Getting back to my roots

Dallas is the first home I remember. And its major difference from every other place I've seen in the last two months?

SKY. THERE IS TONS AND TONS OF SKY.

It's kind of nice and refreshing. And then after a while my eye gets bored again and wants to look at things.

But after all's said, it's nice to know the sky ain't fallen yet.

I s'pose this post very technically does not belong on this blog, because Dallas is IN Texas... but if you're that anal, let me inform you that this is just a random name I threw together when I was in China and wanted to document my travels and explorations separately!! Don't be so picky. :P

Olivia and Garrick's townhouse is absolutely adorable. They put me in the office/one of the master bedrooms, and there's an awesome TUB!!! I took full advantage of that last night. :P Then, uh, had to scrub bathroom rings. I never noticed those when I was a kid. Eww, disgusting. I also ate leftover rice/green beans/chops, and that was delicious. Mmmm. I think I might... go eat another portion... :-[

I woke up this morning when Olivia left for work and Garrick started "work" (aka Starcraft) in the office. I pottered about, did two loads of laundry, had a BV coaching call, and went for [more] yummy Thai food with Garrick, picking Olivia up on the way. Tom Yum soup is mmm, mmm, good. I've also missed eating rice a lot. Funny, I know I was just in Asia, but I almost never ate rice there because I was so anxious to eat all the other carbful non-rice things... noodles, dough balls, dumplings, flat breads... Meh, I figure I can always get rice somewhere else. And I am right.

This is Olivia. Her face looks like this naturally.

This is Garrick. His natural expression is enhanced by his hair.

After lunch, Jeff King and his parents came by to pick me up and take me to see the King Tut exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art! Unfortunately, we weren't able to get tickets for a showing earlier than 6 p.m. (we got there at 3), so we spent a lot of time bumming in the rest of the museum.

Jeff's parents... Auntie Melody, and oh no, I don't remember his dad's name. XD 淑淑 ("uncle") works. ;p

This really trippy room turned people a monochrome flat yellow.

As evidenced by this photo, untampered with.

Jeff and I were buddies back in Sunday School kindergarten days; we used to compare how much lunch we could eat. Sometimes he won, sometimes I won. I regret to say that come second grade, we girls had turned into brats who chased Jeffery into the girls' bathroom every Sunday. XD Don't ask me why. I'm not sure we knew even back then. Anyway, he's one of the sweetest guys I know, 'cuz he totally doesn't hold it against any of us.

He's also a talented violinist - I believe he was busy earning a violin performance degree before he joined the Air Force. Conscience over passion - now that's impressive.

I want a dresser like this one!

All you ever wanted to know on one ticket.

Tiffany underwater scene!! I love it. You can't tell here, but the glass is textured, adding to the realistic effect.

Homage to my passion

I really like wrought iron. It's so bold and striking.

And again.

Jeff liked this crab, hahaha.

Um, robot desk chair?

MWAHAHAHA I SEE YOU NOWWWWWWW

This poor little guy looked rather agonized, being the bottommost creature in a carved bracket of creatures-stacked-on-creatures.

I like my shadow to the side. Um, this is a "skull hook." You know, for displaying all those heads you hunt home.

Pretty. I discovered that I like looking at furniture a lot. :| And clothing. (This is better than my childhood penchant for, well, nothing in a museum) This was my favorite painting. I spent at least 3 minutes staring at the paintwork that went into making her pearl necklace appear 3-D.

Sorry if this is too risque for anyone, but I found this statue absolutely hilarious. (I'm not mature enough to approach art objectively yet) His facial expression looks so deprecating and woebegone... he's about 22 feet tall and faces his audience straight-on. He's like, "Just let me pee in peace!"

Museum cafe decor

Sunset

We finally got into the King Tut exhibition, which was duly impressive and all that good stuff. I'm afraid that after an afternoon spent staring at artifacts, the Egyptian tomb contents just fell into my "more artifacts" mental categorization. I'm most interested in mummification techniques and they never elaborate enough on that, so what have you. I could only stare at their storage jars. It might be compared to, oh, I donno, being interested in cloning and being told that I could stare at the beakers used for genetic exploration after they were throughly washed and sterilized.

The Kings graciously dropped me off at Babe's, which apparently is some nice, famous fried chicken place in Carrollton. I found it pretty delicious. We found the wait to be about 25 minutes.

I have no comment.

Garrick and Olivia. Garrick's mother allegedly stated his need for a haircut about 8 times yesterday.

Garrick and his TAMS friend, whose name I don't quite know how to spell. Those green beans were quite yummy.

Best friend! Like I said, there's something wrong with her face. I don't friend normal (aka "boring") people. ;)

Yum.

We came home, I passed out from food coma and jet lag, and everyone else had a nice, social visit until I woke up at midnight to Hammer singing the economy song. After I was regaled with the song he wrote for Olivia and me (and our imaginary 80's sitcom), everyone else peeled off for bed and I have been left here to deal with the consequences of my earlier nap.