Monday, June 22, 2026

It’s Monday and time to recap our weekends with Sarah and Holly!

Thursday was “get ready for company” day! Blogging friends turned real life friends Jenn and Marilyn told me back in the spring that they wanted to do a road trip to see me and my city again and this was the weekend.

I stopped in at Elderberry Provisions to get pimento cheese and chocolate chip cookies as requested – lol.

They arrived almost at my bedtime Thursday evening! I rallied and met them at Kilwin’s ice cream and ordered cake batter flavor and it was mediocre at best. I think I ate 5 bites.

They had live music in the shopping center where it’s located and it was a simply gorgeous night!

I was rewarded with a beautiful sunset for being out “so late”.

Friday morning dawned and I had work to do. The ladies were coming over to tour the casa de coffee and cocktails, see Eddie Otis, and eat some brunch.

I had gift bags at their places of a few little treats, including the chocolate chip cookie and I served roasted paprika red potatoes, a green chili egg bake, a simple salad with homemade dressing, pimento cheese and crackers, and a yogurt parfait. I also made a Bundt coffee cake which we didn’t get to until the afternoon.

After brunch, we went to three little boutiques at a nearby shopping area and then I showed them some points of interest including this cool building facade. Here is some history if you are interested; many senior portraits are shot here!

I took them down to Clayton and Crume leather goods shop for two reasons. Mason, my son, works there and two, my former student started the business with his college roommate while in college. The store is gorgeous and it’s in Muhammad Ali’s former practice gym.

Mason using the leather debosser to monogram…

We took a rest around 3:00 and then met up again for a progressive dinner of sorts. I had two goals – to go to different places than where they had been before and to fulfill their Louisville requests they had shared with me.

We started at Steak and Bourbon for a cocktail and appetizer.

The restaurant was dark and cool! Even though the weather was gorgeous, none of the places had great patios so we were inside.

I had one of the best cocktails I’ve had in a long time – a blackberry smash with bourbon (when in Rome).

THE butter candle:

You get a complimentary roll per person with a candle made from butter and beef tallow in the middle that beautifully melts as it burns.

I also got steak fries for the table made with beef tallow that are out of this world. The outside is like a fried creation and the inside tastes almost like mashed potatoes or a baked potato.

Next stop was a “speakeasy”. This was the term for the prohibition era secret entrance bars. There are several in Louisville in the downtown area but there is one pretty close to my house called The Black Rabbit.

You knock above where it says “Phone down. Eyes up.”

The bartender opens the door.

It’s very dark and the seating is couches and chairs.

I had an espresso martini with a rabbit in cocoa powder.

And, for our final stop we went to an Italian restaurant called Grassa Gramma. I took these photos from the internet because my photos were too dark.

It is an incredible interior with such detail. It’s like Disney/Epcot designed it. You will never believe it’s in my Kroger shopping center!

They put us in one of these cool booths and it’s really quiet and we could hear each other!

My photo:

I had an amazing salad and ordered an amazing pizza called “the pig and fig” with an Italian bacon and fig preserves along with caramelized onion and arugula.

After dinner, we went to Kroger to shop for Kentucky made products like bourbon smoked pepper and bourbon based bbq sauces.

Saturday, we went to the river where Captain Tom (my husband) had the boat all ready to go! We saw downtown Louisville from the water and we also saw Indiana.

We stopped at Captain’s Quarters for lunch – the server comes to your boat to take your order. Tom and I split pulled pork nachos.

It was a gorgeous boat day and we came in around 3:00. We showered and took naps and then met up again at a Mexican restaurant with three floors. The third floor is adults only and that’s what we requested! My friend Heather met us there. I got a pineapple and shrimp salad.

Then, we headed to an outdoor concert in the same neighborhood as the Mexican restaurant.

It was a full day!

We said our goodbyes after a couple of hours at the concert.

Now, Hostess Amy needs a nap!

What did you do this weekend? Did you also have gorgeous June weather?

Amy

42 thoughts on “Hello Monday”

  2. We had amazing weather as well! I kept saying that all weekend. I sent out a Father’s Day greeting to our group friend text and told everyone that I ordered great weather for the dads. Haha, I’m so funny!! Anyway, what a fun weekend in Louisville!! You have some really neat and unique spots there. Alyssa liked what she and her friend saw there, albeit not much since they weren’t there long. The dining places you went to look so cool with great history and the leather place where your son works looks neat and again has that cool history. Very nice and fun! Great pics of you gals!!

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    1. Thank you! You did order a nice day and weekend! And, now it’s raining and storming again. I think we have some great places here, too. I’m glad Alyssa enjoyed it!

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  3. What a fun weekend! I love that you played hostess and showed these ladies a great time. It doesn’t get any better than good food and conversation. The weather looked fabulous too!

    The facade of that building is so cool btw, I can imagine how cool photos would be there!

    xo,

    Kellyann

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  4. I’m sure you needed that nap. Sounds like you packed a lot in to the weekend, but it all sounds like great fun. You were definitely the hostess with the mostest. In the early 70’s Muhammed Ali lived in a neighborhood very close to mine. Everyone liked to trick or treat there because he often handed out the full sized Snicker bars himself : ) I love the speakeasy. There are a couple in our nearby city we want to try, but haven’t made it to yet. Maybe I should put that on my summer bucket list too. Have a great day!

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    1. I’m not used to this pace! That’s so cool – where was that?
      That would be a great date night when it gets really hot – go to a dark and cool speakeasy with your hub and maybe another couple.

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  5. I had so much fun reading this again! Thank you so much for a fun and incredible weekend. You really are the host of all hosts! I loved everything that you packed into two days and all the different restaurants you led us to; it was a great idea to do a progressive dinner, because it was a great way to squeeze in a lot in one night. You should be a tour guide in your next job. Ha! I already miss you! Let’s talk this week. Happy Monday, my friend. Get some rest and recharge for your big adventure tomorrow!

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  6. What an amazing hostess you are and your city looks and sounds just fabulous! You ladies did a great job squeezing in so much fun 🙂

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  7. How cool for Jenn and Marilyn to visit! It looks like such a great weekend! You are such a great host and I love the progressive dinner, showing them all the sights, those bars are so cool!

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  9. Hi Amy! It is so cool that you met blog friends! I’m so happy for our! I want to visit and have that Kentucky sandwich with turkey and bacon , I’ve wanted one for a long time. You do need a nap!
    Cheers!
    Missy

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  10. I love that you got to see your blog friends!! You are a great hostess. ❤️ If you ever visit San Antonio, let me know! I would love to meet you and Tom. Fiesta is always fun in the spring!

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  15. Catching up on all the posts! It’s funny that you mentioned your day in the life post in your Friday post – when I read both yours and Joyce’s I wanted to reply to both of you that “maybe retirement isn’t so bad“. Sincerely, you’ve almost convinced me that I might be able to do it!

    it looks like you have packed a lot into the last seven days and Jen made a comment about your big adventure sometime this week. Looking forward to hearing about it! Loved all your throwback pictures too. I really need to do something with the shelves and shelves that I have, but also should print up hundreds of digital ones I have also since who will ever see them if they’re not put in an album/book?We were with our traveling friends this weekend and they brought up Louisville again as a destination for our next Bourbon Weekend. Hopefully you will be able to give us some good recommendations or even join up for some of that fun 🙂 It will not be anytime soon… I can’t even find time to get to Ohio to see my family 😳

    Have a great week 🙂

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    1. I think you might find yourself really busy in retirement! I will help you plan your next Lou trip and I would love to meet you. I feel like Joyce is “goals” for me! I need the lake house!

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  18. Wow, what a weekend! Louisville seems to be such a cool place! Definitely a town to visit on my future roadtrip!!

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    1. Come on down – it’s about 5 hours from Chicago. Wow – that’s a collection. What is his favorite? Tell him that my childhood friend is opening his own distillery. He won’t have bourbon for 4 more years but we got a bottle of “white dog”.

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      2. Tom’s company either bid that hotel or worked on that hotel! You have to get a reservation at the Talbott Tavern in Bardstown. The hotel has a “hidden bar” or speakeasy. They have a pool. It’s an old motel style that has been redone.
        Oh, cool! Let me know if you have any questions. I have called it home since 1998.

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