As a working mom of two young boys, well, I don’t EXACTLY get out much.  You won’t find me travelling to far away and exotic destinations and sipping wine on a veranda.

Notsomuch.

Except this past weekend I DID get away. On a girlie weekend, no less!  I know, right? Small miracle.

My BBF (Best Bloggy Friend, duh!) Mary, from Pajamas and Coffee, and I traveled to the Eastern Shore in Maryland to begin exploring various towns as part of Maryland Life Magazine’s Eat. Drink. Buy Art. program.

I’m gonna stop right here for a moment and state the obvious: You already know that I am a over-stressed mom who doesn’t get out much. If you read PJ&C then you are probably deducing that the two of us together might be an interesting combination…. and you would be right.  We had a BLAST!

We stopped in Snow Hill, MD first and visited with the most wonderful people.  Truly they were so welcoming!  We began as tourists and honestly ended up more like friends with the shop owners.  Take a looky at these photos. (While you are there become a “fan”of Hip As I Wanna Be!) How can you not fall in love with this town? Not to mention the fact that we were given a spur of the moment tour of Mary’s favorite house on the Eastern Shore – the Governor’s House. (She was in heaven!)

From there we traveled to Berlin, MD and lo and behold discovered a fiddler’s convention.  A WHAT?  Yes, a fiddler’s convention.  I had no idea either.

But I soon learned that it was a BIG DEAL in Berlin. Being a country music fan from way back when I lived in Nashville, of course I enjoyed the music.  Not only that, but during the course of our stay we ended up meeting some stellar folks in that town.  I’m not giving away all of our secret adventures (although Mary might) but l will say that because of this convention we ended up with a surrogate husband named Bill. We met him after being asked to photograph him and three of his lady friends lounging in bed together watching the golf channel. (Don’t ask.) From there our relationship evolved. ‘Nuff said.

I could devote an entire post dedicated to our hotel stay.  We spent the night at the Atlantic Hotel. It was beyond lovely.  And dinner?  Phenomenal.  Drinks? Mmmmm…. Truly the most unique place I have ever stayed in my life.  I couldn’t find one thing I disliked about this hotel. Not that I was trying. Oh, except for a couple of creepy historic pictures running down the hallway. They really might wanna ditch the angry chick with the haunted eyes. And, um, androgynous ringlet kid. The stuff of nightmares, people. Just a thought.

All kidding aside, I was able to relax and really enjoy myself this weekend.  That is a rarity for me these days.  I think it was a combination of the company – Mary, the lovely towns and their extremely (!) pleasant residents.  (Not to mention the shopping!) It was such joy to be able to explore these areas and appreciate their uniqueness.

And as fate would have it, I found a new quote in one of the shops along the way -  “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Just perfect!

And one last picture, especially for Mary. Trust me… some things you just can’t explain.