Southern Postcards

Last Thursday I flew into Memphis with my sister, where we picked up a car and drove to Florence, Alabama, home of inspired fashion luminaries Billy Reid and Alabama Chanin (more on that later). My sister and I stayed at the Limestone House (highly recommended), and had fun just knocking around. Florence was the perfect, sleepy Southern town and exactly how we wanted to start our four-day road trip. Friday we drove to Birmingham to meet my friend David Gutowski, editor of Largehearted Boy, who I've been corresponding with for years. It was a real thrill, and divine to get to hang out in person over lunch at Chez Fonfon in the Highlands neighborhood. Tip: order the coconut cake. Probably a whole one, if I had it to do all over again. Then we took off for Oxford, Mississippi, where we had a sublime dinner with charming Miss Mary Warner at Ravine followed by a drink at Snackbar. She's leaving town for Atlanta and so it was fun to do her favorite haunts with her. She used to produce Thacker Mountain Radio and work at Square Books and is now consulting with authors on effective publicity in the South; get with her if you're looking. Saturday, we checked out of The 5 Twelve (also highly recommended), picked my brother up at the airport and drove to Tupelo for my cousin's wedding. I hadn't seen my mother's side of the family in twenty years and that was the highlight and the purpose of the trip. Besides having a cheeseburger at the place Elvis frequented as a teen, obviously. Sunday my siblings and I went to Memphis, ate everything in sight, and flew back to New York. I slept the whole way. Photos from the weekend, wildly good, speeding ticket and all:

Florence