Sunday, August 29, 2010

Sunday Graces

(Photo from Southern Living)

This week's edition of Sunday Graces is going to be short but sweet. I was flipping through my "newest" etiquette book. I use quotations because it's not actually new, but it's new to me. It's a Vogue Book of Etiquette from 1948.

Although I love many of the things I've read in this book, I especially love this little clip because I think it is so thoughtful. The heading is "table manners of the hostess." The paragraph says that the only way a hostess's table manners differ is "that she must never eat so quickly as to finish everything on her plate before every guest has finished." The thought behind this may be obvious to many of you, it's to keep any slow eaters company. How sweet!

This weekend was very fun and I finished it off with a long day at the beach today. Hope you all have a great week coming up!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Weekend Menu

We are having some family come visit on Saturday. Whenever I am having company, I like to plan out my menu in advance. It makes things so much easier. Here is what we are having:

For dinner on Saturday night, I am going classic Americana; burgers and brats. I am going to make my mother-in-law’s famous cheesy potatoes and a classic pasta salad. As an appetizer, I am going to make homemade salsa and cheese dip. The cheese dip is another recipe I inherited from my mother-in-law, it's so easy. I use a small block of Velveeta, a can of Rotele, and a can of chopped green chili’s. I’m sure most people know about it, but just in case, I thought I would share. It's always a hit at bbq’s.

For desert, Coca-cola cake. This is one of my favorites. Here is the recipe I will be using, courtesy of Southern Living.


Then for breakfast on Sunday morning, I am planning to do a traditional breakfast casserole. Anyone have any suggestions? Please show me some comment love.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Shopping Finds

On Saturday night I went to dinner and did some shopping. My friend and I were laughing because it felt a little like high school.

The Gap was having an amazing deal on jeans. Buy one, get one for $20. The bestie and I decided to both get a pair and split the deal.

I'm bringing the sexy back with these babies.


Banana Republic was also having a great sale . . . PLUS, all of their sale items included an additional 25% discount. I found a very cute plaid, button down with a ruffle. I think they must be sold out of it online because I can't find a picture. After the sale it was only about $12.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Sunday Graces

(Emily Post ~ Emily Post Institute)

In keeping with the name of my blog, I decided to have a new feature. It’s going to be called Sunday Graces. This feature will be centered on etiquette and social graces. I collect etiquette books and this is a subject that interests me. I would also like to hear your thoughts on these or any of my posts.

My idea for this week is the handshake, particularly between men and women. I seem to have misplaced my most current etiquette book. After three hours of searching, I have found a lot of books that I’ve been missing, but not my etiquette book. I debated waiting until tomorrow to do this post, but a promise is a promise and I don’t want to disappoint what few readers I have. That being said, I have a few other books that I will be relying on.

My inspiration for this post was something my husband told me. He had been told that, when being introduced, a man should never extend their hand to a woman until she extends hers. I personally like this idea. Often times I am confronted with a “gentleman” whose hand I do not want to shake. However, I shake their hand so that I don’t appear to be rude. Always the lawyer, I decided to go on a search for some support for my position.

I began with a 1948 edition of Vogue’s Book of Etiquette. Under Introductions, the author states “the one who is being presented must not be the first to offer his hand.” They hold this to be true for all introductions, regardless of age or gender. Under the European Etiquette section, there is a line that I loved, “women offer their hands to men.”

I went next to more current etiquette books. Lizzie Post (How Do You Work this Life Thing) briefly mentions handshakes, saying only “shake hands when you introduce yourself. Use a firm grip and actually shake two or three times.” She makes no mention of who extends their hand first. Next I decided to consult her mother (Peggy Post, Excuse Me, But I Was Next). Well the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Peggy says much the same as Lizzie but adds a bit more detail under the dating section. She writes “used to be that a man was supposed to wait for a woman to offer her hand before he extended his . . . today, it doesn’t matter who puts out their hand first.”

In conclusion, it seems that this rule may be somewhat antiquated. No offense to Peggy Post, but I personally would like to know why it no longer matters who puts their hand out first. My grandmother used to say “a man will only treat you like a lady if you demand it.” I think there is something to be said for that. In my opinion it boils down to a certain degree of respect. I feel that in general, our society has become too casual. What do you think?

Goodnight lovelies and thanks for reading.

Friday, August 20, 2010

TGIF


That's all I got! Check back on Sunday . . . I am starting a new feature for Etiquettely Correct. Its going to be called Sunday Graces. I'm excited!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Introducing Buddy


Since I went on my blog-atical, I got a little four-legged friend. His name is Buddy. His mom is a chihuahua and his dad is a yorkie. He is feisty and a handful - but also very cute (most of the time).
PS when I say his mom and dad, I don't mean me and CH, I mean his dog parents :)

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Blog-atical

After reading Downtown Southern’s post where she mentions her vacation from blogging . . . I determined that I took a sabbatical from blogging.

Here is a snippet of my conversation that I had with my cute husband tonight:

Me: I’m going to call my break from blogging a sabbatical

CH: A sabbatical, eh?

Me: yes, that’s what it was, a sabbatical

CH: I think the correct term is actually blog-atical. Blog-atical, when life stops being nice and starts being real.

I love that he makes me laugh . . . and that he is the cutest.

Philadelphia Story


I watched this movie for the first time tonight. I love old movies. I suppose I like this one in particular because it has two of the best actors ever, Katharine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart. I love both of them and their chemistry in this movie is fabulous.

One of my favorite things about old movies is studying the way people used to live. It was so much more glamorous than it is now. People actually dressed for events as opposed to coming as they are.

What are some of your old favorites? I’d love to know.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Mama Loves a Cocktail Party!

I love both going to cocktail parties and hosting them. You know what a cocktail party means . . . a new cocktail dress! In September, the man I live with (yes, that’s my husband) and I are having a cocktail party. We are having some of his work associates over.

Over the past few years I have learned that behind every great party is a great plan. Great planning has to start early. We decided to have hors d'oeuvres and obviously cocktails. I haven’t decided what kinds yet. Does anyone have any ideas? I also don’t know if I should go with a theme . . . thoughts on that?

As long as we’re on the subject of party planning, I bought this book recently. I love it! I often find that when I get a new party-planning book they recite basic etiquette, such as, you should always greet your guests at the door. Um, thanks for the tip, I never would have thought of that! This book has a lot of clever ideas and easy solutions. One idea they have is for a table protector under a tablecloth. They write about how normal table protectors are often bulky and uneven, I couldn’t agree more. They suggest using a thin fleece blanket. I plan on doing this – I just haven’t found the right blanket yet.



Monday, August 16, 2010

I want to be SHREDDED!

I read about this workout from another blogger, E, Myself, & I , and I am so glad I did! I bought the dvd and the hand weights today at Target. Her dvd has three workouts, all different levels, and they are all 20 minutes long. It's perfect for people on the go. Her challenge is 30 days. You do the work-out for thirty days and eat well and you might lose 20 pounds. Well, I don't know that I will lose 20 pounds but healthy eating and working out never hurt anyone.

I think its perfect for days when I need a quick work-out and its too hot outside to run. I might have a new favorite quote. It goes something like this - "if you want results, you have to work them, they aren't free." Thanks Jillian!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo


We watched this movie last night. It was really good, once you got used to the subtitles. Parts of it were violent, but they didn't dominate the plot. I enjoyed it because it had a surprisingly happy ending. I've found that to be kind of uncommon for a murder mystery.
I am looking forward to the American remake. Hopefully I will have read the book by then!
It's hard to believe its been over a year since my last post. I was almost afraid that I had forgotten how to navigate blogger!