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

Happy Camper

I have filled my Cool Girl quota for the year by actually agreeing to go camping with my husband this weekend. Camping usually isn't my cup of tea (or, in my case, glass of wine). It reminds me too much of being back in the Army and going out for training exercises, aka "going to the field". I hate bugs and I hate getting dirty and I hate having to hike to the bathroom and I hate it even more when there is no bathroom to hike to.

Of course, opposites attract and Mr. Southern Helle loves all things involving the great outdoors. He would go all Mountain Man and drop off the grid if I would let him. Turns out he actually makes camping pretty fun. Translation: he did all the dirty work. I have decided to keep him around in case the Apocolypse ever really does take place. Especially if he makes me his awesome "Hobo Dinner". See recipe and pictures below. I have never eaten so well on a camping trip in my life.

Camping isn't exactly the stomping ground for high fashion so my outfits are aimed more towards function and practicality. I did try to have fun with my T-shirt choices at least. Even though it looks like I was shooting for a trend with my high sock bun, I honestly didn't feel like dealing with my rat's nest mane and opted to just pile it on my head and forget about it.

Day 1 outfit
T Shirt: Etsy shop Bodhicitta
(Not from NC? This Etsy shop is dedicated to all things NC so you may have to search elsewhere. And sorry about your luck. It really is the best state in the Union!)
Flannel: Arizona Jean at JCPenney
Shorts: Forever 21
Shoes: Sperry Top-Siders

The intercoastal waterway. The beaches are one of the reasons I love this state (as seen in my newest favorite T-shirt)

Wasn't me!



You may have to search to find him through all that camoflague but I swear Mr. Southern Helle is in this picture.
Also, I promise that I am not wearing socks with these shoes. My right ankle is wrapped due to a graceful tumble I took a few nights earlier.

Beautiful sunset

Day 2 outfit
T Shirt: Busted Tees
Sweatpants: American Eagle

As seen in my T-shirt choice, I was a little over camping at this point.

And now for the famous "Hobo Dinner" recipe/tutorial:

Chop up chicken, shrimp, veggies (we had mushrooms, onions, peppers and zuchini)

Place above items on foil. Throw in some minced garlic, salt, pepper and a few pats of butter. Accidentally spill your Moscato on it then decide to add some on purpose. The French have been doing it for years so why not you too?

Fold long ends and roll up short ends. It should look like a shiny burrito. Throw it on hot coals for about 40 minutes. All there is left to do now is eat it. This beats the ubiquitous campfire hot dogs anyday. In fact, the smell drew in our hot dog eating neighbors who were very, very jealous. I didn't share a single bite with them either.

Channeling Aunt Jemima

Hot on the heels of me emulating Freddy Kreuger, Saturday's outfit had me donning a headwrap a la Aunt Jemima.

Let me explain:

I am a hardcore Modcloth shopper who is often perplexed by what to do with the free gifts they throw in with shipments. At first, it was little buttons with graphics of waifish cartoon characters. Those went straight to my stepdaughter. Same thing with the gingham print barrettes and heart shaped hair pins they included with a few orders. I am 34; far past the age that heart shaped lavender barrettes can be considered cute. My last three orders have included strips of cloth with wiring stitched in to them. After receiving the last one, I finally concluded that these were intended to be headwraps.

I am a little slow on the uptake sometimes...

This weekend, the whole family jumped in the car for a quick road trip to Beaufort, SC and adjacent Parris Island. Mr. Southern Helle will be heading down there in January for Drill Instructor school. It is tough to look presentable, much less fashion forward, while spending six hours in the car getting to your destination. I decided to give it the ol' college try and, on my way out the door, threw one of the Modcloth headwraps over my ponytail.

Mr. Southern Helle deemed it "cute" and some lady at a rest stop complimented my shorts and headwrap combo. The stepdaughter wasn't so keen. Check out the below pictures and you can see that she is a tad bit embarrassed by the woman who looks like she belongs on a bottle of syrup.

No Southern road trip is complete without saying hi to Pedro at South of the Border!

Embarassing the hell out of stepdaughter

I love all the Spanish Moss on trees down there. So Southern Gothic!

Self portrait in the car. Note disgusted 14 year old in the back seat.

Shirt: Old Navy
Tank (underneath): Forever 21
Shorts: Old Navy
Headwrap: free c/o Modcloth
Necklace: Modcloth
Shoes: Havaianas

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.