Ramblings: A Taste of Dallas

Jason and I went into Downtown Dallas this weekend to go to the Farmer's Market. Now, just to infuse this post with a little bit of my soapbox standings, I feel that I need to explain a bit about me before I proceed. I mean, it's my American duty/honor/right/freedom...oh who am I kidding? I like to shop at Farmer's Markets and local shops because, well, the food/goods are local. And when you support the businesses that are around you, then you are supporting your country's economy.

I will actually pay a little more to shop at the local liquor store instead of the huge Alcoholic Outlet. I will travel 20 miles to go pick up fresh local (within 100 miles) produce at the Farmer's Market that's usually just picked the day before. I recycle (somewhat obsessively...when I see Jason throw something away, I always am quick to remind him that it can go in recycle), have a tiny garden to grow my own herbs/peppers/tomatoes, and I smell like patchouli. Just kidding on that last bit. Although I am starting to smell like a hippy. I need to take a shower ASAP.

Whew! I needed to get that off my chest and I have now stepped off the soap box. Here are some fun architectural pictures I took. Some of these are buildings that Jason is working on so that's fun too!

This building represents the 80's Dallas boom so, well, '80's-like but it's so "today" at the same time.

This one really isn't that exciting to me but it's another 70's-80's building that used to be an office building and within the last year it re-opened as trendy Dallas lofts/apartments called Mosaic. I wish I had gotten a picture of their sign because it's just my style...very mod, urban and fun. The glass in this picture was project managed by Jason and they are huge floor to ceiling windows (curtain wall, Jason would be so proud of me!) in, I think the kitchen/living rooms of these lofts, pretty cool!

Now this next picture looks really cool and I'm REALLY mad at myself that we didn't go inside this structure. It's the spiral tower at Thanks-Giving Square if we had actually walked inside it (Jason walked in and said it smelled like his grandfather's house...OLD) and looked up, we would have seen a spiral of horizontally placed stained glass. From the website, it says it's one of the largest horizontally-placed stained-glass pieces in the world....AHHH!!!

Oh and if you know your Dallas episodes, Thanksgiving Square is where a scene between Bobby Ewing and Kristen's live-in boyfriend were working out Kristen's baby situation.

This is the Old Red Courthouse which is now called the Old Red Museum. This sits right across the street from where JFK was assassinated. It's about 120-130 years old and it recently was re-opened to the public as a museum.

Here's a fun pic that I took utilizing a slow shutter speed to show the motion of the Dart bus. Just a sidenote...Dallas needs to get their act together or they are going to find that all these apartments/lofts for downtown living will be a bust if they don't work on getting some activities/locations that you can walk to. Think Chicago. A city that is near and dear to my heart from all the wonderful memories that I have from when Jason and I were dating long-distance. This would be our meeting place a lot of the time. It had everything you can think of AND the kicker was you could walk, ride your bike, or take the El...all in a downtown setting.

And last but not least is one of Jason's current jobs. It's on McKinney Ave. and it's the hip place to dwell and hang out if you are young, successful and (probably) single.