September Vacation

I had a great vacation - some travel, some staycation, some rest, some project completion.


First stop: Bentonville, Arkansas with my mom to visit Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It's been on my to-visit list for a while and we finally made it! I didn't know that it shared a campus with a children's museum  - already planning a return visit with the kids to go to the Amazeum and the aquarium in Springfield.

We stayed at the 21c hotel which has this striking Kara Walker sculpture in the lobby; I remember reading about her giant sugar sculpture (https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-sugar-sphinx) and feeling sad I would not see it.

Dinner at the Hive, the hotel restaurant. Delicious Southern food that got me thinking about eating more beans and more polenta.

I have been intrigued by Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company after receiving their massive catalog. Anticipating this might be a rare opportunity to see the farm, we made a detour through Mansfield, MO, on the way home.

It really is in the middle of nowhere! I bought some seeds in the store, some gardening gloves for the girls, and a jar of sourdough starter (it's aliiiiiiiive!)

Back in St Louis...

First dance class of the fall session:

We've made a game of waiting for Strange Donuts to open (talking about it, peeking in the strorefront before going to the grocery store) and it finally opened!

On Wednesday I got a massage at 8 am and needed to pick up a ceramics purchase at Green Shag Market, a place where many vintage vendors have booths. I was a little early, though, and was able to visit Parker's Table for the first time -- luckily I didn't have tons of time and a cooler with me because I wanted to buy all the yummy things (Salume Beddu meats, beautiful jars of interesting sauces, capers, spreads...)

At Green Shag I picked up my vintage Mikasa mugs and found these beauties in my dream palette: grass green, tomato red, beigey-pink. I completed my trifecta of fave-store shopping by going to Larder & Cupboard.

My mom collects dishes and serving pieces and glassware and and now look at me... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

First tennis lesson!

I'm going to start playing tennis too and OF COURSE the first step is to buy this sale skirt. Clementine wanted to see it in the car and I turned around to see Our Lady of Perpetual Love.

On Thursday morning I went to Crossfit and then jetted to Chicago! My friend Quenby got married and Elise was my date. We made plans a few months for two exciting dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants. (I told you, this was a great vacation!)


Isla, 12 months.

Dinner at Spiaggia. I caught up on Top Chef a few months ago and was so excited to meet the winner, Joe Flamm; he was so charming on the show. He graciously took a photo with us which I felt gauche requesting but am glad I have so....

Anyway, the tasting menu was absolutely delicious and gorgeous and the service was so warm and friendy -- highly recommend!

On Friday I spent the morning walking and shopping Michigan Avenue - the weather was bright, sunny, and just warm enough - glorious. I came across these red suede loafers which reminded me so much of my paternal grandmother: she would have LOVED them.

I spent a couple of hours in Room & Board sitting on ALL the sofas, pondering fabrics, and in general staring off into space imagining our living room. It was grand.

Walked to Raised for a quick drink with Mike and Eric and then we caught an Uber to EL Ideas for another amazing dinner! Brett and Elise joined us and we had so much fun -- the restaurant is BYOB, plays pop music, is very small and intimate, and the food extraordinarily delicious, fun, and imaginative.

Breakfast with Isla: yes to blueberries, no to turkey bacon.

Wedding time! We got our makeup done at the Laura Mercier counter at Nordstrom. Another gorgeous day:

The service was just lovely; the homily used the song "Moon River" as a metaphor for life and life together. So touching.

With a break between the ceremony and reception, we saw Crazy Rich Asians in a theatre with recliner seats! A really fun movie.

Didn't know great friends were going to be at the wedding - such a wonderful surprise!

With the bride. Congrats, Q! So thrilled for you and Jim!

The wedding favors: luxe skincare. BEST VACATION EVER, I told you!

Said goodbye to this cutie...

Caught an early-but-not-too-early flight to STL and Sarah came over and organized the newly built pantry!

Cannot tell you how great it feels to see all of our food and the commonly-used appliances in view and within reach.

The butler's pantry became a mini-mudroom and she outfitted it with hooks, FLOR tiles, and bins for the dance/swim/etc bags.

Plus hat hooks!

That evening Clem turned our most available medium - an Amazon box - into a laptop computer.

I asked her where she learned the word "alert" and she said, "from Betty's Burgled Bakery!" This book was written by a high school friend and I bought it several months ago when I was asking for suggestions at Novel Neighbor and the bookseller pulled it from the shelf. "I know the author!" I exclaimed.

The computer was part of a larger rocketship constructed from Prime materials.