Hey y’all –

Back in October I got to meet Monica Steeley and Sarah Goede at Allume, and I was immediately drawn to them because of their sweet friendship. Back before Christmas they were kind enough to ask me to be a guest on their Be Still, Be Free podcast, and I had the best time with them and their friend Amber. We talked about all kinds of things – Chuy’s, mimes, writing, and marriage, among other topics – and we laughed a ton.

They also have fancy graphics. Clearly.

The girls at Be Still, Be Free are also giving away a copy of , so if you’d like to enter to win, just head on over to their website.

And if you enjoy listening to podcasts, you should absolutely subscribe to Be Still, Be Free. You’ll be encouraged, you’ll laugh, and you’ll love getting to know these sweet women!

Finally, Melanie and I have a new podcast that we’ll post tomorrow, and that’ll be the final piece in the podcast triumvirate of the last few days.

Hope y’all are having a great Monday!

I love free stuff. I especially love free books (and also free coffee). So when my publisher, Tyndale, told me that they were going to offer my first book, A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet, as a FREE eBook this week, I thought that was just about the most fun thing ever.

Because it’s FREE. Free on Kindle, free on Nook, free on ChristianBook.com – FREE.

And now I’m sitting here laughing at myself because I kind of want to download it and I wrote the thing. But the allure of free is strong, my friends.

Anyway, I won’t waste your time with all my thoughts about free things, but I will pass along some links. The eBook will be free until Saturday, January 31st at midnight (I have no idea what time zone will apply).

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And if you don’t have an eReader, remember that both Kindle and Nook have apps you can download to your computer or phone or the tablet of your choosing.

I love that Tyndale is doing this the week after released, mainly because it feels like the perfect way to say THANK YOU for making this past week so much fun. I certainly didn’t expect for the new book to come out three weeks early, but now I’m so glad that it did (it cut three weeks off of my pre-release nerves / sleeplessness, and that is a gift that will keep on giving).

Hope you or someone you love will enjoy the free book – and Happy Sunday, y’all!

I feel like I’ve been reading Edie’s blog forever. And from the first day that I read it, I thought, Well, she is pretty much exactly who I want to be when I grow up. Even though I’m pretty sure that we’re same age. I love her humor, her vulnerability, her style (OH, HAVE MERCY, HER STYLE), and her deep affection for people and place.

Edie and I finally got to meet in person this past year, and she, Melanie, I laughed non-stop for approximately three hours. Actually, we hooted for three hours. And clapped our hands. And talked REAL loud.

Earlier this week Edie was oh-so-gracious to invite me to be a guest on her podcast, and I immediately said yes. And even though I apparently activated some sort of echo setting on my microphone (you can always count on me to jack up some audio) and sound a little bit like Wolfman Jack (there’s a 70’s reference for you), I don’t even care. Edie asked the best questions and was such a gracious host and I had the best time talking to her.

I also wouldn’t mind it if she would come over and accessorize my house, but that’s probably another discussion for another time.

So. You can find the podcast over at Edie’s blog, and I hope y’all enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed being a part of the conversation.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

p.s. I still want to be Edie when I grow up.

p.p.s. I’ll let you know how that works out.

Here are the giveaway winners; we matched a random number drawing with the comment number. I’ll be in touch about how to claim your prizes! Thanks, y’all!

Today has been one of those days when, for a whole host of reasons, I have been super nostalgic about my college friends. It’s probably because I found myself in the middle of a big ole group text at 6 o’clock in the AM, and by 9 my friend Katy had sent me the following picture of her at a Chi O Valentine’s dance, sporting an outfit that she wore with great intention and also pride.

It makes me so happy on so many different levels. There’s the bow, the polka dots, the lacy ankle socks, the red shoes with what looks to be just the slightest hint of a heel – it’s just too good. And then, if you look at her date / lifelong friend Charlie’s ankle area, it appears that he might have tight rolled those acid washed jeans in order to showcase his lace-up boots.

So the bottom line is that there is nothing about this picture that does not delight me.

Inevitably, though, this morning’s text convo with Katy turned sort of reflective and serious, and that is maybe the biggest blessing of deep friendships that span a whole lot of years: you can go from silly to serious in about four seconds flat, and then, if need be, you can go right back to silly without missing a beat.

All day long I thought about the girls that shaped so much of what I believe about friendship and kindness and sincerity and being FOR EACH OTHER (as opposed to being mired down in some silent, endless, pointless competition that no one will ever win). Maybe this is why I found myself a little more sentimental than usual on the Instagram tonight.

I’ve been thinking all day about my college friends. They have checked on me and texted me and looked out for me in a hundred ways the last couple of weeks. I don’t have old pictures of all of them on my phone – this is just an impromptu sampler :-) – but oh my word I cannot imagine the last 25 years without these people. They have made me laugh until I wheezed, they have hugged me when I cried, and they have said “What can I do to help?” more times than I can count. They were the first people to read my pitiful attempts at personal essays when I was 19, the first people to read my blog, and the first people to say “YES” when I asked if I could tell some of our stories in a book I wanted to write. I can’t imagine what life would look like without them because they have been God’s grace in my life over and over again. They’re mighty sweet (as my mama would say), and I sure do love them. #homeiswheremypeopleare #tbt #unfortunatepermsofinstagram

A photo posted by Sophie Hudson (@boomama205) on Jan 22, 2015 at 4:16pm PST

(You may have to click through to see the IG post if you’re reading this via email.)

(But you do whatever you feel is best. I am certainly not the boss of you.)

So, in the interest of celebrating friendship and the first week of , I’m doing a little giveaway. I’m giving away 10 books, but here’s the twist. I’ll draw for five winners who will get a signed copy of the book, and then each of those winners can pick one of their people – whether that person is a friend or a family member or both – and that special person will get a signed copy, too.

I’m only leaving this giveaway open until noon central time on Friday, January 23rd, and then I’ll draw for winners ASAP. I’ll mail the books just as soon as I have everyone’s addresses – hopefully by the first of next week.

By the way, if you’d like to earn a second entry in this giveaway, just follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, and then come back here and leave an additional comment that says “social media entry.” And if you’re already plugged in on one of the social media outlets, you can absolutely still use the additional social media entry. Fair is fair, after all.

Finally. If you’re not sure if you’d want to win the book because you’re not sure if you’d want to read it, you can for free American dollars. It’s like a little sampler platter, only unfortunately it will arrive on your computer without any queso or Buffalo wings.

Happy Giveaway, y’all!

This giveaway is now closed. I’ll notify winners via email later this afternoon!

When the first book came out, I thought the categories that Amazon assigned it to made pretty good sense. Family & relationships. Christian living. Parenting didn’t even seem like too much of a stretch.

But with , the Amazon categories are a little bit of a mystery to me. Because if you look up the book, you’ll find it listed in the following areas.

I mean, where else would you expect to find a book about the life of a Mississippi girl who shares stories about her family and friends?

CHURCH HISTORY, OF COURSE.

Apparently Amazon puts some books under not-so-obvious categories so that the book has the opportunity to do well in a specific sub-category, and that is the only way to explain what I saw when I clicked over to Amazon earlier tonight.

WELL SURE.

That is exactly where a book that discusses stirrup pants should be.

And really, I wouldn’t care if Amazon put the book in the How-To category under Assembling Small Appliances. I’m just grateful that I had the opportunity to write it. And I really appreciate how y’all have ordered the book and sent encouraging emails and basically not grown weary with all the book-related talk. I promise it won’t last forever.

(By the way, if you have ordered the book, don’t forget to – pre-orders and orders apply through January 31st.)

Also.

My friend Tracey sent me this picture earlier tonight, and I’m excited to share it so that you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that when I write about wearing bows in college, it is NO JOKE.

Where to start?

The mint green ensemble?

The slightly askew bow?

THE PERM?

And if all that weren’t enough, I’m almost certain that I was wearing some white bucks and ankle socks with that sassy outfit.

So it’s made me wonder: what’s your greatest fashion regret? What trend were you ALL ABOUT during a certain period of time – even though it may make you cringe (more than) a little bit in retrospect?

Since my preoccupation with hairbows was somewhat unfortunate, I’m secretly hoping that at least one of you had a deep affinity for Units or a bubble suit.

But if acid washed jeans and denim rompers are the best we can do, so be it.

We’ll take our joy wherever we can find it.

Amen.

You know how there are some days when it seems like you catch up on every phone conversation you’ve been meaning to have for pretty much forever?

THAT WAS MY MONDAY.

It wasn’t even intentional. But by 9 o’clock tonight I realized that I had at least six longer-than-usual phone conversations today, and my inner extrovert feels just as accomplished as it can be.

Naturally this means that tomorrow I’ll need to read in solitude for several hours before I go sit by myself in Starbucks and catch up on my journal writing.

Being equal parts introvert and extrovert is no joke, my friends.

Alex and I got back to Birmingham this afternoon around 3:30 or so (David drove back yesterday because he had to work today), and I have to say that one of the very best parts of my day was reuniting with Hazel. I missed her LIKE CRAZY while I was in Mississippi, and she was so happy to see me this afternoon that after she’d jumped and whimpered for several minutes, she finally just squatted in the middle of the breakfast room and tee-teed.

Oh, she is a charmer.

But I am very happy to report that this time around I didn’t slip and fall.

So. Hazel and I are currently sitting side-by-side while I try not to fall asleep, and Alex just went to bed, and David is watching something-or-other on TV. There’s a pile of clean laundry on the guest room bed that needs to be folded, and the only thing is in this house that I can fix for breakfast in the morning is what’s left of a bag of frozen biscuits. I need to plan some meals, I need to go to the grocery store, and heaven knows that I need to fold some clothes.

But oh my word it is so nice to be home.

And if home in and of itself weren’t enough, the sunset flat-out showed out tonight. It was so pretty that I cried.

Twice.

I just kept looking up at the sky and thinking, No matter what we’re facing in life – God is greater.

It’s good to remember that. Especially when my wandering heart can be so prone to forget.

Anyway. I didn’t mean to go off on such a tangent, because the real reason I sat down to write this post was to pass along some information about book signings. I could make it sound all fancy and say, “Since so many of you have asked, I thought I’d pass along book signing info,” but the fact of the matter is that only about four of you have asked. However, YOU FOUR PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW.

So here’s what I have scheduled so far:

Wednesday, February 4th – The Liberty Shop, Meridian, MS – 3:00-5:30pm
Thursday, February 5th – Lemuria Bookstore, Jackson, MS – 4:00-6:00pm
Saturday, February 7th – LifeWay Store @ Lee Branch, Birmingham, AL – 12:00-2:00pm
Saturday, February 14th – LifeWay Store, Franklin, TN – 12:00-2:00pm

I also have a couple of out-of-state speaking things this spring, and I imagine I’ll be signing books there, too:

March 1, 2015 – North Monroe Baptist Church Women’s Event – Monroe, LA
March 28, 2015 – First Baptist Church Women’s Event – Collinsville, MS
April 21, 2015 – BLOOM at Crossroads Baptist Church – The Woodlands, TX

I’ll keep y’all posted if I add some more dates; I’d like to get up to north Mississippi / Memphis sometime in March, but I don’t have all the details nailed down yet.

So that’s all the news I have. Except that I think it might be good to look at that sunset picture ONE more time because OH, THE PRETTY.

In the middle of all this book stuff, which to be honest can be a little overwhelming, that sky is a big ole dose of perspective.

He is greater.

And I’m so glad.