On the road yet again

My love and I are making the drive today to visit his family in one of Louisiana's bustling metropolises. No, not that one. Not that one either. Oh OK, so it's not exactly a great big city, but I just got back from Durant, Oklahoma, so this will feel like a major metropolitan area. ;)

I can't wait to see his family and celebrate Thanksgiving at his parents' home. I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful holiday. I'll write about our trip when I get home. Look for a couple of scheduled posts from me over the long weekend. Happy Tofurkey Day!

Jingle Bash Recap #1

Mom and I had a wonderful time at Jingle Bash. It was unbelievably crowded when we arrived at straight-up 1:00 that we decided to grab lunch before heading in. Neither of us know Dallas well, but we soon determined that the area surrounding the show -- Deep Ellum -- had lots of food offerings. We selected Lemongrass. The food was tasty, but the service was iffy. We ended up waiting more than 15 minutes to order because the waiter struck up a conversation with one of the three other tables there for 10 minutes or more. Not cool, dude.

Anyway, after we finished eating, we made the short drive back to the Sons of Hermann Hall. The place was packed! We each did our part to support handmade this year by buying a few gifts for others and plenty for ourselves, too. I'm going to unleash it on you in small doses. First up is my new purse from the wonderful Rachel Elise. Have I mentioned I'm really into trees lately?

Check out the lovely lining (and proof that I've already put it to use).

Seriously, the tree is just precious.

Next up is my new headband from Enju.

She explained that the embellishment is all-natural, Texas-grown cotton that she hand-dyed. Neat, huh? Of course, this post wouldn't be complete without a silly picture of me modeling the headband, now would it?

And now we have my cute new cardigan embellished by Midnight Snack.

It's partly sunny on my chest today! Wait, does that sound weird? Probably not as weird as I actually am.

I'll send some more your way after I return from Louisiana!

A very Girlie adventure

Last Friday and Saturday brought The Girlie Show to Oklahoma City. I've heard nothing but raves about it, so I decided to make the trek on the second day. OKC is an hour and a half from Tulsa and $7 total in toll fees. Lame, I know, but Mom and I were feeling dedicated -- mostly to shopping. First, we stopped at Lido Restaurant in the Asian District for green beans in garlic sauce (hers with beef, mine meat-free, of course). Then we turned our attention to the task at hand: buying way too much stuff at The Girlie Show.

(Click on pictures for a larger image.) It was held in the Farmers Public Market, which dates back to 1928. The building is fabulous and will be the site of Deluxe on December 6. Talent was oozing from the seams. There were jewelry makers, silk screeners, painters, sculptors (well, really just the one), and everything in between. I ended up buying a gorgeous pendant etched in wood and painted by Pamela Michelle (booth is below, left) and a sassy, fused glass ring from Funky Chic Studio (below, right).

That's my mom in the pink/red shirt buying a pendant from Funky Chic Studio. To help me mourn the huge chunk of change I'll lose this week to brake service on Esmee (my Mazda3 hatchback), Mom bought me a couple of gorgeous clothing items from Harrilu of the Dallas Craft Mafia. I've not been able to photograph what I bought, so I'll do a separate post later with all the goodies.

After we shopped ourselves nearly penniless, Mom was craving a pastry, so we began searching for a bakery. We failed to find one still open, but near Brown's Bakery was the Grateful Bean Cafe, which boasted homemade ice cream. We decided that was close enough. As I wrote in my last post, the Grateful Bean is inside the old Kaiser's Ice Cream Parlor, which dates back to 1917. The original location of Kaiser's opened in 1910, but they moved locations seven years later. The Grateful Bean retains the charm and appeal of a turn-of-the-century soda fountain.

Check out the groovy neon sign. On the right, the awesome, mustachioed man makes my Broadway Ice Cream Soda. My mom had a hot fudge sundae.

The ice cream was unbelievable, the fudge sauce was almost black, and the whipped cream was fluffy and vanilla-flavored. We were quite pleased -- and quite messy. So, how much did we enjoy our treats?