Southern Charm or Redneck?

*Disclaimer- I do not mean to offend anyone who had or wishes to have cowboy boots be a part of their wedding.

    I attended a wedding yesterday, and yes it was a wedding on a Sunday. I think perhaps the first wedding I've been too on a Sunday. I didn't know either the bride or the groom I went as a date and basically my entire circle of friends was there. And being very fond of weddings I never turn down an invite.
    Now, I knew before hand that the bridal party would be wearing boots, something that I've grown to accept as being part of several southern weddings. But that's besides the point. While getting dressed I had several factors to think about. It was an outdoor wedding, at 4 O'clock, it had a "rustic" theme, there was going to be a keg, and of course the whole boot thing. I chose a blue dress and paired it with some new red heels. Dressing down never really was my thing.
     Upon arriving I realized that cowboy boots weren't just being worn by the bridal party but by almost every girl in attendance. Also, there were people there in jeans... in jeans! I couldn't believe it.
     By this point I'm trying to take in all of my surrounding. Decorations, seating, atmosphere everything, but I'm not here to harp on this girls wedding. I'm here to talk about the fine line between southern charm and straight up redneck.
     I know you cannot exactly control what your guests wear, but if the entire bridal party is already wearing boots then having guests in jeans really pushes your affair into the redneck side. Sitting on hay bells instead of actual seating can be considered rustic, but when you have a keg it takes a turn to the redneck.
     All of these things are not singularly bad it's when they are combined that it becomes bad. Now, just because we are from the south does not mean we can't have class. And I think that because the world already thinks of us as rednecks we have a harder time pulling the "rustic" southern wedding off without coming across as rednecks.
     If your true personality is the burlap, boot, mason jar type then so be it. But personally I think it's being over done. We're southern, maybe a bit country we know. Why must we flaunt it so?

We all need a little twang

   The fact that I am finding time in the midst of my pile of school work to write this tells me two things.

1. I could be a professional procrastinator .
2. The display of "southern" acting I just witness on NBC has me outraged. 

    While I am slowing falling in love the new show Chicago Fire tonight they introduced a very minor character who was supposed to be from Alabama. Now normally I like a little southern spice in my TV shows it adds a small touch of home that makes it easy to relate to. But this girl... this girl took the twang from Truvvy's Beauty Shop and times it by a million. I was appalled. 
    Is it possible to sue someone for libel, for defamation of the south's character? Everyone that watches Chicago Fire will now assume we sound like breathy twangy idiots. Which we don't and will therefore be a let down to anyone who has never actually met a girl from the south. 
    Do actors not actually come to the south to study their subjects? Do they not understand the assuming we sound like idiots makes and ass out of them and us? On top of that who do I contact in regards to this out right insult to my culture?
    These people are apparently not from here, nor have they ever been anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon, and I my request is simple. Do your stinking homework and learn what we actually sound like! You're getting paid to do something wrong, I don't get an A on a test for guessing all of the wrong answers. 
     My accent is part of my charm, it is something I have had to come to terms with. As I grow up it grows on me and I realize I wouldn't ever change it. It is part of the charm of the south and will be as long as the south exists. 
   

Fall aka football season

    Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. I don't buy that for a minute. I've been studying for two days straight and don't think I actually retain any of the information. On top of that I think i'm getting the flu, which is a self diagnosis of course but oh well. 
    This probably isn't going to make a lot of sense to everyone, but it needs to be said. I do not like football. There I said it, and if I lived anywhere else in the world beside the south it probably wouldn't matter as much. Down here in the south people live and breathe college football. 
    Football season is my least favorite time of the year. A time when people should care about pumpkins and the fair ,and don't get me wrong I love to tailgate but all conversation revolves around football. Who's going to be #1? Who do you go for? Who has the best offense/defense?
    These questions circulate any gathering. Everyone trying to judge where the other one stands. For me being raised an Auburn fan and dating a few Alabama fans I've grown to know the rules or how the game is played. Don't get me wrong for people to have something to bond over is a plus. Football brings together people that normally would not meet. My problem with it is that the South shuts down on Saturdays. Conversations will go on for hours debating one player. It's as if life has nothing else going on but football.
     The only other problem and bless them it's not their fault, but just because I am from the fine state of Alabama does mean that I pull for the crimson tide. They may have the same name, but it's not the only school our state has. They may be dominate on the field, but it doesn't make them accumulate all the fans in the state. 
     I have learned to survive football season with thriving off my love of a challenge. As much as I hate football I will never turn down a reason to buy an outfit. A weekend spent in Auburn go ahead pull out the blue dress and orange jacket. Going to Tuscaloosa, let me grab a white dress and hounds-tooth scarf. The challenge of pulling off being an actual fan is easier than it sounds. I can look the part no problem it's sitting through the game I have to struggle through. My trick? Clap when everyone else does. Cheer when everyone else does. Never make the first sound when it comes to heckling. And while everyone is discussing plays, and flags the only thing I can think about is what material their jerseys are made out of. 
    

You can't go home again

    Well folks, I just returned from a Luke Bryan show. 

1. He is more hot in person than on TV.
2. He is 36, married with a kid. 
3. He is possibly the best dancer in the country music world.

In the mix of shaking it for me and the rest of the crowd he managed to put on a damn good show. He asked the audience to do something during his show that got me thinking. "If you're proud to be from Alabama say hell yeah." Of course the entire crowd yelled including me, but were we all truly proud to be from Alabama? I have no way of knowing.

    There are days that I think being an Alabamian has held me back. There are days that I think being from Alabama has taught me some true American values that not everyone gets to learn. There are some days that my Southern values clash so hard with my own values that my head hurts. 

    Luke Bryan is from Georgia ,and I'm sure that with his fame he wouldn't change that. I would like to know how hard his journey to fame was and how it would have been different from a bigger state, a bigger town, a non-southern origin. Would it have been easier to find a dream job if my resume had never said Muscle Shoals High School on it?

    After thinking for awhile on whether I was proud or not to be from Alabama I finally decided that yes I was proud. This is where I grew up, this is where I learned to ride a bike, this is where I learned the difference between the SEC and everyone else. I learned to drive a stick in the field behind my house. I had my first love and my first heat break. I've been going to one of the last drive-in movies since I was 15. I can't imagine being from anywhere else, and no matter how much shit I talk about it I would never change it. 

   I can only hope that what I have learned from it will push me forward rather than bring me down. My values will prove a plus rather than a burden. This is my home, and I'm proud to be from Alabama. 

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

     Cyndi thought she knew what she was talking about, and hey maybe she still does. But I don't think it's true. As a girl I believe that fun is a priority, but it's not all I want to have. How about a dog, new shoes, a boyfriend to cut my grass? Did she ever think of those things? 
    Probably all beside the point anyway. You can't have it all. If I only had fun I would never be able to afford a dog or new shoes. Let alone catch a man. So right there, that is where we as girls start making sacrifices. Do I want that new pair of boots or do I want to go have "fun" Saturday night? If I buy those boots I won't be able to afford that dog at the pound which sucks the "fun" from that adventure. So which one do you choose?
     I think to be able to choose we'd have to define "fun." An abstract opinion word that will never be agreed upon. So readers, what is fun? 
     Here in the dixie land I wonder I am obligated to choose the "fun" that leads to a husband, 2 kids and a dog? This place that tells me I need a man to validate my existence. A place where I receive scowls when I say "I don't want to have children."  Does any of that sound "fun" to you? I am sure for some people it does, and there is nothing wrong with that. But why must my birthplace set such standards that I never wish to achieve?
    I guess the best way to say it is Cyndi was half right, girls just want to have different kinds of fun. I don't really have a conclusion this is more just food for thought. What does it truly mean that girls just want to have fun. Can girls of the south pave their own way in the world or must we seek out our true love and procreate?

For starters

     I was raised on manners and sweet tea, as I'm sure the entire population of the south was. I have fought stereotypes of my raising my whole life, and I am sure that I have not heard the last of it. In a world full of reality TV depicting "southerners" that have become ambassadors for my home. How have we fallen from the likes Scarlet O'Hara and ended up with Honey Boo Boo? Problems like this are what we face from here on. As southerners we have become a dying species. 

   This blog is about being stuck between the place I call home and the world that waits beyond the Mason Dixon. The balance of high fashion and Alabama fashion. How to make my own place in this world and not forget where I came from or how I was raised. 

    I only hope this provides strength, humor, and hope to those who need it and let's someone know they are not alone. 

-with love-