The Southern Thing: One Week

It's been one week since I arrived in Dallas and what a great week it has been! Things are finally starting to feel normal. By normal I mean I'm finally living a life like what I was used to. I'm in a city again with endless shopping, restaurants, and things to do. I know I've mentioned the shopping and restaurants already, but I can't help myself. When you've been stuck in the most boring place in New England for two years where the only place to eat in town is Applebee's, you'd feel the same way.

Dallas reminds me a lot of my hometown (suburb of New Orleans), which reminds me why I chose it in the first place. It's also nice to not feel like a complete foreigner anymore too. People here don't pronounce New Orleans "New Or-Leans" (it's New Or-Lins), ask me if I'm eating rice and chopped hot dogs when they see a bowl of jambalaya, and don't assume I'm from some hick swamp town with a pet alligator just because I have a Louisiana license plate. It's the little things, y'all, and it's nice to be back!

Speaking of things to do, last night I spent a few hours at Klyde Warren Park's monthly event called "Decks in the Park." It's a night filled with a bunch of local DJ's spinning away, dancing, food trucks, and beer in the heart of Downtown Dallas and looked something like this:

Earlier in the day, I spent some time with Chris's aunt (did I mention it's also nice to have family in distance again!?) and we did some shopping and of course hit up happy hour for margaritas and chips and salsa. I've been in Dallas for one week now and I've had Mexican food three times already, so I guess I should just go ahead and toss #1 on this list as a loss. My bad. Except I don't mind it one bit. Keep the bottomless chips coming.