JUST ANOTHER PRISSY DAY IN PARADISE!

Like many of y'all, I've been anticipating the opening of SATC 2 in the theatre--today was the big day...and I had quite a prissy day!

After a yummy lunch at one of my fav local cafes, the West End Grill...I drove thru Starbucks and got my fav Starbucks warm-weather drink--the Skinny Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino. Frappuccino in hand, I did a little shopping, then it was on to the theatre.

After purchasing my must-have buttered popcorn and Diet Coke, I entered the row where I wanted to sit, but did not turn my backside to people...'cuz that would be offensive!

Of course, I observed theatre etiquette and placed my iPhone in the "manners mode." (No talking on the phone, tweetin', textin'...nothing but silence!)

Needless to say, I ate my popcorn quietly and didn't slurp my Diet Coke...I sipped.

However, I did laugh out loud...many times!!!

LOVE all these girls!!! The fashion...oh my goodness! The pink lizzard Lady Dior pocketbook Charlotte is holding is just sooooo cute! I also j'adore the pink Dior suit she's wearing!While I do love ALL the girls (and Samantha was in rare form), my favorite girl is Charlotte. Love the 'Baker's Delight' cupcake apron she wore, which is available at Anthropologie. Mine is "in the mail"...I'm excited to add it to my ever-growing apron collection and will be doing a post soon featuring this must-have darlin' apron!

"Here's What I Wore." I wore my 'Pink Resort' capris by Lilly and a classic white blouse from Coldwater Creek.

I wore these cute white sandals with flowers on the top, by Lilly and carried my Lilly Bermuda Bag with the 'Bermuda Pink Pigs-in-a-Blanket' pattern cover. To coordinate with the daisies, I wore a gold choker necklace with the 'Lazy Daisy' pendant, by Lilly. Along with my Oyster Perpetual watch by Rolex and my rollring wedding band by Cartier, I wore a simple pair of gold button earrings. My ponytail was adorned with a pink gingham ribbon bow and my nail color was 'Mod Squad' by Essie--the perfect pink!!! My lipstick was 'Laser Pink' by Chanel and I wore my Chanel sunglasses. Of course, my fragrance of choice was 'Wink' by Lilly.

Getting ready to "Get my Carrie on"

Thank y'all for stopping by today. I'll say goodbye with this gorgeous photo of 'Big'...

Goodness Gracious, I'm the PREPPY BLOG OF THE WEEK!!!

I must say thank you to Margaret and Beth (of the famed Preppy Mafia) for awarding my blog--Etiquette With Miss Janice--the "Preppy Blog of the Week!" I am beyond excited to receive this precious award from two of the most preppy bloggers ever! I love being a member of the Preppy Mafia. Check them out...I mean how cute is their logo y'all???

~Margaret is the owner of 2 Preppy Girls, a business which is a great source of cute, preppy, and classic gifts. Her monogrammed decals are one of my fav products! Margaret is also the author of the blog--2PreppyGirls.
~Beth is the author of the Preppy Bible, Social Climbers. If y'all haven't read this book yet, you simply must...it's de rigueur reading for those who love all things preppy! Miss Janice is definitely not a Social Climber...those girls are just too high fallutin' for me; however, I do have social climbing tendencies! To order her book, visit Beth's website here or check out Beth's blog at SocialClimbers123.

Thanks again to Margaret and Beth...y'all are soooo sweet!

Are you from the SOUTH???

LOVE my new Southern-girl wall art!!! It's all about the So-uth!

Where exactly is the South???
Well, some say the South is...
Florida, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.

I say the Old South/Deep South is The Real South...
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana

I'm proud to say that I'm American by birth, Southern by the Grace of God!
This cute little photo saying just that...graces a guestroom in my home, along with photos of my mama with her mama and of my mama and daddy...Hazlehurst, Georgia--early 1950's.

~The South is a place where tea is sweet and accents are sweeter!
Even though Southerners love Co-Cola, their hearts belong to sweet tea. We drink it all the time--whether the temperature is 32 degrees or 102 degrees...it's our go-to drink that you will be offered when you come to visit.

As a Southerner, I love to hear the sound of a sweet Southern accent--not a fake one, a real Southern drawl!!! Miss Janice speaks two languages...English and Southern. I can definitely turn on the Southern drawl when I feel like it!

The Drawl...
One has to be raised in the South to speak with a Southern drawl... We speak slowly and drop the endin' consonant; i.e., fixin', darlin', et cetera. We don't enunciate our words--that would be uppity!

~In the South, Summer starts in April.
I'm not sure about this one y'all...maybe it's because we start wearing white shoes and carrying our white pocketbooks on Easter Sunday??? Hmmmmm

~Southerners like to believe that Macaroni and Cheese is a vegetable.
Macaroni and Cheese is definitely in the vegetable food group y'all! It's right there with fried green tomatoes and butterbeans! Miss Janice's Macaroni & Cheese baked in a Paula Deen casserole dish. ~Front porches are wide and words are long.
Southerners are "porch people". When we are sitting on our porches we are welcoming visitors!

My front porch here at "The Roost" was made for me...I love to sit on the porch, relax and watch the people go by, and enjoy some sweet tea or maybe a glass of merlot!

~Pecan pie is a staple.
The "Dessert of the South" is pronounced "Pee-KHAN" pie y'all! It's a welcome dish at dinner parties, covered dish suppers, funeral receptions, and just about anywhere Southerners come together to socialize! You are a special Southerner if the pecans were picked from your own orchard!!!

My favorite pecan pie recipe is from the book by Alda Ellis, Sentimental Living.
*Recipe for Ms. Ellis' Pecan Pie
3 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup maple-flavored pancake syrup
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
1 cup pecan halves
Combine eggs, sugar, salt, butter, and syrup in a medium-sized bowl and mix well. Pour mixture into pie shell and top with pecan halves. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Very Southern...very decadent.

~Y'all is the only proper noun.
Most of us 'etiquette people' like to tell y'all that you should greet people properly with..."Good Morning/Good Evening Sir/Ma'am," but the truth is...In the South, "Hey, how y'all doing" is a perfectly acceptable way to greet people whether you are at church, the grocery store, or at a football game. Sometimes it's just "Hee-eeey"...two syllables please! Perfectly acceptable.

What is not an acceptable form of greeting in the South? "Hey you guys!" Good Lord. Chalk on a chalkboard!!!

~Chicken is fried and biscuits come with gravy.
Now savvy Southerners try to enjoy this delicacy in moderation!!! But, we still love it y'all! It's our go-to food for picnics, tailgating, family reunions, Sunday suppers, and weeknight take-out meals.
~Everything is Darlin'.
Addressing someone as "Darlin'" is a high compliment in the South. Professionally, it's probably not a good idea to start calling everybody in the conference room "Darlin'" but in the South, it's still done!

Here's a recent conversation I had on Twitter with my friend Preppy101...

Me: Totally slept thru the (Kentucky) Derby...so un-Southern!

Preppy101: Oh, darlin', are you feverish?

That's the way we talk y'all! I promise. But don't you dare call me honey!!! Ooooh, I don't like that!

~Someone's heart is always being blessed.
We say "Bless your/his/her heart" all the time! It doesn't matter if you are sick, just graduated from college, got divorced, got a great job...whatever, we want to bless your heart!

I'm feeling real Southern tonight, I'm fixin' some good ol' comfort food for dinner and serving it Buffet Style.

Just the way Mama does it!!!
With some sliced tomatoes...
Salt & Pepper on the mac & cheese and tomatoes...butter on the biscuits (if husband passes on the gravy)
Miss Janice uses her knife and fork to eat fried chicken but husband doesn't:) To be on the safe side, we're using these cute little napkins tonight.

So, are YOU Southern? Love to hear from you!

Merci Beaucoup Suburban Princess!

I have a super-busy day and all morning I've been working on my social network pages and enjoying a little 'Dunkin Decaf' y'all! I want to say thank-you to my blogging friend Suburban Princess. She knows I love roosters and sent me a darling rooster-motif coffee set. Suburban Princess, a proper thank-you note is "in the mail" to you!

Yesterday and today I have been working on my Twitter roll, my Blog roll, and my Facebook Page. Honestly y'all, there is way too much information out there coming into my little brain! (Too much going out from moi, as well!) So, I have deleted my own Facebook Fan Page, I'm thinking about stopping my blogposts from feeding onto my Facebook page, I'm deleting people I'm following on Twitter who don't tweet back or just want to sell me something, I'm unfollowing bloggers who don't blog anymore, et cetera.

Now, in the process, I may have deleted YOU--Some I deleted intentionally for the reasons stated above and some by mistake. This is not personal! If you are still blogging/tweeting and if you want to remain in these social networks and communicate with me, please let me know!!! If you don't ever communicate with me, then how do I know???

I hope y'all's day is wonderful! Thank you for stopping by to visit.

WHAT'S IN MISS JANICE'S COOKIE JAR?

The man said these were the last Girl Scout Cookies, in South Florida...I believed him!!!

When I participated in the Relay for Life event a couple of weekends ago, one of the groups raising money for the Cancer Society was selling Girl Scout Cookies. I made it through February and March, passing the young girls selling their loot at Publix, Target, and Walmart before caving in at the Relay for Life! Now they are in my cute little MacKenzie-Childs cookie jar!!!The Lemon Chalet Cremes, the Trefoils Shortbread, the Samoas, and my personal fav now--the Berry Munch. $4.50 a box...Lord have mercy, when I was a Brownie, I sold the cookies for fifty cents a box. By the way y'all, Miss Janice never made it to The Girl Scouts--the Troop Leader said I wasn't serious enough! That's okay, I loved the little Brownie outfit...wasn't so crazy about the Girl Scout outfit or all those campfires:)

Seriously, The Girl Scouts is a wonderful organization for young girls and the cookies are still worth $4.50/box!!!

So, I'm enjoying some cookies and milk this afternoon and reading some of y'all's blogs. Thank you for stopping by to visit with me and have a wonderful day!

CONGRATS TO MY GIVEAWAY WINNER!

Thank you to all the people who entered my giveaway this week to celebrate National Etiquette Week! I asked y'all to tell me what etiquette faux pas others commit that drive you crazy. Here's some of the tacky things people do everyday:

~This whole cell phone thing is out of control, Period

~Failure to R.s.v.p.--I just don't understand why people don't respond to an invitation. It's soooo easy to do!

~Not sending a thank-you note. Totally tacky. Just tacky.

~Bad table manners. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it...nothing says more about you than your table manners!

~A lot of you are not happy with the way gentlemen treat ladies and elderly people; i.e., not giving up a seat on the subway, opening doors, et cetera.

~The ladies are not comfortable with people asking personal questions about their 'biological clock.' Also, it's not acceptable to touch an expectant mother's tummy! Good Lord!

~Several readers don't like it when men wear caps/hats indoors...not proper, no ma'am!

~Applying makeup in public, not using kind words, wearing white shoes before Easter (don't get me started on this one), and not addressing people properly (yes ma'am/no sir) also made y'all's list.

This is what National Etiquette Week is all about--making people aware of the rules of civility. I believe that all y'all practice proper etiquette and know you are setting the right example to your family, friends, and co-workers.

Now y'all be ever-so gracious and join me in congratulating the winner of my giveaway ...Jo at BeesAndFleurDeLis. Jo lives waaaaaay up north in Connecticut and has a darling blog. Y'all stop in to visit with her soon.

No worries though...I'll be hosting another giveaway in June!!!

A GIVEAWAY TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL ETIQUETTE WEEK!

Yes, there is National Etiquette Week. It was established by Sandra Morisset in 1997 and will be observed May 10th - 14th. This is a time to recognize civility and good manners...and it begins with you! During this week, I hope that y'all examine and improve your etiquette skills. Here's a list of Miss Janice's top five etiquette faux pas:

~Failure to R.s.v.p....will surely get your name taken off Miss Janice's party list!
~Not sending a thank-you note...how very ungrateful!
~Talking while chewing your food...so disgusting!
~Using a toothpick in public...Miss Janice absolutely cannot stand this!
~Forgetting to say "Please, Thank You, Yes Ma'am/Sir, or Excuse Me"...a sure sign to others that you have no class!

In celebration of National Etiquette Week, I'm having a "Very Proper Giveaway." Last year I had a giveaway during National Etiquette Week and the winner received Letitia Baldrige's book, "New Manners for New Times." This year, I am offering the same book and a couple more of Ms. Baldrige's books to the lucky winner...This is Miss Janice's go-to etiquette reference book!

Another book included in my giveaway--It all starts in the home..."More Than Manners, Raising Today's Kids to Have Kind Manners & Good Hearts"

One more book for giveaway--This title says it all...it's not a question of money! "Taste, Acquiring What Money Can't Buy"

Ms. Baldrige is recognized universally as the country's leading authority on business and social etiquette. She was the White House Secretary for Jacqueline Kennedy and since that time has published more than twenty books.

Here's a photo of Letitia Baldrige at a White House State function in the 60's. Can you even imagine having such a wonderful job???

In this photo, the First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy is arriving at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Ms. Baldrige is seen emerging from the limo. November 3, 1961. I adore this photograph!

Here, you see Miss Janice with Ms. Baldrige at the Southern Lady Event in Destin, Florida. I begged the editor of Tea Time magazine, Barbara Cockerham, to schedule a sit-down for me with Ms. Baldrige. I was honored to meet her and receive her wealth of information regarding my role as an etiquette consultant in today's world.

So, here are the rules of the giveaway...
~To receive one entry, you must leave a comment and tell me what you consider to be the biggest etiquette faux pas.
~To receive two entries, please let me know if you are a follower of my site or if you are a new proper friend & follower!
~For a third entry, please let me know if you posted about my giveaway on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook.

The winner will be announced on Saturday, May 15th. Good luck to you and please remember to practice proper etiquette always!

HONOR THY MOTHER!

Mothers are the most important people in the world. If you are lucky enough to still have your mama, please honor her everyday and make this Mother's Day special for her. In the South, ladies judge a gentleman by the way he treats his mama. I can tell you that my brother loves and respects our mama and treats her like she's the Queen. He's always driving Miss Pauline all over the place (to church on Sundays, to the beauty shop for her standing appointment every Friday morning, shopping, et cetera--mama loves to scoot)!

~Make it Southern~
A sweet Southern tradition on Mother's Days in the South...ladies are given a red corsage if their mama is still alive and a white corsage if their mama has passed away.

Make your mama's day special by preparing a Brunch just for her...I used a silver plate is used as the charger plate and the china is 'Accoutrements', designed by Anna Griffin for Lenox. The goblet is the 'Alana' pattern by Waterford, and the silver napkin rings are monogrammed, of course!Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fail; A mother's secret hope outlives them all.
~Oliver Wendell Holmes


Happy Mother's Day to all y'all!

WELCOME TO THE TOP OF MY COFFEE TABLE!

Recently I purchased Paula Deen's new book "Savannah Style." I've been waiting on just the right moment to sit down and look through the pages. Doesn't the cover show how gorgeous Miss Paula is?! Look at this lady...
~Dinner and Good Book~
Excuse me y'all, while I step back a bit from the good ol' Southern-fried food and enjoy some whole grain pasta with sauteed asparagus & mushrooms, a fresh salad with Goddess Dressing from Trader Joe's, and iced cold mineral water.

I can't eat macaroni and cheese all the time...even if it is a member of the Southern vegetable food group!

"Savannah Style" was written by Paula Deen and Brandon Branch. Brandon is Miss Paula's Design Director and Personal Assistant. I am fast becoming a fan of his work...googling him like a stalker:)! Love everything he creates y'all! Here's an image I found of one of his florals--cute, cute, cute! Look at him with Miss Paula...with his velvet jacket, jeans, and a mint julep!!! Miss Janice wants Brandon as her personal assistant also!!!

This is one of his latest tablescapes...I found this on the Paula Deen website. Miss Paula is hosting a Mother's Day Luncheon for Brandon's mama and mawmaw...this is what he's working on for the Luncheon. Pretty, pretty y'all!
I say "Welcome to the top of my coffee table, Miss Paula and Brandon!" Gorgeous book, full of entertaining and decorating ideas. Love the Jane Coslick cottages, Brandon's Style Secrets, and the photos of your new guest cottages.

This would make a very special gift for y'all's mama on Mother's Day or even a nice gift for a hostess! Thank you Miss Paula for keeping it Southern!

JUST SO Y'ALL KNOW!

Yes ma'am y'all...IT'S MY RULES!!! Love this sign and of course it's perfect for my kitchen at "The Roost!"
I found this cute little sign on one of my new favorite blogs...The Classic Preppy. You might recognize her logo of the cute pink turtle from Blogland, Twitter, or Facebook... She's an eighth generation Southerner y'all! She's also a former Account Executive and Etiquette Instructor for Tiffany & Co. Goodness gracious--now that's one high-fallutin' title! Her blog is about all things preppy and refined. Be sure to check it out!

The Classic Preppy's logo...

Recently, The Classic Preppy featured some shops she had visited in Farmville, Virginia and this one caught my eye...The Sleeping Bee.
Classic Preppy even mentioned that "Miss Janice would like this store."

When is saw this photo from the store...I couldn't pick up my iPhone fast enough to call and try to get one.

Now it's on the wall of the entry to my kitchen...just so everyone knows the rules!!!
Mlle Coco Chanel says "Hey Y'all!"

A few more words...

~Before I close today, I want to say thanks to all of you who supported me during my 16-hour walk at the Relay for Life over the weekend! Thank you for your e-mails, your tweets, your comments on Facebook, your contributions, and your prayers! It was my pleasure to complete the entire event for my friend Jan Taylor, who is battling liver cancer. Today, I am attempting to answer all my e-mails and reply to comments left on my blog over the past week. I am waaaaay behind, but I promise to catch up and visit with all of you.

~Also, if you are a new follower of my blog, I say "welcome" and promise to visit your blog very soon!

~I have a giveaway coming up I believe this Sunday, so be sure to check back to enter:)

Have a wonderful week y'all!