Pretty Southern

Category: Opinion

Opinion

Georgia Wins the Rose Bowl and We Have All the Feels! #GoDawgs
For the record, I’m jealous of all y’all who were in Pasadena for the Rose Bowl 2018

Watching the game unfold from home in Atlanta was an unbelievable experience. A rough, rocky, you name it first half was followed by nail-biting for two more quarters leading to a momentous, historic overtime culminating in a Georgia win.

It is indeed great to be a Georgia Bulldog!

I’ve been a Georgia fan for the better part of my life now. Having decided at 16 that I wanted to attend UGA’s Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication, I picked the right time to join the Bulldog Nation. It was 2002, the year of the “Davids” when David Greene and David Pollack won the SEC Championship.

Georgia won the SEC Championship again in 2005 when I was a junior at UGA and D.J. Shockley was the quarterback for the Dawgs. Georgia went on to the Sugar Bowl in Atlanta (after Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans) and I got lucky enough to attend but, alas, Georgia got pummeled by West Virginia. I subsequently pissed off a bunch of Mountaineers and ended up on Deadspin.

And I think that’s the cool thing that unites everyone who is a college football fan: no matter how old you get, despite the years out of school, you still bleed your school’s colors and cheer as loud as possible.

With two of my favorite UGA alumni, Matt Foster & Katy Ruth Camp at Homecoming

Over the past decade, we had some fabulous times during the Coach Mark Richt era. There were big wins with Knowshon, A.J. Green, Todd Gurley, Aaron Murray, Matt Stafford, the list of greatness from our boys in the silver britches goes on. We had some big wins but tough losses and no SEC Championship which my husband’s Georgia Tech fraternity brothers loved to remind me every football season.

It has been 12 years since it felt this good to be a UGA fan

After a wild 2017, starting the year off with UGA going to play for the NCAA College Football National Championship feels absolutely spectacular. I wasn’t even born the last time Georgia won it all with Vince Dooley and Herschel Walker (who by the way are still on my shit list for endorsing The Trumpster Fire).

Making it this far, being recognized as one of the top two teams in the nation, is a feeling of excitement, honor, and years of passionate support paying off. This holiday season, it felt like Christmas came three different times.
- First on Dec. 2, 2017, when the Dawgs won the SEC Championship
- The second time on actual Christmas
- On Jan. 1, 2018, winning the Rose Bowl
Larry Munson has that famous line about “sugar falling from the sky”, and if Munson was still around today I like to think there would have been some lovely remarks about rose petals raining down on the Bulldog Nation. Kinda like that scene in Gladiator when Maximus has his great fight in the arena.

As our pal, Shane, wrote in his column about how Georgia’s “never been here before” I’d like to share my favorite passage that rings so true for every UGA alumni and fan.

“The entire country now knows about this team what Georgia fans hoped would prove true all year: that we belong here. That it was worth it. That pledging your heart to something as pointless and capricious as a football team can someday deliver an emotional payoff, even at the University of Georgia.”

So now we are praying and preparing for Georgia to face Alabama in the 2018 College Football National Championship. It’s master vs. apprentice with Kirby Smart taking on his old boss, Nick Saban. The last time Georgia played Alabama was in 2015 and literally the most depressing game I ever attended. It was a torrential downpour in Athens and the Crimson Tide rolled through Sanford Stadium winning 38-10. Coach Richt was let go from UGA that season, and in comes Kirby Smart who (as offensive coordinator at Bama) put that hurtin’ on the Bulldogs.

Over the past two years, we’ve witnessed a transformation at Georgia. There’s the Smart factor combined with the phenomenal talent of Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, fucking true freshman Jake Fromm, and all the guys on this year’s squad. This is the Georgia team we’ve hoped and prayed for. Regardless of what happens in the National Championship, we’ve made it farther in our lifetime than ever before.

Thank you to all everyone in the Bulldog Nation for this incredible journey. We’ll see what happens next week.

Let’s #GoDawgs!
January 2, 2018
Georgia’s “Never Been Here Before” – Rose Bowl 2018

Editor’s note: this article is contributed by Shane Vaiskauskas. The last time UGA played in the Rose Bowl was 1943. We won against UCLA, 9-0.

“I’ve been here before,” I thought to myself, nervously.

Not literally here, mind you. This was my first visit to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. But five years prior, just a few hundred feet away in the recently-demolished Georgia Dome, I had watched the Georgia Bulldogs carry a one-score lead into the fourth quarter of the SEC Championship Game against Alabama.

Here I sat, in the upper end zone corner, in a seat I paid $700 for, as the clock expired in the third quarter of the SEC Championship Game. Auburn had converted a third down, then gained 12 more yards on a QB run. We led 13-7 as the quarter ended.

“I’ve been here before,” I repeated to myself, trying to avoid getting my hopes up.

The band played “The Planet Krypton” as they have in the fourth quarter of every Georgia game I can remember. The fans turned on their cell phone flashes to light up the stadium as they have since last season.

“I’ve been here before,” I repeated to myself, tuning out the fans around me, discussing defensive adjustments and how we just need to finish out the game.

The whistle blew to start the fourth quarter. The players lined up. A handoff to Auburn’s injured star tailback, Kerryon Johnson. From perhaps a literal mile away, it looks all too easy for Johnson to gain 4 yards. The defense finally makes the tackle. We see the ball squirm out. Roquan Smith, Georgia’s star linebacker, sees it too. He scoops it up in stride. Turnover. Four plays later, we score a touchdown.

I’ve never been here before.

Georgia would go on to hold Auburn to a 3-and-out, then add another touchdown a few plays later to ice the game with over 10 minutes remaining. Auburn fans head to the exits. The score would not change again: 28-7.

I’ve never been here before.

After the game, the team is presented the SEC Championship trophy on the field. The majority of the stadium–Georgia fans–stays behind to watch. By winning the SEC Championship, Georgia has guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoff. We’re two games away from our first national championship since the 1980 season.

I’ve never been here before.

UGA’s Sanford Stadium at the 2014 Clemson game that we won 45-21.

Georgia is a storied college football program. We are one of the sport’s so-called blue bloods, whose relevance in the sport has rarely waned. We have a large stadium, a rabid fan base, plenty of 10-win seasons and bowl victories, and a raft of players in the NFL. There are over a hundred major college football programs that would trade places with us in a heartbeat.

In the past 20 years, prior to this season, we had won the SEC and the Sugar Bowl twice each. We’ve had a #1 preseason ranking, a #2 final ranking, the #1 overall pick in the NFL draft and plenty of first-round talent. We’ve been a perennial top-10 team, but we never broke through to the national championship conversation.

And yet, we’re still very much the outsiders. Our best, most exciting teams of the past two decades have all stumbled at the wrong time.

In 2002, our 13-1 record was good enough for third. Ohio State and Miami, both undefeated, played each other for the championship.

In 2005, our two losses kept us firmly out of the picture, despite winning the SEC.

In 2007, an inexplicable loss on the road to Tennessee cost us our spot in the SEC Championship Game, and with it, our chance for immortality. We finished the season ranked second. In 2012, we were four yards away from beating Alabama. They went on to throttle Notre Dame and win it all. It was their hundredth title, probably.

I’ve never been here before.

Five SEC teams have won national championships in the past 20 years. Georgia isn’t among them. Our rivals are happy to remind us. Analysts are happy to remind viewers. We’re a perennial also-ran, a team too good to ignore entirely but not good enough to believe in. Our fanbase is large, loyal, and loud, but our bark is worse than our bite.

Deep down, this has been a sneaking suspicion, my quietest fear. What if we never win? What if all of the time, money, and passion I’ve put into this team never amounts to anything? What if four yards short against Bama is the closest I will ever see? I’ve already witnessed 30 fruitless football seasons, how many more do I have left?

Do I dare get my hopes up?

I’ve never been here before.

ESPN College Game Day from the UGA-LSU game in 2013. We won 44-41

Over the past few weeks, Georgia has gained momentum in the national college football conversation. Countless networks covered our practices and provided updates not just to fans, but to casual observers. Analysts break down our film and compare our strengths and weaknesses to the other playoff teams. Two-by-two, the rest of the country played their bowl games. Their seasons will end short of where we are right now, and then they will turn their attention to the four playoff teams remaining. To the Georgia Bulldogs. To my team.

They’ll talk about how our defense reads and reacts so well, how our front-seven are so adept at stopping the run, and how Roquan Smith is a field general at middle linebacker. They’ll talk about our freshman quarterback, Jake Fromm, who never seems to let the moment be too big for him. They’ll talk about our senior tailbacks, Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, who chose to return to school for a shot at a championship instead of getting rich in the NFL. They’ll talk about our charismatic young coach, Kirby Smart, who played for Georgia in the 90’s and has his alma mater back to national relevance in only his second season.

The entire country now knows about this team what Georgia fans hoped would prove true all year: that we belong here. That it was worth it. That pledging your heart to something as pointless and capricious as a football team can someday deliver an emotional payoff, even at the University of Georgia.

I’ve never been here before.

We’ve traveled to Pasadena, CA, to play Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. That may be where the season ends. On the biggest stage I’ve ever seen Georgia play, we may suffer through yet another disappointment. This season’s Dawgs, like so many before them, may be left to limp home after a heartbreaking reminder that we still do not yet belong.

But we might not. We might beat Oklahoma and advance to the title game a week later. We might even win that and be memorialized for all time as the best team of 2017. In my lifetime, we’ve never played for such high stakes on such a large stage.

At the end of the SEC Championship festivities, before we filed out into the concourse with the other Georgia fans, I sat back in my seat, closed my eyes, and sat in silence for 30 seconds. Then I pinched myself. This time, it was really happening.

I’ve never been here before. But I’m going to enjoy the hell out of this ride.

Go Dawgs!

Shane Vaiskauskas is a management consultant who lives in New York City with his wife and their growing collection of board games. Shane grew up outside of Atlanta and, after the better part of a decade, graduated from the University of Georgia in 2009. He hosts a moderately popular Dungeons & Dragons podcast called Total Party Thrill, and tweets about sports and other meaningless games, @Mundangerous. Shane is pictured here with his sister, Caitlin Vaiskauskas, and best bud Jeff Putnam.

January 1, 2018
2017 – A Pretty Southern Year in Review

We here at Pretty Southern proclaimed 2017 would be the Year of the Warrior

Little did we know that the fight is only getting started. If there’s one common feeling we can all share as this weird and wonky year comes to a close, it’s how we all questioned our identity this year. Who we are, what it means to be an American, our place in this world…questions we’ll probably continue to ask throughout out our lifetime.

Despite all the negativity in the world, our future is still very bright.

We got the phrase “Year of the Warrior” from our pal, Michelle Khouri. She created her own adventure in 2017, leaving her full-time gig as a magazine editor to pursue independence as a freelancer. Watching from the sidelines as Michelle has pursued her passions has been awesome, and I’m rooting for her just like I am you, dear reader.

And while we’ve all had our own wild rides in 2017, as frustrated as we may feel about some of the things that happened this year, Michelle has more words of wisdom for our future.

2016 was the year of the caterpillar
2017 was the year of the cocoon
2018 will be the year of the butterfly

Y’all dig that?! I certainly do.

Since college, I’ve always been a fan of writing ‘year in review’ posts. They are such a fun way to recap highlights from the past year, preserve memories, and reflect on tougher times.

When I sat down to write this post, I wanted to give a big ole “Fuck you!” to 2017. There was a lot of shit that went down this year y’all. My cousin, Paisley Rosas Langmeade, was killed by her husband, who then killed himself. It devastated our family, especially since they were both only in their 30s.

R.I.P. Paisley. We love you and will always miss you.

Coming to grips with the fact there was nothing we could have done to prevent what happened to Paisley is still an impossible pill to swallow. Then there’s all the other insanity happening in the world that makes me feel so helpless. Terrorism, genocide, mass shootings, the evil lunatics who rule our world. Dave Chappelle said that North Korea would be our generation’s Vietnam, and I’m pretty sure he’s right.

But then I remembered my mama’s words she told me after Trump got elected. Mom told me to think about how I can leverage all the goodness I have to be a positive force for change. There’s so much about this world I want to see improved upon, and if there’s one thing that 2017 taught me, it’s that we all are capable of anything if we put our mind, heart, and soul into it. I’m a firm believer of Gandhi’s quote:

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

With that, I want to take a moment to recap some very cool moments of 2017.

I Became Atlanta

For a brief time this year, I was Atlanta. Thanks to Chris Watkins for letting me be part of the Atlanta Convention & Visitor’s Bureau’s #DiscoverATL campaign, this photo we shot together on the Jackson Street bridge overlooking downtown actually became the first image in Google’s search results for “Atlanta”.

And that same photo was featured on the side of a MARTA bus. There was a Friday afternoon back in the summer when I was leaving work for the weekend. This summer was awful after losing Paisley and it was a particularly rough week. I’m sitting in the car heading home and this MARTA bus rolled by with my picture on it. I’d heard about these buses rolling around town with friends sharing pictures on social media, but it was the first time I’d seen it in-person!

I’m not trying to be an asshole and brag about this stuff—it just seemed like a message from the universe saying, “Girl, you’re doing the right things. Keep it up!” Lord, at least I hope so.

Speaking of doing the right things 😉 On Valentine’s Day, my husband, Kevin, and I were named one of Atlanta’s Startup Power Couples by Hypepotamus. Getting to work in the up-and-coming world of Atlanta’s tech startups has been an absolute gift from God. If you’d asked me 10 years ago when I was first out of school what I wanted to do, marketing for startups never would have crossed my mind! It’s lead to some other pretty cool opportunities.

It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to get to know Stefanie Diaz this year. We first met when she interviewed me on her show Mastermind Your Launch on BusinessRadio X (replay here) and then Stefanie launched the Women’s Only Entrepreneurs (W.O.E) network here in Atlanta. Stef—girl—you’re doing amazing work and it’s been a blessing getting to know you.

There were so many other amazing moments from this year, too many for one blog post, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout to all the Atlanta media mavens out there, especially Caren West PR and her team: Chad, Lauren, and Caitlin. The folks at CWPR hosted the best events of 2017. From happy hours at Atlas at The St. Regis, charcuterie and cocktails with Maureen Petrovsky at City Winery, the Urban Daddy party, and my all-time favorite charity fashion show Jeffrey Fashion Cares, I’m so excited to see what 2018 has in store.

And if you wanna hear more from my sassy ass, check out my first (probably only) standup routine.

So to officially close out the Year of the Warrior, I have to say thank you

Thank you, reader, for being part of the Pretty Southern story. Thank you for following along with our adventures over the past few years. Thank you for your support and always being there to help. We’re here for you and here to help change our world.

We’ll see y’all in 2018. Have a blessed and happy new year.

December 31, 2017
Pretty Southern Stand Up Comedy at The Punchline in Atlanta

Pretty Southern was privileged to be part of the inaugural Laugh Lab!

Whoever thought my sassy ass would actually be a standup comic?!

This comedy course by the lovely (and hilarious!) Lace Larabee was the first one ever! Lace is seriously one of the funniest comics working in the game today, especially as a Southern woman. Taking a six-week class with Lace for ladies only laughs and lessons in comedy was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, and one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in Atlanta.

Along with my fellow Laugh Lab ladies including Lace, Danielle Elkins, Rita Nicole Leslie, Lauren Wagner, Ryan Petty, Blaire Erskine, Sammy Eastwood, Jennifer Winkler, Dru Forster, Brittany Dent, Rhonda Turner, and the incomparable Chesta Drake, we did our final standup at The Punchline in Atlanta.

Check out my first (and most likely only) Pretty Southern stand up comedy set

Here’s the full transcription of my Pretty Southern standup

Hey y’all
Having fun yet?
So Rhonda asked y’all who is from Atlanta
Well, I’m not originally from this city
I was born in Virginia and grew up in Cobb County
Unlike the Braves, I can say actually say I’m from Atlanta
Because I live inside the perimeter
Also if you Google search for Atlanta
My photo used to come up

Now don’t go pulling out your phones; this is a comedy club.
But earlier this year, if you Googled “Atlanta” my picture was the first image
I had my arms outstretched overlooking the Jackson Street bridge Downtown
And that same photo ended up on the side of a Marta Bus
It was one of the few times in my life my family has truly been proud of me
I guess they were happy to see me on Google and the side of a bus
Instead of in a mug shot or on the side of a milk carton

My parents are so perfectly Southern
They met at a fraternity party in college
Got married at a country club
Moved to the suburbs, did all the right things
Then they had me, and I was born a raging liberal.
It must be a recessive gene.

One of my uncles nicknamed me the ‘lil liberal’ of our family
Growing up I wanted to be one of those kids on Captain Planet,
I used to wear those “save the whales” and “save the rainforest” t-shirts
Now, if I try to talk about climate change, they hope I mean going on vacation
Ladies aren’t supposed to discuss these uncomfortable topics

I’ve never been the perfect Southern Belle
The good news is, my husband’s family is from Illinois, and the first time I met his grandpa, he said I was a nice young lady with good manners
I wasn’t going to tell grandpa any differently.

My husband is here tonight! He and I have been married for seven years now!
He’s the handsome redhead over there!
This Halloween, he started growing his hair out to be Tormund, the Wilding, from Game of Thrones. He really nailed that costume, plus he’s still growing his hair out
After nearly a decade together, it’s like I’m with a whole new person!
When we first started dating, he’d never really grown a beard. Now, I’ve got myself a ginger lumberjack.
And you know, I did something similar. When we first started dating, I looked a bit like Anne Hathaway. After 10 years, I might look Anne Hathaway if she’d been eating bacon and chic-fil-a for a decade

I’ve always had a thing for gingers
Growing up, I had a crush on Prince Harry
He and I are about the same age,
And I got so excited when Harry’s engagement was announced.
I love that he found a nice American girl
Since I was already taken

Although I would have fit in so well with Harry’s family
I adore Kate Middleton
Who I might also resemble if I hadn’t spent a lifetime of eating bacon and Chick FIl A
Duchess Kate is classy, y’all. She’s seriously my dad style icon.
And you know that saying, blondes have more fun
Well they might, but brunettes get to be princesses

Unfortunately, I would not have made a great royal
I can’t follow protocol for shit.
I’m entirely too outspoken
You know I how at some funerals and in obituaries, they write about how “she never had a mean word to say about anybody?”
That’s not me. I’d love to be a grand old dame, like Clairee from Steel Magnolias (has anybody seen that movie?)
Clairee has one of my favorite lines of all time, “If you can’t say something nice, come sit by me.”

Well, since I have the microphone, I’d like to take the opportunity to edit that line slightly for the President of the United States
If you can’t say something nice, then don’t fucking Tweet it.

That’s one thing Trump and I actually have in common
We’re both entirely too outspoken and can’t follow protocol for shit

Even before Trump rose to power
My family felt like they couldn’t talk about politics with me
The past year has been interesting to say the least
To say the most, I was fucking right

But for me, it’s never been about being a liberal or conservative
I just want to make the world a better place
The irony is, as much as I want to save the planet
I’m a hypocrite because I drive an SUV
But I live in Atlanta.
And I’ll be damned if I die driving on 400 in some dainty hybrid
Then get run over by an asshole redneck in a pickup truck with a Make America Great Again sticker

The whole MAGA thing is just dumb
America is already great y’all
I’ve lived here my whole life, and yes, this country has its problems but we have bacon and Chick-Fil-A!

Here’s the thing about the evil men who rule the world
They want to divide and conquer us.
They want us to feel inadequate, different, ugly, and hated
But we know better

We’re stronger, smarter, and dammit we will change our world

Happy holidays, y’all. Let’s go kick ass in 2018!

What are your thoughts on my first Pretty Southern stand up? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!

December 17, 2017
How to Find the Perfect Guy or Girl – Make a List
In life, most of us are on the quest to find “the one”

When I was younger, I was obsessed with finding that perfect guy. Looking back through my teenage journals, I could witness 16-year old Lauren who was wrapped up in her first boyfriend, crushes, dates, flirtations, musings and dreams of finding Mr. Right. While these are cringe-worthy moments there is something incredible that emerged from my journal.

The List for the Perfect Guy

On my list were 40+ categories and qualifications ranging from the basics like “nice eyes, nice hair,” to deeper criteria like “has a passion and drive to succeed in life.” For the next several years, every guy who I felt a serious emotional attachment to was scrubbed up against The List to see how he matched up. There were guys who came close, some who fell short, and man the stories I could tell…but then I met my husband.

It wasn’t until a few months after we started dating and had officially become boyfriend and girlfriend that I went home to my folks’ house for the holidays. In my childhood bedroom, I rediscovered my teenage journal with the original list. My husband was with his family in Illinois that Christmas, and it was the last holiday we would spend apart because after running Kevin through The List, I discovered that he met all the criteria. As I write this post, we’re coming up on our seventh year of marriage and (God willing) with many more to come.

Obviously I’m a huge proponent of making the list for the perfect guy (or girl)

I’m also a big believer in The Secret. The belief that by focusing on what you really want in life, putting it out into the universe to make it happen, and if it’s aligned with God’s will, Fate, or whatever you want to call it then it can come to fruition. Philosopher Paulo Coelho, the author of one of my all-time favorite books The Alchemist, calls it your “personal legend.” He also wrote one of my favorite quotes:

“But if you believe yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get, then you become an instrument of God, you help the Soul of the World, and you understand why you are here.”

So while I’m still figuring out the greater purpose of why I’m on this planet, I try to thank God every day that I found my person, the perfect guy for me to live out this existence. I’m not saying our marriage is perfect, and damn if we’ve been through our own struggles, issues that threatened our relationship, but by recognizing that I’m lucky and blessed to be with this man makes me want to help other people I care about to find that perfect guy or girl as well.

Y’all might remember our pal Jenn Ciccarelli who broke the internet in Charleston, S.C., a few years ago. Jenn came over to my house the other week so we could catch up and start working on our next post to hopefully go viral. But what emerged out of our conversation was The List. Jenn blogged about The Art of Making The List.

Jenn says: “The List. You know the one. It outlines all the pertinent parts of your perfect person. I’ve heard of The List always. Who hasn’t, right? I feel like there’s even a Sex and the City about it. I’ve just never made mine. Seems strange, doesn’t it? I’m the biggest proponent of putting pen to paper to breathe life into something. The first one telling people to put things in the Universe if they really want them to happen. The most out-loud believer that we control our own destiny, as long as we are resolute and sincere. When I wanted to move to Charleston, I, literally, PUT it everywhere. So to think, when the one thing I love most in this life is love, that I haven’t sat down and actually fashioned what it really looks like to me in a tangible way seems a little, I don’t know, like what the fuck, self. OF COURSE YOU SHOULD HAVE A LIST.”

Then Jenn and I spent about an hour writing out her list for the perfect guy. Respecting her wishes, I’m not going to publish it, but what I have done is outlined the categories we discussed to help you discover what attributes your perfect person will also have.

How to Find the Perfect Guy or Girl

Step one – write it down! You have to put your intentions out there so God, the Universe, whatever higher powers know what you’re looking for. Write in in your journal, a blog post, Google Doc, somewhere that you can always go back and read it again.
- What does he/she look like? Eyes, hair, height, build, facial hair pro/con etc.
- Style: classic, preppy, hippy, hipster, trendy, lumber sexual, no basic bros, could care less – his/her style should compliment your own
- Location: is he/she Southern, Northern, Midwestern, West Coaster, from another country? Are long distance relationships a deal breaker? Where you ultimately would like to settle down is something you need to think about.
- Family: do you want someone with a big family? Are you an only child and want to find someone like you? Do you want to have big holidays with lots of folks around? Think about what your life would be like with this person and your people.
- Politics: left, right, moderate, liberal, conservative, anarchist?
- Music: what type of music does he/she listen to? Do they like to go to concerts or festivals? Can he/she sing or play an instrument?
- Travel: loves to, hates to, occasionally wants to, has been to 100+ countries
- Intellect: creative, artistic, mathematical, does intelligence matter to you?
- Philosophy: how does he/she think about life and this existence?
- Faith & religion: Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist…or nothing at all. Your call.
- Food: healthy or not? Can he/she cook? Should he at least possess the capabilities to make breakfast? Note, this was one on my list. Another one of my criteria was that he enjoys going out to nice restaurants and orders dessert
- Connection: is this someone you want to be able to talk to for hours? Do you want someone who will just listen to you? Is he/she an introvert/extrovert like you?
- Going out: is he a party boy or is she a social butterfly, or prefer to stay on the couch at home? Another friend who was on his quest to find the perfect girl once told me that he’d prefer to find a girl that was happier having 1-on-1 time with him instead of being at the bar.
- Drinking and smoking: acceptable, deal breakers, in recovery, addicts need not apply. Write this out.
- Sports: is he/she a football fan? Likes to golf, plays tennis, belongs to a country club? Soccer fan? Basketball? Baseball? Rugby? You name it. We know how important an affinity for sports is here at Pretty Southern.
- Stuff: this is actually a big one. Minimalist vs. materialistic. Does he have more shoes than you? Does it matter?
- Is he/she a hot mess? Do you recognize this person is a train wreck, like you, or they really have life on lock down?
- Financial security: if finances matter, is he/she a saver or spender?
- Charitable: does he/she volunteer? Is there a certain philanthropy you’re involved in and want him/her to help, too? Do they donate to a cause, tithe to a church (see religion) or have some sort of altruistic endeavor?
- Star gazer. This one was another one of mine. He has to be content with sitting next to me, looking up at the night sky, without getting bored.
- Cuddler: another one of mine. Must love to snuggle
- Sexual: I’ll let y’all decide what this means to you.
- Love. Ditto.
Now to wrap this list up, Jenn said this while we were working on her list that made me have a giggle fit. You know, where you start laughing so hard that you’re crying and can’t talk. We were talking about the importance of him having his shit together, that he wouldn’t be on some journey of self discovery, he’s just walking through life’s path:

“He’s like Atreyu through the mother fucking swamp. Like okay, cool, I’m just gonna go. I’m going to get Falcor and ride free until we get the princess. We’re free. We’re out of the journey.”

To close with a final thought from Jenn: “I encourage every person to make their list. It doesn’t have to be about a person. It can be about a dream project. Or a dream trip. A dream goal. Just a dream. Make your list. Breathe it in to life and make sure you’re living up to it. Don’t slow down or stop until you do. Never believe that anything is unattainable. And don’t settle. You’re a fucking rock star.”

What are your thoughts on how to make a list to find the perfect guy or girl?
August 29, 2017
Kirkland Carden – A Leader in the Making

Kirkland Carden is not originally from the South, but he’s certainly trying to make our Southern lives better.

Kirkland Carden is running for Duluth City Council in the 2017 election.

Originally hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio, Kirkland has made Georgia home settling home in Duluth. He chose Gwinnett County as his home, Duluth in particular, because some of his closest friends and family members reside in this city. “I want to be their voice on the city council,” Kirkland told Pretty Southern.

Vote Kirkland4Duluth!

We asked Kirkland about when he was growing up and what was his dream job?” Kirkland replied that when he was younger, he was really interested in becoming a stand-up comedian. And let’s be honest y’all, politics today can be pretty comical. We need new, fresh ideas to help enable our local communities to be forward thinking, and Kirkland is ready to help serve.

Kirkland has a history of public service. “In my early 20’s I severed a three-year term on the Zoning Board of Appeals,” Kirkland said. “While serving on that board I made some decisions that had a positive impact on people’s quality of life. After seeing what municipal government can do for people I was inspired to run for local office.”

If we could fast forward to 2022, five years from now, we asked Kirkland would you like to see happen in Duluth, and how would he impact that change? “Managing the growing population,” was Kirk’s immediate reply, because the population numbers in Duluth, Gwinnett County, and across the Metro Atlanta area continues to rise. Kirkland also explained that he wants to see more firms and employers locating to or near the Duluth city limits. He also envisions “more walkability” and pedestrian friendly areas in Duluth.

“I want Duluth to be a smart city…a city of the future.” – Kirkland Carden

Can you tell folks why they should vote for you to be the next City Councilman of Duluth?
“The People of Duluth should vote for me on November 7th because I’m committed to being their voice on the city council. I want to address real issues that residents have shared with me. With my professional and academic background, I have the skills necessary to be a leader in addressing issues such as transportation, community blight and to help retain the next generation of young people.”

Here are some questions that we ask in every Pretty Southern profile…

How do you define a Southerner?
“My definition of a Southerner is someone that relates and identifies with the rich culture, the heritage, and the traditions of this region. Some of those traditions are saying ‘Ma’am’ and ‘Sir’ without having to think about it, drinking sweet tea from mason jars or greeting someone walking down the street.”

How do you define a gentleman or lady?
“People who seek to be courteous towards others, and conduct themselves in an ethical, friendly manner.”

What’s your favorite Southern food?
Shrimp and Grits

Come meet Kirk on August 31st

There’s a fundraiser for Kirkland on Aug. 31, 2017, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Law Office of Andrew, Merritt, Reilly & Smith, LLP located at 7 Lumpkin Street, Lawrenceville, GA 30046

Food and beverages will be provided during the evening. Please RSVP at your earliest convenience. Your support and contributions are welcome and very much appreciated.

For more information, check out Kirkalnd Carden’s website and Kirkland4Duluth on Facebook

Vote for Kirkland Carden for Duluth City Council on Nov. 7!

August 21, 2017