Summer in the City: Soulard Twilight Cinema

Last week Jason and I and Brandon and Mary went to Soulard Market Park for a free outdoor showing of The Hangover on a huge blow up screen. We grabbed dinner to go from Benton Park Cafe and settled on the lawn for a pre movie picnic. We brought along some wine (ok a lot of wine - 4 bottles plus a bottle of champagne!) and cookies for dessert and enjoyed hanging out until the movie started. It was a perect night to be outside! Side note: Jason's company, Swank Motion Pictures, provides the licensed copies of the movie for these types of events - in case you were wondering ;)

Waiting for the movie to start

Drinking wine

Summer in the City: St. Louis Uncorked: A Wine & Music Festival

Saturday Jason and I went downtown with Brandon and Mary to Soldiers Memorial for another great event: St. Louis Uncorked. The festival had live music, wine sampling and food. What more could you want? It was very hot out so we hung out in the shade and enjoyed sampling wine from various Missouri wineries. Admission to the event was free and we bought tokens which we then exchanged for wine samples. The music was great too. If you are from St. Louis you may have heard of Kim Massie - a local singer. I had never seen her perform before but now I know why she is so popular. She has an amazing voice! She even sounded great singing Happy Birthday to guy in the audience.

Soldiers Memorial

Brandon and Jason trying to stay cool

The Stage

Wine Booths

Me and Jason - Notice the butterfly fan. It was essential!

The STL Diva: Kim Massie

Summer in the City: RFT Music Showcase

After my trip to Boston and seeing all there was to do there, it made me realize that there is equally as much to do in St. Louis - especially in the summer. It's interesting to go to another part of the country and tell people where you are from and see what their reaction is. Many people that I met in Boston had a somewhat negative impression of St. Louis. They thought it was a dirty city or had a lot of "ghetto" neighborhoods. While there are some parts of St. Louis that are run down and not as safe, there are so many great and diverse neighborhoods to explore. Not to mention that there are a lot of FREE activities in the summer! Jason and I have decided to try and explore as much of the city as we can this summer and enjoy all that it has to offer. Sometimes it's fun to be a tourist in your own city. It reminds me of why I love it here so much.

This past weekend we ventured down to Washington Avenue for the RFT (Riverfront Times) Music Showcase. This free event showcased over 50 bands on two outdoor stages from 1pm-7pm. After 7 you could purchase a wrist band for $5 that got you into participating bars for more live music. We headed down to Washington Ave early afternoon and grabbed an appetizer and a couple of beers at Sidebar. Then we walked down to the main stage to listen to the band that was playing (I can't remember their name). It was a great place to do some people watching. Some interesting folks come out for free events!


After enjoying the music for a while we headed to Mizu for sushi. It was delicious! We went early and pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was nice to share a quiet dinner and good conversation with my husband. After dinner we went to the smaller stage and listened to a local rapper. Again, don't remember his name but he was pretty good. We even made the RFT website!

Jason and I had a great day at the RFT Music Showcase. We really enjoyed just walking around the area, trying new restaurants and listening to music. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of things we can find to do this summer. This weekend we are thinking about going to the St. Louis Brew Fest in Forest Park .