Yesterday I told Naz one of my goals for 2018 is to be on time. This is a big deal for me because I am late for everything. So getting this post out a day late isn’t the best start lol, my apologies.

I took my time with this one though, because this past year has brought some of the greatest moments of my life and lots of milestones. I wanted it to be perfect.

It’s not by any means but I think taking the extra time allowed me to better share these moments with you. Here goes…

JANUARY 1, 2017

Naz and I rang in the New Year with a bubble bath, pizza, and fries.

The night before, we had a delicious dinner at Fleming’s Steakhouse before celebrating with our friends at Wellman’s Pub & Rooftop.

We stayed at The Cottages at Stoney Creek and it was the cutest, coziest little hotel ever! The whole place is set up like a log cabin and the rooms give a wintery feel – like you know when you walk in and just instantly crave hot chocolate?

The previously mentioned bathtub was situated in the living room, which only made the pizza and fries that much better! It was a great start to an even greater year!

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

Never did I ever think I would hear a bartender request on the mic for my mom to take of her bra and throw it on the chandelier…

I thought wrong.

Do not underestimate the strength of the drinks and the power of the people in the Coyote Ugly on Broadway in Nashville, TN.

No, my mom did not follow command for those still wondering lol.

My mom, sister, some of my best friends (Peanut/Lauren, Holly, and Bria) and Peanut’s mom took a trip down to Nashville and had an absolute blast.

The highlight of the trip was definitely the pedal tavern. If ever you have a chance to partake, I highly recommend! Its basically like a bar crawl but you pedal yourselves from bar to bar on the bike thingy (pictured below) that has music and a driver to steer your drunk party along.

We try to all get together once a year for a little vacation like this, so there will definitely be more where that came from…stay tuned!

We’re working on planning our next trip now so any suggestions would be much appreciated!!!

MARCH 11, 2017

Naz and the clones won the Big12 Championship. WOOHOO!! I watched this one as a spectator this time (our coed team was cheering) and boy is that a whole different experience! I can actually keep track of how Naz is playing, when I don’t have to think 100 miles an hour about what’s coming next when I’m in uniform cheering for him.

This was my first time in Kansas City and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience, or a better outcome!

MARCH 25, 2017

Naz and I celebrated out 1st anniversary together.

How weird…I feel like he’s been a part of my life forever.

We had an amazing dinner in Ankeny followed by a night in that consisted of movies and candy (Sour Patch Kids duh.)

Also, we watched part of a basketball game, of course. I don’t know that a day will ever pass that we don’t haha.

That’s kind of our standard lol. We don’t go out a whole lot and both enjoy a low-key night in pjs so there ya have it, another day in the life!

APRIL 7, 2017

After 12 years, I competed in my last cheer competition.

Every year the ISU cheer team competes at NCA College Nationals in Daytona Beach, Florida.

I’ve always been on the all-girl team and we got third in our division this year!

(This is one of those instances where you don’t tell people there were only four teams in the division but I’m gonna keep it real and just go ahead and announce that to everyone lol.)

However, this is one of the most competitive divisions in all of college cheerleading and our routines went very well, so I was happy to end my competitive cheer career with that!

Followed by Stunt Fest, of course.

MAY 4, 2017

Naz, my mom, and I loaded up the car and made the 14-hour drive to New York, where he and I spent the summer.

This was by far the most incredible experience of my life.

New York is an interesting place. You either Love it or you hate it, and I absolutely LOVED it.

We lived about 40 minutes North of the city and I took every single chance I could to go downtown. Even if it meant I was walking around by myself for 8+ hours with nothing more to do than look around (Naz was traveling a lot too, he didn’t just send me on my way alone lol.)

I interned with Digital Chair and had some of the most incredible experiences working there. The company is small, which allowed me to do a ton of hands on work. However, I was also able to see what a big agency in the city was like as well, because we got to visit Divito Verdi one day.

They had multiple shopping carts full of advertising awards waiting to be displayed in the office…I was in awe.

Before heading back, Naz and I were able to do so many fun things downtown! Grand Central station was amazing in and of itself, we went to Time Square, Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero, China Town, Little Italy, SoHo, Tribeca, West Village, a Yankees game, two shows on Broadway (The Lion King and Wicked – both were amazing!) Greenwich Village, Washington Square Park, The Flat Iron Building, The Empire State Building, Top of The Rock, The Bronx Zoo, Wall Street, and did tons of shopping of course! I also met a friend that was kind enough to take me to the Hamptons with her for the Fourth of July!

I really should do an entire post on New York because this short summary of my experience doesn’t even begin to do it justice…coming soon I suppose!

JUNE 22, 2017

I finally got to see Naz’s hometown. This was amazing.

His family and friends are SO much fun and treated me like one of their own – still do!

I had met almost everyone a few times before when they had come to games at Iowa State, but to see Naz enjoying time with everyone in the comfort of his own home was incredible.

He doesn’t get to go home much for anyone who doesn’t know, because his schedule is beyond crazy.

Hence, why I hadn’t been there with him yet!

He took me to some of his favorite food spots in Mississauga as well as downtown to see Toronto! (This was my first time to Canada by the way!)

Everything about this trip was beautiful, I Loved every minute.

AUGUST 12, 2017

Jamaica, mon.

My family went on vacation for a week; where we spent most of our time lying in the sun, drink in hand.

One of the days we went on an excursion, where we got to go on a boat ride, snorkel, hang out at 7 Mile Beach, and shop around in some little stores.

We also spent an afternoon exploring around our resort on kayaks (my dad and Naz were in heaven) where we saw some beautiful coral reefs and some fishies!

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

Naz officially signed with the Salt Lake City Stars, and we determined we were moving to Utah! To see Naz’s hard work begin to pay off was incredible.

Only to later have an even greater opportunity for him, the Jazz called him up last week, signed him to a two-way contract, and he scored his first NBA points!

He caught a red eye home to spend a few days with his family; however, only about 5 hours after he arrived in Mississauga, his agent called with the good news and he was on a flight back to Utah within a few hours to dress for the Jazz the following day.

How fast things can change is absolutely mind blowing.

To say I’m proud of him is an understatement. The amount of work that he puts in is incredible. He is without a doubt the most deserving person in the world.

I’m only a little bias.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

My dad is a HUGE marathon runner.

Like I’m talking he’s run 80+ marathons thus far.

For Father’s Day earlier this year, my sister and I signed up to run the half marathon in our hometown with him! Later we also talked my mom into walking the half with us too!

I didn’t think there was any way I would ever do that in my lifetime.

Training for it was very difficult with my school and cheer schedule but I managed to get a few runs in here and there lol.

Race day came and it was one of the hottest ever (the heat advisory for the race was the highest it could be before they have to cancel it, if that gives you an idea!)

The Parry clan all made it across the finish line – very sweaty and stinky but hey we made it!

Naz, both sets of grandparents, and one of my best friends, Kristyn, were all there at the finish to cheer us on!

Grandma Rosie even had one of my pom poms!

NOVEMBER 13, 2017

Getting my blog started has been SO much fun; however, it has thrown a number of challenges my way as well.

I was in 21 credit hours this last semester, I was on the cheer team, and I was working part time for Digital Chair. Needless to say, my schedule was insane.

This took a tremendous amount of planning and scheduling to make this happen along with my other commitments.

One of the biggest struggles I’ve had is worrying so much about what people will say about my writing and me as a person. Putting myself out there like this has been a bit scary, because no matter what I say, there are going to be people who don’t like it.

Thankfully, I’ve grown to accept that and am forging ahead with more excitement than ever!

I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to read my blog and for all the support I have received thus far. The number of people that have reached out to me with kind words blows me away. It warms my heart every time.

DECEMBER 16, 2017

Earlier this year, I made the decision to graduate a semester early, so I could begin working for Digital Chair and move to wherever Naz was going to be.

That meant I was going to have to take 18 credits in order to squeeze everything in.

A few weeks into the semester that 18 turned into 21 because one class that my advisor thought would count for two requirements, only counted for one. (I neglected to tell my parents this until graduation day haha, sorry Mom and Dad!)

It was a busy but fun semester, and it felt so great to walk across the stage in my cap and gown knowing all I had accomplished.

I am SO excited to begin my next chapter.

DECEMBER 30, 2017

Cheering for the Cyclones the past 4 years has been an incredible opportunity and I am so grateful to have experienced so many fun events because of it.

The Liberty Bowl being the best.

The entire experience was incredible. The pep rally, the parade, battle of the bands…everything.

After the parade I told my parents that was the highlight of my cheer career and they were stunned…it was just a parade?

I have never seen so many Cyclone fans so excited and so loud, ever. It was so awesome to see how packed Beale Street was with cardinal and gold.

The cheerleaders were towards the beginning so there was tons of energy from the crowd when we walked through and I’ve never seen so many people excited to see us before. It was SO much fun!

After the game, I admitted to my parents that winning that game out shined the parade by a long haul.

Obviously!

DECEMBER 31, 2017

I didn’t think it was possible to have a better New Years than last year, but Naz really outdid himself this time.

Straight from Memphis, I flew into Salt Lake on New Years Eve and Naz texted me while I was in the air, “Pack an outfit, we’re going to Park City.” (I LOVE Park City for those of you who remember.)

I got to the apartment, packed a bag, and then Naz got home, so I gave him his Christmas gifts.

He said I had to wait until we got there to open mine. Yes, the anticipation killed me.

We got to Park City, checked into our hotel, and headed up to the room.

Naz surprised me with an amazing suite! We walked in and down the hallway (yes there was a hallway in our hotel room – like 20 feet long!) on the left was the bathroom (huge), followed by the bedroom (also huge), which was separated from the living room and kitchen by a fireplace, and then through a sliding glass door was a patio with a hot tub overlooking the mountains.

It was incredible.

I got ready for dinner and then we enjoyed some steak and drinks at an adorable steakhouse that was designed like a cabin.

Utah has some very strict alcohol laws. The state owns all the liquor stores, which aren’t open on Sundays, and the grocery stores don’t sell alcohol. We had to get a couple bottles of wine from the restaurant as a last resort lol.

From there, we headed back to the hotel and sat in the bar across the street, where we had a few drinks and watched the ball drop. We were pretty much the only people there, which made it even more enjoyable.

Next, we went back up to the room and Naz finally let me open my Christmas presents!

We capped the night off with some Pinot Grigio in the hot tub. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate. Thank you, Naz.

As you can tell, I had a blast this past year and started this new year the best way I could imagine. I’d Love to hear stories about your New Years as well, I’m sure you’ve got some good ones too!

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!

-AP



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