Monday, March 20, 2023

weekending & Hello Monday

 


Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's blog post. I hope you've had a great week (last week) and weekend! I didn't intentionally decide to not write blog posts last week, but sometimes life just happens that way, and it's what happened for me. As you all know, I was on spring break last week, but my week started off with a huge test for work and a birthday dinner out with our sons. I still haven't heard about my test results from last week, and the dinner ended up being a complete bust, and was such a letdown. Do you have times when everything just feels incredibly disappointing? That was where I was at with that last week, but we are planning a redo on the dinner out closer to Drew's birthday. None of the disappointment could be helped, but sometimes I feel like I have very high expectations. I feel like this is always a lesson the Lord is teaching me about, about being flexible and and more go with the flow since our sons are all grown, but I digress.


So, after Monday's test, dinner, and a visit with my in-love's, I spent Tuesday at home. It felt good to clean, organize things, and even repurpose some things I use all the time. I caught up on laundry and I binge watched the show I'm currently watching. Well, actually, I'm done with it after I finished it last night. On Wednesday morning, Todd and I left for our spring break trip to Louisville! We had such a great time, but there are definitely some highlights. 


The highlight of the trip for me was meeting this sweet and beautiful friend from the blogging world, Amy from Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa.



We met up at a restaurant that she recommended for drinks and appetizers, and it felt like sitting and reconnecting with a long lost friend. She and I are both in agreement that there is something so beautiful and unique about friends here in the blogging world. I have found that you wonderful ladies are some of my most supportive and encouraging friends in life, and for that I am so thankful. Amy was exactly as she seems on her blog—fun, friendly, and someone who is easy to talk to. I hope to see her again on a return trip someday, because my husband and I both loved the area and have other friends who live there as well. We have already talked about going back, because there is so much more for us to see there. 


And on that note, here is my husband with our friend John.



When Todd and I were in our second year of marriage, we met this sweet friend at a social we went to for the residents of our apartment complex. John lived downstairs and just around the corner from us, and he became one of our dearest friends. He lived here for a short while for his job, and our families adopted him as their bonus son, so he came to many birthday parties, poolside events, and other family celebrations. It was so good seeing him and his wife, Stacey! They met and married when John moved back to his hometown of Louisville, and though we don't know her as well as we do him, it was great sitting and visiting with old friends. 


Other highlights from our trip included amazing food, and fun places that we toured, like the Conrad-Caldwell Mansion that has been seen on show Ghost Hunters. We didn't know that when we went to visit, but it was beautiful and interesting. Here are some pictures from our our food and the mansion.












After this we made our way downtown to the riverfront park and walked along the path there in between all the bridges leading into Indiana. It was a fun afternoon and evening, needless to say.








Another highlight happened the next day when we toured the Maker's Mark distillery in Bardstown. I'm not a bourbon drinker, but this was one of the coolest places I have ever seen. It was a beautiful drive to get there, albeit a sickening one for me, and it was fascinating to hear all the history of how they began and how their recipe has stayed the same for years and years. 

















This was a labor of love for me, since the tour was a walking one, and because it was freezing cold and drizzling rain. My hair wasn't the same for the rest of the trip. 🤣 It was so much fun getting away for a few days, even if it got started kind of rocky with an Air B&B that was filled with the smells of marijuana and resulted in us being refunded and checking into a hotel. Our boys held everything down here for us while we were gone, and we came home to happy pups and a house that was freshly vacuumed and an empty washer and dryer, which was beneficial since we had to wash a bunch of things for Todd and Graham to leave yesterday for a week of training in New Mexico. I did a little bit of work at home on Sunday and skipped church since I had to have them at the airport by five thirty that morning. I did some laundry, then I binge watched the rest of The Resident and worked on today's blog post. 


I'm not sure how much I'll be back here posting this week...but I'm thinking I may only write four posts for this week: today's, Thursday's, Friday's, and the Saturday monthly bonus post, Share 4 Somethings. If you join us for Share 4 Somethings each month, that happens on the last Saturday of every month, so I hope you join us! (We're sharing some things we loved, read, learned, and ate in March.) I have a bit of work to do at home this week at night, so that will free up some time to get a project finished that several of us are working on together at school this week. 


Tell me some good things from your last several days! I would love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! (Also, thank you for praying for my dad, friends. He has made almost a full recovery, so I hope to be able to see him this week.)


22 comments:

Amy from www.coffeeandcocktailsatthecasa.com said...

I was so excited to read this post! I am so glad you enjoyed my city. I was worried! The pictures from the Conrad house and Marker's Mark are beautiful. I need to do more tours because I haven't done that many.
It was so nice to meet you and I hope your getaway filled your cup!

Jennifer Goodwin said...

It was a great little getaway! I think I recognize the place you toured on Friday in Bardstown. Was it Heaven's Hill or something like that? That's one Todd wants to go back for. I find it very interesting! You really should do the Maker's Mark one someday. We did the Evan Williams one after Maker's Mark, but it couldn't be compared to what we had just seen. It was still interesting, just very different. The drive to Maker's Mark was breathtaking! It's about a half hour away from Heaven's Hill.

It was so good meeting you! Thank you for all you did to help me plan the trip!

Holly said...

Oh my gosh- so exciting! Two of my favorite bloggers and beautiful souls- ow special that you got together! Love that pic of you both :) Your trip sounds lovely and even though you have had some disappointments I love how you are looking at all of the positives! Louisville looks so fun :)

Debbie said...

This post makes me want to take a trip! And how fun to meet your blogging friend! I am still friends with ladies I met blogging 20 years ago. It's kind of like being pen pals, but better :)

Memphis Bridges said...

So glad you enjoyed your Spring Break & sounds like your trip came at a good time after a few disappointments. Kentucky is beautiful and so fun to meet Amy! I told her we need to schedule a meet up of bloggers this summer!

Cathy said...

If you ever make it back, you should check out the outdoor drama at My Old Kentucky Home State Park. It's a musical called "The Stephen Foster Story" and is awesome (of course, it's probably been at least 20 years since I've seen it, but I did check the website and they still are performing it.) And also, we could possibly meet up as I live only about 20 minutes north of Cincinnati and Rebecca Jo lives around that area too. Anyway, so glad you had a good trip even though you had some disappointments too. Take care my friend and have a good week.

Tanya said...

I'm sorry to hear about a rough start to your spring break week. And the air bnb too. But overall looks like a wonderful getaway. How fun that you met Amy. My hubby would love the Maker's Mark tour!

Joanne said...

Eek! I can't believe it's already just about time for the Share 4 Somethings. That end of the month flew right by! It sounds like you and Amy had a wonderful time together and it sounds like the rest of your trip went pretty well too (after that minor AirB&B snafu!)

Ruth said...

Hope that your redo dinner is a great success and sorry to hear that your original plans didn't work out. How lovely that you got to meet Amy, I love reading her blog! I am so happy to hear that your dad has recovered. I was a bit worried when I saw that you hadn't posted much last week. Hope you have a wonderful week xx

Rebecca Jo said...

Yep - that's my bridge coming & going every day to work :)
You had an AWFUL weather weekend - boo - you should have gone to church at Southeast Christian while you were here - its a huge megachurch - Kyle idleman has many books out - dang it - I dont know why I didnt tell you to go there Sunday (or Saturday)... next time

Jennifer said...

Sorry for some disappointing days and a rocky start to your trip - but it does look like you have a fun time. A good trip always involves good fun and the eating does look yummy from your photos! But, welcome home! Trips are great but getting back home is the best!! Hope you get your test results soon. Have a great week, my friend!

Jennifer Goodwin said...

Thanks, Holly! It was still such a fun trip, and what's a trip without a snafu or two, right? Those are always part of the memories, at least that's the case for me. We used to camp and always had something go wrong, so that's kind of why I still think like that. It was SO much fun! I'm already looking forward to going back sometime soon. We could have stayed for a few more days!

Jennifer Goodwin said...

Thanks, Debbie, it was so much fun! That is so cool that you have friends from this world from that long ago. I said the exact same thing about it being like pen pals, but even better! I loved that time in life as a young girl. Times were so simple, which is why the blog world is so appealing to me!

Jennifer Goodwin said...

Marilyn, how fun would that be?! I would absolutely love that!

Jennifer Goodwin said...

Cathy, I would love to meet you both when I come back to that area! So many of you live near there, which I didn't realize. I hope you've had a great week, my friend!

Jennifer Goodwin said...

Tanya, it was so much fun! Your husband would love that tour, you're absolutely right. I loved it too, and I don't really care about bourbon. It was so interesting and the scenery was beautiful. It smelled so good when we went into the room where the fermentation process happens- it made me want all the bread!

Jennifer Goodwin said...

Joanne, I know, right? When I realized that, I thought the same thing. Thanks for that! It was so much fun getting to meet up with her!

Jennifer Goodwin said...

Thank you so much, Ruth, and thank you for thinking of my dad! I will be really glad to see him on Friday when I meet up with him and my brother. I'm sorry I worried you last week- I didn't intend to take that break, but I have to say that it was also kind of nice. I feel like I'm still finding my new normal with my full time job, and I've definitely let some things go. I may continue to skip a day or two each week every once in a while...I'm still in the process of figuring it all out. I hope your week has been good so far, my friend!

Jennifer Goodwin said...

Rebecca Jo, I love Kyle Idleman! I've read several of his books. We actually left early on Saturday morning, but next time we just may do that. I wondered while we sat under those bridges if those were the ones you had to travel on every day for work. Bless you! Traffic is very congested in that area, I did notice that. You are so right about the weather there last week! We didn't let it stop us, though.

Jennifer Goodwin said...

Thanks, Jennifer! It all ended up being just fine- we did not let that stop us from having our fun. I agree about traveling and then coming back home. I actually wrote that on today's Thankful Thursday post and said that I was thankful to be able to travel so that I could appreciate being at home. Thanks for thinking of me, my friend! I found out yesterday that I passed the test! I shared that on today's blog post as well. I hope your week is going good!

Jennifer White said...

Your Louisville trip looks amazing! I'm so glad you were able to meet up with Amy...and your friend. My dad loves Bourbon,and a few years ago, we did some of the Bourbon trail every time he visited. It was something we could do together even if I don't drink bourbon. I hope your dad continues to feel better!

Jennifer Goodwin said...

Thanks, Jen! It was so much fun, and I loved meeting with friends old and new! I know that was fun for the two of you to do together. I loved doing this with Todd!

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