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Friday, July 4, 2014

#SILintheSouth The Quinessential Southern Experience?

The quintessential Southern Day

You guyyyyyyyyyyyssssssssss, I feel like now I can say I've had a truly Southern day ;P 

Our day started at Walmart (well.... not really, we didn't sleep there but the actual doing things part of the day started there) where we were looking for some arrows for Josh's (Jesse's brother) bow, however, there were none to be found! That was okay though because I found myself a Minnie Mouse t-shirt (there are some benefits to only fitting into clothes in the Junior section) and then we headed off to quite possibly the most entertaining place I've ever been in Louisiana...

Camouflage everything at the Hunting Store, Alexandria Louisiana
The hunting store. Where everything is camouflage - even teddy bears, onesies and underwear. 

Deer heads at the Hunting Store, Alexandria

Deer heads with tongue sticking out at the Hunting Store, AlexandriaI don't know if I'm just a weirdo but all of the camouflage and deer stuff and gun things were totally amusing as we have nothing like that in Australia (or at least I've never seen it!)

I don't necessarily agree with hunting, but it still amused me as they had things for hunting everything - deers, pigs, ducks, even zombies.

I'm not kidding about the zombies - they had zombie targets and everything ;)

The gun rack at the Hunting Store, Alexandria

And what was even weirder (and somewhat unnerving) for me was seeing all of the guns out there in the open. In case you didn't know, in Australia you cannot just own a gun and you cannot buy a gun from a store like you can do at Walmart in the US. 

I only know a very few people who own a gun and most of them just have one for target shooting which they do as a sport and they have all of the licenses and special gun safes. 

In Louisiana, I could have gone in, picked out a gun and walked out - but all we needed were some bows so we picked up those and headed out. Our next stop was Target where I got some new sneakers (which were on clearance for $5.08 each!) and a little toy for my Nelly girl!

Jesse and Josh at Lowes

Shopping at Lowes Alexandria LouisianaOur next stop was Lowes, the US equivalent of our Bunnings/Masters but without the weekend bbq's ;)

Jesse and Josh needed some stuff (aka: the names and details went straight over my head) so I left them to it whilst I did some exploring. 
Random things to see at Lowes

There were Cowboy Boot Planters, Yard Flamingos, wrinkly Bulldog statues and cute little moose statues but not what the boys were looking for, so we headed off to another store.

Zombie Lawn Ornament for your lawn

And that store went one up in the weird department with this Zombie Lawn Ornament. They also had a giant Sasquatch and a King Kong. Do people really have these things in their yard?!

Olson's Fireworks Alexandria Louisiana

But out next stop was even more American - the Fireworks stand for the 4th of July! Just like guns, fireworks are also illegal in most parts of Australia so I've never seen anything like this. 

Shopping for Fireworks at Olson's Fireworks Alexandria Louisiana

I left Jesse and Josh to do the deciding as I had nooooooooo clue what anything was.

Shopping for 4th of July Fireworks at Olson's Fireworks Alexandria Louisiana

Excalibur Firework SwordThere were so many fireworks. "Shotgun Wedding", "Blonde Joke" and "Drama Queen" packs, firework swords and just about every type of firework you could imagine and more.

If there was ever a fire in town, you definitely wouldn't want to go near that place ;) 
Shopping for 4th of July Fireworks at Olson's Fireworks Alexandria Louisiana

When Jesse first said we were going to get fireworks I was thinking maybe 5 fireworks, but what I didn't realise was that there were so many different types. At home, the closest we get to fireworks are sparklers or watching them on New Years Eve 

Firework Packs at Olson's Fireworks Alexandria Louisiana

Jesse ended up choosing a pack which had all sorts of fireworks inside. I can't fathom how we'll get through so many, but I guess I'll find out tomorrow! I forgot to bring a tripod for my camera so I might have to take some video to share with you guys!

Love Grown Foods Chocolate Power O's
And today's favourite food finds?

Firstly, Love Grown Foods' New Power O's. We've been eating the Chocolate ones by the handful but I'm going to have to try some with milk as well (at home I prefer eating cereal with cottage cheese but I hateeeeee the cottage cheese here). They're made with garbanzo beans, navy beans, lentils and brown rice but you'd never know by eating them. If you're in the US you need to get some ASAP - I'm hoping they start selling them in Australia (or at least on iHerb) so I can still buy them at home!

We also bought some Coconut Icecream Bars tonight which were so so good - they're the Coconut Fruit Bars from Blue Bell and they reminded me of the homemade coconut icecream we had in Bali <3

Southern Style Outfit of the Day
And how's this for a Southern look, eh? That was yesterday's outfit ;P

The only think quintessential Southern/American we haven't seen so far is squirrels! I don't know if they're hiding from us or what but we haven't seen a single one!

Tomorrow is the 4th of July and we have Jesse's family coming over so Jesse and I have lotsssssssss of cooking to do as we bought everything to cook for tomorrow today!

But tell me, what's one thing that comes to mind when you think of the South/America?
And have you ever had fireworks?
If you're American, what are your 4th of July plans?


  1. Haha yeah, it's a safety thing and also because our land is often so dry there's a huge risk for bush fires!

  2. I still remember that when I was little (probably sixish) Kmart here in Australia was very different. It had a cafeteria called Holly's in most stores, and next to it was the gun department, mixed in with all the fishing stuff. I'm so glad it's long gone, it's creepy enough having an indoor shooting range nearby.

    Fireworks would be pretty cool, but it's just too dry here to risk using them. Which ones did you get? Did the boys have to get a licence for them?

  3. That is so weird! I can't imagine Kmart with guns haha.

    In Louisiana you don't need any kind of license or permit to buy or use fireworks - I think the only rule may be that you have to be over 18 to buy them but I'm not even sure on that!



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