"We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." T. S. Eliot
Lydia has been on my case to get a new couch probably for years at this point. I figure our current couch is doing its job quite nicely despite its saggy cushions with a hole here and there. I told her she could get a new couch if she paid for it, assuming that would deter her. It did not.
We ended up getting a Lovesac partially because they have a store front at Bellevue Square so we could check it out in person. It's actually kind of cool because it's modular, so if we moved or wanted the couch in a different room we can change up the configuration to fit whatever space. It has some storage space under the cushions too which is pretty cool. There was a lot of assembly required which was much less cool.
Also I don't think I could come up with a worse name for a consumer product than "lovesac".
Lydia was having some buyer's remorse about the couch assembly so I played her some motivational music.
After all that hard work and a lot of getting yelled at by someone who will remain nameless I earned myself another German brewsky from my advent calendar. Praise be.
We only had a little time left in St. Louis before our flight home to Seattle so we mopped up a few little odds and ends before heading to the airport.
We checked out the light show in the Grand Hall of Union Station. It's so fun and really reminds me of the amazing light show above Fremont Street in Las Vegas.
The several shows I've seen have been random but this one was a full on Queen rock performance. These people are getting fancy.
We checked out the new stadium for the confusingly named new professional soccer team St. Louis City SC. I hate that name so much, it is so stupid. I pretty much refer to them as "the St. Louis soccer team". They doubled down on the stupid and named the stadium CityPark. Please get a sponsor quickly, these names are terrible. I didn't have much time to linger as I would soon be taking StateHighway to CityAirport.
You can find me in the lounge
bottle full of bub'. Look, mami, I got the brownie bites if you into takin' drugs
We unfortunately did not have a direct flight home and had to stop at Chicago Midway International Airport.
We went to Lydia's Aunt Sarah's house to watch her cousin play in a televised football game, which I must admit was pretty fancy. After that at the same house we attended a little wedding anniversary party for Lydia's grandparents.
In between we took a little intermission and went to Top Golf with Sam and Andrea.
This was my first Top Golf experience and I had heard good things so was excited. I'm not a big golf person generally so I need a little extra pizazz to get myself in the mood.
I let Lydia know that despite the fact she is carrying my baby, I will show her no mercy when it comes to competition.
Later that night we went out with Zoe and Emily for one of our favorite holiday season pastimes: Christmas pop up bars boozin'. This one in particular was Lit, which had popped up like a festive pimple in Molly's in Soulard. I thought they did a pretty good job decorating the place.
I'm sure I ordered more than one, but my first strike was a:
"Gingerbread Man, bird dog gingerbread whiskey, rumchata, eggnog"
Today was the big day of our Thanksgiving pregnancy reveal. We'd been hiding for so long that I wanted everything to go smoothly, and I'd say it pretty much did.
We don't have Bud Select out west, as it is brewed for the Lou.
I set up a tripod with my phone on it to take a family photo, took a few, then I pretended like there was an issue and went to "check the camera". I then set it to video mode to capture everyone's reactions.
Lydia brought out a couple of pies she decorated and then all hell broke loose.
She ordered some custom paper plates to go with the set. There was some small confusion as to whether we were having twins since there were two pies. Luckily that was not the case. While we had already chosen the name Ernesto John we decided to keep that under our hat until he was born. Since it was a family name we were pretty set on our decision and so didn't really need or want anyone else's input on the matter. Plus I thought it would be fun to retain another little secret mystery since we let this huge one out of our grasp.
Lydia could finally stop hiding her little baby bump. That was nice.
Raisin Cane's is pretty much our go-to family meal these days. I do not know how my family made their gigantic Thanksgiving feasts for 40 people and I do not wish to know.
Lydia's brother Austin even made an appearance once he heard the big news.
Our friends Viry and Lolo made a later appearance and so got a little aftershock reveal. This is fun, I should have secret pregnancies more often.
I met up with Seago at the best restaurant in St. Louis: Bulrush. I gave him the distinct honor of telling him about the troll in person before letting loose the dogs of war on social media. It's funny these days everyone is running their own amateur public relations agency.
We then went to work eating our set menu while my phone caught actual fire with all of the lovely texts and messages from well wishers. This fun acorn dish contained honey roasted parsnip and pawpaw chile.
goat and caviar? What the hell do these titles even mean?
Venison and mushroom
collard greens and potato mousse.
Chef Rob Connoley was on hand as always to talk about the dishes and do some banter. He is such an interesting person that I wish I could hang out with him socially. It sounds like he goes out and forages a lot of the ingredients personally. We talked a bit about the movie "The Menu" which involves a fancy restaurant visit that goes awry and I encouraged him to go see it.
walleye and pumpkin
chestnut mousse and sorghum cake
For some after dinner drinks we go weird with it and headed to Clayton's Cafe Napoli. It was a breath of fresh air from going to Soulard or something for the 500th time. The clientele was a fun mix of fancy people and trashy people. Several who thought they were one were actually the other. The night ended with Seago throwing up all over the wall outside the Hi-Pointe Theatre which I consider a big win.
