3rd Year Anniversary Island Adventure

To celebrate 3 years as Mr. & Mrs., we decided to set sail to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands for our 3rd cruise adventure. The whole 3 on 3 thing just happened to work out in our favor. Our vacation started out on the right foot with a second interview for Asha in the morning. She walked away feeling great and about 30 minutes later, we got the call for a job offer! Like we said, our vacation started out on the right foot! Ecstatic, we celebrated with breakfast from the one and only Bojangles', discussing the pros/cons of the new job. The pros weighed out the cons and Asha called back accepting the job! We were both floating on cloud 9 as we danced and sang our little hearts out on the way to the Sunshine State. NEW JOB! NEW JOB! NEW JOB! NO MORE 3 HOUR DAILY COMMUTE!!! We are crazy excited to say the least!

We arrived to Miami late Friday night and had no problem throwing down some pizza our friend Rachel had ordered for us. Rachel is simply the best as she opened her home to us for the night and drove us to our cruise destination the next day. We boarded the ship with ease on Saturday afternoon as we sipped on some cocktails and enjoyed the view of the Miami skyline. Before we knew it, the ship blew it's giant air horns and we were off, admiring the view on the way out. We stuffed our faces full that night (and for the rest of the entire trip) as we feasted on our 3 course meal that we had been dreaming about for the past month or so. Afterwards, we headed to our favorite, cheesy Vegas-style stage show where we met our spunky and entertaining cruise ship director who would lead us to all things fun the next 5 days.

Sunday was a Fun Day at Sea where we were lucky to grab a cabana for the morning that was made for napping, reading and relaxing like no other. We had a great view of the ocean as we sailed along to our first destination, Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Sleep, eat and drink. That's pretty much all we did that day. AND IT WAS GLORIOUS. We enjoyed being serenaded at dinner that night as all of the hosts gathered and sang "Happy Anniversary to You" having other guests pipe in. Another show was calling our name as we headed to the stage for "Living in America" featuring the Victory Dancers, live band and two vocal singers.

We came back to the room and were greeted by our evening towel animal, anticipating the upcoming Jamaican adventure. Yeah, mon! We couldn't wait!

Turn the music up

Jeremy and I will be hitting the road for another honeymoon in the books this summer. During our road trips, we always turn the music up and jam to our favorite songs. Our playlists have quite the range...especially when you mix our tastes. Luckily we both love all genres, from Jason Mraz to Jay Z to Luke Bryan. We like it all. Here are some of our top summer jams that we'll be rocking out to in the car all summer long.

Jason Mraz.
Long Drive Home.
Hello, You Beautiful Thing.
Love Someone.
Back To the Earth
It's the #SummerofYES! Jason Mraz is releasing a new album on July 15th! He has paired with indie band, Raining Jane, and has made an incredible record from what we've heard so far. Lucky for his fans, if you pre-order his album, each week you get a download of a song until the full album releases. That means we get a new Mraz song every week! Talk about a dream come true. Mondays aren't so bad when you get to listen to a new Mraz song every week.

Pharrell Williams.

Hunter.

Gust of Wind.

It Girl.

...The entire album. Yup, the entire album G I R L, is perfect for the summer. Each song on the album is a head-nodding, foot-tapping groove that doesn't take long to get you singing along to the genius that is Pharrell Williams.

One Republic.

Love Runs Out. Ryan Tedder is a fantastic song writer and, once again, produced another hit. This is a new song for us and we fell in love the first time we heard it - love it even more when it's turned up in the car. We can't help but dance along to the beat.

Gary Clark Jr.

Don't Owe You a Thang. Take a moment to go hang out at the "juke joint" and dance to this loud rock/blues tune. There are certain songs that automatically make you play air guitar or "steering wheel drums" in your car - this is one of them.

Saints of Valory.
Long Time Coming. We were lucky to be introcuded to Saints of Valory who opened up for Eric Hutchinson a few months ago.  We fell in love with their sound instantly, downloaded their EP and have been listening to their sound non-stop.

Luke Bryan.
That's My Kind of Night. This one will probably surprise many people but That's My Kind of Night is seriously our jam. The volume for this song goes way up as we get our country on and dance like no other. I'm sure it's a site to see.

Brett Dennen.
Comeback Kid (That's My Dog). This quirky, rhythmic song is for any and everyone who roots for the underdog. Plus, it's fun and easy to sing along to giving it all the ingredients for a fun summertime song.

Ariana Grande.
Problem. Another one that's kind of embarrassing that we actually purchased but hey, we still jam out to it in the car.

Fall Out Boy.
Where Did the Party Go. One of our favorite tracks on the album. Nothing fancy about this one. We just turn it up and jam. We haven't gotten sick of it for at least 1.5 years so that should tell you something.

Eric Hutchinson.
Tell the World.
Forever.
I Got the Feelin Now.
Eric Hutchinson always releases an album full of upbeat tracks. These are a few of our favorites that we sing at the top of our lungs.

Christina Perri.
Burning Gold
Be My Forever. 
This little lady is a singing powerhouse. Burning Gold is a powerful song and Be My Forever is a fun little tune that you can't help smile to.

Arctic Monkeys.
Do I Wanna Know. As stated in a previous blog, I (Jeremy) really like this album. It honestly just makes me want to drive a muscle car... with my sunglasses on so I look cooler.

So there you have it. A sample, 12 (ish) track playlist for the summer. We highly advise you add these songs to your summer playlist. All this feel good music is great in the car, at the pool, at the bar or at the beach. Feel free to let us know of any songs to add as well. Summer and music are pretty much made for each other so be sure to fill your summer with good tunes!

Memorial Day Weekend

Words can't truly show my appreciation for the brave men and women that choose to willingly fight and give the ultimate sacrifice to protect our country. So I just wanted to take a moment to honor and remember those that have fallen, those that continue to fight and their families for their service.

With Memorial Weekend kicked off, I think we can agree that Summer is here. Jeremy and I started the weekend off right in true summer fashion with dinner at Moe's BBQ in downtown Matthews. We sat under the cool and crisp summer night and enjoyed our BBQ, fried corn on the cob and sweet cornbread. We continued our grand eating streak by lunching it the next day at Mint Hill Madness, a local festival celebrating the founding of the town held every Memorial Day. We stumbled across a food truck that featured rib plates that we couldn't pass up. We grubbed, walked around a bit and headed home to rest up for some strawberry picking later that day.

I'm not the biggest fan of strawberries but when there is any chance to spend time with my nephew, I'm in! We had a blast visiting Wise Acres, a local farm that grows organic strawberries in the spring. Unfortunately, we visited the farm pretty late in the strawberry season. Even though the strawberries were sparse, I was told they were surprisingly tasty despite their small size. I'll take their word for it as I happily sipped on my frozen strawberry lemonade slushy.

This melts my heart.

He did the head in his hand all by himself. What a cutie!

The next day was spent with more family as we loaded up the car (with an awesome bag I designed for Food Lion) and headed to a cookout. It's always a good time at the Singleton's as we stuffed our faces once again while Jeremy serenaded us with his guitar playing skills.

Love these two so much!

What better way to end the weekend than seeing The Amazing Spider-Man 2? It has been on our to-do list for weeks now and we finally got around to seeing one of our many favorite Marvel movies. It was the perfect ending to the weekend.

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Firsts

I've had this blog pending for a good two weeks now. It's time for me to stop procrastinating and get on with it! It's funny how no matter how old you get, your "firsts" never seem to stop running out. I'm always happy to try or learn something new. Here are a few "firsts" I've tried lately.

GREEN THUMB. 
I am, by no means, a gardener. I've never planted flowers nor have I ever owned a plant of any sort. This all changed when my parents bought too many tomato plants to plant for themselves this year. They offered one to me and I took it hesitantly telling them not to be mad at me if I killed it. Jeremy and I took the plant home and lazily left it inside for a few days. We then realized we could put it in a large pot we had stored away, moving the plant inside to outside. There was one problem. The leftover soil we had from previous years only filled up 3/4 of the pot. We made a note to get some soil the next day. A week went by and we still hadn't bought soil but we did get some heavy rain. The poor plant drowned and we thought, for sure, that we had killed it. I got advice from my gardening friends and they said to simply place it in a cup and re-plant it later. Another week went by and I finally bought some soil and a tomato cage. I re-palnted the plant and within 4 hours, he already looked happy. Yes, he. I decided this plant is a boy. I find myself checking on the thing every day. It's kind of sad. I just don't want the thing to die! I'll keep you guys updated and hopefully we'll have tomatoes later this summer!

epic tomato plant FAIL.

BASEBALL IN THE CITY.
Charlotte finally brought Knights baseball home to Charlotte. After years and years of traveling to Fort Mill, South Carolina to attend baseball games, baseball is now in the Queen City's back yard. Jeremy and I stepped into the stadium for the first time as we joined friends for a spectacular view. We were amazed at how close we were to the dugout and even more amazed at the view of the buildings surrounding us. We can't wait to go again! Oh, and just for you, here's a throwback picture of one of the many Knights games I attended while growing up. This one made it into the Charlotte Observer! I'm pretty sure this was around 1997. We were screaming for pizza...I don't think the old man next to us appreciated it :)

A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY.
Growing up, I despised country music. I had no desire for it, whatsoever. However, over the years, my heart has softened a little (maybe a lot) for the story-telling twang thanks to artists like The Civil Wars, The Lumineers and Luke Bryan. I've also gotten sucked into the t.v. show, Nashville,  so that may have something to do with my change of heart as well.  ANYWAYS. The whole point of this was to tell you guys that I attended my first country concert with my dear friend, Elyse! It was a show put on by 5 country artists (Sara Evans, the Swon Brothers, Jon Pardi, Eric Paslay and American Young) with proceeds to benefit the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Each artist took the stage together, sitting side be side, rotating singing songs acoustically. It was a fun and inspiring night and I know this most likely won't be my last country show. Who knows who I'll see next! Luke Bryan, anyone?

BEAR CLAW.
The second season of The Mindy Project has sadly drawn to a close. Mindy often has a bear claw in hand and references them at LEAST every other show. Later that week, I was eating lunch at Panera and I happened to have a free treat on my rewards card. My eyes caught sight of a bear claw and there was no turning back. I later devoured the entire thing and it was everything I hoped and dreamed. Thanks, Mindy, for opening my eyes to the world of Bear Claws.

#Mindian (signature growl)

And there we have it. After weeks of procrastinating, I finally cranked out a few of my firsts to share with you. I hope you enjoyed!