The Week: June 7, 2013

The library has always been a place that I feel at home. Regardless of my age or geographic location, I’ve always felt much more at ease and able to think surrounded by towering rows of…

For a smaller size city, Des Moines knows how to throw a good street festival. Come fall one of the biggest—and one of my favorites—is the World Food & Music Festival…

Earlier this fall I learned that a beautifully unexpected art installation would be making its way through Des Moines. For a few short days, the colorful Luminarium popped up in downtown’s Cowles Commons for the community to…

There are so many reasons to celebrate in the spring! This year, those celebrations may look a bit different. But somehow that makes them even more special and worth commemorating.

Now that I’ve lived in Des Moines for a little over five years (woah), I figured it was time to put together a list of some of my favorite places around the city. From my favorite place to get a gorgeously made latte to some of the best places to spend a free afternoon, you can find it all here…

The first full week after a holiday weekend is always a little bit rough, but this week has been especially trying. For a number of reasons, I’ll be taking some time to relax, unplug and appreciate the incredibly supportive people who keep me sane (and ply me with coffee) on a daily basis. For now, here are my favorite bits of Internet from this week…

olio (ˈō-lē-ˌō) a miscellaneous mixture or collection I am a lover of spontaneous adventures and, in my personal opinion, there is no better time for adventuring than the summer. This year I made what I would…

I’ve been dreaming of Americana’s Bombshell Brunch for a long time – basically ever since I learned that it included a grilled cheese bar. So now that I work 40+ hours a week at a…

A few weeks ago our intern informed me that he had a new ice cream place I just had to try. While I should have been embarrassed that my love for frozen treats is obviously apparent at work, I was immensely excited to act on his recommendation…

In honor of National Bike Month, I’m compiling some of my favorite routes, tips, and trips for bike-related travel. Stay tuned throughout the month for even more bike-related content! The best part about sharing some…

A few months ago I had the incredible opportunity to visit the New York Times for a student editors conference. While we didn’t get to spend a ton of time in the city (less than 36 hours once everything was said and done), I still managed to take in some of the sights and snag a phenomenal New York-style bagel…

As the snow melts and the trees begin to bloom, there’s a certain energy that returns to the air, especially in a place with harsh winters like Iowa. But no more so than in the early days of summer. As a kid, that meant never wearing shoes, devouring endless books for summer reading, picking raspberries in the backyard, and escaping to the lake for a long weekend.

Even though I no longer have summers off, I try to approach summer with the same sense of excitement. And while I’m not a big fan of the oppressive humidity or buzzing mosquitos that accompany the season, there are a lot of things I absolutely adore about Des Moines in the summer.

In the past few years, I’ve noticed there are a surprising number of places to enjoy a craft beer in Des Moines (and even more across Iowa). In fact, the newly opened Iowa Taproom showcases 120 taps from more than 20 Iowa breweries.

In honor of Des Moines Beer Week, I decided to compile some of my favorite local spots into an ultimate guide to breweries in Des Moines and the surrounding area.

Along with donuts, hotdogs are high up on the list of foods I know are bad for you but can’t help indulging in once and awhile. While I hail from the land of the Chicago dog–never, ever ask for ketchup in public–I’m much more liberal when it comes to experimenting with different condiments…

Before I moved to Des Moines, I had never been to a state fair before. Sure, I grew up just one state east in Illinois, but we lived close enough to the city that agricultural contests and friends in 4H were never part of my reality. Then I relocated to Iowa and was introduced to the Iowa State Fair.