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I feel like I’ve been searching my entire life for a good pillow. The expensive ones have great intentions. They aim to increase deep sleep, reduce neck and back pain, and maybe even cure that snoring habit (I know, I know—you don’t snore). But of all the pillows I’ve tried, I keep returning to one perfectly fluffy option from my favorite bank-account parasite and yours: Target. The number one reason you should try Target’s Made By Design Overfilled Pillow is that it’s $5....

Single process color is a classic beauty choice. A glossy, all-over hue is much beloved by many women, and can define a look for years. But if this choice starts to feel stale, what kind of input will set a stylist on the right course? Sometimes a hot new trend just gets us. Banana clips and vintage flipped bobs? Absolutely yes. Body glitter and hair crimpers? Not so much. Balayaged beach hair (think Blake Lively or Carrie Bradshaw circa-movie sequel) has been all that and a bag of chips for the majority of the late 2010s, but a choice in one dimensional color is more low maintenance than balayage, and results in a more put together look....

It all started with a sandwich. In 2018, when Tabitha Brown was an in-between-gigs actress turned Uber driver, she pulled into a Whole Foods Market in California and purchased a TTLA (tempeh bacon, tomato, lettuce, avocado) on ciabatta bread. After eating the first half of her vegan “BLT,” she picked up her cell phone to record a review. “Y’all. Lord have mercy,” she said in an unmistakable North Carolina drawl. “You know I can’t sing, but this done made me sing....

The EF4 tornado that ripped through Lamar County in Texas earlier this month destroyed the home Dakota Hudson shared with his longtime love Lauren Patterson. Though happy to have emerged with their lives, Hudson feared the engagement ring he’d hidden inside the house was gone forever. “Needle in a haystack doesn’t come close to what we were looking for,” he told KXAS. On Tuesday, players from the Paris Junior College softball team arrived to help with the cleanup effort....

In our last installment, I took a look at the recent resurgence of hash and rice, South Carolina’s signature barbecue side. I even made the bold prediction that instead of “fading fast,” as some commentators have claimed, hash may soon have a star turn on the national barbecue stage. If anything heralds the ascendance of hash, it’s the arrival of the savory stew in the heart of brisket and chili country....

If you’re in the midst of a home renovation or considering taking on some home renovation projects, it can sometimes be helpful to step away from the nitty-gritty of the day-to-day and consider the big picture. Without even knowing it, you may be making a mistake or two that could sabotage your renovations—or negatively impact your home’s resale value. Thankfully, like most things in the home renovation space, The Property Brothers are here to come to our rescue....

When choosing the ceiling color for the screened porch of our 2018 Idea House, designer Jenny Keenan stuck to tradition: piazza blue. She wanted the cottage to include a mix of classic and modern details, and no element is more time-honored than the blue porch ceiling. “We pretty much use it in all of our projects in the Lowcountry,” she says. South Carolinians often paint their porch ceilings piazza blue—an umbrella term referring to soft shades of the color—because of an old wives’ tale: spiders and other unsavory insects will mistake the ceiling for the sky, meaning they won’t build webs or nests there....

Walk across a carpet of thyme, and you will understand why European settlers brought it to the United States and why it continues to be one of the most beloved herbs in the garden. The aroma is warm and exotic; the foliage is finely textured. While some selections of thyme are essential in the kitchen, others are among the most appealing herbs for landscaping. The upright types grow into small shrubs, while the creeping ones contain a variety of flower and foliage colors....

Quick to prepare and endlessly customizable, fajitas are one of my go-to weeknight dinners. Fajitas are an especially great end-of-the-week supper, when you have to raid the refrigerator, Chopped-style, to cobble together a meal. If you have tortillas, vegetables, and some form of protein (beans, chicken, beef, pork, shrimp—or any combination), you can pull together a sizzling fajita dinner in minutes. Bonus points if you also have pico de gallo and a little sour cream for topping....

The blue haze that rests over the Blue Ridge Mountains is a familiar sight experienced by travelers worldwide. A 1964 article from The New York Times paints the picture, “The Blue Ridge Mountains, which twist from Pennsylvania to Georgia with as many moods as the sea, display a wide variety of shades—all of them blue. Some summer days, the mountains are a powder blue that is almost gray. Other days, they are robin’s egg blue, or they may be cerulean, turquoise, blue‐black, or purple....

Pickles are one of the most common accouterments for a Southern table. We put pickles in just about any recipe under the sun: deviled eggs, potato salad, even martinis. Come spring and summer, the quick pickle is a mealtime staple. Simply combine vinegar, water, sugar, salt, pepper, and herbs of choice (such as dill), add the concoction until it covers your favorite veggie, and refrigerate. Whether you choose cucumbers, okra, or carrots, the result is crisp, fresh pickles....

These days, many of us are finding great comfort amidst the little things in life during the scary coronavirus pandemic. Whether it’s writing in a journal or rereading a favorite book from childhood, there are many ways to add more joy to our days, even if we’re not leaving our homes. One of our favorite ways? Tending to houseplants. Research has suggested that houseplants and flowers may benefit both your mental and also your physical health, and we’re totally onboard with the addition of anything pretty into our living space, to boot....

The Christmas season in Florida isn’t a traditional winter wonderland. Instead of chestnuts roasting over an open fire, you’ll find burning temperatures over ocean waves. Floridians gather ‘round the tree in shorts, drink ice-cold eggnog while opening presents, and toast candy cane martinis poolside before setting up a picnic on the beach. White sand beaches take the place of snowy landscapes, a holiday twist we can get behind. Here, we gathered up our favorite ways Sunshine State natives celebrate the winter season in the most Florida fashion....

A kitchen renovation is often a great investment, but it can be a pricey endeavor. Some budget-minded homeowners may opt for a DIY approach to cut extra costs, and for those willing to roll up their sleeves, here are four ways to transform your kitchen on a budget. A simple way to upgrade your kitchen is to brighten it up with paint. A couple of coats will instantly refresh and liven up the space....

Toska Husted, the facial skin care expert, and owner of Toska European Spa in Charlotte, North Carolina, has treated some of the world’s most famous faces, including Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian, and Jennifer Aniston. If there’s A-list skin you covet, she may be the one behind it. Now, Husted is sharing the skin care mistakes that make her (and probably every other facialist) cringe, so you can finally get the skin you’re after....

Alexandra Breckenridge has a full schedule! The Virgin River star was talking with Glamour recently about juggling her role as Mel on the hit Netflix series with her return to This Is Us when she let slip some disappointing news. “When This Is Us reached out to have me come back in season four, I was already filming season two of Virgin River […] but unfortunately because of scheduling conflicts, I couldn’t do it....

When it comes to casserole dishes, baked-on food is a Stage 5 Clinger. And if you’ve ever been the unlucky fool tasked with cleaning a dirty casserole dish (this is the South, haven’t we all?), you know there are few kitchen woes more frustrating than trying to coax baked-on food off of said dish. Worse still, the tools that are supposed to help us often only hurt us (yes, we are still talking about casserole dishes here): Sponges move the top layer of the mess around, rather than actually loosening up the food remnants clinging to the bottom of the dish; plus, they get really gross when they’ve been swimming around in leftover lasagna or green bean casserole and you don’t really want to use them again....

Ever dream of going to space? A jaunt on the moon? A chance to explore the unknown? How about a trip to Mars? Baton Rouge, Louisiana native Alyssa Carson has been dreaming about space travel since a young age—and she’s well on the way to making that dream come true. “I have always had a curiosity about Mars and want to go there to explore where no one else has been,” Carson told Southern Living, in true Gen Z fashion, via Twitter message....

Farmhouse style has swept the South. Scroll through Pinterest or Instagram, and your feed is surely flooded with shots of rustic living rooms with reclaimed wood furniture, master bedrooms with barn doors, and kitchens with shiplap from bottom to top. According to Google’s Year in Search 2019, farmhouse style was the most-searched home decor trend of the year, beating out other top contenders like Colonial, Cape Cod, and Spanish. We’re willing to bet Fixer Upper’s Chip and Joanna Gaines played a major role in the rise of farmhouse style....

A young bull rider is thanking his lucky stars—and his father—for saving him from a scary situation at a Texas rodeo last month. 18-year-old Cody Hooks of Louisiana was competing in the Bell County PRCA Rodeo on February 11 and 12 when he experienced every rider’s worst nightmare. “I was knocked out when [the bull’s] horn caught me behind the ear and jaw, so I don’t remember anything right before the chute opened,” he told Southern Living....