listening to old alabama

{Enter here to win $50 from Shabby Apple vintage boutique}

I have lived in the Washington, D.C.,  area for nearly 12 years, but at my core I was Born Country. Naturally, when the 1980s country band Alabama announced its reunion tour I would be going. I reached out to friends whom I knew would be as In A Hurry to buy tickets as I. I hopped a plane to Take Me Down to Atlanta for the show at the Fox Theater with my friends Cassie, Whitney, Monty, and Shannon. 

With Monty and her hat

As Cas + I were checking in to the Georgian Terrace , I looked left to see Randy Owen, Alabama's lead singer. I should have asked for a picture. I should have told him how his simple, southern lyrics have played like a Jukebox in My Mind since I was a child. I feel like he might have been amused to hear how in college we'd always turn up Tennessee River at tailgates, how once at a Capitol Hill house party an Old Flame was so impressed at my stellar clogging moves to Mountain Music he invited me home to meet his family, or that my match.com headline read Dixieland Delight, probably my most favorite song of all time.  I didn't, though. I was too cool.

The view from the Cheap Seats  

Later that night, long after he'd opened up his case, we did see band member Jeff Cook at the hotel, and he couldn't have been nicer to all us silly fangirls (and one guy: Whitney's husband, Jason, likes Alabama so much he asked to join our girls' group and well, You Can't Keep a Good Man Down).

Jeff and The Fans

The concert was a great excuse to build a girls' trip down in Dixie, and while I was there I got to see friends and family for whom Georgia is Down Home. I stole a night in the 'burbs with my cousin, Kim.  My high school friend, Melanie, met us for dinner before the show.  

We get together anytime we can. 

After our night in Atlanta, a few of us made plans to Roll On into a High Cotton resort and spa. All of it made for a getaway that was Close Enough to Perfect for Me. 

a tree cutting straight from the clark griswald playbook

My Christmas tree has been up since the weekend after Thanksgiving!  That, sadly, is about as far as my limited holiday cheer has taken me this year. If Dan, emotionally aged 7 come every December, would have let me I would have even skipped the  tree this year, I think. He wouldn't hear of it, though. 

Likewise, he wasn't listening when I suggested we go for a smaller pine, but...10+ feet of Frazier Fir later....one of us is smiling like a kid at Christmas. 

Actually, I'm glad Dan told me to elf off with my bah-hum-bug. For anyone else feeling a tad Grinchey, I will confess that at least putting yourself in the midst of things merry does, in fact, help.

It helps, too, when your friends organize a tree cutting tailgate straight from the Clark W. Griswald  (juuuuuunior!) playbook.  That's what I'm writing about today over at my Fedscoop Social Studies column, and you can read about it here.  

jenni for the {royal} win

If you've been reading I Do Declare for a while you may recall I had a little royal wager with my friend Jenni on when Kate + William might become Mom + Dad. I was sure it would be within a year of their royal nupts. Jenni knew better; she said later rather than sooner. On the line with this bet was a pricey bottle of bubbly. I paid up back in the summer.

We should have saved the Veuve for yesterday's  big announcement.  Instead, in the spirit of Catherine's pending reign into the mommyhood, I'll announce the winner of my Secrets of The Mommyhood give-away. It's Jessica Mesnick, whose fave TV mom is....Miranda from Sex and the City. Yay!

the mommyhood - book review + giveaway!

When entertaining the idea of children, especially in one's mid-30s, I think it's wise to hear from mothers who are experienced not just with diapers and burp clothes but also with the balancing of a busy, full life with and (gasp!!!) away from their children. 

Heather Alexander, who you may know from The Mommyhoood blog, recently wrote a book called The Secrets of the Mommyhood. 

Heather's views on parenting have been tested from many angles, making her my kind of mom! She's had a really big career which she balanced, at its peak, with two young children. She's also been a stay-at-home mom. These days, when she's not busy being an author, along with tending to her daughter, son and husband, Heather writes a column for the Knoxville News Sentinel. 

With action points that direct expecting moms on  how best to pack for the hospital and a very candid list of pros and cons for anyone undecided on returning to work after baby, Secrets is a very user-friendly guide that picks up where more clinical books on pregnancy and childbirth end. Heather shares her classified mommycode in a casual and comical voice. This book is a quick read, and by its end you'll feel like Heather is one of your girlfriends, especially when she gives readers the perfect comeback for those competitive, know-it-all veterans who might make a new mom feel a little inferior. 

In the spirit of full disclosure it should be noted that Heather is one of my friends.  Remember this cute correspondence?     Heather's daugther. When one pals around with important authors there are often free books, so I get the pleasure of giving away a copy of Secrets of the Mommyhood to one lucky reader. This book would make a great happy to send to a friend who recently announced she's expecting, and it's also a perfect shower gift. 

To enter: leave a comment telling me you're all-time favorite TV mom.  I'll name a winner on November 26th! 

where the blogway meets the runway it's a small, small world

**enter here to win a $50 gift card from Tiny Prints!**

One fun fact about Washington is that you can bump into strangers on the street and hours later find yourself sharing secrets over dinner.  Now this doesn't happen every night, but in my years here it's happened a few times, and that's where today's story picks up.  Last night.

I was solo at Bloomingdales for a charity fashion show (which you can read more about over at Fedscoop!). Going to events alone makes me nervous and socially awkward so when through a cluster of geeks and glamazons I saw the familiar face of someone I "know" but have never met - MCW from Saving the Best for Last blog - I was thrilled!

When we locked eyes MCW rebuffed the gentleman vying for her attention by telling him she'd just seen an old friend. HAAA.

We've been reading each other's blogs for a while, even meaning to meet up for drinks. Life just kept getting the way. Until...life suddenly imitated Anna Wintour and landed us front and center beside the runway.  I call this The Devil Wears Forever 21......(cause that's where I bought my sunglasses). 

I mean, how often do you meet people who'll play Posh with you by pose-harding for sport? 

MCW was there with Landlocked Mermaid (center above; she blogs privately). Before we knew it the three of us were shopping for lip-gloss before gossiping over a late night dinner. I had SUCH a good time, and loved that a soiree I feared would leave me the wallflower instead made me a bonafide Disney princess.....

"The Disney Princesses" is what Mermaid's husband calls all the bloggers she knows and reads. Hysterical.  I'm so happy to be part of Mermaid and MCW's small blog world! 

barrel oak - best virginia winery for lingering

October is Virginia Wine Month. As if one ever needs an excuse to drive south into my favorite part of the DC-region.........

I went with some friends recently to visit an old favorite, and to check out a new concept in Virginia wine drinking...a seated tasting (read all about that over at my Fedscoop column!).  The day ended with dessert at Barrel Oak winery which has now officially become my favorite place to linger long time. 

There views are so nice, but the grounds....once there you just don't want to leave! There are plenty of tables and chairs for guests. Outdoor food is welcome, but there was a barbeque stand selling plates of food when we were there and a super fun band playing. People were dancing between wine tastings. It was picture-perfect fall!  There are firepits galore around which everyone sits and sips and makes friends. I can't wait to go back here for the John Marhsall Tasting Experience.  

If every you visit the D.C./northern Virginia area and you like wine, do not plan a trip this way without spending a day hopping from vineyard to vineyard. I promise you'll adore everything about it... even if it isn't Virginia Wine Month! 

pledging beta chi {charlotte bloggers}

Y'all know that my blog BFF is Dee from Dee's Adventures.   Last month I flew down to Charlotte to celebrate her as she awaits her first baby. I went to her baby shower (which had adorable, steal-worthy details - read about it here!) and got to meet some of her oldest friends - it was a great time!

I also got to meet a ton of  Dee's Charlotte blogger friends.

The Charlotte area seems to have a really great group of bloggers who meet up often and support each other  in the real world as well as the world wide web'ed one. I have joked in comments before that they should call them selves Beta Chi for Bloggers Charlotte. 

The Beta Chi blog class above features Classic Annie, Looks Like Lulu, Reporter Turned Mommy (like me, though, Kathleen is just a pledge - hee), Dee, A. Liz Adventures and Mr and Mrs. 

It was so fun to meet in person some of the bloggers I read often, and to meet new bloggers whom I've started following!

girls trips: then and now

 The last time I took a beach trip with my group of hometown friends we were only 18. Our travel style has changed a lot since then. Here's a peak at how different our trip to St Simons Island was  to mark our 35th year as compared to our week in Myrtle Beach to celebrate high school graduation. 


Getting Carded:

The Ocean Lodge at St Simons Island

Then: We passed around the IDs from those of us who were already 18 so we could get into {cheesey!!} nightclubs at Myrtle Beach. It was a brilliant plan.
Now: When we stopped in for a nightcap at  The Ocean Lodge no one was even carded. It was a tragic reality.


Rest and Relaxation:

Then: No one rose before noon. 
Now: At the spa by 10am. 


Food for Thought:

Dining at Halyards

Then: We ate a lot of tator tots. 
Now: We ordered spinach when dining at Halyards...

and not just because it was creamed with pimento cheese. 


Photo Opps:

1995

Then: It seemed like a good idea to stand on tables and accessorize with sand buckets. 
Now:  A marina makes for a much better backdrop. 

2012

Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner

The girls and Simon

Then: On the way home we made a detour to Lake Lure, NC, to see where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed.
Now: On the way home we stopped to meet - and steal turns holding - our friend Melanie's new baby, Simon....

 Melanie missed out on our trip because she was due any day but the timing of her delivery couldn't have been more perfect for us. Seeing this little saint Simon was the highlight of everyone's St Simons trip! 

too young for a senior trip

After high school graduation, I left for Myrtle Beach with my four best friends. We had enough IDs that read 18 to ensure everyone would get to peak inside Mother Fletchers, and a box of wine coolers, hidden in another friend's shed, we picked up on the way out of town. To this day I still don't know how those party favors were procured...

Summer, 1995

Our parents certainly didn't encourage this trip, but it's just what kids in our hometown did, so they let us go. I can't believe our mothers, who enforced curfews and rules about being alone with boys, let us just....leave. We seemed too young to take a a senior trip, a trip without some grown-ups...but off we went from Tennessee to South Carolina. 


Today I'm meeting up with these same girls for another beach trip, our first together in five years. Some of us still had to check with our moms before confirming travel dates; now there are babies that need sitting.


The next few days will include lots of relaxing and reminiscing..and plenty of dinner party questions, I'm sure.  These ladies will humor me as I drag them to see where JFK, Jr. got married, just as I will indulge them when it comes time to shop for the children. There will be no wine coolers. There will be no posing in bikinis. 

There will, however, be some party favors -  tacky-but-cute custom koozies -  and the hope that when we do reach our AARP years we'll still be taking trips together, sipping some kind of youth tonic....that we'll still be the kind of citizens too young to take a 'senior' trip.  

In Knoxville with Gavin Rossdale and Garden & Gun

I flew down to Tennessee this weekend for a super quick visit.  There was a wedding.  There was love.  There was food and laughter and there was sleep lost because there was, as always, a time deficit.  For fun, there was even Gavin Rossdale on Gay Street (no Gwen, but Zuma + a nanny; they were getting gelato from here). I love a celebrity sighting.

The current issue of Garden and Gun has a great little feature on Knoxville. It tells of a city that is special but not over-confident.  You read the story and you would never believe it's about a place that, for years, has voted Olive Garden its favorite Italian restaurant.  I felt like a proud native reading that article, but as I dined on Market Square and strolled around downtown this weekend I felt a little like a curious tourist....one who is already anticipating her next return trip. 

antrim 1844 for a DC-area girlfriend getaway

On Saturday, I  set out  for a night away with girlfriends at Antrim 1844, a bed & breakfast in central Maryland, to celebrate my friend Mary's upcoming birthday. 

Entry into the mansion at Antrim 1844

"You're going to be very close to the Mason-Dixon line," Dan told me, jokingly, "so be very careful!"


An hour later, I checked into a room named after a Union spy.


Antrim is elegant and cozy, and the trees that shield it from a highway enclave guests into a garden that keeps old Civil War secrets....

The gardens at Antrim

...and modern day wedding vows. A couple got married while we were there, and we watched from our rooms.

It is no wonder couples choose to wed at Antrim; it is terribly romantic. Lucky guests get to snuggle into soft robes....

and fall into fluffy feather beds.  I want to come back with Dan in the winter to enjoy the fireplaces....

Besides, what's not to love about an inn that offers Nora Roberts on the bedside table?


Not just for lovebirds, Antrim proved a great (and inexpensive - we took advantage of the 1776 package good now through mid-July) girlfriend getaway. I can't recommend it more if you live in or around Baltimore and Washington. An easy drive beyond the Beltway and you're taking afternoon tea in a country smokehouse! That's what we did, as its offered daily to overnight guests. 

Don't fill up on the sweets and savories, however. Though the treats are delish, you'll want to save plenty of room for dinner at the award-winning Smokehouse Restaurant (more on that tomorrow!) where the food and service is fantastic! Dinner for the pre fixe menu is not included in the room price, but the experience is worth the splurge!

After six courses and three hours of  leisurely dining, we slid back into some comfy clothes and headed out for a round of marathon girl talk in the garden....

Before we knew it the clock ticked 2:00am - we'd outlasted even the wedding goers! Up by 9 then next day, there was breakfast (included daily for overnight guests from 8:30am-10:00am) to be had...

The rest of the day we lounged by the pool (which we had ALL to ourselves!)...

til it was time to drive back to real life. 


Do you have a favorite place for a quick girls' weekend?

Pool, Shower, Grill, Eat, Sleep....and Repeat.

Spring was....a little exhausting at our house. That's why I'm welcoming a very slow, simple start to summertime! I love that since Memorial Day we've done little more than eat pimento cheese sandwiches for lunch....

sing along with friends at outdoor concerts....

Chicken Fried Bromance - Dave and Dan at the Zac Brown Band concert

read books bought at the grocery store...

Nora's The Inn BoonsBoro trilolgy is set in Maryland - I sort of love it!

and disregarded all to-do lists at home for spending the bulk of our weekend days at the pool. 

Having no real plans on the books is especially handy when on Friday, flooding and tornadoes leaves one stuck in the District....

Though you can't make it out in the photo I sent to Dan, the sign I'm holding says "Stranded Since 6pm"

I don't know why the center of the free world shuts down every time there is inclement weather, but the Beltway was flooded and the news in Maryland was, "If you have loved ones in DC, tell them stay put!" So, after about two crazy hours sitting in gridlock on Capitol Hill, I called my friend Julie to see if she would be my shelter from the storm. The street I was stuck on is the street where she lives, so if you believe in predestined slumber parties.....which I do, then you guess correctly that pizza was then ordered, Easy A was watched and lots of girl talk was passed while the rain poured. By Saturday morning, though, the sun was shining again and I quickly fell back into the rigid schedule of pool, shower, grill, eat, sleep...

and repeat! 

The Secret Lives of the Wives Club

I read a book back in the winter called The Secret Lives of Wives. 

In this book the author (and wife of 23 years) Iris Krasnow interviewed hundreds of women who've been married between 15-70 years. After uncovering all sorts of things that would make even the Desperate Housewives blush, she determined that, in short:

"The happiest wives have a sense of purpose and passion in work and causes outside of the home. Wives who counted on a spouse for fulfillment and sustenance were often angry and lonely...

Finally, the wives with the highest marital satisfaction have a tight circle of wild women friends with whom to drink, travel and vent about their husbands."

The latter is certainly the mantra that my friends and I embraced this weekend for a relaxing time at the beach...

The Wives Club (what we call ourselves because we're all connected through our husbands, who are BFF, not because we're smug married) went coastal for a few days to Venice, Florida, without the husbands, without the kids. 


You've seen a peak at the napkins I made, but Katie made us custom koozies. Super cute. 

For our short stay we mostly just went to the beach, swam in the pool....

...and went out for dinners. One night we did get SUPER wild when we Redboxed the new Footloose. I sent this picture of Katie to Dan back home and told him things were about to get crazy... 

Short of reading from the Fifty Shades series, the wildest thing we really did was eat french fries and ice cream every day. During the rest of our time we just gabbed and napped. We laughed a lot, and smiled through tears a little. It was a fantastic way to spend a few days.


With an expert author on marriage weighing in that weekends like the one we had lend to a marriage lived happily ever after, I can't see why our husbands won't support more weekends just like this one! 

The Nicholas Sparks Guide to Estate Planning

Have you entered to win a $50 gift card from Shabby Apple? Enter here - I'll name a winner tomorrow!

I went away this weekend with some girlfriends, and is often the case when women are together for 48+ hours, the topics of conversation cover a wide range. For us, it was everything from coffee creamer to Kardashians, moisturizers to....mortality.


Most of the women in the group already have children, so unlike yours truly who still has bank accounts in her maiden name, these ladies have their stuff in order. They have wills. They have recruited and approved women their husbands should marry in their untimely deaths. My most organized friend, who plans, prepares, and freezes her meals months in advance, has something I think every house needs: A Death Packet.


In this packet she and her husband have detailed everything they do, respectively, to keep their house in order. Passwords, plans - simple rules for how their life works - all in one place. If Dan goes before me, I would surely need all the details about our finances, something that (by choice) is totally out of my hands. Likewise, if Dan is left without me, he'd need a map for finding his socks (check the dryer first). A short list of people know where to find my friend's packet if something were to happen to both her and her husband at the same time, and meanwhile, they have the peace of knowing that when the worst happens, dealing with Life Goes On will be a little bit easier.


But here's where their planning for the worst makes the will you put together on the internet or even by a fancy lawyer fall a little short: in the packet are letters she and her husband have written to each other. To be opened....when. Straight out of the Nicholas Sparks Guide to Estate Planning, no? When she told me this I nearly choked up, mostly because I know this couple and could imagine it, but also because I think that final good-bye, a letter you can hold and have forever, is both the most bittersweet and romantic gesture I've ever heard.


It is never easy to talk about losing the people you love, so that makes preparing for it very easy to avoid. Rarely do I return from a long weekend with friends with anything but bloat and a hangover, but after this weekend, I came home not only knowing I need to get my affairs in order, but feeling inspired to actually do it. 

Southern Nights in DC

You can win a $50 gift card to shop Shabby Apple - enter HERE!

I grew up in Tennessee listening to country music and have remained a huge fan, especially of classic artists and songs. In fact, the older I get  the more classic I become, it's the old school stuff I love most. 

So, when I had the chance Wednesday to make a night in Washington a Southern Night by attending a special performance by Glen Campbell at the Library of Congress, I RSVPed yes in an instant. Then, I asked our new hire, a cute girl with college graduation just days behind her, if she knew who Glen Campbell is; she didn't. I felt old.  Patrick and Jocelyn do, however....

...and so they came, too!  Before the concert there was a reception, also at the Library. I had no idea there was this pretty garden nestled outside the Jefferson building....

That's where we spent most of our times stalking the catering staff for mini-bites of beef, lobster, shrimp and chicken salad... 

and also trying to casually find ourselves next to Jane Seymour, who was also there (obviously, with an open heart). She MC'ed the concert....

This night was hosted by the Alzheimer's Association....

You can find an open bar and free food around Capitol Hill on any night of the week, but it isn't always special, and this event was truly well done. 

Glen Campbell, who has been very public about his battle with Alzheimer's Disease, is on his final tour this year, playing hits old and new. I had tried to buy tickets for his concerts at The Birchmere, a cool dinner theater outside Washington, but all three shows were sold out! Last night's performance was so special, and I was just thrilled to get to see it.