Moving (6/31)

It is now 1 AM (Sunday night/Monday AM) and I’m just getting my writing in.

It’s incredible how you can have a day so perfectly planned in your mind and then things go completely awry.

I had planned to be up around 7ish to get a second coat of paint on 2 walls and get the dog walked before church.I woke up about 9:30- no time for painting or to make it to church.

I decided I’d still work on some painting and then meet my cousin for late lunch around 3 before volunteering at 4.I got a headache followed by a stomach ache (signs of a migraine for me) and decided to finish the one color I started and lay down for a bit. My cousin texted to reschedule lunch so I laid down to rest hoping my head and tummy would feel better. I woke up around 6:30 PM. Completely missing my volunteer shift and not getting any painting done.

I decided to get up then and finish the 2^nd coat and trim painting of 3 walls so I could finally unpack the living room. My new goal set to be done around 8 to eat some dinner and then relax with a movie. I got done around 9:30, ate dinner and then unpacked and organized while watching the movie.

I guess I did get everything done I wanted to but I sure didn’t want to be up until 1:30 AM getting it done.

I moved recently, to a small 1 bedroom apartment with a cottage-like feel. There is one not big enough closet, no laundry, no garbage disposal and no dishwasher. Half of the light switches don’t turn on anything and I’ve been in camper bathrooms that are bigger. But it’s cheap. And there is a yard for Roxy and the landlord said I could paint.

Moving is always an adventure. I usually always end up losing something, sometimes on purpose and sometimes accidentally. This time, I found an earring I’ve been missing for over a year. I couldn’t stand to part with the match because they were my favorite. It made my day yesterday to stumble across the match. I found it in the jewelry box of all places. How I managed to overlook it for an entire year, I have no idea.

Unpacking the living room today I realized how many books I really do have. I thought I got rid of some? I also have more pictures and knick-knacks than I recall packing. I’ve only kept items of personal significance or gifts- slowly giving away or selling the things I don’t have use or space for anymore.

My goal is to someday whittle down my belongings to just enough to fill a small trailer. I like the idea of being able to pack up everything I own and just take off somewhere. Currently, I have too much to do that: boxes of Christmas decorations, tubs of childhood memories and books and enough clothes to fill a small car.

I float between wanting to settle down somewhere and being nomadic. I like the idea of planting and making roots somewhere. Moving somewhere and staying there for years, falling into a comfortable existence. However, my life has yet to turn out that way. Being a wanderer has its perks too- seeing places, meeting new and different people and enjoying spontaneity.

I’ve lived in Des Moines all my life. I didn’t go away to college, instead choosing to stay here and work my way through school. Even within Des Moines, I haven’t strayed far. I grew up on the east side, have lived downtown, on the north side, Beaverdale (northwest side) and now downtown again.

I know this town like the back of my own hand. 

I know its streets and neighborhoods. 

I know its restaurants and coffee shops. 

I know its people.

I wonder what it would be like to move somewhere completely different. Step into a place that is completely foreign. How long does it to take to learn a city? To come to know it as well as you know yourself?

I don’t know that I’ll ever leave Des Moines. 

This city is my home. 

Sunday 7: Des Moines: God's Gift to Planet Earth

It's true.
I live in the greatest city in the world.

See?
I even have a t-shirt that says so.

My hood

But really, Des Moines is a pretty awesome midwest city.
In the spirit of Sunday 7 and my ever-evolving love for lists, here are 7 reasons I love this place:

1. Little big city. We have a downtown with bars and restaurants and music venues. But not so big that you have to worry a lot about crime or taking forever to drive somewhere. There is a great young professionals scene (voted #1 in the US for YP's!) and jobs aplenty with us being the insurance capital. It's a perfect size.

On the patio of the Hessen Haus enjoying a nice evening view of downtown

2. Music. We have an awesome music scene and get a lot of national acts in small venues here because we are sort of in the middle of some bigger cities

Greg Laswell & Ingrid Michaelson at Nitefall on the River 2012

80/35 Last Year

.

3. Proximity to bigger towns We are just a couple hours from Kansas City, Omaha, Minneapolis and Chicago. Can you say weekend road trips?


4. Food. Some of the best food I've ever had has been right here in Des Moines. We have a great local food scene with some pretty awesome chefs, including the one and only George Formaro- genius behind some of Des Moines best restaurants: Django, Centro, Gateway Market and Zombie Burger. Not to mention we have a fantastic farmers market.

5. Recreation. Des Moines is home to some fantastic bike paths that can get you from downtown to West Des Moines or to rural areas making commutes and Sunday Funday rides a breeze.

Des Moines is also home to Grays Lake, a 167 acre park surrounded by a 2 mile trail. There is a beach, picnic area, bird watching, rowing, etc. It's a great place to take a run along the water or meet friends for Yoga in the Park. 

It also boasts fantastic views of downtown at night. 

There are also great golf courses and parks a plenty. If you like the outdoors (and the weather cooperates), there is plenty to do!

6. The Culture. Besides being home to a pretty progressive music scene, Des Moines has a thriving arts and theater community as well. The Des Moines Art Festival is one of the biggest in the midwest (coming up at the end of this month so you should come check it out!)

And have I mentioned craft beer? We have quite a few local breweries here in town and next weekend will be hosting the 2013 Iowa Craft Brew Festival. Yum. 

Last but certainly not least....

7. The People. It's true, I'm a born and raised Des Moinesian, which makes me a little partial, but I really think some of the nicest people in the world live here. I've made some incredible friends and if it wasn't for this place, I never would have met T. So...definitely a reason to love this city a little more. :)

I'm linking up over at the Influence Network today- sharing a little bit about where I live with all the other fabulous ladies. Check it out HERE

Sunday Sevenish... 1/21/13

What up friends?
I've been a bit of a busy gal- my second job is in full swing and I had some things planned this weekend (Thai & Movie date night with T, BFF coffee date and Annual church meeting) so today is the first day I've really been home and had some time to write!
It's my Sunday. :)

Here's what's going on around these parts this week:

1. I've been a working fool. Tax season has officially kicked off so I'm back to working about 60+ hours a week between the two jobs. Which requires a LOT of planning and preparation (come back tomorrow for a special post on Tips for a Busy Life).
2. Have you ever used Pocket? Somehow I just discovered this last week and it is my new favorite Iphone app. I can save links to cool articles or blogs from twitter without emailing myself 50 times a day. And visually- it's really quite beautiful.
3. Speaking of links, this is what I've been loving this week on the internets:

• This article on how to use your time wisely from Relevant Magazine.It was so timely for the new year and I related to the point about figuring out how to effectively use your free time for those things you love.
• For the ladies out there, do you feel like your job gives you enough work/life balance?
• If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw a picture of me and my friend Sarah who just sold up all her belongings and moved to Mexico. Crazy? Or Awesome? I think both. Either way, she's documenting it all for us here. Check out her blog and give her some comment love.
• This article on 13 banned foods still allowed in the US was blowing up twitter this week. Yet another reason to #eatcleanandgreen
• I've been looking for a good training plan to get up to 25ish miles a week and I saw this article on a simple running and cross-training plan on Twitter via Runners World.

4. I participated in my first ever twitter party this week- #writestuff with Anne Bogel and some other writers in the twitter world. It was so much fun and I learned so much about how important it is to practice your craft- no matter what it is...

5. Enter The Write Practice. It's an amazing organization created by Joe Bunting (ghostwriter and editor) that encourages writers to practice 15 minutes a day via emailed prompts. So far I love it! The other day I created a new word- wickpire. What does that mean, you ask? I'll let you try and figure that out and I'll share later this week on the blog. 

6. I've been reading War and Peace.It's on my 30 before 30 list and I'm hoping to finish it before the end of the month! 

I really am enjoying it so far. Despite the war sections, I'm really loving all the relationships and the gossip and chatter among high society taking place in the book. I guess it just goes to show how some things never change. 

7. T and I had a little date night Saturday night. We went to Zuzap- a local Thai restaurant near our office. It. was. amazing.

 

Vegan Spring Rolls (check out the amazing carrot rose!)

T ordered red curry and rice- 4 stars- great spice!

Pumpkin Curry with rice noodles. I could eat this every day. 

Thai Tea- LOVE

Fortunes. Turns out my fortune (not the shopping one of course) is from a poem called 'The Anniversary' by John Donne- read it here.

We also went to Zero Dark Thirty. 

I have a lot of mixed feelings about the movie. 

There were some parts that were hard to watch- like the torture of detainees. 

Especially knowing that what we saw in the movie is probably just a small piece of what actually happened. That it's been probably severely edited as to not scare people.

I wonder what happened to all those kids and women who were part of Osama Bin Laden's family. I wonder what happened to that CIA agent that came from high school and spent 12 years of her life trying to bring down the leader of Al Quieda. I also realized that no matter what they show us in movies- there are a lot of things at work in our government and other governments around the world that we have no idea about it. Nor do we probably want to.

Anyway- you should see it. I'm curious what you think. 

All in all, an amazing date night with my favorite guy. I seriously love him. And Thai food. :)

What's been going in your world? 

Anything you'd like to see me feature here?

A Year in Review: 2012 Special Events

We had some great times this year!!

In the spring, we celebrated our birthdays:

T's Birthday was Thai Food and a new bike!

I loved surprising T with his bike and we discovered a new favorite Thai place- Taste of Thai in the East Village. Best coconut curry I've ever had. Aghhhh! Just thinking about it makes me want to order take out.

 

My Birthday with sis and niece and Mexican with T!

 I had a perfect day off of work just bumming around downtown with my sister and niece Lucy and we tried out a local town favorite Mexican restaurant- El Patio.

 

Both days were just perfect.

 

I love celebrating our birthdays together. I know it's easy as you get older to say 'It's just another day' but I think it's important to tell the person you love that 'Hey! I'm so glad you were born!' :)

 

 

This summer we also attended the Des Moines Art Festival. It's a pretty big deal here- artists apply to be in it and are chosen by a board of locals. It's free to the public and also has music, beer tents, kid crafts, etc. We went on Friday night to hear the bands, then we volunteered on Saturday (a little girl gave T her necklace- it says 'I want to be a unicorn that never dies'- needless to say, we saved it) and Sunday we went to the afternoon matinee to see Seeking a Best Friend For the End of the World. It was just a great summer weekend.

There were also a couple of BIG things that happened in 2012 and they both just happened to occur in the same weekend. :)

We drove up to Minneapolis on Saturday morning

Ate some delicious lunch

 

Drove the beautiful race route

Checked out the expo

Ate a big old dinner of pre race eats: veggie burger, fries and veggie chili. I highly recommend The Local.

Then off to bed for RACE DAY!!

It was a COLD start, but I was feeling good. Even had time to stop for a little snack mid-way through.

I don't know what to say about the race itself, it went by so fast...HA! It was a gorgeous course and I felt so great. I ran sans music just so I could soak it all in. I loved every minute of it.
The last few miles I started to get a little tired and knew I needed a boost so I put on my headphones and my special 'Marathon Power Hour' play list:

When I crossed the finish line, I think I was somewhere in between Katy Perry and Britney Spears. :)

To say I was emotional was an understatement, I ran across the finish line, spotted T behind the fence on the side and half hobbled, half ran to him and cried over the fence while he snapped my picture. I had hoped to finish in 4:30. My official finish time was 4:15:04!! I was super happy about finishing upright AND getting a great time!

Once we were able to make it to the car (I had some issues walking...) and I got showered, we went to The Blue Door Pub and stuffed our faces with delicious Juicy Lucys.

Then I got a tattoo to celebrate my first marathon!! (That's a 26.2 in roman numerals)

THEN...(this was a pretty fun-filled day)...we went back to The Local to enjoy some afternoon cocktails and watch baseball.

We had planned on a fancy dinner since our 3 year anniversary was the next day, but we were so full from Juicy Lucys we decided to skip it. Instead, we headed back to the hotel room to get into our 'evening' attire anyway.

But right before I was able to get my clothes changed, my whole world changed.

THIS!

T asked me if I would be his wife.
To which I replied, 'Of course!!'

It was a PERFECT day.
I feel so incredibly blessed to have T in my life and I cannot wait to be his wife.

We spent the next morning enjoying a little anniversary/post marathon/engagement celebration brunch at The Birchwood Cafe. It might be one of my favorite places ever.

The food was great, but the company?

Even. better.

Did you get engaged this year? Run a marathon?

Not trying to brag, but just saying... best. weekend. ever. 

A Year in Review: 2012 Summer Music

Between the months of April to September, I blogged a whopping 10 times.
I could have probably written 60 posts instead. I had that much happening.
Instead, I'm just going to give you a few recaps of my favorite things happening this year: Music, Trips, Races and Special Events.

So for Music....

April 14, 2012: Gross Domestic Product
This is a pretty big deal in Des Moines, it's a show put on by the Des Moines Music Coalition (DMMC). It highlights local and indie bands spanning all genres. It takes place in the various ballrooms of Hotel Fort Des Moines.

This was my favorite Instagram of the night- T and our friend Chad.

These were some of my favorites from the show:

Love Songs for Lonely Monsters

 

Tires

The River Monks

Mumfords

 

 

We had a blast at the show. Some of the bands I had heard of, but not seen live and it was a great way to see them up close. It was really loud since it was in a ballroom, but there were raging thunderstorms outside that night they had to drown out!

 

April 24th, 2012: Imagine Dragons

I'm going to be bold and just say- this was probably my favorite concert of 2012. It was at the Gaslamp in Des Moines- a small music venue downtown. You can get really close to the bands and it's intimate and dark and they serve strong drinks. I heart it. :)

 

First of all, Dan Reynolds is awesome.

 

He puts his whole heart into the performance.

 

And he plays this giant drum while he's up there which sort of gives it a little extra 'badass-ness'.

 

AND, they were super nice and I got to chat with them after the show. They all signed a dollar bill which is framed in my condo. I told them I was saving it since they were going to be huge. And if you've ever heard the song 'It's Time' - well you know what I'm talking about.

 

 

April 30, 2012: Green River Ordinance

I saw GRO the minute I got back into town from Nashville. I literally drove from KC right to Woolys- my favorite music venue in Des Moines. I think this might have been our first show there.

 

I've seen GRO before, but this time around they were a bit more polished.

And they came down in the crowd and played which was just awesome!

PLUS, they sang my favorite song of theirs, Endlessly.

 

May 12, 2012: Margot & the Nuclear So & So's

We went to this show with Todd's son, Cory. I wasn't that familiar with them, but I really enjoyed the show. 'Skeleton Key' is an awesome song.

 



 

 

 

May 16, 2012: Grouplove

This show was also at Woolys, the night before my birthday. It was SO FUN. All of my pictures from that show are crazy angles because it was packed, hot and lotta dancing!!

 

It was such a fun show- lot of energy! Plus- we got to hang out with Sean Gadd afterwards! He has a crazy British accent and a hair/beard that's all grown together...

 

Probably the creepiest picture ever. HA

But it was a super fun way to kick off my birthday celebration!

 

 July 6 & 7, 2012: 80/35 Music Festival

This was the HOTTEST weekend all summer. I probably lost 10 pounds in sweat at this concert but it was totally worth it. 80/35 is an annual music festival put on by the DMMC. It's always a mix of local bands, up and coming bands and a couple of big name headliners. It spans 2 days with a big show each night. The music ranges in genres and the line up this year was pretty impressive.

 

Thursday- stages being set up just by our house

Friday night I signed the art wall!

Funny enough- I totally wrote a novel this year

The show takes place in the heart of downtown, just outside the library

Friday night's headliner- The Avett Brothers. They were awesome!

It's a family affair. Coolest dad of the year award.

My city at night is the coolest

 



One of my favorite 'never heard of before bands'- Delta Rae

Every year there are a few street artists, these are my favorite. Gold mimes.

I love the little kids rocking out! I think that's awesome.

Final Headliner- Death Cab for Cutie.

As expected, they were fantastic.

 

Codes and Keys...get it?? :)

The heat wave broke a little so we watched on the grass from the back.

T and I had an amazing time that weekend. <3

 

If you are not a local and want to see the best of Des Moines, 80/35 is the time to visit. It's right around 4th of July weekend so there is a lot going on and always amazing music. DMMC will start giving 'clues' to the 2013 line-up in the spring- so check their website often!

 

July 12, 2012: Greg Laswell & Ingrid Michaelson

I LOVE Greg Laswell. Both T and I have some Greg lyrics tattooed on our bodies.

 

I put on my best summer midwestern outfit to give Greg an Iowa welcome!

Epitome of summer show- it was at Simon Estes Amphitheater, part of their Nitefall on the River Concert Series

There he is!!

And there is his lovely wife, Ingrid. I'm embarassed to say I was not that familiar with her stuff until right before this show (I did my music homework!). She is just as awesome as he is, their music style very similar. He's a little darker, but I love it.

My favorite instagram of the night- them singing an unreleased song together. <3

 

July 19, 2012: Papa Roach

So...this was sort of random. The concert was at Woolys and honestly- much better than I thought it would be. It was SUPER hot though and the opening band was a bit bizarre, but it was fun to sing along: 'Cut my life into pieces, this is my last resort...'

 

They came out in the audience and that was pretty cool- I thought this picture turned out awesome.

 

July 28, 2012: Star 102.5 All-Star Summer Concert

This was the first of it's kind for one of our local radio station. It took place at Water Works Park in a big open field. We walked, thinking it wouldn't be far from downtown, not realizing it was in the back of the park- so we got in a 4 mile walk that day...

Anyway, the line-up was interesting and Todd's daughter and friends were going so we decided to tag along. We really wanted to see GRO, Mat Kearney, Neon Trees and Adam Lambert.

Since our walk was a little longer than expected we missed GRO but were just in time for Mat Kearney. At that point, I wasn't close enough to get any pictures of him. He came out in the crowd though, which was pretty awesome! There were a lot of people, mostly sitting in chairs so this is the best picture I took of him.

 

 



He's in there somewhere...

Neon Trees was my absolute favorite- I love Tyler

He just gets down and he's so rad

We got up close for that one- great show!

Then, of course Adam. Fab-u-lous

He brought his ladies with him, it was all kinds of glam up there

The closing band was Train. Someone in their band actually got ordained so they could marry a couple on stage! It was crazy. Then, of course, they sang 'Marry Me.' Great song.

I thought it was a great show, I  hope they bring it back this year!

 

 

August 1, 2012: The Black Keys

For my friend Chad's birthday, we drove to Council-tuckey to see The Black Keys- one of his favorite bands.

I didn't really know what to expect- I hadn't seen them play before and didn't know much about them as musicians. I was familiar with their most recent albums, but not a die-hard fan.

 

I was pretty blown away.

The show was amazing.

They are so talented and their performance was top notch. I took a TON of pictures. here are some of my favorites.

We had amazing seats, so close!

They had this giant screen behind them that put up their images during the show, it was really cool.

Patrick tearing it up on the drums- he was so amazing

 

Dan on guitar

 

The giant disco ball for the end of the show was awesome

Definitely a show I'd recommend. Great music. Great performance.

 

 

September 18, 2012: Mute Math and Silversun Pickups

Two bands we really wanted to see were playing the same night at different venues. Luckily, one was sort of early and one later, so we did both!

 

Mute Math was first, they played at Woolys

 



I loved this show. It is my favorite show at Woolys ever (so far). I was even able to video them playing 'You Are Mine'- my favorite song of theirs!

 

 

We actually had to leave the show a little early to head to see Silversun Pickups at the Hoyt Sherman.

Todd really likes Silversun and the show was good. It was a lot less high energy than Mute Math, but I really liked it.

 



 

 

So there you have it- a BUSY summer for music.

I used to keep count of all the shows we went to every year, but we spontaneously see local live music that I can barely keep track anymore- HA. We saw some big name shows this year which was a ton of fun. I love that our city has such a vibrant music scene.

 

What was your favorite concert of the year?

I think Imagine Dragons or Mute Math was mine...so hard to choose! And don't even get me started on favorite albums- we'll save that for another post!