Travel Log - Oxford and St. Michaels, MD

After our three night stay in Gettysburg, my husband and I decided to head into Maryland. My husband and I have both been in Baltimore, when he had a conference to attend. Obviously, that is only one little piece of this state, which surrounds a good chunk of the Chesapeake Bay. It was the Bay that we were interested in seeing, but we weren’t sure where to go. We stopped at a the Maryland Welcome Center and were helped by a very friendly lady who gave us brochures on places she recommended that weren’t overly touristy.

After stopping at Fredrick Coffee Company & Cafe in Fredrick, MD, we decided to spend two nights near there, getting ourselves oriented and taking one day to totally chill out in our hotel room other than running out for food. When looking for places to stay near St. Michael, which our Welcome Center lady recommended, I came across an Airbnb in Oxford, MD called The Sandaway Suites & Beach. They had a small room available and it was half the usual rate, which was much more than we typically spend for a room. My guess is after the holiday weekend, they were glad to fill the rooms, so we grabbed it for two nights.

I didn’t take any outfit shots in Fredrick, but the day we traveled to Oxford, I kept it very simple. A pair of dark wash ankle pants rolled up, my Keds sneakers, a new tee from JC Penney and a fun necklace that I found thrifting made up this easy travel outfit. The cute tee has bees on it. I should have taken some close up shots, but I was lucky to remember taking pictures at all. Ha, ha.

This was in the lobby area of the actual Inn. The check in office was actually in a different building, so when you entered this building it was quiet and just off to one side was a doorway into a library where Mark and I ate our breakfast each morning. Sorry my pictures are less than stellar quality. Phones take much better pictures than they used to, but they are not perfect.

This was a the view from the main porch of the Inn.

This was the view from the other porch…yes there were two porches!

Sunset views.

After a night of sleep we spent the one full day we had in the Oxford area to take a ferry boat ride and explore the town of St. Michaels. For this day, I wanted to look like a tourist, so I wore my Christopher and Banks cabana pants. I got these just for our trip. I simply paired them with a white tee. I would have worn sandals, but knew we would be doing a lot of walking so opted, once again for my Keds.

Here we are on the ferry.

While we were in St. Michaels we visited the Maritime Museum. We saw boat building in process, a lighthouse and lots of boats, both pleasure sail types and work boats from the past. They even had a photo exhibit on women’s involvement in many aspects of sailing, fishing, crabbing and other industries of the sea.

This was the boat that Captain John Smith, of Pocahontas fame, used to explore the Chesapeake Bay area.

Of course, we had to get pictures of fashion back in the day. Believe me, this was as close to a swim suit as I got on this vacation. Ha, ha.

How do you like these prints ladies? This was the up and coming fashion for summer quite a few years before I was even born.

This is one of the reasons it is fun to explore museums, old towns and take a closer look at our history. There are just so many interesting tidbits out there that we know nothing about, until we start to look.

When we were done with the museum we ate at this restaurant, The Crab Claw, that was right on the water. It was delicious! Mark and I split a sampler platter with shrimp, scallops and fish and also ordered some oysters. Yummy! Sorry, I forgot to take pictures, because I was so busy eating. Ha, ha.

These last pictures are from the day we left. I wanted to get a few more pictures of this beautiful place we stayed and, of course, an outfit shot or two.

I need both the porch and the swing, or as my husband calls it, a butt hammock!

Good-bye Sandaway, we will miss you.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of our travels. This was not a sponsored post. I am simply sharing our adventures and have included links, so you can do your own exploring. I know my husband and I have cherished the information people have given us over the years of great places to go on vacation and they were always right.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Travel Log - Gettysburg, PA

With my husband and I taking a vacation for the last few days, I thought it would be fun to do a few Travel Log posts, like I have done in the past. Both my husband and I love to travel. We like to “get out of Dodge”, so to speak. We like to see new places and try new things, but we also like to revisit places we have been before. A number of years ago we passed through Gettysburg, PA on our way home from a conference. We spent one night so we didn’t have much time, but we saw enough to know that we wanted to come back. This time we spent three nights and were able to see and experience so much more.

For my first day of travel this is what I was wearing.

I apologize for my crummy selfie photo taking. I always seems to focus more on the selfie stick than the outfit, I am taking a picture of. Ha, ha. I really need more practice, but time is forever chasing me down like some sort of spectral wraith reminding me, I will never have enough of it.

The outfit was meant to be comfortable and easy, which it was. It was starting to warm up, so I knew I wanted something that would be warm enough, without being to warm. Both my top and the sweater were recent thrift finds. The jeans are a brand called Angel that Kohl’s carries. They are extremely comfortable as they have that perfect bit of stretch, but still hold their shape well. Here is a skinny pair, and here are a boot cut pair.

This is the outfit I wore, the first full day we were in Gettysburg. I got this skirt at JC Penney just before our trip and I love it. It is stretchy, swingy, tiered for extra room and comfort and you don’t need a slip underneath. I thought it would look pretty with yellow, so I grabbed this thrifted tee, which I used before in my Pantone Spring/Summer series. I added my blue, fringe necklace, my blue Keds, and my white jean jacket.

This little shop in Gettysburg makes and sells, period clothing. Most of the clothes are geared towards the mid 1800’s or the time of the Civil War. Think Scarlet O’ Hara with her big hooped skirts and fitted bodices. That is exactly the styles they sell. They also sell men’s period wear as well. I wish I could have taken pictures, but they had a no picture policy. It would have been fun to try things on and model them for a photo shoot. Ha, ha. The pieces were beautiful and they also sold, bonnets, hair pieces, jewelry and other period type accessories. If you are interested you can visit their website.

This was my next outfit. On this day we spent time hiking around a few specific battle sights from the Battle at Gettysburg, like Devil’s Den and Little Round Top, and we also did a two hour horse tour, so I wanted to be comfortable, but also covered, from the sun and from bugs. This plaid top and the blue tank underneath were also recent acquisitions from Penney’s. They were having good sales that day I went and i had a coupon. My Christopher and Banks jeans are some of my faves, although most of them are stating to look worn, so I thought they would be good for the horsey ride. You can see my blue fringe necklace made another appearance. Who says you can’t look stylish when you are riding a horse.

The next picture is Little Round Top. It doesn’t look like much, but it was one of the decisive parts of the battle that day. If you haven’t see the Gettysburg movie with Jeff Daniels as Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, it is a must see!

The group that we did the horse tour with was Horse Tours of Gettysburg. I had been wanting to do this tour since we first passed through Gettysburg, 13 years ago. I love horses and horseback riding, but have never had the money to own my own or take lessons. When I was younger, I had a friend down the street that had horses and she would let me get on them once in a while. Also, when my girls were young, my older daughter had the same bug for horses I did, so we were able to find someone with horses that gave her that exposure. Of course, I went along too. Ha, ha. A horse ride and a bit of history? Sounds like a win, win situation and it was. I would recommend this for anyone, especially families. The licensed tour guide gave such good, detailed and interesting information about what events led up to the war, the actual battle and the aftermath of all that fighting. It was excellent. And yes, my butt hurt when I was done, but it was worth it.

Here I am on Dixie.

Here is my hubby on his handsome boy, Patriot. We both thought it was funny that he had the Union horse and I had the Confederate. Sounds a bit like our marriage at times. Ha, ha.

Finally, on the day we left Gettysburg, I wore this outfit. This fun sleeveless top was a find at the end of the season last year from H&M. They have such fun prints and unique pieces that I have to go in there every once in a while, just to see what’s new. However, I do have to try things on, because often times what looks great on the rack looks silly on me and other times, I’ll try something really different and it’ll be perfect. The distressed, jeans were a Kohl’s clearance find and the suede oxfords are older from DSW. Here is a fun blue pair, an espadrille version, and a leopard print.

I hope you enjoyed this look at the first part of our vacay. We have a few more days left and are spending the last two nights in Oxford, MD. I hope to have enough pictures to do another post on Thursday. Until then, I hope you had a great weekend and that your week is off to a good start.

Thank you for your support. I would love to hear if you have any plans for the summer to travel, or garden, or just chill. Let me know in the comments section below.

Have a great Tuesday.

Celebrating One Year in the Red!

Yesterday, February 2nd was my one year anniversary for Stylin' Granny Mama. Whoo, hoo. I have come a long way from when I started out. I decided to celebrate today, Friday to coincide with National Wear Red Day. This day was set apart to raise awareness that heart disease and related illnesses such as stroke, are the number one killer of women. Here is a short article by the American Heart Association, Behind National Wear Red Day. 

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I have learned so much over the last year and there are a few special souls I would like to thank. First of all my daughters Rebecca and Rachel. Rebecca was the driving force behind my starting this blog and my photographer. She is the one who manages the design of my blog. She also helped my husband pick out a nice camera and is attempting to teach me things about taking pictures. Rachel is my make up guru. She became interested in make up when she was a teenager. She was a key component in a once local photographer's senior session themed shoots. She did a beautiful job making pretty high school gals look like glamorous models. Even though she only does make up as a side business now, she keeps current on all sorts of make up and knows how to make a person look amazing. You can check out both of these talented girls at their sites: Rebecca Trumbull Photography and Rachel Christensen Instagram. 

There are many other people I could thank too, My husband Mark, for bearing with me for all the hours I spend on the computer. My extended family for all their kind words and support. And It wouldn't be a blog without my subscribers and viewers. I also want to give a shout out to all the other beautiful bloggers that have been a source of encouragement and inspiration over the year. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Today, I thought I would post an outfit in honor of my 1 year anniversary and in honor of National Wear Red Day.

I'm hanging out at home this morning, but I am also meeting a friend for lunch, so I opted for warm and casual. I started with my red and navy plaid shirt and my Rock and Republic jeans. 

I added a navy fringe necklace, red faux leather jacket and my new SO lace up ankle boots from Kohl's. For this look I left the shirt hang out to create a more casual look. 

Another possible way to style this look is to do a half tuck on the shirt and cuff the pants.

Here is a close up of the boots. I really like the gold rivets and the taupe color of this recent purchase. 

Now I am thinking about the future. As women, who are more susceptible to heart disease and stroke, we definitely need to be thinking about what we can do now, to take care of our heart and arteries. Exercise, eating better and reducing stress are all areas in my life that need some tweaking. How about you? Is there a history of heart disease or stroke in your family? What actions are you taking now, to give your heart a better chance? 

I am also thinking about the future of my blog. A blog's life depends on subscribers and views. If you want to make a living at blogging then you also need to investigate how to transform your blog into a business. For now, I want to continue to work on the content of my blog. I am still developing as a writer and as a women who knows and understands clothing, fabrics and accessories and how they can be combined to make us look and feel beautiful. Networking and collaborations are also a big part of getting a blog out there. This month I will be doing my first collaboration with another wonderful blogger, so be sure to keep an eye out for that. 

My heart of hearts is in the written word. I love to write. I love to imagine. I love to inform. I am hoping with my blog this year to write posts that not only look pretty, but give my readers something to chew on, whether it be about faith or about fashion. 

I hope that those of you who subscribe will continue to support my efforts and if you know someone who might benefit from Stylin' Granny Mama's wisdom or wit, that you will pass along the link. 

Thanks again and have a great weekend! 

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