Ugh, I hate saying this but I was feeling so anxious about Stephany‘s visit this last weekend, for reasons that have nothing to do with her. After months of excitement and anticipation about her coming (she asked if I wanted to see The Popcast Live Show on February 6th and got our tickets February 26th) I had a super crappy week that made me wonder if I should be spending time around anyone besides Steven because I was such an emotional rollercoaster. I was worried I would be a moody grump all weekend.

Obviously that didn’t happen. As soon as I got to the airport the excitement came back. Then later, when I was having coffee with Stephany and had a chance to share all the things that were bothering me I felt so much better. Like, whoa, did you guys know a burden shared is a burden somewhat lifted?

Past Kim was thinking about mentioning here that she let her regular appointments with her therapist lapse because she felt fine. But that she also knows that every time she does that it comes to bite her in the ass. And it did, yet again.

So, lesson learned, yet again – I need regular therapy. I’m going to pause right now and make an appointment. Welp, that was really annoying. I had to reset my password and it didn’t take the first time then threatened to lock my account. Sigh. WHY DO I SPEND SO MUCH OF MY LIFE RESETTING PASSWORDS.

Other lesson learned – I need to not bottle up what’s bothering me. It helps to share it with the right people.

Wow, bet you didn’t think you were going to get all that before a weekend recap, did ya?! Transparency and blah blah blah.

Okay! On to the fun!

Stephany arrived Friday morning and I picked her up and took her straight to my house so she could do the thing she was most excited about apart from the live show – meeting our cats! Apollo greeted her in the foyer, as expected. Starbuck came downstairs to check her out, too. Khali was on the bed and let Stephany approach her and put her hand out to sniff before she (Khali, not Stephany) hid under the bed. That is a big deal! Khali usually doesn’t let anyone new approach her right away. And Ned hid under the bed for a bit then came around by the evening. That went exactly as I expected apart from Khali not running away from her at first sight.

And they loved the toy Stephany brought them!

After that we headed up to Milwaukee. It was Stephany’s first time in Wisconsin! I would have loved to take her to Sip & Purr Cat Cafe but they are still building out their new space, sad face. I guess she’ll have to come back. I DID find a cat for her though.

First we went to the Milwaukee Public Market in the Third Ward. It was too crowded and busy. Ick. Bad planning on my part – I didn’t know Summer Fest had just kicked off. And it’s a Friday, so, duh, Kim. But we found good food to eat, and it was a lovely day to eat outside, then walk around and shop and stop for coffee. I had such a great time wandering and chatting. Inside joke warning: during this time I asked Stephany if she had to pick between giving up pasta or potatoes for life, which would she choose and she chose potatoes, then we somehow talked about pasta all weekend and she kept saying how rude it was to remind her she can’t have any. Ha ha ha.

It’s a really hard choice. Both are amazing.

After that we went to the Bay View Area because I read Voyageur Book Shop had a shop cat, and my Shop Cat app did not lie!

You would not believe the joy of cat ladies finding a cat they in fact knew would be there, after spending the morning with their own cats. I don’t know why we are the way we are, but this is how all cat people are. 

In fact! There were TWO shop cats! Bustopher Jones (above) and Mr Sanders (below).

We only found out about Mr Sanders when Stephany was checking out and the cashier told us about him! Bustopher Jones was very friendly and approachable and “hung out with us” on both floors of the shop.

I wasn’t sure if I’d like browsing a used book store because garage sales and places like T.J.Maxx give me the heebie jeebies, but it was a lot of fun! Probably because I was with Stephany and was mostly being ridiculous.

We brought some of my painted rocks to hide (Stephany found the best spots for them! She’s a rock hiding natural!) and I gave this one to the cashier. Then I ended up showing the cashier the others I had with me and she really wanted to buy the kawaii popcorn one I had with me because they just built out a home theater in their garage. Are you kidding me? I made these to hide and give away! Not to sell! So I handed it over.

After that we went to another book store,

walked around a bit (Insider joke warning: and we saw a place called Lulu and tried to figure out what it was and Stephany guessed an Italian place and was so wrong OMG how embarrassing), then we got some cookies at Insomnia, then headed back.

Oh! I forgot to mention. The weather was freaking BIZARRO. Comfortable temps, almost cool!, but so weirdly sunny then foggy. It was like a fog cloud descended over Milwaukee. I drove Stephany by the lake to show it to her and… you couldn’t see it. I swear it’s there. Steven had an appointment to fly that night and I wondered if he’d get to, but he did – the weather was completely different to the south, and he said you could actually see the cloud sitting over Milwaukee.

Here I am, going on about the weather. Well get ready, because we’ll have some more on that below.

I stopped for gas and Kringle in Kenosha (Kringle is a local delicacy (ha) I wanted Stephany to try) then we came home and hung out with the cats. Snow Jr let Stephany pet him! What the actual F! Stephany has the magical touch!

We painted rocks for a bit (Stephany’s first time!), then Steven picked up pizza for them and pasta for me (I know, how could I after Stephany picked potatoes?! So inconsiderate.) and we ate and chatted, then finished our rocks and went to bed.

On Saturday we hung out at the house for quite a bit chatting with Steven and having Kringle and coffee. We eventually left and went to the Kenosha Harbor Market.

We found the popcorn Engie was talking about. Right, Engie?! We bought said popcorn, checked out more stands (bought dog and cat toys), then walked around the harbor,

stopped to use the restroom in a museum (tee hee, sure… we are interested in the civil war…, wink wink, tinkle tinkle), then headed to Blue House Books in downtown Kenosha. It was not even on the itinerary (I know, REBELS!). But I thought to look up if there was one nearby and this was the cutest shop EVER (confirmed by Stephany, whose opinion matters). I even bought a paperback! ME! Who never buys books. I had a lot of fun checking out book shops with Stephany this weekend. I never go in to them… since I don’t buy books. But apparently I do now? I am confused. Moving on.

We got El Famous for lunch because DUH and we took it home to eat with Steven and they messed up Stephany’s burrito! CRY! We will redo El Famous when she comes back to go to Sip & Purr. (Ha, I was short, like, 58 cents there and they took a dollar out of the tip jar for me. I wonder if it’s because I go once a week? I did offer to go to my car and get change! I thought that was so nice they did that. BUT NOT THAT THEY PUT STEAK INSIDE OF HER BURRITO INSTEAD OF CHICKEN WHEN IT CLEARLY SAID “CHIX” ON THE RECEIPT!)

After lunch we got ready to go to Chicago. During this time it could really dark out. I came up from ironing my shirt and the basement and was like “wtf is it nighttime? did I travel through time?” No, it got cloudy.

But it wasn’t raining in the city… YET! DUN DUN DUN FORESHADOWING.

We had a lovely time navigating to the venue location (just kidding, driving in the city sucks, but less so when you’re with a friend who will support you when you honk at people and tell others to eff off) and found parking right across from it, yay!, then stepped out into the oppressive humidity and headed to Pride Fest.

Y’all! I have never been to a proper pride event! What fun! I loved seeing all the different people and outfits (of course!) and just how much fun everyone was having! It was set up down a few blocks on a city street with different bands at the ends and vendors and food, etc.

OMG, someone said we had Mary Kate and Ashley vibes – matching but not quite. What a funny compliment. 

It was so so so crowded though. Yikes. And I got so sweaty. Sorry everyone around me! I changed my shirt and put on more deodorant when I got to the car, but yeah, I was still sweaty and likely smelly.

But that’s okay because we were amongst friends! It was so exciting to go into the Vic Theater and see all The Popcast stuff and even some folks from the show out and about! And I have to say, I am not sure if these were local volunteers or actual Vic staff but the people guiding and helping out were amazing! They had someone explaining where the bathrooms were, to take your photo (below),

and even in the bathroom to tell you where to go, cause yes, it was confusing.

Hmm, I think we got to our seats about 45 minutes before show start? Stephany bought us drinks (thank you!) and we chatted with folks around us. I felt the alcohol kick in about 10 minutes before the show and started getting really chatty. I am a cheap date, all it takes is one drink (only they were actually NOT cheap there – like $20 each what the heck).

ANYWAY.

Everyone went crazy when the hosts, Knox and Jamie came on stage. It was so fun to be with our people, and especially with Stephany, who I regularly share Popcast thoughts with (ha, that reminds me we were trying to do a Popcast reference every hour on the hour that day. Don’t worry Snis, raw dog was mentioned). I loved the energy, and the setup of the show was a lot of fun (they asked the audience what people were skipping to be there, did an “olympic” awards section, a snake draft, a problem solving segment (gah, can’t remember what they call that on the show!), and an audience guessing game with select audience members). I laughed so much… when I could understand what they were saying.

Poor Stephany. I don’t have great hearing. Knox talks really fast, and the acoustics were not great. I asked her a lot “What did they say?” Thanks for putting up with me, Stephany. I swear, my doctor said my ears look fine (notice I said look, I didn’t actually take a hearing test).

All that being said, I loved seeing them and would again. But, preferably in a theater that doesn’t have folding chairs basically overlapping one another for seats. Um, thanks but no thanks.

The show started at 8:00, had an intermission, and was over around 10:00. We got right out of the parking garage and headed home. There was a light sprinkle of rain getting out of the city, then a scary downpour began as we got on the expressway that heads to my house. Sigh. Like, people actually going 40 mph, with their blinkers on, cause NONE OF US COULD SEE. This is a highway with a 55 mph speed limit where you are going too slow if you go under 70, so that says a lot.

The rain was NOT letting up so I pulled over at an oasis until it did. Thankfully that only took about 10 minutes then we got home around 11:30? Eek! I think I fell asleep after 1:00? I WAS REALLY TIRED ON SUNDAY.

But so worth it.

On Sunday all we did was wake up, get ready to go, and drive to the airport (I dropped her off around 9:30 then drove to meet another Florida friend who was in town). Oh yes, I also told Stephany she must come downstairs that morning and meet another one of the stray cats that visits. So she met Snow Jr, the black & white cat whose name I will reveal tomorrow, and this gray cat we haven’t named. ALL THE CATS!

In short (just kidding, this was so long!), I had a fantastic time with Stephany. I loved showing her my favorite parts of Milwaukee, but then going to the places that appealed to her there, that I had never tried before. I loved seeing what a pride fest is like. I obviously loved going to the live show with her. I loved seeing her love on my cats (and them loving on her, minus Khali, sorry, that takes years and lots of patience, but you are welcome to move in). I loved having some very serious conversations but also being extremely goofy. That combo makes my heart so happy. Cause your girl is not serious at the core. I really have to fake it to adult most days. Ugh. Adulting.

I’m so glad she suggested this and made the effort to come all the way out here. Thank you, Stephany! Update to add, here is Stephany’s recap!

(Also, I usually proofread these before I post but am feeling too lazy. Feel free to let me know what spelling mistakes and grammatical errors I made. Normally my snis does but she doesn’t always get to these right away.)