A big hello and hey y’all! We are Carrie Beth and Jen, also known as The Magnolia Mamas. We’re a best friend blogging duo who, in a collaborative effort, host a mommy based lifestyle blog. We each have 3 children and we created The Magnolia Mamas as a place to let our creative juices flow. We aim for a fun place that moms can come to have a little break each day to communicate about everyday life, fashion, crafts/DIY, recipes, books and interesting new products. Throw in a little southern sass and a monogram or two, and you have The Magnolia Mamas.
We are absolutely thrilled to be guest posting for Amanda today! Before we became bloggers we were avid blog readers and Dixie Delights has been a long time favorite of ours. We were instantly drawn to Amanda’s southern charm and her love of Lilly Pulitzer. And a funny little fact, we have several mutual friends and live in the same community, but have never met in person. What a small, but not so small, world!
Another thing we have in common with Amanda is our love of porches. It is still pretty steamy here in the south, but we are crossing our fingers and holding our breaths that fall weather is coming and when it does you can be sure that we will be found on our porches.
Carrie Beth’s Porch:
When we were designing, planning, and building our house I knew for sure I wanted it to have a wrap-around porch. It just screams southern home to me and I also loved the idea of being able to walk around the porch from the front door to the screen porch. It’s all connected and one big happy outdoor space!
Decorating the front doors is one of my very favorite things to do and right now my DIY footballs are on display. (Sorry Amanda, but our loyalties remain with our alma mater, The University of Georgia.)
The front porch holds chairs that were hand made by one of our very talented friends and the blue ceilings still make me swoon. It’s where I sit to watch my kids ride bikes in the driveway and where my kids sit to anxiously wait for friends to come over.
The screen porch is a gathering place for friends and family when we have people over and it’s also where my husband and I watch college football together.
A very common scene in the fall for a Saturday night involves my Ugg boots, a fire, and college football. What is not to love about that?!?
Jen’s Porch:
Last December we decided that adding another baby into the mix wasn’t enough excitement for 2016, so we decided to throw in a home renovation as well. Right around the time Baby Cute was born, “Project Deck” made his appearance too.
We’ve done a lot of renovation projects on our home, but this one might go down as our most challenging yet. but as the summer is winding down, we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
My style tends to lean largely southern coastal and Mr. Cute’s tends to lean in whatever direction you would call lots of leather, big manly pieces of wood, and the occasional taxidermied animal. Needless to say, even if animal heads are all the rage in home design right now, a girl has to draw the line somewhere.
I wanted the porch to reflect the fact that we live on the water as well as be a comfortable place to eat, entertain, and maybe even take the occasional nap. I opted to use navy and whites as my base colors, and the plan is as seasons change to throw additional colors in the mix. Although, much to Mr. Cute’s chagrin, the Lilly Pulitzer Flamenco Pillow in all its hot pink and gold glory is calling my name.
So far we’ve been able to give it a test run or two. I’ve been able to snuggle up on the couch with a glass of wine and a good book on occasion, and Mr. Cute and the kids haven’t been shy about eating their morning cereal out there or watching a football game or ten.
It’s a work in progress, but I’m glad we are at least to the fun parts of this project now!
Now that we’ve given you a little tour of our porches, we wanted to share with you one of our favorite southern porch activities. What’s more southern than sitting on your porch and drinking a sweet tea? And by sweet tea we mean cocktails. In fact, we have a fun series on our blog called Cocktail Confessions.
A few weeks ago we were joking with Amanda on Instagram about our new favorite “cocktail”.
Let us introduce to you the Poptail.
Popsicle + Wine = POPTAIL. Genius!
We’ve heard of this little yummy creation for a few months now, but hadn’t really invested any thought into it. Then, after giving it a try one random scorching afternoon when the littles were dying for a Popsicle (and mommy was dying for a glass of her favorite Riesling) we decided what better time to give it a whirl – it was a sign from God. After giving it a try we are quite saddened that we didn’t hop on board this trend earlier. Yum!
We tried the traditional, like this Sparkling Pomegranate version. Just a glass of 4oz of your favorite Riesling, and a frosty pomegranate popsicle. We love the Outshine ones. Organic and filled with healthy ingredients, we can’t believe we’ve stumbled upon a healthy all around drink. Kind of like an upgraded smoothie. A healthy, sanity saving smoothie.
Hey, we can pretend right?
After we got “comfortable” with our new cocktail of choice we began to experiment, with different flavors and types of wine. Then we up and took it a shade more southern.
Makes 1 serving
Ingredients
– 3oz of bourbon
– 1 tbsp of lemon juice
– 1 peach flavored popsicle
– a splash of water or ice if desiredInstructions
– Mix bourbon and lemon juice in a lowball glass
– Add peach popsicle. Let settle and melt for a minute or two.
– Serve and enjoy!
We know summer is on its way out and popsicle season for some might be coming to an end, but we have faith the Poptail can live year round on screen porches everywhere.
Here’s looking at you chocolate mocha popsicle and Bailey’s.
[madmimi id=246857]
I must try one of those poptails! What a cute idea! Both of your porches are beautiful! I love your seating areas and all that gorgeous stone. My indoor fireplace has a similar look. I also spotted a golden retriever…how am I not already following you..? Great guest post!
Cheers! Shelley
You two are adorable! Always love meeting new fellow Atlanta bloggers. Your porches are swoon worthy. Those poptails are perfect for our hot summer/fall days. Will it ever cool off? Here’s hoping they are right about this weekend’s temps.
I just LOVE your porches!! We’ve been house hunting a little bit (looking for a bit of an upgrade from our current house) and I am just dying for a sweet southern wrap around porch!! Love these Poptails as well- I have those little popsicles on my list to pick up from store today!
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Beautiful, beautiful southern porches of the Magnolia Mamas and fantastic creative drinks in those Poptails….yes genius!!!