I Won Tickets to a Beer + Donut Pairing

 

Donuts and beer. Who is the genius that thought this one up? Oh, it’s the folks over at Luck in Trinity Groves. (Dallas is so cool. I love it here.) The donut and beer pairing is a monthly event that features DIFFERENT DONUTS EVERY TIME. Where do the donuts come from? Only my favorite donut shop in Dallas, Glazed Donut Works. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve tagged them on social media. I mean, come on. Their main color is pink and their logo is a donut with crossbones. I cnt evn.

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From one of the times I stood in line for 45 minutes at midnight to get a donut.

National Donut Day was June 3 and wouldn’t you know it? I worked from home that day. The night before some friends and I hit up Krispy Kreme just for fun so I already had some donuts, but a free cinnamon sugar (plus three others) from GDW wouldn’t hurt. Deep Ellum is real quiet in the mornings so I knew I could get my donut fix then without fighting the crowds. They have late night hours on the weekends and stay open until 2 AM. I love them.

Obviously, when I picked up a few of their donuts that day I tagged them on Instagram and Twitter. The next morning they sent me a direct message on Twitter telling me I’d won two tickets to their donut and beer pairing. I’m like, WAT. YES. OKAY.

Here’s a tip: don’t eat before you go to this. This is a literal meal. Why I didn’t think of it as a meal I do not know. Also, eat some protein. This is a lot of sugar in the very best way. And hey! Drink the beers with the donuts they’ve paired to it! These are, like, chefs and junk. They know what they’re doing. It’ll be delicious, I swear.

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My friend that came with me thought it’d be cute to make notes on our favorites and rate them best to “worst.” (All of them were v good.)

I actually got to talk to one of the guys that founded this insane concept and the one that gave me the tickets, Jeff! His daughter was adorable and helped me shoo the flies off my donuts. She had been helping plate in the kitchen and I found myself jealous of her. HOW FUN would it be to help your dad PLATE FOOD in a kitchen for people!? High fives all around, Ella! You’ve got a cool thing going!

Thank you SO MUCH again to Luck and Glazed Donut Works! You guys are the real MVPs. Love you.

 

 

xx

My Summer 2016 Bucket List

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A couple weeks ago my sister mentioned she was working on her summer bucket list. And by that I mean she was literally knitting, you guys. KNITTING. But it made my ears perk up because 1., I love lists, and 2., I specifically love bucket lists. Not in the before-I-die kinda way, but in the I-want-to-actually-do-stuff way. And since the summer is nigh and I am tired of starting things and not finishing them, I made a summer bucket list! Behold.

  1. Finish my apartment and have a photo shoot. My friend Cait has been roped in to do this and I can’t wait!
  2. Host my first apartment party! (In the works!)
  3. Cross FIVE things off of my Dallas Bucket List(One!)
  4. Buy a bike and ride it! (If $$$.) The sentiment of never forgetting how to ride a bike is true…right? ##12yearssinceirodeoneithink
  5. Visit my sister, Shelby, in Waco and go to Cable Park! (It’s one of the places on my Go To There list!)
  6. Learn to put on false eyelashes. Surprisingly I do not know how to do this. The glue? The eyes? I…I don’t know.
  7. Buy good tennis shoes and start running again! I had to stop a couple months ago because the shoes I have are over six years old and were murdering my knees. I did enjoy it, though!
  8. Spend as much time by a pool as you can! So far, so good! I’ll probably just end up as one big freckle. And I am okay with that. They are adorable.
  9. Paddle board or kayak on White Rock Lake! I think this is a crossover from my Dallas Bucket List. And if it is, that doubles my motivation to do it! Hopefully I’ll gain some killer balance by then..?

 

What do you think? Have you done/been to any of this things? How was Cable Park? I can’t wait to start doing this stuff!

Summer 2016 is going to rule.

 

xx

#DallasToOrlando

 

I’ve thought a lot about this post. What should I say? How should I say it? Should I say anything at all? Am I just adding to the noise? Maybe. But maybe not. Maybe you need to hear this from someone you know in real life. Maybe you need to hear this from someone who is questioning everything just like you. Maybe you need to hear this from someone who is broken-hearted and hurting, too. Maybe you need to hear this because we come from similar backgrounds. Maybe you just need to hear this.

The 49 people that died Sunday morning were targeted because they are gay.

Forty-nine. I honestly still can’t wrap my mind around that. I was 11 in 2001, and though I remember where I was on 9/11, I couldn’t feel what was really happening. I feel it this time. Big time.

I read the news at brunch on Sunday. I was sitting at a table with ten other people, some of which I didn’t know. I thought it was a joke. Am I that desensitized to mass shootings that I don’t immediately feel something now? I turned to my friend Cait and told her. I don’t think either of us knew what to say or do. “Forty-nine?” she asked. “Forty-nine,” I said. I ate my brunch in the sweltering humidity, went home, took a cold shower, and literally collapsed on my couch. I was scrolling mindlessly through Facebook, as you do, and saw an event a friend of mine shared. Someone organized a vigil and a march in Oak Lawn, commonly known here as the gayborhood and the site of nearly 20 attacks on LGBTQ people in the last seven months.

Something in me told me I should go. It was storming hard outside but everyone on the event page said it’d lighten up by 8 when the vigil started. I didn’t ask anyone to go with me and I struggled all afternoon with my reasons for going. How would this look? No one can go with me, though. Can’t I mourn at home? What will people think of me? Selfish thoughts. Ones I’m ashamed to admit. I couldn’t shake the big reason: That this was not okay. And sitting idly by because of a selfish reason is stupid, Melody. Stupid.

My decision to be bolder and more outspoken this year has manifested itself in unique ways. This time, it made me march with my Dallas community in remembrance, sadness and anger. I left my house in the rain and decided quickly that I should buy flowers. I’ve learned to never show up empty handed anywhere. I stopped by my Trader Joe’s and walked in the rain through the front door passing a couple of other people with only flowers, no doubt heading to the same vigil, and stood in front of the shelves. I suddenly realized I was standing in a store, in front of bouquets of flowers, trying to decide which ones to buy to lay on a monument in honor of 49 lives ripped from this earth. My stomach turned. Did it matter if I bought the $3.99, $4.99 or $5.99? Should I spring for the orchid plant? What the hell do I do here? What the hell am I doing here?

I grabbed a bouquet that was colorful. I couldn’t tell you what flowers were in it now. I checked out, fake smiled at the sweet lady who asked me if I needed another bag for my flowers, and walked back out in the rain and headed to the vigil.

As I turned the corner onto Cedar Springs I saw blue and red flashing lights, hundreds of people and rainbow flags. I’m uncomfortable alone and I get anxiety pretty easily in situations like that if I don’t have someone there with me, but I walked up to the edge of the crowd. I wondered if anyone could sense my anxiety. The speeches were just beginning. In the middle of the first speech I noticed my half of the crowd was turned away from the front, towards the sky. Cheers erupted and at first I thought someone got engaged. I looked up and lost my breath.

 

Hope.

 

Standing among the hundreds, and eventually 1,000+, of people in the rain, a beautiful rainbow overhead, honoring forty-nine lives…that will get you in the heart. Quick. At one point, one of the speakers asked all of us to hug someone we were standing next to. I hugged a very thin, tall older man tight. I needed someone to hug in that moment. And I needed someone to hug me. I needed to be reminded for a second that everything was going to be okay. That even though I didn’t fully understand what happened or why I was there or what would happen, everything would be okay. Just for a second.

People lit candles when the speeches ended and we turned around to line up in the street behind a row of cops on bicycles. The news had a helicopter hovering the entire time showing it live for everyone at home. Dozens of photographers. Dozens of cops on bikes, motorcycles, on foot, in cars. Most of our city council was there. The police chief marched with us. I somehow snagged a spot at the front of the herd behind one of the flags. I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I should let someone else that was hurting more than me in my spot. Let me in the back. Because I’m straight this shouldn’t affect me as much as it does you. I don’t deserve to be here. What’s that? Guilt? Why?

I walked silently in my Converse holding my flowers and umbrella. The cops blocked off the streets. People came out of their homes to watch us walk. At one point, a couple came out on their third story patio, embracing, with candles lifted up and I nearly lost it. As we got to the more commercial part of Cedar Springs road where all the bars and restaurants are, every business shut off their music and people lined the sidewalks and cheered or stood silently. Two men bought a couple cases of water and were running bottles to those of us on the fringe of the crowd. I cried then. The sheer humanity. People helping people helping people? Maybe everything will be okay.

I didn’t know how long we’d be marching. I got blisters on my heels. 1.8 miles later we arrived at the Legacy of Love monument. I tried to silently prepare myself for the new sites I was about to see. I’ve never done anything like this before. I don’t visit gravesites, I don’t attend vigils, I don’t do marches. I don’t particularly like emotions nor am I good at comforting. I eventually made my way through the crowd of people already at the monument paying respects and the act of what I was doing overwhelmed me. I found a blank spot to lay down my $3.99 Trader Joe’s flowers, broke down, and found a spot to stand alone in the crowd.

Forty-nine people.

Exponentially more are hurting. It could’ve been any one of us. We sang quietly, paid our respects and dispersed after an hour or so. I stood in line for the bus back to the center and quietly sat next to the guy who took a seat next to me. My anxiety of not acknowledging him was covered up in my thoughts and confusion. I got in my car and cried the whole way home.

Because the 49 were gay does that mean we stay silent and not admit to the world that this was horrific? Because they were gay does that mean we don’t grieve with those families? I don’t care what you believe about the “right” and “wrong” of being gay. THIS was wrong. Forty-nine. The youngest was 18. My youngest sister is 17 and when I have a nightmare about her dying I wake up weeping. Someone is living that right now.

The church should not be silent about this. Plain and simple. If we stay silent we’re telling those families their children’s lives were not worth anything. Jesus loved them just as much as He loves me. And I believe He can love it all away. Jesus did not send that shooter. Jesus did not ordain that massacre. It could’ve been any one of us.

Pray. Pray for change and peace and comfort and healing in your own heart and in this world and thank God for His sovereignty. Have hope that things will be okay. But don’t rest in that. Take action. Make change. Do something. Speak out. Love someone. Because love wins. It always will.

 

 

xxx

Dallas Bucket List: Good Records

I am CRUSHING my bucket list rn. Good Records has been on my list for a while. You wouldn’t believe how close all of my bucket list items are to my house. I know, I know. This place is, like, 3 minutes away. IN MY DEFENSE, they’re doing construction on Greenville where this is and they literally took the street out. So. Yeah.

This last Saturday was apparently Record Store Day, which I wouldn’t have known unless I had gone to a different record store the day before in Bishop Arts knocking yet another item off my bucket list. (post to come!)

I’m really bummed I didn’t get any photos of the outside. Good Records had free beer, DJs in the back part, and everyone was partying out front in the parking lot. We stayed to see Sarah Jaffe (local Denton musician) and Justin Townes Earle perform. I was literally standing in front of Justin Townes Earle during his set and we made eye contact a few times so we’re bffs now.

I felt too intrusive snapping a photo of his face, while he’s performing, me standing right in front of him. So I just snapped that one of his feet before he started. He’ll thank me later.

I didn’t snag any records here that day, but the day before I scored four records for $1 a piece in Bishop Arts and quadrupled my collection.

 

I’m a slow starter.

 

xx

Experiencing Dallas: The Omni + A Mavs Game

Sometimes good things happen before you break up with someone who’s the worst. This is my story.
Did that seriously sound like the intro to a terrible MTV drama? NAILED IT.

First part of the night, the three of us went to a Mavs game which was amazing and fun and cool and we had excellent seats. Kalie and I couldn’t take it seriously and he didn’t necessarily dig that. After that, we went to Deep Ellum for pizza.

Long story short, I caught him texting another girl in front of me, then he lied about it. *eyeroll* Mama didn’t raise no fool, so I said, “ADIOS, SUCKER!” and took my BFF on the best date we’ve ever had. (Am I the internet version of Taylor Swift? Bashing my exes? Don’t mess with me. I’ll blog about you.)

I couldn’t believe there was a TV in the mirror. I’m so fancy.

We ordered cookies and ice cream at 3 AM and stayed up all night watching cable, since neither of us have it, and talking. Best night ever.

Here’s to cookies and ice cream in bed forever.

 

 

xx

Dallas Bucket List: Reunion Tower

If you’ve ever seen the Dallas skyline, you’ve seen Reunion Tower. You might not have known it, but you did. My favorite description of it is “Dallas’ own disco ball.” And since I’m unhealthily obsessed with disco balls, I wholeheartedly agree.

It’ll twinkle different colors for the Mavs or Stars, look like a rolling soccer ball whenever that’s going on and even reply to your Instagrams of it from it’s very own first person Instagram account.

I have Cait to thank for this HUGE cross off my Dallas Bucket List. She had a friend in town and they had planned to visit this landmark and I tagged along. FYI? Parking is a nightmare down there on a weekend night. I have no advice but to pick the first spot you can find and walk. Better yet? Be smart like Cait and take the bus or Uber. Bus is cheaper, though.

We bought regular Skydeck tickets for about $17 and had free reign of the ball. The fancy restaurant is a separate deal and I’d still someday like to do that. Not because I particularly care about fancy dinners, but it’d be fun to do once. Right? Sure.

Cait and I were both flabbergasted that we get to live here. The view was breathtaking. Literally, because I’m not a fan of heights.

Next time I’m going just before sunset and watching the lights turn. What a cool time lapse that’ll be.

 

 

xx