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!