Dear Avery,
2013 was one incredible year. Your Uncle and I were both promoted in our jobs, sold our first house and bought another, both bought new cars, traveled a lot, and introduced some new babies into our family and friend’s families! It’s been a year of extreme growth and pure joy. In that year, I got to see you quite a few times…and my, have you GROWN. You are so funny, so smart, so inquisitive, so thoughtful, and so much fun to play with… and you are only 2 1/2…going on 13. 🙂
I wanted to reflect on this year with some of my favorite things (in the Oprah voice! — you may need to Google that later on).
Favorite songs:
1. Night Train – Jason Aldean (saw him in concert this year at the Hollywood Bowl. Amazzzzzing!)
2. Royals – Lorde
3. Demons – Imagine Dragons
4. When I was your man – Bruno Mars
5. Anywhere with you – Jake Owen (Also, saw him live with Jason Aldean!)
**Best Album: Babel – Mumford and Sons (even though it was released in 2012, I listened it the most in its entirety this year.)
^^All 5 of those songs I INSTANTLY loved the second the I heard them. Been jamming ever since.
Favorite Movies (While I really think that this was not the best year for movies and I still haven’t seen all the Oscar noms):
1. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. (Ask your Uncle Ryan about this film, he worked on set as an extra!)
2. Hunger Games: Catching Fire
3. Man of Steel (I’m not the biggest Super Hero film fan, but I thought this one was one of the best!)
4. Monsters University
5. This is 40
Television was INCREDIBLE this year. Here are my 5 favorite TV shows (this was really hard):
1. Game of Thrones
2. The Blacklist
3. Brooklyn 99
4. The Mentalist
5. Homeland
While this was the last year for “Dexter” (one of the best TV series ever — sadly, it was not my favorite season and series ending).
“Ray Donavan”, “The Newsroom”, and “The Following” were runners up. So many fantastic television series right now. When you are old enough, you will need to catch up so we can discuss!
Favorite news story of the year:
Bat-kid in San Francisco. Oh man, I read about this story a year ago…and got to watch parts of it take place on a live stream. I don’t know this boy, but man, did his story steal my heart. Read more here: http://sf.wish.org/wishes/wish-stories/i-wish-to-be/wish-to-be-batkid
Favorite event this year:
iHeartRadio Music festival in Vegas with Uncle Matt. It was a 2 day event at the MGM Grand. We saw some of our favorites perform like: Elton John, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Bruno Mars, Queen, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, and many more. We did a meet and greet with 30 Seconds to Mars who put on an incredible show during their set. We were given VIP passes to a private pool party, and lounge area for the day concert, and had incredible meals with some fascinating people. I could not get over how incredibly cool it was to experience something like that. I felt like a celebrity myself. I kept pinching myself to make sure it wasn’t a dream.
Favorite place I visited:
I love travel. This year, we went to Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle (one of my favorite cities), the Bahamas, and lots of other fun places! But my favorite this year was Nashville, Tennessee. We went for a Christmas party that Matt was invited to. We used it as an excuse to explore a new city (one in which I’ve always wanted to visit!). I loved everything about it. The incredible music everywhere in the Honky Tonk bars. The ability to walk anywhere. The crisp and cool air during December. The historic sites and beautiful architecture. Nashville, is a MUST SEE city.
Favorite fashion trends (^^you can see in my Nashville picture, that I hit most of the trends – wedge boots, bright vest, rose gold watch and ombre hair!):
1. Ankle boots and wedges. << I never used to wear any height because I’m tall as it is, but man, I love my wedge boots.
2. Patterned leggings. Jackpot.
3. NEON anything. I love bright colors, and I felt like this year in particular really spoke to me.
4. Yoga pants. LuLuLemon steals your soul and wallet, but they are just too fabulously comfortable.
5. Ombre hair. (Darker hair that fades to lighter). The moment I saw it, I loved it, needed it…so I got it. Haven’t turned back. Still rockin’ it. Your dad even told me that he liked it. That is sayin’ a lot!
6. Rose gold (watches, rings, necklaces etc). Great color for my olive skin.
The best part of this year was being able to see you grow up. 
Every time I saw you, something changed, and you just got cuter. Spending time with the people you love is really the secret to having a fabulous year. So let’s make 2014 even more joyful.
With love,
Aunt Megs
With Love, Aunt Megs 