Louisville, Kentuncky Girls Trip days 1 & 2

** Before I get into my trip recap I have been hearing from so many of my subscribers that they aren't receiving my emails. I have no idea what is going on but I've noticed that I'm not getting many emails from those blogs I subscribe to either. Things like Mailchimp, Feedly, etc. (from what I am reading and understanding) are getting blocked a lot more by email platforms and their spam filters. I did try restarting my entire email campaign last night... can you let me know if you see a difference?** Thank you! 

 

Last year a group of bloggers and I met up in Nashville and had such a great time that we decided to make it an annual trip. Marilyn from Memphis Bridges, Jenn from My Joyful life, Tanya from The Other Side of the Road, and myself. Amy from Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa couldn't make it and Maria from Memorable Moments & Modest Missives had injured her foot right before our trip and had to back out. 

This year we took our trip to Amy since she's a teacher and can't usually take time off this time of year and all of us were able to make it so we finally had all 6 of us together. I'm honest enough to admit I was a bit nervous for this trip just because I wasn't sure how adding 2 more into the mix would effect the dynamics of the group but I needn't have worried. We had a great time.

I woke up around 3 am or so on Friday April 25th and by 3:30 I gave up on sleep and got out of bed. I realized I had forgotten to print out my parking pass for the airport so I did that and got dressed. I left the house by 4:15 and drove to the airport parking lot in Hartford.

Somewhere along the way I realized that when I switched wallets and purses I somehow forgot to swap my cash and only had my credit cards. A quick text to all the ladies assured me I was okay without it. I finally boarded my plane around 7 or so and found that our flight was not full so I had a window seat and no one sitting next to me! 

I paced around the Baltimore airport for my nearly 2 hour layover just to get my steps in and not sit the whole time. My mom texted that they had arrived in CT for the summer and I texted her I was in Baltimore (she knew I was going to be gone) and told her I'd text her later. 

My second flight was equally unremarkable and the Louisville airport was very easy to navigate. From the Louisville airport I used Uber to go to a restaurant called Mojito that Amy recommended. I had never used Uber before and no one in my family had either so my mom was nervous and I made sure to text her as soon as I sat down to order. It was probably 1:30 by this point and I was starved after having nothing more than a snack on the second plane. 

I got the grilled vegetable Cuban with sweet potato fries and it was delicious!

Amy came in just as I finished eating and she got a coffee and we got to chat. It was fun to finally meet her in person! It was raining out but we didn't let that stop us. We headed to Trader Joes for some wine and snacks and then by that time we could check in to the airBNB. It was really cute!

This is actually a photo I took on the last day (that's why the skies are so blue!)

We explored. 

 Then got to work setting out all the snacks. About the time we finished Jenn, Marilyn, and Tanya arrived.

Maria arrived shortly after (she lived the closest but hit major traffic on her route!). Tanya had made cute little gift bags for everyone and passed those out. Then we all sat around for hours talking about our blogs and lives, our most recent books etc.

 

Around 8 pm they headed out to dinner but I elected to stay back at the house since I was just wiped out. I took a shower and went to bed and barely even heard them come back. 

The next morning we had brunch courtesy of Amy (who made fruit salad and an egg casserole and bought yummy treats from Trader Joes) and Marilyn (who brought delicious homemade sourdough bread). I was a bad blogger and took hardly any photos of food on the trip. I also didn't take any outfit photos despite having a full length mirror in my room... I know! I can't believe it either!

But after breakfast we headed out shopping and checked out some of the cutest little spots!

We didn't stop or eat here but I loved the mural! I was told to say Louisville like I had a mouthful of bourbon or marbles-- so like the yellow or green but up here we use the red pronunciation.

Our first stop was at Work the Metal- it was so cute and had such a huge variety of gifts and clothing

With the Kentucky Derby right around the corner all the stores were filled with fascinators, fancy dresses, and lots and lots of ladies shopping. We decided to join in just for fun.

Then we all piled back into Amy's car and headed to the NULU district where we walked around browsing in stores and trying some delicious cookies and treats.

 

When we all decided we'd had enough shopping and snacking Amy dropped us off at the house while she went home to rest, do chores, etc. Jenn also decided to rest along with Tanya while Maria, Marilyn, and I went for a walk just around the neighborhood.

By the time we finished our walk it was time to get dressed for dinner. We had reservations at this place called Barn8 at Hermitage Farm. It was a beautiful property!

such pretty views along the drive too!

our booth was inside this converted horse stall

 

After dinner it was dark and we decided to go on their art walk. The boardwalk took us around the edge of the property and involved a light show set to music. It was really neat (and impossible to fully capture)

 The best part of the night though was the ride home. We were laughing so much and so hard that I was tearing up and even felt my stomach getting sore. I love to laugh and these ladies' friendships mean so much to me. We then continued our talking and laughing and antics in Amy's driveway for a bit... I'm sure the neighbors loved hearing our cackling! It was a late night but such a fun one. 

Linking up with: Thinking Out Loud,