Christmas Pretties!

Some of my favorite things that adorned our Christmas tree in 2010...

























Every year, the season ends too soon. Always looking forward to pulling out the pretties for the season and never looking forward to putting them away.

World Needs More Lizards

Hey Ya'll,
I haven't been around for quite a while because I have been working like crazy. I was in Cocoa Beach, FL two weeks ago (yes, working) and took some great pictures.

All I can say is that the world needs more lizards! I interrupted their afternoon rendezvous right in the middle of the parking lot. They were going at it for so long that I had time to run inside and get my camera. I certainly never expected to see this in front of the condominium building!

I call this the real "wildlife" of Florida!

Sweet Tea Party

Hey Y'all,
Once again, I have been a terrible blogger! However, my life has been consumed by the tea party movement sweeping the nation as the Nationwide Event Coordinator. I am also one of the Co-Chairs of the Atlanta Tea Party. I am thrilled and honored to be part of this historic movement. However, I am perplexed about one thing and am hoping some of my friends can help...

If you are having a tea party in the south, does it have to be sweet tea?

You thoughts are comments are welcome!

Happy Birthday Count Chocula & Coco Madamoiselle!

Hey Y'all!
I hope everyone is having a great weekend! It seems to go by too fast for most! The day is almost over, but I need to wish my beautiful chocolate puppies a Happy 5th Birthday today! It is hard to believe they are five already! It seems like just yesterday they were babies! I know that have had a great day and have been indulged with lots of delicious treats and many many belly rubs! I wish they knew how much joy they bring to our lives! We are truly blessed to have them in our family!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from their early years! I wish they were still little and fluffy! They are big lovers now! I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I love my puppies...always my babies!

















This is my favorite picture of them...taken one day while we were out washing the car and working in the garden! Total heavenly chocolate bliss! What's not to love about puppies?



Happy Birthday to Count Chocula (milk chocolate) and Coco Madamoiselle (dark chocolate)! Mommy and Daddy love you!

Longing For Spring To Play In the Dirt

Hey Y'all,
It started off as another cold rainy winter day in Hotlanta. However, this afternoon it warmed up enough to usher in the first signs of spring! Late this afternoon, the skies grew dark and it became eerily still and calm outside. Soon after the calm, we were greeted with superb thunderstorms featuring super size hail, gusting and howling high winds, tornado warnings complete with blaring emergency sirens, pounding heavy rain and a magnificent light show. You know what this means? Spring is right around the corner! Woohoo!

I have to admit, I haven't felt really inspired to write much lately, but do feel the need to express myself in a creative way. Thus, I am happy to bring you a collection of pictures from the Southern Belle archives. Of course, if you know me, you know these pictures are going to be something to remind us of spring and warmer days! I will just call these photographs my flower and insect collection!

I have taken all of these photographs myself in the past three or four years and all of these flowers are in (or were in) my own garden! Although I HATE bugs (mainly the ones in my house), these little insects in the garden are my friends! I am anxiously awaiting the time of year where I can play and dig in the dirt, while socializing with the keepers of my garden! Today's tumultuous weather indicates gardening weather is just around the corner!

I hope you enjoy my pictures! If you have some pretty gardening pictures to share, please email them to me at southernbelleblog@gmail.com. I would love to do a blog post with guest's pictures in the near future.

Butterfly Bush with Bee

Double Impatient

Zinnia & Butterfly

Morning Glory

Hydrangea

Cosmos ~ Big Guy Always Wins!

Fuschia

Just Because...

My sweetie bought me the most beautiful bouquet of light pink roses enhanced by a darker pink along the edge of each petal. They are gorgeous and so fragrant. Of course, anytime you are handed one rose or a bouquet of roses, the first thing you do is smell them. They are every bit as fragrant as they are beautiful!

Baby Belle asked him why he bought me roses and his reply was a simple, "Just because..." He truly is the love of my life! I wish I could by him a Porsche "just because"!

I love to photograph flowers and since Spring has yet to arrive, my Roses did a great job as a subject! I am dedicating this blog post to my Mom to say "I Love You" because she will love this post! Where do you think this Southern Belle developed a passion for flowers and gardening? From my wonderful Momma!

Which picture is your favorite? Please post your favorite in the comments section. Also, if you like to photograph flowers, what is your favorite flower to photograph? Mom, I am looking for your comment especially! I look forward to hearing from all of y'all!

Thanks for visiting! Have a great night y'all!

Photograph One

Photograph Two

Photograph Three

Photograph Four

Photograph Five

Photograph Six

Photograph Seven

Photograph Eight

Photograph Nine

Photograph Ten

Photograph Eleven

Photograph Twelve

The Southern Belle Family's Favorite Recipe!

Hey Y'all,
I know last week I told you I was going to give you a fabulous recipe and I have not forgotten. I have been very busy over the past week trying to contact elected officials to get the porky pig stimulus package stopped. Unfortunately, it was passed today, but there is still hope. The bill is now in conference and has to go back to the house and the Senate before being sent to the President. Anyway, I will praying for divine intervention in this case.

I also have been playing outside in the dirt over the past several days! It has been so beautiful, it is hard to believe last week it was like the frozen artic tundra. I am definitely ready for spring and this week has been the perfect teaser! My chocolate labs have enjoyed it too! Mr. Southern Belle and I took the poops on a long walk on Sunday...between 2-3 miles. Needless to say, we were all whipped! We need to be doing that on a regular basis! Everyone slept like babies on Sunday night! To be honest, I don't know when this gorgeous weather is going to end, but I will be perfectly content if it stays warm until spring officially starts! I hate winter!

So, onto the recipe I promised you! This is not my own recipe, but one from Paula Deen! Paula is one of my favorite celebrity chefs from Food Network! I have never met her in person, but from what I see on TV, she is one of us...a true Southern Belle! I just love her! I absolutely feel like I could invite her over and feel very comfortable with her in my kitchen! Of course, I would love to go to her kitchen too!

Anyway, this recipe is for a salad dressing that my family absolutely loves! Mr. Southern Belle loves salad, but he usually doesn't eat salad dressing. The first time I made this dressing, he asked me to send the recipe to his Momma so she could make it when he visits! Then, Baby Belle (aka Princess) fell in love with the dressing. Needless to say, they fight over it now. She comes home from school (college) and takes all the dressing back to school with her! She tells him, "Have Mom make you more!" I always make in a double batch at least, sometimes more!

The recipe below includes the ingredients for the salad, but we eat it on every kind of salad. Our favorite salad is spinach, red onions, walnuts or almonds, feta cheese, and some type of fruit (either strawberries, mandarin oranges, raspberries, or blueberries). If you would like to make a meal out of your salad, I recommend roasting a chicken breast with olive oil and Italian seasoning and then dicing it up to put on your salad. Bottom line is that I hope you enjoy the dressing with the food of your choice! Let me know how you like it friends!

Spinach, Strawberry, and Hearts of Palm Salad
by Paula Deen

Cook Time: 15 Minutes
Level: Easy
Number of Servings: 12

Ingredients
* 1/3 cup cider vinegar
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 1/2 small red onion, grated
* 1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
* 1 teaspoon dry mustard
* 1/2 teaspoon paprika
* 1 1/2 pounds fresh spinach, washed and torn into pieces
* 1 can hearts of palm, drained and chopped
* 2 cups strawberries, stemmed and sliced
* 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
For the dressing, combine the vinegar, sugar, lemon juice, and salt in a small non-reactive saucepan and heat over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring frequently. Remove pan from heat and let cool to room temperature. When cooled, whisk in the oil, onion, poppy seeds, dry mustard and paprika until thoroughly combined. Set dressing aside. In a salad bowl, combine the spinach, hearts of palm, strawberries, and walnuts. When ready to serve, add some of the dressing, and toss gently. Serve the remaining dressing alongside the salad so diners may add more, if desired.

You can also find the recipe here.

Thanks guys and dolls for visiting! Enjoy the recipe! If you have a recipe to share, please send it my way! Talk to you soon!

Southern Belle

P.S. The picture above is not my picture, but was borrowed from Paula to show you the scrumptious salad! However, the poopies are mine!