HRH

Heart of Dixie

Praying for all my friends in Tuscaloosa and across this great state and also in Mississippi and the other areas affected by these massive tornadoes and storms.  Less than 10 miles away from me, utter destruction lays where once was thriving businesses, homes, and landmarks.  So blessed to be safe, and praying for the families of the nearly 300 who died.  

belles and a beau breaking bread.*

History banquet. My 2 bffs since the first weekend of my freshman year 
and our favorite southern gentleman.  :)

Lemme tell you, I kinda just sorta fell into this whole history thing, and it's grown from accident, to hobby, to head-over-heels love.  One of those unexpected things in life, it has turned out to be.  Pray hard about what direction you'll go in, and it's funny the doors that God will open for you. Don't let anyone tell you that your interests have to fit inside one box or one mold.  That's a lie that is spewed by the ignorant, boring, unfaithful, and one-dimensional in nature.  Be bigger than that.  You were created to be more than that and to have bigger experiences. Live life to the fullest. Carpe diem!

*Yep, I love a good alliteration.  'Specially if it's got a nice souuuthuhn ring to it. :)

would you like pearls with that?

Tumblr.

I want to be Jackie O. 

Period. 

The end.

There has never been and will never be another woman quite as chic (but darn it if I won't keep trying).

How Great Thou Art

Courtesy of Pinterest.

He is risen!

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

Happy Easter to you all!

charmed, I'm sure.

Issue of Southern Living -$3.99

Monogrammed Stationery- $20

Realizing you've known everything in "How to Write a Charming Thank You Note" since you were old enough to hold a pen -Priceless

Thanks, Mom. :)

Going back through old issues of SL. September 2010 was one of my favorites, featuring a section on everything a southerner should know..of course, you probably know it already..

While we're on the subject of thank you notes, what greater thanks do we owe than to the One who saved us from our sins. Thank you, Jesus. All to Him we owe, especially on this Good Friday.

t u m b l e d | b e l l e s & b o w s.

I gave in. I started a Tumblr. Pictures are sometimes my biggest inspiration for blogs, so I guess it's only fitting that I share all of the ones I adore.
Tumble with me, please! :)

follow the Leader.

tumblr.

"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

-Mark 8:34-35

As we are coming up on Good Friday, I’m reminded that our purpose on this planet is to tell the world of what Jesus did on that cross. What He suffered endlessly for so that you and I wouldn’t spend eternity doing the same.  We have to speak up for Christ as Christians and not turn our backs when someone questions why we believe.  Can you imagine if He had turned his back on us?

If you ever think you cannot do this, think again.  I hate confrontation more than anything, and when put on the spot, I tend to have a less than intelligent response for things.  That is until God took over for me late one night.  I never thought I would have the capacity to defend Him so deeply as I did that one night with one of my friends.  I was up late studying for my Old South final, and was on Facebook, of course, trying to avoid studying.  Somehow my friend and I got into a conversation about God.  This person, mind you, is probably the single most intelligent, educated, philosophically brilliant person I have ever met. The conversation somehow started with him saying, “Well I’m not getting into this conversation with you.” Who? Me? I had an inkling where this was going, so I said, “I’m not going to stop being friends with you if you don’t believe in God.” Whoa. I felt this surge inside of me. Hey, God. “Well, that’s refreshing,” he said.  Well, little ole me spent the next hour trying to convince him using every piece of information I had learned in 21 years of church, Biblical Studies classes, and bible studies, and some cold hard scientific evidence.  Sometimes, people think a little too much instead of believing what they don’t see, but I knew that with him, it was going to have to be an argument on the basis of intellectual theory.  I spent that hour pouring my heart out, and in the end I think I got more out of the conversation than he did.  He gave me the biggest compliment that a Christian could ever get, and it still brings tears to my eyes when I think about it.  He said, “I don’t know how I feel about this still, but at least you had the guts to defend what you believe and you actually know what you’re talking about.  I’ve had people literally raise their hand and say, ‘I’m not gonna talk about this with you.’” I couldn’t believe that statement.  Isn’t that what we are called to do? Isn’t that our purpose here on earth?

That conversation changed me, whether my little friend knows it or not.  I owe him a lot because he really showed me what God can do inside of you that you could never have done on your own.

:)

Bippity Boppity Boo.

confession, y'all.

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Alright. It's been precisely two months, and this has been weighing heavily on my heart. I like it now. I admit it. I retract some of my hateful statement on Gone With the Wind.
My bff says the reason I hated it was because it hits too close to home.  Opening scene: Scarlett sauntering out in her white dress for the barbecue, leading on all of those boys that she has no intentions of seeing.
#fearofcommitment?
Stubborn, driven, hard headed.... I think the exact comment was, "Oh my gah, no wonder you hate this movie..you're watching yourself!!!!"
Ok.
Fine.
Whatever.
...I..kind of like it now.

Strong woman in a power suit hoop skirt.. I'll take it.

if Heaven ain't a lot like Dixie..

Mathews, Alabama. Beautiful country sunset's the one thing Montgomery has over the 'ham.  #sigh. 

Photo courtesy of Brooks Hall.

...pshhh, it has to  be.

Most glorious day of the year. Check
Windows open. Check
Buckling down while it's the most glorious day of the year and windows are open? uhhh....

#blessedtobesouthern

Masters 2011

He just matches so well..

#adamscott #Masters2011

l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

courtesy of bippity boppity boo.

"Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe."

-St. Augustine

True Love Grows

Just saw this on the Tiffany website and fell. in. love.

button up.

Courtesy of WSJ.

The teaser on my Friday Wall Street Journal talked about dress for dining.  So, in addition to reading about how gracious dear ole Congress was to find a way to keep us up and running for a few more days, I clicked on over to the Style section of my online subscription.  Steve Garbarino apparently has taken up real estate inside my head.  In “Jacket (Not) Required,” Garbarino talks about the demise of the expectation and/or dress code for dining out.  While dressing in your best and going out to a nice dinner was once an exciting occurrence, in today’s society it has become increasingly more widely accepted to exchange the chic look for the slob look. 

Classic fine dining restaurants, once with a strictly “jacket and tie required” policy have laxed their rules to accommodate customers.  Whether because of a bust economy or a generation who just doesn’t care, these establishments have loosened their policies just as sure as their customers are loosening their ties.  

I think this is a shame.  Garbarino rightly asks in a Carrie Bradshaw-esque style,

“Is dressing up the new way to stand out?”

Love him or hate him, The Donald always looks sharp.

I remember last year reading Donald Trump’s “The Art of the Deal” for a paper I was working on.  One of the most interesting things I found was how dress relates to the economy.  In the book, Trump talks about how while the economy is booming, guys would come into his office in tie-less shirts, khakis, more casual shoes.  But one of the first things that went with the end of a booming economy was lax dress.  People in business need to be taken seriously, and dress is one of the first ways they made that happen in a less than desirable economy. 

The weird thing is, however, that I’ve seen that to some extent in this economic climate, but at the same time, as this article suggests, people have stopped caring and expect the world to cater to that.  

So while Wall Street might be buttoned up and French-cuffed, the rest of the country is walking into fine dining establishments in shorts and an open collar.  Not okay.

Back to Mr. Trump, one of the key things that he points out is that if you want to be successful and distinguish yourself, there is no casual Friday.  While the rest of the office, campus, restaurant looks like disheveled slobs, you can stand out in the crowd.  Have you ever looked at someone who was sharply dressed and thought, “What were they thinking?” Probably not.  I’ve harped on this before, but I really believe that you get a lot more open doors when you look the part.

Tom Wolfe.

One of my favorite quotes from the article is from 80-year-old journalist and Virginia-born style icon, Tom Wolfe. 

"You'll look terrific, and miles above those slobs. And you'll get more respect. Formal dress really has social impact. You'll be treated with greater deference than the 45-year-old guy dressed like a rock drummer."

So true.   Gentlemen, rock that suit and cufflinks, and ladies, put on those heels and pearls.  Chances are, there will be someone in the room who wishes they looked as great as you.

empire state of mind.

Photo courtesy of Hayden Gunter.

Warning: This is wordy.

Last night, I was shaken. 

I was brought to tears. 

     I was in the library after dinner, quickly working on a project so I could go back to the comfort of my room.  That was until one of my friends asked if I wanted to go see a documentary on how the world sees America. 

Documentary? I’m there. 

Convo credit? When does it start?

I was prepared to hear negative.  I knew it was coming.  I didn’t think it would impact me the way it did. 

      The documentary was called The Listening Project.  This group went to 14 different countries asking how these people view our country (this was filmed during the Bush years).  I want to make clear, I do not agree with everything said, but a LOT of it made complete and utter sense.  The people for the most part all had similarities in how they view the U.S.  They view our government and our citizens as two separate entities.  They view the government as corrupt, but the people as caring.  They also view the U.S. as having people who can make a big impact on the world, and a lot of places feel the positive effects of this. 

     What was so hard to watch was not necessarily even the things the people were saying about us.  It was seeing the hurt, despair, conflict, just complete and utter DARKNESS that exists in the world.  Whether this is by the world governments, the citizens, the terrorist groups, whatever it may be, it’s there.  

It isn’t going away. 

I’ve never felt such a strong need to pray in my life. 

Like fall on my knees and pray. 

I couldn’t even settle my mind on what exactly to pray about.  Is it the people who are starving? Is it the people who live in Israel and don’t know if they will make it home without being bombed? Is it the for the governments of the world to become less corrupt and have more wisdom?  I wish I had the answers to these problems, but all I know is that my only answer for now is prayer.  All of this hurt, need, corruption, can only be helped by God.  But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to make things better.

            Making it better has to begin with education.  So much of the hurt international relations of the world are because of a loss of communication between different cultures.  We have people in government right now who barely passed high school, much less know what it takes to make positive relations between nations.  We need to educate people.  We need to educate ourselves.  How many people even know where half of the countries they wax poetic about on the news actually are?  I’m guilty to a great extent.  If we don’t educate ourselves about other cultures, how can we grow?  One of the biggest punches that this documentary gave was by a girl in Africa.  She was talking on and on about how they loved Americans and American culture; but for all they know about American culture, they would love if we knew things about their culture. 

Guilty.

So guilty.

            Another huge topic was America seeing itself as the world police.  Some countries want us to leave, others wish we would come help.  What are we to do?

            This documentary relates back to a topic that we’ve touched on in every one of my business classes lately: the fall of another great empire. 

America. 

It’s what we’re on track to do. 

     We need to open our eyes.  We’re trying to help the world, but we’re not helping ourselves.  We have a president who is so hell bent on pleasing everyone that we’re crumbling here.  We have to wake up and realize that our own citizens aren’t being educated, fed, clothed.  We’re going to be overtaken soon if we don’t make a change.  And when that happens, what good are we to the rest of the world? What good are we if we’ve been sucked into an economic and social black hole? 

If I get asked this question one. more. time.  I might go insane.

“Wait..you’re a marketing major..and a history minor? Um, how do business and history relate?  That’s weird.”

 HELLO!! WAKE UP?!

     If that were not the common thought process in this country, we might not be in the situation we’re in right now. 

History is bound to repeat itself. 

Guaranteed, tried and true.  Count on it. 

If you don’t know the past, you won’t have a future. 

     There is a potential presidential candidate who all my friends know how I feel about.  He’s sharp, he’s not afraid to tell the truth and what he thinks, and he is admired by a lot of important people on both sides of the aisle.  Most importantly, he is a business man.  This is what we need right now.  We don’t need a politician.  We need someone who knows how to run a budget.  Someone who knows international relations.  Someone who will do more than spend 3 years on the campaign trail while he should be running the country.  You probably know what person I am talking about, but if not, I’ll leave you in suspense.

     This documentary really woke me up, and I really believe that it is something we need to hear.  We are a great country, and I know we’re capable of staying that way.  We’re not just citizens of the United States, however, we are citizens of the world.  

tennis anyone?

Courtesy of The Pink and Green Owl.

In the midst of the Masters (love), I can't help but look toward my second favorite sporting event of the year next to the Iron Bowl..Wimbledon. A few more months!

lucky strike.

I cannot get enough of April's issue of the online magazine Matchbook.  It's like Kate Spade meets Elle and Southern Living. My favorites this month are the encyclopedia of pearls and the Chanel No. 5 article. Tres chic.

"After all, Matchbook girl, the world is your oyster--you'll need the perfect pearls."

-Matchbook Magazine, April 2011 

Of Rogues and Gentlemen

It has finally happened-- the beloved Golden Fleece has gone the way of so many others and has finally entered the blogosphere.  Of Rogues and Gentleman is Brooks Brothers' recently-launched lifestyle blog, and in its recent lifespan it has already stolen my attention and become a major distraction from the looming deadlines hanging over my head.  The blog features style tips, Q&A, and many other great stories.

Just what I needed..another obsession..

April showers bring May flowers.

Photo courtesy of Tumblr.

It's the first day of April, and it has been ushered in by a full week of rain here in Birmingham (aka "the Seattle of the South").  We have to have the rain to make those greens green and those flowers flower, so what better way to start off the month than shopping for the cutest umbrellas to keep you dry during the drizzliest month of the year?

Lilly Pulitzer Umbrella.  $28.50

Tory Burch 3T Umbrella.  $58.

Burberry Haymarket Check Colour Trim Walker.  $250.

Kate Spade Umbrella. $75.

Water not included.