Welcome to Brown Town

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2009-12-11T06:26:00.000-08:00

Hello people out there who still check this blog even though I update it twice every two years :)

It's been a pretty hectic month in the Brown/Miles part of the family. My dad had surgery a week before Thanksgiving. He had to get rods put in his neck and will lose 50% mobility after the three month recovery process. This sounds bad but his pain will be down tremendously, so that is a blessing. My uncle had a heart attack a couple of days ago and just had a quadruple bypass and heart valves were replaced. We are standing by hour by hour to make sure he recovers. My other uncle had a triple bypass in October and my uncle on my mom's side was just diagnosed with cancer! Please keep all these men in your prayers. It hit me pretty hard on Wednesday (including completely breaking down at work!) My wonderful supervisor sent me home to take care of myself (one of the reasons I love my counseling profession!).

That has definitely put me in a sullen mood but I still know that I have a lot to be thankful for. Mine and Jared's first Thanksgiving as a married couple went off great! We did a bit of traveling but felt that we were able to spend relaxing times with everyone. (And still ate a lot of food). Don't be jealous, but our tree is already up and decorated and presents wrapped and under it! I'm sure this will never happen again that soon LOL

Jared just finished up fall semester at school. He has two more classes in the spring and then is the proud owner of an M.B.A. We are very curious to see how his career will be in 2010, considering he is being presented with MANY opportunities. No one is more deserving.

I am still LOVING my internship! I am so grateful to have ended up where I am. It definitely cements in my mind that I want to work with children and adolescents. I'm still deciding in what venue, but that is also pretty open as there are a good amount of opportunities out there.

This weekend marks the Holiday festivities beginning. We have something every weekend until New Years (still trying to figure that one out). My resolution is to update this thing more (even if just a little bit).

Happy Holidays Everyone!

It's (one of) the most wonderful time of the year!

2009-10-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

I LOVE this time of year! Crisp fall air, hot chocolate, and pumpkins!!! My cider candles are burning right now. I need to get my halloween costume soon! Jared and I also carve a pumpkin...hmm haven't done that yet either. I guess school/internship/work can keep the marrieds busy!

BUT, tomorrow we are taking a festive trip to a haunted corn maze. I am so excited!!! I'm hoping to make some hot apple cider before we leave.

Here's a pic of me and the husband last year at the Ford Halloween party in Rome, GA.

It's been a while

2009-10-01T16:23:00.000-07:00

Why hello fellow bloggers!

Sorry it's been a while since I have posted anything. Life has happened. (Isn't it how it always is). Well let's see if I can get everyone up to speed on what's happening in Brown Town:
-We moved in July! It's a smaller apartment but sooo cute. It came with accent walls already painted (in the colors I wanted!) and has brushed nickel fixtures (including two ceiling fans). I really love our place! I'm trying to get things hung on the walls.

-I've started my Master's level internship at a private school in Alpharetta. I love it! I am learning so much and my supervisor and counselor there are awesome! My seminar group at school is great too. I have 9 more months and then I graduate :)

-Jared graduates in May with his Master's. He is really busy right now, taking 3 classes on top of working full time. He is a dedicated man!

-I turned 30 11 days ago. That is still so weird to say.

That's pretty much the biggest things going on with us right now. There is one more thing really exciting happening, but I will save that for later (once it's official-and it's not pregnancy!) Thanks for visiting!

We broke the internet!

2009-07-01T18:17:00.001-07:00

I talked to my wedding photographer and she said that she was uploading the photos to an online gallery and it should be up today. I woke up this morning to an email from her saying that the system was having trouble uploading the photos. So far there are 53 out of 1000 uploaded LOL Jared and I are impressed that our wedding broke the internet :) Hopefully she can get them up and I will post a link so you can see the glory that is the Browns! Until then, here is our slideshow:

http://www.atlantarockphotography.com/slideshows/sarahjared/

Hello Mr. and Mrs.

2009-06-15T20:24:00.000-07:00

I am married!!!! Sure I got married almost two months ago and I'm a little late getting this blog going, but hey I have a husband to take care of now :)

The wedding was absolutely beautiful! Everything I imagined in my head actually happened! Who would have guessed it? The best part of the day was being surrounded by family and friends who were so loving and supportive of us. I consider us lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives. I only wish the wedding lasted hours more! (of course our bank accounts were happy it ended on schedule).

It's late at night and I'm writing this as I'm very sleepy. I will catch up tomorrow by writing down memories of our wedding and going into honeymoon details! (well, not TOO many details).

One Week

2009-04-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

I am now at the one week to go before my life changes. This is a great life change :) I am so lucky to be with my perfect match. We're definitely not perfect, but I feel that we are perfect for each other. I can't wait to embark on this new and permanent change. I am so proud of us :) But as the week winds down to the big day, I have all these emotions. As most people have told me, it will be a roller coaster of happy, stressed, sad, and hopeful. I'm on this roller coaster now. It's such a big build up and I am so excited. The stressful part is getting everything together. The sad is sometimes having a mini identity breakdown. (I really need to start practicing my new last name in cursive!) The hopeful is what is in store for us. I love Jared so much and we are going to have such an eventful life! It's hard to be patient LOL.

For all you marrieds that read this, I want to get some comments on how to approach this upcoming week. Take a hot bath? Dance all around the apartment? Lock myself in my room and pray? LOL If you have any great advice on relaxing and pampering myself, please share :) A manicure and pedicure is definitely in the works this week :)

In one week, go Team Brown!!

March Madness

2009-03-24T11:12:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, it's been a while. I've been super busy with the new job and getting things ready for the wedding. 25 days away!!! I am super excited. We've had pretty much all our meetings with the vendors. The money is almost saved up. I can't wait to marry Jared!

I feel like this year is gonna be a great year with changes. As of today, I found out we will have some challenges coming up, but I believe it's for the better. Our chances of getting a house this year are pretty much at 1-5% now. This does suck, (definitely more for Jared) but why rush something if it is not the right time. This year we need to focus on our relationship, school, work, and definitely make time for the beach :)

And now for some fun goals for the year! I've been engaged for 14 months so of course wedding planning was my hobby of choice. This year Jared and I decided to get some more hobbies going. I bought a driver for golf so we can play together. (And by play I mean swing a bunch and hit the ball a couple of times). I want to take photography lessons and maybe even intern a couple of times under a photographer. We even want to take Italian lessons too! There is so much to learn and so many places to go to take classes. I think we are education junkies LOL

Here's to the fun in 2009!

Snow Day

2009-03-01T17:01:00.000-08:00

Wow! Ok, I was the first to admit that there was no way in H*** that it was gonna snow. 1-2 inches? Please! But the weather proved me wrong! Not only did it snow, but it snowed for almost 6 hours!!! I had to work today so I couldn't play in it :( But I did get to watch it fall outside and blanket everything. It was awesome. Here are very limited pics I took:

Yay snow!

Hello Kitty!

2009-02-25T14:52:00.000-08:00

I just want to take a second to talk about my cat Gracie. A few facts about her:

-She was born on September 19, 2007 (per the vet). My birthday is Sept. 20th. AWWW!

-She is a female calico. Most female cats are mean. Almost all calico cats are mean. There are almost no male calicos. Hence, most female calico cats are mean. Gracie is mean! She has a very funny attitude.

-She is a touch me not. She doesn't like to be touched a lot. She does however, love to sleep on our bed every single night.

-She LOVES the shower! Seriously, every time I get out of the shower, she jumps in. She comes out all wet, but loves it!

-She's very sadistic with her toys. Several of them have been found amputated and their insides removed. She makes sure to rip the eyes off first!

-She is in love with Jared. She likes me ok but has to be near him at all times.

-She knows the word eat and sleep. She's very responsive.

-She has the biggest eyes I've ever seen on any cat.

Enjoy these pictures of my baby :)

Choosing Happiness

2009-02-23T17:57:00.000-08:00

Ok, gotta brag about this author again. I received "Choosing Happiness" by Alexandra Stoddard this past Christmas from my family. I love her work! She makes it ok to be happy. Especially in this day and age, we are so accostomed to feeling bad about being happy. There is always so much to do and we feel guilty for taking time out for ourselves (why are we one of the only countries that don't mandate time off? Many countries require their employees to take at least 2 weeks off, some a month or more!) She talks about taking care of yourself. Finding the good in everything and truly owning your happiness. As many people know me, I like to be happy. I want to feel good.

I did something that would be perceived as stupid last month. I quit my job. Without another lined up. Not a very society thing to do. I was unhappy. I was not sleeping. I became anxious on Sunday around 1pm just thinking about Monday. I was not happy. I took a chance, what felt like the right chance to me. One day after quitting I got an interview...the next week I was working full time with a pay raise and reduced rent. EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON! Always trust your gut.

Sorry if this is preachy, this is coming from the heart right now. I'm sleeping great! I feel like a weight is lifted off my shoulders. Am I in my correct path? Who knows. What I do know is to trust my feelings and everything will work out.

How about them apples? :)

Wedding update and such

2009-02-04T14:35:00.000-08:00

First of all let me say thanks for putting up with me while I change my blog background a million times! There are so many cute things that I can't decide on just one!

My second randomness is to tell my friend Kelley to feel better! She has pink eye, that sucks :(

My third randomness is to congratulate the McClures on their beautiful baby boy. Everett is such a sweetheart.

Finally wedding update!!
-I am almost done with the invitations. It took forever but hopefully I can get 90% of them out by Friday! We got them at party city so they are not super fancy; but I love the way they turned out.
-We need to finish getting our favors. We have about 4 more things to buy then that should be done. Bridesmaid and groomsmen gifts are bought and delivered!
-It's about time for all our final meetings with the DJ, photographer, and caterer. I'm gonna try and get them all done by mid-March. I'm super excited to talk to the DJ. There are so many songs I want to boogie to that night!
-We have three sessions left of our premarital counseling. I am so glad we did this. Jared and I have been together for almost 6 years so we can pretty much share anything with each other. However, these sessions have really opened our eyes as to what marriage truly is. It will be hard work but if you are willing to do that, the relationship will be so rewarding. I've learned so much (and it's gotten me even closer to God).
-The dress is having alterations done and I pick it up in a couple of weeks. I miss my dress!!

This Saturday is my first shower. It's a "naughty" shower with lots of my college girls. I cannot wait!!! Is it Saturday yet?

I have a few more updates, but will post them when they become more concrete...so stay tuned!

Wow...I am Stupid

2009-01-12T17:42:00.000-08:00

So, two coffee pots later I realized that I bought decaf instant coffee. As in...you don't put it in a coffee pot; you just put a scoop in a cup. D'oh!

And when I made it right, it still sucked.

That is all.

Marriage, Mexico, and Milestone...A Peek into 2009

2009-01-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, I must be the first to say how happy I am that 2009 is here. Nothing against 2008, but it seemed as a "rebuilding" year (as they say in football). There were a lot of changes both predictable and unpredictable. However, I still see it as a successful year.

On to 2009! I still hope that the coming year brings about many surprises; afterall that is a major joy to life! But I do want to take a minute to acknowledge the really cool things that will happen this year:

Marriage-This April I will marry my best friend. Jared and I have been together for 5 1/2 years and will officially be Mr. and Mrs. on April 18th. I can't wait! To know that we will be together for a long, long time brings me such peace. I enjoy every second with him. And I am the luckiest girl in the world that he picked me as a mate :)

Mexico-This is the locale for our wonderful honeymoon! We will be vacationing in the Riveira Maya for a whole week! All inclusive! This will be a wonderful break for us mid-year.

Milestone-Yea...i'm still a little depressed about this one. September 20, 2009 will mark my 30th birthday. 30! 30! Wow, reading that scares me a little bit. Maybe September 19th I will think about that one!

Work and school will definitely make some marks this year as well. My plan is to start my internship in September to finish up my Master's in 2010. I feel that I will have another full-time job before the internship, but I'm rolling with the punches on that one. So right now, I'm super excited about 2009!

Thanks for stopping by!

So Thankful this Christmas!

2008-12-26T14:47:00.000-08:00

Hello all and a very post Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a great holiday :) I just wanted to take a few minutes to express my gratefulness to my family this Christmas. As everyone knows, the economy sucks right now and so many people were not able to buy as much as in years past. I found so many cute things for mine and Jared's families but could just not afford it. I did manage to check off everyone on my list, so I am thankful for that. On Christmas Eve I left work on my way to my parents' house in Loganville to have a yummy Christmas Eve dinner. That night was spent catching up with my sister and playing fun music on XM.

I slept in until 9am Christmas morning (super late for me!). I was still laying in bed as my wonderful fiance called me to say hello (he had to go to Rome for Christmas, so we didn't see each other Christmas morning). We had a wonderful talk and I headed to the living room to drink my traditional hot chocolate. We then all opened gifts and had a blast!

I am super thankful for all my gifts, they were truly unexpected! I got a brand new digital camera-Nikon coolpix. So excited! I got another Alexandra Stoddard book "Choosing Happiness". Lots of itunes giftcards :) And a digital scrapbooking kit-I can't wait to get started on my wedding guestbook. I finished off with an awesome meal that I can still taste (I love sweet potatoes with melted marshmallows on top!). I headed home to spend the last hour of Christmas with Jared.

When he got home, I was amazed that I had presents waiting for me from his family. I got a chill pad from his brother, perfume and make up from his mother, and a photography book from his brother's girlfriend. I also got giftcards to stores and cute little ornaments with my name on it. I was SUPER LUCKY this Christmas!

So once again, this post was to describe my awe and appreciation to my families (present and future) for the kindness they have shown me. I am so lucky to belong to wonderful families.

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Survey

2008-12-20T16:44:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Lorrie for the survey!

WRAPPING PAPER OR GIFT BAGS? I have definitely been a gift bag person this year, but nothing really beats wrapping paper. This week I wrapped all my presents (color coordinated with my tree ornaments) and loved it! Wrapping paper all the way!

REAL TREE OR ARTIFICIAL? REAL REAL REAL REAL REAL! Is it obvious which one I like the best? Nothing beats the smell of pine in the house during the holiday season. And the white lights on the tree brings me peace :)

ANGEL OR STAR ON TOP? We have an angel on our tree this year, but the star is my favorite. It's an added bonus if it lights up :)

EGGNOG-YES OR NO? Recently I have become a fan of it. I can only take it a drink at a time and it usually has alcohol in it!

HARDEST PERSON TO BUY FOR? That would have to be my dad. Everything he wants he usually buys, so it's hard to beat him to the store.

DO YOU HAVE A NATIVITY SCENE? Not at this time but I hope to get one whenever we buy a house :)

FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIE? I have to agree with Kel on this one-ELF! This movie brings a smile to my face, and the people that know me well know that smiling is my favorite!

WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR CHRISTMAS? Vacation! And to spend time with mine and Jared's families. (and eat lots of food!)

How is Christmas 9 days away?

2008-12-16T13:29:00.000-08:00

This is totally random, but does anyone else find that Christmas is coming super fast! And my paychecks seem to be getting slower :) I think with the economy so yucky, it's hard to get into the spirit. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this season. I think that I feel that it just comes so fast there doesn't seem time to do all the fun Christmasy stuff, like going to see Christmas lights, laser shows, that type of thing. (Could planning a wedding actually be taking up that time :) )

I always had a rule that I don't do anything Christmas until Thanksgiving night. Maybe I need to alter that (Jared would hate it LOL). Unfortunately I can't see all the in-laws this Christmas, but next year is ON! I am so lucky to be inheriting a BIG family that I love very much.

To keep with the Christmas spirit, here is a picture of our tree. We decorated with red and green ornaments. It looks awesome!

Thanks for stopping by!

Margaritaville

2008-11-20T07:14:00.000-08:00

I would just like to say Thank You to XM Radio for adding an all Jimmy Buffett station. I feel like I'm in the Caribbean!

FYI for YOU

2008-11-20T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hello wonderful people. I'm currently job hunting right now (so of course I have time for a post). Not too much is going on right now with me, my job now has been putting me through the ringer. I was going to post photos of my legs, but bruises don't show up that great. So let me start a Marcus Tally (I work at Marcus):

Right leg:23 bruises
Left leg: 11 bruises
Right arm: 2 bruises
Left arm: 1 bruise
Right wrist: slightly unusable

Well that was fun (not!). But enough about the whining, I want to now share a secret of mine to keeping the faith and positive attitude. And it's Alexandra Stoddard.

Alexandra Stoddard is what most people would describe as a motivational speaker (and interior designer!) A couple of Christmases ago, my mom bought me her book, "Things I Want My Daughters to Know."

This is a great book that boosts your spirit and let's you know that you are important. Last night I borrowed "Time Alive" from my mom and am hoping to settle in to reading that tonight. You can find her at http://www.alexandrastoddard.com/

Thanks for listening today. And if any availabe jobs are open that you know about, send them my way!

Thanks for stopping by.

Restless

2008-11-03T10:53:00.000-08:00

Ever feel that there is something more out there for you? That's currently how I feel. I guess I should clarify-personal life is the best! It's more professional life that I am restless in. I think it may have to do with my internship that I still have left to finish. I feel like I can't get a start on my professional career without having that masters. And sometimes I wonder what is it that I am supposed to do (a lovely talk to have with myself as I'm pushing 30!) I do know that I don't want a job to define my life. I do want to be happy in a position that pays well (and by pay well, I mean enough to pay bills and take a 4 day vacation every once in a while). I don't think I am asking for too much. I think it may frustrate some of my loved ones that I am so wishy-washy at the moment. It definitely frustrates me. I just have this feeling that something around that corner is waiting for me. I really hope it is a winning lottery ticket :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Super excited

2008-10-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, as most of my friends know, I am in love with Halloween! However I always seem to run out of time when it comes to costumes. Not this year! I looked earlier and decided I wanted to be Alice in Wonderland. I found a costume online and went in the store to get it. It wasn't there! I was so sad. Then today I tried another store. Not only did I find it, but it was almost $10 less!! I am super duper excited. I even have two Halloween parties to go to this year. Thank goodness Halloween is on a Friday. Here is a picture of my costume...and yes I have a blond wig to go with it. SEXY!

Thanks for stopping by!