channeling southern charm

My newest Southern Living came in the mail today. It is such a treat! I think I've felt more like a Southerner moving away from the South than I did in it. Seeing different things makes me miss what I had. Though I am very, very confident about living in Minnesota (and right about now is when I surely am glad to be in the 70/80s and not the 90s) I so still love my Southern heritage.

Here are a few things I loved in this month's SL:

On the second to last page, an open letter to Hollywood is written to please resist the urge to stereotype Southerners so much. Here's a link to it online. It's just that I live in a place where people are surprised I don't show up in an antebellum dress (you know like getting ready for Old South). They think I have a Southern drawl, but also think that anyone from the South takes 5 times as long to say anything.

And I also appreciated the section "25 Tips for Celebrating the Soul of the South". I want to keep parts of Southern tradition in our house. Some things seem familiar, but also seem so specific to the South and I see how a non-Southerner would think we're crazy. One of their tips is recognizing small town beauty queens, which we do have here but they're no where near as celebrated as in the South. Or how to write a charming thank-you note. And everything else from canning okra to making apple pie to "counting your blessings" to floating down a river. It is a romanticized idea of the South, but it's fun for me to read about.

And it's funny how Minnesotan girls think monograms are weird. They also think a Southern woman has everything in her home monogrammed. In the magazine they talk about how to decorate stylishly and talk about monograms- a debate up here in our ministry mix of Southerner and Midwesterners.