Stephany & Kim’s AMEOWZING Popcast Weekend

Last weekend was spent with Kim! It was the weekend we’d been planning for since I found out that our favorite podcast, The Popcast with Knox and Jamie, was doing a live show in Chicago. This was in early February. The moment I found out it was coming to Chicago, I texted Kim to see if she had the weekend free and then basically told her we were going to it. SORRY NOT SORRY, Kim!

It was such a fun-filled weekend with Kim where I got to spend time in a brand-new state (Wisconsin!), visit the best bookstore I’ve ever been to, and try my best to make her cats fall in love with me. And we capped it all off with an incredible live show with some of my favorite people. Let’s get into the weekend.

Nine Painted Rocks

Kim is quite an exceptional rock painter, and I have been the lucky recipient of many of her painted rocks. When she took me on a tour of her house after I arrived, I nearly died when I saw she had put together the cutest tray in her guest room with water bottles, toys for my girls, and the most incredible painted rock of Eloise and Lila. I’m hoping the girls will use the rock as inspiration to cuddle up together more often. 😉

During our days out and about, Kim was gracious enough to give me a handful of painted rocks to hide around town. And I got to see the expert rock hider in action! She was pretty stealthy with her hides! It was fun to get in on the action, although it took me some time to get into the swing of things. By the end, I’d like to think I had jumped up a few levels of rock hiding expertise.

And finally, Kim and I spent one of our nights painting rocks. She brought up the idea to me and I was like, “I’ll do it, but I may whine a lot about my lack of skill.” Art like this is not my forte, but I was also confident in Kim’s teaching ability. I got to see her entire rock painting setup and she took me through the process of drawing a cat butt, which was easier than I expected. And then I made a cute turtle rock for my mom! (I must admit: Kim helped me a lot with getting the body of the turtle just right.)

Seven Cats

One of the things I was most looking forward to was meeting all of Kim’s cats. For reference, she has four indoor cats and then a random assortment of cats who show up often in her backyard that she takes care of. Notably, there’s one black cat named Snow Jr who basically lives in her backyard now, and I got to see the newest cat who arrived just a day or two before I did! It’s this pitiful black-and-white tiny bebe who scarfs down the food Kim puts out and has some rough fur problems that Kim’s trying to sort out. I spent the majority of the weekend trying to get all of the cats to fall in love with me, and I mostly succeeded. Khali was not too impressed by me, even though I tried to buy her love with food tubes and lots of attention. I guess this means I have to return someday because I am determined for Khali to love me!

In terms of the other cats, Apollo was the easiest sell and we wasted no time falling in love! Ned took a little time but then he would rub against my feet and even let me hold him like a baby once. And Starbuck liked being near me but didn’t want me to get too close (although she did let me give her pets on my last morning there, and even did some tumbling on the floor near me, the ultimate sign of cat acceptance). All in all, I was surrounded by cats and I couldn’t have been a happier person!

Four Farmer’s Market Purchases

On Saturday morning, after a lazy start to our day with coffee and Kringle and conversation, Kim and I took a trip to Wisconsin to visit the Kenosha Farmer’s Market. While it was more market than farmers (I think we only counted one fruit stand and one vegetable stand), I loved all the cool vendors that set up there. I picked up a bag of caramel and cheddar popcorn from Pop’s Kettle Corn, which I can confirm is delicious. We also ran across a vendor who sold really tough dog toys. They are these densely knitted ropes that can withstand the ferociousness of hard chewers. The woman works so hard on these dog toys that she recently had surgery to repair her wrists. I bought a rope toy to see if it’s any match for Chip, who can destroy even the toys designed for hardcore chewers.

We also found a vendor who was selling cat toys, so Kim and I had to take a peek. When Kim found a Taylor Swift cat kicker toy, I knew I had to have it! This vendor also made cute cat toys from wine corks, so I bought the girls one of those as well.

Three Bookstores

Not everyone enjoys a good bookstore visit, especially people who aren’t keen on buying books. I understand that it can be a lot to take me to a bookstore because I like to spend a lot of time perusing the shelves, but Kim further cemented her permanent place in my heart when she found multiple bookstores to visit, one of which had cats to love on! In Milwaukee, we visited Voyageur Book Shop that had two adorable shop cats named Bustopher Jones and Mr. Sanders. Bustopher was a bit friendlier than Mr. Sanders, as he came right out to greet us and then hung around us while we were looking at books. Mr. Sanders, for his part, did let us pet him and take cute pictures but he spent most of the time curled up in a chair behind the counter.

Bustopher is on the left.

I left with a nice little stack of books from this location, and since it was a used bookstore, I spent right around $30 on this stack, which is a great deal!

After Voyageur, we walked to Lion’s Tooth, which was a very eclectic space! It was a very small bookstore with a carefully curated collection of books (a lot of nonfiction and social justice-type books) as well as a great selection of graphic novels for kids. It felt like a really great community space for artsy folks and was super queer-friendly, which I loved. I left with a book and a new sticker for my water bottle.

On Saturday, Kim and I spent time in Kenosha and she was kind enough to take me to a third bookstore. And I am so glad she did because this might have been the best bookstore I’ve ever been to. It’s actually a good thing I am 1,200 miles away from this delightful place, as otherwise, I’d need to add a line item to my budget for all the money I would spend at this store. Blue House Books not only has an excellent collection of books lining their walls and scattered around tables, but also an incredible array of bookish items for sale. There are mugs and t-shirts and notepads and bookmarks and stickers and tote bags and suncatchers and candles and pens and journals… and the list goes on and on from there. Here’s how amazing this bookstore was: I had to choose between two beautiful Anne of Green Gables editions. The only reason I dragged myself out of this store is because I did not account for spending hundreds of dollars at a bookstore. Instead, I spent $103 on a t-shirt, a bookmark, a handful of stickers, a suncatcher, a beautiful AoGG edition, and Emily Henry’s newest release.

Two Pride Shirts

Chicago was throwing a Pride festival the day of the Popcast live show, and since I was missing the St. Pete Pride Parade for this weekend, I was hoping we could make a quick appearance there to take in all the lovely queer energy of the city. We got to Chicago a few hours before the show so we could a) find easy parking, which we did, and b) go to the festival. We spent a little less than an hour wandering around and poking through all the great booths that were set up (I was tempted to buy more stickers, but I had spent enough money so far on this trip, haha). They also had some live concerts going on in different areas of the festival, which is great for people who aren’t like me and feel like their eardrums are being blown out from the noise. But the further from the stages we were, the easier it was on my nervous system, lol. Kim and I talked about the festival afterward and she remarked about how there was such a positive, happy energy there. I think that’s what I have found the most from Pride events—the overwhelming joy and happiness of being around people who get to be their full selves in an inclusive space like this. It’s truly something beautiful. I was really glad we made the time to visit the festival, even if we didn’t get to stay too long.

One Popcast Live Show

The main event! It was so exciting seeing the Popcast’s logo on the marquee outside The Vic Theater and there is something uniquely special about being surrounded by people who like the same silly podcast that you do. I fangirled hard at this event, especially when I saw the adorable Evan Dodson running around in his spiffy Popcast button-down. I was screaming along with everyone else when Knox and Jamie emerged from backstage. And I giggled like a maniac through every segment and bit they did. One of my favorite parts of the show was when they asked audience members to tell them what event they canceled to be there, with the winners being the woman who had rescheduled her daughter’s first birthday party and the man who left his aunt’s funeral early to get to the show on time. That’s dedication!

I had a really great time at the show, though. It was everything I could have wanted and I enjoyed being in the room where it happens! And it was fun to experience it with Kim since we talk about The Popcast so much and she’s the one who peer-pressured me into listening to them (a good kind of peer pressure). There was just an overall feeling of joy and happiness in the entire theater, and I’m glad it was such a rousing success for this team that does so much for us in terms of entertainment and giving us a soft place to land. (I was talking in the car with Kim afterward how Knox and Jamie have gotten me through some rough moments because if I’m ever feeling anxious and depressed, I put on one of their episodes to lift my spirits.)

And now I have written almost 2,000 words about the two days I spent with Kim! YOU’RE WELCOME. It was a great time and I had fun with Kim who was just so easy to talk to and be around. And now we have dozens of inside jokes, like the time Kim thought this restaurant we saw called Lulu’s was a Thai restaurant. I don’t want to embarrass her on my blog, especially when she hosted me for the weekend, but really, Kim? A Thai restaurant? Oof.

*Yes, my title for this post is exactly the same as Kim’s title, but this was the name for our weekend so I’m keeping it!