#FITZISGETTINGHITCHED

Even though its been forever, I am so excited to spend the weekend with some of the best friends in the world.  Charleston, SC has been on my must-visit list of a while now and I am thrilled to be celebrating Stephanie at the same time!

"Fitz" and I first met our freshman year at JMU and instantly hit it off while we were making a song on a bus in a toga (...story for anther time!).

 We became great friends and decided what better way to continue this friendship than becoming roommates?! Moving into the house sophomore year was one of the best things we could have ever done.  We lived on the first floor and always so jealous we didn't live upstairs with the other girls we were friends with.  We went to countless date parties, shared our room with half of the sorority during Recruitment, dressed up for Jersey Shore night, and most notably gave great massages!  We were there for each ther during good times and bad, early mornings after late nights during FROG week, and learned how to be great roommates and even better friends.

When the time came to move out of the house and decide where to go, Steph and I moved into 855 with some great friends.  We added two more little members to our roommate family when Sam and Steph adopted Ninja and Nugget.  Needless to say, our landlord loved us, and so did his daughter!

Junior year living in 855 was crazy.  Between being crazy busy with school work and business school and throwing 21st birthday parties we were having the time of our lives.  We started off the year with a big blow up slide off the back deck that everyone in Forrest Hills wanted to be a part of! So many great memories over the next two years in 855 that I will just let pictures do the talking!

In the end, we fought, laughed, cried, threw up, ate goldfish, taped my food to places I couldn't reach, tanned on the back deck, and so much more.  I am so happy to call you a life long friend. My JMU experience would not have been the same without you!I am so happy to be sharing these great memories with you on your bachelorette weekend and again in September for your wedding!

The Blogmopolitan Quiz

Thanks to Believe in the Sparks for such a great idea :) Hope you learn a little about what makes me tick with the Blogmopolitan Quiz!!!

3 out of 6 2014 Weddings: Billy and Hillary

In honor of their one month anniversary of being married, I figured I would finally upload the post from Billy and Hillary's wedding.  What a perfect day it was.  The beautiful Shenandoah Valley was being a little stubborn with the rain, but once the rain passed, it was a picture-perfect wedding day.  Billy and I met back in 2009 when he pulled up to Ikenberry in his red truck full of freshman year dorm essentials.  I was busy unpacking the car, like a little servant while Billy organized his room!  Needless to say, I would have never thought that five years later I would be a guest at his wedding.  Not to mention a married woman to his freshman year roommate! Yes- D.J. and Billy were freshman roommates at JMU.  I would say it's pretty rare that you stay in touch with your Freshman Orientation Guide this long, but the three of us had a different relationship.  I am so thankful to have met Billy that day five years ago.  

Billy and Hillary were married at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Harrisonburg, VA on June 21, 2014 at 4:23 p.m. They both very Christian people so it was important to them to have a ceremony that made everyone feel their love for Jesus Christ.  The ceremony was about and hour long with special personal touches throughout. They had a full bridal party of 16 ladies and gentleman and a flower girl and ring bearer.  It was precious- the little boy carried the rings down in a baseball glove, how fitting right?! The bridesmaids were in a sheer one-shoulder light pink dress which fit the theme perfectly. They had a candle lighting ceremony as well and engaged the congregation with two hymns.  Isn't she a stunning bride?!

After the ceremony was over, the guests were directed outside the church to see the couple off to the reception. It was such a cool experience to see them exit the church as a married couple. 

We then headed to the reception which was held at a local barn about 10 minutes away. I was little surprised when we pulled up and saw donkeys, camels, and horses! However, they made the location work so nicely. When you stepped inside the barn, it looked like something straight off Pinterest. Everything from the string lights to the ladders and the barn windows made the venue look absolutely beautiful.  

The head table was decorated with pictures from their engagement photo shoot framed in old window panes. I thought this was one of the coolest decorations of the entire wedding. I was so in love.

 They did everything on their own and the decorations were stunning.  The centerpieces were very simple but had enough to carry the theme of "whimsically pink" (which I just made up) throughout the entire barn. 

It was great to see so many friends from baseball that I haven't seen in while.  Unfortunately, D.J. was not able to attend the wedding, but it was still great to see the guys. 

The night was full of love and I am so thankful to have been a part of the wedding celebrations. One of my favorite memories from their wedding will always be the best men and maid/matron of honor speeches.  They were all so heartfelt, funny, and made you feel the love that Billy and Hillary have for each other.  One of the groomsmen read a poem that Billy wrote in the third grade titled "Love" and it was all about baseball. It went a little something like this..

Love is sliding into home plate

Love is hearing my mom cheer for me in the stands

Love is getting grass stains on my pants

Love is baseball.

The groomsman followed up the poem  by saying something along the lines of "We all know baseball is one of Billy's most loved things, but Hillary, you will always be his number one from now on." It was so precious.  Maybe because I have a special place in my heart for a baseball poem.

 I really enjoyed how the couple really made the wedding about them.  They did things how they wanted to and were not afraid to be different.  Hillary changed out of her wedding dress into a cute little white dress for the final dance.  They danced to Today was a fairy tale by Taylor Swift that was played and sung by two of their friends.  It was a perfect way to end the night.  The couple drove away in an old punch-buggie with a grand sparkler exit!

Happy 1 month anniversary you two!

Blog with the Browns goes social!

Social media is must-have when you are a blogger.  I found that I was blowing up my personal page with blog posts and wanted to have the option to post about the blog whenever without blowing up all my friends' newsfeed!

I am happy to announce that Blog With The Browns now has it's own official Facebook page! 

If you haven't done so yet, go like the page to stay updated with all the newest blogs!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful, smart, talented, loving mom out there!

I have to brag just for a few seconds. It's not every day your typical mom is a Commander in the United States Navy. My mom served our country for 20 years traveling all around the world protecting our freedom! Our family was able to live in Japan for two years and travel to Guam and Saipan during the time there.  My mom also is the biggest dog lady out there.  If she could move to a farm and be a dog breeder, I'm pretty sure she would. Our family dog, Hudson, is seriously in love with my mom.  He is always at her feet wherever she is! She would do anything for her dogs, just like her children!

You have raised an amazing family and I am so proud to call you my mom.  I hope one day, I am just as an amazing mother to our children as you were to us!

July Goals

Ok ok, I know its July 10th but it's never too late to set goals for yourself right?! Seeing how its halfway thru 2014 I think it's time I buckle down on a few things around the house.  I am trying to get some of the major projects done before D.J. comes home for the off season.

1. Finish the gallery wall in our house.  It has been hanging there for nearly half a year with empty picture frames!
2. Continue running and make it to 4 miles.
3. Get back in the routine of planning my blogs.  I have realized that if I leave it to the night before to blog, I will get distracted and forget about it. I love to blog, but I really need to sit down and focus on what I want to blog about.
4. Do another Advocare cleanse.  I feel like it's time to kick the healthy eating into gear again. 
5. Start/finish The Husband's Secret.  This book has been on my radar for a while now and I finally borrowed it from a friend so this month is the month I will finish it!

Hope you all are having a lovely July so far!!

July 4th Weekend

July 4th has always been one of my favorite holidays! I think it has something to do with always going up to Pennsylvania and spending the long weekend with family at our camp house.  Although that tradition has slowly faded over the years with everyone going their separate ways, I still have a great love for the holiday.  I came down on Tuesday to NC and surprised D.J. at the field a day early and was able to stay from Tuesday night till Sunday after the game.  Stryker came down for the trip this time too and he did so well in the apartment while I was at the ball park.  I was a little worried about the time he would be in the room, but I guess he is getting out of his puppy stage! 

D.J. was originally supposed to play in the game on July 3rd, but just when my parents started to get on the road to head down for the game, he got changed to July 4th! It was a good thing that he ended up not playing on Thursday because Hurricane Arthur was giving us a little of his rainy outskirts.  It was down pouring and they continued to play! D.J.'s mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law and nephew came down from Thursday to Saturday morning.  Unfortunately, every game lasted over 3 hours so it was hard to get food after the game.  On July 4th, my parents drove down for the game with my sister and grandmother.  It was great to have the whole family together (minus my brother) to see D.J. play in front of a 9,000 person crowd! It was the first time they played D.J.'s walkout song too! Getting to the game was another story though.. I have never seen that many people getting off the interstate for the Mudcats game.  It was NUTS!!! I could only imagine if those people would actually come to more games throughout the season.

He had a great game and afterward we snapped some photos before my family got on the road.  We got out of the parking lot before the fireworks started to miss the traffic! IT WAS CRAZY!! I have never seen that many people pulled over on the side of the road to watch fireworks. 

Since the only thing that was open was Buffalo Wild Wings, that was what we got for dinner with the family! We ended up getting home around 1 a.m. and went straight to bed.

Saturday morning, D.J. and I woke up and did a little exploring around Raleigh.  We grabbed breakfast at The Flying Biscuit and then drove downtown and walked around for a little bit.  We were super touristy, but that's exactly what I wanted to do! 

Downtown Raleigh is so beautiful.  They have lots of historical buildings and it was super clean! Everything was decked out in American Flags! 

I hope you all had a fabulous holiday weekend and gave a big shout out to America on it's birthday!!

And the winners are...

Thank you so much for entering in the giveaway for an opportunity to win a Morgan Alexandra Print! I am so honored to be able to offer these two prints to my readers because they are just so cute!! 

Congratulations to Ericka at Pink and Green Mom & Holly Edwards! 

If you would like to purchase a print from Morgan Alexandra, you can do so at her Etsy Shop! 

Ladies,  I will be emailing you both later today!! 

Have a great Wednesday!