Yesterday I got back to London after two wonderful weeks in North Carolina. I had an amazing time visiting my family and friends, eating at my favorite places, doing some serious shopping, and relaxing. I had a few days in NYC visiting friends who live there but a majority of the time was spent in NC.
I arrived on Sunday night and was greeted by my mom, dad, and sister, Megan at the Charlotte airport. My luggage was put on a different plane as I barely made my connection in Philly! So we had to wait an hour for my suitcase to show up. I was exhausted from a very long day but we went straight to Bojangles to have dinner!
On Monday, mom, Megan and I went to lunch together and ran errands. Megan had to go back to Raleigh Monday night for work and I was sad that I wouldn't get to see her again for another week!
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| sisters |
On Tuesday, me and Mom had a girl's day. We went to Southpark mall and had a ladies lunch at the restaurant at Nordstrom. It was so nice to just catch up with my mom! After lunch, we ran a few more errands and then went back to the house to get ready for dinner. My grandparents all came over to visit with me and it was lovely to just sit around and chat with them for a few hours.
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| beautiful momma! |
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grandma billie and grandaddy larry
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| cheers! |
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On Wednesday, Mom had to go back to work so I spent time visiting my friends! In the morning, I went to Megan's (my sweet friend from high school) to visit with her and her sweet baby Peter! We went to breakfast at Toast cafe and hung out at her house. I met my friend Tad at Paco's Taco's for lunch and had a walk around Southpark before picking up my mom at her work Christmas party. Afterwards, I went to April's to see her, Beckett and Sayer. We drank wine, gave Becks a bath and played for a little while. I gave him his bottle and we put him to bed. Then April and I went to dinner with Brittany at Leroy Fox's.
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| me, megan and peter at toast |
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| apes and beckett |
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| happiest baby! |
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| bath time |
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| me, brit, and april with santa at leroy fox's |
Thursday I left for NYC and got back late on Saturday night. So Sunday I went to church and lunch with my mom and dad. After lunch, mom went off to help her friend Lynn take photographs at the Nutcracker in Charlotte. Dad and I went back home and Ashley came over with Taylor and Josh. I hadn't gotten a chance to see the kids yet so I was really excited! We hung out around the house and watched movies and took silly pictures on my laptop. Mom got back before we ate and got to hang out with all of us. Ashley made dinner for the family and then afterwards we went to Target to have some sister time away from the kids! It was great to be able to talk and catch up.
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| mom and josh talking about christmas |
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| the three chipmunks! :) |
On Monday, mom, the kids and I all went to Kendyl's mom's new house! She had about 15 women over to visit and meet Kendyl's new baby, Sullivan. I was so excited to meet him and see Townsend and Kendyl (and Kendyl's family) for the first time in a year! Townsend had grown up so much and Sullivan is such a precious baby. Monday night I went to visit a couple friends!
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| me and my favorite boys |
On Christmas Eve, I slept in and relaxed and then went to church with mom and dad. I always love church on Christmas; the music is so beautiful and it's so amazing to think about the thousands of people all over the world singing the same songs in many different languages. After church, my grandparents, Aunt Terry, and cousin Emily all came over for dinner (my favorite - mom's lasagna!), wine, and movies.
Christmas morning finally came and I was so happy Megan got back to Charlotte late Christmas eve so that all the family could be together! We waited for Ashley, Chad and the kids to come over and then we opened presents, ate our cinnamon rolls, and relaxed. After presents, we went to my Grandma Donna's and Grandaddy John's house to have Christmas lunch and spend time with the whole of my dad's family. That night, Megan, Emily and I went to see 'Anchorman 2'.
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| santa came |
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| christmas sweaters! |
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| a christmas morning tradition in our house |
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| josh and ashley listening to dad read the christmas story |
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| cutie |
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| me and megan at grandma and granddad's house |
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| me and grandma donna |
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| present time! |
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| me and dad :) |
On Thursday we all relaxed and ran some errands as a family! Thursday night I went to the Walshes' house to visit Kendyl and the babies again. Kendyl and I went to Nolen Kitchen (one of my favorite Charlotte places) and had some wine and a good catch up.
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| sistas |
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| the walsh babies |
My last three days in Charlotte were spent with my family. It was so nice to visit with everyone and make memories.
It was bittersweet in a way…as much as I love living in London, I definitely miss being so close to family and friends. I realized while I was home that life in Charlotte goes on without me; children get bigger, people get older, things change. It may seem silly that I am just now really realizing this but let's be honest, I've had some growing up to do since I moved here! It just made me realize more than ever that London can't be permanent for me because I do want to be a part of all the things that are happening back home. So I won't be a 'southern lady in London' forever…but I will be for a little while longer! :)
Sending lots of love from London
