Mitchdesj, it is gorgeous. I remember going there for Mother's Day brunch on two occasions as a teenager. The bride recently gave up her own business where she cooked meals for families. Don't know why she quit, but I know she is into fine food. I got chastised by some friends at the wedding when I told them I needed some fashion consultation. They say I need to get out more! Woodie2, my brother and his wife live in Port Murray, NJ and as a hobby they cook gourmet meals together. On one visit here, they cooked a whole chicke inside a loaf of bread! Out of six of us, I only have one sister that doesn't cook or bake. I even too gourmet cooking in high school and my girlfriend and I have a dream of opening in Italian bakery someday. Dragonfly, I have some confessions -- first, as of this month, I no longer teach fitness classes. I am so busy with getting this addition built that I just did not have time to adequately prepare for each class. I also have terrible plantar faschitis and I just wanted a break until after the holidays. Second, I do have a fully functioning kitchen. I am just too tired to plan meals. Thankfully, my family is very understanding. Drywall goes up this week, so we are close to completion. I will check out the cooking forum for some quick and easy meals.

I hope nobody thought I wore socks with sandals! I meant to say that ALL shoes rub so I wear socks or hose, I don't wear the flip-flop type sandals at all b/c they rub. Sometimes I will wear hose with a strappy shoe that I guess you could call a sandal - if they're dressy, have heels (even wedges). Casual open-toe sandals I don't wear hose - of course I'm usually wearing those with shorts! Even in my 20's and wearing miniskirts I always wore hose with heels. They help reduce the friction. Don't do anything for sweaty feet though - I had lots of pairs of hose with stained feet from the dye coming off the shoes. My kids' shoes stink - even 10-yr old DD's feet sometimes stink. But the 15-yr runner's are the worst!

I hate hats too and living in SD there are times in the winter when I need one but my head itches so bad I cant stand them. As for hair extensions, no I wouldnt. I would never spend that kind of money on it for one thing and it would drive me nuts when my head itches like it does all the time. I worked with a girl who had them. She was half white and half black. She spent a lot of money to have them put in. This was when she was in high school. Then she couldnt afford to have themmaintained so you could always see the little rubber band things in her hair and it really looked stupid. Now she is attending hairdresser college and she has them in again and I still dont like them.So NO not for me.

I don't see why a pants outfit wouldn't be just fine. They're okay for even very dressy events (if the outfit is very dressy). She says it's quite informal (polos, not a lot of ties), so a dress or cute skirt and sweater with tights would be fine, too. (I hate to wear regular pantyhose, so I can't really opine on that.) It doesn't sound like you are leaning toward either anything too dressy (cocktail dress or gown) or too casual (jeans or khakis) -- everything you are considering would work. Either pants, a dress, or a skirt -- all equally appropriate. So choose the outfit you enjoy wearing the most, and you'll be fine. And if it makes you very anxious to think you might not be right in the middle of the range, remember that a LBD (or the pants equivalent, nice black pants and a solid color sweater or silk top) always works -- you can even bring different shoes and accessories for it (tights/flats or boots/chunky jewelry/scarf and heels/hose/evening clutch/sparkly jewelry) and decide which to use once you are there and talk to other relatives. Have fun!