Beardgate - 2009

What a whirlwind weekend! I left for Iowa on a beautiful Friday and left Sunday driving through a blizzard! Before I arrived in Des Moines, I spent an hour in Ames and enjoyed a nice dinner with Koo and Allie at The Cafe. I was excited to hear about some new nice dining options in Ames. After dinner I headed to Des Moines to see Aaron and Lauren. I am amazed everytime I come to Des Moines now to see how it is constantly changing. While most of the country suffers from unemployment at 10%, Des Moines economy is buzzing along nicely with only about a 4% unemployment rate. Aaron and Lauren live in a very trendy, brand new, yuppie area of Des Moines. After hanging out with their new eight week old dachsund puppy (who by the way is the same size as my shoe! Apparently he will double in size though) Aaron and Lauren took me to this fun bar named Tonic; which was near their place. We drank a bit too much, had a lot of laughs, and crashed. After sleeping in Saturday, I was off to my friend Trevor's wedding in New Sharon, IA. NS is a tiny town with one stop light, two churches, and half a dozen bars. The wedding was elegant, and very pleasant. Despite me only going to seven or so weddings in my life, I always enjoy going to them. It was refreshingly beautiful when Trevor choked up while reading his vows to Steph. It was just such a nice wedding - simple but special. In my heart, I will always be the hopeless romantic. Unfortunately, I didn't know anyone except the bride and groom and I didn't stick around all that long after the wedding. After the two hour drive back from New Sharon back to Des Moines, I met Aaron and Lauren at a really awesome bar called Blue Moon. I wish this type of place was in Minneapolis. Sunday morning, I attempted to leave Aaron's place at 10:30 in the morning but due to legitimate blizzard conditions, I didn't get home until 9:00 tonight. What a mess!

1. I have officially now not shaved in a month. My beard has moved beyond the hipster swanky to unattractively gross - to that I just laugh. The reaction by almost everyone is either fake compliments or genuine disgust. Assuming I never get laid off again, this could be my last real opportunity to not shave in a month. I was curious to see what I would look like. The verdict is in; clean shaven is more my bag. I will shave sometime this week.

2. Currently listening to "Flathead" by The Fratellis.