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Apparently they really are as cute as they seem. Erin and Ben Napier, the supernaturally sweet married duo who star in HGTV’s hit “Home Town” reality series, made their name restoring old homes in the quaint city of Laurel, Miss. And when they’re not power sanding floors, they’re putting other couples to shame with the intoxicating beauty of their love.
As chronicled in their new scrapbook-style memoir “Make Something Good Today: A Memoir” (Gallery Books) — jointly written, of course — the couple fell for each other as students at Jones County Junior College, tied the knot in 2008, welcomed a rosy-cheeked baby named Helen this year and are basically soaring to success on a balmy updraft of utter romantic devotion. Here’s more from their highlight reel to swell your bitter heart:
They met at McDonald’s
The couple writes that they had been crushing on each other from afar during their freshman year. Their first encounter didn’t happen until spring, however, when they found themselves at the same Mickey D’s drink fountain. The pair exchanged few words despite the pent-up attraction. “I was frozen,” Erin writes. “I didn’t know how else to hide such enormous feelings for a boy who was little more to me than a stranger.” And you thought your Happy Meal was joyful.
They fell head over heels in a week
A few months after their fast-food face time, Erin scored a chance to interview Ben for their school’s yearbook. Ben’s crush on the cute correspondent quickly metastasized. “It took three days for me to know I was in love with Erin, but I didn’t want to say it aloud and sound ridiculous,” he writes. “So I gave it three more days.” Erin meanwhile, had already broken things off with a beau named Charlie to make way for Ben. Sorry, Charlie.
They’re amassing a library of their love
Nope, it’s not enough to merely produce a book for a major publisher. Each year, Ben also presents Erin with a handmade journal of their shared experiences he calls an “Anniversary Book.” Though Ben himself is the creator of the custom tomes, his thoughts cannot be contained by its covers: “Every year, I struggle to fit the past year’s events into my template, since there’s always more I want to remember than space on the page,” he writes.
Erin art-directed Ben’s city council campaign
Though “Big” Ben ultimately conceded the 2013 race, he contends that his was the best-looking campaign Laurel had ever seen. “Erin made sure nobody’s campaign material looked as good as mine,” he writes. “My face and name were plastered on 20-foot-tall banners.” Still, he’s not bragging: “Even I got sick of my face,” he admits in the book.
Erin manifested the couple’s dream home at age 13
For decades, Erin gathered inspiration for the house she’d someday grow up to inhabit: a 1920s Craftsman cottage. When the couple found a close match, Ben made the dwelling perfect. “[The paint colors] weren’t the colors Erin had dreamed about and scrapbooked for nearly 20 years,” Ben writes. He painted everything to her teenage specs, “just as the scrapbook had foretold.”
The couple is filming season three of “Home Town,” airing in 2019.
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