2014, y'all.

Keep checking out www.meetthemagnolias.com - it's where I'm at!

Update:

Y'all, I won't say I'm done here. (Who knows?) But be sure to check out www.meetthemagnolias.com for the latest!

Love,
Jessica

Pucker up!

I currently have six Revlon lip products in my bag....and to think, I downsized!

One of my very first style icons...

If you know me, you know that this is my 19th year with the same best friend. Her name is Paige, and we have become family after all these years. People used to mistake us for sisters all the time, so finally we just embraced it!

(Me with Paige on her wedding day!)

A little background information: Though we have been best friends for 19 years, our families have known each other for much longer! Our aunts were best friends in college, and our grandparents were in the same Sunday school class for years! I believe this brings us to my main purpose of this blog! I can't wait to share with you one of my very first fashion inspirations, Paige's Mamaw, Sue Thornton!

Sue, a few years before we met! ;)

(Mrs. Sue wearing the lion pearls pictured below!)

One of my earliest memories of Mrs. Sue, if not my very first, was seeing her in the church parking lot. I had to be between 6 and 7 years old. I looked at (I believe my Granny), and said, "I want to be just like the ring lady when I grow up!" See, I was certain of something when I was very young: I loved rings!!!! When I saw Mrs. Sue in all her well-accessorized glory, I knew I had no option but to be flashy when I grew up!

Besides being gorgeous and dressing to the nines, Mrs. Sue (or Mamaw #2 as I would come to call her), was such a strong lady! I am still learning things abouther that amaze me! She was such a loving wife, sister, daughter, and mother. She was certainly the best Mamaw that Paige could ever have!

(Me with my Mamaw #2! So glad my bangs are gone now!)

All of that to say, Paige recently pulled out some of her Mamaw's jewelry collection just so I could blog about it! I think you'll see why I was so easily inspired!
(Wearing a heart necklace she liked a lot!)

Her collection ranged from costume pieces to fine jewelry. I'll show you a few of her favorites...and a few of mine!


As we were going through jewelry, it was so neat to be able to hear Paige and her mom look at the pieces and recall what Mrs. Sue wore them with! She wore this leopard pin with a certain top or a certain scarf!


This set of lion door-knocker style earrings and lion pearls may be my new favorite! So dramatic and strong, but so feminine!


I researched this necklace and earring set and found out that Kennth Jay Lane did a collection for Avon so that everyday women could afford his jewels!

Lastly, we have the jewels from the Smithsonian Institution collection! I was wowed the first time I saw these pieces! They are flashy, sparkly (swoon!), and clearly something every girl should own! Right? Wrong. I found out that she may not have ever worn them! Hahah. I guess there is a fine line between flashy and gaudy, and she didn't want to get too close to the latter! Maybe there was just never the right occassion!

There you have it! A little insight into why I'm so into piling the jewelry on! I saw someone with a ton of class try her hand at it and succeed! When you have the right role model and the right motivation, there's nothing you can't do!

A summer day in February...

Today has been a gorgeous day! It's in the 80s out!

Goodbye 2011!

What an amazing year! I saw my best friend get engaged and married, I turned 25, and I got engaged! Those are only three of the highlights of my year! Looking forward to 2012!

Awakened.

I don't know how to start this really. I guess by apologizing.
You see,I have preached the positivity..."God is LOVE!"...and He is.
But you see, saying something, and living it are two different things entirely.

I have made stuff my god.
I have made celebrities my idols.
I am barely awake before I'm checking all my social networks - for validation from people.
I am barely to work before I'm clammoring through all the gossip blogs I read daily.
I have clothed myself in as much as of this world as I have been able.

I wondered why I was plagued with guilt and axiety to the point I could barely function.
I wondered why I was never perfectly content with the money I make and the things I buy.
I wondered why no matter how many new clothes I buy, I never look like the girls in blogs and supermodels in magazines.

I hate missing my tv shows.
I hate not having an unlimited amount of money to spend on magazines.
I hate not being able to buy music and movies and tv shows the day they release.
Yet, there isn't room in my closet for my clothes.
There isn't room anywhere for more CDs, movies, shows, books, or magazines.

Growing up, from middle/high school on, all I wanted was fame and fortune.
I didn't really care or know how I was going to acquire it.
I just needed it.
Later, in college, I wanted (and still want) to work in magazines or fashion.
I'd love to be a novelist.
Now I'm thinking maybe I should do that because God has blessed me with the gift of writing.
It isn't all about me and what I have to say...He has a greater purpose for me...I can't even imagine or dream up anything as good as what He has in store.

You see, it's like I'm finally figuring it out.
I have such a fantastic purpose in my life...in this world.
If I put as much time into my relationship with God as I do with my best friends, I'll be a different person.
I'll be a better person.
I'll be who I'm supposed to be - who God designed me to be.

I grew up in church.
I've heard the sermons and stories.
I've been singing the songs.
Now it's time that outside of church, I live like I believe the real truth.
Twenty-four hours a day. Seven days a week. 365 days a year.
No matter what anyone thinks.

I'm not saying from now on I'll be perfect.
I'm not saying I won't see celebrities as entertaining or clothes as beautiful.
I'm just saying that I'm going to try harder to keep God as my first priority.
It's because of Him that I am able to experience entertainment and beauty.
It's because of Him that I have the love in my life that I do.
I am blessed immensely.

I'll end on a bit of a sidenote:If you have tried church, and tried God, and it wasn't for you, please reconsider.
People aren't perfect.
Churches can sometimes just be buildings.
Just know that God, the real, true God, really is LOVE. Absolute love.

(Somehow, this didn't end up exactly as I'd thought it up in the car, but it isn't about me anyway.)