Farmdale's First Party!

Have y’all ever hosted a shower for one of your closest, dearest friends at your house? I’m sure most of y’all have. But, have you ever had to install indoor plumbing and a driveway before the party? Well, it is doable, it will age you, it will question your sanity over and over and it will be the most fun you’ve had in a long time!!!

Farmdale is not finished. Farmdale will not be finished for a while longer. Farmdale though is where I would be hosting a shower for these friends – a proclamation I told my friends Katie and Douglas upon their engagement this summer. I thought I’d be in a Christmas at the latest… ha!!! I wanted to stick to my word and thankfully my fellow hosts pitched in! We had a party – a Perry Party for our sweet friend who’s moving from Houston County to Houston County… that’s pronounced like “House-ton” for us in Georgia and “Hugh-ston” for the Alabama reciprocal.

About a month ago, Katie and our friend Maggie texted me if we would have bathrooms at Farmdale. As a man, I can honestly say the though didn’t cross my mind. As the host to a group of my closest friends – a mixture of my buddies who thought like I did I’m sure, but our group now their pregnant wives, new fiancés, young moms and just lovely ladyfolks in general – I decided that the phrase “y’all just go outside” wouldn’t be very polite. Ha! Somehow though, in the course of that month, my septic system was installed, toilets installed too, a couple sconces hung in the bathrooms and I even hung a mirror over the sink – which had running water mind you!

Lucky for me, our social circle in Perry is a casual, relaxed group. We wore our jeans and boots, built a bonfire, roasted s’mores and dined on Amy’s famous chili – the white chicken and the awesome red one too! I made a big arrangement on top of a table I fashioned from sawhorses and shutters. This centerpiece boasted a couple racks from this year’s deer season, branches from my surrounding woods, pine cones and couple really cool pieces of wood Meredith and Maggie found on their walk. For the entertainment, we resorted to our old high school and college days. Growing up in a small, Southern town, we hung out around bonfires in high school and college. And we are still good at it too! Of course, the fear of being caught with beer has passed since we can buy our own – now we get flattered if we’re carded! S’mores were our dessert and I must admit I had my fair share! Who can resist a charcoal-caramelized marshmallow?

Farmdale Lane was dug out and lain with gravel so folks didn’t have to park in mud – mud that was frozen slush at one point since the well had busted in the cold one night. Miraculously, my front sidewalks got poured even amidst the cold weather which left on the day before and made for the most delightful, comfortable late winter evening in Perrydise. Regardless of moving heaven and earth to get extra lights, more amps for space heaters, sinks installed and the official plumbing to go with them, we were all together. A group of friends who have known one another since childhood, college and now into adulthood. We are tightly knit group who love one another and love to throw parties for one another too! I cherish our times together – times that are even more precious and treasured as our careers blossom, marriages begin, babies are born and even, sadly, move from Houston County to Houston County.

All in all, the party was a hit! I’m just thankful the toilets flushed! Congrats Katie and Douglas!!!

Falling for Fall… I do this Every Year!

There is no doubt – fall is my favorite season. As Editor at Large with Southern Living, I have the privilege of contributing fun stories and ideas to the magazine as a whole, but my fall stories seem to always make the newsstands! I’ve said it over and over and this mantra of mine is worth repeating: “Fall is a Southerner’s reward for surviving summer.” I’ve even seen this printed on a cocktail napkin – thanks y’all for the advertising!

So as y’all peruse the pages of the October Southern Living, I’d love to walk y’all through some of the fun from behind the scenes that didn’t make the cut – as if me and my uber stylish outfit weren’t cute enough for the pages of SL… ha! From the cracker-jack team of my BFF Jess “Frou Frou” Margeson, Stacey and Laura Lyn from JFI to the senior stylist Mrs. Buffy Hargett Miller herself to editor Jen Kopf and photographer extraordinaire Helen Norman (who has photographed A Time to Cook and Porch Living), we managed to somehow not only set, style and shoot and amazing venue, but have an absolute blast doing so! Time certainly flies when you’re having fun, and I’m here to tell y’all it was a blast from start to finish!

Jen Kopf, Helen Norman, yours truly, Buffy Hargett Miller

The setting was a dear, sweet friend’s home in Cashiers. I was at her house one lovely summer day for cocktails before sunset and jokingly said I wanted to transform her immaculate, stunning, antique-filled, absolutely gorgeous home into an autumnal oasis to celebrate the season… and pitch the idea to my editors at Southern Living. This, y’all is never an easy task to ask, but thankfully, my adorable friend (and her family) obliged. I cannot thank my precious friend enough!

With unparallel views of Whiteside Mountain just beyond the tree line, the crisp autumn air glowed with the hues only fall can afford to lend the sky. My friend, an antiques dealer out of Atlanta, has treasure troves of l’objets d’art from her forays through Parisian flea markets, Portobello Road in London and scouring the French and English countryside for just the right barley-twist candlesticks. If ever there was a “set” to photograph a celebration of the season, this home was it. From the mountainsides and gardens and farmers markets, I gleaned the season’s best. Tables were set, flowers were arranged and mantels bedecked with the flair of fall. Give me a pumpkin, some leaves and bittersweet, and I’ll give you a mantel!

Dried hydrangeas, rose hips, beauty berry, dahlias, Free Spirit roses, bittersweet, magnolia, cabbage, apples, pumpkins, oak leaves, acorns, pecans and plumes upon plumes of grasses were all woven together to create a tableau as rich as the season could present.  I could go on and on and on about this shoot. From the feel, the textures, the scents, the sights, the hues, tones, arrays and luscious combinations my favorite season gives us, I am rejuvenated and invigorated for this time of year.

I hope y’all are inspired to kick off the holiday season with a fanfare for fall. I know I am! Enjoy these behind the scenes pics and be sure to check out the October issue on newsstands now!

Jess and I have just as much fun taking selfies as we do making outrageous pumpkin arrangements. Her work is phenomenal! Like her hair, her pumpkin creations are a work of art!!

I love antique crocks and pottery. Here, these fantastic old jars with a deep tobacco glaze. These jars are filled to the brim with nandina berries, sweet gum, dried hydrangea, celosia and viburnum for some fall fabulousness. 

A garland of oak leaves, maple leaves, magnolia and dried hydrangea cloaks one side of the massive stone mantel. I love symmetry but I love balance more. Though this mantel scene is not symmetrical per se, it is balanced. Of course I had to throw some pumpkins and ornamental cabbage for good measure. 

Give Ol' Jimmy a jug of sweet tea and I can decorate for hours. You can take the boy out of Perry, but... y'all know how it goes!

 I love to use dough bowls as centerpieces. They are long and set a table oh so well. Here, I mounded bunches of dried hydrangea, fall foliage, artichokes and even a few turtle shells for texture. The nandina berries just pop against the autumnal palette. I love too how this is so fall but not filled with orange pumpkins. The green 'Cinderella' ones make for a stylish departure for this set up. Plus, this arrangement will last all through the fall with the hydrangeas and leaves and berries drying and the pumpkins lasting for months if they're not carved. 

Don't forget your windowboxes! As for a fall display, I kept the ivy that was spilling out but planted ornamental cabbages that will last all through the winter in the the Deep South. Magnolia, a few pumpkins nestled in here and there, bittersweet winding its way throughout the scene and even an artichoke or two can be found alongside the cabbage. I added a few stems of millet for texture too - because it is fall and I can!

Is there anything better than working with a hydrangea as big as your head? As big as Jess' hair even? No. the answer is "no." Nothing better y'all! Ha!

As wonderful and fabulous as all this created fun is, nothing beats The Almighty's handiwork on an autumn day in Cashiers!

Happy fall, y’all!

Frou Frou to You!

Sometimes, when two folks meet, stars align and maybe even a supernova somewhere in space explodes. Immeasurable energy is created and it must be invested somewhere. That is the case when one Jess aka “Gup” Margeson and I met in Hawkinsville circa… well let’s just say we were children… and that supernova channeled its energy into our friendship.

I came in the house from a day of summer fun on our farm just out from town. Upon returning indoors, I found my mother propped up on the green and white cabana stripe wicker chaise in her room. Her toes were drying from a fresh coat of “Cajun Shrimp” having been recently applied. This was Mama’s color eleven months out of the year. “Big Apple Red” was applied at Christmas.

This scenario was not an odd one for my sisters and me to witness. Mama was pretty religious when it came to her nail color. As I passed by her bedroom door, she waved and woowhooed at me. “I just met the cutest, sweetest, precious, Christian girl. I think y’all should get married. If not, she’s gonna be your best friend I know. I already love her. She liked my nail polish and hair. She’s raised right!” That’s all it took for Jess to brand herself to Mama’s heart.

I was about eleven years old at the time and a SPCG (the acronym given in my family to such gals of merit) for me to be friends with let alone marry was not on my radar. Yet, as mamas do, they have these inklings and premonitions when it comes to their children. The “SPCG” in mention was none other than the former Miss Jessica Elizabeth Vinson. Nowadays she is better known as Jess “Frou Frou”  Mrs. Matt Margeson. Her family had just moved to town and serendipitously down the street from us. Fate and destiny are one thing, noting could asunder what my mama joined together.

Pretty soon, Jess and I were friends. We rode the bus together to our school in the next town and thus had plenty of time to bond. Then nicknames “Gup” and “Doodle’ formed, respectively, as in line with all good friendships boasting nicknames. There are stories to the nicknames but I shan’t digress. We survived middle school together. When high school came around, Jess moved to the big ol’ city of Macon. There we kept in touch by phone, met for our overalls donned dates at THE Fair (when you’re from my neck of the woods, the Georgia National Fair is simply know as THE Fair. There is no other fair in our minds) and I even abused her GAP employee discount all throughout high school proper and into college as well. Those were darker days in our friendship since a twenty-mile stretch of I-75 separated us. When you cannot drive yourself to or from Macon, that I-75 corridor might as well be the Atlantic.

College brought us back together into the same town proper. Auburn called and we answered. After announcing to our respective families that we were going to live together, we had to dissolve said scheme and live in proper boys and girls dorms due to the near coronaries we caused our Mamas. Those dorms were fun, but if only Gup and Doodle could have cohabitated collegiately, there would’ve been volumes more to share. We practically did spend every moment we could together at Auburn. Our dorms were literally across the street from one another. I even (excuse the bravado and boasting but this a collegiate accomplish of great aptitude at Auburn) was able to sneak past “Miss Minnie” the dorm mother and hide out past curfew in Jess’ dorm room. It may have been time by the dormitory’s rule book for “gentlemen callers to leave” but Jess and I were often not through crafting, scheming our next adventure or simply rehashing the same ol’ childhood funnies over and over. Somehow, the stories we tell get funnier with age and repetition of telling!

Jess set her sights on a KA pledge named Matt. He fit her specific bill for what she was looking for in a man. Matt fit the bill with me because he asked me to “please keep dating Jess” when they get married. “I think it is the only way this will work” he said.

I did the flowers for their wedding (with a 102 temp and the flu mind you… hey… what are friends for?) and Jess has accompanied and crafted with me on weddings, parties and events across The South. From Richmond to Montgomery, we’ve decorated and decked the halls in many a Confederate capital city. Her floral design business, Frou Frou is based in Opelika, Alabama, so she remains close to  the “Promised Land – the rolling plains of Dixie, ‘neath the sun kissed skies.”

For my latest story in Southern Living, I had to have Jess as my wingman. Celebrating Fall in Cashiers was enough to get me thrilled beyond repair, but having Jess alongside made it that much better. We cut beauty berry, leaves, branches and grasses all up and down the mountain highways and byways and loaded “Goldie” my suburban down with every heirloom pumpkin we could carry. What the two of us can do with a pumpkin is nothing short of magical! Ha! Jess is great at the small stuff and I like the big stuff. I tackled the mantels (mainly because I could reach them… I’m 6’4” and she’s a good 5’ and slight change) and she tackled the pumpkins. We meet in the middle at the table and the job gets done!

There is something so sound about doing what you love for a living. Jess and I have found our passions and created professions. We are fortunate enough that our businesses coincided and can collaborate regularly. Work isn’t so much work as it is a blast of fun! Having a friend like Jess is one of my life’s greatest blessings in general. Having a friend that I’ve known and loved and can rave about how much I love sheet moss is a precious gift.

So peruse the pages of the October Southern Living and see our work. What the pages don’t show are our selfies, our work “uniforms” and Jess stealing my Plainswear hat. You can keep it Gup!

Happy fall y’all. I hope y’all have a friend or two like I do – if so, I know you’ve a cornucopia of blessings!

FARMER'S DOZEN: Mary Kay Andrews

  Akin to a baker's dozen, my Farmer's Dozen is a quantity of a dozen or so questions - a series of questions with fellow designers, authors, tastemakers, friends and Southerners alike

I've read almost all of MKA's books... The latest one is tempting me to take off for the summer and read the hot days away... But alas I must keep my day job! 

Kathy aka MKA is a delightful dear friend of mine. Anyone who reads her works feels befriended by her - her writing voice is such a part of her natural persona that each page is akin to a soulful conversation with a longtime pal.

Kathy and I share a passion for blue and white, antique shopping and IGA fried chicken - what better foundation for a friendship? Whether we are shopping at Scott's or lunching at Tybee whilst gazing onto the steely Atlantic or emailing throughout the week words of encouragement, plans for book launches or just to say "hey y'all," any time or text with MKA is a jewel! I'm sure y'all would agree! 

Ladies and gents, without further adieu, please enjoy this Farmer's Dozen with JTF and MKA!! 

Mary KayAndrews is the New York Times bestselling author of Ladies Night, Christmas Bliss, Spring Fever, Summer Rental, The Fixer Upper, Deep Dish, Blue Christmas, Savannah Breeze, Hissy Fit, Little Bitty Lies, and Savannah Blues. A former journalist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, she lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Farmer’s Dozen: Mary Kay Andrews

1. We both have a love for IGA fried chicken. What would be a perfect Southern meal for you?Anything you cook! If this hypothetical meal were magically calorie-free, I’d love some fried chicken, mac’-n’-cheese, dead ripe sliced tomatoes with homemade balsamic dressing drizzled over, devilled eggs, zucchini, homemade biscuits with fig preserves and a big ol’ wedge of homemade pound cake. And then I’d nap for the rest of the summer.

2.  Whether at Scotts or your Tybee Island cottage, I love the times we’ve had to eat, laugh, and visit. Where do you go to write and rejuvenate? I love to look up from my laptop to see beautiful scenery, whether it’s our beach house Ebbtide, on Tybee Island, a borrowed house on a lake in the North Georgia mountains, or just my front porch, where I’m working right now, looking out past the fern baskets and pink knock-out roses.

3.  My favorite book of yours is Hissy Fit. I love that you write about fictional people in real places. What was your inspiration for the setting and characters in Hissy Fit? For that book I needed a good Southern girl who is provoked into throwing the biggest hissy fit ever. I made her an interior designer, because I’m a decorator in denial, and I set the book in Madison because I wanted a real small town where old secrets suddenly come bubbling up from the past.

4. Which character in your books closest resembles you? All my characters have a bit of my DNA in them—only they’re younger, cuter, thinner and smarter than me. And they definitely have more man problems!

5. What did you call your grandmothers? Share a story about them…maybe something you inherited from her? My maternal grandmother was “Gram.” And my paternal grandmother “Nanny” was an Irish immigrant who lived in Chicago, so I only saw her once a year, in May, when she came to visit. My mother’s mother was a piece of work. She had all kinds of memorable expessions, like “hold your horses, Sister Perkins,” or “that girl looks like country come to town,” or “looks like a sack-full of cats going to the river.” Maybe I inherited my love for colorful language from my Gram.

6. Who inspires you? I’m inspired by people who are selfless and giving, by women from all walks of life who face immeasurable obstacles, but still soldier on, raising children, feeding hungry people, getting things done without a lot of fanfare. I’m inspired by those who dare to dream—and then keep trying.

7.  What are some of your favorite heirlooms? What do you love about them? How have you incorporated them into your décor? I have a few old black and white snapshots of family members at the same beach in my hometown in St. Petersburg, Fla. One of my mom, at the age of 17, modeling a swimsuit on the beach. Another of me, as a toddler, in a droopy cotton swimsuit on that same beach just a few years later. There’s a grainy one of my grandmother, in a depression-era dress and hat, camping on that same beach. And yet another black and white, of my son, maybe age 8, hamming it up for the camera on another Florida beach. I have them all framed and displayed in the stairwell of our beach house on Tybee. I love the sense of continuity in the pictures, the care-free memories they evoke, and the visual link to members of my family who are now gone.

8. What are your favorite scents from the home and garden? I love the smell of gardenias—we have a huge shrub in our font yard. Anything lemony or citrusy. I burn Archepilago’s Red Currant candles when I write.

9.  I think a coffee table says a lot about your life and style. What’s on your coffee table right now, and what is your coffee table? I have stacks of decorating books and coffee table books, like Dinner on the Grounds, a huge tole tray painted with flowers, a Disney princess coloring book and a lidless white ironstone tureen full of crayons for my grandchildren. The table itself is an antique oval pine harvest table, cut down to coffee table height.

10.  If you were a color, what would you be and why? Blue—it’s the color of serenity, calm, deep water. All of which I crave in my life.

11. What’s your favorite room in your home? Probably the little sun-room off the living room in our 1925 Craftsman cottage. It’s where I wrote large chunks of my latest book, and where I take catnaps.

12.  Do you collect anything in particular? If so, how did you start? I started collecting blue and white transferware after my mother gifted me with a few pieces of Blue Willow from my grandmother’s house. I have a nice collection of vintage tin lithographed beach toys, which I display at our beach house, like sand pails, shovels and watering cans, that started when I found two toy watering cans at an estate sale for a couple bucks.

13. You’re having a dinner party could invite anyone… Including any character from history, who would be at your dinner party? (Pssst, I am included on the guest list) Hmm. Audrey Hepburn, because she was beautiful and compassionate and involved. Julian Fellowes, so I could ask him about next season’s Downton Abbey, Amelia Earhart—I want to find out what happened to her. And Truman Capote, who knew everybody important in the last half of the 20^th century—and who loved to dish the dirt about all of them.