Monthly Archives: June 2012

June 24, 2012 · 5:59 pm

So my garden grows

It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the woods (maybe this long? Really?) and so today I worked like a wild woman in the garden, clipping and pulling and planting and sweating buckets. I’m already sore. Weeding feels like a full-body workout.

Joe cut off some jeans into shorts — there was no stopping the man — and then realized that they were too tight and short for him (thank goodness) and made me try them on. I’m embarrassed to say that by doubling over the waistband, and cuffing the hems, they actually are a little bit cute, especially paired with a plaid shirt I picked up yesterday at the Hill Vintage and Knits opening party.

I spent the day covered in dirt, hydrating with Arnold Palmers.

Up close, things look pretty:

Three giant yard waste bags later, the big picture backyard is shaping up, too. I like that there’s plenty of room for improvement, though. Now that the fence is in, and the new walkway laid, I’ve set my sights on this garage corner.

That little stump to the right of the raspberry bush is the bane of the backyard. My dream is to turn that window into a little pass-through bar that I’m calling the “Flamingo Lounge.” It’s the least practical project ever, but how sweet would it be to grow mint and basil for muddling in a window box. The windows need lovely curtains and shutters, too. I’m already daydreaming about the accessories. Joe even got me the sign for my birthday. I think it would be nice to put some trellises on the side for growing hops, too.

Friday night, we sat on the patio with friends and homemade pizzas and Moscow Mules for a dinner before going to see “Moonrise Kingdom.”Have you seen it? For me, it was about how we tend to invalidate kids’ feelings, or not take them seriously.

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June 20, 2012 · 9:41 pm

After the party

A few weeks ago, we had a small dinner to celebrate my birthday (and Amy’s) with a few close friends. Not a big event, but a great opportunity to meet her new, tiny daughter, Linden and have Joe cook something for us.

He made an amazing salad buffet that was an approximation of something they’re working on at Cuisine at Home. I wanted to share it earlier, but my iPhoto has a way with hiding some images right when I want them.

I’m not typically a salad person, but this was a great, fresh-tasting dinner. We picked up many of the ingredients for the salad at the Valley Junction Farmer’s Market along with this lovely vintage-looking bouquet. (Don’t all of the flowers remind you of lace?) The morning after a dinner party, I like to see empty wine and champagne bottles strewn about — even if they’re the ultra cheap kind. It’s how you know there was a good time had.

This $5 bouquet made me ridiculously happy for at least a week and a half! Does anyone know — is the velvety plant Lamb’s Ear? I think this would make such an interesting wedding bouquet.

p.s. Andrea had a good reflection post on the “Comparison is the thief of joy” quote that’s been going around. I left a comment because I feel like that was the key realization of my 26th year. Once I got past it, my happiness kind of exploded.

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June 17, 2012 · 7:21 pm

Book pusher

I realized something tonight. I’m a book pusher. Instead of doling uppers or downers or herbals out of plastic baggies, I give people books.

“Oh, you’re going through that, or into this, or taking a trip there? Here’s _____. You absolutely have to read this right now because it’s fabulous and will change your life.”

I went home feeling awful Friday afternoon and was thankful to wake up to a rainy evening to stay home and read “The Borrower,” by Rebecca Makkai.

If Makkai isn’t the same kind of pusher I am (and she has to be, given all of the literary references), then the book’s narrator most certainly is. Lucy, a librarian in Hannibal, Mo. grew up in Chicago, reading the children’s lit I read. (I loved “The Egypt Game.”) I imagine Lucy the librarian was in “Battle of the Books” as a kid. “The Borrower” centers around a sort of kidnapping of her precocious patron, and it’s a story of fleeing and identity and the experiences (real and literary) that shape us.

I remember the first day I got my library card — how I stood proudly to have my picture taken under the fake tree on the children’s floor. I remember learning to read before kindergarten, and going to the library most days after school, and how cool I felt to be invited in the back desk area of the librarians on weekends when my family would stop in. I helped out putting on puppet shows, and in eighth grade wrote a seriously depressing novella that was hardbound and able to be checked out. I think I saw more of the library’s pet gerbils than my own peers. (File under: Reasons Brianne is kind of strange.) There were no good hilly wooded parks in Lisle, so I will confess that the library parking lot was a very PG-rated alternative to “inspiration point” in high school. The fact that the parking lot bordered the priests’ house kept things in check. Ha!

I never go back to the library when I’m home visiting my family, because I think it would be the hardest to realize how small it really is. I like to keep it exactly as I remember it from growing up. And, truthfully, if I were to go in one day and not have all of the librarians know me by name, and invite me back into their secret staff area, I might actually cry.

If you, too, considered the library a second-home and perhaps used to amuse yourself creating book checkout systems in your room by yourself as a kid, you should definitely read it. Then tell me if it also made you want to listen to Regina Spektor again for the first time in awhile.

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June 13, 2012 · 10:39 pm

Time for friends

These past few weeks have felt ever-so-busy, with TEDxDesMoines ramping up (July 15!) and summer school for the kids I work with. (I don’t even want to think about my own classes starting again on June 27.) I’ve had lots of meetings and scheduled events, but I’ve been making an attempt to squeeze in some friend visits when the opportunities arise. Sometimes getting together seems like a hard thing to do, but this week proved that making plans doesn’t require a lot of work, or a fancy dinner out. It can be a random, casual Tuesday evening. No fuss.

Last night we had a simple after-dinner double date in the backyard with Andrea and her husband, Adam. They came over at about 8:15 and we made s’mores, drank my homebrew (Well, Andrea had an Arnold Palmer, because she’s expecting a baby boy this fall!) and caught up. Andrea’s one of those people I think about quite often, but hardly ever see. She and I did creative writing workshops together in the women’s prison a few years ago, which was one of the most meaningful volunteer experiences of my life!

Photo stolen from Andrea’s sweet blog post. I couldn’t agree more about the joy of waking up still smelling like campfire mid-week. My aunt got us this fire pit when we moved in and it’s the best — especially when combined with the sweet retractable roaster sticks Santa put in our stockings this Christmas.

***

This is completely unrelated, but writing about Andrea, who is a writer for Lowes Creative Ideas, it reminded me!

Arin and I went garage-saling a few weeks ago and happened upon this plant sale where they were serving the cutest lemonade and cupcakes.

Oh, Windsor Heights. You’re almost too adorable for your own good.

I am obsessed with succulents right now, so this sweet planted door was the perfect way to sucker me into purchasing some plants!

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June 10, 2012 · 2:06 pm

Taking the trail: Waterpark fun

Last summer, Sophia introduced me to the suburban guilty pleasure that is the Cascade Falls Aquatic Center in Ankeny. It’s one of those places you might not think about going until you have kids/a nanny job, but without any minor to watch over, it’s exponentially more fun.

There are water slides, diving boards, a lazy river — even a foam version of that lumberjack log roll! The best part: At adult swim, kids have to get out and the adults can cut in line for the slides and have the lazy river to ourselves. You can also pay extra to try a surf simulator. It’s hilarious to just watch people wipe out..

Since Joe got me a sweet  Terry biking outfit for my birthday (he sure knows how to mine my Pinterest boards for awesome present ideas!), I wanted to break it in.

I’m not the kind of person who can just go on a 20 mile ride without a destination, so I suggested we try to bike to the Aquatic Center. Lo and behold: It’s super simple to get to the Cascade Falls Aquatic Center from central Des Moines using the trail system!

We caught the inter-urban trail up in Beaverdale, but it’s also easy to hop on from downtown. You cross the river on this great bridge; the Inter-Urban intersection is a hub for cyclists on a beautiful day.

The trail is pretty well-shaded for most of the route, and it runs past the river. On a hot day like yesterday, you can see lots of people partying on the banks.

(Not pictured: If you’re lucky like us, you can also see a 70-year old guy in only a Speedo bolt up the riverbank on a bike, right in front of you. Yowza!)

We took the ‘Ding Darling’ to the Neal Smith Trail for a bit before turning onto the Oralabor Gateway Trail, through a little corn field and up past some neat neighborhoods. Sign me up for a creepy wooden man statue and paddle boat docked in my backyard.

There’s a nice wide trail that runs along the highway in Ankeny, right past Kyle’s Bike Shop.

We stopped in and bought some extra tubes for my bike, to be on the safe side. In the strip mall next door to Kyle’s is 34′s Sports Bar & Grill.

Joe and I treated ourselves to lunch (the BLT was pretty delish, and they have those crispy twice-fried french fries that are killa). If you’re not in the mood to dine in, the restaurant is pretty much across the street from the Aquatic Center, which I’m pretty sure allows you to bring your own food in.

This slide swirls you around and flushes you out like a toilet bowl. Intense!

Admission to Cascade Falls is $7 per adult, and you currently have to pay by cash or check. Bring a picnic and this is a cheap little athletic Ankeny adventure! It’s about 14 miles one way, but I am out of shape and barely broke a sweat in the summer heat. Don’t let the double-digit mileage deter you. Happy trails!

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June 6, 2012 · 6:19 pm

Bradbury + Venus

When I heard that the author Ray Bradbury died today, I immediately thought of his story “All Summer in a Day,” a very short piece set in a classroom on a very rainy Venus.

I had referenced it just last week, as the literary touchstone for child-on-child cruelty. It’s beautiful and sad and seems especially fitting considering yesterday’s transit of Venus.

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June 5, 2012 · 8:39 pm

Five years, nine years, 27 years

The beginning of June always makes me a little bit introspective.

My birthday is June 8, and that usually meant a fresh journal that I would promise myself I’d commit to writing in, this year. It would fall around report card pickup day, which felt like a mini-commencement of sorts.

And then, nine years ago, my dad died, three days before my 18th birthday. His struggle with depression and strokes during the years before deeply impacted my outlook as an optimist who also veered toward the morbid. I did a lot of introspective work — which sometimes manifested in teenage anger, so as not to make it seem like that time was super Zen for me — and really spent time putting onto paper what I believed.

Five years ago, right at this time, I moved to Iowa not knowing a single person and never having spent any real time in Des Moines. (I did spend about five hours in the Meredith building in college, but I won’t count that.) There were times that first summer when I was really lonely. I worked with great people, but the weekends would sometimes stretch out and I’d bring a blanket to the lawn of the Art Center, ride my bike by myself and read books under the trees in Waterworks park. I still remember that feeling in the pit of my stomach when the reality of having set off on my own truly set in. I lived by myself, without TV, and those were quiet days. A long phone call here and there, but I’m glad I learned how to be comfortable with just myself.

Today, a story ran in the paper about non-native YPs who are sticking around. It was fitting timing. I could nod my head along to all of the sound-bitey things that they said about living here, because I agree with them all, and they translate well to people who want to know: Why Iowa?

But in my heart, it’s the little things that make me feel like I’m a transplant who’s taken root. It’s the layers that these places around me are taking on. Greenwood Park is now those lonely reading days, layered with the spine-tingle I felt when Joe and I heard Opera music wafting from a house on a training run, layered with the times I’ve stopped to pet the velvety noses of the horses at Irish Run. It’s leaving the salon in the East Village and finding Garrett basking on a square of sidewalk that he shows me is oddly warm, thanks to the sun’s reflection from the neighboring windows. (And then realizing our friends at Ephemera have been standing and laughing at us from across the street, while we mime at some spot invisible to them.) It’s walking Wilbur down Kingman on a full moon night, like we’ve done so many times, and noticing a house that never before caught my eye. It’s friends in the backyard with sparklers. It’s the 18th papusa from the Farmer’s Market, but the first of the year. It’s simple. Simple. Simple. You wouldn’t understand. The most mundane moments can catch my breath.

I was talking about this with a friend tonight — about belonging to this place and things taking on all of this meaning because I chose them as my own. New moments open up, the city grows and I love it best not for the newness but for the promise of so many layers to come.

A pioneer should have imagination, should be able to enjoy the idea of things more than the things themselves. — Willa Cather, O Pioneers!

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June 3, 2012 · 8:59 pm

Thumbs up: Thelma’s Treats

I got to interview lots of great Des Moinesians when I wrote for Juice, and Dereck and Lana Lewis were some of the sweetest. I’m not just saying that to be punny, either. I got good vibes from these folks.

The son and mother duo ran Tank Goodness, which is probably the most genius business concept of all time: Warm cookie delivery. (They even donated some cookies to our Sweet Dreams event last month, because they’re generous geniuses.) I mean, whose day would not be made by getting a dozen cookies delivered to their doorstep? (Father’s Day idea, Des Moines readers!)

Since then, the Tank Goodness crew has changed names and expanded their concept, and I couldn’t be more excited for them! They’re now Thema’s Treats, named after Dereck’s 108 (yes, 108) year-old great-grandma. Perhaps snickerdoodles are the secret fountain of youth?

Thelma’s Treats is selling ice cream cookie sandwiches out of the cutest little cart, and Joe and I made a beeline for it when we rode down to the Farmer’s Market this weekend. They were set up down by the Science Center of Iowa on Saturday.

You should be able to see the big red oven mitt that caps off the cart. It was great catching up with Dereck and hearing about their plans for the business — like offering rentals for them to serve up ice cream sandwiches at graduation parties and weddings, etc.

I tried the spicy chocolate chip ice cream sandwich and I can say it definitely has a kick!

They are still doing warm cookie delivery, with new and improved boxes that look like cute vintage ovens. No surprise here, the Thelma’s branding is all done by my faves at Saturday Mfg. (Remember the great holiday office party decor they came up with?)

Anyhow, I get silly excited for good people who are finding creative ways to be entrepreneurial and brighten others’ days. Dereck says the Thelma’s team has a Kickstarter project in the works, so like ‘em on Facebook to get updates. I’ll be sure to post about it when their project goes live.

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