Name: Lori Blackburn Harden
Family: I am the daughter of Don and Janet Blackburn. My dad played football at UGA and my mom was a cheerleader. I was born in Athens. I have a younger brother, Donnie (Pam) and a younger sister, Natalie (Todd) who all graduated from UGA. I have a nephew and two nieces who attend currently. I am married to Tim Harden, who graduated from UGA Law School. We have two children, our daughter Rachel (Jordan) and Taylor, our son, who graduated from UGA in 2010. We have two beautiful grandchildren, Lillie Joy and Benjamin and a third one due in July.
Hometown: Macon, Georgia
Current Town: St. Simons Island, Georgia
What years at UGA: 1981-1985 … the best with Herschel and Dominique on campus.
School/Degree: Home Economics with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Furnishings and Interiors.
Profession: After graduation, I accepted a job with Pierce and Parker Interiors in St Simons Island, Georgia where I worked for four years until our daughter, Rachel was born in 1989. We then decided to move to my hometown of Macon, to be closer to family. It was in Macon where I started my own design business, Lori Harden Interiors. In 2010, we decided to move back to St. Simons Island and in 2012, I returned to work at Pierce and Parker where I still am today. I will be celebrating 40 years of design this July.
Accolades: Satisfied clients
Book: The Bible, Redeeming Love and The Help (1)
Magazines: Southern Living, Frederic and Atlanta Home
Podcast: Louie Giglio, Mel Robbins and Katherine Wolf
Blog: I am not really a blog reader, I would rather spend time listening to sermons.
Instagram: Southern Living, Call to Leap, Boxwood Avenue. (2)
Brand: Juliska (3), Susan Shaw, Highland House, Lee Industries and Thibaut.
Fashion Designers: Ralph Lauren.
Interiors Designers: James Farmer (4), Pheobe Howard and my Aunt Denise Bluster, also a UGA Grad!
Chef: Paula Dean, Joanna Gaines? (5) Are they considered chefs or are they just good cooks?
Historical Figure: Jesus Christ.
Quote: The Lord will accomplish those things that concern you. Psalm 138:8
Describe Athens in five words or less: The perfect college town!
Restaurants/Bars: Taqueria Del Sol, Last Resort, Raising Canes and Five Bar
Shops: Appointments at Five, Amelia’s Apparel, Heery’s
Athens/campus landmark: The Arch and North Campus, Sandford Stadium and the Zeta Tau Alpha House.
Memory while in school: It is so hard to name just one so I will have to tell a few. Tailgating with my family, getting ready on gameday in the Zeta house singing at the top of our lungs to “It’s Raining Men” by Donna Summer.
Memory while in school: Working in the Sports Information Department for Claude Felton, where I was responsible for putting media packets together for game day among many other weekly tasks and keeping the scrapbooks for UGA Athletics. Of course, Herschel had his own!! Oh and I was a Batgirl for the baseball team.
Professor/class: My favorite class was probably Roller Skating and Statistics. My favorite professor was a coach, “Coach Mike” Castronis, the head cheerleading coach at UGA while I was there. He was such a great man and mentor. He inspired me to want to coach cheerleading which I had the privilege of doing for many years at First Presbyterian Day School in Macon, Georgia.
Gameday ritual/plan: Thankfully, my brother and sister-in-law have a house in Five Points, so our tailgates are spent there. We set up the food, drinks and tv in the front yard and enjoy being with family and friends until it is time to walk over to the stadium for the game!
Tailgate Recipe: I am usually in charge of the pimento cheese.
1 block of pepperjack cheese
1 jar of diced pimentos drained
Mayo to your liking.
Serve with crackers.