Happy tenth anniversary, dear friends! One day, maybe I’ll make it to ’10’ too!
A friendly Memorial Day
***On first glance, you may think this post in my application for What Not to Wear. Do you ever have times where you look at yourself and think, “Um, self? What were you wearing?” This is one of those times. Stuck in between clothes that fit and clothes that are waiting for a larger, more curvaceous preggo body is where I find myself at this time. So please disregard my shirt that looks like a square-neck drape, and join in with my regularly scheduled post.***
Do you have a friend that no matter the amount of time in between visits, you just pick up right where you left off? Meet that friend, Gretchen.
Gretchen was able to steal away from her family (Thanks, Ben!) and come to Louisville for a visit over Memorial Day. Lots of relaxing, chatting, and a couple of excursions were thrown into the visit.
One day trip we took was to the West Baden Springs Hotel. If you live in the Southern Indiana area, this is a must-see day trip, and the tour is fascinating. Not only is the history of this place incredibly interesting, it’s also breathtakingly beautiful. It was built in the 1800’s because the mineral springs of the area supposedly had great healing powers.
If you’re a nerd like me, and would like a history lesson for today:
*Check out a PBS-style video about this hotel & its history, by clicking here.
*Or the history of its nearby sister hotel (French Lick Resort) by clicking here.
*Or a video about the “healing” water by clicking here.
Here’s pictures of our visit.
Interesting side note: The hotel’s atrium was the largest free-spanning dome until the Houston Astrodome was constructed in the1960’s. It has been dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World.
Here’s my What Not to Wear Audition. Pretend the outfit is lovely.
Snack time!
During the great depression, it was closed as a functioning hotel and sold to the Jesuits for one dollar to function as a seminary. Thus, a cemetery sits on the property. Interesting side note: Notice each grave stone has three dates: his birth date (“natus”), the date he entered the order (“ingressus”) and the date of his death (“obiit”).
Then, we made sure to stop by my favorite Louisville Restaurant.
And no trip to Louisville would be complete without going to Graeter’s! YUM!
Thanks for a great visit, Gretchen! More importantly, thanks for your friendship!
To cheer you up, Krista, my friend! FEEL BETTER SOON!
Here are three of my favorite(st) kids in the universe… Their mom isn’t feeling well this weekend…SO head on over to her blog and wish her a speedy recovery!
Love these kids…
This was supposed to be a “mean face” pose.
My little darlings…
Not so much a darling…
And last but not least…ever have those voicemails that you just can’t bring yourself to delete? Here are my two favorite that I’ve saved since August and November. Again, from some of my favoritest little people in the world!
P is for Phamily, Phriends, Pilfer-ers, and Poorly Planned Blogs
On Wednesday, Griffin came down to an RV show in Louisville at the fairgrounds. We planned to meet on Wednesday night after he arrived in town. When he got to Louisville, he called me that he had arrived and I mapquested the closest Hampton Inn by the fairgrounds (bad assumption on my part). So, we drove there. Our conversation via phone went something like this:
Me: Griffin we’re here–We’re in the lobby waiting!
Griffin: Great, be right down. (hangs up.)
Phone Rings.
Me: Hello?
Griffin: Where are you?
Me: Right here in the lobby (looking around the lobby–it wasn’t a very big one at that.)
Griffin: (pause as he’s looking) Um, no you’re not.
Directions from the desk clerk and another 15 minute drive to the south side of Louisville brought us to the REAL Hampton Inn and we’re able to spend some time with my tremendous brother. When we were going into that hotel, taped to the door was “no vacancy.” Either the RV show is something that I’ve yet to find out about its bigness, or there was something else going on–of what? I’m not quite sure.
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Thanksgiving was such a treat! Michael and I Pricelined a ticket from Lexington, KY to Hartford, CT and got a great deal! The destination was to visit a great friend from college! We had such a blast–we left Monday and stayed until Friday! It was fun to meet her youngest boy as I’d only met the oldest boy 2 years ago! How fast they change! Flying back on Friday was so easy–no painful layovers, no delays, no hassles! I think it was so much better than having gone back on Saturday or Sunday! Great friends! Great food! Great fun! (of course, I didn’t take any pictures of all of us–just the kids! 🙂
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Twice while being married, Michael and I have had our credit card numbers used illegally! Our credit card was canceled just yesterday for fraudulent activity on it. Shame. It’s not like I buy from shady sites on the internet…I buy from legitimate companies like Amazon, Ebay, Half.com (my personal favorite for books and such). Guess thieves just like our numbers. What I’d say to these people if I could catch ’em: “Work honorably for your money, jerk(s).” Yikes…I still have more online stuff to buy for Christmas–they messed it all up :)! What a hassle! At least we can be grateful that these days, credit card companies are good about monitoring weird card activity and stopping the craziness before they’re out a ton of money–and thankful, the card holder isn’t the one liable! Whew!
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Okay, for those of you campaigning to stop the randomness of this blog,
