"When you think happiness, I hope you think that little black dress. Think of my head on your chest and my old faded blue jeans. When you think Tim McGraw, I hope you think of me"

Good Afternoon Lovers and Friends,

This last weekend was some kind of wonderful. I am grateful for every second of it. Bae and I had planned a trip down to Texas this past week. When the time came, we were worried about having enough money to make the trip happen. We decided to walk by faith and not sight. We woke up semi-early and headed to Texas. It was about 8 hours from Lawrence to Dallas. It took us a bit longer, because of unexpected car trouble. We stopped for a restroom break in Wichita and realized that the undercarriage of the car was falling off. I didn't know what an undercarriage was before this trip. You could tell that it had been falling off before we got the car, because there was a ton of visible, blue tape on the edge of the carriage. We called the car company back home and they advised us to go to the nearest location. The closest one was in a little town called Derby, Kansas. When we arrived to their location the employee let us know that they had no cars there and could not replace the vehicle. They directed us towards an auto shop in town. It was right next to McDonalds. We enjoyed the 2 for 5 while he allegedly removed the undercarriage. He didn't give us the piece back, but said we could drive without it. We were worried, but kept on driving anyways. I drove from part of Oklahoma to Dallas. About two and a half hours total.

When we arrived to Dallas, we quickly changed and decided to make the most of the day. I dressed in a new black dress that was a back up for graduation. It was a little snug, but I like how it made me look. We went to Beni Hana's. There was a 45 minute wait, but they had us seated in 15. The first thing I noticed was how diverse Dallas was. There were Caucasians, Asians, African Americans, and Hispanics at the restaurant. We shared a hibachi table with an Indian mother and her three sons. I ordered the teryaki chicken with fried rice instead of steamed. No mushrooms of course. The food was delicious and the chef knew all kinds of tricks. He did the volcano, and made the rice into the shape of a fish and heart. He juggled his utensils as well. We enjoyed the meal and headed back to the hotel. We got a good nights rest and woke up the following day ready to see all that Dallas had to offer.

Our first stop was the George W. Bush Presidential Library. I'm not a republican, but I love presidential libraries. It's nice seeing that particular presidents own interpretation of their presidency. The tickets were pretty pricey, but I took the hit. They were doing a series on Camp David and presidential retreats, so we stopped there first. It talked about all the different places past presidents spent their holidays and vacationed. I enjoyed seeing the Obama family's Hawaii pictures. The Bush family spent all their Christmas's at Camp David. They are lucky to have experienced the pomp and circumstance of the white house twice. After wandering through the display, we started our journey through the actual library. George W. was very humble about his presidency and made it clear that he never intended to be a war time president. He had a lot of goals and ideas that he did not get to see through because of the horrific events that happened the September of his first year and term. My favorite part of the library was seeing the work that their family has done in Africa. Zanzibar was mentioned multiple times and they had Kanga's as well as a Swahili bible that made me proud of my heritage. After taking full advantage of all the photo-ops, we were there for around 3 hours.

After the presidential library, we went to In and Out. It was Bae's first time. He really liked it. I enjoyed it as well. That was when I first realized that there are palm trees in Texas. After lunch, we headed to Klyde Warren Park. There was no nearby parking, so we had to part at Whole Foods and walk. I was not used to the Texas heat and humidity. The walk felt like it took a lifetime. I was too cheap to download the apps that gave us access to the motor scooters and bikes all around town. The park was really pretty. They had structures, colorful chairs, and fountains that kids could play in. There was also a Southwest lounge area that was very posh. We took photos and enjoyed that location. Our last stop of the day was reunion tower.

When we arrived at Reunion Tower, Bae told me that he was scared of heights. He repeated it multiple times, but I didn't take it seriously. We hopped on the elevator and got to the top of reunio tower. We could see the entire city from the top of the tower. After a couple minutes outside in the viewing area, bae said that he was done. He did not like being that high up. I wandered around outside and facetimed my aunt. She got to see the view. Bae soon came out and stated that he was ready to go. I asked him to take a couple more pictures and rudely teased him about his fear of heights. I had no idea that he was really scared. The final straw for him was when I sticked my hand out through the fence of the tower. He got really upset, and I realized that his fear was real. It was mean of me not to take it seriously. We rode the elevator down and raided the gift shop. I got a fridge magnet, postcards for my collection, and a Dallas Cowbodys fridge magnet for his grandmother. We got in the car and headed to Killeen, Texas. That's where the next story begins.

Song of the Day : Tim McGraw by Taylor Swift

Quote of the Day: "Better to see something once than hear about it 1000 times".YYou s