Weekend Style: Woods, Woodland Wedding, and, Well, Beer

I didn't go horseback riding, but we did drive through mountains remote enough to have no data signal (seriously, how is one to Google Map one's way to something other than the fast food restaurants on the highway signs without Google Maps?), wander through actual woods, added Nemacolin Resort to our List of Places to Return, celebrated with dear friends who really are family, and drank Good German Beer.

My style, you ask? It was simple. The short list of how I got through the weekend without batting a proverbial eyelash:

The drive to Western PA: a Target black jersey summer dress and flip flops
Friday night's Wedding BBQ Party: Gap 1969 mid-rise dark skinnies, a vintage Romanian peasant top as a nod to our families' hertiage, and gladiator sandals
Saturday on the Resort: A bikini under my Motley Crue T and gym shorts
Saturday night's Wedding: My beloved and easy The Limited Outback Red maxi dress (similar to this shorter, sleevless version), slicked back hair (um, literally no time to wash and dry it), dangly beaded earrings, gladiator sandals, and a vintage clutch that still had my Mom-Mom's handkerchief in it. Which came in handy when there was nary a dry eye in the wooded place when the groom's father, and our wedding godfather, read his blessing.
The drive home: those mid-rise skinnies (they might as well be sweatpants, they're so comfy), and the Motley Crue t under a light vneck sweater (it was chilly!), and flip flops.

Here's just a teensy (I swear - there are loads more pictures! Didn't you see them on Instagram?) peek into our adventures.

L-R, from top left:

The youngest little old man, playing shuffleboard at the wedding venue Friday night

"It's like we're hiking," The Bean declared as they walked down a tiny path to a "dinosaur dig" on the resort

Private jet taking off right before our eyes on the resort property (apparently there are Very Rich People who go there)

Coolest insect plates I've ever seen and almost bought in one of the resort gift shops

Antoni Clave's original designs for a ballet production, Susanna and the Barber (circa 1930), just part of the remarkable Hardy family art collection on display at the resort

One of two partial (the actual icons beneath the metal covering is gone) icons (huge, btw) on display at the resort

"Caption" to a set of Audobon Societ plates in the resort library, bought from the Ambercrobie & Fitch Co, known for "outfitting weathy outdoorsmen" - who knew?

"Dress made for and worn by Marilyn Monroe" on display at the resort

Thistledown, which, among other things The Beans hadn't seen before (and I grew up just knowing), made me realize we need to get The Beans out into nature more

Narnia - the wedding venue, a retreat down the road from the resort, had lampposts that took us straight through the wardrobe

Antique linens decorating the ceremony site

Family

Our godfather (and the groom's father) and I

Yoga Bean playing while the grownups ate dinner

Zonked, and happily snuggled together

A doppelbock at our new favorite German restaurant, Schmankerl Stube in Hagerstown, MD

Weekend Style: Woodland Wedding

This will be the fastest post in the West.

Western Pennsylvania, that is.

It's still insane at work - it'll be that way for a while - so while I'd love to give you a "What I Packed" (or plan to pack, in this case) for our weekend away near Nemacolin, it's just not happening. It's busy enough (and I'm working late enough tonight) that this control-freaky mama is "letting" H pack for the kids today.

[Watch DC Celine attempt to not say a single word of advice or guidance. Better known as Watch DC Celine bite her tongue off because she can't let go.]

Anywho.

We're headed out for a family wedding near the fabled Pennsylvania resort. And while there is not a single drop of blood shared between any of our two families, they are. The groom is my MIL's godson (with his twin sister). The groom's parents are our wedding godparents (it's an Orthodox thing). There will be laughter, raucous laughter. There will be stories. There will be music (the groom is also a musician, and his band is playing at a Friday night BBQ), and there will be dancing. It will be The Beans' first wedding. No 1 is, shall we say, fairly excited. There's no stopping her wearing her most fanciest Easter dress, despite this being a woodland wedding.

Anywho No. 2.

It should be calm. It should be serene. And as tempted as I am by the activities (would horseback riding trump surfing, you think?) and the spa, I think I'll just ponder this picture, sit on the front porch of the cabin we're in for the weekend, and breathe.

Picture via