Pure Appiness: 2013: IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!

The wonderful year that was 2013 has now come and gone. To help us recap the year, we wrote down special moments throughout and placed them in a mason jar. On New Years Eve, we took turns reading each card and couldn't help but smile and laugh at each memory. Our goal was to live the dream in 2013 and we definitely succeeded. For your reading pleasure, here's a quick recap of our top 10 moments (in no particular order) of the year! We came up with the list together but see if you can depict who wrote what (it's not that hard).

MIAMI
This was by far the best trip of 2013! Just typing this out immediately makes us wish we were back on the sandy beach with the waves crashing in and the warm sun rays beaming down on us. Miami is one of those places that just makes you feel at least 2x cooler than you actually are. As you walk down Ocean Drive in the iconic Art Deco district, 80% of the people you see along the street are gorgeous PLUS the area is a great mix of classic, old fashioned style fused with a nice modern touch. Oh, and really, it goes without saying... the nightlife is top notch. Also, BIG thanks to Rachel, my friend from high school. She gave us a great tour of the city and I hope she knows we'll definitely be back. So yeah, here's to you, Miami!

IT'S A JEEP THING
For the past 6-7 years you could see Jeremy parading around Charlotte in his awesome 2003 Dodge Stratus RT. I have to admit, I really liked that lil' red rocket. It got me from point A to point B... rather quickly. But, sadly, it started to cost me a little more than what it was worth and after numerous leaks and a couple break downs, it was time to let it go. Out with old and in with the new! I upgraded to my first SUV - a lovely, silver Jeep Liberty. I was amazed at how much more room I had! It's nice being able to actually load and carry things (I definitely wasn't able to do that in the 2-door car). The Jeep also makes me feel a little older because before you know it, the load I'll be carrying will include a car seat...

(No, that wasn't a hint about a baby coming... I was just sayin'...)

CONCERTS
Combined, Jeremy and I saw over 20 shows during 2013. I think that's some sort of record. Even though John Mayer, Imagine Dragons, Beyonce, Parachute, Tristan Prettyman and many others put on great performances, Justin Timberlake, Jason Mraz & Raining Jane, and Bruno Mars wowed us the most. Bruno Mars blew us away with his high energy and rambunctious band, I had an unforgettable weekend away with my mom as I surprised her with her first ever Jason Mraz show that featured Raining Jane, and Justin Timberlake made for the ultimate date night as we danced along to 3 hours of his music. If you can't tell, we love music and were excited that each month we had a show to look forward to.

YOU'RE HIRED!
After a lot of patience and hard work, I finally got a promotion at Food Lion Corporate! I hopped over the wall, moving into a new cube and jumped on what felt like a fast moving train that hasn't slowed down. My new job as a brand designer is the least bit boring and keeps me on my toes with new projects on a daily basis, challenges that I welcome and a great team that I'm able to get strategic advice from. I can actually say confidently that I like my job. Now if only I could change that thing about the one hour (sometimes more) commute....

PLAYOFFS?! PLAYOFFS!
No need to go into much detail here. Our beloved Panthers, after 4 mediocre years (2 of them being just... bad), have finally found our franchise QB, all-pro linebacker, identity on offense and one of the top defenses (reminiscent of our 2003 season) in the league. I can't sit here and act like I've been a long suffering fan of a cursed franchise - see Chicago Cubs or any sports team from Cleveland - but those years were rough and it feels great to not only see the Panthers make the playoffs, but win the division, earn a 1st round bye and have a legit shot to make it to the Super Bowl. Needless to say, I'm excited! #GoPanthers #KeepPounding

OH YOU FANCY HUH?!
We got a little star struck at the beginning of the year when 3 things happened.

The Obama's sent us a Christmas card. It may have arrived in early February but the Obama's sent us a card. It's all that matters. We did send them one...I guess they were returning the favor :)
Tony Dovolani, of Dancing with the Stars, commented and retweeted Asha's twitter post on the Blog about meeting him in NYC. Thanks to him, that post got hundreds of hits.
We were local celebrities! We were (barely) featured in the spring issue of Ballantyne Magazine for a couples cooking class at the Morrison Family YMCA. Our picture made it into the issue and Jeremy's mom bought 5 copies, haha.

PUT ME IN COACH!
In the fall of 2013, I decided to volunteer and coach flag football at the Y. I had never coached flag football, so it was all new to me. Once meeting my team, the other coach and myself were definitely skeptical of the season. We definitely had a rag-tag, bad news bears type team. Well, the first game came and we DOMINATED. It was quick a shock to us. Unfortunately, as the season continued, we had scheduling conflicts and couldn't quite finish the season very well. Overall, it was really fun and I'm glad I did it. After football season, I got the opportunity to help coach with the Carmel Christian School basketball program. I'm REALLY glad I signed up for this! It's been awesome helping some 14-17 year old kids develop their game and get better. I'm proud to say through the first half of the season, our JV squad is 6-1 and finished 2nd in our Christmas tournament (and we should've won it too). I'm excited about the second half of the season and can't wait to see how we finish up!

HOME IMPROVEMENT
We've been meaning to paint for oh, the last 2.5 years, but each and every month, we (Asha), finds some excuse to put it off. We finally, however, painted our master bedroom in the last few days of December. We just barely made the cut-off date for 2013 but in a days work we went from drab, to fab! In addition to our master bedroom, we also found an awesome dinner table at a local consignment store that is high enough off the ground so Apollo isn't eating with us. Yep, it's pretty awesome.

We're hoping to keep on making improvements throughout 2014....someone just needs to kick Asha in the butt to get things going.

ADVANCED SCREENINGS
This year we were lucky enough to have Asha be Facebook friends with Theoden Janes, a pop culture writer for the Charlotte Observer. Thanks to his awesome position, Theoden occasionally gets passes for advanced showings of blockbuster movies. This summer we got to see Despicable Me 2 (awesome movie), Man of Steel (great movie), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (way funnier than I thought it'd be), and my favorite movie of 2013, We're the Millers. If you haven't seen it, you need to. That movie is hilarious. I want to watch it again now.

COUCH POTATOES
Asha and I watched a ton of TV this past year. Like... a lot. Not an uncommon thing for me, but DVR has been Asha's best friend. Anyway, this year there were a few shows that stood out for us more than others and they were:

The Bachelor: This isn't necessarily on the list because we love the show so much. Y'all know I have a blog to do.
Scandal: Like all the other millions of #Gladiators out there... we got sucked into the show as well. There was a marathon on and within the blink of an eye, two episodes suddenly turned into like... 6 hours on the couch. The show is so outrageously dramatic, you can't help but get hooked. I just hope our nation's capitol isn't really like that.
Mindy Project: Thanks to me, this is Asha's new favorite show. If you've never seen it, it's about a single female doctor in New York and her various comedic adventures with dating, friendships, and life in general. IT's definitely more of a "girl" show, but in it's second season (currently) they've done a nice job developing some of the secondary characters.
Psych: I won't say much about this show since I only know like... 3 other people that watch it, but I'd say it's kind of an acquired taste in humor. Not everyone loves it... but I do! And that's all that matters right now.

We ended 2013 in style as we dressed in our finest attire and made reservations to Fleming's, an upscale steakhouse in the uptown area (we had a gift card, ha). Dinner was on the early side due to some confusion on each of us thinking the other made a reservation. With a lot of time before midnight, we decided to see 'Thor: The Dark World' before heading to Chelsea's to celebrate the new year. It was the perfect pitstop as it geared us up for all of the laughs, games, fireworks and s'mores that were had at Chelsea and Wes' New Years Eve party. As always, it was the perfect end to 2013.