Restaurants, and Elnett, but also for the personal services we need like dentists, tailors, or distilleries. Hey, I’m nothing if not honest!

I think it’s safe to say that I may be the most knowledgeable civilian (non-trained dental person) when it comes to dental procedures. From a young age I served as #1 klutz and fell and broke different teeth including my front chomper, which led me to look like Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber, with the haircut to match. Countless root canals, crowns, 2 rounds of braces (metal and Invisalign) and more procedures that I can hardly remember or try to spell, I know the importance of having a great dentist.

Now, I’ve heard nasty rumors that people are afraid to go to the dentist. I’m not sure who those people have been going to, but I’m here to tell you that is a farce as old as the x-ray techniques dentists used in the 90’s.

Upon moving to Charlotte there were so many personal ducks to get in a row and services to locate. Where was the nearest brewery? How do I find a job? What time is the brewery open until? You know, the basics. I was still mourning the loss of my dentist in NYC (he didn’t die, I just moved), and I wasn’t ready to put myself back in murky waters of finding a replacement.

Well, it seems my mouth had different plans (as it always does….and which has gotten me into trouble in the past) and an abscess formed above one of my teeth. At first, I toughed it out cuz I’m a manly man from the mid-west (insert laugh track here), but one week later the swelling has started to increase and I felt like I was sneaking more ibuprofen than I felt comfortable admitting to. After a bad dentist recommendation from a doctor (my husband said his website was NOT up to par) we/he found Skyview Dentistry. When I heard it was on the top floor of Epicentre in Uptown, I was sold. I’m such a sucker for a good view.

I just walked out of my second appointment at Skyview and it was even better than the first. Everything about their office is modern, tech savvy, and new, from the dental equipment to the entertainment. Yea, I said ENTERTAINMENT…..at a dentist office! X-rays are done with a hand-held device and take half the time. Images are immediately broadcast on an adjustable flat screen tv that hangs above you and also doubles as portal for Netflix delivery. Bose headphones eliminate any noise that may be coming from the dentistry tools (although I doubt there is much since these tools are so advanced). Dr. Byrd herself did my cleaning and I never had to spit once. This may not seem like a big deal, but think about it, have you had one cleaning where you didn’t have to sit up, spit, sit down, sit up, spit, sit down, at least 3 times? If you haven’t, you need to get to the dentist ASAP because you obviously have never been to one.

My cleaning took less than 1 episode of American Dad (lucky I’ve seen each one already!) and I was outta there. If somehow you are the most stubborn person alive and you aren’t convinced yet to give Skyview a try, let me/them sweeten the deal. Your cleaning also comes with a free teeth whitening! Damn, you may think it sounds too good to be true, but that’s only because your past dentists have led you to believe that the dentist is a scary and painful place to visit, but Everyone at Skyview Dentistry is here to change (and blow) your mind. Tell ’em Matt sent ya!

Live for fun, Spread Joy, and go get your 6 month cleaning!!

I find great joy in giving gifts to people. I actually like giving gifts more than receiving them. In these busy days of email and emoticons, unless it is a gathering with the word “shower” in it, people have given up the art of gift giving. It may just be my experience though. I think in New York because everyone is busy, and we’re all poor and working 24/7, it seems to have become some sort of unofficial silent agreement that because life is hard for all of us, showing up to a place is the most I could ever ask from you. Just getting any amount of people over 2, together in one spot, and at one time, can be a tremendous feat.

So let me start to get to the point (something I attempt to do multiples times, in the same conversation, on a regular basis). When I got engaged, one of the more traditional aspects of our wedding was that we created a couple of gift registries at all the true royalty of the MidWest wedding world: Bed Bath and Beyond, Macy’s, and (our only modern twist) Amazon.com. At first I was opposed to having a registry because I felt uncomfortable asking people to buy me things and implying that they should. Sometimes very expensive things. 75% of our wedding attendants came from out of town and were dropping some major cheddar to be in New York to celebrate with us. I wasn’t going to throw a $300 Roomba to use in my 250 sq. ft. apartment on top as an obligation (although in full disclosure, we did have one on our registry. You know, as a group gift option!).

My opinion started to change one day while sitting out on the balcony (hers, not ours) with our dear friend Robyn. We were discussing the pros and cons of having a registry and I was laying out a defense stronger than a corset at The Met, when she simply said (*paraphrasing*) “If you don’t know what to get someone, you turn to their registry”. As she always does, Robyn had made a simple idea make sense to a knucklehead like myself and it snapped into my perspective: The only thing I disliked more than asking for gifts, is know that I’m potentially adding stress and anxiety to any person who may want to purchase me a gift. We had two registries set up by the stroke of midnight.

A few weeks later, Tommy and I had just completed a weekend of dog sitting when a package from Amazon arrived at my office. Inside was the amazing (and totally on our registry) 2 piece stone wear set from the Rachel Ray collection. Inside the note said (*paraphrasing*) “Thank you for taking such great care of Zooey!” Our friend Carrie had purchased something off our wedding registry to thank us for watching her dog Zooey.

Carrie didn’t know that I wanted these Bubble and Brown, 1.25 quart and 2.25 quart baking dishes in dark blue because I told her while we grabbed a long lunch at Chipotle on 28th st. She knew only because of this magic list I put out into the atmosphere that people could just gift me with. I thought of all the times I have caught myself not knowing what to get someone for Christmas or their birthday. What do they want? What do they need? Half the time, its a friend of a friend that I know from hanging out at the same apartment all summer and you don’t even know their last name. How am I going to know what is an appropriate gift to give when I don’t even know which borough you live in? If everyone had their own personal registry, we could save ourselves the stress and anxiety and start giving gifts for any and all occasions with ease. You threw a dinner party and I saw you want a spiral slicer? Bam! Here’s that spiral slicer. You took better care of my plants while I was out of town than I do when I’m home? Bam! Here’s those inspirational hand towels for your kitchen. Bam. Bam! BAM! Give the people what they want!

And so now I have come to my point (I promised we’d get here eventually): Maybe it is a great idea for all of us to have our own personal gift registry. The proper subtitle could be “It’s not selfish, it’s helpful!”

Live For Fun, Spread Joy, Give Gifts (and write letters!)

PS. Those dishes come in handy…a lot!

Matt About It

Discovering Charlotte: Skyview Dentistry

Personal Gift Registry?