Some Music & Some Art

A couple highlights from the past week...My dear friends, Dena & Maren, had a mini-girls' getaway to Omaha for a She & Him concert!

I saw a couple other pregnant ladies in attendance, but I was definitely the most pregnant of the ones I saw, haha. I think I stood for one song. But still, a good time:)

Future besties, June & Ruby. These girls were such little troopers as we carted them around Des Moines to a rummage sale, thrift store, and a mandatory Tasty Taco stop.

This past weekend was the Des Moines Arts Festival, which is sort of a yearly tradition to visit. Ruby was excited to see all the artist's "colorings".

On a couple occasions, our opinionated little lady would state, "I don't like this picture". Right in front of the artist. So.....sorry about that.

It's been a little quiet here lately due to general life stuff/ pregnancy/ etc, but all is going well. I've got a few more posts coming this week, so watch out for those! xx

Shark Love & Burger Lust

Every Memorial Day Weekend since Ruby was born (that being 2), our little family has made a tradition of going to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.

Now that Ruby can identify animals by name, we were super excited to take her this year!

Ruby doing her best monkey faces!

 The Sno Cone might have been Ruby's favorite thing at the zoo...

I'm so happy that Wayde captured this photo, complete with shark lurking ominously above our heads. Here's hoping that Ruby's "Mama's girl" phase lasts forever<3>

After a full afternoon at the zoo (and hauling around my 32 week prego belly), Wayde sweetly suggested that maybe we don't have to do this zoo trip every year, to which I agreed. As great as it is, we found ourselves taking many of the same pictures from last year and awkwardly shuffling through crowds (with stroller in tow) that were bigger than we remembered. 

I guess I would consider an annual trip if we could always end the day here...



Louis M's Burger Lust Cafe. We got the referral from a friend and this place DID NOT disappoint. Even the staff were excited to hear how much we loved our burgers.

My parmesan encrusted special topped with swiss cheese & morel mushrooms. Too good to even think about tainting with ketchup. And if you know me, that's saying a lot.

Not that we even had the room for it afterwards, but since we were in town, we trekked across the city for some eCremery goodness. You only live once, right?

We fell in love with their cardamom ice cream last year and enjoyed the Shark Bait (sea salt carmel w/ chocolate covered pretzels) & strawberry basil selections this time around. Until next time, Omaha...xx

An Evening with Jack White

It's been a long time since I hit the road for a concert, but a carload of us made the trek to Omaha to see JACK WHITE play some songs this week!!

The show sold out (naturally), but I was fortunate enough to know enough Vault Members who helped get me in on the pre-sale. If there was one big show I was going to see this year, this was going to be it!!

This was actually my third time seeing the "Third Man" live. The first was with The White Stripes at the Big Day Out in Auckland, NZ. The second was at Lollapalooza with The Raconteurs. And each time has been completely memorable.

The show on Monday played like a best of his best collaborations from "Cut Like a Buffalo" to "Broken Boy Soldiers" to "Seven Nation Army", not to mention songs from his solo record, Blunderbuss.

We weren't technically supposed to take photos, but I couldn't resist. There's just something about having your own documentation of any event. This was my perspective of the show, and it was a great one at that.

My biggest regret was not purchasing a commemorative silk-screened poster for his Omaha performance. There was a stack of them while I was still making it through the merch line. I did leave with this pretty little "Freedom at 21" 7 inch though.

I just love the whole aesthetic of a Jack White experience. The intentionality of the color schemes, the air of mystery, the homages to yester-years, all rolled up into one amazing rock & roll show...xx

Roadtrip to Omaha

 It's not much of a trek for us, but it was just the mini-getaway we needed. Our little fam headed to Omaha this past weekend for some thrifting, good food, time with friends, and the spectacular Henry Doorly Zoo.

   Dinner at Pitch Pizzeria.

Everyone we asked kept referring us to Lisa's Radial Cafe for breakfast. It was your typical greasy-spoon eating establishment, but it was well worth the trip!

I didn't really know what to expect taking an 11 month old to the zoo, but Ruby absolutely LOVED it. It's pretty amazing to see your child so engaged in everything around them. Though I'm in no hurry to rush through this phase of development, it definitely has me looking forward to all the places & things she'll discover as she grows older. xx