Winter Baseball Itch

It's crazy to think that this will be the start of D.J.'s third full season.  

I am by no means trying to rush these next five weeks, but the baseball season itch is creeping in on this happy off season. 

Maybe it's the crave for warm weather, or maybe it's the fact that I haven't watched a baseball game in five months, but whatever it is makes me miss baseball season! Any of my other baseball wives out there feeling the itch??

For some people, the off season has ended, they are making their way out to AZ or FL, or that report date is coming soon! Good luck to everyone that is getting ready to start in the next few weeks!

 I am excited to see what this season has in store for us...who knows where we will be, but that's the adventure in it all! If you have been reading along for a while, you know that this sentence was very different last year.  I always struggle with the fact that I don't travel with D.J. during the season.  I see all these other girlfriends and wives travel with their men, but I know for us, me staying home is the best thing for us to do.  I was very spoiled last year with D.J. being so close to me at the Carolina Mudcats, but I know that regardless of where he is playing this year, we are thankful for the opportunity for D.J. to play professional baseball and live his dream.  Maybe one day I will be able to go with him, but for now - lots of visits in our future!

If you are new to Blog With The Browns, check out our story in minor league baseball here.  There will sure be a lot of baseball in the next few months coming on the blog :)

Home Tour - Master Bedroom

I haven't done a post on the house in a while, but I figured that since you have only seen the before and after pictures that I need to show you what the room actually looks like!

First up, the master bedroom.  This is one room that I let DJ dictate with the paint color.  He had stated from the beginning that he wanted a grey bedroom, so that's what he got.  At first, I wasn't a fan.  It was giving more of a green-grey look and I didn't like it.  But as we continued to add touches of blue to the room, it started to even itself out.  We went this a great set of wood furniture for the bedroom.  We were thankful for my Nana for her help in purchasing the bedroom set, but it is so nice to have a full dresser, ottoman, and a bedside table.  

We went with a simple duvet cover from Pottery Barn with the king size monogrammed pillows. I love it, but was a little disappointing that some of the monogramming has already started to come undone from the pillows.  We acquired the perfect "always kiss me goodnight" for some friends cleaning out their home.  I love it because we always make sure there's a night time smooch before we pass out.

I had been struggling to find a good throw pillow for the bed for some time now.  I came across these beauties at TJMaxx last week and wasn't 100% sold, but I think they work great.  They are a smidge bit different than the blue on the duvet cover, but I'm fine with that.

Curtains were the death of me.  And still are as I am trying to find some for the living room.  After about three different options, these were the ones I went with.  They are not super thick, but I wasn't going for blackout.  I was going for more of a decoration look.  These were from TJMaxx as well and I am so happy with the way they turned out in the room. 

The bedside table is so convenient.  I love having a place to throw my glasses when I fall asleep.  I also use it as a place to keep my rings and everyday jewelry that I can throw on before I walk out the door. 

Hello dog hair...real life struggles.

The dresser is another key part of the room that I could not go without.  The drawers are literally stuffed to the top on my side.  I love how the vase the B are different shades of blue that tie in the bedspread.  Having my diploma displayed in our room is a constant reminder of how smart I am.  Just kidding! I love being able to see how much I have accomplished and how thankful I am to have parents that supported me while I worked for such an accomplishment.  

And that's our bedroom! Some of the photos I took were sideways and I couldn't get them to be the right direction.  I even re-saved them and tried that way.  Does anyone else ever have this problem? Is there a solution that you know of?

Exhibit A:

Let me know :)

6.2 Miles

6.2 Miles

10K

Call it what you want, but I'M DOING IT!

I'ts official, y'all! I have signed up for my first 10K!! 

On March 28, I will be kicking ass at the Monument Ave 10K in Richmond, VA with some of my dear friends! As one of the 25 things I have on the list to do while I'm 25, I am so excited to push myself and get these 6.2 miles under my belt. 

I've never  been a runner. Some people are just born to run.  I was more of a soccer - volleyball type of girl.  But as I've gotten older I've realized that I need to get into running because soccer and volleyball aren't happening anymore! 

 As ,  I will continue to update y'all with how the training is going! 

Weekend of Celebrations!

This was a great weekend.  Friday I took off a little early to head out to Cape Henry for the basketball games that night.  All three (JV, VGB, and VBB) all lost, but we put up one hell of a game for the varsity boys' game.  I mean, after all, Cape Henry's basketball team is number 5 in the nation, so we knew it was going to be a tough game.

The student section was rocking and overall, it was a great night.  The in-laws came down for the game as well so we decided to grab a late night dinner at Shorebreak on our way home.  I had a delicious chicken ceasar wrap with sweet potato fries.  We got home around 11p.m. and called it a night.

 

Saturday morning we had breakfast at Sandfiddler before heading to the mall to see American Sniper.  

If you haven't seen it yet, you are not American.  Just kidding, but you really should go see it.  It truly is a movie that all Americans should see.  The respect I have for those men and women that serve our country went through the roof after seeing the movie.  There is so much more to it than just being deployed and leaving your family, as was portrayed in the movie. Thank you to all those that have served, are serving, and will serve for our freedom.

MERICA.

After the movie, the in-laws got on the road to head home and I crashed on the couch for about two hours.  We had dinner plans at 7:30 to celebrate Gracie's 25th birthday at Watermans! We stopped at JoS. A. Bank for DJ to try on a suit for an upcoming wedding. I didn't snap a picture, but he was looking FRESH! 

Dinner was so much fun.  It was great seeing friends I haven't seen in a while and meeting new friends. I am so lucky to have friends that I can pick right back up where we left off! After dinner, we went to one of Gracie's boyfriends friends house to pregame and then hit up The Eagle's Nest.  I haven't stayed out that late in a while! But it was so worth it!

 

 

Sunday morning we slept in till about 10, before I got antsy and had to get up and do something.  I made some breakfast and DJ got up around 11.  We decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and take Stryker to the beach! It was SO pretty outside, so enjoy the photos!

The rest of the day we spent lounging on the couch, cooking dinner, and giving DJ a haircut! It was quite funny at the time, but I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.  

Here's to another great week of workouts, healthy eating, and productive workdays!

5 on Friday

Joining Darci, April, Christina, and Natasha today for Friday's Favorites.  These posts have been slipping past me lately, but I'm back y'all! 

one. oils

So I've been on the fence about ordering the starter kit either of doTerra or Essential Oils.  Are they just a fad that people are in to or is it worth it? I guess I need to educate myself more, but I think they could be very useful if I knew how to use them! Any suggestions would be appreciated! 

two. love your body - tone it up

If you read yesterday's post, you know I am trying to kick up the workout/eating healthy gear.  I have been obsessed with the Love Your Body series from the ladies at Tone It Up! If you have never heard or seen these girls, you need to check them out! The workouts are hard, quick, and most of the time you can do them from home with no weights! I highly recommend them - check them out here! 

three. elevate

Thanks to April at A. Liz Adventures, I have been obsessed with this app. I had no idea some of the basic math skills that I am not sharp on...

just kidding.  Math has never been my strong suite, but still - this is a great app that everyone should use to keep your skills sharp!

four.  Erin Condren Planner

This is the third year in a row I have used an Erin Condren Life Planner. The past two years, I have been extremely satisfied with the durability of the planner and how perfect of a size it is for me.  This year though, I received the pretty package in the mail and when I opened it up, I was a little apprehensive about this year's planner.  One of the new features for this years life planner is removable covers that you can swap in an out if you choose.  For me, this is a drawback because I have already started to notice that the top and bottom where the cover is attached to the spirals are starting to be worn and becoming detached to the spirals.  We will have to see how the next 11 months go before I decided on the planner again for next year.  

five. heart candies

Who doesn't love a good message from the heart candies?!

Changes Need To Be Made

Over the holiday season I completely let myself go. I wouldn't say all the way, but on the food aspect of things, I dropped the ball big time.  I've told y'all before that I do a workout class called BodyBack, and this last session was my worst one yet.  I didn't take it seriously and I have some work conflicts that made me miss some of the workouts.  I can tell that my body has changed for the worse and I need to get back in the habit of eating healthy. There have been times where I talk about needed to loose weight, but now I feel this is the first time I've said it an actually meant it.

I am here to publicly announce some things that are going to be changing around this house starting this week.  I stepped on the scale on Monday morning and weighed 139.  139!! To some, this number may seem high.  To some, this may be your goal, but for me, it's a number that I don't ever want to see again unless I'm growing a little baby brown inside my tummy!

After my 25th birthday, I realized that this needs to be the year to be in the best shape of my life.  D.J. and I want to start a family and I need to have my body prepared and ready to take on that miracle whenever that time may be.  So over the past few days, I have been cleansing my body to be ready to intake the best food possible.  I would say I have the workout part under my belt.  I workout hard and get at least 5 workouts in each week.  Now I know that the next step is to be eating as healthy as I possibly can.  I am going to put extra focus and effort into trying new recipes, eating cleaner, and paying attention to what goes in my body.

Now, I am a realist and know that I am not perfect.  All I can do is continue to try my hardest and when bad days happen, pick up the next day with a fresh start! I took some before pictures, but I am not 100% sure I will be posting them, but maybe one day! 

Who else is with me on this clean eating/exercising to keep your body the best it can be?!

Florida Georgia Line

For my birthday, D.J. got us tickets to go see Frankie Ballard, Thomas Rhett, and Florida Georga Line in Charlottesville this weekend! It was such a great concert and perfect that we were able to see KEndall when we were up there.  We hit the road around 3:00 from Norfolk and got to Charlottesville around 5:30 and could not find ANYWHERE to eat without a 30 minute wait.  We really wanted to go to Sedona Taphouse, which was highly reccommended from our friends, but the wait was too long and their reservations were booked days in advance.  We were stuck with Ruby Tuesday's, but the food was actually pretty delcious. We got into the concert pretty close to the start time of 7:30 and were able to see all the opening acts before FL/GA line hit the stage.  I'm so glad we did, because Thomas Rhett was AWESOME! Here are some pictures from the night! 

Great concert - highly recommend them to anyone interested in going to see them! Hope y'all have a great Monday and Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

Birthday Celebrations

Thank you all for the sweet birthday wishes and the great response for the 25 during 25 list! I have already crossed off half of one of these, thanks to my parents who got me my DSLR camera for Christmas/Birthday present.  

I am so thankful for my great friends who celebrated my birthday with me on Wednesday.  We went to one of my favorite restaurants in Virginia Beach, Chicks, and had some yummy crab legs, shrimp, and orange crushes! Since D.J. was out of town for half of the week, we decided that we would celebrate this weekend with family.  Tonight we are going to dinner and tomorrow we are planning to hit the road to Charlottesville to see Florida-Georgia Line, thanks to my sweet husband! He came up with this all on his own and even confirmed a place to stay (thanks Kendall!) 

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend and I can't wait to recap on Monday how our trip went!

25 during 25

As I mentioned in my post about New Years Resolutions, I have decided that 2015 is going to be the year my 25 during 25 list to be completed.  Since today is my 25th birthday, it's time to get started! I am planning on updating the list at the end of every month to keep myself accountable and as I complete them, I will make sure to blog about them! Happy list crossing off to me!

1. Run a 10k
2. Do a blog give-a-way
3. Write a guest post
4. Shoot a gun
5. Go on a spontaneous trip
6. See sunsets in 10 different cities
7. Do a girls weekend trip
8. Have a house party
9. Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity
10. Buy a camera and learn how to use it
11. Go to a new state
12. Host a shower for someone
13. Run a 5k in every month of the year, at least 5 of them being a race
14. Buy a new computer
15. Write 5 thank you letters to companies that i use their products
16. Cash in a whole milk jar of coins to savings 
17. Tip 100% of my bill 
18. Become CPR certified
19. Learn how to drive stick shift
20. Go to an NFL game
21. Do a 7-day smartphone detox 
22. Mail care packages to each of my siblings
23. Send my nana flowers out of the blue. 
24. Take professional photographs with D.J. and Stryker
25. Save $20 for every one of these that I complete

Brown Family Photos

Over the Christmas break we had some family photos done with D's side of the family.  They all turned out so great, thanks to Gana Locker Photography! We took a whole bunch of photos, but I personally love the ones of the whole gang together.  When we were taking the photos, it was a little crazy and hectic, but you would have never know based off of how great they turned out.

  

It was hard to get Stryker to look at the camera.  Whenever you called his name, he started running toward the camera! 

All the kids and their spouses and their kids! 

This is D.J.'s oldest sister, Amy and her husband Brian.  They gave us a little niece named Myla who will turn two in June and Bryce who is 5 months old.  

D.J.'s middle sister is Stef and her husband's name is James.  Their handsome son, Jayden will turn 4 in June! 

Then D.J. came along 8 years later and it's just us and the pup!

 The original crew!

I mean, it can't get much cuter than this can it y'all?!?!?

Thanks again to Gana Locker Photography for these amazing pictures!