Meadows and I returned to Manila on a Sunday, and I left to come back to the US early Monday morning. It was pretty crazy packing up half of our stuff, making sure Meadows had everything he needed to be on his own and leaving – almost three weeks apart! For the past nine months, we have lived in tight quarters and spent all of our free time together. When all you have is each other, it means you spend a lot of time together! For better or for worse, Meadows was there for every second of those nine months. Suddenly, we were separated, and I was a mess.
Thankfully, my trip to the US brought a plethora of fun distractions: Surin dinner with Ben, a reinstatement of weekly Zoe’s dinners with my girls, Mexican food (did you realize this is hard to come by outside of North America?!) and a beautiful wedding weekend.
The real reason for my return to Atlanta was for Jess and Evan’s wedding, and it was worth the trip times a million! I got to spend some serious quality time with the bride and some of my other favorite people.
Not to get too sappy, but it’s really special watching two people you love make the ultimate commitment to one another. Without Meadows there to keep me in check, I was bursting with pride, love, nostalgia and so much more!
All of this took place at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, which currently features the Chihuly exhibit. The blown glass structures on an already gorgeous backdrop made for an unforgettable evening celebrating Jevan (Jess + Evan).
As if one major celebration wasn’t enough, my girl Mel also turned 30 while I was home. Naturally, we threw a fabulous party to honor this bestie! We got super lucky on the weather (75 and sunny), but not so lucky on the cookie cake… (not pictured because it was laughably bad.)
By the end of the day, we faced the truth: we really love Melody …and her many faces!
After a few more fun dinners (shout out to my Walton and Vandy gals!), it was time to head to NYC to meet my bestie Carter’s new baby! I. AM. IN. LOVE.
Since we’re talking about special moments, it’s also pretty incredible to see your best friend make the transition to “Mom.” I loved getting to witness the new mom phenomenon firsthand!
I cannot begin to explain how much I loved being in Brooklyn living the mom life with Carter for a couple of days. And despite having not seen each other since Austin for New Years Eve (almost 10 months apart!!), it felt like I had never left! Like all good moments in life, our time together flew by; I said farewell to New York and boarded my plane to Lexington.
Getting back to Atlanta is a given, but I’m almost never in Kentucky anymore. Until this trip, it had been over a year since my last visit. I relished the opportunity to get to see my family, but particularly my grandmother!
In my five days at home, I managed to run all my errands and get a ton of quality time with my family! From Kentucky, we road tripped to South Carolina for a family beach trip. We stopped at Tupelo Honey for dinner – YUM!
When we got to the beach on Friday, I was reunited with the MedMan!!!!
Getting to spend time with our families was THE BEST! We didn’t have everyone there L but enough to hold us over until our holiday break. On Sunday, we flew to London to start our final round of 2016.
We need a separate blog on the wedding—get to work!
Love you both!
Becky
Two special photos for me—one of you and your Mom—and one of you and hubby.Thanks–I also treasure that one that someone took of us ! Ann, you are SO GOOD to me ! G.
Thank goodness you have some of your mom’s energy! Wow what a whirlwind! So fun!
Absolutely beautiful. I know your time away from Meadows was painful, but you spread a lot of happiness with all your friends and family, including Marg and me. And certainly G.