Spring CLEANING!

We decided to have some limbs cut off a large tree ~ these limbs in particular were resting on our roof and the squirrels run from the back of the house and jump on the limbs - ALL DAY! You can literally hear them running across the roof. We live in a hurricane prone area, so we eventually would need to take these limbs down ~ wish I would have done it before all the leaves fell into the flower bed areas. The guys that came were AWESOME ~ cleaned up nicely. You would never have known they were here - except for the gorgeous view we now have of our house!


Before ~ lots of leaves and spanish moss

During ....


He was FAST (and then found out we got to the same church!)
After

We decided to have some limbs cut off a large tree ~ these limbs in particular were resting on our roof and the squirrels run from the back of the house and jump on the limbs - ALL DAY! You can literally hear them running across the roof. The guys that came were AWESOME ~ cleaned up nicely. You would never have known they were here - except for the gorgeous view we now have of our house!

Recovering from the week ....

It has not been a good week in the Brock household. We're fine. Those of you that know me well, ya'll know what happened and the rest of you can just call one of these people (if you know them) and ask them - b/c I'm not wasting space on this blog to write about it.

I received a gift on Tuesday from a dear friend, who had no idea that my world suffered a bit of a hiccup on Monday. Isn't it awesome how your good friends just KNOW (without really knowing ... does that make sense?) ~ anyway, it was the simplest of gifts - packed in a cute envelope and it had a pr of adorable flip flops, a little personalized koozie perfect for my ice-cold Cokes, and a set of napkins that say "When I said I DO doesn't mean I DO EVERYTHING" - how funny is that? BUT what got me was the little note she put into it. There was a scripture and it said this:

'A mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses' ~ Proverbs 27:19

Did that hit a nerve or what? I felt like God was sending me a message that everything was going to be OK! I did pay it forward and send it on ~ and she loved it too. I knew she would!

Here are some pictures of Cameron ~ mostly for my Mom and Dad and Chad's parents ~ yes, he's eating cheesecake for breakfast and yes, I swear he does wear clothes OCCASIONALLY!

Maybe ~ just maybe she is learning ...

Before


During


AFTER! She looks so GROWN!


Kennedy and Ms. Monique

So most of you know my sister and her family were here last week. Jenn's daughter, MacKenzie, cut her hair and donated to Locks of Love. This is something Kennedy and I had always considered, however, she never wanted to cut it. We talked about it, she's met several children with cancer, but I never pushed it because I wanted it to be something SHE wanted to do.



Last Thursday, she came to me and said 'Mommy, I want to cut my hair and give it to the little girls with cancer' ... I was typing away, as usual, and said "OK honey ... go get dressed'. I wasn't even paying attention really. She got VERY upset over Christmas and wanted us to adopt a child from Africa because they didn't have clean water over there. She said they could live in the guest bedroom. So this makes me realize she is definitely listening at church (we did a big 'give' to build wells in Africa at Christmas time). Anyway, within 10 minutes, she's dressed, has my purse, and is telling me to COME ON! Then I realize - OH SHE IS SERIOUS! SO off we go to Great Clips. I walked in and told the lady what we were wanting to do and she was so excited to do it. As you can see from the pictures, it was QUITE a bit of hair - over 11 inches!! Yes, I cried through the whole darn thing! I was so proud of her b/c she GETS it! Most of ya'll know her hair and I battled every morning. This has made BOTH our lives so much easier and helped out a great cause in the meantime!

AND THE WINNER IS .......

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

5
Timestamp: 2008-04-14 13:31:12 UTC

and that would be:

You are crazy girl!!! THAT'S WHY WE ALL LOVE YOU!!!! NOW HURRY UP AND COME BACK TO WORK I MISS YOU!
~Jerri, Lakeland, FL

Congrats Jerri!! Now quit playing on work computers and reading blogs!!

~ 100th POST!! Time for a giveaway! ~

***** EDITED TO ADD *****

This is my 100th post! Having a finance degree, I went back and checked and double checked to make sure this was INDEED my 100th post! SO, in celebration, I'm going to list 100 things about me AND I'm having a giveaway! This is the perfect time for all you stalkers out there to post a comment! Bloggers LOVE comments ~ it lets you know people are reading our blog!!

100 things about me:

1. My full name is Natalie Nicole Brock



2. I was born on October 16, 1975



3. I have a twin sister that is 4 minutes older than me



4. and a little brother that is 9 yrs younger than me



5. I graduated college after only 3 1/2 yrs of enrollment



6. and now hold a bachelor's degree in Finance and with



7. a minor in Economics and



8. I need neither for the job I currently have.



9. I was married to Chad Brock on 12/8/02 in FABULOUS Las Vegas



10. we have 2 children



11. Kennedy, who is 5 1/2



12. and Cameron, who is 3



13. My favorite food is Chick-fil-A



14. and I drink a Coke at LEAST 3x a day (working on this)



15. I prefer fountain coke over any other but ice cold can coke will do



16. I am a realist - very much so - just ask my husband



17. but I love thinking positively and praying for a positive future



18. I attend The Crossing Church



19. and sing on the worship team



20. and I am a soprano



21. I love country music (even before I met my husband)



22. and I love top 40 and Christian music too



23. I have terrible eyesight - which has now been corrected with Lasik



24. and an Implantable Contact Lens



25. I am left handed and my sister is right handed - we are mirror twins



26. I have 2 nieces



27. I am a car hog - I would trade every 6 mths if I could



28. My favorite scent is anything orange



29. My 3 favorite stores are white house/black market, bebe and arden b



30. I love Wood Wick candles



31. and Cracker Barrell



32. and plug ins



33. and Japanese Cherry Blossom Lotion



34. I am in dire need of Tupperware



35. and steak knives



36. I own a gun



37. several of them



38. and not afraid to shoot them



39. really, I'm not



40. I am scared to death of birds



41. reptiles



42. lizards



43. and rodents



44. I've never really been past the Mississippi River, except briefly when we got married



45. I really want to go to Hawaii and California



46. I lived in Georgia,



47. Maryland,



48. Tennessee



49. and Florida ~ Tampa is my favorite



50. I love to do yard work (most of the time)



51. and I love to work on the computer



52. I have an awesome awesome job



53. that I love love



54. I have awesome parents



55. that live 4 miles from my sister :(



56. and a 'little' brother that lives a little bit aways

57. but they all live too far away from me

58. or do I live too far away from them?

59. I am a giver

60. and I love to give little gifts and such to my friends

61. just to let them know I'm thinking about them

62. I have met several country music stars, including:

63. Tim & Faith

64. Toby Keith

65. Brooks & Dunn

66. Rascal Flatts

67. Amy Grant & Vince Gill

68. and my favorite, Trisha Yearwood

69. I shave my legs every day

70. and totally believe in botox

71. and any potion that will make me look younger

72. I love having a swimming pool

73. but I never get in it

74. but my kids will be in it the entire summer

75. I am 5' 8" tall and

76. I couldn't tell you what my natural hair color is!

77. I love decorating on a budget

78. because I love to save money

79. but will splurge on the occasional outfit

80. I have some of the BEST friends a girl could ask for

81. and I try to tell them that all the time.

82. I attend a bible study every week

83. because I want to grow spiritually so

84. I can teach my children about God's love

85. and all the joy it can bring!

86. I love to do yardwork

87. but I hate to be hot and sweaty

88. I love to take pictures

89. and make home made cards

90. I love caramel apple ciders from Starbucks

91. and jelly belly jelly beans

92. My favorite movie is "Crash"

93. but I also love "Walk the Line"

94. and "Man in the Moon"

95. I am a GIRLY GIRL

96. but I don't mind getting a little dirty

97. I absolutely LOVE reality television

98. except for "The Bachelor" ~ that show needs to stop

99. I only need 5 hrs sleep to truly function

100. and I'm DONE! WOO HOO!!

101. Since I listed "I like to work in the yard twice" I am adding that my shoe size is 8 as another FACT! :)

Now that you made it through this entire list ~ time to see what you can win!

a cute set of chandelier notecards (pink and green, OF COURSE), a magnetic notepad, a set of teeny tiny note cards (PERFECT for that little lunch box love note), bag of JELLY BELLY jelly beans, and 4 CDS (all are new - but some may have been opened b/c I downloaded them to my computer). They are both releases from Little Big Town, and 2 Clint Black CDs. If you don't like country music and you win this, then give them away or sell them on ebay! HA!!

To enter: simply leave a comment and tell me what city/state you are living in! One entry per person please and should be pretty easy since only 5 people read this blog! FAMILY is eligible to win -- yes, only because I NEVER get to win ANYTHING from Chad's station and well, those rules don't apply here! I will choose the winner by random.org.

Contest will end Sunday, April 13, 2008 at MIDNIGHT EST! GOOD LUCK!!

Project 4302 ~ Brock House

Hello blogworld, I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Shawn:





















Not only is she pretty and FUUUNNNYYY, but girl can flat out PAINT! FREE HAND! Just by looking at a picture that I sent her, she started with this:


















And added a little bit of that (with me cheering on from the sidelines of course ... errr, the bathroom floor, really):






















And then added a splash of blue:













And then some green (with me saying: "Why are you using green?" and Shawn saying "Shut up and go away"**):













A month or so ago, when I started the renovation of Kennedy's room, I told her I wanted to possibly do Cameron's room in pirate theme. Not like Pirates of the Carribbean, but little kid PIRATE! She said "OOHHH, we could paint a treasure map on the wall" ..yeah, you mean YOU can paint a treasure map on the wall! So, 2 days later and lots and lots of laughing (she made me CLEAN - the horror!) and I made her sign a confidentiality agreement so she would not go out and tell everyone how completely FILTHY our house is .... ok,wait, I guess I just told you. HEY, I'm a working Mom ~ they're lucky to get clean underwear! ANYWAY ~ we got this:










HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE THIS!? Cameron FINALLY has his complete 'big boy' room. What is so cool is that each of the areas on the map are very personal ~ I love that. The detail is crazy good. There is Lake Pappy, Kennedy's Cove, Mom's Happy Harbor, Daddy's Dunes, Brock Island, Dirty Drake's Drop Off (that's Cam's best buddy), Carroll's Cave, Northern Nana's Coast, Nina's Point, PawPaw's Inlet and at the very top it says "Captain Cameron's Treasure Map" ~ here's a close up:










THEN after much begging and pleading and hanging on to her leg as she was trying to leave, she graciously obliged my wishes and added this:











I think it completely MAKES his room ~ not that the treasure map isn't completely AWESOME, but the palm trees, well, that's just COOL! I begged and pleaded and she was all "Fine whatever, go get me another drink, woman**" .... kidding. Totally kidding.... seriously. SERIOUSLY!



So that's my baby's room and he LA-LA-LA-LOVES it. I am so lucky to have 'my Shawn' as she is a truly WONDERFUL friend, not only because she can paint, she gives reeeeallly great gifts (of you should BE so lucky) but as her and I have both said, It's a GOD THING that has brought us together. We have more fun laughing and goofing off, carrying on, raising money for a charity foundation we are both part of and at the end of the day, after talking to her 30 times, I still call her to see what she is doing. I'm a lucky girl to have such an awesome group of girlfriends. God had truly blessed me with an incredible circle of friends that protect me, cheer me on, call me out, hang with me, SHOP with me, well, you get the picture and each girlfriend has a unique, very special part of my heart. So, with that said, all of you need your very own "Shawn". For those of you local, that know her, ya'll know this chick ROCKS!



**all quotes are property of Natalie Brock and may or may not have been extremely exaggerated to enhance the appearance of Mrs. Brock's need for artistic help in completing her baby boy's room!