Taking A Hike

Why are hiking boots so ugly? I knew we would go hiking while on our girls' weekend at Bryson City so I searched high and low for a mildly attractive pair of hiking boots. These are the best that I found:

Gross but comfy

Sweater: Old Navy
Tank and Yoga Pants: Target
Puffer Vest: Eddie Bauer Outlet
Boots: So ugly I shouldn't even give them props but I picked them up at Shoe Carnival

Doing my Captain Morgan pose on some slippery rocks

Postcard views from The Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Fall splendor

Girls Gone Mild

 

 

Leather Peacock and I have taken our fair share of girls' weekends in the fifteen years we have known each other. Our first trip together saw us taking advantage of Greyhound Bus' companion rides free promotion and riding overnight all the way from Louisville, KY to New Orleans, LA. We stayed in an awful youth hostel for $12 a night so we could save our money for more important things... like booze, swamp tours, booze, voodoo and crawfish.

 

In our 20s (and first few years of our 30s), we continued to act like sorority girls on Spring Break by vacationing at party spots like Myrtle Beach, Savannah, Washington DC and Memphis. We have danced on the bar at several Coyote Ugly joints. We both have gaping holes in our memories from the night in the piano bar in Savannah, cringe when we think about the time we licked Jell-O shots (served in a syringe, of all things!) off some random Marines in Myrtle Beach and have deleted way too many pictures from our cameras due to their incriminating nature.

 

A few months ago, Leather Peacock called me, stressed out from work, and commented that it had been a while since we had taken a trip. Fearing that I was going to get ridiculed for losing my mojo, I cautiously suggested that we do something more relaxing like a spa weekend. Luckily, Leather Peacock agreed that this was right up her alley too.

 

The Internet quest to find an ideal spot for this new style of girls' weekend begin. I hit jackpot with the Google search "girls spa weekend north carolina" when the Lakeview at Fontana in Bryson City, NC came back as the number one return. They have this spiffy Girls' Night In package for only $565 per person for three nights. This includes your room, yoga classes and three spa treatments of your choice. (And, no, I don't work for them or get any benefits from this). The icing on the cake for us was when there was an opening for a weekend in mid-October, right at the height of the leaf turning splendor.

 

During the seven hour car ride from my house, our decision began to be questioned but any anxiety was quickly erased upon our arrival (conveniently just ten minutes before their nightly Happy Hour!). Lakeview at Fontana is an old 1950s motor lodge that has been converted in to a resort that they tout as "Rustic Chic". I would put more emphasis on the chic. We were too spoiled and pampered for anything to be considered rustic.

The view at Happy Hour from their observation deck.

Jacket: Wilson's Leather

Shirt: Forever 21

Tank: Old Navy

Jeans: American Eagle

Boots: Old Navy

Relaxed smile: c/o Lakeview at Fontana

 

 

The Main Building

 

Awesome retro room key

Our cabin (right across from main building)

 

 Living room. No TV or Wi-Fi at the resort so we brought Trivial Pursuit.

 

The kitchen/dining room. Note all our bottles of wine.

Bedroom. We thrashed it within minutes of arrival with our eight suitcases for the three day trip.

 

Nightly Happy Hour offerings. I still dream of their feta-pesto spread.

 

 In room S'mores maker included in the package. Also popcorn and fashion magazines in the room. See how spoiled we were?

 

To commemorate our 15 years as friends, I decided on an updated version of the old Best Friend split heart necklaces. Behold our awesome matching whale necklaces with "Amies" etched in to them. P.S: We were a little hammered at the time of this self-portrait so pardon the wacky expressions.

Necklaces: Etsy shop IAdornU

I Exist (and survived the Tarheel)

As Southern Helle previously mentioned, I recently visited the quaint little Marine macho hamlet of Jacksonville, NC. My first stop? The Tarheel (I first typed Tarhell, i am not sure which is more appropriate) my introduction into country bars. I knew going in that it was a country bar but my stubborn hipster self refused to dress the part of the local species:

Yeah, you could say, I stood out. Not exactly the attire of choice for personas countrias Jacksonvillus.

Headwrap from Three Bird Shop on Etsy. Earrings from Target.

My newly reshod Candies from Kohl's. One of my most favorite, and smallest heels.

Misc: Tanks: Target
Jeans: London Jeans @Victoria's Secret

Yeah, I may not have fit in but I had a great time. Southern Helle is great at getting me out of my comfort zone and showing me a great time. And he may have been in junior high when I joined the Navy, but Mr 21 showed me I still got it.

Shop 'Til You... Drink?

No doubt about it: Leather Peacock and I spend a huge portion of our time together shopping. She is a great sounding board for me and I know that I can count on her (usually brutal) honesty.This last weekend was no exception. Saturday pre-Grape Stomp, we ventured out to find fabric for my latest DIY project. I was having no luck but Leather Peacock suggested checking out the website Spoonflower. Originally I had planned to use a standard toile but, after perusing her suggested website, I settled on a toile that (if you look closely) contains trailer park scenes vice the standard French countryside. See why I keep this girl around? Mission accomplished so we decided to celebrate with some brew and grub at Carolina Ale House. Any excuse for a good beer.

Pre-shopping

My gangsta pose with my bling. Notice my stepdaughter viewing this spectacle from a safe distance on the porch.

Cute little fella, huh? We match!

Tank: Body Central
Shorts: Forever 21
Flip flops: New York & Company
Necklace: Forever 21
Sunglasses: Mudd at Kohl's

Sunday morning rolled around and I badgered Leather Peacock awake (via text and Twitter) so I could drag her to Target. The Shops at Target were debuting four new lines and I had my eye on the women's fashions from Kirna Zabete. But it was not meant to be for me. Oddly enough, Leather Peacock was the one who snatched up a Kirna Zabete dress. Not that I left empty handed...

My only Shops at Target buy of the day. A retro cappuccino mug with Mount Rushmore emblazoned on it from the Curiosity Shoppe. George Washington's bubble says, "What's Up?"

Tweed pants in the color of the moment.

Peplum dress. Thought I would hate this silhouette since I am pretty hippy but turns out to be pretty flattering.

 

Chambray shirt: Aerie for American Eagle

Tank: Mossimo from Target

Boyfriend Chinos: New York & Company

Shoes: Sanuks 












Move Over, Lucy and Ethel

Their outfits were pretty cute.

Muscadine wine should replace sweet tea as THE drink of the South. Even people who don't like wine usually take well to it. The best muscadine I have found so far is made by Duplin Winery in my neighboring county. In order to kick off their harvest, Duplin Winery always holds a festival with live bands, a tasting and an old fashioned grape stomp. Leather Peacock was finally able to make it this year and even ended up stomping by butt during the Grape Stomp Off.

T-shirt: American Eagle

Skirt: Forever 21

Shoes: American Eagle at Payless

Bag: thrifted

Necklace: Forever 21
Bracelet (Hard to see from pics which is a shame. It has Scrabble tiles on it that spell out CHEERS! ): LC Lauren Conrad at Kohl's



Notice the Wine Slings around our necks holding the glasses. Whoever thought of that should win the Nobel Prize or something! Of course, we coordinated ours with our outfits.

My best accessory. And I do actually mean Mr. Southern Helle, not my thrifted handbag.

My love of the Rocky movie franchise finally paid off when I could correctly answer who played Rocky's opponent in Rocky IV. A bottle of their latest wine is way better than a medal. Suck it, Men's Olympic Swim Team!

The Stomp! I would like to think we were moving so fast that the camera couldn't keep up... but I suspect Mr. Southern Helle had sampled too much wine to take the picture well.



When In Rome...



My town offers little in the way of excitement. It is a tiny little town on the NC coast whose only real claim to fame is its proximity to two large Marine Corps bases. For a while, I blogged about it anonymously (read it here) but you can only skewer at town's idiosyncrasies for so long. Then I turned to half-ass fashion blogging.

When Leather Peacock agreed to come down for a local winery's annual harvest grape stomp, I decided to tack on some local culture and really show her Jacksonville, NC. In this town, that includes a trip to the infamous Tarheel Opry House, a shit-kicking country and western bar known for an interesting dance interpretation of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's song "Fishin' In the Dark". I won't say it is NSFW but please keep small children away if you watch it otherwise you will be paying for therapy one day. Leather Peacock is way more hipster than I am and usually chooses to stay away from such establishments. Never underestimate my powers of persuasion. She treated the whole outing as if she was an anthropologist studying a strange species... until a cute 21 year old Marine offered to buy her a shot... but that is her story to tell, not mine!

T shirt: some tourist shop on Broadway in Nashville, TN. How pretentiously authentic of me...

Earrings and Bracelets: Forever 21

Jeans: American Eagle. They are called Artist Jeans and can still be found here.

Boots: made by Laredo. Zappos carries them here but I think I picked mine up at DSW years ago.

My attempt at rockabilly

Pinup girl pose?

I originally attempted a fishtail braid but had already had too much wine. Hope this ended up more rockabilly and less Snookie a la Jersey Shore.

The ubiquitous boots

Leather Peacock on the right. See... she really does exist! Now if only I could get her to write a blog post...

Double trouble!