Road Trip!

It's 60 degrees. So WHY AM I SO COLD?
This is insanity.

Dallas was fun. As promised, pictures and details:

We left at about 7:30 am. Still dark. I think we are both total rockstars for getting up and on the road that early on a Saturday.

We stopped at Whataburger for breakfast. I'm not usually a fast-food person, but I've heard that they have the best breakfast sandwiches you could ask for, and it was pretty damn good. Plus I love those little fried hash brown things you can get.

greasy deliciousness

It's a loooong drive from Austin to Dallas. Long and flat and... that's about it. I looked at the map and discovered that we would be driving past Italy, Texas. We decided we really must stop in Italy. So, we pulled off the freeway, and immediately discovered this:

It's a UFO!!!

So of course we stopped and looked around. Turns out, the Pegasus is for rent or sale. It used to be an arcade/ice cream shop/mini golf course. I want to buy it. Too bad it's in the middle of nowhere.

Side view of the Starship Pegasus

Road trips were invented for this shit.

To infinity.... and Beyond!

Aliens! Or, bored teenagers?

After that brilliant discovery, we drove into Italy, Texas. The only thing Italy, Texas has going for it is the name. Also they apparently once had a good boys basketball team.

1997? 1987? Who knows?

The rest of the town looks like this:

Italy, Texas. Nothing happens here.

Why are there so many cities with names like this in Texas? I know there's also Odessa... people missing home back when Texas was being settled?


Onward we moved. We made it to Dallas at about 11 and went to the Farmer's Market.

Yeah, that's me and a tractor.

Pretty produce
Okra. Very pretty. Not very tasty.

Talleri bought corn. Yum.

I want to live this farmers market. I realize this is an unrealistic dream, but a person has to have dreams.

After the farmer's market, we went to the Dallas Children's Theater and got a tour from one of the staff members. They have been in the building for about 4 years, so it is really neat to see such a new space. We then got to see the show, Lily's Purple Plastic Purse.

...SCT is so amazing, it's really hard to see Children's Theater anywhere else and not judge it very harshly. I know the script is great, Kevin Kling, who also wrote Busytown, (and who I think is an amazing genius and is how I daydream my Minnesota family to be) wrote it a few years ago, and it premiered at SCT. So the potential for awesomness is there. However, I was disappointed. (Sadly though, not entirely surprised.)

After the play, we went to Cafe Brazil, which I had been told was not to be missed. We stuffed ourselves silly with delicious food, then drove around until we found the Dallas Theater Center, where I have applied for a job (which I hope to have news on this week.)

The DTC building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

As it was Saturday, there was a matinee of the current show, so we walked around a bit. The theater is right next to Robert E. Lee Park. Yeah. Welcome to Texas.
The park has a creek running through it, and turtles live there. Very neat.

Turtle!!!

We picked up a bunch of literature on the new Dallas Center for the Performing Arts being built in Dallas while at DTC, and decided to go check it out. The Dallas Theater Center, the opera, and several other performing arts groups will be moving there when it is completed in October 2009.
It's a pretty freaking big deal.

The building in process.

I had been looking on Craiglist at apartments in Dallas, and found some cute affordable ones in The Bishop Arts District, so that was our next stop.
What a freaking adorable neighborhood! Had I thought to Google it beforehand, I would have known what to expect, but as it was, I was pleasantly surprised. Obama signs could be found in many front lawns. The little shopping area is full of cute boutiques, restaurants with delicious smells, and quirky little shops like The Soda Gallery, a store full of every kind of soda you could imagine. In addition to soda, the store also housed a comic book shop. I had never been in a comic shop before, and I think that's probably a good thing. They have Shaun of the Dead comics! And then there was an action figure and the guy and I talked about Simon Pegg and he told me the name of his business was Boomstick Comics and I loved it all. So, if (and it's still a big IF) I do move to Dallas, I have found where I would want to live.

Now I have Simon Pegg in my bedroom!

Then began the drive home. Our one stop was at The Czech Stop, a Czech themed convenience store in West, Texas. I purchased two Kolaches,* an energy drink, and a ridiculous straw cowboy hat that says "TEXAS."

The End

*Kolaches are very big here. They are delicious in that greasy weird way, and I can't quite figure out why they don't exist in Washington.

I've been thinking...

I've decided to name my first-born-child Peanut Brittle. If celebrities can go around naming their kids "Apple" (Gwenyth Paltro), "Zula" (Gwen Stephani), "El-Kal" (Nicolas Cage), "Ocean" (Forest Whittaker), and "Blue Angel" (The Edge from U2), then I'm going to name my kid after something truly awesome.

Peanut Brittle.

 

I did leave the house today, I promise. More than once, even.

Yesterday, I:

Found the ATM (in the middle of nowhere), found the library (closed for Labor Day weekend), and had dinner with my friend Talleri (have I mentioned how much I love Tex-Mex food? Because I do. A lot. Mmmmm). 

Then last night I volunteered at the Out of Bounds Improv Festival. I got to take tickets. Thrilling. But I did meet a bunch of new people, impressed them with my smooth personality and suave manner (ok maybe not), and saw some improv. Saw ColdTowne, awesome as always, and Kape, an all-female troupe out of NYC. I like to see all-female troupes. Girls can be funny together in a different way. After the shows, I went out with some ColdTowne people and other Austin folk, at a bar I had been to when I was in town last. Apparently, nothing has changed since I was here in June. 

After hanging out with improv peeps, I ended up at a party down the street with my roommate and a bunch of other UT people. 

Apparently I party like a rockstar in Austin. 

TODAY, I:

Had lunch at Central Market (which is like Metro Mart times 10), then I went to the Gap in search of work pants. No luck on the pants, but I did manage to spend far too much money. Damn the Gap. 

Then tonight I volunteered at another Out of Bounds show. This weekend (and today in particular) EVERYONE was in downtown Austin. I mean everyone. There was a 10k (The Nike Human Race),* a triatholon, BatFest, Out of Bounds, and I'm sure several other things. 

Due to all of these events, ALL OF DOWNTOWN AUSTIN was closed. Not the businesses, restaurants, and venues, just the streets. ALL OF THEM. I was the luckiest girl alive to find a parking spot within a mile of the venue, and I did it by following people to their car. 

We held the house for a half an hour because downtown was so ridiculous, and there were still a ton of people who had bought tickets online who didn't make it. Sucks for them. 

The shows were good - one fantastic and one decent. 

Girls Girls Girls, billed as "Austin's only all-female improv troupe," specializes in improvised musicals. I wanted very badly to love the show. 

I did not. 

There were some moments of genius, but there were also a lot of moments of less-than-genius. Improvised songs are really hard, I hate doing them, and the thought of doing an entire show terrifies the crap out of me, but I have seen it done so much better than GGG's musical about beauty pageants. 

Perhaps I have been spoiled, seeing so many tight, well-performed musicals at Jet City, but this show seemed lacking in so many ways: Plot, for one. It was there, but not well-formed. Also, for a musical show, there was not a lot of songs. There was quite a bit of "speaking rhythmically while music plays," though. Cop-out. If you bill yourselves as a troupe that does improvised musicals, then do a musical. Sing some songs, sing different kinds of songs, don't bore me. I think they needed more structure than "we're going to do a musical based on a suggestion." There are so many kinds of musical, I think they should have picked a theme beforehand.

(They are going to find this someday and hate me. Oh well.)

The second troupe to perform was a troupe from The Groundlings, out of LA. The Groundlings have a great reputation, and for good reason. Yep. It was apparent that most of the improvisors spend a great deal of time onstage. 

Sitting in the audience tonight, I realized it must be terrifying to perform for a large group of improvisors. Way scarier than performing for the general public.

Now I'm sitting here, debating putting on my PJs. By last night's standards, it's still early. 

*I am absolutely horrified just at the thought of running a 10k. Now add 90 degree weather. These people are out of their minds.