Blog Challenge

My sister Andee just finished a 30-day blog challenge. I'm doing a 365-day photo challenge on my photography blog and I'm just antsy for each day to get here so I can take a picture and blog about it. So, I've decided to take the same 30-day blog challenge for my personal blog. I'm just in the blogging mood, I guess! So humor me, huh?

Okay, so ...

Day 1 - A recent picture and 15 facts about yourself.

Here are my 15 facts:

1. I'm 28 years old

2. Cheese grosses me out
3. I love sleeping in

4. My left wrist hurts all the time

5. I'm obsessed with jewelry and have an avid collection

6. People magazine & US weekly are must buy every Thursday

7. Joe and I have struggled getting pregnant for 11 1/2 months

8. I listen to Ke$ha when I'm hyping myself up

9. I have 9 tattoos

10. Fall asleep to a white noise/rain CD every night

11. I don't cook

12. FRIENDS is my all time favorite TV show

13. I love crisp lettuce

14. My closet has reach maximum capacity, yet I still shop

15. I picked the best guy in the world to share my life with

Alright ya'll, look forward to blog every day from here AND my photography blog. Wow, do I not have anything better to do with my time? Haha

Who else is up to the challenge?

New Years!

We had a low-key evening. No big party or crowds, just a quite evening at my moms. Even my parents weren't a big part in the party. Kel watched football and my mom couldn't put the twins down. Oh well, that just means us girls and the husbands could visit, eat LOTS of finger foods, play ping-pong, darts, Apples to Apples, SkipBo and some silly yes or no game.

In fact it was so low key, we didn't really even celebrate midnight. I didn't even kiss Joe until we got home around 12:45 and got in bed! It was just a nice evening, just like any others.

Thanks for staying Kalie & Jesse. (I'm not bummed you bailed on your friends.) And thanks Andee & KJ for deciding to keep it low-key as well.

Here's a few pics

The girls got a bath before bedtime

The little guy

This is the gang, Andee - KJ - Joe - Jesse & Kalie

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!

Photography Blog

Well I've decided to create another blog, strictly for pictures. I was lucky enough to get a Canon Rebel camera for Christmas, which means I'll be taking pictures MORE frequently, since I don't have to borrow my dads.

I'm excited to start playing around with the camera and learn everything about lighting, posing, focusing...etc.

So if you'd like to follow up on that blog as well as The Black Spot, please add:

ebphotos.blogspot.com

to your blog reels.

Much love!

ERICA

Blog much?

Looking at my Blog Archives, I'm noticing that this post marks my 23rd pots in 2010.

What's weird, is that in 2009, I wrote 45 posts and in 2008, 40 posts.

WHAT HAPPENED?!?!

2010, by far has been more exciting than '09 or '08, but for some reason I hadn't felt the need to blog about it.

This year is drawing to a close and I'm finding myself reflecting over everything I chose not to mention. I did decide to send out Christmas cards this year, nixing the year synopsis. Its just photos - simple, ya know. But looking over the last year and all the things we've done, I really didn't take time to document everything. I did recollect each vacation/trip we went on, photography has become a big hobby this year and I did post about holidays.... but what else?

Joe's still with Carson Elevator; hit his 5 year mark at the first of December. We celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary in October - hence the California trip. I'm going to mark 2 years of management January 2nd, 2011 and 5 years with Smart Style this March. We still live in "Villa de Nelda" or "The Blackstroms." We've been here 2 years and love it - we're looking forward to many 'upgrade' projects next year. This house needs some fixing up! Andee & Kelly had their twins and I can't get enough of them. Shopping for them, playing, helping change diapers, feeding or getting them ready for bed. I just love having them right upstairs. Lets see, Joe bought his '87 Chevy truck earlier this year...and that's been fun. Spent more money fixing it up than we originally paid for it. Yay...not! I didn't keep up with my New Year's resolution to read more. I made it to April and gave up on the extra free time. I just don't have it anymore - Sorry C! I'm still watching my nephew Jesse on Mondays (Most months, just one Monday a month) but we have fun. Endless cartoons, transformer toys, lunch with "Eliz-bit" and shopping at the blue store. He cracks me up and I enjoy my one-on-one time with him.

Okay, well that sums up all the things I didn't post about.

I can't believe what a disappointing "blog" year it has been. Oh well, I guess thats why my obsession with Facebook has increased. The instant connection, conversations and jokes are far more entertaining I guess.

I have a resolution for 2011 already - BLOG MORE!

Happy Holidays everyone - and thank you for continuing to blog...even though I've been lacking..I do love reading though!!!

Much love.

Xmas photo shoot (edited)

Again I played with my dad's camera and pretended to be a professional! I wanted to take some silly photos of the girls for Andee's Christmas card. (We're going to be taking some others later this weekend with all the Snow grandkids in their Sunday best. That should be fun as well)

But anyway, here's a look see...in case you haven't seen them on Andee's blog or on Facebook already. Much love!!

Avie

Ella

Avie

Ella

Avie

Ella

Avie

Ella

Merry Christmas from Avie & Ella

***Okay, I played around in photoshop & picnik.com to make the photos more vintage looking. Too much fun.

Cookie party!

Joe and I were invited to a "couples" dinner party this past Saturday. Unfortunately it was the same night as Joe's work Christmas party...ugh! I was so torn! Luckily Joe's party started at 5 and ended at 7, and the dinner party started until 6. So we only missed the "dinner" part of the party, and made it in time for the activity.

It turned out to be a great night, even though we missed the important part. My friend Lynda, the host, bought a few dozen sugar cookies from a local bakery and we all brought toppings to decorate them with. Sounds a little silly with a bunch of adults...Joe and I were the youngest couple, by almost 12 years...but it really was fun! Lynda purchased all "Christmas" shapes and colored frostings. We all brought candies, sprinkles and sparkles to add to them. We all sat at a round table, brainstormed decorating ideas, talked, talked and talked!!!

Here are a few pictures:

The top 2 are Joe's. He was more in to visiting, than decorating.

MY BUNCH!!

My OCD kicked in big time. I spent about 10 minutes on each cookie...I think I decorated the most too. Everyone had had enough after about 3 or 4 cookies, but I just kept going! And of course we were all in a sugar coma. Working with sweets, you just HAVE to dabble and taste everything!!!

We ended up visiting until almost midnight. Lynda & Paul are such great friends and getting to know their other friends, was a lot of fun. There were stories, jokes and so much laughter!! Great way to kick off the Christmas party season!

I can't wait for more holiday get-togethers!! I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS!

SNOW!

Alright, well we woke up to almost a foot of snow this morning!!! (And according to the weather, more is on the way!) I decided to take advantage of my cozy state and get pumped up for all the excitement to come!

Our backyard

First, there are few things I hate about snow.

-The cold, obviously. Always having to wear a jacket, scarves or gloves.

-The constant wet pants. I've got short legs and all my long pants get soaked at the bottoms!! I have to roll them up once I get inside so my socks don't get wet. There is just no way to avoid wet ankles!

-Plus having to scrape & defrost my car EVERY morning...that's a bummer. You have to wake up 15 minutes earlier! :(

However, there are MANY things I LOVE about the snow.

-Something about it, is so peaceful. After a snow storm, everything is so quiet. It masks every sound. Sitting out on my covered porch and listening....to silence!

-I also love how beautiful it is. Especially "untouched" snow. No footprints, slush from the roads, dog pee or mud & leaves. I love looking at freshly fallen snow. Perfect and picturesque.

-And how cozy it makes me feel. Watching it fall while sitting next to a foggy window. You can just feel the chill coming from the glass. Grabbing a cup of hot-chocolate or sipping extremely warm soup while you snuggle up in blanket or next to a loved one.

-Which brings me to fires!! Nothing better the smell of logs cooking & listening to them crackle! We have a cast-iron, free standing fire place and it literally heats up our whole basement. Again - so cozy!!!

-I love all the rosy cheeks. Going downtown to see the lights, or taking a late night stroll - everyone always has the burning, stinging, bright red cheeks! Not only is it beautiful to see on the adorable chubby cheeks of little kids, but its also complimentary on many gorgeous faces!

-and last but not least, THE HOLIDAYS! This time of year is always incredible. Many get-togethers & parties. Family time, giving, surprising, sharing, loving...its wonderful. People say this is the most depressing time of year and I really just don't understand that. Whether I'm spending time with family or giving to those in need or just spreading holiday cheer wherever you go, it couldn't be more wonderful.

As you can tell, I'm really looking forward to this time of year. I was sad when summer was drawing to a close, but to now actually have snow that won't be melting by the end of the day, I'm getting pumped for the days/holidays to come!!!

Happy Snow Day to all the Utahns!!!

Our MASSIVE tree in the front yard. Once the snow stopped coming down, it was interesting to see the weight on the branches give way. Some branches broke, while other just "shook" off the powder. Note to self: Don't stand under this tree for very long, because it will "snow" all over you!!!