So over February

Although the unusual warm February weather has been nice, I am totally done with the shortest month of the year. I say this only because March has the potential to be an awesome 4 weeks that I'm just itchin' to get to. Here's why:

March 6th. Baby, Baby, Baby, Ohhhhhhh (yes, I just quoted Justin Bieber). Only two short weeks until I am to become an Aunt! That is if everything goes according to plan :) I can't wait to hold him in my arms and spoil him rotten!

March 13th. Dave Barnes: Stories to Tell. One of my favorite artist, Dave Barnes, is releasing his most recent studio album and I am super excited to listen to it. I'm already a fan of the two singles he has released so I have a feeling I'll end up enjoying the entire album.

March 21st. Jeremy's Birthday. Jeremy turns 27 this year. 27!!! We're getting old. I'm not sure what we'll be doing to celebrate his birthday this year but it will be fun nonetheless. We also celebrate Reuben's (my brother-in-law) birthday on March 2nd and Jessie's (my mother-in-law) birthday on March 23rd. Woohoo!

March 23rd. The Hunger Games. Words cannot explain how excited I am about this movie. I was instantly hooked on the book series and I've been counting down to the movie premiere ever since! Anyone else plan on going to see it?

I'd also like to add that Daylight Saving Time (longer days) and Spring (my favorite season) will all begin in March. Jeremy would also like me to state that March Madness begins (yay). Are you now pumped and ready for the month of March as much as I am?!  Let's get the ball rolling and be done with February already! I'll be sure to keep you all up to date on how awesome it will be. Stay tuned!

Basketball Diaries - 3

Part III: "You play to WIN the game." - Herm Edwards

Such a simple statement, yet it's so very, very true. Winning isn't everything, but that's why you play. It's why you keep score. It's why you celebrate. It's why you have "bragging rights". It's why people are picked first. You play to win the game. For me, the feeling of victory is right up there with love and that feeling you get when you REALLY have to go to the bathroom and you finally get to go. You know what I'm talkin' about.

However, the one other feeling that's just as strong as victory and usually lingers and stays with you for a longer period of time is defeat.

My basketball team has felt victory all season, but the very last game of the regular season...we lost.

Losing sucks.

We TECHNICALLY won our game because the other team added players that weren't on their roster who turned out to be 10x better than the rest of their team, so they basically had to forfeit the game. But at the end of the day, when you look at the scoreboard and the other team has more points than you do... you lost.

We lost the game by 2 points. It was one of those games where we really should've been up by 20+ points, but we just didn't execute. After the game I tried so hard not to show my frustration and anger, but I'm not sure if I succeeded. One good thing, however, was the fact that the team felt just as frustrated and angry. The last time we lost was after our very first game 2 months ago. Another game that we really should've won. That day I told them to remember that feeling of losing. It sucks and it makes you feel like you weren't good enough. Winning feels so much better. The very next game we won and I told them to remember that feeling of winning, but don't forget how it felt to lose. You don't want to go back to that feeling.

So after reeling off 5 straight wins, our last game came and we forgot how much it stings to lose. I don't think there is such thing as a "good loss", but you can always learn from losing a game. With somewhat of a reality check, my team was reminded of why we play the game. The playoffs start this week and we are the #1 seed which earned us a first round bye. It's time to go hard or go home because if we lose now, we're done.

We've regrouped, we're refocused, re-energized and have one collective goal - Win.

P.S. - just so we're clear, I'm not like Bob Knight with these kids. I don't scream and cuss at them and throw chairs or anything. This is a YMCA league and the focus is more about sportsmanship. However, I have middle school-aged kids and they already know about sportsmanship. I just want to teach them about one of my favorite quotes because really, if you're not trying to win, why are you playing? This is a competition and with competition you must learn to rejoice in victory, but also how to handle defeat. You can't win ALL the time, but you damn sure better try.

Happy Valentine's Day to You

Happy Valentine's Day to all you love birds out there! To be honest, we're not that big in celebrating the holiday. A good love note and a nice home cooked meal is really all we need to do the trick. Actually, now that we think about it, spending time and being with the one you love on Valentine's Day is good enough for us. No need to spend money on expensive chocolates and whatnot.

ANYWAYS. We're writing this post in honor of LOVE. We wanted to share 5 things that we're loving at the moment. Music, television, clothing, blogs...you name it, we're sharing. Are you ready? You sure? Ok, here we go. Here are 5 fabulous things from Asha and 5 fantastic things from Jeremy.

5 Things Asha is {loving} at the moment

1. The Civil Wars [Barton Hollow] & Matt Nathanson [Modern Love]. These are both two albums that I have on repeat this month. I have been switching between the two nonstop the past few weeks. To me, The Civil Wars are like the Adele of country music. Their sound is so pure and true. This duo is super duper talented and you can tell that music is their passion. Now onto Matt Nathanson and his most recent album. I had always heard that Matt was a great artist to see live and he just happened to be passing through Charlotte for a show. I was all set on going when I suddenly realized that I had other arrangements already planned. I missed out on a great show but ended up buying his album instead. His album is mostly upbeat and I can't stop listening to it.
2. Blurb. I came across this awesome site from reading a blog entry a friend wrote. In her entry, she shared a book she had made using her instagram photos taken throughout the year. I quickly learned that Blurb was the site used to create the book. I ventured over to Blurb and it was love at first sight. While searching their website, I saw that they had an easy way to publish blog posts. It didn't take long for me to put two and two together and before I knew it, I was designing a book made up of our 2010 blog posts. It should arrive in the mail within the next two weeks and I am beyond excited!
3. My Fitness Pal. I'm trying to be more conscious on my calorie intake and this app is helping me do so. It's an easy way to count calories and track my exercise. What's great is that it keeps a goal of a certain amount of calorie intake along with keeping a dairy of what you eat. It adds up all calories for you, making it easy to not go overboard on the eating (which I tend to do). It's a great app if you're looking for help to lose some weight!
4. "We are Young" by Fun. featuring Janelle Monáe & "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra. Both of these songs took more than one listen to love them. In fact, it took at least three.  I really don't know why it took me so long to fall in love but they are now constantly on repeat.
5. My husband. He continues to surprise me everyday with his love, support, and unselfishness. I couldn't have asked for a better man to spend my life with and I'm always excited to see what chapter unfolds next.

5 Things Jeremy is loving at the moment

1. The Black Keys: My new favorite band. They have such a great, distinct sound that's different from everything else I'm listening to.  I'm hooked. I actaully heard some of their songs in various commercials and then Asha actually had one of their older songs and I loved that one. I FINALLY bought their latest album and it was easily the best purchase I made all month. 'Gold on the Ceiling' is my JAM right now too.
2. Coaching Basketball: I had no idea I'd have so much fun coaching. I will admit, it's very stressful and it only fuels the competitive fire burning inside of me, but it's so fun actually teaching something. What's even better is the fact that we've won games. I've had my fair share of playing on terrible teams and having all of the losing just eat away at me, but all of that just makes winning that much sweeter. It's also nice to be around people that love to play and learn and want to get better. These kids are still developing and it's just nice to watch them grow. It also makes me feel better knowing I have support from their parents. They've been saying some good things about my coaching and it's some nice reassurance. And shout out to Nathan (the other coach with me). He's definitely helped out and put in a lot of time with this team. (P.S.- coaching this age group is also an awesome confidence boost because I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than they are at the moment, haha.)
3. Scramble with Friends: I think I'm slightly addicted to this game. If you thought the fun ended with 'Words with Friends', my friend that was just the beginning. For those that don't know, 'Scramble with Friends' is another word game where you get points for creating words with the random letters given to you. However, in this game you have a 4-letter by 4-letter block and you must connect the letters, using your finger, to create words. Did that make sense? If not, just download it and play me anyway (MopTop321). There is a free version so... obviously you should download that one.
4. Otherscreen.com: Most of us these days are multi-taskers. Me, I like to do things online or on my phone while watching TV. If you're like me, then Otherscreen.com is PERFECT for you. This site has different chatrooms for various popular TV shows and sporting events. Within those chatrooms there is also TRIVIA (primarily about whatever you're watching). Thanks to Otherscreen.com, I can now watch and enjoy the show 'The Bachelor'. (Can you believe Courtney is still on the show? IT's all good though because even Ben knows she ain't marriage material. I'm thinking Kasie B. and Lindzi will be the final 2) So men, when your significant other has control of the remote and it's set on 'The Bachelor' (or something else), just bring out the laptop (or iphone, of course there's an app for that) and sign into a chatroom. And ladies, you've finally realized that yes, sports are ALWAYS on. So now when your significant other is glued to the game, you can also enjoy the game with Otherscreen.com. Did that sound like a commercial? It should because I AM selling this website to you. It's made for a happier TV viewing home at the Singleton residence.
5. Television: I'm a 90's kid and like the majority of other 90's kids, in my house the television was almost like a sibling. Evening TV with the line-up of family-oriented shows was part of the routine schedule. And don't get me started on TGIF! That's when my love for TV began. (Side note: I'm not a giant couch potato. I actually just love how it all works - writing, recording, directing, etc. Loved it so much I basically majored in it, Electronic Media/Broadcasting.) Fast forward to the present and again, we've got some great television shows on air. I shall list a few of my favs in no particular order:
• New Girl - Hilariously quirky. I love the characters on that show. I get a couple of good 'LOLs' each episode.
• Modern Family - Duh. There's tons I could say about this show, but I'm sure plenty of you already know.
• Parenthood - I don't really watch this show, nor is it one of my favorites, but from what I've seen, it's a VERY well written show. The complexity of the characters makes it feel very... real.
• The River - This show just started but I think I'm gonna like it. I believe it's an 8-episode mini-series and with the plot, that seems just about perfect.
• Chopped - I'm always amazed at what they come up with using those random ingredients.
• True Blood - It's not on right now, but I got hooked on that show.
• Happy Endings - They're just funny. Also, this show has gotten better with each episode. I didn't really like it that much when it first started, but it's pretty solid now.

Well, that turned out to be much longer than expected, so sorry about that. Jeremy is pretty... thorough with his love this month. Anyway, we just wanted to share with you a couple of things we're loving on this day to celebrate love.

Shower for Mommy-To-Be, Nickie

If you witnessed me running around like my head was cut off any day last week it's because I was preparing a baby shower for my lovely sister, Nickie. Phew! My sister has A LOT of friends. With that said, we packed them all into her house to shower her with gifts and advice for her baby boy who makes his grand entrance this March.

I have never thrown a shower before but I have learned quite a few lessons along the way. One very important lesson learned was to pick a theme and start planning EARLY. I think I was more stressed about this shower than I was for my own wedding! In the end, I hope everyone had a great time and enjoyed themselves! Below are some small details from the party. If you can't tell, I went with a train theme and was excited to design the invitations, banners, tags, and game pieces.

The Invitation

Baby Shower Banner!

Food Tags

Ducky Bath Punch & Prizes

The afternoon consisted of love, laughter, and everyone being pregnant at once (I'll get to that in just a  bit). As everyone began to settle in, mingle, and eat, I decided it was time to begin our first game. Once the room was hushed to a silence, I announced that Nickie was not the only one pregnant in the room. Once the words slipped out of my mouth and saw the look on my mother's face, I knew what everyone was thinking. But alas, the phrase was just to start the first of many games I had planned :) Everyone was going to be "pregnant" and we started a game called "My Water Broke". I passed out cups with a plastic baby inside, surrounded by frozen water. Whoever got their solid to a liquid the quickest had to yell, "My Water Broke!", resulting in a prize. I have to say, it was pretty entertaining watching everyone find a way to melt their frozen block of ice the fastest. I hate that I forgot to take photos of everyone trying to get their ice to melt, however, I was able to capture a few photos of friends and family throughout the shower!

My mom is VERY happy to be a Grandma :)

Soon-To-Be Mommy & Daddy!

Childhood friends

Family

While the race to be first to have their water break was underway, my sister began opening all of her wonderful gifts. While she opened gifts, guests got in on the action and played "Baby Bingo". For each gift my sister opened, they would cross off a gift listed on their bingo card. Whoever got 5 in a row first, won! I never thought of a tie coming up and of course there happened to be a 5 way tie! I didn't have that many prizes to give away so I threw in a little trivia question as a tiebreaker. Whoever was closest to guessing Nickie's due date, won!

Presents!

Baby Shower BINGO

Nickie racked up on the gifts! She got a TON of awesome things for the baby and probably won't have to buy clothes for the first year! Not only did she rack up on gifts but diapers as well! That's right, we had a diaper raffle! For every package of diapers you brought, your name was entered into a raffle. The lucky winner received a movie basket...something I wouldn't have minded myself!

Diapers!!!!

Diaper Raffle Winner!

Once all gifts were open, I figured I would give our guests a few more attempts to win some prizes. We played a game of "Guess Who" where you had to guess which baby picture belonged to the guest at the party. It was great to go back in time and remember those precious moments when we were all kids. I must say, we were some cute babies!

Guess Who Banner & Photos

Any guesses on who this beauty is?

We ended the shower with a little poem I stumbled upon online. Once the poem ended, a lucky lady would find the final gift give-away in their lap!

Pass the Present

1. The news is out, quick send a cable, the gift goes to the lady across the table.

2. If someone wears a dress of blue, she must take this gift from you. If blue cannot be seen, it goes to the one wearing green.

3. I will now read another verse… Please pass it to the gal with the largest purse.

4. We are getting tricky, here is a real humdinger! Pass it to the one with the most rings on her fingers.

5. Wow! What a success! Pass it to the guest with the most buttons on her dress.

6. Alas, this gift is not for you. It now goes to the one with the largest shoe.

7. Let’s get this party started girls… Pass it to the one with the cutest curls.

8. Mommy is anxious. Daddy is nervous. Now pass this to the lady who drove the furthest.

9. There won’t be time to practice, there won’t be time to rehearse. Pass this gift to the gal with the most money in her purse!

10. We hope you all are having fun. We have tried to include most everyone. From the largest purse to the largest shoe, pass this gift to the right of you.

11. We’re ending this rhyme, this is the last poem, the gift you are holding is yours to take home.

Winner of "Pass the Present"!

Ahhh, I survived throwing my first shower! It was stressful, but in the end, it was all worth the worry. I couldn't have done it without the help of my mom, sister, Michael (daddy-to-be), Jeremy (he helped an enormous amount), and all others who came to my side at the last minute. THANK YOU! The shower was a success and I hope each and every guest had a wonderful time! One more month until the baby arrives!!!!!! :D :D :D

Baby!

P.S. I made cake pops for dessert and I'm so mad I didn't take a picture of them! They were part of the reason I was stressing over this party! Oh well. I shall share a picture later this year of my precious cake pops that I make in the future.