Cancer Free Monica!!

On Sunday I met Monica for dinner downtown. It was a special treat, as she moved to Kansas earlier this summer. I miss her a lot, and daydream about her moving back to Des Moines at least once a day.

Monica was in town because Monday morning was her last PET scan to make sure she is cancer free. Even better than dinner with her was finding out on Monday afternoon that all of the tumors are gone.

Now that she is no longer sick I can focus all of my efforts on getting her up to Des Moines to visit as often as possible.

Stacey's Birthday and Derek's going away party

Saturday night was a busy night. We had two parties to attend. First up was Stacey's birthday party. Stacey was my trainer when I first started at Nationwide 9 years ago, so we have been helping each other celebrate birthdays for almost a decade.

After Stacey's party we went to Derek's party. Derek and I met back when Carissa and I spent a lot of time at CABCo. We lost contact for a while, but met up last year when he started working at Nationwide. Since then we have grabbed coffee a few times a month.

A few months ago Derek decided he needed to make a change. He didn't like his job, and was ready to make a commitment to a new life. So he joined the Army. He's signed up for eight years, and because he never finished his degree he is not going in as an officer. Next week he ships off to basic training. I'm really proud of him. I think this change will be good for him. And I'm not just saying that because I want to visit him if he's stationed in Europe.

Brew Year's Eve

Last weekend we headed down to CABCo to celebrate the anniversary of the repeal of prohibition.  Never one to say no to a costume, I was very excited to dress up as a flapper and hang out in a basement speakeasy.  It was a great time, except for the headache on Saturday morning.

Des Moines Loves Mary-Claire Bar Crawl

Last weekend Mary-Claire was in town from Chicago.  She doesn't get to Des Moines much, so I decided to show her some of my favorite spots.

When she got into town we walked to AK's to have some beers.  Todd and Stimmel met us there. AK's was full, as usual, so Mary-Claire was able to witness what an odd mix of patrons AK's has.  

Saturday morning Mary-Claire and I headed to breakfast at Gateway Market.  We had brunch there, but we didn't need to, as there were so many samples at the store.  We picked up some cheese made in Iowa by a guy with a huge unibrow, some salsa made in Cumming, and some sweet chibatta.  Full of samples and needing to get our grocery's home we headed back to my house and played some cribbage while we waited for Kathleen.

Once Kathleen arrived we chatted a bit and then headed to Costco.  By the time we got back it was time for dinner.  We headed down to Court Ave. for some food and to start the evenings festivities.

After CABCo we went to Fong's Chinese Pizza so that Mary-Claire could have a kamakazi.  As you can tell by the picture, she missed her calling.  Mary-Claire clearly should have been a fighter pilot.

Following Fong's we walked to El Bait Shop to try some of the 100+ beers on tap.  While Mary-Claire tried to pick her favorite beer from the Iowa beer flight (6 beer samples from Iowa), Carnahan showed us her talent of molding broken jewelry into hearts.  It was a crazy night.

After all of that excitement we headed home to bed.  We needed to get up early to make it to breakfast at the Waveland before Mary-Claire hit the road.

It was a wonderful visit, and I hope Mary-Claire comes back soon.  I can't wait to see her in a helmet again.

Mug Club

At Court Ave. Brewing Company they have a Mug Club.  The deal is you pay the membership fee, you get a mug and a t shirt, and a discount on beer all year long.  After a three year absence I rejoined the mug club.  So did Derek.  Tonight there was a mug club party, so Derek and I decided to head down to the bar to check it out.  I wanted to break in mug #24, Derek wanted to break in #37, and we both wanted a drink.

Derek enjoyed a free brat and I piled some veggies and potato chips on a bun (don't knock it until you've tried it).  We talked about what we had planned for the rest of the night.  I planned on knitting and watching TV.  He planned on heading home for a while before he heads to Buffalo Wild Wings at 10:15.  I will be in bed at 10:15.  We lead vastly different lives, but manage to meet over beer to talk about what is going on in each other's lives.

I think that is one of the best things about CABCo.  I have a lot of friends from that pub.  They all lead lives different from mine, but we all get along and care about each other.  There is just something about that place that brings people together.  I wish that everyone could have a bar or a coffee shop that means as much to them as CABCo means to me.  

CABCo Reunion

Last week I was walking down the stairs at work and stumbled upon what appeared to be a time warp. Standing in front of me was Derek, who I used to hang out with at CABCo in the early 2000s. I had not seen him in six years. It was quite a shock. It turns out he works at Allied now. We had a lot to catch up on, and it was decided that a reunion was in order.

Derek called Michelle, who I used to spend a lot of time with. I had not talked to her in about 4 years. We agreed that we would meet on Saturday at Court Avenue Brewing Company.

I was incredibly nervous. I always worry before I see people I haven't seen in a long time. After about 5 minutes of hanging out it became clear that I should not have worried. We were talking like no time had past. We even set up a sushi night for January.

Mike, Stimmel, Me, & Derek

Michelle & Mike

I think the best part of the night was reconnecting with Michelle. We used to be very close, but drifted apart as we were leading vastly different lies (vastly might be an understatement in that sentence). We are in similar spots again, and I look forward to hanging out with her again soon.

I sat at this bar for most of my early 20s.

I have so many wonderful memories of Court Avenue. I hope to continue to make memories there for years to come.