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Stephany Writes

Categories: Travel

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!

Categories: Travel

Chicago, IL | Days 3 & 4

Oh man, I had hoped to write and publish this post last week, but it ended up being a much bigger undertaking than I expected and work has been insanely busy, leaving me very little free time to focus on blogging. Alas, I had the weekend to get this done so here’s my last Chicago recap!

Our third day in Chicago (Wednesday) was a fun one, but it was also the day we had the scariest Lyft drive of my life. We’ll get into it!

We slept in on Wednesday, something my mom was very grateful for. We had a noon reservation at the Shedd Aquarium so we didn’t have to get going until around 11 or so, which was really nice. I didn’t think I was going to sleep late (I set an alarm for 9:30), but I wound up needing that alarm. I guess I was tired!

We started our day by checking out Wildberry Cafe. I already had it on my list to try, but when my mom posted about our trip on Facebook, one of our family members told us to go there! So we definitely had to make it happen. There was a Wildberry within walking distance of our hotel and we were seated nearly immediately, but damn, they were not following any COVID procedures here, let me tell you. None of the servers wore masks and they seated us within 3 feet or less of other patrons. Eeks!

Even so, Wildberry was a delicious breakfast spot! Mom and I shared a plate of chocolate chip pancakes and I also got a side of eggs and bacon. We planned on having a big breakfast and skipping lunch, so I knew I needed something that would keep me satisfied for hours. It was such a great breakfast, and I am still dreaming about those pancakes. Mmm!

We got to Shedd right around noon and spent about two hours walking around this sensational aquarium. It was the one thing my mom wanted to do while in Chicago, and I’m so glad we went. The aquarium is filled with tons of little exhibits with fish and eels and sharks and turtles and penguins, oh my! (Somehow we missed the penguin exhibit, which I am very sad about.) They also have an oceanarium where you can watch beluga whales and dolphins swimming around. Apparently, they also have sea otters but they weren’t around on the day we went, wah.

One of the more disturbing experiences at Shedd was watching a shark documentary, which came with our ticket. There were some cool tidbits in the documentary (like epaulet sharks who can breathe and walk on land for a period of time) but there was also a lot of information about how sharks entice their prey that was hard to stomach. Let’s just say there was a scene involving seals happily playing while a great white shark hunted them that would have scarred me for life if I watched this documentary as a child. Even as an adult, I hid my eyes behind my hands during that scene!

Aside from that disturbing documentary, we had a great time at Shedd! We probably could have spent more time there but we wanted to hit up the Field Museum, which closed at 5pm, so we left a little after 2.

The Field Museum was great, but I should have done my due diligence beforehand and figured out which exhibits to check out because we missed so many great ones! (Including Sue the T.Rex, wah!) Some of the exhibits were interactive, which was fun, and our ticket came with the option to watch a short documentary about Titanosaurs, which is the largest dinosaur to ever roam the Earth. It was a pretty cool documentary! (Much better than watching sharks hunt seals, for sure.) We strolled through a few exhibits afterward and I found one about African culture particularly powerful.

We left the Field Museum around 4:30 and I ordered a Lyft to take us to a local bookstore. It was the first time I’ve ever been in a Lyft and felt uncomfortable with the driver. He wasn’t doing anything particularly problematic, but he seemed to be driving us in circles to get to the bookstore. What should have been a 10-minute drive ended up being double that! I was following along in the app and he kept going straight when he needed to go left, or turning right when he needed to go straight. I’ve had drivers not follow the GPS directions before, and that’s fine as long as I see a logical path to get to my destination. This driver was just going in circles (almost as if he was trying to earn more money by driving around longer). I started feeling really scared, unsure if he would ever get us to our destination. Multiple times I wanted to just get out of the car. Eventually, we made it to the bookstore and the driver gave me a line that his GPS not working correctly (I was sitting behind him so I couldn’t see his GPS, but I don’t buy that excuse one bit). I was pretty upset with the Lyft app, though, because they typically will send an alert when a ride is taking too long or the driver is going off their GPS, but they didn’t send me anything until AFTER it was over. Not very helpful, Lyft! (I did send a complaint, though.)

But we made it to the bookstore at least?! After-Words Bookstore has an eclectic collection of both new and used books, and it was a cute little shop with the ground floor filled with children’s books and a downstairs section for adult books. I was feeling very unsettled from the Lyft ride and didn’t feel like I could peruse as leisurely as I wanted to. I did end up settling on two books to bring home with me (I bought The Most Fun We Ever Had because Claire Lombardo is a local author!); I love buying books that remind me of my travels in some small way.

After our short trip to After-Words, we were ready for an early dinner. I wanted to visit Shake Shack at least once while we were in Chicago since I’d never been. We found one within walking distance of the bookstore, yay!

For me, Shake Shack was a bit underwhelming! It wasn’t bad—I liked my burger more than I liked the fries—but it wasn’t so good that I left the restaurant bereft that the only location near me is 20 minutes away. Give me BurgerFi any day! Mmm. (My mom ordered their beer and she really enjoyed it!)

And that was Wednesday! We walked back to the hotel, enjoyed an episode of Big Brother, played some games of Qwixx, and then packed up our room a bit since we would be flying back home tomorrow. But we had one more adventure to enjoy!

On Thursday morning, we were up and at ’em early as we had a 9 a.m. reservation at Skydeck Chicago, which is located in the Willis Tower. We traveled up 103 floors to see gorgeous views of the city. At this observation tower, they had The Ledge, which is a glass box that extends out a few feet from the building so it feels like you are standing right on top of the city. It’s pretty cool, but I got a lot of comments from people about how scary it looked when I posted the photos/video on Instagram. I’m not someone who’s scared of heights (I’ve ziplined multiple times and grew up on roller coasters, lol) so it was mostly an insanely cool experience rather than a scary one. I can definitely understand that it’s not for everyone! But it was so worth it to me.

We took a few loops around Skydeck since it wasn’t very busy and we had the time. I’m really glad we squeezed in this one last Chicago adventure before heading to the airport.

I had such a good time in Chicago and I’m so glad we made this trip happen, even though the Delta variant is surging. (I took a COVID test when I got back and it was negative, thank goodness!) It was a good time with my mom and I desperately needed the time away from work and life to enjoy an honest-to-God vacation, something I haven’t had in almost two years at this point! It was everything I hoped it would be, and I can’t wait to return to Chicago soon. This city has carved out a special place in my heart.

Categories: Travel

Chicago, IL | Day 2

We began our second day in Chicago with a visit to Stan’s Donuts, which I was really excited to try! While I wouldn’t consider donuts to be a favorite of mine, give me a specialty donut shop (even better if they serve mini-donuts!) and I’m a happy girl. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a hit for us. My mom found her donut too bready and while my donut was good, it was also a little dry and almost tasted like those little Hostess chocolate donuts you can get at the grocery store, lolz. Oh well. At least we had fun plans in store for us today: a visit to Navy Pier and 360 Chicago!

We arrived at Navy Pier around 10:30, only to find out that they don’t really get going until 11. Oops – just means we had time to stroll around the pier and take in all the sights! We bought tickets to ride the Centennial Wheel, which is what I wanted to do the most here. And it was well worth the wait! Apparently, in pre-COVID times, you had to share one of the gondolas with other people, but not right now! I was very happy that we had a gondola to ourselves, COVID or not. (Listen, as a shy person with social anxiety, some COVID procedures vastly benefit my life.) The gondola was fully enclosed and air-conditioned, which was really nice. We got to do three loops around and see all of Chicago. It was amazing! I highly recommend a visit to Navy Pier just for this experience.

We ended up doing the Wheel for a second time because we loved it just that much.

Afterwards, we wandered around the pier to find something to eat and stumbled on Harry Caray’s Tavern where we ordered some drinks (I couldn’t pass up a frozen drink! It reminded me of being on a cruise ship!) and lunch. My mom had her first Chicago dog experience and she was super happy with it! I ordered a burger and it was fine—nothing to write home about. (Should’ve gotten the Chicago dog, I think!)

We had some time to kill before our reservation at 360 Chicago so we walked around the pier and stumbled on an indoor pavilion with lots of kitschy shops. This is where I picked up one of my only Chicago souvenir of the trip, which was a magnet. I love it and it makes me smile every time I see it. We also found a bakery and got a cupcake to share, but eh, it wasn’t very good. We should have opted for Ben & Jerry’s! Live and learn.

Then it was time to order a Lyft and head over to 360 Chicago! I was super, super excited about this excursion. Here, we took an elevator (thank god) to the 94th floor of the John Hancock building where we got to see incredible views of Chicago. It was truly magnificent! It was hard to believe we were so high up (we don’t have buildings like this where I live, that’s for sure) and could see so many miles of the city.

(I wore a mask while inside the building, but took it off for this photo since there was nobody else around me.)

We also took part in TILT, which is a “ride” in which you stand on a glass box, hold on to handlebars located at both ends of the box, and then try not to freak out when the glass wall in front of you starts to tilt down onto the city! Y’all, IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. It tilts down about 30 degrees and was such an insanely cool experience. I was nervous about it because when we were waiting for our turn, there was a couple in the Tilt ride and the male participant couldn’t handle it! He kept stepping back because it freaked him out so much. But it really wasn’t bad at all! (Zip-lining is much scarier, lol.)

After enjoying TILT and taking two spins around the observation deck, Mom and I got a drink and relaxed in comfy chairs, sipping while enjoying the view. Ahh… I love vacation. 🙂

We took a Lyft back to the hotel afterward and then it was time for our daily nap! Yessss.

Tuesday evening, we ventured out for pizza! Both of us are pretty darn picky about our pizza, especially when it comes to crust. We certainly didn’t have plans to try deep-dish pizza because ick. I’m very happy for you if you love deep-dish pizza, but it’s just not for us. Thankfully, most of the famous Chicago pizza places offer thin-crust pizza alongside deep dish, so we were able to get some pizza anyway! We decided on Giordano’s, mostly because it was the closest pizza place to our hotel and we weren’t feeling up to too long a jaunt for dinner.

Verdict? It was okay. It wasn’t outstanding, but we both easily polished off a small pizza between the two of us. The weirdest thing about the pizza was that the cheese just slid right off the slice! No staying power here. I haven’t encountered that before. All in all, it was fine but nothing to write home about, you know?

After that, it was back to the hotel for a few rounds of Qwixx before we took to our respective beds to read our books. 🙂 Tomorrow was going to be another busy day but this time, I let us sleep in!

Categories: Travel

Chicago, IL | Day 1

Our trip to Chicago was wonderful! While I don’t think any city will capture my heart quite like Savannah (I’m definitely overdue for a trip there!), Chicago did its damned best to come close. I loved everything about this city! The tall, tall buildings that surrounded me whenever I walked around the city, the beautiful Chicago River, the gorgeous weather (<– good thing I didn’t come in the winter, eh?). It was easily one of the best cities I’ve been to and I can’t wait to return someday soon.

We arrived in Chicago on Sunday around 4:30pm but didn’t make it to our hotel until after 6pm, whew! It’s quite a drive from O’Hare to downtown Chicago! (Not to mention, it felt like we walked the entire airport to find the Uber/Lyft pickup area!) Eventually, we checked into the hotel (we stayed at the Hyatt Regency right on the Chicago Riverwalk) and were greeted with this amazing view:

Okay, Chicago, I am already impressed by you! 🙂

We didn’t do too much on Sunday night, aside from catching the latest episode of Big Brother and having a meal in the hotel bar. We thought about venturing out for dinner, but we were worn out and were going to have an early start to our day, so we opted for something easy.

On Monday, we kicked things off with the famous architectural boat tour, which I have heard so much about from other people who have traveled to Chicago! As a lover of all things history, I knew I wanted to fit this into our schedule. And I’m so glad I did because it was magnificent! (We went with the Chicago’s First Lady boat tour, thanks to a recommendation from Kim!) The boat winds slowly up and down the Chicago River for an hour and a half, and we had a historian from the Chicago Architecture Center telling us all about the different buildings, their architecture, and what they all meant for the Chicago skyline and the city as a whole. I was fascinated from beginning to end, and we really lucked out with the weather, too. Sunny in the mid-70s with a nice breeze – perfection! (Even the historian kept remarking how this was the most beautiful day he’d ever seen in Chicago!)

(Sorry for the Trump Tower in the background of this photo. *shakes fist*)

After our tour, we took a quick jaunt over to Millenium Park so we could see the Bean! It was so cool to finally see it in person after only ever seeing it in pictures on social media. It was also much dirtier than I expected? Haha. I don’t know why I would think it was this pristine landmark when thousands of people likely flock to it on a daily basis. Of course it gets dirty! But it was still a delight to see.

After seeing the Bean, we had to deal with an injury—the first and only of the trip, so that’s major progress for us. My mom got a bad blister on her right foot but thankfully, there was a Walgreens right next to Millenium Park so we headed over there for bandages. By then, we were getting hungry and I was hoping to eat at Park Grill and then do a little more exploring, but the restaurant was closed. Womp, womp!

Instead, we found a different restaurant that was close to our hotel: Sweetwater Tavern. I know my mom wasn’t feeling great from her blister, even with the bandages, so after a delicious meal, we headed back to the hotel for naps before dinner. We did this every day we were in Chicago, and I highly recommend it. Could we have pushed ourselves and seen more of Chicago? Sure, but that’s just not the kind of travelers we are. We value rest and it was really nice to take a break after our adventuring to relax in our room.

Monday evening was the highlight of my whole trip, as I finally got to meet (and hug!!) Kim. We’ve been reading each other’s blogs for a long, long time and she’s become someone I feel really comfortable confiding in, and it was such a joy to be able to have dinner with her. And she brought us rocks! Kim is a super-talented rock painter and I was so touched that she created an adorable rock of Chip and Lucy for my mom based on one of their Instagram photos as well as brought me my own “cat mom” rock.

We met at Quartino Ristorante for dinner and it was delicious! There were so many yummy options on the menu that it was hard to choose what to eat, but I stuck with my old favorite (chicken parm) and we ended the meal with gelato (for mom and me) and sorbet (for Kim). It was lovely to just chat with Kim – we could have honestly sat there for hours and hours, but alas. We had to wrap it up since Kim had an hour-long drive home. I am so grateful to her for driving into Chicago to meet us for dinner! Yay!

Have you ever been to Chicago? What’s your favorite U.S. city you’ve ever visited?

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Welcome!

Hi, I'm Stephany! (She/her) I'm a 30-something single lady, living in Florida. I am a major bookworm, cat mom, podcast fiend, and aspiring novelist. I identify as an Enneagram 9, an introvert, and a Highly Sensitive Person. On this blog, you will find stories about my life, book reviews, travel experiences, and more. Welcome!

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