1) Last night a friend and I went to see Third Day, Switchfoot, Jars of Clay and Robert Randolph & The Family Band. If you’ve never listened to Robert Randolph & The Family Band, you need to know that they are a TREASURE. I linked to one of their videos a long time ago on my Daily Links page, but in case you missed that, I’m going to post a video again.

They make me HAPPY. And they are PHENOMENAL live.

Last night’s concert was one of those rare shows where I was excited to hear every single band. Yay, music.

And I have some concert-related tales in the works.

Also! Video!

2) Less than one week until “The Office.” I just needed to document that for my own personal enjoyment.

3)

Before & After is a week from today. Which means I better get hoppin’.

4) We don’t buy a lot of toys at our house, but given the level of Star Wars interest in our home, we finally bought Alex a “real” Anakin Skywalker light saber because, quite frankly, I was tired of finding my vacuum cleaner attachments (aka pretend light sabers) all over the house.

You would’ve thought we’d given that child gold. Only he doesn’t really know what gold is. So I guess there’s probably a better analogy to express his delight, but I’ll be dadgummed if I can think of it right now.

Anyway, a few days ago we stopped at the mailbox before we pulled into our driveway, and the mailman was at the house across the street. So Alex rolled down his window, screamed, “THANK YOU FOR THE MAIL,” rolled up his window, thought for a few seconds, rolled down the window again, and screamed, “I GOT A FAYN-CEE NEW LIGHT SABER!”

You’ve never seen a more puzzled postman in your life.

And I may need to temper my use of the word “fancy.”

5) This has been a crazy week, as evidenced by the decided lack of posting here. I’ll try to do better. Perhaps my lifelong tendency to fly by the seat of my pants is no longer a viable time-management solution.

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Contrary to what you might think – and though my regional enthusiasm might indicate otherwise – I really don’t walk around with a head-in-the-clouds, idealized notion of the South. I totally get that this part of the country, like any other part of the country, has its issues.

But still. It’s tough for me to be objective about this place. Mainly because I love it so much.

I love the people. I love the towns. I love the hospitality. I love the sense of family. Lord knows I love the food. And I love the way Southerners treasure the pieces and parts of our lives that make us different, that set us apart.

For the last forty years Southern Living has captured all the best parts of Southern life. The unique places, the colorful people, the inviting homes, the phenomenal food – you could find examples of all those things inside every single issue. And no matter where I’ve lived as an adult – Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama – Southern Living has followed me from mailbox to mailbox, from living room to living room, from coffee table to coffee table. In so many ways, that over-sized, stapled, heavy-on-serifs magazine has been like an old friend.

A few days ago I had a great email conversation with a wonderful lady who works for Southern Living. She could not have been more understanding about last week’s post and the comments that followed. Her emails really helped me to understand that the recent changes at Southern Living are intended to be a leap forward, and she said that they feel like they have exciting things ahead. She was so nice, in fact, that I thought about renewing my subscription just to support her. I know she and her colleagues work oh-so-hard at what they do, and I’ve felt a little guilty that what I wrote may have been discouraging to them. I apologize if it was.

And the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized that at the heart of my original post is a concern about something way bigger than a magazine.

Talk to any life-long Southerner, and he or she can tell you a hundred different ways that the South is increasingly homogenized. Beloved mom and pop establishments have been replaced by chain restaurants, chain bookstores, chain gas stations and chain department stores. People stare blankly when they hear the names Eudora Welty, Willie Morris or Tennessee Williams. Teenagers in Southern suburbs sound like they could have grown up anywhere. Atlanta has an IKEA, for crying out loud.

But like The Biltmore in Asheville, Toomer’s Drugs in Auburn, Commander’s Palace in New Orleans, and so many other regional touchstones, Southern Living has, for countless Southerners, been a sweet reminder of the traditions that make our South so unique. And while you may think it’s overly sentimental for me to bemoan Southern Living‘s recent changes in binding, size, and style, it’s really not so much sentimentality as it is sort of a weary resignation to the fact that the South is also changing in ways I don’t necessarily love.

Quite frankly, I’ve just been sort of bummed that Southern Living wasn’t an exception to the rule.

For me, Southern Living used to be an invitation to slow down and take in the wonder of the South. The look was completely different from every other magazine, and somehow that was Just Right – because this place, this South, is unlike any other place. At least for now.

So you can tell me that the new binding is modern. You can tell me that the new size is appealing. You can tell me that the new layout is functional. All those things may very well be true.

But here’s the bottom line with me: I don’t want “new and improved” from a Southern benchmark like Southern Living any more than I want to have a long, in-depth conversation with Emma Kate via text message, any more than I want to make a pound cake from a mix, or any more than I want to haul out some paper plates and plastic cups for Christmas dinner.

I mean, if I wanted to, I could probably figure out a way to fry chicken in a microwave for the sake of convenience.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that I should.

I’m sure that if you give me enough time, I’ll get used to the new look and feel of Southern Living. I’ll probably grow to love it, even. After all, I’ve gotten used to the fact that some brides now register at Target instead of their local china shop, and I’ve gotten used to the fact that wearing white year-round has become acceptable. I’ve gotten used to the fact that it’s perfectly fine to don linen straight through fall.

So yes, times change. Traditions fade.

But the old Southern Living? It was perfection, y’all.

I’ll vow and declare it for the rest of my earthly days.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

All righty, interpeeps. I was all prepared to post my SL update, but between a certain five year-old who is asserting all manner of will, a cold that apparently has no intention of leaving my chest cavity until I cough up at least one of my pesky lungs, and the non-stop coverage of Hurricane Ike, I think I’m pretty much done.

Case in point: right now it’s 5:30 in the afternoon, and I already have on my pajamas.

So I think it’s a safe bet that, in addition to dealing with The Child and The Cold, I’m gonna be flipping between CNN (their weather team is EXCELLENT, by the way) and The Weather Channel for the rest of the day. And night. And tomorrow.

Oh! And one more thing!

This afternoon I was picking up some stuff at the grocery store so we could make taco salads tonight, and I’ll have you know that the 8 ounce packages of Famous Name Brand shredded cheese were FOUR DOLLARS AND THIRTY NINE CENTS.

I nearly went on to my heavenly reward right there in front of the dairy case.

I mean, I’m pretty good at rolling with the economic punches, but once you add tax, that’s almost five dollars for two cups of shredded cheese. That seems a bit on the high side. Heaven knows that I’m a fan of cheese and all, but I’ll grate some blocks of cheddar for the rest of my earthly days before I pay that much for the privilege of using Famous Name Brand shredded cheese product.

I don’t know why this fascinates me so, but I can’t help but ask: what have you seen lately at the grocery store that caused a little sticker shock?

See y’all in the comments. I’ll be the one holding a box of tissues in one hand and a remote control in the other.

And coughing. I’ll also be doing a whole lot of coughing.

Charming as ever, I am.

So, a few things:

1) I have some thoughts about our Southern Living discussion that I’ll post sometime tomorrow. I had NO. IDEA. that so many people would feel the same way I do. And I actually had a very lovely email exchange with someone who works at SL, and she was so gracious about everything that it sort of made me want to subscribe again just to support her and her colleagues. But I’ll tell you about all of that later.

2) If y’all get a chance, go visit Kelli and offer her some sweet encouragement. You can read all about her situation on her blog.

3) Podcast. Yes. We have recorded one. But I have not edited it. That’s on my list for tomorrow. We recorded it about a week and a half ago, so the news may be a little, well, old, but we’ll just pretend that it’s all current and topical and fun. M’kay?

In the meantime, enjoy this clip of Travis and some of his friends recording the choir parts for one of the songs on his Christmas CD. The husband and I were in Nashville the weekend they did this, and we were BLOWN AWAY by their talent.

What must it be like to produce beautiful melodious sounds when you sing? I have no experience with this. I do, however, have a great deal of experience producing unappealing monotone sounds.

And yet surprisingly, no one has ever offered me a recording contract.

4) Praying for all of you in Ike’s path. Be safe.

5) That’s it. Going to bed. Hasta luego, internets.