Des Moines, Omaha, Represent

I've had two friends blow in from the Midwest in the past few weeks.

First, Cavan came out here for a meeting at Gannett headquarters. He is in charge of the Mom's Blog at The Des Moines Register and was here for a Mom's Blog conference. He was worried he would be the only man at the conference, but luckily this wasn't so.

Cavan and I have been friends ever since we met in the dorms way back in 1999! We have had tons of hilarious times; he is probably the funniest person I know. I was a groomsmaid in his wedding two years ago and he and Scott came out here for my wedding in Feb. I'm going to miss working at Gannett, because I won't see Cavan nearly as often.

Cavan, our friend Omar and I are the THE ORIGINAL HALF-BREED OUTLAWS. We were taking a Technical Communication course at Iowa State University and working at the Iowa State Daily campus newspaper, and we realized that between the three of us, we were 1 1/2 white people, 1/2 a black person, 1/2 a Taiwanese person and 1/2 a Palestinian. We were leaving class in Ross Hall one day, and we saw a flier posted on one of the doors, announcing a show for a band or something called the Half-Breed Outlaws. We said, "That's us!" I guess that wouldn't make us THE ORIGINAL HBOs, but you know what I mean.

And such was the inspiration for the name of this blog.

I wish I would've taken photos while Cavan was here -- a long way (for me, at least) from the Daily, BUT, I do have a video of Cavan being funny:





My second Midwestern visitor, Amanda, came out from Omaha for a trade show last week. Amanda and I have been friends ever since I moved to Nora Springs, Iowa, in high school. We have also had many a funny time together, and it was a lot of fun to see her and catch up. I was a bridesmaid in her wedding, also two years ago. I actually introduced Amanda and her husband, Brigham. Amanda and I were roommates in college, and in the dorms, we lived on the floor above the floor Cavan and Brigham lived on. I met Brigham in the elevator the first week. When he said his name was Brigham, I asked if he was LDS, and he said no, everyone always asks him that. He explained that his dad is a professor and saw the name on a textbook and liked it. I eventually introduced Amanda and Brigham when his floor threw a party for our floor, and the rest is history.

Last week, Amanda and I met for breakfast in Old Town Alexandria and a couple days later she, Neil and I went to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Old Town: Las Tapas. During Christmas breaks in college my friends and I used to go there to dance to their Gipsy Kings cover band. They didn't disappoint this time, either. They had a flamenco guitarist and he was accompanied by a flamenco singer and a dancer. The music was completely enchanting and the dancer was beautiful and so talented. Afterward we got ice cream and walked around the waterfront. It's so charming there. Of course, no photos. I am totally slacking. But I do have a pic of Amanda and me right before we said goodbye: