Ellington

I love summertime. Maybe it's because I'm ridiculously cold-natured, so it's the one time of the year I get to wear things not resembling a parka without freezing. But I think it's really that summer means sunshine, evenings spent sitting on patios with cold drinks, letting my hair air-dry and wearing two of my favorite fabrics—seersucker and linen. This Memorial Day weekend, while others headed off to the beach, I stayed here and welcomed the official start of the season with appropriate traditions: shopping a sale, eating barbeque and beginning my summer reading list.

I'll admit, it took me a little while to get on board with wearing white denim. I enjoy it on others, but for some time I harbored a deep personal fear of wearing white. Despite all efforts to be a chick who keeps herself together, I remain a hopeless klutz. Bumping into things, tripping on my stilettos and face-planting, wildly gesturing with my hands and spilling a drink—these are not actions that coexist comfortably with a fabric on which dirt and stains can't hide. But sometimes you have to face your fears for the sake of style. Also, sometimes Red Square Clothing Co. (1000 Highland Colony Parkway, Suite 9004, 601-853-8960, http://www.redsquareclothingco.com) has a sale you just can't miss. Such was the case this Memorial Day weekend, when they slashed the prices on all jeans by half.

Shopping is always better with a cohort, so I grabbed one, and we headed for Another Broken Egg Café (1000 Highland Colony Parkway, Suite 1009, 601-790-9170, http://www.anotherbrokenegg.com) before hitting the store. A late lunch and a couple of glasses of bubbly later (because that makes shopping better, too), I was ready to conquer Mission: White Jeans.

At Red Square, Joe Williams and Jill Matheny greeted us eagerly and immediately started pulling exactly what I needed to try. Jill's knowledge of how different styles and brands fit is impeccable, and she has an innate knack for knowing what will and won't work on you. Thanks to her, I walked away with the perfect pair of True Religion Serena jeans with gold hardware. (And a pair of denim shorts ... with jeans half off, why not?)

Having succeeded in securing summer whites, I was thrilled at receiving a Facebook invitation to what's become a fun annual tradition: Arthur Jones' Memorial Day Cookout. Jones and his friends know how to barbeque like champs, and at this one, they go whole hog––literally. As in, he roasts a whole pig ... and uses all the parts. (Last year, I tried some offal, but this year, I drew the line at pig tails.) After a lazy Memorial Day morning and a quick stop at Kat's Wine and Spirits (921 E. Fortification St. 601-983-5287, http://www.katswine.com) for a bottle of rosé—one of my favorite wines to drink in the summer—I headed to Arthur's Belhaven home.

Thanks to a slightly overcast sky, the afternoon was really pleasant, perfect for a gathering of friends old and new around those common denominators of food and drink. Arthur, clad in his traditional barbeque attire of overalls, and several of the other guys tended to the cooking, periodically announcing that ribs or pig tails or any other number of meat products were ready. The rest of us enjoyed one another's company and played cornhole, and soon I realized I'd been there all afternoon.

Rounding out the evening, I returned home to finish up Thomas McNamee's book "The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat: Craig Claiborne and the American Food Renaissance" (Free Press, 2012, $27). I picked up the book, about Mississippian Claiborne, at Lemuria Books (4465 Interstate 55 N., Suite 202, 601-366-7619, http://www.lemuriabooks.com). It seemed an appropriate way to end the day of eating and drinking with friends, as Claiborne is famous not only for his food writing, but also for his dinner parties. It was a good read and a reminder of how many great memories I have of special times with friends that center around getting together to eat.

While some friends escaped to the beach to kick off summer, I found myself perfectly content to remain here at home and celebrate the start of those lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer. I hope to see you out and about—in your favorite summer fabrics­­­––soon!

Follow Julie on Twitter @jcskipp.