Being Brave: The #UnWord2014 Project

Some really inspiring blogger gals are doing a project and I decided to take part in it. You might be familiar with the trend of choosing a word or phrase to embrace for the year. This can be a neat thing to do to start the brand new year on the right foot or perhaps set the tone for how you want it to go. I've never done it myself, but always sort of wondered what my word might be.

In the case of the bloggers (Edie, Darlene, Nester, and Angela), instead of embracing a word, we're un-embracing. The idea is to think about what word you need to do away with...because aren't there so many things that just don't serve our best interests?

I started thinking about what word I wanted to declare as my unword for the year and it seemed everything kept leading me back to the same place. Every area that first appeared to leave me lacking stemmed from my fear of it.

My un-word for 2014 is unafraid. I don't want to be afraid of unknowns and unpredictables (which so many things are). I don't want to be freaked out when everything doesn't go "a certain way."

But even more than that, I want to be brave this year. Fear is such a nasty little booger...it creeps in little by little and before we know it, there are so many areas of our lives that we're living halfheartedly, afraid to step out or speak up, afraid to be ourselves or let our raveled edges show.

I was on my way to an event recently and feeling anxiety about it because I worried it would be awkward or I wasn't going to fit in. In the car as I was arriving, the song below came on the radio. It encouraged me so much. Then a good friend shared the video on Facebook and it reaffirmed my desire to kick fear to the curb and embrace my brave self.

Imagine that God is saying this to you: "I just want to see you be brave."

Because He does, you know. You were created with something amazing inside and it's only in overcoming your fear that the world can experience the awesomeness that is you.

I heart art: CitizenKG

I’ve always believed that photographers make the best bloggers and since I’m not much of a photog myself, I decided to do the next best thing: befriend talented photographers and shamelessly use their gorgeous images in exchange for friendship and the occasional cupcake or two.

This set of images is from the super-talented and oh-so-sweet Ms. CitizenKG, who I met at Blissdom last month. I think we recognized each other’s deer in headlights expression (being newbies and all) and by the time lunch was over, I felt like we were old friends.

Ms. K is just a fountain of creativity, from her fabulous photography & her sweet etsy creations to all the yummy recipes & adventures that she catalogs on her blog. She just stitched an adorable stuffed pig that I’m totally in love with.

These images are from a set called “the things we leave behind” and they were taken on an abandoned property in Arkansas. If a picture is worth a thousand words, these speak volumes. It’s definitely something to think about…the imprint that we leave on our surroundings after we are long gone away from them. Show Ms. K some love…just don’t start cozying up to her with the intention of stealing her photos…I already beat you to it!

Happy Hump Day Friends!

Stylish Blooms a’ la Spud

I definitely pretend to have a green thumb when it comes to plants, and sometimes my plants actually grow and thrive. However, I’ve never even once pretended to be able to do anything with flowers, although I did try here. Even with my lack of floral design skills, I can recognize awesome when I see it and these centerpieces are awesome!

All of these giant floral centerpieces were used as decoration for one particular event at the recent conference I attended. The event was an afternoon snack break and the snack was French fries.

Each arrangement includes food and/or products that follow the theme of that particular variety of fry. I know it’s a little over the top, but what a neat way to think outside the box when creating floral arrangements.

The varieties of fry were “lemon pepper & parmesan waffle,” “barbecued sweet potato,” “Caribbean jerk,” and “chili lime.” I’ll let you match up the flavors with the flowers.

After we all tasted each variety, everyone voted on his or her favorite and supposedly, the winning flavor will be available in stores (the brand is Alexia if you’re curious and want to try them out for yourself).

One thing that I took away from last week and really from travel in general is that getting away from our normal routines helps us gain a bit of perspective on the vast amount of stuff that is out there. Using potatoes in a centerpiece certainly wasn’t on my radar before, but now I’m thinking of all sorts of neat things you could get creative with.

And isn’t that the whole point? Broadening our creative horizons? Maybe I’ll do nothing more than put four pretty pears in a bowl on my counter, but then again that’s something too. How are you adding a little pretty to your life these days?

My Life as a Blogger

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My first foray into the world of online publishing was back in 2000. A high school friend with mad computer skillz had his own website and he gave me a message board which was housed on it, Kate’s Fabulous Fashion Forum. I remember how excited I would get each night as I wrote the next day’s post. Only a handful of people even knew about it and the site is not in service anymore.

In 2009, I created a blogger account and titled my blog “Small Town, Big Dreams.” My big dreams never became reality and I didn’t write a single post. Finally, late in 2009, I arrived at the new name, Southern Belle Simple. This journey has been an adventure for me…full of learning and meeting wonderful new folks.

Last week I attended the blogger conference Blissdom and it was quite the experience. The best way I can describe it is “Sorority Rush: Grown-up Style.” Like sorority rush, it was hectic, stressful and overwhelming. Also like rush, it ended with some fabulous friendships being made and learning so much about myself and the world of blogging. I would definitely do it again, although next time I’ll know what to do differently.

I want this blog to be amazing. It’s not about having a huge number of fans or followers, although I love you all. I just want SBS to be a bright spot in your day. And if you have ideas or thoughts on how to make it a little brighter, please share them! Your opinion matters here. I have already made a couple of small edits in the hope of improving this community, including adding a program called Disqus to the comment section so that you can reply to specific comments instead of just in a chronological line. I also updated the reader poll if you have a chance to take it.

I thank you for reading and look forward to our next adventure together!

P.S. Nashville’s Channel 4 did a story on Blissdom and here’s a link…you might just see a familiar face!