Exploring Local

This weekend, I stayed in Ankeny and took advantage of some fun things to do locally.  Normally, I like to spend every weekend in the summer (or any season, really) away from home.  I love to visit friends (especially in Minneapolis), but with Josh leaving for law school, I'm trying to stay home more than "normal" to take advantage of any extra time we can spend together.

Anyway, on Friday night, Minna invited me to White Oaks Vineyards for her birthday.  The winery is in Cambridge, which is about a 20-minute drive from my house.  Josh and I went there last year, but we didn't know about the free music Fridays.  I think I might have to take advantage of this more often!  Together, our group bought one bottle of each wine, and two of Celebrate, since it was delicious and seemed appropriate for Minna's birthday celebration.

On Saturday, we  headed across the street from Minna's house to the Des Moines Home Show Expo.  We toured eight of the 12 homes.  My favorite was this one.  I loved the Cape Cod style, however the spiral staircase in the turret was a little much.  I prefer a more direct route between my floors.  One special touch I felt was very appropriate for an Iowa home show, was a feature of Templeton Rye.

Here's a little video about the history of Templeton Rye, if you're curious.

Then, we headed over to West Des Moines to check out the new Whole Foods.  Sometimes, I don't understand why people think Whole Foods is a "high-end" grocery store.  Twenty-one of their vendors are local.  It's not like these things are imported from Europe, folks.  Plus, the prices of many of the "mainstream" gluten-free products were lower than HyVee...so I think I'm probably going to become a loyal customer. 

I didn't want to get caught up in the excitement yesterday, so I only bought a couple of things.  I couldn't resist the chipolte ranch (it's g-free!), honey nut rice cakes (also g-free), and chocolate milk from Picket Fence Creamery.  I think I have quite a few trips to Whole Foods in my future.