This is a photo of the Alabama Crimson Tide girls. Notice a similarity here - with the hair? All blonde and big! Sometimes I feel like the guy in the back with the shocked face...

When I moved here from Florida with my short reddish haircut I started noticing the girl here with their big blond hair. They're everywhere and I started feeling a little odd. I didn't talk like them, didn't look like them and had no idea how I could fit in?

In Florida we say "ya'll," but we don't say "darlin'" or "sweety" or "precious" very often. I hear those words all day long now. It's really kinda cute but definitely something I'm having to learn to get used to.

I live near the place of the original fried green tomatoes and yes, I've eaten plenty of those recently. The green beans here are cooked to mush in bacon fat with lots of onions. Now the cornbread is something I have really learned to love. No one makes cornbread like a southern gal! They don't like fish here but they do love their fried chicken. There is a chicken place on every corner. If you ask for iced tea, you'll get SWEET tea unless you say otherwise and then they look at you as if you were from another planet. Thankfully, I love sweet tea.

Now back to the hair. Along with the hair comes a heavy dose of make up and fake tans.
The girls here are not like the fresh, beach babes in Florida. They are put together in a perfect package that must take hours to achieve!

The sweetness you see on the outside, however, is often hiding a little bit of distaste for anything other than the south. It's really hard to "fit in" here but I'm trying. Maybe I'll bleach my hair blonde and try more of that makeup? Couldn't hurt, right?