Hello Monday ~ June 22, 2026/SDF

 Hello Monday blog friends!  I had a little adventure but lots of pictures this weekend!  Here is a recap of the fun!

Thursday after work, Jenn and I headed to SDF, better known as Louisville.  SDF is the airport code, coming from a former travel agent. We had been talking for a while we would like to visit Amy since it had been over a year since we had seen her, so I booked a hotel and we made it happen!

We met at an outdoor shopping center that night where live music was playing, which made for a fun background.  The next day, we met Amy for brunch at her house and shopping.  Above is a picture from our first 24 hours.  Amy and I are sorority sisters (we went to different schools though). Any other KD's out there? Amy cooked a fabulous meal and had the cutest little gifts for us. I enjoyed some hot tea out of her Kentucky mug.

After resting a little bit after shopping, we met for our progressive dinner!  We enjoyed the bread and butter candle and an appetizer at our first stop.  I had always wanted to try this!  The dress I am wearing I bought at a boutique earlier in the day. After the bread and appetizer, we went to a speakeasy restaurant!  I enjoyed a pineapple margarita and a side kale salad.  I was trying to balance all my carbs, ha! Afterwards, we went to a fabulous and beautiful Italian restaurant.  I had some homemade pasta, which was so good!  It is rare that I eat homemade pasta. It was a fun food tour!

The next day, we enjoyed a boat ride on the Ohio River!  This was my favorite of the weekend! The weather was perfect and it was so fun being out on the boat!  I love a boat ride and it had been years since I had done that and it was so fun to experience that with Amy, Tom and Jenn. Below is a view of downtown Louisville.

We stopped at the famous Captain's Quarters for lunch.  I had mahi mahi along with grilled veggies, which was delicious! The whole day was was so fun!

After the boat day, we met up with Amy and her best friend, who was a delight, for a great Mexican dinner.  Afterwards, we sat outside to hear some music, one of my favorite things to do this summer. This restaurant was also stunning! It reminded me of a lounge on a cruise ship. Amy, you were a great cruise director for the weekend!  A perfect hostess!

I am not a bourbon drinker, but the displays and bottles are so pretty at each restaurant.  I did buy some marinade and seasoning to use when cooking though.

I got home early afternoon Sunday, spent a little time at home, and then drove to see my dad.  There wasn't any family gathering, but I wanted to go see him for a little bit.  Honestly, Mother's Day and Father's Day are such hard holidays overall.  While I am thankful for my parents and thankful to be a mother, I hope I can show appreciation and love for them year round and not just have one day.  I will always be appreciative and thankful with love for them on either side of heaven.

I spent the rest of the evening alone at home unpacking, a little exercise, and watching Outlander.  Before going to sleep, my daughter came in and I was glad to see her for a minute before bed. 

I am so thankful for the friendships made through this blog world!  

Hope it is a great start to your week!

Hello Monday ~ June 15, 2026/Wedding Weekend

 Happy Monday friends! How was your weekend?  Mine was a busy and fun one!

After work on Friday, I packed up and drove a little over an hour for my destination for the weekend.  One of my best friend's daughter got married!  I was able to spend the weekend there to be her right hand man and a help to the bridesmaids.  Speaking of the bridesmaids, my daughter was maid of honor!  She and the bride met in 1st grade at church and have been best friends.  She had gone down there earlier in the morning for a luncheon. I arrived to my cabin and had this lovely basket of snacks and drinks.

I went to the rehearsal and then headed over to the rehearsal dinner.

There were delicious appetizers at the rehearsal dinner!  I laughed when I saw the bacon wrapped shrimp because it reminded me of the episode of Parks & Rec when Ron Swanson mentions that is his 3rd favorite food wrapped in his 1st favorite food!  I don't disagree.

The wedding day was beautiful weather, thankfully. It was sandwiched in between a lot of rain. This is the chapel where the wedding was.

It is in a cute little Seaside type town, minus the beach!

It was a full morning of getting ready and doing so many little things.

We were in Mississippi, my home state!

My oldest daughter came into town for the wedding as well, so it was fun to be together again for less than 24 hours!

My crew...love these people

The stunning mother of the bride and one of my dearest friends!

And her lovely daughter, the bride!

So the band was amazing!  The female lead singer was a contestant on American Idol, season 8 and was top 11.  The male lead singer is Kortland Whalum.  Per google, he is a singer, songwriter, and Off-Broadway actor, & carries on the legacy of one of Memphis' most iconic musical families. We were well acquainted with his family as they are very popular and known in Memphis as musicians.  His uncle is Kirk Whalum (Grammy-winning saxophonist) and one of his brothers is Kameron Whalum (trombonist for Bruno Mars and tours with Bruno).  We moved our way up to the front of the dance floor!

Isabella brought one of her friends with her to the wedding and we all had fun dancing.  I don't think we left the dance floor for more than a minute to get a drink.  Even when the band went on a break, they had great music playing so the dance floor stayed full.

At some point during the night, I gave Kortland my boa and we may have been his back up singers from the dance floor, ha!

After the band finished, we loved getting this picture with Kortland.  It was a fun way to end the reception.

Sunday morning, we slept in and then we all grabbed a coffee before going our separate ways.  We also helped mom of the bride do a little packing up as well.  After unpacking when I got home, I basically rested while watching tv and doing a little laundry because this momma's legs were so tired.  But goodness, was my heart full!

Wedding ceremonies are still hard honestly, but I am so thankful we can laugh and have fun and I was able to re-connect with some people I haven't seen in a while.   

Hope you have a good start to your week!

Talking About it Tuesday ~ Blog Trip/April 14, 2026

 Hi!  I am happy to be back here today with you all talking all about the blog trip!

As most of you know by now, we had our 3rd annual blog trip this past weekend.  It was wonderful!  We haven't had the same group every time, but it has become a yearly fun girls trip I look forward to every year. We met in North Carolina and stayed at this cute AirBNB.

We started our Friday evening with snacks and lots of talking! It was great to see each other again.  Tanya and I drove together from Nashville so we had some extra time to catch up in the car.

Saturday morning was so nice to have Joyce join us for the day.  For breakfast, I brought sourdough bread and we had a delicious quiche and coffee cake from Joyce and Maria provided some fruit.  It was after 12pm when we even looked at the time to decide to leave the house.  After a curvy drive up a mountain that Maria navigated like a champ, we had some beautiful scenery along the way and once we arrived at our destination, Jump Off Rock.  There were lots of rhododendrum, a plant I don't see in my area.  It always makes me think of NC.  I lived in North Carolina for 5 years in my late 20's, early 30's. 

Maria is such a joy!

Joyce is so delightful to be around and I have loved both times being with her.

(side note...this is one my new tops from Old Navy)

I am thankful for each of these ladies & loved our time together!

After the hike, we had Celtic ice cream.  It was so creamy and delicious!  Y'all know I am a frozen yogurt girl, but I really enjoyed this style of ice cream.  I had the "From the Sea and Bee" flavor, which a mix of caramel, sea salt and honey.  We then did some local shopping.

Saturday evening, Joyce returned back home and we went to dinner at Sierra Nevada Brewery, a beautiful brewery that serves farm to table food. I had a burger with bacon and it was delicious.

I am not a beer drinker, but it was very interesting to hear/read about the brewery & see some of the process.

It was a great evening!

Maria left on Sunday morning and Joanne, Tanya and I went to the Biltmore. I had been twice before, and this place is stupid expensive, but it is beautiful to see the architecture.

Here are Tanya and I modeling our matching Amazon jeans in black and white!

This is the inital view walking into the home.

I love ceiling in buildings and these were impressive.

A few other random pieces that caught my eye were this globe

And this rolling ladder for the library

This furniture in the sitting area between Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt's rooms was unique.

I noticed the picture molding in this room which standard for older homes.  The older home we lived in North Carolina had this throughout the house.  It was used to hang pictures, as seen here.

Below is the bowling alley and swimming pool.  The last time this pool had water in it was in the 50's.

This is the kitchen.  In the lower part, you can see the big pot on the stove and the one small oven and small refrigerator in the center picture.  The bottom picture on the right is the dumbwaiter to send food up to the floors.

We walked in the gardens after the house tour, so we all got our steps in this day.

I enjoyed the greenhouse plants the most and loved this unique pink flower I had not seen before.  This got me motivated to get some plants soon!

I did some wine tasting afterwards since it was included in the ticket.  I wanted to get my money's worth, ha!

We ate dinner at Tupelo Honey afterwards and I love their "Bless Your Heart" glass!  I had an egg/veggie omelet with tomatoes, which was delicious.  I had taken a snack with me for a light lunch that day, so I enjoyed every bite of this dinner meal.

I was so, so tired when we got back to the AirBNB and we all went to sleep earlier this night.

Monday, we took Joanne to the airport early and Tanya and I drove back to Nashville.  On the way, we stopped at Buc-ees for breakfast, which was so yummy!  I loved having the car time with her once again.  I dropped her off and continued my drive home.  

What a fabulous trip with fabulous ladies!  

We missed you Jenn and Amy!

Thanks for reading my long post and enjoy your day!