a dandy halloween

It's no secret that the town where we're currently living was not my first choice in location. But I will say this about it, and this comes from the bottom of my heart:

The locals have pretty decent taste in Halloween decorations.

Except for that guy.

Happy Halloween!

Today

Today, October 28, was the first day this fall that it was cool outside past 8 am.

This was our reaction:

@geauxsicles

I can't believe I forgot to tell you guys this. The other day I was just hanging out on the curb, eating a popsicle, minding my own business, when someone recognized Y and me as those people with the white dog who wears glasses on a blog.

By my calculations, the odds of that happening are slim to none.

Okay, fine, that may not be exactly how it happened. I may have driven by the gourmet popsicle store a month before it opened, noticed its unique idea and cool font, and gotten excited. Blame it on my advertising background, but I get excited when businesses put effort into their identity. Especially in this city, where you are likely to see a tattoo parlor with a comic sans logo.

Anyway, I may have googled the gourmet popsicle place, Geauxsicles, as soon as I got home. And I may have added them on both facebook and twitter. And then I may have tweeted about them several times. And they may have tweeted me back. We basically knew each other.

So when I went in for my first taste of gourmet popsicle goodness, I probably should not have been shocked when the guy behind the counter (Hi Walter!) asked if Y and I had a white dog and assumed the alias Just Dandy. But I was shocked. I probably looked at the Geauxsicles staff as if they had just [insert the creepiest thing involving popsicles you can think of here]. Add that to the list of awkward moments I'll never get back.

But you know what? I got a popsicle out of it. And not only was it delicious, but someone put effort into every little thing that goes in to making a popsicle and selling it. And I don't know about everyone else, but I appreciate that.

{photo from the geauxsicles facebook page}

My first pop:
And next time I'll be trying...

Day 10: a wanderlist

The other day Y had the bright idea to put a chair on our front porch. I know, right? Groundbreaking. Now our favorite thing to do is sit on our new chair and look out at our beautiful view.

And by look at our beautiful view, I meant pretend we have a view.

Y's pick:

My pick:



Our mutual pick:

Yes,it will be difficult backing out of the driveway into water, but so worth it.

On a more realistic note, I've actually made a list of places in my area that I'd like to visit before we eventually move to our house in Central Parksterdam, Ireland.

Because I'm a big list nerd, I literally made a file in word, separated out into restaurants, bars, outdoors, experiences, and road trips. So if you're a local friend and want to join me on my quest to, I don't know, eat a kolache, let me know and I'll share. But here's my broader road trip list:

1. Visit Natchitoches -- where Steel Magnolias was filmed -- during Christmastime and take a Steel Magnolias tour.

2. Austin, TX. I've never been to Austin and I think that needs to be fixed. On my actual list, to emphasize the seriousness of the situation, I have it as "AUS.TIN".

3. Go wine tasting in Texas wine country and visit Fredericksburg, TX, a little German community that I've heard has delicious food.

4. This was not on my list until about 2 seconds ago, but I just came across a travel blog for my area and they profiled some hiking and biking trails at a resort called Cypress Bend that I had never heard of.

5. Monroe is a city I've heard absolutely nothing good about, but one of my favorite blogs, DesignSponge, does city profiles and somehow Monroe made its way onto their list. Mu curiosity is officially piqued.

6. Any kind of middle of nowhere festival. I've heard about a sunflower festival, a lavender festival, a tamale festival, and my friend Jenna went to a Dr. Pepper festival.

7. Hot Springs, Arkansas. Bathhouses totally creep me out, but I want to see one.

8. The Abita Brewery. Why I never went when I lived in South Louisiana, I'll never know.

9. Marfa, Texas is nowhere near me, but if we ever happen to be out west, I am completely intrigued by the place. Jane at Sea of Shoes (the authority on cool) describes it as "a gritty West Texas cowboy art colony". Some Marfa art -- a "Prada store" in the middle of nowhere:

source

Other Marfa pictures: (1)(2)(3)(4)(5).

Anyone local have any other suggestions? Who's going to help me tackle my list?

you would spray paint too, if it happened to you

I failed my WBThirty challenge, didn't I? I was very busy watching a terrible weekend of football and hosting a pumpkin carving party at which I did not carve, but instead spray painted, a pumpkin. Everyone made fun of me. At my own party. It was like a third grade nightmare.

But I like my tacky gold pumpkin. In fact, I'm pretty sure the pumpkin is now my house's greatest asset. Right after Ike. Speaking of Ike, he wore a tie.


And someone carved a potentially really offensive abortion pumpkin. I can't think of one successful party that didn't have an abortion pumpkin. So I guess we succeeded?

Edited to add: My friend Lindsey posted pictures of the party from her fancy camera to her cute blog, focused LINZ.

Also edited to add: LOOK. Another gold pumpkin.

WBThirty will continue tomorrow. Some late night photoshopped masterpieces will be included. Get excited!

these kinds of things ALWAYS happen to me.

One of my new favorite games to play is to guess a stranger's name. My friends don't remember this, but while in Chicago we dubbed a random guy on the street "Mark Zuckerberg" (I guess the nerd-y look and curly blonde hair are in these days) and he decided that we all looked like "Mindy"s.

All that to say that I want you to play my game with me.

The other morning I woke up and checked my phone. 1 new message from an area code I had never heard of. I opened the message, expecting something from a clever politician, or maybe a wrong number, but I didn't expect what I got:

So, readers, what do you think? What's his name? What's his story? Why was he sending a picture of himself in a white t-shirt and coke boxers? What's with his face?

And, go.

*I added the face. I decided this guy didn't deserve to be completely humiliated. Although it would have been a better story if it came with his face like that.

Day 9: If I had a million dollars...

If I had a million dollars, I would pay Y to stop asking me how his new bow-tie looks*. But I don't. So I'll pass the job on to you, readers. Dashing or Colonel Sanders-esque? Cute or douche-baggy?

*Just kidding, Y. I enjoy being your neckwear consultant.

tales from the highway

I know you were all disappointed that I broke from the WBThirty posts this weekend and you didn't get to find out "what I would do if I won the lottery." I have a good reason, though. This past weekend, I drove 8 hours roundtrip to spend exactly 24 hours in Texas. The payoff was worth it - I got to see friends who live out of town, watch an episode of "Sisterwives", eat my first Vietnamese sandwich, and nearly vomit from laughing at an Aziz Ansari show. I think everyone needs to experience nearly vomiting from laughing at least once in their life, so I definitely recommend you see Aziz.

(Let me clarify that: I definitely recommend you see Aziz if you understand the humor in R Kelly and Kanye West, and can handle 99% off color jokes. Y's parents heard I was seeing Aziz, trusted my taste, and rented his stand up. They were...not impressed. Moral of the story: don't blindly trust my taste, and avoid Aziz Ansari if you can't laugh at a joke about R Kelly having sex with an ATM.)

To be honest, I kind of enjoyed my eight hour solitary road trip. The highway I took was really interesting -- especially this:

It was so cool and old that life actually started de-saturating as I drove by.

Turns out someone might actually live in this abandoned theater. This being Texas, I decided to get off their lawn as quickly as possible.

(Edited to add: I just did some Googresearch and discovered that this theater was an XXX drive in, which makes it that much creepier.)

Somewhere around hour 2, I discovered that my $5 Target sunglasses are magic autumn glasses. I kept thinking to myself how odd it was that Texas had such great fall foliage, but soon realized that the tint of my sunglasses was making things look way prettier than they really were. While the rest of the travelers on this highway saw this:

I saw this:

Also on this highway, I was able to play a rousing game of "Funeral Home or Fancy Neighborhood?" with myself.

(Well now that I've zoomed in I see there's a golfer in the first picture. That was NOT visible from the highway.)

Aren't you impressed with my ability to entertain myself? Any good road trip stories out there?

Fear not - back to your regularly scheduled WBThirty posts soon.

day 8: a photo of me taken over 10 years ago

Oh, hello.



It's me, 1994 D. I know what you're thinking: I stole these glasses from Dwight Shrute. FALSE. It is 1994, Dwight Shrute has not been invented yet.

So what's it like in 2010? Do I have diabeetus from all these orange sodas I've been drinking? Are black jeans and over-sized cartoon character t-shirts back in yet? Has my neck been excavated from beneath my chins?

The reason I am posing for you, foot in hand, is because I'm currently attending a surprise party for myself, thrown by my elementary school friends -- many of whom I will never see again -- before I leave the great state of Texas once and for all. That's right. I'm wearing a Flintstones t-shirt to my going away party. Kill me now.

I hope I've influenced you, 2010 D. I hope that you not only have sworn off the orange soda, but that you will always remember life's golden rule: you never know when your picture might be taken. Dress accordingly.

Day 7: My [dog's] favorite things {wbthirty}

One of the funniest things about Ike is that he has very distinct preferences. Are most dogs like this? My dog growing up would eat anything, lay down anywhere, and was perfectly content so long as he wasn't hungry, so I assumed that's how all dogs were.

Not this little diva.

"Uh, are you kidding? This log is NOT on my approved list of places to sniff."

Ike is quite exclusive about his food habits. Of course he'll eat any and all meat, but his second favorite form of people food is anything green.

I can't help but feel like I've done something right here.

Like a true diva, Ike is watching his carbs. He will not, under any circumstances, eat bread (he'll make an exception for challah, the bread of his people).

One night Y's brother left a pizza on the floor of our living room (don't ask. Actually, you know what, do ask. Ask Y's brother where he learned to be such a terrible house guest). We got up in the middle of the night to investigate some suspicious chewing -- Ike had licked the entire pizza clean, leaving only the crust, fully intact.

Ike also has lounging preferences. He will only sit on something soft -- yoga mats, socks, backpacks -- bonus points if it smells like one of us.




And of course, Ike has a preference in his college football loyalty. Chosen all by himself. Swearsies. He loves t-shirts.