{Life in Des Moines}

The past few weekends have been crazy, crazy full and have been such a blast! Fall is full of so many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors, and my weekends have been packed with lots of activities all while enjoying time with my girlfriends.

In the past month, my dear friend, Andrea, took me and some of our friends up to the very top of the Capitol on a Saturday morning. We even enjoyed time outside of the dome taking in the incredible view of the city! It seriously doesn’t get any better than this. I heart Des Moines.

We also enjoyed a tour of some of the cool spots in the Capitol. I haven’t been on a tour since the 5th grade, so it was pretty neat to be back again!

The library in the Capitol is incredible!

Love the view of downtown from inside the library.

I was pretty impressed that Governor Brandstad had wooden shoes in his chosen case in the Capitol!

A few weeks ago, I joined the Young Professionals Connection on an Architecture Tour of downtown Des Moines! It was such a neat tour where we learned all about the architecture of the buildings downtown, what downtown used to be like and how far our community has come in the past 50 years. You can take tours with the Iowa Architectural Foundation, and I highly recommend you check them out!

The Business Record Depot – used to be a train depot in downtown Des Moines!

This used to be the Hawkeye Insurance Company. Oldest building in downtown Des Moines.

Painting of downtown Des Moines in the old Kirkwood Hotel.

Old cash register instead the old Kirkwood Hotel.

Beautiful architecture inside the old Kirkwood Hotel.

Loved going on this tour with my bestie, Emily!

At the end of September I spent a Saturday celebrating my dear friend Andrea’s upcoming wedding. We had such a blast at her shower and at her bachelorette party!

In between the wedding festivities, I watched the Iowa vs. Iowa State game at The Keg Stand with my girlfriend, Emily, and her hubby. Iowa lost, which was such a huge bummer! At least it was a gorgeous day to be outside.

Watching the Iowa/Iowa State game with my girlfriend, Emily.

Andrea’s cousin made shirts for the bachelorette party…Jansa | Woodard…a marriage we can believe in! Way too fun running around with a 30+ person bachelorette party in matching shirts!

We started the night with a delicious dinner at Django,which was my first time there. Loved it!