Things I am Looking Forward to This Weekend

Things I am Looking Forward to This Weekend

1)  Eating Pho!!!
I am forever in love with pho.  I probably eat it at least once or twice a week.  I like to think that it is extra special healthy, and that there is some sort of Eastern mystical benefits of eating such a spicy/foreign dish.  I mean, I used to call pho a “forest in a bowl,” due to the fact that, unlike most western soups, pho is made up of a bunch of unrelated ingredients hanging out in a big thing of broth.  And it kind of looks like someone emptied a teeny tiny forest into a bowl.  Of course, its not REALLY a forest in a bowl (I like that I spelled that out for you), and I have no evidence that my pho is especially healthy for me, but I have pretty much convinced myself that by eating what looks sticks and leaves mixed with noodles, both my physical and spiritual health are improved.

Now, I am no pho expert.  I have eaten it at a grand total of 5 different restaurants (including one in College Station, which I don’t even know if that should count) that serve pho.  However, I have decided that (in my limited experience) the best pho in Dallas (and I guess College Station) is found at Green Papaya.  Basically, I love their pho because they tell me exactly how much spice to add.  I mean, listen, I am definitely not Vietnamese.  I am very very non-Vietnamese.  If you don’t measure out the burning hot chili sauce and the extra yummy sweet sauce out for me, I will end up with a super burning/sickeningly sweet bowl of noodles and beef, with way too much cilantro and not enough lime juice.  It has happened before, and it breaks my heart every time.  But anyways, enough about the deliciousness that is pho, the point of this bullet is that I get to eat it!  Today!  At lunch!  So it is item number one and things I am looking forward to over the weekend.

2)  Taste of Dallas!
When I first moved to Dallas, I was pretty disappointed in its attempt at a Taste of Dallas.  Unlike the city’s phenomenal efforts at Restaurant Week, Dallas’s Taste of Dallas is slightly underwhelming.  Dallas has some great restaurants!  I want to taste them!  But no.  The restaurants participating in Taste of Dallas are the usual touristy/West End dwelling ones that participate every year.  BUT.  With that all being said, I still love going!  I love buying little $2 samples of all sorts of random food, eating it or taking a bite, yelling “Yuck!” and moving on to the next booth!  It doesn’t matter!  You only paid two dollars!!  And plus, I never get bored.  People are always commenting that, for someone who loves food as much as I do, I sure do seem to only eat a tiny portion of my plate.  Usually, people assume it’s because I am a weird dieter, and that I only eat part of my plate as some sort of wasteful dieting technique.  This is not true.  Mostly, I continue eating whatever it is that I ordered until I get bored of the taste.  This happens quickly.  I then move on whatever’s on Blake’s plate and pick at that until I get stabbed on the hand.  Then I pick out dessert.  But if you give me a large variety of foods and permission to pick at small quantities of a lot of different things??  Well, that is my idea of heaven (I am easily pleased.  I also love ghetto buffets with giant dessert sections).  So I am looking forward to the Taste of Dallas.  Oh yes I am.

3)  Yarn Sale at My Favorite Yarn Store!
I am actually leaving work a little early for this one.  Ok, I know knitting is not cool to the majority of people.  I realize that, besides the articles that talk about all the movie stars who knit on set, Texas has yet to embrace the greatness that is knitting.  I personally love it.  I really hate not having anything to do, and I have spent my life toting around books/notebooks/whatevers JUST IN CASE a boredom inducing situation presents itself.  Some of my worst memories from childhood involve being stuck at the mechanic/furniture store/doctor’s office with NO BOOK.  It was awful (I realize I have led a pretty charmed life).  Knitting solves the same problem.  Now, I not only tote around books everywhere, I have added a giant bag full of multiple projects for any situation!  Which leads me to my next exciting event of the weekend:  I will be leaving work approximately 30 minutes early in order to go to my favorite yarn store and get 30% off everything they have!  I mean, its not like I don’t already have enough yarn for a lifetime (believe me, I do), its just that I love yarn!  I love buying it and I can’t wait to buy more!  If you are in the Dallas area this weekend, and like buying extraneous quantities of yarn for projects to be named at a later date, check out The Shabby Sheep (yes, all yarn stores have similarly awesome names).

4)  Picking up my new chair!
Ok people.  When Blake and I moved in together 3 months ago, we got rid of an old friend of mine – Ugly Beige Couch That Once Lived In A College Dorm.  I have moved into 5 different locations across 3 cities and 2 states with this couch, and it was definitely Not Cute.  But it was also definitely comfortable.  It was a hard decision to part with UBCTOLIACD, but I like to think that it has a new good home, now living among the Indian population of Las Colinas (that is not a joke.  There is a giant Indian population living in Las Colinas.  Fact).   Anyways, Blake and I decided that we would make do with some stools until we bought a new chair to take the place of UBCTOLIACD, and I quickly turned the patented Dansereau Obsession Button on for finding a cheap but cute chair.  This proved to be much more difficult then I once thought.  Furniture stores cater towards moms.  I just don’t get it.  Why the mom furniture??  It was beyond frustrating.  Anything cute cost way over what I wanted to pay, and so I obsessed.  In fact, maybe I will make it a future blog post to rate the selection/prices of all the furniture stores in Dallas, because I’m pretty sure I hit most of them (that is an exaggeration, but still, there were a lot).  Finally, I gave up on cute.  All I wanted was “not ugly.”  Oh yeah, and “cheap.”  And finally, I found one!  For those of you who are interested, the cheapest non-terrible furniture in the metroplex is found at the Roomstore off 635.  I mean it’s probably not where you want to get anything “long-lasting” or “unique,” but for my purposes, it will do.  This loveseat will be in my possession in approximately 6 hours, and I am pretty sure that all the people who came over to mine and Blake’s apartment and had to sit on stools will be very appreciative.

Side note:  after buying Not Ugly But Not Cute Chair, Blake and I made one more visit (oh there were tons of previous visits, don’t worry) to Home Goods out in Las Colinas.  And we found Super Awesome Olive Green Chair.  So I bought that too.  We now have 2 chairs and wow, I am way too excited by furniture.

Ok world of blog readers!  I am going to go now.  After re-reading my list, I realized that I am truly easily amused.