I missed the Adel Corn Festival AGAIN because I was out on a weekender in Dubuque – my 3rd trip to the city since moving to Iowa. And I find more fun and interesting things to do there with each visit. Plus, it reminds me of Pittsburgh in a lot of ways, so it’s a big whiff of nostalgia for me. OMG THEY HAVE INCLINE?!
I FINALLY WENT TO THE FAIR! The Iowa State Fair did NOT disappoint, and I can’t wait to go back next year. Obviously, it was impossible to see and eat everything in one day – so I look forward to more multi-day annual adventures.
In other Iowan news, we bought a house! Well… we bought another house! We found one for sale in a Des Moines neighborhood that we love – that is just outside of downtown, and I am positively thrilled. We closed this week and move in the first week of September. I am no longer a suburbanite and officially a Des Moinesian. Des Moiner? And OMG I can walk to Harbinger. 🤤
Picked up my bike from its fresh tune-up at Rassy’s (newly-outfitted with a sweet new rack and pack for extended outings and insulated storage for Farmer’s Market picks) – and I am ready for warmer weather outdoor adventures. I am a huge fan of winter, but this one really bummed me out. Conditions were often not fun (or safe) to be out and the amount of snow and ice we received held a lot of barriers for outdoor access. Last weekend, I was FINALLY able to do one of my long training runs outside for the first time in this half marathon plan. I am SO READY to be outside more regularly: more skating, more running, more biking, more hiking, more general adventuring without 18 layers of clothing.
MOOtube
I’m a little obsessed with live animal cams PARTICULARLY around birding breeding season. I was pretty excited to learn of a live cow cam from Iowa Dairy Center… until I attempted to log-on and error boxes screamed all WRONG BROWSER (only compatible with Internet Explorer, which… who uses that besides work organizations and what workplace is going to allow you to watch live cow cams?). So, if you’re at your work computer reading this, let me know how it is!
Feeling cute. Might delete later.
come to the corn
I recently celebrated my third anniversary of moving to Iowa. And while I’m not originally from here, moving away from a larger city was… a relief. We can endlessly argue whether Ohio – where I am from originally – is actually the Midwest (FWIW, I don’t). But one thing’s for sure, I am positively in love with this state I call my new home.
It still feels weird when I think of myself as a 40-something blogger. But here I am! Why is that important? I’ve seen a few article floating around the shared spaces about how difficult it is to find friends once you’re X, Y, or Z. The most recent of which is WHY IS IT SO HARD TO MAKE FRIENDS AT 40?
There we are! {Postcard art from RAYGUN}
Your mileage may vary, I suppose, but I have found the “trick” to be that you have to be intentional about friendships at a later age. It is important to put yourself into new situations (yes, that often means going to things alone; from someone with social anxiety, I cannot express how difficult but how important it is to do so). And also, maybe give up your presumptions that the next person you meet will be your new BFF. I’ve moved cities twice as a Grown Woman. Finding your “tribe” is important to belonging and overall mental health. Though, admittedly, depth in relationships is not really my strongest suit.
Again, YMMV.
Also, I should probably add: Is this just a female thing? That’s my worldview and experience, and this post will reflect that I like to hang out with other women. You know, boys and their cooties and all.
When I moved to Pittsburgh, I met all my friends via Twitter and Yelp. True story. I deleted my 300+ review Yelp profile before I moved to Des Moines, however, and Twitter since 2016 is quite possibly The Worst. Here are the communities that I happened to come across though (online and otherwise) that have helped me to connect to new people in Des Moines – with the benefit of making some great friends.
Capital Striders – Full disclosure, I’m on the board of this organization. But I’m on the board because I felt as though giving back to a community from which I gained so much (read: friends!) was incredibly valuable to me. If you like running, TRUST ME, you will find your accountability partners who will soon invite you to six-hour brunches. 😀
Women on Adventures – This is a national organization with a Des Moines outfit. I have truly met the most amazing women in this group, while getting the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and explore points of interest in Iowa. This is a “pay-for-your-friends” model, but there is a month-long freebie to check out what’s on the calendar and join the DSM group for your first adventure on the house. This group has also given me the place to meet people who are not just like me (aside from being female-identifying) and incorporates so many varied perspectives on adventure – which is really, really important for me. I’m looking forward to the things being planned for 2019!
Women Who Wine – Total accident that I connected with someone from WOA on a Bike & Brunch who then told me about this amazing group of women who like to drink wine. Monthly meet-ups with wine (duh!) and celebrate or support a woman and/or woman-owned businesses. I think I’ve made a 2-3 new friends at every event of theirs! Again, there is a cost associated to attend the events, but they are super fun. And did I mention there is wine?
Have you found any fun groups to make friends in the Des Moines area? Share them in the comments!
It is interesting when I reflect upon my time in Pittsburgh and think about the various things that I didn’t get the chance to do while we lived there for six years. Comparatively, I scan my “Iowa Bucket List” for the short-term as we are nearing the three-year mark of being Midwest transplants.
Here are the surprises that came up for me about Pittsburgh:
I never went to the zoo. I worked at the National Aviary (essentially, a bird zoo, for those not in the know) for three years, and yet I never traveled to the east end of town to visit the city’s zoo. I had plans definitely once and canceled because of weather. Maybe twice because I used to flake out on people a lot. Spending time at the zoo is a frequent destination for us when we are traveling. I LOVE the Henry Doorly zoo in Omaha. And I have a membership to Blank Park Zoo here in Des Moines. It’s still weird to think about that I never visited the zoo in Pittsburgh.
Art museum. Same as with the zoo, I never went to the art museum in Pittsburgh. Now, I spent a lot of time at the Mattress Factory and the Warhol Museum – but never the Carnegie Museum of Art. Though I parked in front of it once! Again, we travel and frequently go to art museums in other cities. AND I’ve been to the art center here in Des Moines several times casually and for a few events. I also missed the Degas exhibit at CMA before I moved and that still makes me sad.
Yoga on a pod on Mount Washington. I’ve been on the pods when entertaining out-of-town visitors, and I ran up the hill to Mount Washington the weekend before I moved away – but the yoga on the Mount looked like such an amazing experience. If I ever go back to Pittsburgh during the warmer months, I’ll have to connect with that instructor to ensure I have a mat space. I’ve been to a few fun outdoor yoga events here in Iowa, and I look forward to upcoming opportunities to practice in interesting places.
Go to the overlook in the west end. A friend once told me that the West End overlook was the best view in town. I would have to agree solely on my many travels over the West End Bridge. But I never did quite figure out how to get to the overlook (and I very likely didn’t try hard enough). What do you think is the best viewpoint of Des Moines?
The observatory on the north side. I literally lived within walking distance. This makes me greatly sad. I’ve signed up to be reminded of the sky parties here in Des Moines. And I put a telescope on my Christmas list again. 😀
Big butler county fair and school bus smash derby. Man, demolition derby is SO much fun. And taking that up a notch to smashing school buses just sounds like the best thing ever. I imagine that there is demo derby here in Iowa, but I haven’t actively sought it out. I still haven’t even been to the State Fair yet… and I’m really interested in catching some of those cart races.
I waffled (mmmm, breakfast) a bit on importing the posts from my prior blog and decided to do so. If you see anything wonky in the archives, let me know. And if you are at all interested in running and running gear and the running community, well there is a lot of that from the last few years. I don’t want to only write about running, so here’s where I am currently – a transition between a “running blog” and something of a “lifestyle blog.” Which… whatever, I’ll work it out as I go. I no longer have to pretend I have dual identities, which also means that I’ll no longer have to keep two blogs interesting up-to-date.
really amaizing
I’m sure that I’ll get on SOME kind of list for Googling this, and I only did so because of all the pot references today (*eyeroll*): which grows faster, corn or marijuana? Results are inconclusive. Don’t try this at home. (And definitely not in Iowa, where it is not yet legal.)
moo bitch get out the whey
As part of an on-boarding package purchased at my gym, I completed both my active and resting metabolic assessments. Somehow, this tiny body is supposed to consume 4208 calories a day to properly fuel at its current level of activity (which is considerably reduced because of my Achilles injury) and I have lost all ability to comprehend how bodies work.
FOUR THOUSAND CALORIES.
Mind you, I regularly assume around 2700 calories on my active days, but this assessment is basically telling me that is the minimum my body requires for basic functioning and HOW AM I EVEN ALIVE RIGHT NOW. Also, I guess I can eat an avocado with every meal? Because no clue how I even get 229 grams of fat in my diet every day without eating McDonald’s cheeseburgers. (If I ate 3 avocados a day, I would only get 63 grams of fat. What kind of hell is this?!)
See also: currently looking for a local nutritionist.
If you’re not new here, you might have heard about the Drake Relays and its accompanying series of road races that start this weekend. Originally, I was supposed to run the half marathon, but since I got injured, I will be volunteering at the Capital Striders water stop. See me for all your Mile 8 motivation!
