Friday, May 1, 2026

Happy Friday and Happy May 1st! Linking up with Andrea and Erika to share my favorites from the week.

I had a fun week! I really only did one “thing” outside of the house, but it was a big thing for me!

Tomorrow is the Kentucky Derby, but Tuesday was the day for locals. I bought four tickets and invited three friends to join me, and it was so much fun! The weather was perfect and it’s just a great day to go. It’s not as crowded and busy as the days that follow. Wednesday is another racing day called “Winsday”, Thursday is called “Thurby”, and Friday is the Oaks race.

I felt a bit of pressure as the planner – meeting time, how the day would go, weather, parking, etc.

One of the highlights was people watching and headgear noticing. The fascinators were spectacular! I would say around 90% of the women had one on. I wished mine was bigger because it looked dinky compared to many!

I saw a goose/gander while wearing it and I was a little worried it would think I was its mate.

I enjoyed betting on a few races and won $6! Woohoo!

So, I invited Heather who lives here and is my college friend (my other Heather had a golf tournament for her daughter), Jennie who lives near Cincinnati and was a college friend/sorority sister (that also went to college with the Heathers), and Ashley who lives in the same town as Jennie. Ashley taught with me for one year and we’ve kept in touch. She left teaching to go to law school. She and Jennie rode together and had never met! They had tons to talk about and mutual acquaintances, though!

We met at the shopping center that houses the brunch place, and I had already told them they could borrow from my collection of Derby earrings! Jennie wore the mint juleps and Ashley wore the pink jockey silks. I was going to wear non-Derby earrings, but the boutique had the top left ones, and they convinced me to get them as they matched my dress. They were only $10.

Do you think I have a big enough Derby earring collection?

Jennie’s daughter lives in Louisville and met us for the brunch portion. It was so cool to meet her for the first time. She is a doll! We went to Wild Eggs at Westport Village. The food is always consistent and delicious.

Of course, we enjoyed mimosas – mine was orange pineapple!

Heather and I split the surfer girl omelet with potatoes, bacon, and toast. I’m so glad we split because it was the perfect portion. For our “breakfast dessert”, we had a “table waffle” – a waffle to split with the whole table – lol. I just had a bite and it was delicious.

It was kind of like Elin Hildebrand’s Five Star Weekend because this was the first time Jennie and Ashley had met and the first time Heather and Ashley met. You would not have known it by the amount of laughing at our table, though.

Jennie and Ashley didn’t have their fascinators on yet for this photo by the brunch place…

We were trying to the sorority girl pose – some of us. My dress came from the boutique behind me so I will ask if they would like to use it in their marketing materials – just kidding!

I had decided we would drive to the fairgrounds/expo center for free parking and take the free shuttle. This turned out to be a great idea. The bus was so nice, and it was quite festive. We were dropped off right at the main gate.

The line looked long, but it moved fast and the people watching/headgear admiring was entertainment.

And someone (me) had made to-go mimosas so that also helped!

Heather and Ashley:

I was jealous of their pink. I just love pink!

Note: there were lots of babies getting on the bus and I saw lots of babies once there.

We immediately went in and bet on the first race we could. I was overstimulated! They had handed us a free program/race card when we entered, too. I was surprised they were free.

We had general admission tickets but quickly found a box. A box is a sectioned area with 6 folding chairs. They are normally very expensive seats. Look at our view!

We each tried the famous Lily which we prefer to the mint julep. They were $22! The Lily has vodka, cranberry juice, lemon juice, orange liqueur, and simple syrup. It is the drink for Oaks on Friday, and the mint julep is the official drink for Saturday.

Heather reminded me of the Spire, which is really good, too. The Spire has lemonade, cranberry juice & bourbon whiskey, but I didn’t have one this time. The lines for drinks, bathrooms, and betting were very quick and manageable on this day and that’s another reason to go on Tuesday!

At one point I said I was so relaxed that I felt that I had no bones and I was “boneless”. We had so many silly jokes all day.

We walked around and saw the horses in the paddock and then got our photo taken there.

We closed it down and stayed until the end of the last race. All of the employees were so nice and friendly and on the way out a man was singing and clapping “to “watch your step”, “get home safe now”, and we started clapping and freestyling with him.

After getting off the shuttle, a self-driving car was moving to its owners in the parking lot and that was freaky.

Real Talk: I was worried about a long day regarding my stamina and my social battery. We started at 11 and ended around 6. I did great! One of the other girls said she had worried about that, too, and had told herself to pace herself and not be too energetic to start the day. Isn’t that funny but real? I know many of you can relate.

I also didn’t do much on Monday in anticipation of Tuesday.

I cannot emphasize comfortable shoes enough. All of our dogs were barking by the end of the day. I chose my new flat gold sandals and they were pretty good. I would give them a B. We walked 11,000 steps while there.

I laughed more than I had laughed in a long, long time. It really filled my cup and I am so thankful for this great day!

Now on to some more mundane favorites of the week. I am on my second notepad ordered from Amazon with my name on it and I love it so much! It’s a little expensive but I care deeply about paper and pens.

I also picked up the small bow notepad at a local boutique. What can I say? I’m more productive if my list is pretty.

I start each day by taking things from my planner and listing it on my pad. I write everything down. I enjoy crossing things off.

Also, from Amazon…

I re-ordered this:

I use it each time I shower. I think it keeps my allergies at bay.

I heard this lotion keeps mosquitoes away and I will try anything! I am dreading mosquito season. Bonus that I really like the smell!

My friend told me to get this a long time ago and I finally did it. So good with pretzel sticks!

I made a “bowl” for dinner one night this week. It had wild rice, sweet potato, salmon, pumpkin seeds, avocado, feta, the dressing I’ve been making – dijon, maple, evoo, and apple cider vinegar – Tom liked it, too!

My hydrangea is sprouting! I talked about it yesterday in Hodgepodge, too.

I saved Mason’s co-worker’s wine bottle (she is a winemaker, too) and got some fresh flowers at Whole Foods:

I love how this looks!

Wednesday evening was the steamboat race. There was no party but Eddie Otis and I met Tom after work. It was a gorgeous evening but EO couldn’t even get in because of the debris.

It was still nice to do something out of the ordinary. I got us Jimmy John’s for a little picnic but we ended up eating them at home.

I had a library pick up:

After Tuesday, it turned cool out and I was actually happy because I got to wear my new horse sweater. I had visited a boutique last Sunday and had long wanted one and there she was.

Neigh!

We lucked out on the weather Tuesday because then the rains came.

Look at EO proudly supervising the wet playground!

Our new Fashion Files has been so fun and thank you for linking up with us on Tuesday. Look what Marsha did! I think her graphic turned out so cute! Feel free to copy it to use in your post. Your outfits/mirror selfies help other women more than you think. Don’t look for perfect – look at my quick shots of outfits I really wear. They are far from perfect. You might think, “Oh, I have a navy blouse, and I never thought to pair it with that color or that item in my closet”.

And, don’t forget that the next Currently is Wednesday, May 6th and here are the prompts:

Digging – Literally or the 70s version meaning “loving”

Weeding – Literally or “cleaning out”

Enjoying – foods, shows, books, clothing, people – whatever!

Eating/drinking –

Shopping for –

What was the highlight of your week?

Amy