Lone Star State of Mind

Dallas was awesome.  I loved every minute of the trip, and I had the best time with some crazy fun people.  I have lots of pics (of course) which I hope will be up very soon, but for now I'll just share with you a few of my favorite things about the trip.

The Top 10 Things that Made Dallas Awesome

10.  Yogurt.  I don't remember the last time I ate so much frozen yogurt, and I know for a fact I've never had any like this.  It was seriously the freshest, most amazing thing I've ever put in my mouth.  OrangeCup and Yogalicious are divine establishments.

9.  Solving all the world's problems.  Becca and I solved the majority of them on the drive to Dallas and, with some help from Kathleen and Anna, had them all solved by the time the weekend drew to a close.  If the world would just give us fifteen minutes and a bull horn, we could have it all set straight.  Easy enough, right?

8.  Becca's numerous traffic-related anxiety attacks.  You haven't lived until you've seen Becca have a freak-out meltdown in the middle of traffic.  It's classic, really.  There were several throughout the course of this weekend, and one or two even took place while Becca wasn't even the driver.  Oh, yeah, and there was the time she made us park in the next-to-last spot of a huge lot just because "driving around the whole place just isn't worth it."  Um, speak for yourself, Bec.

7.  Living through a visit to Sam Moon and the Rock 'n' Rollercoaster ride from hell it took to get us there.  I thought on numerous occasions that I was going to see my lunch reappear, yet no one else in the car took me at all seriously.  (Probably because most of the attention was going to Becca... see #8.)  I risked my life and rolled down my window in a particularly seedy part of the ghetto just to gasp in the cool air.  And don't even get me started on Sam Moon, this mega-store jam-packed with discount purses, jewelry, etc and about a zillion people scrounging around for the most sought-after bargain.  I wanted to start pushing people down and run for the exit more than one time while I was there.

6.  Liar's Den.  This bar had it all.  A dance floor where Kathleen could cut a rug, a rooftop bar with an amazing view of the skyline where Becca and I could make new friends, and a staircase connecting the two that Anna could run up and down eight million times. 

5.  Four inches of snow on the ground and not one article of appropriate clothing.  Friday when a lady told us it was supposed to snow the next day, we walked out in the 75 degree sunshine and immediately proclaimed her insane.  The next day, however, when running through the fattest snowflakes I've ever seen dressed in the heaviest pieces of clothing we brought (mere cardigans), we thought perhaps we should have paid her a little more attention.  Saturday night I slept under four blankets (one of which was a bedspread), and Anna's dog was dressed more warmly than me.

4.  Meeting a sweet boy who reminded me that all men are not, in fact, neanderthals.  My faith in the male race has been marginally restored, at least temporarily.

3.  Problematic sleeping arrangements.  One night I slept upright like Abraham Lincoln.  Becca spent a night on the hardwood floor, waking up saying it felt like "a bed of nails on concrete."  Anna curled up in the tiniest ball ever imagined and perched on the end of the couch.  I could feel the cold air of the snow coming in through the window even underneath my scores of heavy blankets.  Kathleen, however, somehow managed to end up in the warm, comfortable bed every night... how did that happen, Kat?

2.  The most awesome concert ever.  I was beyond pumped to see the Peas, but I was just pretty pumped to see Ludacris.  Let me tell you, Luda blew it out of the park.  He was unbelievable, and his back-up dancers shaking their moneymakers would blow your mind.  The Peas were just as off-the-charts amazing as I had hoped they would be, and I never wanted the concert to end.  I've never really understood watching a concert on DVD, but I wish I had a recording of this one I could watch over and over and over again.

1.  Laughing my head off.  Whether it was the car that smelled like a frat house, the inappropriate things we seemed to constantly be saying, the recaps of the night before, or Becca's outfit on the ride home, we were constantly in stitches.  I know the people around us wished we would pipe down and chill out, but we just couldn't do it.  We were just having too much fun.  I can't wait to go back to Dallas again soon and laugh until I can't breathe all over again.