SOLD to the Little/Singleton Household!

We have a night stand made out of shoe boxes. 

It takes us a while to prepare dinner since we only have one saucepan.

We have a TV with a huge yellow spot in the middle of the screen (we call it the brain).

All of those things are insignificant to us at the moment. We have a home TOGETHER and that, my friends, is freakin' awesome.

The signing process went a lot smoother than expected. Everyone had told us to be prepared to sign our life away. We went into the agency expecting to be there for at least 2-3 hours but we were in and out in 30 minutes! Once we got the key, we went straight to the house to celebrate!

The moving process was pretty easy but tiring nonetheless. A big THANKS goes out to our parents for helping us unpack and clean.  We didn't have much to move...just clothes, a bed, the kitchen table, some dressers, and last but not least, APOLLO (he's adapted quite well to the new place)!!!

It's safe to say we had the best Realtor out there. Kelly Sniatecki stuck with us for an entire year (we took a 6 month break) searching for the perfect place. She was able to break costs down in terms that we understood and she made the entire process enjoyable. We thank her soooooooo much for that. If you're looking for a house in the Charlotte area, contact her!!! (just click on her name and it will take you to her website).

Here's a little video to document March 18th, 2011, a huge step in our journey to husband and wife:

Cirque du Soleil, hon, hon hon!

Did you catch my French accent? If not, please go back and read the title in a French accent. It's much better that way. In fact, read this next portion in a French accent too. Ya know what, just read this entire blog in a French accent. Out loud.

Bonjour, mes amis! Bienvenue sur la blog! Je t'aime. Ferme la bouche, classe!

So for the past 2+ years, I've been living by the popular phrase "carpe diem" aka "seize the day". Living by this has allowed me to take advantage of many opportunities that have come up. Here are a few examples:

• Made Asha pack up and took a wonderful trip to NYC
• Saw Black Eyed Peas and Jay-Z within 2 weeks of each other
• I got a new job
• Met Jonathan Stewart (runningback for the Carolina Panthers) and hung out with him and his friends for my birthday (which included a free steak dinner, birthday cake, and V.I.P. access to a club - that's a whole other blog I'll get to some other time)
• Became one of the poster children for the YMCA of Greater Charlotte. I got to be in some photoshoots with random kids, in the newspaper, on billboards and online. It felt like my face was plastered everywhere!)
• Went to the Bahamas
• Oh yeah, and got engaged (I didn't forget)

So yeah, along with many other things happening, it's turning into quite an eventful life for me. And some of you may think I've got some fairly minor things on my list, so to you I said, "Look at my face. does it look like I care?" (that really means that I'm very thankful for my many blessings and I'm grateful for everything happening).

Well, the latest opportunity to seize happened last week when Asha and I went to see Cirque du Soleil: Totem (fo' FREE). I was able to get my hands on some tickets to the dress rehearsal which was basically just like any other show. There wasn't really a terrible seat in the venue (it was under a big tent), but we did have good seats despite being on the very last row. My biggest problem with my seat was when I returned from the bathroom to find out I was sitting behind Rachel's husband... who just so happens to be a giant. So this was my view...

Giant! (we still love you)

Cirque du Soleil tent!

Just kidding about the view... well sort of. I WAS sitting behind him, but I actually still had a good view of the stage. He wasn't really in my line of sight at all but it was nice of him to try and duck so I could see. Luckily, Asha was sneaky-sneaky and was able to take a couple of pictures (and the Charlotte Observer was lucky enough to get up close and take some great pictures seen below).

Neither of us had ever seen a Cirque du Soleil show, but we've heard many good things about them. The commercials always looked like a great show and, c'mon... who doesn't like amazing circus acts? This show was pretty incredible. I THINK (this is totally my interpretation, don't know if it's true) the show was about the various stages of life here on Earth. It started with like... an amphibian stage with frogs jumping around. There were also segments with Native Americans, what I viewed as the Industrial Revolution, some Asian stuff, and a portion on "the future" (again, all my interpretation).

After the show, I tried to determine what my favorite part of the show was and I honestly couldn't pick one thing. The entire showed was filled with moments that made me say, "how'd they do that?" or "...daaaang..." There women on unicycles flipping bowls onto their head, guys balancing 10+ ft. poles on their shoulders while other guys climbed up the poles, guys hanging from rings (Olympics style), and even some roller skating. I was thoroughly impressed with pretty much everything. My only gripe was that the first half of the show was so much more entertaining than the second half of the show. There was just a lot more going on in the first half that really kept me entertained.

This woman is very muscular (photo from charlotteobserver.com)

One of Asha's favorite parts of the show (photo from charlotteobserver.com)

These people are crazy talented (photo from charlotteobserver.com)

Quite possibly the best part of the show was the big group dance at the end. It was just like a High School Musical movie with everyone dancing together. Made me want to get up and dance too so I'd say it was a great ending. This show definitely gives a new meaning to the word 'circus'. All in all it was an AWESOME show and I recommend you all see at least 1 of their shows (especially if you can go for free!). I'm so glad I got the opportunity to take Asha and experience something new and check "see a Cirque du Soleil show" off the life goals list.

Cirque du Soleil = seized.

Just in case you were wondering....

Happy Saint Patrick's Day and Happy Birthday to my friend Greg! Happy almost Birthday to Jeremy (his is on Monday)! Happy almost Birthday to Jeremy's Mom (next Wednesday)! Happy belated Birthday to my future brother in law, Reuben! Heck, Happy Birthday to anyone who celebrates a birthday in March!  

Today also marks ONE month until my 25th birthday! {insert birthday dance here}

I'm usually not one to make a wish list for my birthday.  I was good at it when I was a kid but as I've gotten older I never know what I want for birthdays or Christmas.  I always like to make people THINK about what to get me.  I like "out of the box" gifts/surprises!  This year is a little different. 

Now that I will soon be a homeowner, I won't have that extra money to spend on little odds and ends that I want.  Like these two t-shirts that I really, really, really, really, REALLY want!! (If you're serious about surprising me with one of these, ask Jeremy for my size)

T-shirt from Blend Apparel (blendapparel.com)

T-shirt from Bushwalla (bushwalla.net)

Please and thank you!

Belieb it or not, I actually like Justin Bieber

Haha, see what I did there? Not funny? Yeah.....

He's no Jason Mraz, but let's face it, Justin Bieber is one talented kid. When his movie 'Never Say Never' came out, my twitter feed started filling with adults commenting on how they saw it...and it was actually good! Yes, I like a few songs of his, but I had no intention of actually paying to see his movie. Once I saw that maybe it wasn't so bad, I decided I wanted to see it. One problem...who in the world was going to go see Justin Bieber with me? Jeremy refused to go, so I sent out a plea on facebook and I actually got responses! My friend Elyse agreed to go with me and we set a JB date night. We'll call this my quarter of a century crisis. (I turn 25 next month!!)

We waited a few weeks for the hype to go down. This way we wouldn't have to deal with all the screaming girls who we once were with NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys. I'm not gonna lie, the movie was actually really good! It was cool to go behind the scenes to see what all is put into a tour. You see lots of familiar faces too. Usher (of course), Boyz II Men, Jaden Smith, Ludacris, and the one and only, Miley Cryus. Where was Selena Gomez?!

It's crazy how YouTube paved the way for his success. I'm sure he would have been found eventually but the internet just escalated it. Maybe Ellen DeGeneres will find our Save the Date video online and bring us on her show. Never say never, right? I opened up with the corniness. I have to end with it too :D

Aren't we cool in our 3D glasses?

Save the Date VIDEO!

What do you get when two creative people get married?
An awesome Save The Date!


Here's a little fun fact about Jeremy and I.  We love to dance.  I'd have to say he is the better dancer.  I try and keep up but I'm just not as fly.  That's ok, I don't mind making a fool of myself.  Whenever we're together, we find ourselves moving to the beat...whether we're in the car, in the grocery store, at the mall....we like to groove.  We like to dance so much we even have our own moves.  We have created the "Lemon Lime" and the "Hutch" (named after Eric Hutchinson).  You can see us doing those moves throughout the video along with The Dougie, Whipping our hair (Willow Smith), and the worm.

Asha and Jeremy Save the Date from Jeremy Singleton on Vimeo.

At every "Freeze" point in the video we hold a sign.  We decided to hold our "Save the Date" signs around uptown Charlotte.  We went to the Panthers stadium (Panther statue), Bechtler Museum of Modern Art (giant parrot statue), The Green Uptown (where the Charlotte signs were), and Grace on Brevard (where the wedding ceremony will be held). Kinda funny...we got a ticket from the Charlotte Light Rail System because of all this.  Oh well, it was all worth it.

Save the Date 6-4-11

I should also share that Jeremy drew the album artwork himself! He's so talented!! (I hope he doesn't mind me bragging).  I took his drawing and converted it to a vector graphic, allowing me to add color in Photoshop.

Jeremy's drawing    --->    Asha's Vector Image    -->    COLOR!!

I then came up with a little poem to go inside the cd case. I designed something simple and cute that will be carried on throughout the formal invitations. The DVD includes our video and a slideshow of our engagement pictures so for those of you who got it, make sure to hit "you're invited" for the video and "pure appieness" for the slide show. It's also a handy dandy magnet so you can put it on your fridge and look at us whenever you get something tasty to eat :)

I do have to mention that Jason Mraz, Ellen DeGeneres, and Hanson (don't make fun of me for still liking them)  inspired me to have this idea to just dance wherever we were.  There are some videos at the end of the blog that will hopefully brighten your day.  After all, "D-d-d-d-dancing makes the people feel united." (quote from one of my favorite people, Mr. Mraz himself)


We hope you enjoy our video!  Jeremy worked hard editing and making it perfect so props go out to him!  Charlotte, NC, Greenville, SC, Mountain City, GA, Orlando, FL, New York, NY, and the Bahamas are all places we got to shake our groove thang.  Make sure to bring your dancing shoes to the wedding :)

Asha is making me add my "2 cents" because she feels I'm not as excited about this blog. I am, in fact, very excited about it because you all have no idea what we went through to get all of this together. Brief history: my external hard drive which stored my editing program, all of the little movies I've made, pictures, and some important documents died. So I lost EVERYTHING. I went months without being able to edit a video, but most importantly, I lost the original "Save the Date" video and I couldn't post it to YouTube. After FINALLY buying my editing program (thanks, App State) and doing a bit of MacGyver work with the video, it was finally time to post but guess what - it wouldn't load! YouTube hates us. We seriously tried about 8 times with each time ending in failure. Vimeo finally worked for us (on the second try) and VOILA! We went viral. Anyway, it's nice to everything come together and it's just one more step towards the big day. 

Yup, he's the one alright

A couple weeks ago, I got the opportunity to be on a bridal panel for NACE (National Association of Catering Executives, an organization for caterers and event professionals in Charlotte). It was an opportunity for different vendors to get a bride's perspective on planning a wedding, with or without a planner. My planner, who is a part of the organization, thought it would be a good idea for me to go since Jeremy and I aren't your average couple getting married these days. We are paying for the wedding ourselves, doing a lot of DIY projects, and adding not so ordinary features to our wedding. She thought it would be great for us to share our side of things with others. I thought it was a great idea and was so excited to be there!

That day Jeremy had talked about going to the event but we finally decided he should just go home after work. No need for him to be there bored to death, itching to get home.

The nerves hit once I arrived. I really didn't know what to expect. I had no idea how many people were going to be there, what questions people were going to ask, or if I would even be put on the spot at all. Turns out the brides were pretty much put on the spot. We sat at the front of the room and were given mics to speak into. Vendors of all sorts were there to ask us questions upon questions. I could feel my heart beat start to quicken but I turned my head to the right and...hey...that looks like Jeremy...that can't be him! After a double take, I realized it was Jeremy all right. What the heck was he doing there! All I could do was smile. I felt smitten by his love and support. I felt my nerves instantly go away. A sudden calm came over me. It was awesome! All because he came and surprised me. It seriously meant the WORLD to me. I had no idea that he had any intentions to come and see what the event was all about. He had sent out a tweet earlier about me being at the event and that alone made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world. This was 10 times better.

This just put things in perspective for the afternoon that I walk down the aisle. I'll be nervous beyond belief knowing that all of our friends and family will be looking at me. But now I know all I have to do is look at him and know everything will be alright. It amazes me how he can have this affect on me and not intentionally do anything at all. That's how I know, among many other reasons, that he is the one for me.