Athens, GA | Bobby's Graduation Festivities

What weekend this has been! Today is going to be a rough one, considering last week I had a two-day work week.  On Wednesday night, my dad and I hopped on a plane to Atlanta, GA where my mom picked us up around midnight.  The whole family was down in Athens, GA for the graduation weekend, including my aunt, uncle, and Nana.  It was similar in ways to my graduation, but one of the biggest differences was that Bobby had is college graduation on Thursday afternoon and then Friday night was the "big" one in Sanford Stadium! 

So Thursday we spent the morning going on a family run, got ready for the ceremony and enjoyed a nice reception at his college building.  Bobby graduated with a BLA - Bachelors in Landscape Architecture - so there were only 31 people in his class! The entire program lasted 45 minutes (another big difference between mine)! Before we went to dinner Thursday night, we went downtown and met a few of Bob's friends and had a few drinks. We went to dinner at a local Cuban place that is BYOB and was so delicious! Here's the Thursday picture dump.

 My beautiful sister.

Mom, Dad and the graduate!

Bobbbbayyyyy!

Two down, one to go!

I was too excited and jumping up and down, so the best picture I got was blurry.

The family with Nana post-graduation.

Bobby's senior project.

It's official!

Baby sis.

How awesome is this place? All outdoor seating, BYOB and perfect atmosphere. 

Friday we slept in, I did some work and got a Tone It Up workout in before we had to get ready for the 7 p.m. graduation in Sanford Stadium. Although it was hot as hell, super crowded and 3.5 hours long, the Sanford Stadium graduation was the coolest thing ever.  Both speakers were amazing and I will remember the stories vividly. We were able to spot Bobby amongst the thousands of graduates, watched fireworks, and sang Glory Glory! And at the end of the night, I'm not sure who was more excited to have graduated - Bobby or mom! 

Saturday we had a casual party at Bobby's house that I didn't take any pictures at and Sunday, Julie and I hit the road for an 8 hour drive home around 6 a.m! I made it home in time to mow the grass, do laundry and catch up on all my shows!

Here's a busy work week and another exciting weekend in OBX for Carleigh's bachelorette party! 

Bob's Graduation Weekend

Last night, I hopped on the last flight outta here to spend the weekend celebrating my baby brother's graduation! After five years, lost of football games, late nights in the studio, this little fella is finally getting his Landscape Architecture degree today!

Follow along on instagram to see the beautiful town of Athens, GA and the graduation celebrations!

25 During 25 Update | April

Time for April's 25 during 25 update!

1. Run a 10k - DONE! Boom.
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 - adding Athens, GA to this list this weekend!
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  Loved being able to shower one of my best friends! Hope more showers happen in the future - wedding or baby!
13. Run a 5k in every month of the year, at least 5 of them being a race - runs- Jan | Feb | Mar | April
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 - this will happen in Jan 2016 when the jar is nice and full!
17. Tip 100% of my bill - so far I haven't come across a waitor/ress that I feel is deserving of 100% tip yet - is that bad?!
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 - $100 and counting!

#baseballwifelife | One Month In

It blows my mind that we are already into the second month of the season - where is the time going?! 

So for anyone that missed the memo, D.J. will be starting the season in Lynchburg, VA with the High A affiliate with the Cleveland Indians.  We are so fortunate that the Carolina league is close to home and we are all able to see him play a good amount.  So far this season, I have been able to see him play twice - both times against the Potomac Nationals in Woodbridge, VA.  I haven't made it out to Lynchburg yet, but I will make the trip for Memorial Day Weekend.  

D.J. has been playing pretty well so far this season and is embracing the new city he is living in.  I hear Lynchburg is beautiful, so I cannot wait to check it out! We still aren't 100% sure if D.J. is a starter or reliever, simply because of the number of innings he has been throwing each outing.  In four appearances, D.J. has pitched 21.1 innings, which is the second highest on the team behind a starter. He has an overall record of 2 wins and 1 losses and a 3.80 ERA.  16 strikeouts so far and looking great (how cute is his photo!!)

I'm hoping May flies by because in June, I'll be moving to Lynchburg to be with my lady friends and my hubby! 

Any other baseball ladies out there - take a look at my sweet friend, Allison, and her post over at  Life in the 10th Inning!

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!

@caytebrown vs. @blogwiththebrowns

I don't know about your blog feed, but the hot topic right now is all things privacy - watermarking, photos of babes, how to be safe on social media - you name it, they are talking about it. I think this is making headlines on our blogs because of the new phenomenon with over 34,000 hashtags on Instagram called #babyrp.  It's when creepers steal photos of the ones you love and pretend they are their own. #scary I'll let you look at Stephanie, Cait, and Megan's posts to see more about how they are dealing with this crazy topic with their mini me's.

After reading these posts, I realized it's not just about your babies photos, but about all the photos.  I don't want random people stealing them and claiming them as their own, so I began thinking about watermarking...then I just got confused. See my problem is that I have my Instagram account linked to my personal name - @caytebrown.  But should I be change it to @blogwiththebrowns or some sort?!   When I do get to the point of having tons of cute little baby Brown pictures to upload to the blog, I do want to make sure they are being kept safe. So what is your suggestion?? Keep instagram the same or change to the blog name?!

The privacy talk also brought up the other topic of general safety on social media.  Tawnya from All of Life's Little Adventures posted a great article about how to stay safe when you publicly put your life out there to the world - which, if you have a blog or not, most of America is in some way putting your life out there.  Take a few minutes to read it and think about adopting some of these policies for yourself!

So blog besties - please help me out with the instagram handle!

Baseball Apparel

Ok ya'll. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm married to a baseball player.  If you are new to the blog, check out that story here. This past off season it seems like small businesses have blossomed in the baseball world.  It's so exciting to see all these ladies working hard to support their men and provide for their families.  I'm obsessed with all of these companies and cannot wait till my husband gives me the OK to purchase some of my own.

Baseball Lacelets
These ladies have been getting crazy amounts of press in their hometown of Cincinnati, OH.  Two sisters who teamed up to bring us these awesome leather, hand stamped baseball lacelets have been growing their business tenfold and just finished their Kickstarter campaign to purchase their own stamping machine and secure a warehouse space! Made of the leather from a baseball glove, these bracelets come with customizable options with multiple different lengths and colors.  If you love some good arm candy, check them out!

The Swanky Paper Doll
How cool is this outfit.  I'm obsessed with the navy and  heather gray and what's more appropriate that "talk baseball to me"?! I would throw this shirt on for any night game with a cute pair of wedges during the summer time. The Swanky Paper Doll has tons of shirts perfect for any team color and perfect little baseball quotes that I love!

Live Love Gameday
If this isn't so true for any baseball lady out there, I don't know what is! The best part about Live Love Gameday is that they have shirts for all sports - from basketball to football - perfect for anyone.  They event have some pretty pretty jewelry!

I highly encourage you to go check out all of these fabulous companies and shop away!