Job Hunt, etc.

I applied for a job today (cringing aren't you?) Yes the job market is tough right now but never fret, this job sounds so fun! It involves work with Social Media and blogging. Yes, I admit, I haven't been the BEST blogger. I don't blog nearly enough for all four of my readers. Though my time in front of a computer has become very limited since being unemployed. (I have a good excuse.) Being unemployed hasn't been my idea of fun and this particular job sounds GREAT!!! Please cross your fingers for me!

On another note, the peacock Christmas tree has been a hit. The Blackmon's are having a peacock Christmas this year for sure! This month has gone by entirely too fast and I look forward to a less hectic 2010!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A good laugh...

If you need a good laugh on this rainy Wednesday...click HERE to view awkwardfamilyphotos.com! This website is guaranteed to make you chuckle. Maybe even make you appreciate how 'normal' your family just might be. I could spend hours looking at this little treasure trove of strangeness...enjoy!!!! Here's a sneak peak....And if that fine photo didn't intrigue you...hopefully this will...

Who does that?!?!?!?

Thinking about Christmas...already?

I'm not one of those who generally celebrates any aspect of Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving. (Though I do celebrate Christ year round) No Christmas music, no Christmas decorating...none of that...until after the turkey and dressing have been eaten. Much to my surprise I've found myself already contemplating Christmas decorating this year. I've totally gotten into this holiday decorating thing. Our house will be totally decked out for Thanksgiving thanks to TJMAXX and Ross (we've volunteered to host about 30 family members for Thanksgiving dinner this year...we may regret this...I'll let you know Nov. 27th!) So on October 1st I hung my "Happy Halloween" candy corn on the front door with a big goofy smile on my face. Cory just laughs at me! I already had a fall "spray" hanging on the front door....but I re-located it to the kitchen wall for the month of October so I can proudly display my Halloween decor!!! Back to Christmas....Cory and I already have tons of ornaments, nativity scenes, Christmas bows (I've made solely for tree toppers...only two at this point...hey...a girl needs options). We really need nothing for Christmas decorating other than a fresh Christmas tree to help celebrate the birth of Christ. BUT...it hit me the other day while I was getting ready for work...what if I incorporate the theme of our wedding (peacocks/peacock feathers) into our Christmas decorating!!! Then it hit me...WHY am I already thinking about Christmas!??!?! This is so unlike me! I think this could be really fun and unique. A Christmas tree....with peacock feathers and some fresh garland on the mantle...with a few peacock feathers!! Click here to see a photo of some other genius' Christmas tree. I'm sure some of you are cringing at the thought of not using red and green....and that's OK. I'm totally pumped about it!!! We have tons of left over peacock feathers from wedding decorations....so no money spent there. Now if we can get through the pumpkins and turkey...Happy Birthday Jesus...bring out the peacock feathers!

Rewind

Today is one of those days when I'd like to start over....hit rewind get back in bed...and start my day over...suppress my emotions and hope for a better outcome. I hope I'm not the only one that this happens to...ever have 'one of those days'?

nine-nine-0 nine

Ok...I'll admit...I stole this idea from Heather Page's blog. If you've never read her blog...you should..I love it...one of my favs! So in honor of today's date 09-09-09, I'm going to list 9 things about me...

*I'm officially addicted to pumpkin spice coffee! If my husband loves me he'll buy some more today :) Just kidding babe...but you'd totally score brownie points if you brought some home this afternoon!

*My mom's birthday was yesterday! My sweet dad got his friend take him to the store and he bought her the most beautiful pair of diamond earrings! It's a sweet story...since my dad's stroke he can't always say what he wants to when he wants to...if you follow that. The part of his brain that was affected by the stroke is the part of your brain that affects your speech. So after he and his friend left physical therapy in Athens yesterday(dad doesn't drive anymore) Dad basically showed his friend where to go (turn by turn) in order to get to the store....because he couldn't say "hey...I'd like to go get Rhonda a birthday present at this store" So sweet!!!!!!!!!!

*Rachel and I are getting back in the swing of things this afternoon and walking 4 miles (up from our usual 3 miles) a few times a week. We took last week off so I'm excited! I think I've even convinced Cory to come do a little training with us!

*Currently I am looking for fabric for curtains for our living room, kitchen and dining room (diff. fabrics of course). I've sort of narrowned down the fabric...but I'm still not 100% on the curtain design/pattern/etc...so any ideas are welcome (from all three of you who read this)!!!

*I'm still sore from hitting softballs on Saturday...depressing!

*Cory and I have considered having professional pics made outside w/the dogs...and in doing some research I discovered this...Frog Hollow (in Dahlonega) does a Sunday Model Project. I think we may make a trip up to D-town and check it out soon. Click on the link to learn more.

*My car has dog hair (Mick the great dane hair) on the ceiling because he rode in the back this weekend on our trip to Monroe. It looked like we had a horse in the back seat. You should see peoples faces when he pokes his head out the window of the car - hilarious!!

*Recently...I've needed to consume chocolate...DAILY

*And last but not least....on Monday I'll have been 'seriously committed' if you will to Cory for a year. He proposed to me on September 14 last year. It was a beautiful Sunday morning and we were headed to church. Only God knew then what a rock and trying road He would lead us on...but all the while making our bond stronger than it would have ever been had we had an easy road to travel leading up to our wedding day. My family is so lucky to have Cory as a part of it. He proved to be more than I could have ever asked for when dad was in the hospital....and even now with dad at home. I'm blessed beyond measure!

Unusually GOOD mood....

I'm not saying that I'm usually in a crabby mood...but for some reason today I'm in the BEST mood.

Maybe it's the cooler less humid weather. I'm super ready for fall!! I won a bet with Cory on Sunday after church (he bet I couldn't guess who sang some strange song he was singing....and I got it RIGHT...it was Outkast!) The bet was that if I guessed who sang the song in 4 guesses he'd give me $$ toward Fall decorations for the house. These fall decorations were part of the bet because I saw some at TJMaxx and Ross on Friday night and fell in love with them! So needless to say...our house is now decorated for FALL!!! I love fall...(not so much winter)...but I love the cool weather, the beautiful leaves and football season!

It could be the pumpkin spice coffee Cory brewed for me this morning. We bought it at Fresh Market on Saturday after spending a little time at the gun range (for those of you who know me, I'm sure that mental picture is making you laugh right now!...yes I can now safely operate a 9mm and a 40!...look out!!!) Back to the coffee....pumpkin spice coffee+french vanilla creamer and splenda=so good!!!

Another potential reason for the good mood today is that I'm getting my hair done (colored/trimmed) this evening by my cousin Emily who ownes Roxy Salon and Spa in downtown Monroe (my hometown). If you live nearby and need a great stylist or spa services...this is the place to go! I love getting pampered. And my hair is going to look a thousand times better tonight!!! Also, going back home to Monroe always puts me in a good mood. I love my hometown and a chance to see my mom and dad.

Maybe it's because I like my outfit today. Sounds crazy huh? Do you ever have those days where you feel blah because you aren't 100% impressed with your wardrobe decision for the day? I do that! Yesterday was a phi mu t-shirt and ball cap day...yuck. Today brought with it more motivation and therefore a better outfit! Today's ensenble consist of a cool necklace that Rachel made for me and fun pink shoes that I absolutely LOVE (thank you Pay-Less BOGO)! Oh...HA...don't you worry...I'm not just wearing a necklace and shoes!!! I also went with a pair of jeans and black shirt and cardigan (because fall is cardigan season right?)

I have another reason for the good mood...but that's another topic for another day. And don't worry I'm NOT pregnant....like so many of my other friends! Babies babies everywhere...no worries...NOT me...at least not for a few years, God willing. Though I am super excited about Mr. Walker Zakeri's birth. He belongs to my best friend Meesh!!
He's precious...

Thanks for stopping by...

Calling all Sound of Music fans...

Ok...if you like the Sound of Music...THIS is awesome!!! You may have already watched it...apparently it's been out for a few months. Maybe I'm a little behind...enjoy!

Wedding Pics

I created a public album of our wedding pics for public view. Click this for wedding album pics. I've begun an album on honeymoon pics but there are lots more to upload so I'll hold off on that link. If you have facebook then you've likely already seen these pics. But if not...here you go. These are raw pics....we've not received the retouched pics yet....they're being worked on in Japan thanks to Cory's sister and her husband, who was our photographer! Happy Hump Day!

Do-It-Yourselfers party of 2

Cory and I took on the Do-It-Yourself project of painting the table and chairs that were recently moved into our breakfast area. You'll see below the brownish color they were before. Not my fav by any means...so I decided black would look great. Cory made the deal with me that if I taped up the seats of the chairs and the rim of the table he'd paint them. And so...this is how it all went down...

Nope...its not snowing in our garage...that's primer floating all over the place...
notice the GREAT tapping job of the seat!!!

Quite the expert spray painter...

drying...

Taaadaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!

A sign he might have inhaled too much spray paint!!! Sorry lungs!

That's going to take some scrubbing...

Cultural Experience...in Dixie...

What a fun filled weekend for the Blackmon's! Friday night we used a gift card from one of Cory's clients that we've had since Christmas to go see Bruno (by the same guy who did Borat..one of Cory's favs) It was funny, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to the masses.

The first half of Saturday was dedicated to the gym..then the dogs and the yard. Cory washed the dogs...I cut the grass. (you may be thinking this sounds backwards but I'd rather cut grass than wash a dog that weighs more than me) And let me tell you...this was my first experience with a self-propelled push mower...and lets just say the mower won the battle. But that didn't stop us from our 'cultural experience of the weekend'...the Dixie Speedway. Yes, you read it right - on Saturday evening we drove over to Woodstock, GA on to take in the action at the Dixie Speedway. Cory's great uncle has worked there for the past 40 years and has been asking us to visit so we finally took him up on the offer. Here are some pics from our evening....Apparently Cory was ready to see some racin' yeeehaw! What a clown!!

in all her glory and mud
First came the typical dirt track races....

I know this is blury. The purpose of this pic is to show you the "Cruiser" car. This involves two drivers...hopefully as you can see in this pic that there is a driver in the passenger seat too. The one in the left seat controls the steering wheel and the brakes and the guy on the passenger side controls the throttle...HILARIOUS!!!

Then comes the last race of the evening...spectator racing...can you believe it?!?! People put their everyday cars in this race...here is a Mazda and a Toyota Camry!!!!!!!!!!

Another spectator race....is that the car my grandma drove when she picked me up from elementary school????!!!!!!!!!!!

We spent about 6 hours watching cars drive in circles but I'll admit it was fun! Most of the day Sunday we were with my family. Cory and I went on a bike ride around Good Hope, GA and then went to revival at my church that night. What a great way to end the weekend...

Entertainment at work...

Currently I work for a high energy advertising firm near Buford. I'm a media buyer...I've never purchased media in previous jobs, but it's fun! So my boss is all over the place...imagine the Tasmanian devil if you will. The guy is wired...super hyper, always speed walking, occassional deficiencies in volume control, etc. You just never know what crazy thing he's gonna do or say....so yesterday while walking past his desk I noticed this...


....yes...that is an open jug of water...sitting ON TOP of one of his laptop keyboards! God bless him!!! I had to share.

On to more news in my life. Cory surprised me with tix last week to go see Joel Osteen in August. I'm super excited! I have such a sweet husband.

Oh..and one more note...I am trying to get back into the swing of going back to the gym 4 or so days a week. Cory and I went on Saturday morning and I'm happy to report that I can finally lift my arms over my head again. It wasn't looking so good in previous days. The joys of marrying a trainer :) Surely something interesting will happen this week and I have something else to blog about. Have a great day!

Changing your name...what a pain!

So today was officially name change day. Yes I got married in May but haven't really been motivated to change my name until this week. Plus I finally made it to Monroe so Emily could do my hair (I was totally sporting some white trash dark roots) and who wants dark roots in a pic that you're stuck with until 2012?!?! Not this girl! My morning started with a lovely trip to the department of driver services in scenic Gainesville, GA. (I only saw one dead chicken in the road). Things seemed to be going smoothly...in and out in less than 20 minutes...not bad. Well... until I got in my car and took a closer look at my new drivers license (which for once I liked the pic)...and realized that they misspelled my new last name! So I had to march my happy butt back in and tell the gal that my last name was spelled BlackmOn...not BlackmAn. Cory says I'll be dealing with this mix-up the rest of my life. GREAT! I then find out that they'll need to take another pic...DANG (which I didn't like as much as the first one!) and wait another 5 minutes for that to process and print. But not bad compared to my afternoon adventure to the Social Security office in Gwinnett County.

First: The social security office is conveniently open from 8:30 til 3:30 M-F...clearly not taking into consideration those who actually work for a living M-F!!! So I dreadfully walk through the door of the SS office...take my number...and look around for a chair...bad news...most of them were taken! Once I located a seat directly across from the restroom doors....yuck...I met a nice girl named Valerie who was married in April (so I don't feel like a terrible wife for not rushing out to change my name...someone actually waited longer than me). An hour and 15 minutes later...the one cheerful window operator calls my number and I dash to take my seat infront of her. A few minutes later I walk out of that horrid place with my receipt informing me I'll receive my new SS card in about 2 weeks. What a depressing place...I honest thought I'd end up spending all afternoon there waiting on my number to be called. Why don't guys have to go throuhg all of this trouble?!?!?

The good news is I'm basically done with the whole name changing process...thank GOD! Lauren Brooke Blackmon it is...though I secretly would have preferred Brooke Atha Blackmon but I've been told that changing your first name is a huge pain in the rear. So I opted for a simple last name change.

On to more exciting news...Cory bought a new dining room table today (from Costco...they "only had two left") so this was a true show of trust in 'Cory's taste' on my part. I haven't seen it yet in person...but from the pics he sent me on my cell...it looks awesome! Until next time...

This should make it more interesting

Wow...what a fun weekend we had. It went by way too fast...as usual. But that's probably because we were super busy. Our weekend started Friday evening at the Gwinnett Braves game.

Cory likes to wake me up SUPER earlier on the weekends (earlier than I actually wake up during the week). Maybe one day I can talk him into 'sleeping in'. This is how it usually goes: Cory wakes me up...I ask him what time it is in somewhat of a mumble (I'm NOT a morning person and don't speak in complete sentences until I have my first cup of coffee)...so for the past two weekends he's added roughly 1 hour onto the actual time when he answers me...HA...well I've learned not to believe him...look at my phone and what do you know...its 6:50am....not 7:45am like he just told me!!! What a sucker! So we wake up and head towards Monroe bright and early Saturday morning to do some pressure washing at my parents house. I know...how fun!!...right!?!? But it needed to be done and we love to help my parents out whenever we can. I love getting to visit with my parents and playing with Chloe and Crouton. Since dad has been home from the hospital...he and my sweet Chloe have become BFF. This is where she hangs out most all day every day...Dad's lapDad's doing so great! I never imagined that I'd get to hang out with him by the pool this summer when I was sitting in his hospital room in October and November. God is sooooo good!!!

Oh...and Crouton watched Cory pressure wash...this pic cracks me up!

Saturday afternoon we headed over to the Carnes residence for my cousin Grace's first birthday party! Yes...I've come to the point in my life where I no longer celebrate my friends birthdays...but I celebrate the birthday's of their childeren. I have to admit..it was lots of fun! I got to visit with some of my girlfriends that I graduated with (from the world famous Monroe Area High School.) Yes people...home of the purple hurricanes!...try not to be jealous. Picture it...purple graduation robes...we looked like a bunch of grapes marching across the stage!

Ok...now to some pics from the party...

Meet the Brithday Girl, Grace!!!

Stephanie, Emily, Nikki, and yours truly...

My girlfriends all wonderful mommies with the most beautiful little girls.

girltime in the jumpy thingy (what do you call those things??)
Birthday Girl and Mommy

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early agian to head to Carters Lake in N. Georgia. We spent the day with Cory's uncles. And as you know from my previous post...Uncle Richard let us borrow the jet ski...YAAAAY!!!! I forgot to take a camera with us on Sunday :(

Looks like that completes my first blog w/pics. Success!!!!

Still no pics :(

Well...I made sure to do my best to take the camera on our adventures this past weekend (though I forgot it on Sunday). I got some fun shots...but have yet to upload them. So...hopefully later today I can blog about my fun and busy weekend...AND post some fun pics! Cory and I spent some of the evening yesterday on the jet ski on Lake Lanier!!! It was an awesome way to unwind after a day at work!

MJ

I have to admit...I can't believe Michael Jackson is dead. I'm a lil sad. I acknowledge we haven't heard much from him in years but I find myself remembering growing up watching his music videos, listening to my MJ tapes and dancing in my room. Sure he had some issues...but what an icon "the King of Pop"!!! Cory and I were discussing this morning how the story of MJ's death will be one of the biggest stories of this decade for sure. I was glued to the TV last night...why...I have no clue. Kind of like when Princess Diana passed away...I watched the entire funeral and wept. Of course we've never met these celebrities...but somehow after seeing them so often on tv and their faces on magazine covers almost every trip to the grocery store with your mom during your childhood... somehow they become a tiny part of your life. Mom called last night and ask me if I remember where I was when I saw the Thriller video. I though sure...we were at home...in the den....wrong...she reminded me of our family vacation to Disneyworld the year that video came out and we went to some theater at Disney and saw "Thriller" in 3D. It scared me silly...I cried so bad that dad had to take me outside!!!!! I had totally forgotten about that! Though Thriller was a really cool music video...the Black or White video was my absolute favorite of all time!

Happy Friday!!

Hello Blogosphere!!!!

First of all...I'd like to thank my bestest bud, Meesh...for talking me into entering the blogosphere. I still don't think anyone would really want to read what random ramblings I'll likely post...but Meesh says I'll be surprised...so...here goes nothing! I really wanted my first blog to be profound...but seriously...have you met me?!? Not many profound thoughts flowing from this brain lately! And if you haven't met me...FYI...more sarcastic thoughts than profound thoughts will ever flow from this brain.

On to a little insight into the Blackmon's in Flowery Branch: A fun night of not doing what we planned to do. So as I walk out the of my office yesterday heading home (thank you GOD)...I mentioned to Cory potentially going to the Gwinnett Braves game to which he replied he'd really like to go for a bike ride (We both have road bikes but don't ride them nearly enough. Cory has decided to do his second sprint triathlon so bike riding is quickly becoming a priority...again) I agreed...a bike ride sounds like a much better alternative than going to a baseball game, eating unhealthy food and being in no way productive...all evening. After getting home I insist that there's no way I'm riding in the sweltering 97 degree GA heat. So we opt for a quick trip to the auto parts store to get a wiring kit and ball (that you'd hook a trailer to) to put on the back of Cory's truck. We discussed that we need this ASAP b/c we're going to Carter's Lake on Sunday and JUST IN CASE Cory's Uncle Richard decides to lets us take the jet ski home with us again this summer...we'll be ready (last summer Cory still had the Ram Charger for pulling a trailer...but since he had to make space for my car in the garage...bye bye Ram Charger)! Ok....we have lake fever so bad!!! Last night we decided we'd wake up super early on Sunday so we could spend as much time at the lake as possible. This is getting to be a long story...wow!!! So after finding what we needed at auto part store #2, I'm not feeling a bike ride...but I am feeling some sushi! I remember we have a coupon for the local sushi restaurant (which will help my argument that sushi trumps a bike ride) and somehow talk Cory into skipping the bike ride and enjoying some sushi. Ha..but not before he installs his new purchases. So cory climbs under his truck and hooks up the wiring and installs the ball...in the still 97 degree GA heat! By this point my husband is sweaty and has a little black grease here and there...but who cares...no bike ride and sushi here I come!!!! I realize at this point some funny pics would be a great addition to my blog. Maybe next time.

That wraps up my first blog entry...not as interesting as I would have hoped...but lets look at the bright side - I've got LOTS of room for improvement!