something southern

Photo

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:45:44 -0500

moving on up

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 23:41:46 -0400

Ya’ll I am so excited to let ya’ll know that I have moved to a new site! Please join me at www.somethingsouthern.net

While I will miss reblogging and liking and all that tumblr has had to offer, Something Southern needed a more efficient platform, so ya’ll be sure to mosy on over and stay a while!

So what on earth are ya’ll waiting on?

Favorite Fall Details: Burlap

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:09:55 -0400

One of my favorite trends of the Fall season is incorporating burlap any(&every)where! While burlap is a southern staple no matter what season it is, there is something about it’s combination with rustic Fall colors that really make it stand out. Here are a few of my favorite Fall burlap details!

These burlap tablecloths simply accent the centerpiece & give a perfectly southern & understated look.

What a perfect way to give this outdoor wedding a Fall tented feel! I absolutely love how the burlap let’s the light shine through. It’s so magical!

I picture this perfect Autumn wreath on the church door of a Fall wedding, and all I can do is swoon! Can someone please tell me how to make this beauty myself? I’m dying for some sort of tutorial!

Not only does this table runner have burlap, ya’ll, it has lace! There is nothing more elegant than hints of lace, and those mason jars filled with Daisies literally make this a perfect Fall staple!

Last, but certainly not least, this DYI burlap bouquet is my absolute favorite burlap detail! A mason jar, twine, & burlap all in one?! Plus these could make great favors for your guests!

Do ya’ll have any other favorite burlap details? Or what are your favorite decorations for Fall?

100 in 1001

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 12:36:00 -0400

Thanks to Emily Ayer of Peach & Pearl, I’ve been inspired to make my very own 101 in 1001. If ya’ll aren’t familiar with the project (heck, I sure wasn’t!), this is how it works!

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year’s resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Start Date: October 8, 2011
End Date: July 14th, 2014

As ya’ll can see, I officially started yesterday, and I thought I’d share the journey with ya’ll! Here is my list!

Do something different

1. eat vegan for a week 3X (0/3)

2. visit a pick-your-own farm

3. sleep under the stars

4. go to a free outdoor concert

5. deactivate Facebook for a week 3X (0/3)

6. go to a drive in movie theater

7. learn to play piano

8. don’t drink Starbucks for a week 3X (0/3) {this one is going to be a toughy!}

9. learn how to tie a bow tie

10. go wine tasting

11. go fishing & catch a fish!

12. write a handwritten letter to someone once a month (0/33)

13. take an impromptu road trip

14. write down happy memories starting at the beginning of the year, place them in a jar, and open the jar the following New Years {I can’t wait to start this one!!}

15. try a new restaurant once every month (0/33)

16. go to a corn maze

17. go apple picking

Do something for others

18. volunteer at an animal shelter every other month (0/16)

19. pay the bill/toll for someone behind you

20. write Christmas cards for whole family (0/3)

21. donate $1 for every item not completed

22. surprise someone with flowers

23. give blood

24. surprise three people with treats every year (0/9)

25. send something to the troops

26. donate old clothes from Alpharetta closet

27. continue to collect lids (SLSL) after graduation

28. foster a seeing eye dog

Do something with the family

29. visit grandma & grandpa without the rest of the family

30. spend time with Sam

31. take the nephews out on a play date once every two months (0/16)

32. plan a definitive monthly family dinner (0/33)

33. teach grandma & grandpa how to skype

34. plan a trip with my sisters

Do something green

35. switch completely to reusable grocery bags

36. turn off water while brushing teeth for two weeks

37. only use reusable cups at Starbucks

Be Inspired

38. learn how to garden

39. read five biographies of people I admire (0/5)

40. learn how to sew

41. read 12 classics (0/12)

42. read Emily Post etiquette

43. make a craft from pinterest once a month (0/33)

44. learn a new recipe every week for a month (0/4)

45. learn to make sushi

46. build a headboard

47. have a physical inspiration cork board in my room

48. read a new pleasure book every season

49. learn how to fry okra

Be Spiritual

50. go to church once a month (0/33)

51. read the entire Bible

52. go to mass every Christmas & Easter (not to count towards one a month) (0/6)

53. go to reconciliation twice a year (0/6)

Be Healthy

54. stretch every morning for two weeks (0/14)

55. get up at the same time every day for 30 days (0/30)

56. learn to play tennis

57. drink only water for a week (0/7)

58. don’t eat out for two weeks (0/14)

59. find out my blood type

60. do yoga every week for two months (0/9)

61. stop biting my nails {something tells me I will be donating a dollar for this}

62. floss twice a day every day for a month

63. find a perfect foundation

64. do the 100 push up challenge

65. go for walks in the park with D once a month (0/33)

Be Successful

66. graduate Georgia Tech December 2012

67. graduate with high honors

68. post on blog every week

69. get an internship/job with dream company

70. save 10% of every paycheck

71. read a financial book

72. knowledgably vote in the 2012 Presidential election

73. phase out Perez {admittedly a very embarrassing habit of mine}

74. master Photoshop

75. keep track of finances for a month

76. solve a Rubix cube

Be organized

77. organize/update iTunes/iPod

78. make a recipe box

79. redo apartment pictures every 6 months (0/5)

80. make my bed every day for two weeks

81. clean out closet every Spring & Fall (0/5)

82. reorganize chrome bookmarks

83. reorganize my computer

84. download photos from Facebook

Be happy

85. Stay close with D, A, S, B, & E {my best friends :)}

86. adopt a puppy

87. identify 100 things that make me happy

88. decorate for Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, & Christmas every year (0/15)

89. get a Christmas Tree every year (0/3)

90. answer the 50 Questions that will free your mind

91. get a nice camera

92. learn to take nice photos

93. get a professional massage after a stressful week

94. dance in the rain

95. take a trip to Charleston

96. stay at a bed & breakfast

97. paint my room a bright color

98. call/skype with at least one high school friend a week

99. have a girls vacation

100. take Cash to the park once every two months (16)

101. start a new 101 in 1001 list!

Phew! Ya’ll wish me luck! Have any of ya’ll or are any of ya’ll working on a 101 in 1001 list?

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 11:52:46 -0400

Alright, I’m not gonna lie. I absolutely dread Fall come every September. Fall means the bipolar Georgia weather has begun & there is a very good chance I will be wearing shorts & a tank on Monday and a sweater and jeans on Tuesday. It means that Winter is creeping up on us & I will be pale and cold for at least four months. Worst of all {and thanks to my complete lack of an immune system}, it means I will catch every cold, flu, & illness that anyone around me has.

All of that complaining being said, something about this year has made me a little excited about the season change. I have to admit, it’s great to walk to class in my new pair of skinny jeans without them sticking to me, or get work done on the porch without sweating bullets. Looking at the bright side of things, I guessssss there are a few more things I appreciate about the Fall

Football Season - Quite frankly, I would be willing to give up summer if we could have football all year. We just need to get some night games already Georgia Tech!
Pumpkin Spice Lattes - Yup, me and the rest of the universe. This is the only time of the year I can stand to have anything sweet in my coffee, and even now I just get a pump in my regular brew! Pumpkin spice is completely worth the extra calories
Thanksgiving/Christmas - For someone who hates winter so much, there is absolutely nothing I love more than the holidays. Family, Food, Decorations. All of it just exudes happiness! And don’t get me started on Christmas music. October 1st, my “Christmas is coming” playlist runs on repeat. Luckily, my roommate appreciates the jingles about as much as I do
Fall Food - Tomato Soup, Corn Bread & Chili, Pumpkin Pie, Sweet Potatoes, Casseroles…If I continue, I won’t be able to control my drooling.

Alright, I suppose the dramatics aside, Fall isn’t the absolute worst thing to happen to me. And, I might sort of, kind of enjoy it. But ya’ll will want to avoid me when temperatures start dropping & my football teams start losing.

In celebration of my indifference towards this coming season, look out for a great post of my favorite way to incorporate a little Fall into a wedding!

Enjoy your weekend, ya’ll!

Vendor Love: Honey Bee Invites

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:10:10 -0400

Thanks to Southern Weddings for always helping me find the most beautiful & best vendors. This week, my current obsession is Honey Bee Invites, which is actually based in Atlanta, Georgia like me! Honey Bee does a great job of combining modern details with a southern flair, and I may or may not have just spent the past two hours ogling over Allie’s blog. What I really love about HBI is how simple they make invites seem. Honestly, whether it’s invitations, stationary, or calligraphy, it’s all a little over my head when it comes to the specifics. Thankfully, they do a great job of making everything simple, && their blog is even helping me learn more about the field (seriously, check out their Fabulous Font Friday if you’re a novice like me!).

Check out some of the reasons why I fell for Honey Bee (&& why you’ll fall too!)

“Dandelion Chic” immediately caught my eye with this graceful font && paper texture. This would be perfect for a whimsical spring wedding, and is sure to create a lasting impression.

Ya’ll know how I feel about mason jars, so of course I’m dying over this sweet mason jar invite. All I can do is envision a backyard summer wedding with yummy BBQ, fireflies, & family. Perfection.

I don’t know about ya’ll, but my family always gets lost. The last thing you need is late wedding guests, so why not include a super adorable && personalized wedding day map along with your invite to ensure Aunt Susan isn’t sitting three blocks down the road in the wrong chapel!

Not only does HBI have beautiful invitations, they create breathtaking details like this wedding day sign. Every single detail of this sign from this calligraphy, the colors, the scroll, && the flower are honestly amazing.

I literally could make this post go on forever with Honey Bee’s lovely Save the Dates, personalized stationary, and don’t get me started on their precious “Will you be my bridesmaid/groomsmen” cards, but ya’ll are just going to have to mosey on over to their site and ogle for yourself!

Warning though, it’s addictive!

whatever floats your boat

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 15:58:07 -0400

First it was cupcakes. Then, it was doughnuts. My new favorite delicious wedding treat? A Coke float station! This amazing detail at the wedding last night really got me thinking of different ways to incorporate a Coke/Root Beer/whatever-floats-your-boat station into a southern wedding, and Pinterest helped me out with some drool-worthy inspiration!

This colorful DYI Float bar is a perfect way to make everyone happy! Whether your guests enjoy Root Beer, Diet Coke, or Coca Cola, or whether they want one scoop of ice cream or five (don’t judge, this is my preference, ya’ll), this is a surefire way to please the masses. And how can you not love these colorful pinwheels!?

With a more rustic southern approach, this Root Beer float bar really makes me swoon with those personalized mason jar mugs, and how about those Love Floats straws? Sweet, simple, and yummy!

Maybe you want your floats to be a mini late-night snack. Pair these tiny ice cream floats with some delicious sliders for guests to fuel up after laboriously hitting the dance floor all night!

Outdoor wedding in July? Cool your guests down with Ice Cream Float popsicles! This how-to even includes a cherry on top!

Can’t stay away from cupcakes? Combine the two delicious treats into one yummy Root Beer Float Cupcake! This recipe tastes just like the real thing and is absolutely to die for!

Ya’ll have any other Float Station suggestions? Maybe another great recipe or a creative way to display the tasty treats? Feel free to comment below!

And y’all remember, it doesn’t get much more southern than Coca-Cola!

capturing the moment

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 17:38:07 -0400

At the wedding last night, the photographer made a comment that really stuck with me…”You really can’t stage beautiful moments, they have to be natural. Sometimes, that’s just how photography goes.” This killed me a little because I have so many photos that I absolutely love! Is it possible for me to stage all these “beautiful moments??” I know the answer is no, but how can I not die for all of these pictures…

Is it possible to fit all these amazing shots into one wedding?? OR is that too much to ask of a photographer and too much pressure to put on a bride? Ya’ll I’d love your advice. How often should you just let wedding pictures be natural, and is there a real limit to how many you should stage?

They’re just so darn pretty!

But they’re just so darn pretty!

I've been cheating...

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 18:22:14 -0400

Alright ya’ll, I have to admit it. I have been cheating on tumblr. With Pinterest. I may or may not be uberobsesed with the site, and I have been on it nonstop, taking away from my blogging. If you haven’t had the chance to check it out, you absolutely must the very moment you get done reading this post! But don’t worry, I’m back, and I vow to be a better blogger than ever. Pinterest has reminded me how much I love to share pretty southern details, so look out for lots of inspired posts and not just weddings, y’all! This is going to be a collection of any and everything I find absolutely wonderful. So, thanks for sticking with me while I have been lost in cyberspace, and I promise I will be a more loyal blogger, starting NOW. In the meantime, check out my Pinterest here, and I promise it will be worth it!

“Doughnuts are the new cupcakes”—a good friend...

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:06:06 -0400

“Doughnuts are the new cupcakes”—a good friend of mine just said this last week & I laughed in her face…whoops!!

yummy!

lighting perfection

Sun, 29 May 2011 12:05:06 -0400

In lieu of my recent post about my love for floating lanterns, I thought some attention should be given to the magic of outdoor lighting! Enjoy!

the most flowers I have ever seen

Sat, 28 May 2011 12:05:06 -0400

This wedding at St. Regis Atlanta hands down was the biggest collection of beautiful flowers that I have ever seen. I was awestruck how drastically the ballroom was transformed with the help of Robert Long Flora Design. And besides the flowers, my favorite detail of this wedding was the beautiful crystal champagne flutes. I caught myself drooling over these multiple times! Whoops!

current obsession: floating lanterns

Fri, 27 May 2011 16:07:24 -0400

Disney’s Tangled had me in awe with their picturesque scene with floating lanterns & I instantly decided I need to recreate that one day. Next thing I know, lanterns are everywhere! In previews for this season of Bachelorette, in Hangover 2, everywhere! Ya’ll this might be an Asian tradition, but I bet we could find a way to bring it to the South!

too freaking cute

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:29:55 -0400

So simple

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:50:10 -0400

So simple

Glamorous...

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:41:43 -0400

is the only word I can use to describe the wedding I attended (not worked at-horray!) this past weekend. The groom was a mutual friend of almost half my friends, so I managed to wrangle an invite, and goodness gracious, thank the Lord I did because I was BLOWN away! To start off, the ceremony was at a quaint church in Lawrenceville, GA called Lawrenceville First Baptist Church. While it was a bit of a drive, it was definitely tear-jerkingly worth it. I was overwhelmingly excited to head to the reception at 200 Peachtree because it only recently opened it’s doors, and I was excited to check the place out before I work a wedding there later this spring. 200 Peachtree was formally the downtown Atlanta Macy’s and even more formally the Davidson’s. It was originally opened almost exactly 84 years ago on March 21st,1927, but it has since been renovated to the beauty that it is today. The sparkling, fourteen foot, crystal chandeliers, the spacious white and gold columns, and the thirty-two foot ceilings literally take your breath away. The bride chose a black and white color scheme which really just exemplified the word “classy.” The whole time, I couldn’t stop thinking that Audrey Hepburn should be sitting at the table next to mine. The whole decor was really topped off by all the little details. The centerpieces were a variation of enormous black vases, white floral arrangements, and clear, rectangle vases filled with floating pearls and candles. My absolute favorite detail? The menu! On each plate setting was an adorable circle card stock with the bride and grooms initials and when flipped over, it had the menu! They kept it sweet and southern with a variation of choices including Chicken and Waffles! A great touch to add a little bit of the South to the beautifully glamorous wedding.

Green With Love

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:06:49 -0400

In honor of St. Patty’s day, here’s a compilation of my favorite green wedding details!! The green floating flowers is such a perfect touch and the burlap sack chair cover looks like it could be a fun DYI project for a great green wedding!!

Thanks Style Me Pretty and Southern Weddings for the pictures and board template!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day ya’ll!

vintage chandeliers, check! checker board dance floor, check!...

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:27:21 -0500

vintage chandeliers, check! checker board dance floor, check! black and white perfection, check check check!

my very first...

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 12:57:04 -0500

Inspiration Board! Thank you Style Me Pretty!

Let me know what ya’ll think!!!

Goodness gracious, I almost cried when I found this picture on...

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:54:10 -0500

Goodness gracious, I almost cried when I found this picture on the Southern Weddings blog. Hands down, this is my absolute favorite detail that I have ever seen in a wedding, and I am still in awe of how sweet and lovely this bride was.