January...From Your Publisher

Welcome to 2012! Our January issue features one of life’s many happy occasions—weddings. Our January issue’s tribute to couples as they begin their lives together coincides with new beginnings we all celebrate in our lives this month. Starting our year off by sharing the nuptial events of these newly married couples is an exciting feature we look forward to each year. Each wedding offers a unique take on tying the knot as each couple selects specific venues and makes detailed plans or is honored with events leading up to the wedding-day festivities. We know you will enjoy reading about these happy events and about the myriad services and products many of our advertisers offer to assist those planning a wedding. While we publish engagements and weddings throughout the year, our January issue features all elements involved in weddings; it is our “All Things Wedding” issue.

We wish all of you a happy and fruitful year full of new beginnings. Whether we set goals for reorganizing our homes or workplace or improving our health and employment options, we hope you are successful in fulfilling those resolutions. One of my goals for the New Year is to work at keeping myself organized. To start and complete a task or job—you know, those monumental ones as well as those nit-picky, bothersome ones—within the work day is a goal I’m determined to achieve. When I am operating on deadlines, an albatross around my neck almost all the time, I find myself sometimes putting important details or tasks off to the last minute. So, this January, beginning DAY ONE, I plan to get this mini-makeover, this newly organized me in gear and rev up the mechanism to make this new approach a permanent modus operandi. So…what’s your personal goal to achieve this year?

Of course, as we anticipate 2012, we also pause to appreciate our 2011 that you filled with kind words, thumbs-up compliments, burgeoning support, creative ideas for features, and requests for subscriptions. In fact, we were delighted to do some “Santa Clausing” in sending letters out in December to those who received the magazine as gifts from loved ones.

Finally, as we send you along your reading way, we remind all of our Bluffs & Bayous readers and advocates about our interactive magazine online, www.bluffsbayous.com. The entire publication is online, page by page. By clicking on any website printed in the magazine, readers can zip to the selected site for more information. All of this is our gift to you each and every day, 365 days a year, and free—your own virtual joy stick to explore and learn about events and services in the Bluffs & Bayous reading area.

Happy New Year and welcome to another year of celebrating with us life along and beyond the Mississippi!

December 2011...From Your Publisher

Welcome to the exciting month of December. Throughout the Bluffs & Bayous region, folks have been preparing to make this holiday season a spectacular one. In many of our communities, holiday decorations already “deck the halls” as they eagerly welcome the Christmas season, anticipate the lighting of the towns’ Christmas trees, and complement the Christmas parades that kick off following Thanksgiving weekend. Add this spirited expectancy to some of our recent chilly days and nights, and…..it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

In our December issue, we feature one of our community’s annual Christmas traditions—the work of the Santa Claus Committee in Natchez, Mississippi—that reaches out to embrace those whose holidays need a bit of brightening. Many of us are blessed with good health and the material comforts of home, nice jobs, and financial security. Many others are not. The Santa Claus Committee with a bit of merriment and bastion of commitment has sought to help these multitudes who are not. For eighty-two years now on Christmas Eve, this committee’s enthusiastic members have cruised around the city of Natchez in a parade of their various vehicles, including Santa in his open-air “ride,” tossing candy and quarters and spreading cheer to children (and adults) along the way. At the end of their hours-long parade route, committee members welcome children to a Christmas party and distribute Christmas gifts, funded from the thousands of dollars the committee raises for this and other community-assistance agencies.

We applaud all those in our communities who work so hard, so selflessly, to brighten the hearts of so many and keep the tradition of service alive in our communities. May their spirit, which is the spirit of Christmas both now and year round, find its way into all of our hearts this season and enrich us with a stronger conviction of what our purpose and mission are here on earth.

This season brings amazing events for all of us to enjoy. It is a refreshing time to reflect on the real reason for and the real message of this holiday season. Our December…Up & Coming calendar chronicles these many events throughout the region, and we provide their websites for you to visit and learn more about the exciting details. Be sure to select your favorites to attend and spread the spirit of the season. May all of our days this December be blessed with giving to others and may the riches of this sharing be reinvested year after year as we cherish life along and beyond the Mississippi.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the staff of Bluffs & Bayous!

November...From Your Publisher

November 2011...The Dining Issue

This month, we bring to our readers interesting articles regarding our staple of life, food! In particular, we spotlight some of the fabulous restaurants in our Bluffs & Bayous region; and we also share a salute to long-time food editor Laurin Stamm of Vicksburg, Mississippi, who recently published a cookbook of favorite recipes from her 50 years as the only Food Editor for The Vicksburg Evening Post. Another salute this month goes to the recently held Natchez Food and Wine Festival in Natchez, Mississippi, during which “An Invitation to the Natchez Table” welcomed chefs from the Natchez and New Orleans areas who created scrumptious Southern fare for a packed crowd at The Carriage House restaurant on the grounds of antebellum Stanton Hall. Our Delta writer Jenni Guido continues this focus on food and restaurants as she features another of her favorite spots to dine, The Carlyle House, further north in Ruleville, Mississippi. Along with our coverage of these features, come a number of recipes to try in your own kitchen at holiday time or at anytime that company comes calling.

Having celebrated through October’s month-long run of festivals, ending with the sundry hauntings of Halloween, we turn our thoughts to appreciating the gifts and privileges of living in our blessed country and, in particular, to enjoying the richness of our part of the South. We continue to count our blessings each day as we enjoy the people and their talents who make our area such a versatile, hospitable, nurturing place to live and who provide us challenges to preserve the excellence we have and to improve the shortcomings we find.

As we move closer to Thanksgiving and near the season of multiple religious holidays, be sure to keep our “November . . . Up & Coming!” events listings close so you can take part in our communities’ many celebrations of the season, musical arts performances, theatre performances, and historical lectures and symposiums. Also, remember Bluffs & Bayous is now an interactive book online...just a click away to keep you abreast of all that is going on... and makes a great read during any of your travels. Download us, or email us to your friends and family throughout the country and even overseas. We are global!!

Enjoy this issue as much as we continue to enjoy sharing life along and beyond the Mississippi with all of you!

From Your Publisher...October 2011

October 2011, Festivals!

From Your Publisher...

I love October—the month of fall colors, oranges, reds, golds, dark greens, browns. I love this month of seeing Halloween decorations throughout our communities, fall home décor, and festivals. Our October issue is dedicated to the region’s calendar of festivals during this first, full month of fall. We have compiled a list of events for you to peruse and use to plan a flurry of fall outings. Our feature festival story is The Great Mississippi Balloon Race, one of Natchez, Mississippi’s most popular events.

During this weekend the town is bursting with folks from all over. During their college years, my children brought friends home during this festival weekend to introduce them to Natchez in one of its shining moments. Preparing meals and snacks to have on hand for all the friends and family members stopping by as well as staying has been and is always an enjoyable part of Balloon Festival for me. Just last year our daughter brought home some friends from Mississippi State for this festival, and we had a blast serving the white bean chicken chili (See recipe below.) and other seasonal favorites for her bunch during lunchtime on Saturday of the Balloon Festival. I have pulled an easy menu with recipes to share in case any of you have guests coming to visit during the festival season. Of course…be sure to enjoy the tantalizing festival food on location, too….those are always a treat!!

Roasted Bell Pepper Dip

(from Warm Welcomes, Junior League of Baton Rouge, Louisiana)

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 small red onion cut into quarters

1 (7 ounce) jar roasted red bell peppers, drained

12 fresh basil leaves, crushed or ½ teaspoon dried basil

12 ounces cream cheese, softened

Bagel chips

Chilled blanched fresh asparagus spears

Cherry tomatoes

Red, green, orange, and yellow bell pepper strips

Fresh mushrooms

Divide the olive oil over the onion in a small baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until tender. Let stand until cool. Process the onion, roasted peppers, and basil in a food processor until pureed. Add cream cheese and pulse until combined. Chill, covered, for 3 hours or longer. To serve, mound the cream cheese mixture in the center of a serving platter. Surround with bagel chips, asparagus spears, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper strips, and mushrooms.

Cheryl and Mike’s Black Bean & Corn Salad

2 cans of shoe peg corn, drained

2 cans of black beans, drained

1 lime

Cilantro (about ½ cup chopped)

¼ cup of chopped red onion

1 or 2 avocadoes, chopped

1 box of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

Mix all ingredients; squeeze the lime juice over the mixture; toss and serve.

White Bean and Chicken Chili

(From Giadu at Home, www.foodnetwork.com)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 pounds chicken breast (The secret to good-tasting chili is to season your chicken and grill, roast, or smoke for additional flavor – Cheryl)

1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning

2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons chili powder

3 tablespoons flour

2 15-ounce cans cannellini or other white beans, rinsed and drained

4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Freshly ground black pepper for seasoning

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup chopped, fresh flat-leaf parsley

In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the cooked chopped chicken, 1 teaspoon salt, cumin, fennel seeds, oregano, and chili powder. Cook, stirring constantly. Stir the flour into the chicken mixture. Add the beans, and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a simmer, scraping up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Simmer for 55-60 minutes until the liquid has reduced by about half and the chili has thickened. Add the red pepper flakes and simmer for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Ladle the chili into serving bowls. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.

Cheryl’s Seasoned French Bread

1 loaf of fresh French Bread

Butter

Seasonings (I love the Slick Rick’s Garlic & Herb Seasoning from Slick Rick’s Foods in Natchez.)

Herbs De Provence Spice

Any kind of white or yellow grated cheese

Split loaf in half lengthwise. Butter generously both halves of the bread. Sprinkle seasonings generously. Top with grated cheese of your choice. Heat at 375 degrees until slightly toasty, and the cheese melts. Serve with chili or favorite dish. Yum!!

September 2011, From Your Publisher...

Thank you to my entire staff for working so diligently to have our website up and running as an interactive website. Viewers can now go online and read Bluffs & Bayous cover to cover! Click on any website, whether in an ad or in the text of a story, and access the site or email address. Email the entire magazine or individual pages to family and friends all over the world. Download a PDF version of the magazine for sharing with others and reading offline. Print individual pages for filing, sharing, and distributing. AND……all of this is FREE!

Moreover, Adam Blackwell has been incorporating additional features on our Facebook page. The interactive magazine can be downloaded there as well. Become a fan of the Bluffs & Bayous’ Facebook page as well as link to our Twitter, Blogspot, Tumbler, and Shutterfly to get the latest updates, news, and photographs from our Social Scenes. We will soon host some special offers, so be sure to login and become a fan of our social media pages.

Our September magazine is packed with adventures in the outdoors, from kayaking, swimming, and hunting to amazing grilling-in-the-outdoors recipes from Donna’s Chillin’ & Grillin’ section. She has rounded up some of her friends’ wild-game and outdoor-cooking secrets to share with you this month. We also have another “girlfriend” story that evolved during July, and I wanted to share some of my college friends’ thirty-three year friendship—it’s all about sisterhood.

The next several months will be busy here at Bluffs & Bayous: We are preparing our Festival, Dining, Holiday, and Wedding issues; and if any of you have contributions to any of these theme-focused months, be sure to contact us now. We want to share our area’s festival and holiday events and our readers’ engagement and wedding stories, and now is the time to submit the fascinating details of those occasions of your lives. Please refer to our website for information regarding these featured submissions.

Enjoy your month of area high school, college, and NFL football games and tantalizing tailgating fare from our recipes herein. We appreciate all of the emails, Facebook postings, and telephone calls regarding our August Back to School issue. Your continuing, enthusiastic responses inspire us to work even harder to produce a magazine each month to top the one before—as we all accentuate the positives, the pluses, the superlatives of our life along and beyond the Mississippi.

SEPTEMBER ALL OUTDOORS

BE A PART OF OUR SEPTEMBER--ALL OUTDOORS ISSUE:

ALL THINGS THAT MAKE OUTDOOR LIVING, PLAYING, HUNTING, AND FOLLOWING SPORTS OUR FAVORITE PASTIMES!

DEADLINE: AUGUST 10TH

Back to School & SEC Football

August 2011

From Your Publisher...

Enter August, the last official month of summer on the calendar. It seems as if I was just introducing July and our arts issue with its plethora of local and regional arts. Since our work here in the Bluffs & Bayous office is always a month or two ahead of the existing month with deadlines mid-month prior to the following month’s publication, I sometimes transpose the month I’m working in with the month I’m living in—a bit of a thought glitch, given all the busy-ness that my life, as yours, entails.

What brought me to the realization that summer is rapidly on the wane and the next season is fast approaching is the recent information posted on Facebook from my friends. Within the past few weeks, I have noticed more families on the go to beach vacations, long weekends in Las Vegas, family reunions, trips to the Caribbean Islands, more beach vacations…and more beach vacations. Just recently I have seen postings for back-to-school supplies, uniforms, and football and softball practices. All of these activities are harbingers of our gearing up for back-to-school mode. Point in fact—teachers report back to their classroom duties the first week of August with students showing up mere days later.

One friend’s Facebook posting mentioned her childhood school days running from after Labor Day until the first part of May. I, too, well remember my own three-month-long summers between school years when we did not begin school until the day after Labor Day. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—didn’t want to think about football schedules, fall clothing, and school supplies until the week of Labor Day. That was the week my mother bought our school supplies to prepare us for the academic year.

With my children now grown, the academic calendar no longer looms with lists of supplies and uniforms and the deadlines of signed parental permissions. It no longer sends stress signals about being tardy for class or late for practice. Instead, it is my friend, making promises of fun and exciting weekends ahead from September through January with NFL (Here’s hoping that the players and owners finalize their deal and get onto the much anticipated season.), college, and Friday night area football games. The excitement is in the air as we anticipate fall and football season; and in this issue of Bluffs & Bayous we share with you amazing recipes that are a “must” to try and serve from your home, tent, or tailgate!

Our story on David Wilson’s unique sauce and Jennie Guido’s review of Crave restaurant located in Cleveland, Mississippi, contribute to the pigskin mania of our August issue as does In the Kitchen with Cheryl’s Friends & Family and its selections to make this season of sports hype a most savory one.

Let’s enjoy what remains of a sizzling summer as we turn our attention toward the South’s signature fall fetish—FOOTBALL …and enjoy its fervor to the fullest in our life along and beyond the Mississippi.

July 2011

The Arts Issue

July…..the month to celebrate our country’s independence day, our local art groups and individual artists, weekends at the lake, afternoons in the pool, and family vacations at the beach and beyond. Traditionally in July, the summer’s heat intensifies; however, June was a warmer than usual month for all of us in this part of the South. Both these summer months have always been a time to dress down and relax. I love to discover new or old reads and change my busy schedule of meetings and commitments to unscheduled daily meanderings.

This month, Bluffs & Bayous provides the perfect magazine for an entertaining summer read and for frequent referrals to intriguing shopping prospects and professional services. In addition, our July’s annual emphasis on the arts and arts listings underscores this area’s bountiful art opportunities for your upcoming season of ballet, symphony, opera, theatre, and museum exhibits. We also highlight some new area artists whose unique flair is sure to intrigue your interests.

Our Bluffs & Bayous’ coverage shares with you the talents and enthusiasm of many gifted artists in a variety of disciplines; and we invite you to become avid ambassadors of the arts through participation in surrounding theatre, dance, and music organizations as well as in the shows, exhibits, and studios of individual artisans as you involve yourself and your family in the enriching diversity of the arts.

H. C. Porter of Vicksburg, Mississippi, one of our many artists of note, has embarked on the fascinating project—Blues @ Home—of capturing living and legendary blues musicians in the Mississippi Delta. Her gift of documentary through photography, art, oral history, and music will provide dramatic insight to enthrall world-wide audiences. Just as her project Backyards & Beyond depicts the personal and economic devastation of the Mississippi Gulf Coast following the ruthlessness of Hurricane Katrina, so her new project will personify the panorama of our rich Delta Blues Legends.

Among our local contributors, Johnny Bowlin reflects on his experience as a first-time softball coach for his daughter in Meadville, Mississippi; and Natchezian Courtney Taylor, author of two cookbooks, How To Eat Like a Southerner and Live to Tell the Tale and The Southern Cook’s Handbook, shares some delicious recipes with us.

I would be remiss if I did not mention my experience with friend, artist, and Natchez business owner Erin Eidt Myers. Her genius has provided rich room and accent colors and imaginative placement of our most prized possessions as we have finally finished the renovation of our new home to make it uniquely ours. Myers’ visual arts flair has engendered a retail business featuring her original works, custom-painted Walter Anderson prints, and hand-stained, hand-painted furnishings. Her eclectic talent graces chic homes throughout this area as she shares her gifts with all of us.

In this escalating heat of July, take a bit of time for yourself, dress down, relax, and enjoy the good read our July issue offers as we share the arts with all of you in our life along and beyond the Mississippi.

June 2010-Health & Wellness

From the Publisher...

Wow…May was certainly a month for the history books as all of us in the Bluffs & Bayous area have witnessed history in the making. River water levels have surpassed the records of the 1937 Mississippi River flood; and as I write this, we are striving to maintain multiple levees around towns, businesses, homes, and hospitals while our neighbors in the lower lying areas along the river are working minute to minute to keep the sand boils at bay. Many already have lost so much to the flooding with homes, livelihoods, and life as they have known it for decades….all inundated. It has been an exhausting month and a merciless month, a reminder that Ole Man River and Mother Nature will have their way despite our attempts to regulate and control them. It is an awesome and humbling reminder of something far greater than the best efforts of humankind. Our plight also has brought a bonding of the many communities along the river with those who are concerned and call from all parts of the country, thinking all of us are under water.

While we in Natchez on the bluff as well as those of us high on the hills of Vicksburg are not directly experiencing the flooding, many of us have property in the lowlands north and south of the cities and even across the river—farm lands, hunting camps, and lake homes—that the flood waters currently threaten or already have taken. Although we realize that we cannot totally control the river, we prepared in advance as much as humanly possible and assisted in somewhat allaying the damage . . . though all the while feeling rather limited in the larger scheme of things. In the weeks and days and hours and minutes of shoring up, preparing for, and awaiting our fate from the Father of Waters, I have seen the anxiety and stress give way to acceptance and determination, the acceptance that this is life along and beyond the Mississippi and the determination to see it through to a brighter beyond.

So, in the midst of knowing that this tough time, too, will pass and that we tough Southerners will (with a humble nod to our own William Faulkner) “not merely survive; we will prevail,” we turn our thoughts and energies to focus on some positives of our lives. For Bluffs & Bayous this month that focus is on wellness and healthy living, and ee have a plethora of information to encourage you to live a healthier lifestyle. I am reminded daily of my goals to exercise and eat healthy and also to exercise and sharpen my mind so I can make wiser choices for a healthier me. A unique addition to our annual health issue comes to us from Brookhaven, Mississippi’s Maggie Cupit as she shares her blog of a year’s fight against cancer. Hers is an inspiring journey of strength and determination to overcome cancer and, as a survivor, to minister to others who encounter this dread disease. Her experience also is a reminder that our good health is, indeed, a phenomenal blessing. May your June be an enriching, healthful, and stress-free beginning to the summer months as we pray for the river to recede with little to no additional damage and as we continue to appreciate, celebrate, and stand in awe of our life along and beyond the Mississippi.

Lifestyle & Travel

May 2011

From the Publisher...

May…..a month where in the calendar year we reach a point of closure and celebration. For some it is the closure and celebration of high school and college graduations; for others, a celebration to honor their mothers; and in my family, the celebration of an anniversary and a birthday.

This month of closure for schools and colleges and even our business calendars also initiates the beginning of vacation season; and throughout our communities, folks are yearning for the sound of the waves, the warmth of the sun, those breath-taking sunsets, and the softness of sand between their toes. Yes—Beaches! No matter where they are from the Texas coast to the Florida coast and around to the eastern seaboard we seek them out. Some of us travel to the Riviera side of Mexico for long weekends or even weeks and months to relax, refresh, and soak up some vitamin D.

I always look forward to our family beach vacations, my girlfriend jaunts to the beach, and beach getaways with my husband. Each of these holidays has its own delights; for beaches and their surrounding settings cater to a myriad of plans, expectations, hopes, and dreams. Girlfriend trips, for example, sooth the din of our hectic worlds with the medicine of laughter through days and nights of beach life come alive and sisterhood revitalized.

Another feature for this month is the quest for bargains that has given rise to a growing industry in our region—consignment shopping. From children’s clothing through high-fashion adult clothing as well as furniture, antiques, jewelry, and household accessories, the desire for “a steal, a bargain, a deal” has become second nature to a growing customer base. Some love to dig in unorganized bins while others enjoy neatly designed areas to shop for consignment items as they join the burgeoning numbers who are making this trendy modus operandi a weekend must-do. While we may enjoy outfitting the basics of our wardrobes and homes with new items, we relish the adventure of mastering consignment store shopping to supplement and stretch those basics with some “real deal” discoveries.

We hope you’ll enjoy Bluffs & Bayous May edition of Travel and Lifestyles. Next month, we focus our annual spotlight on wellness and healthy living, but we’ll continue a feature on consignment shopping tips as we continue to toast the joys and celebrate the times of our lives along and beyond the Mississippi.

Golden Anniversaries

Bluffs & Bayous
February 2011
Golden Anniversaries Issue

Amazing. . .It is already February! It simply goes by too fast! (It being life, of course) Our focus this month is Golden Anniversaries, a fitting focus for Cupid’s busy month; and our JoAnna Sproles has interviewed couples who have been married fifty years plus, posing questions about their marriage and inviting them to share with us their wisdom and advice regarding successful partnerships. February is also the month we exalt St. Valentine and celebrate his legacy with millions of his namesake cards. In the medical field, February is Heart Month, twenty-eight days that are all about affairs of the heart. As we select our Valentines this month and read more about heart-healthy living, let’s also take to heart the lessons learned from the lasting romances of our featured couples and take time to reflect on our own relationships. This month we have brought back In the Kitchen with Cheryl’s Family and Friends, a sampling of recipes to discover and enjoy. In this issue, my friend Melanie Burns Kennedy shares some of her favorite recipes along with some from generations of her family. We are thrilled that you have enjoyed our November and December recipes that celebrate our communities’ rich heritage of culinary artisans, and we look forward to tempting you each month with specialty concoctions to try and to taste. Another article of interest, written by Sam Smith, a young writer and student attending Ole Miss, is “Great Escapes.” Our area offers unique and elegant historic venues that entice us to “steal away” for a romantic weekend with that special someone—and all just a quick hour’s jaunt away. Please see some of our advertisers’ specials for week-end get-a-ways as well!Our Up and Coming offers events from self-improvement classes to Mardi Gras events. There is something for all of us to do. Why not take the plunge and try something different? Visit our Bluffs & Bayous towns and communities and stay awhile . . . shop, dine, and tour . . . as you enrich your life along and beyond the Mississippi.

Our Wedding Issue 2011

Bluffs and Bayous
January 2011
Our Wedding Issue

Weddings…such exciting events! These special occasions engender such a kaleidoscope of emotions involved in anticipating the couple’s new life together; creating the sacred ceremony surrounded by family and friends; and celebrating the event with food, music and guests. I have been blessed with over ten years of being connected with the wedding industry as a Wedding and Event Coordinator and Planner. I have orchestrated and directed many weddings ranging from small intimate gatherings to larger wedding-weekend celebrations, and I have worked with many destination wedding parties that have fallen in love with Natchez as well as Little Rock, Arkansas; Memphis, Tennessee; Jackson, Mississippi; and New Orleans, Louisiana.
Throughout all of these events, I feel fortunate in being a part of these families’ lives as hopes and dreams are realized in their celebrations of their children’s marriages. Today, brides have many choices to make involving arrangements for their event, and many venues offer multiple, professional options in order to assist with that “perfect, magical dream wedding.” Throughout our January issue, we share with you the nuptial events of six brides, each of whom had her “dream wedding” weekend. Some chose destination weddings, traveling to an out-of-town site, and some selected local churches and venues to create their memorable weekends.
We also have a spread on a few of the many vendors who whip up magic with food. The presentation, selection, and taste vary according to the season, time of the wedding, and type of event that each couple selects, and these elements can be as varied as the creativity of the caterer. Our Up and Coming Events this month complements our annual wedding issue as well with information on Bridal Shows for newly engaged couples to attend and learn about the many choices the wedding industry has to offer.
In addition, in this first issue of 2011, Celia Barrett offers design tips for new homeowners as well as for those of us wanting to enhance or even give a new look to our homes. In February, Cheryl’s Friends and Family recipes will return to Bluffs & Bayous. We appreciate all the calls and comments conveying your excitement over the recipes in our November and December issues and are delighted that you are enjoying this new section of our magazine.
Finally, we want to wish our readers—Happy New Year!—as we look forward to being a part of your 2011 life along and beyond the Mississippi.