The Best $1 I've Spent In Weeks

Most people spend their summer Fridays by the pool, getting their bronze on when they would otherwise be at the office.  It was way too got for that today so I decided to run some errands instead.

One of those errands brought me to Ikea, land of the Swedes and delicious inexpensive eats.  When I got there, the return line was at number 44; I pulled a 56 and walked directly to the holy grail of frozen yogurt to help me pass the time.

Love

This $1 low-fat frozen delight includes tax in the price and tastes unbelievably yummy.  I can’t think of anything more refreshing after a hectic day at work and errands in this heat.

McDonalds also has a pretty insane frozen yogurt cone- sure it’s about 10 cents more expensive but heck, you don’t have to drive to an Ikea to get your hands on one.  Now I want ice cream...

Singing in the Cab

It will take a few posts to talk about my birthday weekend because so many great things happened.  I’m not trying to brag, but I will, because my brother and sister visited, my friends celebrated and it all made me a very happy lady.

On Saturday we stumbled upon an urban legend, something that Texans (and Steph) only dream about finding.  It’s the Loch ness Monster to the lake dwellers, the Sasquatch to the hill people.

It’s the Karaoke Cab.

See that girl?  Watch that scene.

On the exterior, a lowly, white cab.  Inside, it’s magic.  The van is lined with CDs, there is a blue disco ball, a fog machine, microphones, but most importantly, karaoke. 

As the cab drove through the streets of Dallas at the standard cab fare, “Dancing Queen” rang from the speakers and we sang our little hearts out.  There was chair dancing, finger guns and the sweet, sweet sound of ABBA.

If that isn’t a great way to start a Saturday night out, I don’t know what is.

Back With A Vengeance

It’s been a while since I last posted, so I figured it was only appropriate that my first post in a week talk about the awkward moment of my week. 

On the trail today, I was noticing a lot of these puppies.

Upsetting

 Oddly enough, I never saw anyone running around with a CT flag on their buns, but here in Texas there’s a ton of state pride.  The state of Texas is all over beer bottles, cans, cars, chotchkies and most importantly, people’s crotches.

But that wasn’t the awkward part; I can get over some uncomfortably placed flags in the name of some good old Lone Star spirit, this was so much worse.

Today a man in very short, very small shorts jogged in front of me while I was power walking.  Yes, power walking.  After a few moments he suddenly turned around to face me and began jogging backwards.  This is not good trail ettiquite- where was I supposed to look!?  The shorts!  His weird skinny legs!  I was so uncomfortable.  After a few minutes he finally turned around but good Lord, those were some of the longest moments of my life.

And that’s that, welcome to the awkwardness.

The Curly Girl Catches The Worm

One thing that really chaps my ass – which, by the way, is a gross expression that I’m not sure why I like – is how movies portray women with curly hair. 

I’m as guilty as the rest; I secretly love when I straighten my hair but I’m also really proud of my naturally curly hair.  But that, my friends, is why things like this make me sad.

Source

How sad is it that the pre-makeover hairstyle of choice is curly hair?  How is that supposed to make me, or any girl with curly hair, feel good about our hair’s natural texture?

Whenever I start thinking that the grass is greener on the straight-hair side, I have to remember what my new hairdresser told me.  After my first three-hour haircut with him I learned about the pattern of my hair growth (“highly unusual!”) and how rare my ringlets actually are (“only 1% of women have hair like this!”).  I’m pretty much the equivalent of what Justin Beiber is to Beliebers, but for curly hair stylists.

I wish everyone had the same view as my hair guy but I know this won’t be the last movie where a girl with curly hair needs a makeover.  I guess all I can do is wait for the day when the breaking news on CNN is about my hair’s growth pattern instead of Beiber’s locks being sold on eBay.  Sigh, that will be the day.

And on a separate note, who else is super excited to see The Help!?

Have You Seen Me?

Why can't I find any of my socks?  Seriously though, I think there are only three real pairs in my apartment.  

Missing: 70% of my socks

So much for trying to be a grown up.

Banana Recipes & Other Upsetting Things

I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed these funny little stickers on their bananas lately, maybe it’s a Texas thing, but these struck me as funny. 

Banana Sticker Source 

I mean bananas?  After dark?  Typically I don’t think about fruit when I hear that phrase.  Sorry Nana, that was inappropriate.

So I did a Google search when I wasn’t at work, just in case, and I found that Dole has all sorts of funny banana recipes. 

Evan made the mistake of cooking up a banana-based dish about two years ago in a casserole dish for me.  He described it as ‘something with a lot of things that you would like in it’.  I figured there would be cheese… maybe a salty meat?  But alas, it was the now infamous Banana Ham Casserole.  

Just a quick recap, this delight contained white bread soaked in cream, bananas, ham, crumbled up potato chips and all sorts of other very wrong things.  Sure, I do like some of those things individually, but together they represent a dish that should never be duplicated.

The reason I bring this up is that Dole has a recipe posted for banana ham quesadillas.  Apparently Paula Dean isn’t the only fan of this flavor combination.  Upsetting.

Easy Like Pudding

When I saw that Jell-O made a mix for those yummy Mousse Temptations I love so much (and Evan loves to steal), I figured I would give it a go and try to make them at home.  After all, those standard 3-packs are over $3 each and this box was only 69¢.

The directions seemed easy- add cold milk and mix.  And this is what happened to my shirt and the counter:

Pudding all ova!

The box made four ½ cup servings and after chilling them for a few hours, I had one for dessert and it was pretty good! 

The magic bullet cups came in handy

The at-home version is a little thicker than the regular mousse you find in the refrigerated section but for 17¢ per serving (compared to over $1 per serving!) I think I may keep a few spare boxes in the pantry.

Hidden Gems

One of the things that I love about living in a new place like Dallas is learning about the local favorites and the Texas institutions that can be found all over this sprawling city.  

For every destination we visit, I feel like I learn about two more things that we didn’t know we needed to see.  It’s like traveling, or in my experience, backpacking; the more locations you visit, the longer your list of places that you still need to see gets.

I always laugh (to myself) when I stumble upon a place I’ve heard a lot about in an area where I least expect it.  And after switching routes to work, I passed one of the most famous steakhouses in Dallas, Bob’s Steak & Chop House.  It’s on every top steakhouse list you’ll see written about the Big D, so I expected to find it in an old neighborhood downtown or even in Uptown. 

Corner of Wycliff and Lemmon

But it's here, at this funny intersection.  This location is sort of Uptown, sort of Highland Park, but definitely in a place where I wouldn’t have gone looking.  Take note, visitors.  You can get a fine Texas steak at this very modest looking  steakhouse.

Finally!

This weekend marked the culmination of one of our big goals since moving to Texas.  If you couldn't tell already, we dream big.


And we finally made it to In-N-Out!!

Getting ready

The line of cars when we got there was around the block and we had to wait for about 10 minutes to get a table.  There were all sorts of people there, families, little kids and drunkies from the bar.  I think we might fall into the latter category.

Look at that face!  Like Christmas morning.

Evan ordered from the secret menu and got some burgers Animal Style.  I opted for a Protein Style Cheeseburger, since, you know, without the bread this whole thing was a lot 'healthier'.  


Anyways, this was worth the wait and I'm happy to say that the nearest In 'N Out is a 10-15 minute drive from our apartment.  Can you only imagine that bad things that could happen if we could walk here?!  I don't even want to think about it.

Note to self: work on those tan lines