Crazy Week!

Happy Friday! Thank you to everyone for all of your sweet comments on my post last week. I enjoyed reading them. It has been so much fun catching up on all of your recent happenings as well. I love the new vlogs that some have started doing. They are adorable. By the way, I hope to get a bloglift in the next two months, so please just get through this boring layout theme for a little while with me!

This week:

Working in higher education, the first weeks of both the fall and spring semesters are out of control. I cannot believe it is already Friday! Lots have gone on this week with work and I am trying not to be stressed, but needless to say, I have been! I keep reminding myself to breathe and that it will all be okay.

I am heading up to Don's home today for a great weekend! Pictures will be taken this weekend that I will post Monday! I need to stay in my picture-taking mode. He and I will be in D.C. Saturday for a morning/mid-afternoon work thing I have and then meeting my friend, Jen for lunch.

On a more personal note, you may remember this post when I said I was going to try "The 30 Day Shred". Since May, I have still not joined the gym and have managed to lose 9 pounds (per the scale this morning!). I have just 6 more to go and I will be at my ideal! Pretty easy, huh? Should be! I did not do the Shred everyday, however, I do it 3x a week and combine it with 4 days of 40 minute cardio sessions, whether it be running or Taebo. I have also modified my diet, in that I keep my carb intake in check and also cut out snacking. I would provide you with a sample menu of what I eat but it's very boring and bland. I really only cook when Don is in town! Other than that, it's salad, yogurt, sometimes toast, and occasionally pasta for me on the weeknights!

Do you ever have a hard time parting with things you buy? I bought two barstools during college. They are adorbale, tall, white barstools from Target and I even assembled them when they arrived. I felt pretty proud! Well, I came to the conclusion last night that I really do not need them anymore. When I lived in DC, they remained in a storage unit and now they are too tall for the current bar in my home, so why not sell them? Well, I put an ad up and immediately got several responses. Now I am second thinking it..... maybe I don't want to sell them afterall?! I don't know! Here is a picture of me effortlessly (haha, ya right) putting them togehter Summer 2007.


Hope you all have a great weekend!

The last three months

have been the most amazing three months ever. Being why I have been too occupied to blog. I have been out of town traveling a lot, had possible job changes, moved to a new bedroom in the house of girls I live with, and much more. All in all, I am here to stay in the beautiful state of Virginia and will be for a long time. Let me catch you up!

The first exciting piece of news to share is that I met the most amazing man I have ever met. He is truly my best friend and I have never been happier! Everyone close to me says I have this constant glow and I know it is only because the Lord has blessed me with an incredible man. Please meet Don!

This was one of our first pictures taken together. A lot of people say we look like we are running for public office. A lot of our pictures tend to look this way as you will see. It's quite funny! We have had some fun weekends throughout the summer! Starting with my birthday weekend. Don lives an hour and a half away, so we do commute back and forth taking turns each weekend. For my bday weekend, he came down and we went to Fleming's -- it is amazing! Great steak!

That Sunday afternoon, he surprised me with the idea of having a picnic. He is SUCH a planner. He had my birthday weekend planned and reservations set two weeks beforehand. I love that about him. Sunday, we headed to a large park, read magazine, snoozed for a bit, and ate our lovely lunch consisting of sandwiches, grapes, and our favorite - Strawberries. Don went out and bought an adorable picnic basket with matching blankets. It was such a fun time.

Other highlights include a long weekend trip to Atlanta to visit both sides of our families. That was our first road trip and it was a blast!

This picture was taken before going out to the SunDial revolving restaurant in downtown Atlanta. It was a neat experience!

Other highlights of our summer include a trip to Virginia Beach and hanging out in Don's down. Don has a new yellow lab named Hutch. He is 6 months old and is quite the handful!


He has already brought/surprised me with SO many flowers. These were on my desk last week.




Also, in the midst of the summer, our office moved into a brand new space. We absolutely <3 it! Here is me on move-in day! It was a jeans day.



I told you I am going to be Maid of Honor at my best friend, Meghan's wedding September 5. In May, she moved away from the town we both live in and it was sad to see her go! She and I have been living around one another since 2005. She will be moving to Savannah, GA afterwards as her husband travels to Iraq. She will be too far away, that's for sure! Here are some pictures of her recent showers!



The rest of the summer has been full of spending time with good friends! We have double dated with our good friends Jen and Dustin several times and had lots of fun!


Got to spend some time last Sunday with my roomie, Nikki (middle), and old roomie, Natalie. Natalie now lives in D.C. and we miss her!

Last but not least was the Alaskan cruise! I flew out of Roanoke, VA and met up with my family in Atlanta. We flew into Seattle and enjoyed the city for a day, then boarded the ship for a 7-night Alaskan adventure. This was my 5th time.










I hope you enjoyed this super long post! I promise I will be more regular from now on. In the mean time, please excuse this boring background. I will have something different soon! I have an exciting fall planned -- almost every weekend has something fun planned!

Stay Tuned

All,

It has been two months since I have blogged. No, I have not forgotten and yes, I have still been keeping up with you all! My blog is under construction today, but be expecting a big post this evening. I have a lot to update you on!

Have a great day,

Brittney