Tag Archives: things to do

January 28, 2013 · 9:50 am

A preview for February 1st: Share the Mic!

I’ll admit it – for about a decade before I started working at a youth/education oriented nonprofit, I was pretty clued out of the school-aged scene. College and working at a magazine targeted to 20-somethings can do that. I was vaguely aware of which schools in Des Moines were near my home, but the lives of the students who attended weren’t a big concern to me.

Then I met a group of kids whose big personalities (and for some of them, problems) made me take notice. A year into my job at the Des Moines “I Have a Dream” Foundation, I’m listening more closely to the education debate, but I’ve also gotten to know my smaller neighbors a lot better. Having them squeal with delight when I opened the door when they were out trick-or-treating was a really cool feeling. We have our little sub communities in town, but it’s easy for me to run in those and forget this backpack-wearing major population of our larger community.

I’m learning that the best thing we can do for the kids in our community is show we care. Don’t wait until you’re a parent to attend an event at a school. Think about becoming a mentor, or volunteering with youth. You couldn’t pay me to go back and re-live my 7th grade year, and with that in mind I hope I’m able to stay empathetic to these kids. (Also, hanging out with youth lets you in on the lingo. This un-hip lady now knows what “swag” and “rachet” mean.)

All of this to say a really easy (and fun!) way to support creativity in schools and a means of expression for youth is to attend “Share the Mic” on Friday night (7-9 p.m.) at the performing arts hall at Drake. Tickets are $5. Proceeds will benefit IHAD.

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A preview for February 1st: Share the Mic!

I could not be more inspired by what Kristopher and Emily are doing for their students. They are the kind of teachers who make your spine tingle!

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January 3, 2013 · 8:51 pm

7 ways to warm up in Des Moines this winter

Feeling the chill? I’ve pulled together a couple of ideas for taking the icy edge off of winter here in Des Moines. I haven’t posted any “Des Moines Date” ideas in awhile, so consider this a shortlist for the season!

1) Indoor mini golf. I just discovered Longview Golf Centre TODAY (thanks CatchDesMoines!), so I’m not going to lie, I made this entire post because I was so excited about the idea of 18-holes of indoor mini golf not at a mall. It doesn’t look like there are any water traps, so I might actually be able to handle this course.

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And if you’re out in Grimes, you can make a whole day out of being ridiculous and bounce around at SkyZone until you realize that being 12 versus being 20something are very different and you can’t walk the next day. Or sit.

2) Dinner by a fireplace. There are a bunch of restaurants and bars in Des Moines with great fireplaces. I’m particularly enamoured with Skip’s on Fleur, but if you live in the ‘burbs, the Urban Grill has some fireplaces, too, and both are great for reasonably priced date nights. I recommend the crab rangoon dip at Urban Grill. Fire Creek out in West Des Moines is all sorts of cozy, too.

3) Snowshoe up a sweat. I tried to snowshoe once around Waterworks Park for a Juice story, but it was in a blizzard with our photographer making fun of me the entire time, so less enjoyable than I imagine it would be on a sunshiny trail, or out at Clanton Creek. Joe let me know that Rassmussen Bike Shop just started to rent out snowshoes and I believe Active Endeavors still does.

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OK, so maybe snow sports aren’t really the warm and cozy direction you’re looking for?

4) Botanical Blues. Going to the Des Moines Botanical Center in the middle of winter and gazing into its koi ponds and strolling amongst palm trees just puts me in a happy place. You could definitely go on a random afternoon and have lunch in the cafe and play a board game (anyone else into Settlers of Catan?), but it feels extra neat to go for the Sunday afternoon “Botanical Blues” concert series that runs through February.

5) Hot stone massage. My friend Cassie owns East Village Spa, and once upon a time I had one of their “Heavenly Hot Stones” massages in which “smooth jade stones are heated and used to provide a massage with benefits that penetrate deep into the tissue for greater circulation of blood and lymph, deeper relaxation, and pain relief.” Totally indulgent and awesome. You will not want to leave the table, let along go back out into the cold. See #5 for a good post-massage ritual.

6) Tea at Gong Fu. I’m working on a story about Gong Fu Tea right now, and it’s reminding me what a gem of a place we have in Des Moines. Sip a steaming pot of tea from their vast selection while reading a good book, or mapping out your goals for the year. Total moment of zen. I love my sweet teal teapot from there for brewing my own tea at home.

7) Fondu at The Cheese Shop. I imagine it would be melty marvalousness to share a pot of gourmet fondue. My friend Chelsea and I are talking about going together sometime. This winter, for sure.

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How do you warm up during a long, cold Iowa winter?

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December 12, 2012 · 5:41 pm

Ringing in 2013 with the Beatles

The plan for New Year’s Eve this year is to host a little dinner party for a group of friends (anyone have a favorite lasagna recipe?) and then all head down to the New Year’s Eve Pops at the Des Moines Symphony. It’s the “Classical Mystery Tour,” featuring Beatles hits. The cheapest tickets were just $15. We’re sitting in the waaaaay back, but I think that will work out well because no one will be able to tell me to sit down and stop dancing!

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I think I’m going to wear this dress that I picked up last weekend while shopping for other Christmas gifts. I’m hoping the sheath sees me through the next few months of my expanding waistline.

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The Symphony goes from 8-10 p.m., so we’ll have to find a spot for a nightcap and countdown. I wonder if Sbrocco will be open until midnight. Maybe the bar at Proof? Or we could always keep the jukebox going at the Alpine Taproom, my favorite nearby winter bar.

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Photo via Pitter Patter Clunk

Last year I helped out at the Des Moines Social Club’s annual celebration, “The Bash”. It’s all-ages at Cap Square this year.

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November 1, 2012 · 6:00 pm

Meet Sah-rah of “Craft-a-Day” at Ephemera

In the (sometimes awkward) quest of making friends as an adult, I’ve found that crafting together is quick way to break the ice. Silences aren’t strange when you’re bent over, gluing/glittering/cutting something and a certain comfortable camaraderie is woven between two people who are being creative in each others company. I first met “Craft-a-Day” author Sarah Goldschaldt that way, through the lovely Cara Corey because the two were J-school friends together at Drake.
Sarah has a pared-down, fun aesthetic inspired, it seems, by being half-Danish and taking lots of trips to visit her twin sister in Iceland. She once did a crafter challenge for us when I was working at Juice, and now she has her own book! Ta-da:
Sarah still owns a home in Des Moines and had landed back here for awhile in between some pretty amazing projects she always seems to be a part of. Now she’s back in NYC. The women is a design genius and has worked for Martha Stewart Living, Oprah, Glamour,< insert-pretty-much-any-glossy-you’ve-drooled-over-here>. She’s also a super-fun person to craft with — as I recall, she was here in the winter when I was learning to crochet and we’d watch TED talks together and make stuff.
So you should totally go to Ephemera next week and meet her and make friends by getting your craft on!
Thursday, November 8th, 5-8  p.m. at Ephemera, 505 East Locus St.
Bonus: See what Goodsmiths.com is all about as well as meet Amy Palanjian, author of Sew Pretty! Crochet and a dear friend of mine.

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August 14, 2012 · 8:25 pm

(Sky Zone) Make ya wanna jump, jump!

Iowa is in the midst of a major drought, with temps this summer that felt hot enough to boil the mercury in a thermometer. So of course on the one weekend a big group plans to get together to go tubing (in an admittedly low river), it rains. My garden and the bajillion acres of crops in this great state need it, so I can’t really begrudge the bad weather, but I haven’t donned my polka dot swimsuit since Punta Cana so I was a little bummed.

Our group convened at Smokey Row to come up with a Sunday Funday Plan B, and after nixing the National Hobo Convention (most of the fun stuff happened earlier in the week), lazer tag (you only get like 12 minutes of actual tag) and rock climbing (someone said you all have to learn how to belay), we chose Sky Zone. Mostly because it was Rob’s 30th birthday and he wanted to go.

Sky Zone is an indoor trampoline park. For someone as uncoordinated as I am who has managed to live for 27 years without breaking a bone (knock on wood), this sounded like a potentially disastrous yet delightful idea. We gave ourselves 20 minutes to go home and change into workout gear, which I of course interpreted as “put together a costume.” What can I say, I want to get my money’s worth out of my New Orleans leopard pants.

Photo courtesy of Liz’s iPhone!

We opted for one hour of jumping ($12 per person), which gave us access to the open trampoline area, foam pit, two basketball dunk hoops and dodgeball zone. You have to wear gross blue suede high top shoes  — although they did kind of work with my costume — but I have to say we had a great time. Especially since we’d just spent two weeks cheering on Olympic athletes from the couch. I almost felt like Gabby Douglas’ pinkie for a second while doing a series of trampoline assisted toe-touches. Magical! 3-D dodgeball for adults is also pretty rad. We teamed up and against some kids, too, which was fun kind of ridiculous.

Everyone was pretty sweaty when our hour was up! And SORE! The Jillian Michaels Yoga workout we’ve been doing at our house has nothing on an hour of jumping. Muscles I didn’t know existed in my back were sore the next morning.

After Sky Zone our group caravaned to the Flat Tire Lounge in Madrid, just off the High Trestle Trail for lunch, beverages and bar games. They have shuffle board and a giant jenga set made out of 2x4s, so what’s not to love?

Bottom line: Even when epic plans get rained out, Des Moines can bring the fun. I recommend SkyZone with a big group, and if you’re nervous about it filling up, you can reserve jump times in advance online.

And yes, that headline is a reference to Kris Kross!

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May 23, 2012 · 5:18 pm

Not exactly beach books

With the long Memorial Day weekend coming up, I thought I’d share some books I picked up recently.

What’s on your summer reading list? Aren’t those printable bookmarks (by Nicole’s Classes) hot? Via How About Orange.

I’m almost finished with GirlChild, which is a hard one to explain. Most of the chapters are super short, and it reads almost like a diary of an extremely precocious girl growing up in a seedy trailer park. The writing is compelling, but it’s not your typical novel-style narrative. That probable makes no sense.

These aren’t exactly beach books (note the absence of chick lit/thrillers), but I geeked out a little bit the other day when I accidentally locked myself out at work and had to go over to the University library to work remotely until someone could let me back in:

This is what happens when I get locked out.

I’ve been wanting to read both of the nonfiction books (right and left sides) for awhile, and then “The Borrower” just kind of jumped out at me.

Then I purchased these from the amazing $2 clearance shelf at Half Price Books:

“Changing My Mind,” by Zadie Smith
Part of my senior English thesis was inspired by her book, “White Teeth.”

“O, Pioneers!” by Willa Cather
A friend studies her work and I finally read “My Antonia” last summer at the farm and thought it was gorgeous

“The History of Love,” by Nicole Krauss
I already read/own a copy of this book, but it is so amazing that I wanted to have an extra so I wouldn’t hesitate giving it away! I can’t bring them all to the beach, though…Am I too old to pack a yellow sand pail? Seriously wishing I still had those red sunglasses.

If you’re in the Iowa NoCoast, consider a jaunt down to Lake Ahquabi State Park in Indianola to read in a canoe. We love to rent boats down there!

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September 25, 2011 · 5:19 pm

Volunteering in Des Moines

Thursday night, I had the opportunity to set up a Drake booth at the YPC Nonprofit Forum, which featured a ‘buffet’ of 40 organizations in need of members/volunteers.

That's me in the blue tights. Photo via the YPC facebook gallery

There’s such a great energy when you get all sorts of passionate, committed people in one place to talk about their organizations. I was stuck in the corner most of the night, but loved how many familiar and new faces came through — all in search of some way to give back to the community. With my work-school-work-school bubble, it had been awhile since I’d been at a networking type event and I’m so glad we participated.

I invited Anne Murr, the coordinator of the Drake Adult Literacy Center to come along and recruit volunteers for the center, which improves the quality of adults’ lives by helping them learn to read, write and comprehend. It’s a great organization that provides one on one tutoring and, because the center is housed at Drake, there’s no shame for people seeking services. They can work toward those basic literacy skills and just say they’re taking a class at Drake without the stigma of a remedial program. It’s a one hour a week commitment for a year, and something I definitely will be interested in once my grad program is over! Anne was so animated and engaging each time a potential volunteer would come by. It was fun to watch her tell the story of the center to all of the attendees. We got lots of names and e-mail addresses from people who seemed interested, too! (Of course, I had to do my part and walk around the booths handing out info on the Drake MPA nonprofit management track.)

Another organization that caught my eye is the brand-new Greater Des Moines Habitat Young Professionals group, which is part of the local Habitat for Humanity. I did a Habitat build in college and Joe volunteered for a day a few months ago, and I think it would be something really fun for us to do together. They’re even having a bicycle “Tour de Habitat” coming up. From their newsletter:

Tour de Habitat
October 8

Save the date for HYP’s first event, a family friendly bike tour! The Greater Des Moines Tour de Habitat 2011 will provide a route that gives riders a unique perspective into the Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity.

Let's go ride a bike!The tour will pass through some of the neighborhoods that GDM Habitat impacts most. Habitat projects over the past 25 years will be featured in the Drake, Mondamin Presidential, River Bend and King Irving neighborhoods.

Cost*: $20 for HYP members, $25 for non-members

*includes water and a post-ride reception along with prizes!

If you are interested in join us for this fun-filled day, please contact Jon Harcey. Stay tuned for more information.

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