My Blooms!

My parents always kept a nice yard...they still do of course. No professional landscaper...just hard work and a lot of sweat! Year after year they have BEAUTIFUL flowers of all types. Somehow I've inherited that love for blooms and color.

At the Blackmon house, Cory keeps the grass green, fertilized and the weeds to a minimum! I, on the other hand, prefer to work in the flower beds . I try to keep the shrubs trimmed, flowers watered (well kinda), etc. My flowers of course look amateur, but for my first attempt at having flowers in my yard...I was pretty proud with my blooms this May. Here's a few shots of my spring flowers....

The potted plants I just threw together. I was pretty happy with how they turned out considering I'd never potted anything...EVER!

The sweet potato vines have since taken off and are super long now...as for the other flowers...well they're not big fans of the summer heat.

Next...my hydrangeas....

I helped out at a florist in Monroe back before our wedding. It was just a part time gig but I loved it. Each week when some of the potted plants were past their prime (and really weren't nice enough to sell to customers any more), they'd get thrown out.

I've always LOVED hydrangeas...so when I saw 3 droopy hydrangea plants sitting by the dumpster as I left the florist one afternoon I figured I'd 'rescue' them. I brought them to what is now our house and planted them...2 on the east/southeast side of our house and the 3rd on the opposite side. The 2 that get the morning sun are doing GREAT this year. Big beautiful blooms adorn each plant. The other, that gets the afternoon, sun came back this spring but has yet to produce any blooms.

I wondered what color blooms I'd get this year since the color of the blooms depends on the composition of the soil. When I planted them they had a few wilted pink blooms.

I anticipated pink or blue...it was like finding out the gender of your child but much less exciting I'm sure (HA!)...

I got a beautiful periwinkle purple color and I couldn't be happier! (hope this isn't foreshadowing my future offspring's gender...LOL)The mums that I planted last fall are close to blooming and I'm astonished at how big they've gotten. After I give the flowerbed a tiny facelift I'll share some more pics. It looks kinda sad right now.

Have a fun and safe Independence Day!!!

Yet Another Sign of Aging...*sigh*

We had an awesome Father's Day weekend!  We spent tons of time with my dad and it was just wonderful!  He's so much fun to be around and I cherish our time together more than ever.  

There was one incident this weekend that didn't amuse me!  I prefer to call it 

traumatic...terrible...and not nearly as funny as Cory found it to be. 

If you know me then you know I don't exactly sport my natural hair color.  I regularly (term used loosely) get my hair highlighted and low lighted.  I do have tendency to wait a week or two too long to get it done and then my hair color leans towards the trashy side.  Well this time around I've waited entirely too long.  My roots are horrific!  Embarrassed is an understatement for my sentiment towards these white-trash roots. 

I digress....so Sunday morning Cory and I were just getting going.  We spring out of bed in fast forward speed at the sight of the huge Pileated woodpecker that had just swooped down from the morning shadows and landed on the railing of our back deck!  Bad news...we tried to snap a pic but our camera battery was dead...of course!  Just as we realized the camera battery was DOA, the first woodpeckers larger woodpecker friend showed up!  We were like little kids watching  in amazement as these two big birds with bright red mohawks hopped around our deck! It was so cool!  

After the two flew off for more adventures in the woods behind our house, I headed to our bathroom to tame my disheveled look.  As I was examining the atrocity known as my roots, I noticed something I'd NEVER noticed before...something that's existence I refused to own up to because thus far in my life there had been no evidence of it!  Sure other people had it...but not me!  I slowly leaned over toward the bathroom mirror...smoothed the part in my hair...examined the length of my dark roots and I saw it...i saw THEM....OH MY GOSH I HAVE GRAY HAIR!!!  Devastation swept over me...the realization that the aging process had no mercy on me either was a toughie to swallow! Next came the laughter from the closet!  Cory found my discovery hysterical! I think the horror in my voice sent him over the edge with laughter!  I...still not amused at this point can't stomach another glimpse.  I vowed to harass my hair stylist to fit me in the earliest cancellation this week!

There are milestones in a woman's life that she'll never forget.  Some happy, some cause for a celebration, some not so much!  I can't say I'm celebrating the discovery that I indeed have gray hair.  But it was definitely one of those milestones I'll never forget.  

Funny thing is....I've been fighting the signs of aging more aggressively lately.  Even though I've attempted to convince myself that the veins that have spontaneously made an appearance on my left leg are from lifting weights and running...I know it's because I'm getting older.  I've purchased better products for my face and skin care, I've begun a 5:45am workout routine, but dang if aging doesn't laugh in my face!  

Oh well...not much you can do about the inevitable except accept it with grace!

photo credit: conniee4

Before you criticize someone...

A friend of mine shared this quote today and I just love it...

(warning: if you're the mushy, sentimental quote type...you probably won't be quoting this one!)

"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes."

TGIF!

photo credit: d u y g y

Wordless Wednesday: Warrior Dash Edition!

Story Coming Soon

I have so much to blog about, but only time to do the ones I get paid to write! I have our Anniversary Adventure to tell you about, the Warrior Dash that I just ran, my beautiful flowers that I planted around the house....oh the stories...and PICS!

Happy Hump Day to all!

Anniversary Pics

Engagement pics weren't really an option for us. My dad was in the hospital recovering from a massive stroke for most of our engagement period. Visiting with him and my mom during our free time was much more important to us than snapping a few pics.

So...our big 1 year anniversary is coming up in a week and a half. For my gift to Cory I decided we'd finally get some professional pics made in which I wasn't wearing my wedding dress. We'd originally scheduled our session with our photographer for Saturday morning. But it was way too cloudy and dark Saturday morning to capture any good shots.

After talking to Kevin, our photographer, we decided to give Sunday morning a shot. We met Kevin around 7am on Sunday in downtown Flowery Branch. Sunday morning was HUMID! Actually humid is an understatement...HOT and MUGGY seems to be a more appropriate description! The sun was trying to peek through the clouds at the beginning of our shoot, but by the end the dark clouds prevailed. (Though Sunday afternoon was gorgeous, so we hit the lake!)

Our original plan was to take some shots downtown then head to the marina to get some shots by the lake. BUT due to the increasing cloud cover, we postponed the lake shots. So stay tuned for those! Here are a few from Sunday morning...more to come...

Humidity finally got the best of my hair in this one!

Somebody Loves Michael Jackson

Rainy Tuesday...who couldn't use a laugh?!?!

One of my co-workers sent me this youtube video a few minutes ago. It's so funny...I had to watch it twice! It's from the show 'Operation Repo' on TruTV. Cory and I have watched a few episodes. You can always depend on this show for a good chuckle. You never know what stunts people will pull when these big guys try to repo their cars!