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4 weeks ago | 
stlmag.com | Nicholas Phillips |Christy Carew Marshall |Emily Adams |George Mahe
This story first appeared in the Outdoors newsletter. Click here to learn more and sign up. When Nick Richards was a sweaty 8-year-old at summer camp in the 1990s trying to pull himself up a wall for the first time, the outdoor climbing community was still tiny, and St. Louis had no climbing gyms. Much has changed since. The number of outdoor practitioners has grown, and four gyms have opened in the metro area—two by Upper Limits and two by Climb So iLL.
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1 month ago | 
sophisticatedstlouis.com | Christy Carew Marshall
This dramatic design was dictated by one key element: the lake surrounding it. by Christy Marshall / Interior Photos by Meghan Lorenz; Exterior Photos by Triple Reed PhotographyWhen Kevin Voges bought 62 acres outside Millstadt, Illinois, in 2021, it took him the proverbial “New York minute” to pick where his dream Mountain Modern Mountain house would go: the peninsula jutting straight into the lake. “This house was all about designing for the land,” he said.
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1 month ago | 
stlmag.com | Andrea Smith |Andréa Smith |Nicholas Phillips |Christy Carew Marshall |Emily Adams
At age 11, Lauren Lee received a cancer diagnosis two days before Christmas. She fought Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for about six months, and after five rounds of chemotherapy and radiation at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, she emerged cancer-free but with a warning for later in life: She needed to start checking for breast cancer at age 25–much younger than the typical recommendation for screenings starting at age 40.
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1 month ago | 
stlmag.com | Nicholas Phillips |Christy Carew Marshall |Emily Adams |George Mahe
Matt Johnson is not an unbiased observer here: As the founder of Loki Events, he very much wants mountain bikers to sign up for his races, the next of which is the Chubb Enduro, on March 23, just east of Eureka. But Johnson also makes the argument that racing in general confers a handful of benefits—both athletic and personal—on even casual mountain bikers, regardless of how well they do on the competitive side.
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1 month ago | 
stlmag.com | Jeannette Cooperman |Christy Carew Marshall |Stefene Russell |Jarrett Medlin
The best parks in St. LouisAre you looking to take a stroll or play with the kids? Work up a sweat on a hike or while playing a sport? Appreciate art or history? Just enjoy nature? There’s a park for that, as highlighted in this expansive guide of more than 50 metro area parks.
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1 month ago | 
stlmag.com | Jarrett Medlin |Christy Carew Marshall |Emily Adams |Gaby Mendoza
The best parks in St. LouisAre you looking to take a stroll or play with the kids? Work up a sweat on a hike or while playing a sport? Appreciate art or history? Just enjoy nature? There’s a park for that, as highlighted in this expansive guide of more than 50 metro area parks.
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1 month ago | 
stlmag.com | Connie Mitchell |Christy Carew Marshall |Emily Adams |George Mahe
In 2022, more than 47,000 people in St. Louis–about 16 percent of the population–lived with food insecurity, according to national nonprofit Feeding America. In other words, using the USDA’s definition, these St. Louis residents experience “the lack of access, at times, to enough food for an active, healthy life.” From growing to buying to learning how to prepare fresh foods, St. Louis nonprofits are helping fill the gap.
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2 months ago | 
sophisticatedstlouis.com | Christy Carew Marshall
A two-week adventure through Spain and Portugal was nothing short of luxurious. by Christy Marshall / Photography courtesy of Luxury GoldI am a tour newbie. Once decades ago, while living outside Glasgow, I schlepped to Paris with a slew of Scottish schoolteachers. They brought their own tea and marmalade. They got cranky. Frequently. The hotel was old — and cold. It was one of those okay-but-not-so-great experiences. Except for a spectacular safari in Kenya, I've sidestepped group outings ever since.
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Jan 21, 2025 | 
sophisticatedstlouis.com | Christy Carew Marshall
After buying a new house in their current neighborhood, the siren call of their existing abode forced these Central West End homeowners to think again. by Christy Marshall / photography by Alise O’BrienHouses can grab a person’s heart and never let go. Ten years ago, these homeowners—she’s from St. Louis, he hails from Boston, moved from New York back to St. Louis and bought a house in the Central West End. After their family expanded to four, they bought a manse on Hortense Place.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
sophisticatedstlouis.com | Christy Carew Marshall |Craig Kaminer
Welcome to the first SOPHI Awards by Christy Marshall, Editor-in-Chief, Sophisticated Living St. Louis “Talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” Michael Jordan In the pages that follow, you will see the winning works of local designers, architects, builders and artisans. For Sophisticated Living’s first-ever SOPHI awards, we invited individuals to send in their finest work.
