Author: Lauren

  • Southerners Love Our ‘Maters!

    Luscious, juicy, ripe, tangy, succulent…tomatoes! Summertime finds Southerners planning picnics, reunions, barbeques and get-togethers with family and friends. Our special occasion meals often include fresh tomatoes. Generally we serve sliced red tomatoes or fried green tomatoes, but they can also be baked, stuffed, grilled, breaded, diced, pureed, or even canned for future use. Any way you slice them, we love our ‘maters!

    Not only do we love eating tomatoes, many of us enjoy growing them. Whether we are seasoned experts or beginning gardeners, we delight in talking about our beautiful flowers and bountiful crops.

    Here are a few gardening tips for tomatoes. Your local nursery or garden center can be helpful, too!

    • I prefer starting with small plants. Two or three plants can yield a nice crop, so you don’t need a lot.
    • Choose a sunny location. A small bed or corner of your yard is perfect, but tomatoes can be grown in large pots on your porch or patio if you get enough sun. They need at least 6-8 hours of sun a day.
    • Prepare your soil so they have an environment in which to thrive. I use Scott’s Miracle-Grow Soil and I am liberal with mixing a good deal of it into the garden area.
    • Space your plants at least two feet apart. Make sure you give the roots room to grow. Plant them deep enough to reach to the first couple of leaves. Once planted, I pinch off the very bottom leaves.
    • You’ll need a tomato cage for each plant. Place firmly over the plant so it can grow up the middle, and the branches will have support. When the tomatoes get growing, the vines can get heavy. I usually keep colorful ribbons or twist ties around to keep the stray branches attached to the cages once they start getting longer. Don’t let branches fall on the ground, this invites disease or bugs.
    • I like to plant one marigold between each tomato plant. They keep pests away, and they’re pretty. Basil is also a great companion plant to grow next to tomatoes because they go together in many recipes, and basil repels insects.

    • For the first couple of weeks you’ll want to water plants every day. After that, water maybe twice a week. (less if you get rain) You can usually tell when plants need water because they’ll look a little wilted.
    • Prune some leaves occasionally. Be careful not to pinch off the ones that have flowers. These little flowers are where your tomatoes will grow. It takes a little practice to determine where to prune. Normally the darker, tougher looking leaves are where you pinch back.
    • Pick tomatoes green to fry, or leave them on the vine until they are ripe and ready to slice.
    If you don’t have a recipe for fried green tomatoes, one of our most famous Southern cooks, Paula Deen has a fabulous fried green tomato recipe!

    Grow well and prosper!

    [author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://prettysouthern.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Karen.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Pretty Southern contributing culture and lifestyle reporter Karen Hatchett is a life-long southerner and resident of Smyrna, Georgia. She’s a Marketing & PR professional, arts & music lover, jewelry designer and casual gardener.[/author_info] [/author]

  • Southern Vintage Inspiration

    Vintage, rustic charm singing of sweet romance is a new theme for Southern weddings. There’s a refined elegance in using a classic, country setting for the day a true lady pledges her love to a gentile gentleman. Four Inch Fold is here to help create the magic.

    New to the Southern wedding scene, Four Inch Fold is a unique vintage furniture rental company here to provide a complete aesthetic for fabulous events. At only four months old, Four Inch Fold has received a warm welcome from the wedding community and will be featured at The NotWedding!

    “My love for vintage rooted from childhood when I was often given hand-me down clothes, furnishing, and accessories. I am a very visual person and decided to go into the field of architecture where I also picked up graphic design,” says Four Inch Fold proprietor Mao Thao. “To fuel my creativity beyond my daily labor of love, I started making wedding invitations for a few friends in the last couple of years – just for fun. I started following a lot of wedding blogs and stumbled upon the emerging vintage rental business. A light bulb turned on and there was no turning it off. I was immediately inspired to share my vintage passion by creating innovative ways to translate, reinvent, and redefine vintage items for our modern use.”

    “The NotWedding breaks the mold of traditional bridal/wedding events, and I love the fact that the vendors’ services/products are put into action through a whole wedding ceremony and reception. It creates a more personable experience and I believe it’s the best way for guests to find inspiration for their own wedding. Moreover, they get a wide variety of inspiration from talented wedding professionals under one roof. My favorite part about Southern weddings is the laid-back atmosphere. The beauty of Southern weddings is that it can be as simple or elegant as one likes but the down-to-earth fun atmosphere is always present.”

    “I don’t think you have to be born in the South to be a Southerner and I think that makes a 21st century Southerner stand apart from other eras. I have lived in Georgia for almost 9 years and adapted to a few Southern ways – except I don’t eat grits.” Mao smiles. “The South has become a growing melting pot of all sorts of people so I find it important to maintain the Southern identity through its culture such as food, entertainment, and accent.”

    A lady is warm, romantic, charming and delicate, yet strong. A gentleman is mannerly, appreciates a good meal, and best of all, courageous when necessary. A lady and gentleman's individual traits compliment each other

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    For more information about Four Inch Fold, please check out Mao’s blog like her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter! And keep an eye on Pretty Southern for photos of Mao’s work at The NotWedding!

    Editor’s note: photos and artistic styling by Once Like A Spark

     

  • Pretty Southern Song

    Granted Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros are from Los Angeles but their song “Home” is distinctly Southern! “Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my ma and pa, Not the way that I do love you.” The first time we heard this song was when our very own Kat Kraszeski Jackson put it on her eclectic wedding mix. If you love indie pop, cool melodies, catchy lyrics then this is a Pretty Southern song for you.

  • DJ Josh Whitlock

    Atlanta’s very own Josh Whitlock is a shining example of a gentleman. The best thing about Mr. Whitlock is that he’s for hire to DJ your next event!

    DJ Josh Whitlock will be bringing the heat on July 21 at The NotWedding…but his game has already achieved quite a reputation. He’s been working the party scene since 2001. In the past decade he’s worked more than 100 events!

    “I had always loved dancing, and knew how crucial music selection was for a great dance party.” Josh told PrettySouthern. “My friends also knew this about me, so when it came time for them all to start getting married, they asked me to DJ their weddings. I figured, I’d be going to their weddings anyway, so why not go as the DJ instead of a guest. I’m so glad those friends thought of me, or I don’t know that I would have ever considered the DJ business.”

    After working weddings for 10 years, Josh has learned a thing or two about weddings. His favorite part about Southern weddings includes several things like the sweet tea, open bars, clever toasts and dancing! Josh has also witnessed some quirky wedding moments over the years.

    “My most surprising/craziest song was requested by the bride and groom as their last dance song. It was ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ by Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman. I played it, and thought to myself ‘No one will dance to this. They’ll all just look at me until I switch the song.’ Boy was I wrong! They waltzed around the room, and sang at the top of their lungs in opera voices. Even the Dad joined in. I’m pretty sure the movie ‘Step Brothers’ stole that song idea from that wedding.”

    When it comes to exemplifying the fantastic, creative options for Southern weddings, The NotWedding will have it all! Josh has worked The NotWedding before as a DJ, including the first event in 2008 but he’s particularly excited this year about a certain secret surrounding the event. Of course, he’s been sworn to secrecy so as not to spoil the surprise!

    “All I can say is that you don’t want to miss it because that’s what I’m most excited about. The girls in charge are what I like to call All-Stars. They do everything well, and they make tons of friends doing it. I’m even lucky enough to be married to one of them. Clients often ask me ‘Can I see you DJ an event before I decide to use you?’ Now instead of telling them to crash a wedding, I tell them to check me out at The NotWedding.”

    For more information on book DJ Josh Whitlock, please check out his website. You can also check him out on Facebook and Twitter or you can hear him out in person at the fabulous NotWedding event at Ambient + Studio on Thursday, July 21 and tickets are available by clicking on The Not Wedding’s website!

  • “The Help” and Southern Gumption

    Y’all hopefully have read the book by now. If not, go find a copy of “The Help” a.s.a.p This story by Atlanta’s very own literary goddess Kathryn Stockett is right up there with the great Southern stories of all time: Driving Miss Daisy, Steel Magnolia’s, and Gone With the Wind. This is a story about gumption, courage, and of course love below the Mason Dixon Line.

    As Southerner’s, we’re proud of Stockett’s strength. “The Help” manuscript was rejected 45 times before landing a publisher! Now, it’s been on the best-seller list since 2009 and is a major motion picture produced by Disney!

    “The Help” is coming to a theatre near y’all beginning Aug. 10. Keep your eye on PrettySouthern.com for an interview with the film’s stars, Bryce Dallas Howard, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer (an Auburn grad!), and the film’s director Tate Taylor plus Kathryn Stockett herself!

    PrettySouthern was privileged to attend a sneak-peak screening of “The Help”…and it’s the best. The words stated by Aibileen “You’s kind…you’s smart…and you’s important” are even more powerful on-screen. “The Help” is a loving reminder to all of us, Southerner or not, that it doesn’t matter where you came from. Your strength of spirit can carry y’all anywhere!

  • The NotWedding

    A true Southern affair: The NotWedding on Thursday, July 21, is the event of the summer season! Complete with a sit-down dinner, an emotional ceremony and a dance-party reception, The NotWedding has become a killer alternative to a bridal show.

    Hand-picked vendors perform their services as they would at a real wedding, and the “wedding guests” get to hear the music, taste the cakes, and touch the linens… while enjoying a night of great food, dancing and surprises. The NotWedding will most definitely have an incredibly, very fun Southern wedding event, and y’all can attend for just $40.

    “The NotWedding combines some of the South’s best and newest wedding vendors to produce the ultimate fake wedding.” says NotWedding founder Callie Murray. “This year we are featuring a full Southern dinner from Sun In My Belly along with a dance-party reception led by the best new wedding band, A-Town A-List. We aim to inspire brides with new ideas, to promote local businesses and to encourage solid marriages, and we do it all while having a great time.”

    Hopefully y’all can make it, but if not, take advantage of The NotWedding Snag the Swag bonus offers! It’s a little way of connecting even more brides with awesome businesses. Unique wedding deals are offered at incredible prices, allowing brides-to-be (and everyone else who loves pretty things and good deals) an opportunity to experience new and unique options for their big day. Photography, Crafts, Stationary, Wedding Coordination, even Vintage Furniture Rentals to create your event truly one of a kind are waiting for y’all in Snag the Swag!

    The fabulous NotWedding event is at Ambient + Studio on Thursday, July 21 and tickets are available by clicking on The Not Wedding’s website!