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  3. Bloggers You Should Be Following in 2016

Bloggers You Should Be Following in 2016

Southern Living May 2021 Cover
By Southern Living Editors
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Jess Graves
From food to fashion and everything in between, we share a list of bloggers who are inspiring our editors in 2016 Blogs are a great way to be in the know. From food and fashion to gardens and travel, here are the Southern Living editors' choices for people to follow from our 2016 South's Best Bloggers list. You'll find sisters, like bloggers Emma Chapman and Elsie Larson of A Beautiful Mess, friends like Cheri Leavy and Whitney Long of The Southern Coterie, and loads of knowledgeable solo bloggers like Jay Ducote of Bite and Booze, and Leah Walker of Leah Travels. Some of our other favorite bloggers to follow are the fashion-forward: Beth Parker of Seersucker + Saddles, Courtney Kerr of Kerrently, and Josh Johnson of The Kentucky Gent. So set up your links, look at these great blogs, and enjoy everyone who made our 2016 South's Best Bloggers list.
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Emma Chapman and Elsie Larson

Emma Chapman and Elsie Larson

Category: Lifestyle
Visit the blog: A Beautiful Mess
About A Beautiful Mess: A Beautiful Mess is a women's lifestyle company focused on creating happiness every day through a homemade lifestyle. On the blog, two sisters share home decor projects, recipes, crafts, and style, as well as bits of our lives.

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Joy Wilson

Joy Wilson
Credit: Gabrielle Geiselman

Category: Food
Visit her blog: Joy the Baker
About Joy the Baker: Joy the Baker was created in 2008 out of a downright obsession with brownies and pie. On Joy the Baker you’ll find creative and comforting sweet treats, cocktails and savory recipes, and good doses of humor and love.

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LaTisha Guster

LaTisha Guster
Credit: Montoya Turner

Category: Fashion/Lifestyle
Visit her blog: Blushing Black
About Blushing Black: Guster created Blushing Black as a personal space and an outlet to express her creativity and musings. She wanted to create a beautiful experience filled with a range of lifestyle topics that all women can relate to. Just like your closest girlfriend, she loves sharing all of the fabulous things to try in life, including cool DIYs, yummy recipes, and, of course, fashion.

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Steve Asbell

Steve Asbell

Category: Garden
Visit his blog: The Rainforest Garden
About The Rainforest Garden: The Rainforest Garden is about making your life a bit better through garden variety and creativity. Though Asbell blogs about gardening (with his toddler) in zone 9a—Jacksonville, Florida—readers from all over the South can get ideas and inspiration for cool container gardens, projects and homegrown recipes, as well as clever gardening tips and tricks.

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Susannah Brinkley

Susannah Brinkley
Credit: Kristen Hill

Category: Food and Travel
Visit her blog: Feast + West
About Feast + West: As a half-South African, half-Southern graphic designer in the South, food, design, and travel are already interconnected for Brinkley. She is always exploring the ways these cultural traditions influence her creativity. Feast + West is a collection of musings about these crossovers: recipes, interviews with designers, and travel guides.

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Paloma Contreras

Paloma Contreras
Credit: John Kalchbrenner

Category: Home/Lifestyle
Visit her blog: La Dolce Vita
About La Dolce Vita: Founded by Paloma Contreras in 2007, La Dolce Vita is a collection of musings about all of the elements that make up 'the sweet life': interior design, fashion, travel, and inspiring people and places. Daily features include beautiful interiors, ideas for effortless entertaining, travel destinations to inspire a major case of wanderlust, and 'The Style Files': interviews with the top designers and tastemakers in the country.

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Jay Ducote

Jay Ducote

Category: Food
Visit his blog: Bite and Booze
About Bite and Booze: Bite and Booze, which started as a hobby in 2009, has now turned into a full-scale culinary media company. At its heart remains Jay Ducote and his blog, with a mission of capturing and celebrating culinary culture as he eats and drinks his way around Louisiana—and across America. Since 2011, Bite and Booze has also produced the Taste Award-winning Bite and Booze Radio Show. The blog and radio show help promote the local food and beverage scenes. They also serve as promotional platforms for food and beverage artisans, chefs, farmers, personalities, and event producers. Bite and Booze shares the stories of people making an impact on the culinary world.

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Lisa Fain

Lisa Fain

Category: Food
Visit her blog: Homesick Texan
About Homesick Texan: When seventh-generation Texan Lisa Fain moved to New York City, she discovered that the beloved dishes she grew up eating were difficult to find in her new home. Thus began Homesick Texan, a food blog that celebrates home cooking and the wide diversity of the Lone Star State’s bountiful and bold cuisine. Through stories, recipes, and photos, Homesick Texan shares both old family favorites and original creations in a collection of dishes that are best shared with those you love.

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Caroline Fontenot

Caroline Fontenot

Category: Lifestyle
Visit her blog: Back Down South
About Back Down South: Photographer Caroline Fontenot and her husband, Mark, feature people they like, companies they support, cocktails they drink, tunes they listen to, and a dose of adventures they have. Over the past year, they've widened their editorial reach with a look into Southern homes that they're inspired by. In 2016, they'll be digging deeper into the people and things they love to brag on. They live in Georgia for now, but Texas forever.

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Jess Graves

Jess Graves

Category: Lifestyle
Visit her blog: The Love List
About The Love List: The Love List is a 10-year-old digital lifestyle publication about the style and culture of the South, mailed out twice weekly. Led by editor Jess Graves, the talented team report on the region's coolest people, best music, tastiest food and drinks, and, of course, matters of Southern style.

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Lee Heidel

Lee Heidel

Category: Food/Lifestyle
Visit his blog: Brew/Drink/Run
About Brew/Drink/Run: Based in Savannah, Georgia, Brew/Drink/Run profiles the best craft beer brewed in the South through in-depth beer reviews, beer travel guides, and entertaining podcasts. In addition to covering the fast-growing world of Southern beer, the website also promotes learning to brew your own beer and balancing that extra caloric consumption with a healthy dose of exercise.

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Caroline Hulse

Caroline Hulse
Credit: Sarah Delanie Photography

Category: Lifestyle
Visit her blog: Sew Caroline
About Sew Caroline: Sew Caroline is a creative lifestyle blog that focuses on all things DIY. She incorporates handmade fashion and crafts into her everyday life, and loves inspiring others to do the same. Over the past several years, sewing has become Hulse’s greatest passion and she loves teaching readers more about this exciting art form.

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Christy Jordan

Christy Jordan

Category: Food
Visit her blog: Southern Plate
About Southern Plate: Southern Plate is dedicated to Southern heritage recipes along with a generous helping of family-friendly meals for today's cooks. Readers often feel as if they took a seat at Jordan’s table as she serves up stories from her own family and those of her ancestors, all with the intention of drawing our focus back to the true wealth in our lives—the blessing of family and friends around our table.

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Lauren Liess

Lauren Liess
Credit: Laurey W. Glenn

Category: Home
Visit her blog: Pure Style Home
About Pure Style Home: Pure Style Home is about design, decorating, and finding beauty in the everyday. Liess writes about the process of decorating, sharing business advice and behind-the-scenes peeks into her new book, HABITAT: The Field Guide to Decorating, before and afters of her clients' homes, and snippets of her own life. Readers will be inspired by her natural, relaxed, livable style.

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Juley Le

Juley Le

Category: Lifestyle
Visit her blog: Upperlyne & Co
About Upperlyne & Co.: Founded in 2008 and based in New Orleans, Upperlyne & Co. is a lifestyle blog about a classic, casual, cool approach to style, living, and building a dream life from the bottom up. Juley Le shares her signature American rustic, French minimalist style with readers who relate to her 'forever-a-work-in-progress and never-too-perfect aesthetic.' She's passionate about sharing how a little creative thinking mixed with intuitive living can yield the ultimate life.

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Josh Johnson

Josh Johnson

Category: Fashion
Visit his blog: The Kentucky Gent
About The Kentucky Gent: The Kentucky Gent began as a platform to show that guys from small towns in the South know how to dress well. And while we may not be breaking out our suits and ties, we still look good. Johnson is a writer, a self-taught photographer, and a content creator, and his blog has become a space to share his passions for good food, stiff drinks, and being comfortable in one’s own skin.

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Courtney Kerr

Courtney Kerr
Credit: Getty Images
  • Category: Fashion
  • Visit her blog: Kerrently
  • About What Courtney Wore: You know how they say everything is bigger in Texas? Courtney Kerr defines Southern charm with her big hair, big personality, and even bigger closet! With a mix of high and low, Kerr infuses personality into every outfit she puts on.

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Caroline Harper Knapp

Caroline Harper Knapp

Category: Lifestyle
Visit her blog: House of Harper
About House of Harper: Caroline Harper Knapp is the founder and curator behind House of Harper, the one-stop destination for all things lifestyle, home decorating, beauty, travel, and fashion. Follow along as Harper welcomes you to share her journey as she stylishly navigates her way through life as a new mom, homemaker, beauty junkie, and travel aficionado. Recently relocated from New York City back to her home state of Texas, Harper now resides in Houston with her husband and their two sons.

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Christina Lane

Christina Lane

Category: Food
Visit her blog: Dessert For Two
About Dessert For Two: Texas-born Christina Lane knew she always wanted to go to school to grow food. However, after studying horticulture and working in the agricultural research field for a few years, it became clear her true passion was cooking. Now a two-time best-selling cookbook author, her scaled-down 'just for two' recipes are perfect for everyone from newlyweds to empty nesters.

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Monica Lavin

Monica Lavin

Category: Lifestyle
Visit her blog: Lavin Label
About Lavin Label: Lavin Label offers entertaining, style, and travel inspiration through visual storytelling. Lavin’s knowledge of technology through her work at NASA and her well-curated taste in all things Southern lifestyle lend themselves naturally to a fresh perspective on blogging that captivates her followers and inspires them to become part of that story. Follow along as she welcomes you to share her journey navigating life in Sea Island, Georgia.

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Stacey Little

Stacey Little

Category: Food
Visit his blog: Southern Bite
About Southern Bite: Southern Bite is about getting people back to the table. A home-cooked meal is the conduit through which we gather, share, and connect as a family, which is the most important thing to me. Anything that I can do to make that easier for folks is my chief priority. By offering easy recipes with fewer ingredients, it encourages even the most inexperienced cooks to get in the kitchen and cook for their families.

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Cheri Leavy and Whitney Long

Cheri Leavy and Whitney Long

Category: Lifestyle
Visit the blog: The Southern Coterie
About The Southern Coterie: The Southern Coterie is an online resource for the entrepreneurial South. Designed to offer a community of passionate business owners the opportunity to connect, collaborate, and create, the “Southern C” is capturing the South’s creative renaissance one post at a time. The blog spotlights Q and As with Southern makers and doers, case studies on cross promotion and partnerships, marketing and branding advice, as well as posts showcasing the culture of the South. The Southern Coterie is your place to learn, ask questions, share experiences, and communicate with fellow entrepreneurs. You’ll find a compelling mix of business and lifestyle posts from our fabulous C-Team of Southern contributors. Who says you can’t mix business and pleasure?

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Kristin Luna

Kristin Luna
Credit: Joe Hendricks

Category: Travel, Food, and Lifestyle
Visit her blog: Camels & Chocolate
About Camels & Chocolate: Kristin Luna is a Tennessee-based journalist who shares her delicious adventures around the South—along with the misadventures of renovating an 1800s Victorian home—on her travel and lifestyle blog.

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Perre Coleman Magness

Perre Coleman Magness
Credit: Jay Adkins

Category: Food
Visit her blog: The Runaway Spoon
About Runaway Spoon: The Runaway Spoon features unique but practical recipes with a decidedly Southern slant. From her kitchen in Memphis, Tennessee, Perre Coleman Magness creates recipes including those from her book, Pimento Cheese: the Cookbook. Years of world travel exploring and studying food has only served to increase her appreciation for Southern tradition and cuisine.

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Dee Nash

Dee Nash
Credit: Dee Nash

Category: Garden
Visit her blog: Red Dirt Ramblings
About Red Dirt Ramblings: Red Dirt Ramblings is an award-winning garden blog focused upon growing food, fauna, and flowers in Oklahoma's red prairie soil. Nash is also the author of The 20-30 Something Garden Guide: A No-Fuss, Down and Dirty Gardening 101 for Anyone Who Wants to Grow Stuff (St. Lynn’s Press). Through her blog and book, Nash hopes to inspire others to grow, and she shares her experiences, including her gardening successes and failures. She lives with her husband, children, two dogs, and a cat in a rural log home on 7.5 acres.

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Beth Parker

Beth Parker
Credit: Kristin Tatem Photography

Category: Fashion
Visit her blog: Seersucker + Saddles
About Seersucker + Saddles: Sneaks, short hair, and Southern flair. This indeed defines Beth Parker's casual-meets-glam style on Seersucker + Saddles. A lover of all things Southern, Parker shares her passion for fashion, motherhood, travel, and, of course, the bluegrass.

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Beth Sachan

Beth Sachan

Category: Food/Lifestyle
Visit her blog: Eat. Drink. Smile.
About Eat. Drink. Smile.: Beth Sachan is a self-professed, food- and drink-obsessed, Nashville-based blogger who's always on the hunt for new and exciting things in the culinary world. Eat. Drink. Smile. chronicles her adventures, discoveries, inspirations, and recipes, along with a sprinkling of just about anything else that brings a smile.

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Camille Styles

Camille Styles

Category: Lifestyle
Visit her blog: Camille Styles
About Camille Styles: Camille Styles wants to inspire you to be the happiest and healthiest version of yourself. She believes when you feel good, you look good, radiating the confidence and energy that allows you to live your very best life. The team is passionate about creating food, beauty, and design content that inspires you to take care of yourself.

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Leah Walker

Leah Walker
Credit: ArtNoShoot

Category: Travel
Visit her blog: Leah Travels
About Leah Travels: Leah Walker is a luxury travel and culinary writer who has as many stories as she does shoes. On her award-winning site, Leah Travels, she documents her experiences, whether in the lap of luxury or gasping for oxygen as she’s hiking the Alps. Having split time between Texas and the rest of the world, Walker now lives in Paris after being awarded the three-year Compétences et Talents visa. When she’s not busy marking items off of her 100-plus-item to-do list or stumbling over French in Paris, Walker is longing for Tex-Mex and barbecue in Houston and Austin.

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    1 of 29 Emma Chapman and Elsie Larson
    2 of 29 Joy Wilson
    3 of 29 LaTisha Guster
    4 of 29 Steve Asbell
    5 of 29 Susannah Brinkley
    6 of 29 Paloma Contreras
    7 of 29 Jay Ducote
    8 of 29 Lisa Fain
    9 of 29 Caroline Fontenot
    10 of 29 Jess Graves
    11 of 29 Lee Heidel
    12 of 29 Caroline Hulse
    13 of 29 Christy Jordan
    14 of 29 Lauren Liess
    15 of 29 Juley Le
    16 of 29 Josh Johnson
    17 of 29 Courtney Kerr
    18 of 29 Caroline Harper Knapp
    19 of 29 Christina Lane
    20 of 29 Monica Lavin
    21 of 29 Stacey Little
    22 of 29 Cheri Leavy and Whitney Long
    23 of 29 Kristin Luna
    24 of 29 Perre Coleman Magness
    25 of 29 Dee Nash
    26 of 29 Beth Parker
    27 of 29 Beth Sachan
    28 of 29 Camille Styles
    29 of 29 Leah Walker

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