Knot At Your Wedding Party

Today, the ever-so-fabulous Mary Straton from Olive You, Darling is here to talk about an awesome party that she recently hosted at her house for some friends of ours! It was a complete blast, as you’re about to see!

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Make new friends
But keep the old
One is silver and
The other’s gold
(But I bet they all like to talk about fancy dresses)

One of the things I love about being in my thirties is having multiple circles of good friends – childhood and high school friends, college friends, couple friends, friends with kids the same age as my little one…

I’m incredibly fortunate to be a part of a great life group at our church. I know it shouldn’t matter, and it’s what’s on the inside that counts, yada yada yada, but these women are just really CUTE. And fun. And stylish. I mean when the Bible says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another,” who’s to say one friend can’t sharpen another’s style and inspire cuteness? Can I get an “amen?!”

My husband dug our wedding album out the other night, and he must have sensed the internal cartwheel I was doing (I love to reminisce) when I asked if he wanted to look at it together. He shot me down with a simple “no” and flew threw the pages with the speed I have when I’m trying to pretend to care about the football media guide.

That got me thinking – surely some of my friends would like to wax nostalgic about their weddings, too? But I went to the weddings of my childhood friends and college friends? Eureka! I hadn’t attended any of the weddings of the ladies in my life group. Oh, it’s ON now.

I asked the group if they were interested, but truthfully, in my head I was pretty much demanding that we have this party and if I got shot down, I just wouldn’t invite them. Humph. And so the “Knot at Your Wedding” party was born!

Let me first say that I LOVE a theme. In fact, it’s kind of hard for me to not establish one when I’m having friends over. Fajitas on the menu? It’s Cinco de Smith night! “What will our honey bee?” gender reveal? Local bees are working overtime for those recipes. Your birthday boy like Harry Potter? Get outta my way.

I got to work on Smith Wedding: Part Deux (well not really). I embraced the tacky and decorated my house with paper wedding bells, white silk “rose petals” from the dollar store and an armful of white daisies from Walmart. And you gotta have a getaway car! Enter cozy coupe. That redneck wedding reception we’ve all been to just threw up all over my house.

Heaven forbid I miss a chance to use my china and silver, though!

I baked a “wedding” cake, complete with almond-flavored frosting and served little white sweets – Jordan almonds (a Greek tradition!), white chocolate pretzels, white M&Ms, and powdered donut “diamond rings.” And what’s a reception without champagne (and Baptist punch for the buns in the oven)?

My friends arrived heavily laden with huge albums and wearing their veils, shoes and jewelry from their weddings. In between bites of cake and sips of champagne, we oohed and aahed and giggled and blushed at the parts of our wedding we still love and now love to hate. And because we were already thinking it, we voted and awarded prizes for things like “hottest groomsmen” and “best shoes.”

We could have talked and gossiped for hours, but since we’re all grownups now, we had to end the party at a decent hour, but not before everyone left with a Ring Pop. After all, just because I wasn’t there, it doesn’t mean he didn’t put a ring on it!

I hope this inspires you to share an important day with some of your new friends. Get together, serve some snacks, pop some corks and make it happen!

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Mary Straton, thanks again for hosting! It was seriously a blast! And I still can’t get over the fact that I didn’t know who MS’s brother-in-law was until flipping through her wedding album… I’ve known both of them for years and never put 2 and 2 together! Oh, the things you can learn at a Knot At Your Wedding Party…. 🙂

Have a fantastic weekend! Thanks for dropping by! XO!

Guest Post: Beauty Must-Haves From A GORGEOUS Friend Of Mine

As I was sort of planning out what I wanted to blog about for the next little while a week or two ago, I recognized the need for a little dose of Mary Straton from Olive You Darling in my blog life! She’s such a fun guest to have, and she really knows her stuff. Especially when it comes to looking good. One thing about MS is that her makeup is always perfection. She looks flawless every time I see her (even when she’s not even wearing makeup!) so when I asked if she could guest for me, I knew that she’d be a great one to ask about beauty must-haves (especially since I’ve been looking for some better-quality go-to’s lately!)

To prove that she’s a credible source when speaking on topics like beauty, here’s proof: What a babe!

Ok, enough babbling from me. Turning it over to MS now!

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Hello again, HIVE readers! I’m thrilled to bee back! (Like what I did there?)

The Queen Bee so kindly asked me to share with you some of my makeup must-haves. I must admit, there was a time in my life when my makeup came only from Walmart. What more did a girl need beside CoverGirl dusty rose blush and Lip Smackers with a little tint? I will even confess to wearing clear mascara. Read on if you forgive me.

It wasn’t until I was in my mid-twenties and living on my own when my friend, Haley, introduced me to Sephora. I was but a young, impressionable lass, and Haley was older, glamorous and went to college at Ole Miss. I have a vivid memory of sitting on the floor of her impeccably-decorated apartment while she gave me my first smoky eye. Of course, when I looked at the finished product in the mirror, I felt I looked like Cleopatra, but nevertheless I was hooked.

Fast forward about ten years, and I’ve been around the block a few times. A cosmetic lady-of-the-evening, if you will. I’ve had makeovers at every counter at the mall and even a few at Sephora, but nothing takes the place of good ole trial and error. It costs money, yes, but I’ve done some leg-work for you to save you some time and moolah.

Let’s start at the beginning. A very good place to start.

1. Dr. Jart+ Black Label Beauty Balm. I was not blessed with flawless skin a la Natalie Portman or Michelle Williams. It’s oily, uneven, and I have huge pores. So, naturally, I would need something so serious as to call itself “Black Label.” This stuff is great. I started using it when I was pregnant, and I first attributed it to having the glow. I’ve been using it since, and I still really like it. I can’t attest to the age defense or dark spot correcting, but it covers great. My skin tone is basically tennis-ball yellow, so if this works for me, it will work for you.

2. Laura Geller Welcome Matte. Oily skin, big pores, etc. See above. It’s basically a primer that controls oil. And if it can control the geysers that are my pores, it can control anything. And a tiny bit sets your makeup to stay all day with little to no shine. Yes, please!

3. NARS blush. I told you, dusty rose Cover Girl just doesn’t cut it. There are certainly drugstore brand items I ain’t skeered to use (you’ll see some later), but this is not one of them. NARS blushes are highly pigmented (a little goes a long way) and come in flattering colors. We’ve all used or at least heard of The One with the Naughty Name, but choose the brightest one you can find and just a dab will do ya. The goal is to look flushed, not blushed.

4. NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base. Did I mention I have oily skin? That includes my eyelids. This product should come with a warning: don’t use it if you don’t want every molecule of eye makeup to stay in its exact original location; i.e., don’t be thinking you’ll just add more eyeliner and then smudge it to soften the line. No, you won’t.

5. CoverGirl Lash Blast Fusion Mascara. I like thick, black, Kim Kardashian lashes. Every day. I tried desperately to like the fancy brands that everyone else swears by, but I keep coming back to this one. The brush is good, the formula is good, and it’s buildable. That’s code for multiple coats for you weaklings.

6. Sephora Brow Comb #21. The only one I use for my Kim K wannabe lashes. Metal teeth. Self-explanatory.

7. Diorshow Maximizer Lash Plumping Serum. I don’t need to elaborate on lashes again, but this is an incredible base if you want to beef yours up. I don’t use it every day because it’s not cheap, but for special occasions, I put it on before I do anything else (so it can dry), and it gives your mascara something to hang onto. I also like that it kind of opens your eyes, too.

8. CoverGirl Outlast Lipstain. Y’all. It’s a magic marker for your lips. It could NOT be easier to use, and the neutrals are perfect to wear everyday if you like a dark eye (who, me?) and under lip gloss for a good color base. It’s a tad drying, but I’ll take it for nine bucks.

Thanks again for having me, Laurel! I hope I helped you ladies out there locate something that will help you feel especially pretty today. And if you have a cannot-function-without item, please let me know! I love to add to my makeup drawer!

Happy weekend!

In My Bag

Happy Friday, one and all!

So do you remember Mary Straton giving us the skinny on what’s in her bag earlier this week? I seem to recall something about goldfish, Harry Potter, and pepto, among other things! 🙂

Well, today, the ball is in my court to share what’s in my bag!

Please head over to Olive You, Darling and see what it is I carry around with me on a daily basis! I hope you’re not too underwhelmed… 🙂 See what you think!

Oh, and have a fab weekend! Thanks a buzz-illion for stopping by! XO!

What’s In Mary Straton’s Bag?

Mary Straton from Olive You, Darling is guesting for me today! YAY!

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So excited to share a post idea with the darling Laurel of The Lovely Bee! Little does she know, but I have big plans for us to merge our blogs and become a powerhouse lifestyle duo. You people know you need us, right? Kidding…

Call it what you will – “purse,” “handbag,” or even “pocketbook” as my dad says – women have to carry their stuff around. And some men, too, I’ve noticed.

So, for the remainder of this post, let’s call it a “bag.” Stacy and Clinton say that, and I’d trust them with my life.

Let’s set the scene, shall we? We’ve all moved past being sixteen and carrying our keys (and now phones) around so that the rest of the world knows we are of driving age. I haven’t always loved a bag. Believe it or not, my mom described a younger version of me as “sporty natural.” I’m not sure what that means, but somehow I don’t see fancy bags fitting in with that label. But now that I’m a grown-up and mom to a toddler, a bag of appropriate size, shape and depth is of utmost importance. Why? Because you gotta have yo stuff.

So what’s in my bag?

First and foremost: hand sanitizer. Purell Advanced. The only kind I buy. All sanitizers are not created equal. You never know when you might have to go to a petting zoo or Chuck E Cheese.

CatHead vodka I Heart MS huggie. What do you call it? Koozie? Vernacular is fascinating to me.

Subscription renewal to one of my favorite mags, Delta Magazine. I don’t live there anymore, but sometimes I like to feel like I do.

“What’s that,” you say? “A Harry Potter magnet?” Yes, in all its glory. I got it for free after ordering a Harry Potter t-shirt to wear to the midnight showing of the final three movies. Yeah, I did.

iPhone charger. No explanation needed.

Pepto Bismol. No explanation needed.

Bag-o-lip supplies, containing no fewer than 14 lip cosmetics, ranging from fancy-pants brands to trusty drugstore faves.

Wadded up parking ticket. Take that, city government. (Ok, ok, I’ll pay it.)

Wallet (or “billfold” as my dad says. He’s full of old-school terminology). A microcosm of my bag, if you will, containing all the normal wallet stuff, plus a magazine tear-out of a redheaded Drew Barrymore in case I ever want to go down that road.

A few graham cracker goldfish. You know, just swimming around.

An apple. You know, just sitting there being boring and not M&Ms.

This was fun! And super boring to you readers, I would imagine! But what’s blogging without a little dose of hard reality now and then?

Thanks, Laurel for featuring me and my nerdy bag!

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Thanks MS!! Always love having ya here! I, for one, was very entertained by the findings in your bag… 😉 I know I’m not alone!

Thank y’all for stopping by! It means the world!

Chilly Today, Hot Tamale

Happy Friday to all!!

I’ve been playing catch up since New Years, so I’ve had a hard time getting caught up on blog posts! To help me out, my awesome friend Mary Straton from Olive You Darling is guest posting for me today! I think y’all will enjoy this… 🙂

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Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got ’em for sale
She got two for a nickel, got four for a dime
Would sell you more, but they ain’t none of mine
-“They’re Red Hot” by Robert Johnson

By way of my job, I’ve had the opportunity to travel all over the world. It’s the best education money can buy, and there’s truly no better way to feel like you’ve really learned something about an area than to eat your way through it. I can tell you where to get legit teppanyaki and ramen in Tokyo, the best fish-and-chips in England (bonus points if you dash them with malt vinegar), and which hotels in Germany have Nutella on their breakfast buffets.

Still, one of my most favorite places to travel is the Mississippi Delta. In his memoir Where I Was Born and Raised, Greenville, Mississippi native David Cohn wrote, “The Delta begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and ends on Catfish Row in Vicksburg.” But the Delta is so much more than a directional geography or an alluvial plain (it’s not actually a delta at all!). If William Faulkner was right about Mississippi being a microcosm of the world, the Delta is the same for Mississippi. I used to live here, and I can honestly say there’s nowhere else like it. Not only the most Southern place on Earth, it is truly a melting pot of cultures, races, arts and food.

Probably best known for catfish – the Catfish Capital of the World is in Belzoni after all, something even more indigenous to the area is hot tamales. Sure, you can find their Mexican cousins at various Tex-Mex places all over the country, but just like Blues music, you can still get the best, real deal, undiluted versions in carts, restaurants and holes-in-the-wall in Mississippi’s flatlands. Recipes for tamales vary as much as the people that make them, but invariably, they consist of spicy meat surrounded by masa dough, rolled up and are boiled until soft and delicious.

If you know of tamales in Mississippi, chances are you think first of the James Beard Award-winning Doe’s Eat Place in Greenville. I’ve never been known to turn down a Doe’s hot tamale, but if I’ve got my druthers, I want my tamales from the White Front Café in Rosedale, just outside of Cleveland. Channeling Henry Ford’s famous quote about his Model T (which also happens to be the name of a Delta Blues musician, “T-Model” Ford), a visitor to the White Front once said, “you can get anything here you want, as long as it’s a tamale.” And let me say, that is just fine with me.

As with many hot tamale havens, the White Front ain’t nothin’ fancy. You might think the old wood floors will collapse at any moment, and the inexpensive vinyl tablecloths cover tables are dressed with little more than a few napkins and some Crystal hot sauce (don’t you dare put Tabasco on a “hot”). You don’t get more authentic than the tamales here. If Guy Fieri is really interested in diners, drive-ins and dives, he would have heard of this place long ago. The tamales are served up hot as hades, wrapped up in corn husks in ties of three. Just once, embrace the grease. Take a whiff. You’re about to consume a part of history. Scoop a little, put it on a saltine with a dash of Crystal, and consider yourself well-traveled.

Thanks to Laurel for asking my humble opinion on my favorite well-kept secret in Mississippi. For more information on hot tamales, please check out the Southern Foodways Alliance’s Hot Tamale Trail site.

My Favorite Room :: Eleanor’s Nursery

Last week was the beginning of a new column here on { THE HIVE } called My Favorite Room! I started it off with my own favorite room, and now my lovely blogger friend (and real life friend, too!) Mary Straton from Olive You, Darling is chiming in on her favorite room! It’s absolutely adorable, so let’s get started, shall we?!

1. What is your favorite room in your house?

First of all, I’m so flattered Laurel asked me to guest post on The Lovely Bee! It’s clear she has yet to figure out that she is much cooler than me. (Don’t tell her.) Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk my favorite room. My daughter Eleanor’s nursery is the only complete dwelling in the house, so by default, that’s the only room I was willing to share. I’m a chronic procrastinator, but when you have a ticking time bomb in your belly, it kind of makes you stay on task. I must also ask that you forgive the poor quality of some of these pictures as I am no photog.

2. What about this room makes you love it so much?

I don’t know about y’all, but I love to peruse design blogs. Anytime I’m bored at work (read: more often than I care to admit), I pass time by trolling through my favorites, one of which is dedicated to nurseries and kid rooms. So as soon as we found out we were having a girl, I created a secret Pinterest board (follow me here!) with this room as the inspiration. My husband Kell was adamant that her room not be pink, and I wanted something not-too-sweet that could grow with her with a few changes here and there.

3. If you had to pick your favorite element in the room, what would it be?

Choosing a favorite is tough! This room was a total labor of love, literally. I did so many DIYs in this room because we were on a budget, but it really made it special and unique. And it was really fun to think I was doing it all for a little nugget I didn’t even know! But I think my favorite parts are the copycat mobile above her crib, the door hanger I made for the hospital and the dresser/changing table. I got it at our local flea market for a steal, and I didn’t have to do a thing to it. That’s what mama’s talking about. Oh, and the valance for the curtain! It made me get out my sewing machine again.

4. What’s your paint color?

Again, taking inspiration from the Lay Baby Lay nursery, I tried to best match the color and ended up going with Benjamin Moore “Ocean Spray.” I just now noticed that it sounds like a cranberry juice brand. Huh.

5. At what time of day do you most enjoy being in this room?

Right now, I love being in this room whenever Eleanor is in it playing. After I pick her up from school in the afternoon, Kell and I sit in the room with her and watch her play and crawl and put various items in her mouth. But months ago, when she was much smaller, I loved sitting in the dark and rocking her to sleep. I hope she grows up loving this room as much as I do.

6. If you had to describe this room in three words, what would they be?

Calming, eclectic, girly

7. Anything else you want us to know about your favorite room?

I think it’s so important to remember that if you have your sights set on high-dollar design, it’s totally possible to create the same look on a budget if you’re willing to spend some time at the craft table or on the internet looking for good deals. Pinterest is full of great tutorials, so take inspiration from things and places you love and make them your own! If you’d like to know more about Eleanor’s nursery, check out my post on that very subject for every little detail plus DIY links!

A big thank you to the lovely Laurel for asking me to post! I can’t wait to see more of the favorite rooms from all over!

Color Crush Guest Post

So when you get a minute today and are looking for something fun to do…. Why not head on over to my friend Mary Straton’s blog Olive You, Darling and check out the guest post I got to write for her! It’s all about my favorite hue. The in’s and out’s. The nitty gritty on the spectacular color of yellow!

Hope you enjoy it! I really enjoyed writing it! (But who wouldn’t love a good excuse to compile a story about their favorite color??)