I'm Back!! . . . and we have a winner, too.

Hey friends! We're back.

From where? you ask. . . .

Well, since most of you already seemed to know where we went, this won't be any grand "reveal" or anything. We're back from Scotland and London.

But didn't you already go to London this year, Shelly?

Why, yes. Yes I did.

That was a special trip with Abby, my middle daughter, for her 16th birthday. It just so happened that a couple of other big events happened this year too. My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in August. B and I also celebrated our 25th in June. And my sister, Jenn, and her husband, Tom, are celebrating their 25th anniversary in November.

(Just in case you're keeping score, yes, my mom did indeed plan two weddings in one year back in 1985. She's still sufferning from it.)

And finally, just to be completely transparent here, my sister, Jodi, and her husband, Matt, just celebrated four years of wedded bliss.

That makes 104 years of marriage among the four couples in our family. And, to me, that is something to celebrate. Thankfully, my parents agreed and generously took all eight of us to Scotland for the British Open. (Those few of you who follow golf will know that going to the British Open is a pretty special thing.) After a few days in Scotland, we then headed to London--you could say this was a schizophrenic vacation because the two halves could not have been more different.

More about that later. I need to end this post because I'm probably not making a whole lot of sense since jet lag has hit me like a WWE Smackdown. Why is it the second day back is so much worse than the first?

And also because I need to take Kate dorm shopping since she leaves for school in a week. Yikes!

Strangely, that last sentence leads me to the winner of my giveaway. I loved all of your comments and suggestions and will try to get to them all, in some way or another, in the next few weeks. Thanks so much for helping a girl out!

But the comment that seemed to resonate with me the most, probably because of what I'm facing sooner that I'd like to admit, was Kay's comment about "loosening the strings" or something along those lines. Kay and I have kids who are just about the same ages, so we're kindred spirits in the "letting go" arena. She's already let one of hers fly the coop, though, so I'm sure she could teach me a thing or two about that rather than the other way around.

Anyway, I'll probably be musing about the "letting go" theme next week since it's going to come around soon--veeeerry soon.

In the meantime, Kay, I need your address to send you my gift from England, so email me with that. I got you a lovely packet of note cards from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Hope you enjoy them!

Be back tomorrow with a Travel Tuesday post!