Men, Monograms & Manuscripts

After 3 1/2 years of marriage, I’ve learned that my husband is not a fan of monograms in our home.

Do you know what this does to my Southern monogramming loving heart?

Shattered.

From birth, Southerners are taught to embrace the monogram.

He didn’t seem to mind when I monogrammed nearly our entire wedding.

Now, let’s envision this blue shower curtain with a tone on tone monogram.

Source: LD Linens & Decor

Gorgeous, huh?

And this front porch rocker with monogram decal?

Source: Southern Soulmates Blog

Oh, it’s happening.

And finally, I’ve got my eye on these beauties:

Source: Daily Cup of Couture

As we make our way through the obscene amount of home building decisions, he keeps making little comments like “you’re not a putting a monogram on that, are you?”.

Sigh.

I was talking to a friend the other day about my dilemma and she said her husband despises them, too. Says he asks her if she’s going to kindergarten when she wears her monogrammed sweatshirt.

I had to admit that’s pretty funny. It’s helpful to know I’m not alone.

But it doesn’t make my home decor decisions any easier knowing I’m going to have to sneak in the monograms.

In other news…..

The cookbook manuscript is DONE.

Editorial is wrapping up some details and then we’ll be super duper close to announcing a launch date.

Since it’s now out of my hands and into theirs, I can announce that I’ve partnered with  LifeRich Publishing and Reader’s Digest to bring the recipes from The Traveling Apron Recipe Swap to life.

20,000+ miles were traveled, literally from coast to coast.

Recipes handed down from grandmothers, great-grandmothers, nana’s and maw-maws are all contained within the pages. Recipes from people like you and I bound together from something as simple as rotating an empty recipe binder and eyelet lace apron.

It’s been exciting and exhausting.

Rewarding and overwhelming.

And when I thought I was in over my head and ready to throw in the towel,  I went back through the stories and reminded myself of why this project was special in the first place.

It’s special because it’s not just about me. It’s about all of the family traditions and cherished memories that surfaced by simply asking women to share their favorite recipes.

They opened their hearts and shared those memories with me and I’ve never been more proud to honor them in this way.

Recreating their family dishes for the book has meant more to me than I could’ve ever imagined when I had the spontaneous idea to circulate an apron and swap recipes with strangers.

The process has flown by but later in the week I’ll be sharing with you more of the publishing specifics.

I have friends who have gone the traditional publishing route, a sister-in-law who has self-published, know of two others who have also self-published, and even know of some who have gotten the short end of the stick publishing deals because they just didn’t know any better.  My avenue has been different than them all.

So, if you’re interested in writing a book I think you’ll find it helpful to know all the options out there.

And even if you think you’re not interested in ever writing a book (I surely didn’t have it on my radar) I think you’ll also find it interesting.

Oh, and before I forget the first ever Aimee Broussard newsletter went out this morning!

Did you get it?

Did it work?

In effort to streamline how many emails you get from me and filter out what you may or may not want to read I’ve switched over to a bi-weekly newsletter rather than a new email every time I publish a new post.

In the next few weeks, I’ll be publishing much more frequently and I didn’t want your email alerts overwhelming you.

The newsletter is short and sweet. It’ll highlight cookbook news and let you know of any events I’m participating in, and it’ll also reference a blog post or two to let you know what’s happening on the blog.

If you haven’t signed up, you can do so at the very top of the blog.

And if you’ve already signed up but you’re grumpy because you actually liked getting an email with a new post, then just let me know and I’ll put you on both rotations.

Tomorrow we’ll be chatting about my upcoming trips to Mississippi.

Anyone out there near Lula or Vicksburg?

Inquiring minds needs to know!