Sure, she was a self-centered slut, but she was always so well put together....in other words, she always ''made the effort''. And according to an article I just read by Allison Glock at gardenandgun.com, that's a big part of being a true Southern Belle.

''To be born a Southern woman is to be made aware of your distinctiveness. And with it, the rules, the expectations. These vary some, but all follow the same basic template, which is, fundamentally, no matter what the circumstance, Southern women make the effort. Which is why even the girls in the trailer parks paint their nails. And why overstressed working moms still bake three dozen homemade cookies for the school fund-raiser. And why you will never see Reese Witherspoon wearing sweatpants. Or Oprah take a nap.....It also means never leaving the house with wet hair. Not even in the case of fire. Because wet hair is low-rent. It shows you don’t care, and not caring is not something Southern women do, at least when it comes to our hair."

I found this article absolutely intriguing since I had always found a sort of fascination with Southern woman...romanticizing them so to speak.

And now, living here, I find it sometimes e-x-h-a-u-s-t-i-n-g to try and keep up with these woman!

PLEASE NOTE: I AM FULLY AWARE THAT I AM GENERALISING!

Ok, now that that's out of the way, I can clarify.

Before moving here, I had never gotten my nails done nor had I spent over 2 minutes applying make-up (or rather my big sister's make-up). Maybe I'm wrong, but appearances just didn't seem to be of much importance when most of the year we were just worried about not losing an ear to frostbite. (And that's relatively speaking of course because I know my parents are rolling their eyes right now thinking of the precious moments of their lives they have lost waiting for me to change my outfit 3 times before leaving the house!)

Then, when I actually moved to the South, I clearly saw a shift in priority....and the presence of nail salons every .2 miles helped reinforce my observation.

Women here seem to always look their best.

And it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that all these women (now, including me) feel the need to beautify themselves because of some sort of insecurities or just to plain show off. But more and more I'm starting to get it. As Glock explains:

''This is less about vanity than self-respect, a crucial distinction often lost on non-Southerners. When a Southern woman fusses over her appearance, it does not reflect insecurity, narcissism, or some arrested form of antifeminism that holds back the sisterhood. Southern women are postfeminism. The whole issue is a nonstarter, seeing as Southern women are smart enough to recognize what works—Spanx, Aqua Net—and wise to the allocation of effort. Why pretend the world is something it isn’t? Better to focus on what you can control (drying your hair) and make the best of what you have. Side note: Southern women do not capitalize on their looks to snag men, though that often results. The reason we Southern women take care of ourselves is because, simply, Southern women are caretakers.''

I like that.

And although I do find it sometimes tiring to try and keep up with postfeminist Southern Belles, I guess maybe it helps to have a little more insight into what drives them.

After all, I am in a sense raising a Southern Belle myself....but, with a little Canadian je ne sais quoi I suppose.

Ok, now I'm off to change out of these sweatpants, dry my hair and bake three dozen cookies!