Sooo there's this thing - a 15 seater bike - that you can ride around downtown and the East Village from establishment to establishment. It's called the Big Yellow Bike. I had the chance to use it the other afternoon - it was pretty fun. It's not too hard and it's easy to talk to everyone while pedaling. Considering most of us are too lazy to walk from downtown to the East Village, this is a great way to spend time on both sides of the river. Now, it's nothing something you can just hop on and off (although that would be a good idea). You need to book ahead of time. If you plan to hit the bars, why not do it all on the Big Yellow Bike.
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Flix Brewhouse has been on my To Do List since it opened in Merle Hay Mall back in December. It's a combination brew pup and movie theater that started in Texas. I had heard good things about it and just needed a reason to go. What better reason that Pitch Perfect 2? Yes, I'm serious. A group of friends wanted to go see it so I said sure. (I did have to rent the first flick to watch ahead of time - which I did enjoy.)
Flix has a restaurant area and ticket lines at the top of the escalators. You can order food and drinks and hang out there or wait to order until you head into the theater. When we ordered in the theater, several of us had issues. They didn't have tortillas for quesadillas and never brought one person's pizza. Another friend couldn't order a margarita because they were out. When I tried to order the Saison de Walt beer, I couldn't because it was a seasonal - even though it was listed as a mainstay on the menu. Instead I ordered the Flix Golden Ale, which was good but nothing extraordinary. I would like to chalk this up as bad luck or a really busy night, but it was a Monday and they've been opened now for 5 months. I'm not sure they have a good excuse. On the up side, everyone enjoyed the food they did get including a burger, chicken sandwich, popcorn and baked potato skins. As for the movie, it was really good. I couldn't believe the amount of celebrity cameos including some of the Green Bay Packers. It was surprisingly more sexual than the first movie - so people with younger ones, beware. I was sad with how little Jesse was in the movie. He was a central character in the first one and appeared in maybe five scenes this time. Most sequels don't stand up to the expectations, but I think this one does. Attending a wine and canvas party has been on my to do list for at least a year. I find it hard to believe an opportunity didn't present itself until now - when I of course have to be pregnant. The occasion was my cousin-in-law's bachelorette party. The evening started at Glazed Expressions in Clive before moving on to Miss Kitty's. The bachelorette, who happens to be an art teacher, picked out a painting of some poppies for us to do. It was a pretty nice set up - we had a pretty private room and could bring in our own drinks and food and gifts. The painting didn't take too long and wasn't overly complicated. Pretty much everyone's turned out really nice. It was just as fun as I expected with my paintbrush in one hand and sparkling grape juice in the other.
We sure are starting 2015 off with plenty of excitement in the Wardenburg household. We are making a goal to watch less TV together and do more other things together. That starts with this awesome Star Wars puzzle.
My parents gave it to Lucas for his birthday. I honestly didn't think we'd put it together, but I'm glad we are. It's trickier than I thought it would be. I blame it on the fact that all the pieces are in the same color genre - beige - and I don't know the Star Wars characters. Lucas, on the other hand, knows these characters like the back of his hand - probably even better. He's having no problem connect the dots. He clearly doesn't know puzzles aren't a win-lose game because he keeps telling me he's winning. I guess I can let him win at something... When it comes to football, I really only care about my Missouri Tigers and Chicago Bears. However, since I really enjoy the game, I don't mind branching out. Lucas really enjoys high school football. Friday night he wanted to check out the Valley Tigers take on the Waukee Warriors at Waukee. Since we live in West Des Moines and are part of West Des Moines Schools, we are partial to Valley.
We got to the stadium at about 6:45pm for the 7:00pm game. Yeah, definitely not early enough. We got a good walk in to get from our parking spot (on the side of the road) to the field. Tickets were $6 each, which I thought was reasonable. We headed to sit on the Valley side and got stuck with front row seats - unable to see many of the plays. We were hopeful for a fun, evenly matched game, but that was not the case. Waukee shut out Valley 12-0. Turns out the only other game Valley lost this season was also to Waukee. The Warriors had two big players - a tight end standing at 6'8 and an offensive lineman at 6'5. The lineman was able to bat down the Valley quarterback's passes several times. The tight end made several great plays that got his team down the field. There were quite a few turnovers on both sides, but then again, I have to remind myself this is high school football. Turnovers are much more common here than in D1 or pro games. Good luck to Waukee at the Dome! Back in the days of trick or treating, I remember mapping out my route block-by-block and house-by-house. Not all of my friends lived in my neighborhood, so we’d plan which neighborhoods we’d hit and coordinate rides from our parents. There was only so much time in the afternoon and too much candy to leave out there unclaimed. If only there was a better way…
Enter Trunk or Treat. I had never heard of such an event until last year. Maybe I’ve been living in the shadows or maybe it’s a new(er) idea. The idea is simple: park a bunch of vehicles in a parking lot and pass out candy. Instead of having to walk from house to house, you have to walk from parking spot to parking spot. On Sunday my church Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in West Des Moines hosted a Truck or Treat. Instead of just having cars with candy, we also had activities and popcorn and drinks. The West Des Moines Fire Department even came with a truck and parachuted candy down from the ladder. Lucas and I took our car over to set up shop, as well. We placed five buckets in our trunk and covered them up. One had candy, the other had mystery foods playing the roles of a brain, heart, eyeballs and intestines. The kids had to use their hands – without looking – to feel around until they found the candy. Most of the 100 kids were willing to give it a go with just a handful not being the adventurous type. Those kids made a killing in less than two hours. The event seemed particularly well suited for adults with children under the age of two. They could walk from car to car or easily be pushed in a stroller or wagon without the parents feeling like they ran a race. There are at least a half dozen other trunk or treat events going on at local churches this week. If you've never attended one, I'd highly recommend it. For the past four years, I've dressed up for a big Halloween party at my gymnastics club UDSGC in Urbandale. We've had up to 60 kids come party with us - all in their costumes. I'm not one to shy away from costumes so I've dressed up as well, playing a lumberjack, dark fairy, cheerleader and now a witch. That's Lucas being a super cool stormtrooper from Star Wars. I'm sure all (most) of you reading this blog post could have guessed that, but he drew blank stares from several child under the age of five or was confused for Darth Vader himself.
As we perused Halloween Express for costumes hours before the party, we had one mission in mind: don't spend $75 on a costume. My witch costume was on sale for just $15 and the stormtrooper ensemble was $25. As we were about to checkout, I realized this is the first time I've ever be a witch for Halloween. I just never had a desire to be such as cliche. While I pride myself in originality, I also pride myself in frugality. This also partially fulfilled Lucas' goal of dressing up as someone for Star Wars. While not his ideal, it was the best he could do for less than $75. The best part for him - when I ask him to take a picture with me, he doesn't have to smile. It's a good thing I like football. I married into a football fanatic family. My brother-in-law was a national champion football player at Northwest Missouri State. When I met him, he was a graduate assistant coach for Northwest. I was able to catch one game to see him in action on the sidelines. Last year, Lucas and I made the trek up to Menomonie, Wisc. to watch him coach the Wisconsin Stout Blue Devils - his first "real" job. It was November, rainy, cold and crappy. I spent half the game in the bathroom using the hand dryer to stay warm. This year, he made the move to Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs. The program has been in existence for less than a decade - and they are already national champions in the NJCAA. The temperature was pushing 90 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and I over dressed. I spent half the game standing in the shade next to the concession stand where there was a strong breeze.
Maybe the next game will be overcast and 70. I can only hope... Oh, Class of 2004. It's been 10 years since many of us have been together, and it will be another 10 years until we are. The turnout for our 10 year reunion was pretty low. I'd gander an estimate of 50 in attendance, and that includes spouses and significant others. That would be an awesome turnout if our class was 100 people, but I graduated with nearly 700. I did not know all 700 people, so I was pleasantly surprised when I actually remembered everyone's face who was there. Names were a bit more tricky. It was nice to catch up with people I'm not connected with on social media. It was even nicer to hang out with two of my favorite ladies who happened to help plan the reunion.
I'm not sure why attendance was so low. Maybe because many people are connected on Facebook. Maybe because many people still hang out with their high school friends and didn't care to see other non-friends. Maybe people hated high school and never want to think about it again. Maybe it was a bad weekend. Maybe people didn't think they made enough of themselves to go back. Maybe people thought they were too cool. Who knows. Maybe we'll have a 20 year reunion - maybe not. Best wishes to my fellow classmates for the next 10 years and beyond! In honor of my dear friend's impending nuptials, a dozen of us helped her celebrate the end of her single days in style in the beautiful San Diego. I've been to San Diego several times over the past several years on family vacation, but I've never spent time in the Gaslamp Quarter. I was not only excited to see my friend for the first time in over a year, but to explore downtown San Diego. We stayed at the Westin and were able to walk to dozens of bars, clubs and restaurants. I was happy to find most don't have cover charges and the drinks weren't terribly priced. To make things extra special, the bride-to-be bought a new school Polaroid camera, which provided us some quality entertainment. We showered her with typical bachelorette gifts and added one sentimental item. Each girl invited to the party could add photos and write a message to the bachelorette in a photo album. It was a great idea to make the weekend even more memorable. Thanks to San Diego and all the other girls for a wonderful time!
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