See what I did there? After blogging about fall and pumpkin spice and cooler weather (okay, I didn’t really do any of those things…but my last title had the word “fall” in it) it’s been a really hot week and weekend, and I must say…I’m over it. Luckily this morning hasn’t been so bad, mostly overcast and breezy, so fingers crossed we are moving on? (Full disclosure, I started this post last night, and today I’m already more pleased by the weather, so…maybe things are turning.)

This weekend was pretty fun!  Louie’s dad was visiting from Philly for a couple days so we went out to eat a few times and did a little sightseeing. We went to Treehouse, which is a vegan restaurant that I am conflicted about. I don’t like that their descriptions of dishes involve words like “sausage” or “chicken” and don’t specify how those things are actually made. I get that they want to show you that you don’t need meat, but to me it feels like deception. I had the seitan katsu, which was actually quite good, but the description said it was chicken (which I knew it wasn’t…it was seitan!) which to me, is just weird. Nonetheless, the meal was tasty enough, especially the beets—I’ve become obsessed with beets! The other meal we had was at Olio, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite restaurants. My favorite dishes there are the smoked whitefish salad and the roasted beets with ricotta. Yummy!

We also went up to walk across the Old Chain of Rocks bridge. I’d been there on my bike before, but this time we just parked (on the Illinois side, the Missouri parking lot was closed) and walked across.

These little buildings fascinated us. It seems they are water intake towers and are inaccessible today.

Yesterday Louie and I met up with some people my friend Eliana’s birthday. We had pizza at Dewey’s Pizza and frozen yogurt at a nearby Tutti Frutti. It was nice to meet a few new people and celebrate her 30th (so young!) birthday with her. It’s always fun to chat with friends of friends and expand our social horizons.

And then this morning I ran 7 miles (around the Botanical Gardens and Tower Grove park from my house) and now…getting ready to teach and must do a bit of practicing. Luckily there is leftover pizza to refuel after my run (great for carb-loading AND refueling, right?!).

Today I have a few students who wanted to take Labor Day off for various reasons, but I’m teaching the rest. I figured I started late enough in August that we didn’t need a break yet! Talk to me in a couple months…and I’ve set up a fall recital date for the students, which is a first for us. I have other ideas too, like some sort of ensemble Christmas performance with another teacher, but I also know things just get crazy around that time (for me and everybody else) and I’m not sure I want to tackle too much.

Oh, and I promise more trip recaps are on their way. I’m working on the Yellowstone blog post—it’s just a long post but I am working on it, in case you are wondering. I haven’t forgotten, and I will finish!