Living Southern
The Mommies, Esq. are Southern through and through. Kim grew up in Louisiana and Julie’s home is Alabama. We now live in Tennessee and Georgia and we love to tell people that no, we don’t wear shoes in the South because we’d rather go barefoot and save the soles of our Pappagallos! Here’s where we dish about everything we love about the South from our best gumbo recipes to our favorite excursions and everything in between. So grab a glass of sweet tea and sit for a spell!
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Looking for a great family beach trip? Look no further than Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe, FL!
Says Julie ~
My family just returned from one of the most fabulous beach vacations we’ve ever had! We have lived on the Gulf Coast our entire lives and cannot believe that we have just now discovered the “forgotten coast” of Florida. We stayed in Mexico Beach, which is a small beach community about 45 minutes from Panama City. There are no high rises, and the atmosphere is casual, family friendly, and laid back. The beaches are beautiful! We spent the first day and a half just enjoying the gorgeous white (for now) sand and crystal clear water.
The next day we went kayaking out of Cape San Blas at Happy Ours (I love the name!). I was a little worried about taking a three year old but we were able to take the whole family and Captain Dan not only took good care of us, but turned it into a tremendous learning experience for the kids. We all had a blast!
The kids got to hold horseshoe crabs….
Dig up shark teeth….
Snorkel and explore….
And when we returned they even got to feed Captain Dan’s horse a peppermint!
Thanks, Capt. Dan (I couldn’t stop calling him Lt. Dan in the Forrest Gump voice but I’m a little weird…things like that crack me up and I can’t stop….I digress). We’ll come back soon!
As if we could come close to topping the kayak trip…we attempted by renting a boat a couple of days later and cruising out of St. Joe Marina off to what seemed like our very own private islands.
We brought home all kinds of treasures from the sea.
Here are just a few more shots from this wonderful trip.
Sunrise over Mexico Beach
Sunset over Mexico Beach
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Kim’s Favorite Mags…..quintessentially southern:
Look, I’ll let you in on a little secret….
Southern women love magazines. We subscribe to them, we buy them in bulk at the grocery store and we swap them with our friends, some women steal them from doctor’s offices and you know who you are. These are the top pics:
Southern Living: Of course. This has been the top magazine in the South for a million years. It’s the “Bible” of Southern Living..hence, the name. Covers everything from food to football to fabulous interiors. A friend of mine who has lived way too long up North asked me why so many southern magazines have food on the covers. I told her it was because we don’t believe in starving people down here. I guess that answered her question. I don’t care.
The next “Biggie” in magazines south of the Mason-Dixon line is my new favorite….GARDEN AND GUN.
Three words to describe G & G: Fab. U. Lous. It’s eye candy. It’s informative. It’s gorgeous. Love. It.
A new magazine to try….is the Oxford American Literary Magazine. Julie and I fancy ourselves as legitimate writers, until someone tells us otherwise. I like to read this, plain and simple. This magazine is about southern writers, featuring southern prose. It’s great. If you like Welty, Faulkner, Conroy, you’d like Oxford. Based out of Oxford, Mississippi (Hotty Toddy, Ya’ll), it is pretty heady stuff. Try it, you might like it.
Honorable Mention goes to …..(drum roll, please)….
Mary Jane’s Farm
MJF isn’t even a southern magazine. It’s based out of Idaho…I think. It doesn’t matter. It’s got a southern “farmgirl” feel. It features organic food recipes, crafts, decorating, etc. It’s kinda crunchy, like Whole Foods Farmhouse Style. I really like this one. It’s total eye candy, too…just on recyclable paper.
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Julie’s new favorite overnight getaway: St. Simon’s Island, GA
My husband surprised me on Mother’s Day weekend by planning a little escape two hours away to St. Simon’s. On the way out of town we stopped by to pick up my present ~ a new bicycle! I haven’t ridden a bike since I was about 12 years old and, luckily, it’s true…you never forget how to ride.
We spent the afternoon exploring the island on the many bike trails winding under grand moss covered oaks. Doesn’t get much more Southern than this, y’all.
We found the famous St. Simon’s lighthouse. It’s sorta hard to miss.
After a long afternoon exploring, we found a place to rest our tired legs and enjoy a tasty, cold beverage.
We rode out to the beach. My first thought…. Rocks? Say what? Then I remembered I wasn’t on the Gulf Coast anymore. Different. But in a good way.
On the ride back I passed what I thought was a lovely little house and just had to take a picture.
Got around to the front and saw there was a sign in the yard. A sign that told a story. Some story, I’d say….
Later I saw this sign and decided that I need one for my own yard. Never hurts to make it crystal clear that tramps are not welcome…
Only in the South, y’all. Only in the South.
