When Your Girls Go Off to College—Words of Wisdom

When my girls were little, they carried a special stuffed animal everywhere.

Likewise, when a girl goes away to college, she takes all her special belongings [including fifteen new Lilly Pulitzer sundresses for game day at the Grove, (Ole Miss)] because she must recreate in her dorm the same cozy environment in which she did not study at home. 

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First, during the summer before college, she and her roommate must meticulously plan a color scheme via Twitter and Instagram. 

They’ll send each other Laura Ashley fabric samples and coordinate polka dot dust ruffles and area rugs to pull their project together.

Then there’s Monogramming.  Everything.  Gabby Lee’s mama must purchase a monogrammed duvet and headboard at Ole Miss because that’s just what Southerners DO.  Now if she went to college in the North, . . . BWAAAHH  HAA!  I kill me!  

To make the boudoir complete, (BTW - we Southern girls like to say “boo-dwaahh” because it makes people think we hail from somewhere exotic, like the French Quarter) Gabby Lee will create a corner “reading” nook—a velvet loveseat, surrounded by sheer drapery and a string of white lights casting a soft glow on her spray tan.  A quiet place for “courting” because a Southern girl is forbidden by God and Mama to sit on her bed with a boy.  It’s a studious retreat in case a Sigma Chi wants to come over and get . . . tutored.

pinterest.com    Bella Rivera

For inspiration, she’ll have a Motivation Wall over her bed with a poster of a fluffy kitty proclaiming, “Don’t let anyone dull your sparkle!”  She can see it when she wakes up and peeks from under her bed tent of tulle and tulips.

Getting practical, Mama will make sure she has a monogrammed bath robe so she’ll never have to walk to the shower in her coed dorm wearing just her monogrammed boxer shorts.

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Over her desk, she’ll have a bulletin board covered in a sweet Vera Bradley “Va Va Bloom” pattern that matches her flat iron pouch.  It will display pics of her sorority sisters giving each other air kisses—wouldn't want ruin the Chanel lipstick.  Saving that for the Sigma Chi later.

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After Mama drops her off at Ole Miss (a TOP American party school),  Gabby Lee will take down the fluffy kitty poster.  Instead, over her dorm-sized fridge she'll hang a 30” x 60” poster of Abercrombie and Fitch Lust, wearing a cowboy hat and . . . a grin.  Signed  "Love, Texas Pete.”

CRANK UP THE HEAT . . . LOVE, TEXAS PETE
http://www.calendars.com/Studs-N-Spurs

(OK . . .  I DID ENJOY LOOKING FOR THIS PICTURE.  SUE ME)

That transgression is actually Mama's fault.  As a good Southern Mama, she taught Gabby Lee two basic truths that have been handed down through generations:

1— “Always own a deviled egg platter ‘cuz you never know when there’s gonna be a funeral."  

2 — “Always keep a big ol’ dose of Texas Pete in the kitchen.”