Tag Archives: Des Moines

February 26, 2013 · 7:06 pm

Go, go Garrett

My friend Garrett is embarking on an exciting Cross-Country Adventure, and I wanted to make sure I told you about it. You know the awesomesauce blog Maddie on Things? Now there’s a book:

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photo via Maddie on Things

I remember giggling at the blog full of photos of Maddie the Coonhound perched on things awhile back and then a few months later freaked out when I saw Garrett post photos with Maddie, blog celebrity rescue dog!

Photo snatched from Garrett's Facebook page

Photo snatched from Garrett’s Facebook page

Garrett’s a super talented photographer and I think he has a little bit of magic in him. After all, he showed me this spot, and on the eve of my 27th birthday let me hitch a ride on the back of a white convertible while we scooped the loop. I’m so excited to hear he’ll be a part of the “Maddie on Things” book tour!

It feels like a long ways away, but eden announced they’ll be the official Des Moines stop for This Wild Idea and the Maddie book tour 5-8 p.m. Friday, August 2. Can you believe I could bring a baby to that event?

More details from Garrett’s blog: We’ll be making our way through all 50 states over 8 months stopping at 37 bookstores along the way as well as telling the stories of rescue pets and their owners for #purinaone. Visit www.maddieontour.com for details on the book tour and then come visit us when we’re in your area. We’ll also be organizing instameets regularly and looking for knowledgeable ambassadors for each city.

Go, Garrett! It’s so exciting to see Des Moinesians embark on this kind of adventure-project.

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February 2, 2013 · 9:32 am

Raising the roof

Baby needs a new room.Well, baby would probably be fine in a bassinet/cozy corner for months, but I’m itching for a nursery that is more than a nook — a room that our kid can grow into.

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We love our 1920 hippo house with its Sec Taylor history and location on a leafy boulevard, newish handmade backyard fence and not to mention awesome neighbors who frequently delight us with cheerful whistling and/or by giving us bacon. Long story short, we want our baby to grow up here. Maybe someday we’ll move, but not quite yet.

Still, Joe and I weren’t keen on having a kids’ room on the first floor with ours on the second, which is the case with a lot of old homes around here with converted attic master bedrooms. So, we started looking into additions. I have job crushes on architects, probably because I used to hang out in my dad’s office a lot playing with blueprints when I was little.

Papa architect

I needed a pro to tell me if I was crazy or not to think about adding on, so I called one of my favorite experts. Architect friend Matt Coen came over for a beer and a peek around the house to let me know whether or not an addition was do-able and let us know what we might expect to pay. When he told us we could probably add another room upstairs without changing the footprint of the house or totally breaking the bank, via a dormer addition, Joe and I got all sorts of excited. Matt doesn’t do the kind of work we need (although his firm does amazing work and he’s a genuinely great guy), so he referred us the names of a few contractors. No way in hellz I’d ever DIY a partial roof demo, let alone in winter.

Simultaneous with pinning dormer addition inspiration and nursery decor, we’ve been interviewing contractors and navigating the world of home equity loans. Long story short on that last bit, local credit unions are totally awesome and Bank of America will make you gnash your teeth.

If all goes according to plan, we’ll start the project at the end of the month and I’ll be able to chronicle our nursery from studs to finishing before baby arrives!

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Semi-related in local homes news:

The lovely Marissa has an air date (April 11) for their episode of the new West End Architectural Salvage show, which debuts on Valentine’s night. I can’t wait to see her room reveal.

My dear friends Amy and Josh are selling their super-lovely 3-bed, 3-bath Windsor Heights home to move to Pella, where Josh teaches. Part of me is tempted to abandon our improvement project and snap up their house, because it is charming and well-kept and their yard is awesome and the price is definitely right. If you’re in the market, check it out!

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January 22, 2012 · 4:26 pm

How does your garden grow?

It felt like an old-fashioned barn raising — friends and neighbors gathering over food and celebrating with drinks, building something together. In the corner, a fiddle player and guitarist made people want to dance (and a few did). The room was all exposed beams and excitement.

In a way, last night’s benefit for Jennie Smith and her Butcher Crick Farms heirloom tomato project was a barn-raising. But instead of using out collective strength to pull a wooden frame into the air, we were bidding on spices and pies and Locally Grown T-shirts in a silent auction.

photo via one of Jennie's Facebook friends!

Jennie, who I met when I wrote a story about how she quit her insurance job to start up a tomato operation on her family’s Century Farm, is an inspiration to a lot of people in Des Moines. Some of the city’s best chefs cooked and donated amazing food and desserts, breweries and wineries provided kegs and cases of wine, and the third floor of the Teachout Building in the East Village was bustling with community members who wanted to wish one of Des Moines most beloved farmers well. Jennie’s traveling to New Zealand to learn more about sustainable agricultural practices and bring new techniques and ideas back to farm again in 2013. It was awesome to see our city rally around this woman, who it the essence of home-grown Iowa wonderfulness.

She spoke at last year’s TEDxDesMoines about her journey:

I am so impressed by how Des Moines comes together, pooling energy, talents and resources to make dreams like this come true. Jennie spoke last night about how her farm operation wouldn’t be possible without hundreds of hands chipping in and laboring alongside her, and last night was a celebration of all that and a bright new future for a farm.

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September 18, 2011 · 8:03 pm

Gatsby glamour

“Two knocks and the password is Gatsby!”

We squeezed through the basement entry and were whisked through a labyrinth of narrow, dark passageways in the old Weeks mansion ‘south of Grand’ before stumbling upstairs and into the roaring ’20s, prohibition-themed gala. The annual event took a new twist this year, with a clever temperance society/Templeton Rye theme.

It was a chilly night for a party , but I didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity to play dress-up for an event that benefits an organization close to my heart. When I first moved to Des Moines, I happened upon the Salisbury House on a bike ride and used to spend quiet afternoons hanging out in the yard and even did some volunteering at different events (which meant I was able to entertain the men in line for the restroom with nerdy factual information about the house.) Plus, our next-door neighbor is the museum curator and a fellow Mizzou alumna co-chaired the event, so we just had to get tickets and go! (Four years ago, I attended as a Gatsby Girl, selling cigars and whatnot, so it felt great to come full circle at a truly enjoyable evening.)

Photo of a group of guys getting some of “The Good Stuff” via a Metromix gallery of the event. I had a little cocktail, too! My first taste of Templeton.

As for the style: I pre-wore my bridesmaid dress that I got at Banana Republic last fall for Christa’s November wedding, which felt kind of weird, but ended up being a fun, flapper-modern choice. Earlier in the day I got a totally ’20s bob, with bangs! It was quite a big change, and post-gala I feel like I look more Dora the Explorer than glamour girl, but I’ll just have to become BFF with my flatiron and actually style it like a grownup would. (I have to say that I love all of the stylists at salon W and am a total ‘chair-hopper.’ Mollie transformed me this time.)

We asked some guy I enthralled bored with information about the house snap a photo of us, but we really need to remember to take decent pictures when we get all dolled up. Joe totally surprised me with his last-minute purchase of a linen pinstripe suit, navy vest and bow tie and hat, scored at a Dillard’s closing sale for 80 percent off. Dapper, if I do say so!

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May 2, 2011 · 10:11 pm

Take me out to the $1 ballgame

Tonight was our first Iowa Cubs game of the season, experienced with out friends Arin and Josh and about 12 other fans. The night was crisp, if windy, and the home team lost, but we still had fun.

It would be wrong of me to call myself a “big fan” of the Iowa Cubs when I don’t know the roster, but I do enjoy the games and pick one player every year to pay some attention to and cheer on. This year, it’s going to be Wellington Castillo, because I used to play catcher back in the day and because his name is awesome. Joe and I watched Sugar on Netflix last year, which offers an interesting perspective into minor league players’ lives — especially immigrant players. Go, Castillo!

Tonight was dollar night — a pretty darn good deal if you don’t go and buy lots of beer and hot dogs like we did. But I got Joe a mug club membership this year (his gift from me for doing our taxes) and so that means beer isn’t quite as expensive, over the course of the season. Plus, you get five tickets and a discount card for Jethro’s, which is one of two dangerously awesome barbecue places near us.

The most action in the stadium, though, didn’t happen on the field. Josh mauled another dude in a fight for one of the T-shirts launched out of the gun during a break in the innings. Luckily, it was awesome and a perfect fit:

The back reads: “Do you dare roll out the fun?” Definitely worth a bloody hand.

Check out the promotions for the 2011 season. And, pssst: One of my favorite secrets about Des Moines is that the Cub Club is open year-round for breakfast and lunch. It’s not gourmet, but it’s a different view compared to other restaurants downtown, and on the cheap side.

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March 12, 2011 · 4:12 pm

Angry Birds bar crawl

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the personality of Des Moinesians since moving here, it’s that the inhabitants of this fine city love a good costumed pub crawl. Who could forget the Snuggie pub crawl:

Photo via DesMoines.Metromix.com

The annual Santa Pub Crawl:

and obvious Halloween Pub Crawl, among many others.

At the Des Moines Social Club‘s dance party last night (before the DMSC packs up and moves to its temporary new digs in the Kirkwood), I saw the greatest pub crawl get-up of recent memory. A giant group dressed as the characters of the ever-so-addictive touch screen game, Angry Birds:

Obviously, this idea could not wait until Halloween. (Remind me to use my real camera and not my cell phone once and awhile so I don’t have to post these crummy, blurry shots.)

Oh, look! Apparently my friend Julia was in this group. (Thanks, facebook!)

Pure genius.

For those of you late to Angry Birds love, borrow someone’s smart phone, STAT. It’s a must-download.

Oh! And do please check out the RAYGUN blog on Tuesday, because I’ll have a post there about another funny quirk of living in Des Moines.

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