A-2 • FEBRUARY 24, 2014 • Shopper news
Coffee Break with
What are you reading currently? “Quitter” by Jon Acuff
What are the top three things on your bucket list? Start my own business Take a road trip up the West Coast Build a giant tree house (one I could live in!)
What is one word others often use to describe you and why? Spontaneous. Outside of work, I don’t like to plan anything.
What is your passion? My family.
Lauren Cox
With whom, living or dead, would you most like to have a long lunch?
When Lauren Cox was in college, she took some classes in event planning and decided it wasn’t her cup of tea. “I said I would never do it,” says Cox. So even she was a little surprised with the direction her career took – she’s the special events and program coordinator in the town of Farragut’s Parks and Leisure Services Department – but it all makes sense now. “I like planning the events, but I really like when we actually have the events because then I get contact with the public,” says Cox, who has been with the town for two and a half years. “I love people. I look forward to those days when I’m not in a cubicle, planning.” She also loves her co-workers. “We have a really good group up here in the PALS Department.” Her favorite event so far is Freaky Friday Fright Night. “I love the costumes and the cute kids who come through,” she says. “It’s just a fun event. It has a lot of setup, and a lot of hard work goes into it before, and it’s just fun to see people enjoy something that you’ve worked really hard on.” There’s only one downside to her job. “When I have to work on a weekend for events, there’s a plus because I get to be at an event, and it’s always fun – but the time away from my new baby is really hard,” she says. Her son, Mason, is 3 months old and her obsession. “He’s the greatest thing in the world,” says Cox. “He’s really good at chewing on things right now. He’s teething early. He sleeps through the night. He’s slept through the night since five weeks. That’s pretty impressive.” She and her husband, Joshua, even take Mason with them on their regular Friday “date night” – to the Downtown Grill & Brewery. “It sounds crazy, but we’ve taken Mason since he was 3 weeks old. It’s really loud, but he loves it, and he loves watching the people.” The Coxes, who have been married three and a half years, are more into the outdoors, and they plan to give their son that experience, too. “My husband and I love hiking,” she says. “We’ve only been to the mountains once since he was born. We plan on taking him hiking really soon, once it’s warm enough.” One place they’re sure to take him is Charlie’s Bunion,
My college roommates. We still keep in contact, but a long lunch together would be perfect. her favorite trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “That’s also the trail where my husband proposed to me, so it has good memories. I think it’s one of the most beautiful views in the park.” Cox grew up in Knoxville and graduated from SouthDoyle High School. She attended Pellissippi State Community College and then went to Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, where she earned a bachelor’s in outdoor recreation. She worked for the Pigeon Forge Parks and Recreation Department before being hired in Farragut. For several summers after graduating from high school, she worked at Camp Ba Yo Ca in Sevierville, first as a counselor and then on the waterfront staff. (She and her husband had their wedding at the camp.) The Coxes live in Fountain City to be close to his job – he’s the morning news director for WBIR and has to be at the station before dawn – but she loves working in Farragut. “I’m really one for the trees and the natural beauty of things. I love that about Farragut. Our parks are really great in Farragut. They do a good job of keeping them up.” In her free time, she enjoys making birthday cakes – for humans and dogs. “I’ve gotten really good at making dog birthday cakes and dog birthday cookies,” she says. She and her husband have a 7-year-old Lab and two basset-hound-mix dogs that are 4. “They are my babies also. We love them.” Sit back and have a Coffee Break as you get to know Lauren Cox.
What is your favorite quote from TV or a movie?
Other than your parents, who has had the biggest influence on your life and why? Not really who. More of a what that includes a whole bunch of people … Camp Ba Yo Ca. I worked there for many summers on staff. My experiences there shaped me into the person I am now.
I still can’t quite get the hang of … Wearing shoes … I hate wearing shoes.
What is the best present you ever received in a box? My engagement/wedding rings.
What is the best advice your mother ever gave you? You can’t trust anybody but the Lord.
What is your social media of choice? Instagram or Facebook … it’s a toss-up.
What is the worst job you have ever had? The four hours of housekeeping duty I had during my internship at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly.
What was your favorite Saturday morning cartoon and why? Bugs Bunny. Loved him so much my mom made me a Halloween costume one year so I could be him.
What irritates you? Christmas decorations left up past Jan. 1.
What’s one place in Farragut everyone should visit? Mother Earth Meats. They are a great local business with fresh, organic food.
“Fried chicken just tend to make you feel better about life.” – Minnie Jackson in “The Help”
What is your greatest fear?
What are you guilty of?
If you could do one impulsive thing, what would it be?
Spiders. I hate spiders.
Posting millions of photos of my baby on Facebook and Instagram each day.
Quit my job and start my own business.
What is your favorite material possession?
It can be your neighbor, club leader, bridge partner, boss, father, teacher – anyone you think would be interesting to Farragut Shopper-News readers. Email suggestions to Sherri Gardner Howell, gardners@tds.net. Include contact info if you can.
My KitchenAid mixer.
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