Deep South Designs

Deep South Designs is up and running for your shopping pleasure! Take a look around and see if anything catches your eye! I have quite a few long necklaces that would look great this fall over a turtleneck or sweater! Enjoy and spread the word!

Self-Confidence

Have you ever had an AH HA moment before? I had one today when I was driving to class listening to my favorite radio station, HIS radio (contemporary Christian praise music). A song that I really like came on called "Beautiful You" by Jonny Diaz. I have heard this song a number of times, but today it hit me like a ton of bricks. AH HA! That's what my mom meant when I would complain in my teens about my body, hair, clothes, etc. Here are the lyrics.

Little girl fourteen flipping through a magazine

Says she wants to look that way

But her hair isn’t straight her body isn’t fake

And she’s always felt overweight

Well little girl fourteen I wish that you could see

That beauty is within your heart

And you were made with such care your skin your body and your hair

Are perfect just the way they are

There could never be a more beautiful you

Don’t buy the lies disguises and hoops they make you jump through

You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do

So there could never be a more beautiful you

Little girl twenty-one the things that you’ve already done

Anything to get ahead

And you say you’ve got a man but he’s got another plan

Only wants what you will do instead

Well little girl twenty-one you never thought that this would come

You starve yourself to play the part

But I can promise you there’s a man whose love is true

And he’ll treat you like the jewel you are

So turn around you’re not too far

To back away be who you are

To change your path go another way

It’s not too late you can be saved

If you feel depressed with past regrets

The shameful nights hope to forget

Can disappear they can all be washed away

By the one who’s strong can right your wrongs

Can rid your fears dry all your tears

And change the way you look at this big world

He will take your dark distorted view

And with His light He will show you truth

And again you’ll see through the eyes of a little girl

I finally got it when I was listening to this today. I don't have low self-confidence now, but oh man...in high school...I felt so fat because I wore a 6 and all my friends wore a 4 or 2. I was healthy and fit (obviously from the last post), but I still felt ugly at times. I didn't want to do things that were "uncool" back then like reading books or listening to certain types of music. I think that is just a part of being a girl. We all go through it. We all think we are inadequate in middle and high school which is why it is so tough to be a girl during those years. We all judged each other because we were actually judging ourselves. I was driving along listening to this and actually thinking about the words and I welled up with tears. Grateful tears that I am have learned to love myself now whatever size I am. That I can be myself and who really cares if they like me because if they don't, I don't want them as a friend anyway. I wouldn't take back the years of low self-confidence because they made me who I am today and they made me realize how wonderful it feels to actually love yourself for who you are. I try to tell Thomas' sister, Kelly, this all the time. She is just like I was about it and rolls her eyes and thinks I have no idea. She always says, "Yeah, okay, sure," but one day she will get her AH HA moment and realize what I was telling her. I also tell her all the time to wait for the man that will treat her like a princess, like her daddy treats her, like she is a jewel. I tell her it is rare that you marry the first man you date or even your high school sweetheart. Thomas and I know what happened with us is extremely different than most and it was God's plan for our lives. (we have only dated each other, never anyone else. We started dating when I was 14 and he was 16) She is like my little sister (and soon she really will be :) and I can see so much of this teenage angst in her. High school really wasn't that long ago, but then sometimes it seems so distant. I have changed and matured so much since then. I can finally see what it is that my mom was trying to tell me back then.

Reminising...

When I was in high school, I was a cheerleader. Not the decorate football players lockers, make goodie bags, host pep rally type of cheerleader (although I did all of that too!). I was a competitive cheerleader. I was on both my high school Varsity team and Cheer Savannah. In the summers, I would have long practices for both teams. We would run, and run, and then when you thought you couldn't go anymore...we ran suicides. We would go to the weight room and lift. We would do unbelievable amounts of crunches, push-ups, and other exercises. We would do aerobic dances for warm-ups and then of course we worked on our routine. We would have camps where it was around the clock to learn our routines. For Varsity, we would go off for a camp to learn cheers and just have team building, but then we also had someone come in to choreograph a routine for us. We also had someone come in for about a week for Cheer Savannah. You have no idea what goes into a 2 minute and 30 second routine unless you have done it. The routines were constantly tweaked throughout the year and you had to be on your game to remember all the changes on top of cheers, band dances, and other football season requirements. When school started, I would go to my high school varsity practice right after school, then to my all-star cheerleading practice. Sometimes we even had to go on the weekends. On days when I didn't have all-star practice, I would go to my tumbling gym (I also went in the summers). This was usually 2-3 times a week and then on the weekends I would go to open-gym just to throw my tumbling passes a few times. I had personal trainers for tumbling to help me progress to the next level. I loved cheerleading! It was my sport. I was good at it and it was fun. Then Senior year came and I hurt my back doing a stunt and had to be out for a little while. I lost almost all of my skills in tumbling (I was working on my full) and it was too late to really get them back. I was discouraged and frankly burned out at that point. I finished my year and enjoyed every last minute of it, but secretly (maybe not to my mom) counting the days until I could simplify my life. I knew I had no chance of cheering in college since I hadn't gotten my full. My dream had always been to go to UGA and cheer there. It wasn't going to happen, so I was ready to call it a day. I did enjoy many parts of that year despite the fact that I got hurt. I was named one of the Top 40 Cheerleaders in GA, we won Regions with my Varsity team, went to State, my Cheer Savannah team had the cutest theme and we won Cheersport Nationals (like the superbowl of all-star cheerleading), my Cheer Savannah team and Varsity team also won a lot of other competitions. I look back at cheerleading with so many fond memories (and sometimes not fond...teenage girls always around each other YIKES). Overall, I loved cheerleading and I hope I have a daughter one day that wants to do it as well. What was your sport in high school, or did you do another activity?

SeniorsRegion Champs!

Our Cheer Savannah team did a Frost theme with music like Cold Hearted Snake and Ice Ice Baby

Cheersport Champs!

Weekend Wrap-Up

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I had a great one! Friday, my mom and I went to El Potro for Mexican food with my good friend Melissa and her mom. It was a lot of fun and so yummy. Melissa brought her son, my godson, so that we all could coo over him. Preston is just thriving! He is getting so big and cute! If y'all remember, he is the one that we thought might have Cystic Fibrosis and I asked you to pray for a couple months ago. The poor thing was a little bit under the weather with bronchitis, but he is on his way back to feeling good. After dinner, my mom and I went to Julie and Julia. It was so good and I would suggest it to any of y'all out there who like to cook or just like to watch other people cook yummy food. I wanted some of those recipes by the time to movie was over...just not the aspics (if you have seen the movie you know what I mean). Ha!

Saturday, my mom left to visit my brother Jason in Macon and his family. I had the house to myself all weekend and that was nice. I mostly read my Harry Potter book (I was on 4, but now I am 181 pages into number 5...I am a total HP nerd). I also made some jewelry for a co-worker that ordered a few things. Saturday night, Thomas and I watched t.v. and ate yummy pizza from our favorite place in town!

Sunday, I cleaned my room and bathroom top to bottom. It is sparkling clean now and I love it! I also tackled the mountain of laundry (did a little on Saturday too). Other than that I read for my classes and of course a little HP. Thomas and I also hung out, but that's a give in.

I will leave y'all with this precious picture of my little Preston! Have a great Monday!

Body Lotion Hoarding...

Hello, My name is Jennifer and I have a problem with hoarding beauty products. Is there a group for me? (Please do not tell me if there really is...I wouldn't go) I was doing my nightly face routine just a little while ago and my mind wondered off when I saw my almost entirely empty bottle of Aveeno sitting on my bathroom counter. Let me mention that it is missing the squirt top because it was so low that it wouldn't squirt anymore and I took it off last week and threw it away. Now it sits in all it's glory next to my mouthwash with no top and almost completely empty. WHY? I have no idea why I feel the need to keep this bottle of lotion and use it ALL. Instead every day and night when I use it, I have to struggle with the bottle and hold it upside down and squeeze it to make the lotion come out. I think I have a problem. Here is your visual of this little beauty. This got me to thinking about how many lotions I have in my lotion drawer (yes, I have a drawer devoted to lotion...don't judge) I took them out and counted them just for you dear readers, so that you could laugh today at me and my body lotion hoarding. If you don't want to count them for yourself, there are 20. 20!!!!! I have 20 body lotions other than this half empty bottle of Aveeno. I bought this bottle of Aveeno my first semester of college when I went to Georgia Southern University (I don't go there anymore) and lived in the dorms. I got really bad dry skin from working at a restaurant and washing my hands so much, thus the bottle of Aveeno showed up on my counter. It has been with me ever since, which would be 3 years! I have a problem people and to only intensify this problem I am going to share another secret. Those other bottles I have, yeah, some of those are almost empty too. But I kept them thinking that I would use the remains one day. I am going to march in my bathroom right now and throw away all these half empty bottles and de-clutter the lotion drawer. But please don't make me go through my make-up drawer. Or my nail polish drawer for that matter. That one would scare y'all. I might pull them out for your laughing pleasure one of these days if y'all are really good, just maybe.

A Small Problem With Etsy

Yup, I have a problem. A serious problem! I have made a number of beautiful jewelry sets. They are ready to go and look beautiful. However, I now am having a serious problem trying to photograph my items. I have tried everything. I have adjusted stuff on my camera, tried different colored backgrounds, and tried editing the pictures. I cannot get the swarovski to not turn out blurry. Every picture looks terrible. I am going to have to either A) buy a new camera (not really an option since I don't have like $500 or so for a good one...college students don't have cash like that puh-leaz) B) find a friend with a great camera that they would loan me C) put really bad pictures up on etsy and laugh when no one buys anything. If anyone has any tips on how to photograph swarovski crystal, I would really appreciate you sharing your knowledge. Here are some of the pictures I tried to take. Successful...I think not.What can I do? I am trying to read stuff on the Internet and figure out what to do. I think the problem is the fact that I have a Sony point and shoot camera. Any of y'all with nice cameras want to take a trip to Savannah? I promise there is some cute jewelry in it for ya! HELP!

ETA: I think I might have found a solution after scouring the internet for like an hour. I took some photos (some might need to be redone) Overall, they look a lot better. I am going to try to go outside and take some too (thanks for the advice, love that idea!)

Landlocked Mermaid and Update

I wanted to let all of my readers know that Landlocked Mermaid has gone private. She wanted me to let all of y'all know that you can be invited if you send her an email at pagranata@yahoo.com. She is such a great blog friend and her posts are fantastic to read.

I will be back in full force Monday with a report of the first day of school. This weekend is going to be hard to get through and on top of everything going on in our lives, Jason and his family aren't going to be able to come down. Danielle, my sister-in-law, is going to Atlanta because last night her dad was admitted to the hospital because of chest pains. He was not having a heart attack (Halleilujah), but he has something wrong with some arteries. I don't know all the details yet. There was a worry about open heart sugery for some time, but it looks like it will not be needed. Jason and his family and his father-in-law need all of your prayers. Jason was very upset he wasn't going to come to give Matt his respect, but his place is with his wife and family. He is very torn right now and is in need of prayer. I know I have been asking y'all to pray a lot over the last few weeks, but it seems like we are in a storm right now. Thanks for all of your support and kind comments recently. Every word means so much to me! I have been singing this song in my head over the last few days. This is such a great song! Please take a few minutes and listen to the words. They are so true!

Quick Post

Yesterday went really well. There was a fantastic turnout to support the Freemans. As far as the eye could see there were people with flags and fire engines and polices cars with their lights going for Matt. It was breathtaking and something I will never forget. I learned yesterday that Matt had actually married 3 weeks ago and deployed 2 weeks ago. If you would like to see about it, click here to watch our local news stations release of yesterday's event. Tomorrow night is the visitation and then Saturday morning is the funeral. They both are taking place at his and our childhood church. My brother, Jason, and his family are coming in on Friday to be there. Jason was best friends with Matt throughout high school.

I am going to get my hair done today. I am excited to get it trimmed up before school starts on Monday. This semester my books were much cheaper and I am really excited about my new classes. They are: Intermediate Microeconomics (a theory class), Economics of Health and Health care (should be very interesting with all that is going on in the news), Managerial Economics (not as excited about this one, but we will see), Intro to Sociology (needed an elective, so I took this one), and Basic Swimming Skills (haven't even taken my PE class, so I picked this one).

Today is our annual Morale Booster at work. We are having a catered lunch and we will play games and do raffles until we leave. It should be fun and it is a luau theme this year. My lunch buddies helped put it together. Last year, I won a $25 VISA card when we played BINGO. Wish me luck!

A Hero Comes Home

Please keep our troops and Matt Freeman and his family in your thoughts and prayers today. Our hero is coming home today. I don't actually live in the Savannah city limits, but actually in a small town a few miles away. In our small town, everyone knows everyone and we have all lived there most of our lives. It is the epitome of a small town. Everyone knew Matt Freeman, and today we are all going to show our support to his family. Around 3:30 or 4:00 today, the Patriot Guard will be transporting his body to the funeral home in town. Everyone who knew Matt or the Freeman family is going to wear red and stand on the side of the road leading to the funeral home to show our support. All the businesses in our town have the flags at half mast and have changed their signs to support the Freeman family. Small flags have been placed to line the main roads in town. Today is going to be an emotional day for me, and I would appreciate a few prayers as well.

A Different Type of Weekend

This weekend went a lot differently than I had planned. I did get some things done...
cleaned bedroom and bathroom - check
finished majority of laundry - check
took a little time to read Harry Potter (not as much as I would have liked) - check
went to church - check
spent some time with Thomas - check

Things that I didn't get done...
finish jewelry and get etsy store set-up
buy lunch and breakfast items for this week
repaint nails
vacuum
wash delicates and dryel the dry cleaning

Oh well, sometime the weekends just end up like that. I was in a little bit of a haze this weekend because Friday we were told that a very close family friend passed away. The family have been friends with us since I was about 4 or 5. I was best friends with their daughter Ginny until 4th grade, then we drifted apart a little but remained friends. My brother, Jason, was very close friends with their son Matt throughout high school, but they lost touch once they went off to college. Needless to say, our families have a lot of memories of all of us kids growing up together. Matt was a Marine pilot who was young, engaged, and just starting his life. He was deployed to Afghanistan about 2 weeks ago. Matt was directing an air strike from atop a building (a spot he volunteered to take) and was shot. I couldn't believe it when people starting telling me what happened. I am so sad for his family. I can't imagine what they must be going through. I think this put me in a little funk all weekend. I am going to my small group tonight and I think the fellowship will be good for me. I hope everyone had a great weekend and are making the most of this beautiful Monday (the first one without rain in quite a while here).

Giveaway Winner

Congratulations Preppy Bumpkin! You are the winner of the Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia book giveaway! Please email me with your information so that I can send it out to you. Thanks to all who participated!

It's Finally Friday!

Woo-Hoo! I listened to my favorite country station this morning and they play this funny little song on Fridays that really makes me excited. I don't have much planned this weekend. I am going to finish up my jewelry and list it online and set all of that up. The shop is going to match my blog and it is so cute! I also want to read as much as possible in my Harry Potter books. Thomas has nicknamed me the Harry Potter nerd lately because my book is stuck at my hip and I have read the first 3 books in 2 weeks and I have already read about 80 pages of the 4th book in a day. They are so good and easy to read! The 4th book was always my favorite, but after reading 3 I forgot how good it was. It might be tied. If you haven't read the books, but you have seen the movies, I suggest you take the time to read them. They are so much better than the movies. I forgot how much the movies leave out! They left out one of my favorite characters Peeves the Poltergeist. I also need to CLEAN!!! I have the messiest room right now because I have been really lazy. I have got to whip it back into shape. I don't know what I am going to do when I have my own house to clean, my one room and bathroom is hard enough!

I wanted to tell y'all about my new fall wardrobe! I ordered a bunch of new staples from Land's End. I haven't really ever bought anything from there before, but this summer I ordered some shoes and a bathing suit and I was very impressed with the quality. I really needed to get some cardigans, turtlenecks, and jeans, so that's what I got. I hope I like it all in person as much as I do on the Internet! I can't really wear turtlenecks until about October in Savannah, but I didn't want the colors I wanted to sell out. The only thing I really want to add to my wardrobe now is a cute sweater dress and a pair of nice brown ballet flats. I really like the sweater dress Lilly had last fall, and I found a cute one on Boden's website. I am going to wait on that because I can't wear them until about October or November here and maybe they will be on sale then! I can't wait for fall now!

I got these cardigans in black and white. I wanted every color, but I thought these would go with everything. I am trying to build my wardrobe now that I have pretty much reached the size I plan to be for a long time and I am trying to get quality pieces that will last. Next fall or at the end of this one when they go on sale, I might get some pretty colors.I got this turtleneck in this gold color, ivory, brown, and navy blue. They will go great with colorful bottoms or underneath shirts and dresses.I got 3 pairs of these jeans. I hope they are flattering when they come in because they were on a serious sale! They were $14.99 a pair. I got 3 different washes. They look really nice and have just the right amount of stretch. Keep your fingers crossed!

I also got a nice cotton cable sweater in an autumn orange color, but the picture won't upload. Have any of y'all gotten new fall clothes? I love the fall colors and can't wait for cool weather!

Children's Pageants

Hey girls! Okay, so I didn't get my "Will You Be My Bridesmaid?" cards up yesterday because the day just got away from me. I am going to postpone them until next Wednesday so that I can have a Wedding Wednesday post for next week. I went back to work for the full day yesterday, and it was hard because Monday and Tuesday I got to take naps all day when I started feeling bad. I got so tired at work yesterday, and when I got in bed last night I was out before my head hit the pillow. Thanks to everyone who left me sweet comments about me being sick and my mama's hand. I am feeling tons better and getting back to normal. I am glad it didn't turn into a full blown week and a half illness! My mama's hand is getting back to normal. The swelling has gone down and she is responding well to the medicine the doctor gave her. Thank the Lord!
On another topic, who watches Toddlers and Tiaras? I am a constant TLC viewer. If the tv is on at my house, there is a pretty good chance I am watching TLC. I love 18 Kids and Counting (The Duggars are so sweet!), What Not To Wear, Jon and Kate Plus 8 (used to love it, now I just can't quit watching), The Little Couple (my newest favorite), and pretty much everything else they have on that channel except Cake Boss (don't know why I dislike it, I just do). I have watched Toddlers and Tiaras since it started and I have watched all the little 1 hour children's pageant specials. I just love to watch pageants, which I think is because I used to be in pageants when I was a teen. Personally, I don't think there is anything wrong with children in pageants. I know that not everyone agrees with me on that, but it is my personal opinion. It can teach little girls poise, grace, confidence, coordination, and what little girl doesn't like to dress up like a princess. I did dance when I was little, and our mama's put big make-up and hair on us and our costumes rivaled some of those pageant outfits. It was just part of it. I wasn't scarred, nor was I a spoiled little brat that thought I was gorgeous and perfect. I felt pretty and it was fun to get dressed up. I really think it all has to do with the parents. I have been watching this season, and some of these parents truly worry me. Some of them are perfectly fine loving mothers who have the means to do this for their daughter, but then there are some that are ridiculous. There was a lady on the first episode that had twins and she obviously preferred one over the other and the one she preferred was a complete brat, while the other was sweet and nice. If you can catch this episode, WATCH IT! I had my mouth hanging open the entire time. If I had a daughter, I would be very open to letting her be involved in pageants. I certainly wouldn't show preference if I had more than one child competing. I just don't know how people pay for this stuff! There was one lady who said she had spent about $70,000 on her 4 year old daughter to do pageants, have the outfits, the tans, the make-up, the hair, etc. I just couldn't justify/come up with that kind of money! If my daughter did pageants, I think I would get really good with a sewing machine and learn to do the hair and make-up myself. What do y'all think about children in pageants? Do you prefer natural or glitz? What age do you think is too young? I am interested in what everyone else thinks about children's pageants. Leave me a comment and let's discuss!

When It Rains It Pours!

via healthline.com

Oh my, this week is already turning out different than I planned! Sunday night, I couldn't fall asleep because I had a pounding headache and I didn't end up drifting off until about 3 am. I stayed home from work Monday because when I did wake up I had a sore throat. Today, I woke to an even worse sore throat and a cough. Great, school starts in 2 weeks and I don't want my last days of summer to be used up on being sick. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better because I am rapidly running out of sick leave. So, on top of that, my mom took off a half day on Monday and decided to use her afternoon to work in our flowerbeds. Wouldn't you know that something bit her on her hand and now it is HUGE! The doctor gave her some medicine, but since we don't know what bit her (snake, spider, bee/wasp) we have to watch that hand like a hawk to make sure it doesn't spread. If it does we have to go straight to the emergency room so she can be treated. We have pretty much decided it couldn't be a snake bite since she has no symptoms other than swelling and redness. Can y'all believe all this is going on? We could use a few prayers! Tomorrows post is much more fun...Will You Be My Bridesmaid? cards!

Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia

Recently, I was approached by a sweet lady named Patricia Neely-Dorsey who has written a book of poetry about the South and Mississippi in particular. Her book is called Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia. She was so kind to ask me to feature her book on my blog, and I am thrilled to do so. I would not have been exposed to her book otherwise, and it is now a book that I will always treasure. I found many personal connections in her poems. All throughout the book, I found myself thinking, "I know someone just like that," or "Yep, that's how it is in my town." Some of my favorites in the book are "Southern Man" because it reminds my so much of Thomas, his daddy, and his granddaddy. I am so lucky to be engaged to a southern gentleman! I also love the poem entitled "The Rules" because it is just so true...in the South there is a rule for everything! Some of my other favorites are "Yardsaling", "Little Miss Perfect", "Name Calling", and "Too Cold For Comfort." It is apparent that Patricia loves the South and her southern heritage. I feel so blessed to live in the South and have heritage in the South dating way back. Patricia has wrote this book for those from the South or those who love the South to enjoy and make connections with the poetry, and also to try to rid the negative stereotype that is sometimes associated with the South. I think she does a fantastic job with this book of poetry. It is an easy and fun read! I think this book would be a great gift for a hostess gift, newlyweds, your relatives, or even yourself. It would especially be fantastic if the person is from or has roots in Mississippi. In addition, Patricia is in the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and has a couple poems that refer to her sorority. This book would also be a great gift if you know someone in that sorority. My co-worker and friend is a member, and I am going to pass this book to her next! I loved this book and I thank Patricia for letting me know about it! Y'all know I wouldn't leave y'all out of this now! I have one copy signed by Mrs. Neely-Dorsey herself for a lucky winner! There is one twist on my giveaway for this book. The winner must read the book and write a post to tell all of their readers about the book and what they thought of it! How fun! The giveaway will be open until Sunday at midnight and I will announce the winner on Monday of next week. All those who wish to enter must leave a comment on this post. One entry per person. Thanks for participating in my fun "Southern" giveaway!