Weekending

It was such a perfect weekend and home with family and friends before the next few weekends get crazy busy.

Friday some friends and I went to dinner at a new place called Cogans North, which if you are a Norfolkian, you must try it! Great beer list and awesome pizza! We stayed there for a while and ended up going back to a friends house and after more chatting (and drinking :) ), I just decided to call it a night and sleep over.  I had an early morning waiting for me though, because it was gardening day.  My aunt and I went to the warehouse nursery and picked up some beautiful flowers for my yard.

We got home and placed them in the spots that I would end up planting them and headed out to my little man Liam's baseball game.  I never knew how slow a little league baseball game could be.  WOW. Thank God for time limits that's all I have to say. The girls were more into me taking photos of them than they were of watching the game, which I was fine with. 

The girls had fun running around and I snapped a few quick photos of Liam playing.  How awesome it is to have a little sister that carries your glove, bat AND helmet after the game?! She is the sweetest.

We got back to our house around 1:30 and I knocked out some planting before the work event I had at 5.  

And as you can see, I will be watermarking my photos with @blogwiththebrowns - the new instagram handle. I loved having my name as my instagram handle, but with me posting photos of the kids a fair amount and the future of the blog, I figure it's best for everyone's safety! So, I hope you enjoy!

Oh and I will be spending my Monday at the beach for some much needed R&R!

Momument 10K

This weekend I crossed another 25 during 25 thing off my list - run a 10K! Friday after work I drove to Richmond to spend the night with Hannah before the big race in the morning. We indulged at Bakers Crust for dinner with mac and cheese appetizer, a big salad, and a delicious crepe with ice cream and all! We fell asleep pretty quick when we got back to Hannah's apartment to get a good nights sleep for the race!

The race started at 8:30 so we woke up around 6:45 to get ready and figure out a way to get down to the race start and find a parking spot.  We left around 7:25 and stayed in the car once we found a place to park.  It was sooooo cold, so we decided staying warm was the best decision.  We went outside around 8:30 when the first heat started and we finally crossed the starting line around 9 a.m. By that time we were ready to get running because of how cold it was.

The run was much easier that I was expecting it to be.  We ran 3.1 miles down one direction and turned around and ran back.  Monument Ave. is a beautiful street.  Lots of people were out cheering us on, offering beer, water, gatorade, and even BACON! I saw lots of hilarious signs and heard the great sounds of the bands that lined the streets.  There was over 10,000 runners in this race, so my only complaint (besides the cold) was how crowded it was.  There wasn't a time where I felt that it thinned out.  I was constantly passing people and being passed.  

I did some what train for this race, but I never ran more than 3.5 miles.  So when I got to around mile 4 and 5, I was surprised on how good my body was feeling! We finished the race in 1:09 and I was so proud of us! We never stopped running and I'm ready to do my next 10K!

After the photos, we went to Continental to enjoy this terribly bad for you delicious french toast breakfast! I hit the road back for Norfolk after breakfast and ended up taking a 4 hour nap before Dad made dinner.  We topped off the night going to see Kingman.  It was decent - I'm glad I only paid $3 to see the movie on base! 

Sunday I went to church at 8 with my aunt and uncle and relaxed till around noon.  Then I spent the afternoon with this cutie and her sister...

and flushed my tight muscles out at hot yoga at 4! 

Looking forward to this four day work week and finding out what team my hubby is going to be on at the end of the week!

Virginia Whirlwind Tour

This weekend I put some miles on my already tired tires as I drove across Virginia stopping in three different destinations in a matter of 72 hours.
Before hitting the road, I spent Friday afternoon watching my little cousin Liam's dive meet! It was the cutest thing ever to watch him get up on that spring board and showcase his dives.  Such a smart, funny, little kid he is!
Thinking that I would miss the traffic, I got on the road around 6:45 and sat in about 45 minutes of tunnel traffic.  Not what I was expecting, but I passed the time by watching some March Maddness on my phone! Thank goodness for technology! And don't worry- once we started moving, I stopped watching.

I arrived in Richmond, VA around 9 to Conner's house and Brad met us before we went out to Jack Brown's, which any JMU student knows as the best burger place in town.  They just opened up a Richmond location and I knew I had to try it. After an hour wait, 4 Bold Rock ciders later, I was enjoying a artery clogging delicious burger topped with mac and cheese and BBQ chips followed by an even more unhealthy deep fried Oreo.  Yep, that happened!

Saturday morning I met up with one of my besties, Hannah and we took a spin class at BOHO in Richmond and it was killer.  It was so awesome though - the instructor was so energetic and helped me so much since it was my first spin class!

I drove up to Charlottesville after the class and met Kendall, my big in AST and bestie, at her fabric store to look for curtains.  Remember my curtain post from a while ago?! Yea, well I have about 14 new fabrics to choose from.  Talk about overwhelming.  I think I have narrowed it down to three finalists and will let you all in on those soon! We spent the night watching basketball and drinking more beer at Mellow Mushroom with a nice little visit from Danielle!

Sunday morning I drove the rest of the way to my final destination, the one and only James Madison University.  You all have heard me talk about it before, but I hold a special place in my heart for JMU.  The people, the faculty, the part of the country its located, the opportunities - everything  - I just love it.  I would give anything to have a reason to go back, even if it is just for five hours.
First thing I did was make a photo stop by the quad!

Gosh I seriously love this place.

I grabbed breakfast with some of the AST sisters before heading to the Recruitment workshop.  It was so fun to catch up with them and see how the chapter has grown over the past three years and see the seniors that were freshman when I was there.  Being able to provide what I know on Recruitment to these women makes me feel good! I love being able to give back to the chapter that gave me so much during my time at JMU.  After the workshop was over, I had all the members of my "family" stay after to show them a family tree and see how much it has grown since I was the youngest one in the family.  I don't know much about any of these ladies, but I do know that we share a common bond of AST and know that they stand for the same things I stand for.  Graciousness - Respect - Connections - Intellect - Excellence.

Tori, the sweet little blonde on my right, took me to the house after to see the new basement they have now! It was awesome to see my room and what it looks like now and how beautiful the basement is!

I hit the road home around 5 p.m. and made a quick pit stop at the scenic view to snap a few photos and reminisce on old times.  When D.J. and I first started dating, he wanted to take me on a picnic to watch the sunset from the mountains.  We drove the the first scenic view we came across.  We had m&m's, chips, and a Dr. Pepper to share.  We were too early to see the sunset, but it was one of those memories that will always be a part of our history and I love it.

I made it home around 8:30 p.m. After a fast weekend traveling Virginia, it was nice to be home, do some laundry and hit the bed around 9:30 because my alarm was going off a 5:15 AM for workout class today!!

Have a good Tuesday everyone!

Weekend Recap

On Friday night after the basketball games at the school, we drove up to visit my in-laws for the weekend. We got in around 11 p.m. and I literally went straight for our bed.  I was beat and I knew we had a long day in the morning.

Saturday morning, we went to see Myla play soccer at 9 a.m. in Fredericksburg and grabbed some brunch at Cracker Barrel afterwards.  She was so cute out there playing with the cones and doing the obstacle courses.  Soccer at 19 months is pretty hilarious!

It was the whole gang at the field house - Brian and Amy's family, James, Stef and Jayden, Brians mom and grandma and D.J., Sandra, Dennis and I.  Needless to say, I think Myla had the biggest fan section!

 

It was a challenge to get Jayden to take a good picture, but these two are the best we got!

 Even Bryce was happy to be there...until we cut into his eating time!

 

 After brunch, we went to Funland to let the kids run around.  And the adults! It was a beautiful day outside so we all took our turn in the batting cage.  Even Dennis, my FIL got some swings in! Jayden wanted to ride some of the "roller coasters" inside and since he needed someone to ride with him, the closest adult to kid-size got that privileged. Yep, that's me.  It was actually pretty fun and I was extremely dizzy.

We got home around 2 and the boys played some basketball while I snuggled on Bryce.  D.J. got his favorite meal and we had delcious shrimp and pineapple.  While we were eating, the sun was setting and I couldn't help but snap some pretty crazy photos.  God is so great to provide us with this beautiful scenery.

How beautiful are those photos?! And one more for good measures...

I fell asleep on the couch watching Fury, but it was a great night with family.

Sunday moring Amy and Myla came by for brekfast and to say bye to D.J. one last time. We hit the road around 12 to head home.  I had a hot yoga date at 4 pm with a friend so I needed to get back for that.

Here's to another amazing week focusing on solid work, workouts, and healthy eating! Only 3 weeks left before we head to AZ to kickoff the 3rd baseball season! 

Super Bowl Weekending

So not only was it Super Bowl weekend, but it was basketball weekend, cheering weekend, CPR weekend, and much more! Needles to say, once again, we were busy.

Friday night D.J. had a basketball game followed by "Lower School Night" at the Varsity boys' game at the school.  Along with some of my co-workers, we managed to pull off an awesome night for all the lower school students with raffle prizes, games to play, and lots of cheering from the stands! The game awe AMAZING and we won by two points! In case I haven't mentioned it before, I stepped up to the plate and took on the Varsity Cheering team this year as the head coach.  More on that later.. but after the long, exhausting night of trying to control little kids and make sure they don't get taken out by the 6'6 basketball player, I topped off the night with a lock in sleepover with the middle school and varsity cheering team.

Yes. You can say it - I'm crazy. But the sleepover was actually pretty fun.  I wish I could have done some more team bonding with the team, but they wanted to watch some terrible movie called Warm Bodies, so we limited the team bonding. After the movie, I called a "bedtime" at 1:00 a.m. and I'm confident they didn't go to sleep until around 2.  So that happened... and then in the morning, they all looked like this...

Also known as PASSED OUT!

Then after everyone was picked up, the school offered a CPR re-certification class that I was signed up for, so I topped off a 13 hour work day, sleepover with middle and high schoolers, I went and refreshed my skills on how to save someones life...thanks to these pretty awesome friends right here...

 What's crazy/nasty is that when I was first certified (back in 2004? 2005?) these were the exact same "people" we practiced on!

The rest of the day Saturday I slept till about 4pm.  Then we did some things around the house and ended the night watching the UVA/Duke basketball game. 

Sunday morning I was up and at 'em. I put some boxes up in the attic, vacuumed, did some laundry, and D.J. finally took down the Christmas lights from the house.  No judgement people. We watched the Super Bowl with some friends and their kids out in Virginia Beach.  What an ending to a game.  Amazing game played by all!

Here's to another productive week!

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!

Weekending

This weekend was pretty uneventful, but we got a good amount done around the house.  Friday night after work D.J. and I went to our friends house out at the beach for dinner.  It was fun relaxing, drinking some vino, and catching up with them.  We got home pretty late so we hit the bed when we got home.  

Saturday morning I slept in until whenever I wanted to and it felt so good!! Doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted too! I ended up getting out of bed around 10 and started taking
down the Christmas decorations.  Depressing.  The house looks so boring, but at least everything is back in place.  The bins still need to be put up in the attic, but we also still need to take down the outside lights.  Yes- we are those people who still have their lights up.  I told D that we need to at least turn them off so they don't come on at 5pm every day. 

I went to hot yoga at 12 and it was good, but it wasn't that hot in there... the heat was broken!! HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN AT HOT YOGA!?

D.J. was helping with a third grade baseball clinic with Norfolk Collegiate kids so I went and watched as he taught the little kids the basics.  I guess this is the year where they start kid pitch so they were learning the mechanics of pitching and what not. 

Saturday night we hit up Waterman's at the beach for Virginia Beach Restaurant Week.  I had a delicious cup of she crab soup, crabcakes, and a yummy dessert to top it all off.  We went to a high school basketball game after to do some scouting for the Norfolk Collegiate vs. Cape Henry game coming up later in the month.  Cape Henry has one of the top 100 prospects in the nation that ha signed with Virginia Tech for next year. 

Sunday we stayed in bed for a while in the morning before getting up to do some cleaning.  The kitchen and bathroom really needed some elbow grease (which I didn't have).  We grabbed TASTE for lunch and went out to Virginia Beach for D to help another group of kids with some baseball lessons.  They were having practice already, so D just helped out while the other coaches were helping with catching and hitting.  This place we went though was one of a kind.  It was an indoor batting cage that this dude had attached to his house with a projector TV on the wall, carpeted, and heated!! It was amazing.

We finished the weekend off with cards and dinner at my parents house and a few episodes of Full House on Nick @ Nite! 

Hope you all had a great weekend!