The Southern Belle

The Southern belle (derived from the French word belle, 'beautiful') is an archetype for a young woman of the American Deep South's upper class.

Source: The rather infamous Wikipedia

Today, I changed my blog address from vain-aholic to the-southernbelle. My primary reason is vain-aholic sounds like something a 15-year old came up with (which, matter of fact, is exactly what it was). I have contemplated on doing this for years since I was in college. I was quite ashamed of this blog name a silly teenager concocted in a futile attempt to look quirky or original. Over time I have come to realize that it doesn't have the meaning I thought it had. But of course, it wasn't an easy decision. It's six years of attachment I have to move on from. It took years before this one sweet day I finally said "I'm doing it." I hesitated until the last minute because while this blog is rather private that I can name almost everyone who reads my blog religiously, I still think that maybe there are other people out there who find my stories interesting. How do I tell them "Oh, I dumped vain-aholic and you have no way of knowing my new blog address since I don't know who you are." Admittedly, I'm also not techie enough to know if it is possible to to redirect vain-aholic to the-southernbelle if that's an option (probably not). Still, my devotion to writing and keeping this blog as a sanctuary for my mostly unspoken thoughts whether I have an audience or not prevailed. Hence, this new blogger identity.

So going back. Why Southern Belle? I first encountered this term when I was reading Slammed by Colleen Hoover. It was because of the main character's accent and how she says y'all instead of you all or all of you. I adored the term so much that I used it as my Twitter and Instagram bio (you can roll your eyes now). In Manila, when you say "south girl", she's from either one of the cities south of Manila. I always referred to my self as one very proud south girl that I would fight for my right to be sheltered by my future husband and to raise my children in the south. So, one reason is because of my geographic history and preference and second is because of its origin. The origin of this term developed in the Antebellum Period. If you've seen old American movies, the Southern Belles were the American bachelorettes who wore rib-crushing corsets, hoop skirts, wide-brimmed hats, holding frilled umbrellas. They were of reputable social stature and were playful and delicate. So, The Southern Belle, from now until this blog exists shall be my humble representation.

It's exciting to say this change inspires me to write with passion again. Goodbye, vain-aholic. You will be missed.

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Edited August 5, 2014
http://vain-aholic.blogspot.com is open again but only to notify others that I moved. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner.