Monday, January 1, 2024

Well, that looks weird to write 2024, doesn’t it? Happy New Year’s Day! I am linking up with Sarah and Holly if they are doing their link up today…

I’m back! I left home December 19th and returned on the 29th. I’ve missed you! It’s good to be back in the blogging world with you all!

I will have a lot to tell you about this week – if you care to read!

Let’s go back to Friday as it approached our 1:00 p.m. flight. I was in the Manchester, England airport sharing this baguette with Tom for breakfast!

And, I had a couple of cans of vin du can – Jack and Mason made fun of this. 

We boarded Virgin Atlantic and I had an aisle seat! 

We had chicken casserole for lunch and before we landed they gave us a…

“tea” in a cute little box with a scone, too. Their food was really good.

Our flight was about 9 hours long and the seat belt sign never once came on. It was a really smooth flight, thankfully. 

Our flight from Atlanta to Louisville was a bit delayed and there was no air circulating and at that point we were just done with travel. But, we made it home around 10:00 p.m. and our furry boy was so happy to see us. Ernie did great with his dog sitter!

We all went to bed not long after and I was up and at it Saturday morning excited to be home with my own coffee and ready to cook in my own kitchen! 

I headed to Kroger. It was also great to see my clothes I had to leave behind. I also enjoyed curling my hair for the first time! I didn’t bring my curling iron and I had planned on buying one there, but I just realized with the rain and the wind it just really wasn’t necessary, so I wore it straight the whole time. 

I did pretty well at Kroger – $150 for this cart. 

I made my sister Molly’s lasagna, chili, and Chex Mix. I had to make up for lost time!

I walked and the sky was so pretty. 

We ate the chili for lunch and the lasagna for dinner and I crashed at 7:42 p.m. 

That meant I was up at 5 a.m. and look at Ernie guarding Mason’s door – I thought this was so sweet. He missed him!

I drank my coffee, did some cleaning, watched some tv, did a NYE press on mani. I started with plain white and

added two coats of glitter and then a top coat. I will report back on how long it lasts. 

I made saltine cracker toffee, ham and swiss sliders, and watched a lot of tv and napped. I guess you could call it jet lag or just laziness – not sure! 

I will be back tomorrow with some trip deets, but it was better than I imagined. My heart was so full getting to reunite with Mason and to have my whole family together on an adventure. I must have said “I’m so happy” at least one hundred times. I loved it all. I did get “in trouble” for reading out place names, store names, and street names too many times, but we all got along really well all in all. 

Hope you have a great first day of a fresh new year!

Amy

32 thoughts on “Hello Monday”

  1. You’re back! ❤ Happy New Year!
    So good to hear that you had a good time! Please share as much as you possibly can!
    I've only been to London, but I would really like to take a trip through the UK!
    How sweet with Ernie guarding Mason's door! It must be amazing to be home together again!
    We had our first New Year's without the girls, they're growing up…!
    Enjoy the jet lag! ;D

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  3. Glad you had a great trip to England, a favorite place of mine to visit and it’s always wonderful to have your family back together. I will be visiting Louisville this week for the first time to enjoy your city. Thank you for your blog, always my first read of the day! Wishing you and your family a happy and healthy 2024!

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      1. Hi Amy- my husband and I will be arriving in town Thursday heading back home on Tuesday. We are staying in downtown Louisville So any suggestions for good food, good music and good cocktails are always welcome. We are bourbon drinkers so we will be in the right city! The reason we are visiting is my husband is a beekeeper and will be attending a conference on Friday and Saturday. We are excited to visit your slice of the country! Thanks for reaching out.

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      2. Oh how cool!
        Depending on how much time you have, Frazier Museum is the start of the urban bourbon trail. I love Evan Williams and Bardstown Bourbon Company on Main very close to the Frazier. Go in 21C and look at art. Bourbon and Billets has a bourbon wizard where you can create your own for a reasonable price.
        For food, Uber to market street NULU for Guacamole,
        Lou Lou, Bodeguita de Mima or more casual Royals Hot Chicken, Feast, or Bar Vetti.
        There are also some cute shops in NULU.
        There are also some new places on Main steeet that I haven’t tried.
        If you like some physical activity you could walk the Big 4 bridge to Indiana or go to the botanical gardens. Both of those are fairly close to NULU, too. Hope that helps and let me know what you end up doing!

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      3. Thank you Amy for these suggestions. I really appreciate that you took the time, knowing you’ve just returned from England and are trying to get back in the swing of things, Be well!

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  4. Welcome home! You really did jump right in being at home on the weekend! I probably would have been the same way. It’s good to hear that Ernie did well with his sitter and that the trip turned out the way you’d hoped. I’m curious to know all of your trip details this week! Happy New Year, friend. I missed you here!

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    1. Thank you! I did! But, then I crashed later in the day! Thank you – yes, it was a big worry leading up – he seems to be holding his own health wise. I am probably gonna give you more than you wanted – ha! I missed you, too. Happy new year!

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  5. Happy New Year! 🎊 I’m so glad you’re back and that you had a great trip! I can’t wait to hear the details of your travels. The photo of Ernie guarding Mason’s door is precious! The last time we were in Croatia, I got “in trouble” LOL for yelling “Johnny!” across a small grocery store to get my husband’s attention. I swear every time the cashier started ringing up the groceries, my husband would disappear to get one more thing, and the cashier would ask me a question in Croatian. I panicked every time, and when I panic I get loud, LOL. 😁

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  7. Welcome back and happy new year to you too! I can’t wait to hear more about your trip and I am so glad everyone had a great time.

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  8. Happy New Year and welcome home! So glad you had a great time, looking forward to hearing all about it. Jet lag is real, so give yourself time to re-acclimate to Louisville time..

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  11. Welcome back and Happy New Year! I am so glad your trip filled your heart! The photo of Ernie just melts mine. I’m sure he’s just over the moon having all his people back home. Every time you post a photo of your street, I think, “That’s the kinda place I wish I was still in.” I can’t wait to read your trip details!

    Have a wonderful week, Amy!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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    1. Thank you! I really do love my humble little neighborhood. It’s walkable and has old trees. We are really content, but it was definitely nice to come home and see it with fresh new eyes!

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  12. Can’t wait to hear more about your trip! Glad it was a good one! Also glad I’m not the only one who reads out the names of things! 🤣 Happy New Year!

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  13. Happy new year! It’s great you enjoyed your trip although I agree with you nothing feels like being back at home, it’s so good to settle back in 🙂

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