Sheer Dallas

(Republic Bank Building) (Bank of America Building)

Having been in Dallas last week, I have officially visited three of the largest cities in Texas. Austin, Houston and Dallas. Of course, I love AUSTIN!! It is such a beautiful place and so much going on there without it being too big and we are totally moving there! Houston has it's charms though it is certainly a big city and as such the traffic is atrocious but the shopping is great.

I wasn't sure what to expect of Dallas but I was really excited to go, especially because I had heard so much about it. Francesca was worried that I might pick up some of Dallas' more flashy habits, which she had seen last year on TLC's program Sheer Dallas but I assured her that I would not being purchasing anything with rhinestones on it. I think what actually scared her is that I really enjoyed Sheer Dallas with all of its glitz and totally outrageous personalities. I guess that I must admit that one of the things that I really enjoy about Texas is that people here love to do things on a grand scale, they do things with real gusto! I love that. And so, off to Dallas we went, looking for adventure! Well actually really we went for business, but you know still there was a little bit of adventure too. We took the back roads from Vidor and saw some beautiful countryside. And then we reached the Big D!

We stayed at the famous Adolphus Hotel which was built in 1912 and to this day retains much of its charm and tradition. So charming in fact that the morning we were leaving, InStyle magazine was hosting a Wedding Party for brides who were preparing for their big day. I was so thrilled about this that I went down to take some pictures! I was able to get some good practice taking photographs at an event like this. And even stopped another photographer to ask for tips.

As for the city itself. Well, we were primarily in the Downtown. But the skyline was great and the pictures above were taken from our hotel room window. Not a bad view! We asked someone at the hotel to tell us about the building with the green lights on it. They said that it used to be another building but later became the Bank of America building. At some point the maintenance of the lights got to be too much so they were abruptly shut off one day. This resulted in an outcry of protest from the people of Dallas who felt that it was a signature of their city's skyline and after enough pressure the green lights returned! I must admit that the green building rather grew on me as well.

I also found that it was really wonderful to see so many buildings with that stunning old architecture of times past. The Adolphus building itself was adorned so beautifully with wonderful relief work and it was not alone. Another building of historical importance to Dallas was the first ever, original Neiman Marcus department store building dating back to 1907. Before coming to Texas I did not realize how big department stores are here. In Canada, I find that they seem to be a dying breed, but not here in Texas! And Neiman Marcus, well they are their own story. Most things in their store I could not hope to afford at this point in my life, that is to say, I cannot afford at this time a night gown for nearly $600. But don't get me wrong not everything there is so outrageous, but still Neimans carries with it that high end feel. It is a place where very rich people call in and place orders to be delivered directly to their homes, where you can arrange for a personal shopper and where that old-timey classy department store atmosphere still abounds, especially at the downtown Dallas location.

Our trip to Dallas was only a few days and the days themselves were filled with other activities but I must say that I left feeling glad to have experienced at least a little of what Dallas is about. They say that Dallas is a very friendly place and I have to say that I did find this. While taking pictures outside of various buildings a man sitting in a park handing out some kind of pamphlets spared me his own cause to suggest other great building to take pictures of. The night before we left we were having dinner in the hotel bistro where the wall decor happen to be all sorts of tea pots and since I love taking tea and have been collecting tea sets of late, I really wanted to take some pictures. Well, the waiters went out of their way to make sure that I got more than just the ones by our table and a lady sitting in another booth called me over to make sure that I got a picture of the ones by her table which she thought we just as worthy of being photographed. The cowboy teapot below was one of my favorites simply because it was so very Texan!

And so, I am back. It is good to be home. And Francesca will be glad to know that I have not warped into a flashy Dallasite, though in reality I do not believe that all of them are as flashy as the one lady on Sheer Dallas. But one thing that I could not get over and found incredibly hilarious was the sight of full on winter coats being worn by some of the people on the streets in 54F (+12C) weather! What a travesty that I did not have my camera with me at that moment!
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(This is just not a sign that you are likely to see in Canada! I had to take a picture of it!)

Blonde Liberation

I was born a blonde. I was a very cute blonde. But then grade three rolled around and shades of brown started making an appearance amidst the lovely shades of blonde. And by fourth grade I was a brunette. I am not bitter about it, in fact, I think that it served me well to be a brunette for those formative school years, it kept me studious. And as a brunette I had my fair share of fun too. Once several years ago I tried going blonde again, but the drugstore variety hair dyes did not do their best to make the transition a successful one. And so my brunette days continued.

But then, I moved to Texas, and my soon to be mother-in-law marched me into a hair salon and demanded "BLONDE!! We want blonde highlights to liven her up a bit." I was not opposed to the idea, but at the same time, how would I look, would it be too much? Well, I threw caution to wind and thought, lay it on me, let's go for it. I loved the results! By the time it was time to touch up the roots again I was even more bold than Dianne had been, "MORE BLONDE" I demanded. A couple of days ago I had a fourth appointment. In the last six months I have managed to nudge my brunette days further and further out the door, but on Thursday I think I all but slammed the door shut.

I have officially reclaimed my blonde self!! And she a fabulous woman! Full of life, happy, laughs a lot, and it would seem with a few less inhibitions! Watch out world!

I have also passionately fallen in love with disgustingly huge, face eating sunglasses, a la Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's. The irony here is of course, that when I started wearing glasses back in the third grade, my parent's felt that the bigger the glasses the better you could see, so for years I had HUGE glasses. And as soon as I could I started trying to downsize my frames to almost nothingness. Now here I am quite willingly buying the biggest sunglasses I could find! Ha! I love it!

So having liberated my hair and having found the most awesomely huge sunglasses I could get my hands, I stepped out from behind my usual station behind the camera and let Dianne and Chris turn the tables on me. With Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made For Walkin' blasting from the stereo I had quite the photo session! We had a blast!

So what will I do with all this great blonde liberating energy?!? Who knows! The possibilities are endless! And I feel ready to take on the world .......... so "are you ready boots?"