A Bluegrass Easter.

This past Easter weekend Josie and I headed up to the Bluegrass state ... otherwise known as Kentucky ...to pay a visit to Tabor and more importantly... the horses at Keeneland. (kidding, Tabor...we came to see you...or did we?)

We started out bright and early (which means 7am for me) on Friday morning on our 7 hour car trip. Let me preface this next paragraph with this disclaimer:

Dad - the radio was on, but was a reasonable and safe volume. Also, I was in charge of music and Josie was driving as to avoid any distractions or dangers. and this way I couldn't get another speeding ticket. :)

OK! With that cleared up: Are we in agreement that changing radio stations between 3 states and multiple towns is not fun?!... and honestly, do you really want to keep changing CD's for that matter? Who has bought a CD recently anyway?!? An iPod is clearly the way to go. However; Josie doesn't have an iPod adapter...and I have one...but it goes through a tape deck ... and Josie's car doesn't have a tape deck. (weird, that my car is a 2002 and has one and now they are so rare in cars!)

WHAT DO YOU DO?! Clearly .... you just do the most ghetto thing possible...but still worked awesomely.

Why yes, that is my iPod and speaker set ... on the dashboard .. with Justin Bieber playing.

I also brought my remote, so I could sit in the front seat and just skip songs as needed. so clutch.

Going through the mountains of NC & Tennessee

Fast forward 7 hours ..a few rain showers and one scary Wendy's stop somewhere in Eastern Kentucky later -- and we arrived in Lexington ready to the town red ... or as they would say ... UK Blue.

pride of joy of Kentucky ... you can even do a drive through if you want.

Our plan of taking over the city... was delayed for a little bit due to some Tornados that decided to also visit this weekend.  I thought that I left Tornados behind, they just went though Raleigh and Sanford!

We were under Tornado Warnings for about 2 hours as we got ready and just watched the weather station and the blob of red that was covering Lexington. Caitlin gave us a brief lesson on "Tornado Protocol" in her house -- and we figured when the newscaster said "OK, we're peacing out.. good luck" we would head to the basement. Luckily, the storm went just north and we didn't have anything touch down ... and we didn't have to spend the night in the basement!!

the girls of 815 reunited ... and it feels SO GOOD.

Old Roomie and New Roomies.

Saturday was Keeneland day! We waited for the morning thunderstorms to stop and although it was still cloudy and yucky... we made our way out to the race track to catch the last few races of the day!! 

The grey sky behind the scoreboard didn't stop us!

Tabor and Andy

Jules, Tabor, Josie and Me are ready for the races!

After being coached as to what to say at the window to pick my horse of choice .... I made my way to the betting window and put my hopes and dreams ... or just 2 dollars ... on the 5 horse...Mister Mardi Gras.

C'MON # 5 HORSE! I WANNA MAKE IT RAIN!

He didn't win. He came in last.

bollocks.

The next race, I panicked at what I was supposed to say at the window... and simply pointed to our friend Jules, who had just placed a bet before me ... and simply said "Um. Same thing, please". We both lost.

Easter Sunday was spent at Church with Tabor's family and a delicious Easter lunch afterwards before hitting the road and making the super long trip back to Charlotte.

(insert easter photo here, that Tabor has yet to send me .... ahem, cough cough, nudge nudge)

On our way home Jo and I stopped to get some Starbucks and when the lady asked me my name...and favorite animal ... I was slightly taken aback.

Favorite animal?!

There's so many options to choose from! I want a baby giraffe like in the DirecTV commericals, but they're not my favorite. I don't have animal stuff in my decor or anything. Some people love monkeys or cats and have items with them on it ... I don't. So I went with a Sea Turtle...as they were a big interest to me growing up. but they're not really an animal. I don't know why I struggled so much with that decision. But I did.

Anyway, she drew a Sea Turtle on my cup! Josie went with a dog. I suppose she didn't have quite the complex choosing that as I did. Bloop.


Hope you all had a great Easter where ever you were!

Also - Say hello to little
 Easter Bunny Patrick !