Wes & Erica's vacation photo album //DFW, TX - Food//March 2026

I saw an Instagram ad for The Balloon Museum last year and knew I had to go!! Installation/immersive art has become one of my favorite things to visit.

Earlier in March, Wes & I finally took my belated birthday trip to Carrollton, TX for 3 days of eating & shopping. 🚗 It kind of became an "OMG, I can't believe we both survived the insanity of our Q4 2025 & Q1 2026 work schedules" celebration trip. 🙌 I usually like to try new restaurants, but we've been keeping a list of places that we want to return to so that's what we did this time around. We also visited two art exhibits ... and I took A LOT of pictures so that'll be for the next blog post. 📷

I got us matching Nimbao shoes for Valentine's Day; we took them out on their first trip 💗 #romantic LOL

We got into Dallas for lunch. 🐖We went to the Arlington location of Hurtado BBQ back in 2024 and wanted to try the Dallas location this time around. It was much bigger and nicer; the Arlington location is more of a BBQ stand and this is an actual restaurant. Hurtado is Wes's favorite BBQ place, so I asked him what he thought and he said the food was just as good as he remembered. 😋 I (unknowingly) got two spicy sides -- elote and bacon potato salad-- so my meal was a little too hot, but it was still really good.

Coconut Paradise won a poll for Best Dessert Spot in Carrollton. All their desserts look very tasty but are also very perishable, so we can't ever try more than one thing. 😔

After lunch, we stopped in Coconut Paradise for drinks to bring back to the hotel. We always stay in the Marriott Courtyard Carrollton Dallas; one of these trips I'll actually take some pictures of it. 🏢 It is in the best location - right by the highway with Carrollton Town Center on one side of it, and the Korean shopping center on the other side. And it's right next to Wal-Mart, for when we forget to pack something. LOL Wes got the guava longan coconut water and I got the rose lychee soda from Coconut Paradise.

We went to BCD Tofu for dinner. 🍚 It was a Tuesday night, but the parking lot was packed. All the best restaurants are in Carrollton Town Center so it shouldn't have been a surprise, but I didn't expect so many people to be dining out on a weeknight. We both got the soon tofu combo, which came with traditional Korean banchan, tofu soup, and a smaller version of an entrée. I forgot about the combo and initially suggested that we each get a tofu and split an entrée, but Wes reminded me about it; and good thing too because it was SO MUCH food!! Everything was delicious, as usual. 🐟 I went with the mackerel this time.

I take a picture of the outside of each restaurant we visit -- regardless of how many times we've been there, and Wes goes, damn how many pictures of 85℃ do you need?? LOL

The next morning, we went to 85℃ Bakery for breakfast. One opened up in Edmond, OK but it isn't as good as the ones in TX. (There wasn't as much selection at the one back home.) My one complaint is that 85℃ changed their policy and now they won't heat up the savory pastries for you. 😒 I guess they assume everyone is getting their stuff to go, and can heat it up at home or work. Anyway, I got an 85℃ roll and a chocomatcha bun, and Wes got a coconut something and a guava something else. LOL I tried their sea salt caramel coffee again because it was listed as a "favorite" drink. It was way too salty the last time I got it, but I customized it to "less salt" this time and it was really good. ☕

🍹Blue Sushi has a really generous happy hour, running until 6:30pm!! I ordered from their super expansive happy hour menu.

For lunch we went to the Walnut Hill location of Blue Sushi Sake Grill. 🍣We went to another location one other time but decided this was the better one. Blue Sushi has Wes's all-time favorite sushi roll -- the Godzilla roll. 🐲 He got that along with the cherry bomb. I got one roll with faux tuna and a roll with actual tuna, for a side-by-side comparison. They both tasted the same to me. LOL The vegan tuna roll had a bunch of other stuff in it, so maybe that masked the vegan-ness of the tuna. It also had vegan caviar on top, which was a first for me.

I always want to be seated in the Godzilla booth, but we've been seated in the same section two years in a row. And we had the same waitress as last time, which is crazy because the last time we came here was in 2024!

We originally planned to drive into Dallas for dinner at Nando's, but thunderstorms were in the forecast so we stayed in Carrollton. ⛈ We had dinner at DAQ Korean Chicken (it was a Mad for Chicken the last time we were here). The concept, and Wes noticed even the decor & table arrangement, was the same though - spicy Korean fried chicken. 🍗Wes got the chicken tenders with Korean sweet sauce. He wasn't impressed saying it wasn't spicy or complex. I got the shrimp fried rice, which was good but definitely needed the sauce that came on the side. It would have been way too bland without it.

🌧💧The thunderstorm warning turned into a flash flood warning throughout the evening. 💧🌧 It started pouring while we were eating. ☔ I was hoping we could wait it out, but the rain was not letting up. Luckily, we parked pretty close to the restaurant so the walk to the car wasn't bad, but all the close spots at the hotel were taken so we had to park pretty far away and were completely drenched when we got to our room. 😫 The worst part was that DAQ wasn't even that good to be worth getting all soggy for. 

Our last meal of the trip was breakfast at the food court in Ranch 99. I always get my congee, but I might have to change it up the next time we go. They had so much good stuff out!! A lot more than previous times we've been. 🍲 They had their entire line up of dim sum options, rice bowls with pork belly, and so many good lunch & dinner options that I wanted to buy, but Wes reminded me that perishables don't do well in the car for the long drive home 😔 After eating, we got our grocery list items from the store (mostly stuff for my mom; we found the absolute cutest Ranch 99 tote bag!) and headed home.

Oh yeah, I mentioned we did some other (non-grocery) shopping. 💸 A friend told me about Dillard's Clearance Centers in Lewisville & Irving. Wes needs new work shoes, so we went to both locations to look for some. No luck. 😑There wasn't much at the Lewisville location and the Irving location didn't have men's shoes at all. I did end up with a new work out top for Pilates. I say "non-grocery shopping", but we mostly got food & snacks. LOL There isn't much else we really need in our minimalist life... but there is always room for snacks. 🍭🍪 We stopped in the Denton Buc-ee's on the way home and loaded up! They had an entire baby aisle, and I wanted to buy everything for Ezra, but Lacey & her mom take frequent Buc-ee's trips with him so I restrained myself.

No unicornos at Kinokuniya but there were some in the impulse aisle at Ranch 99.

There was some cute stuff at Daiso and Teso Life, but I didn't buy too much. We only got snacks from Teso. I think it's because a Daiso opened in Oklahoma, so it's no longer a treat to come here. I was super disappointed with Kinokuniya 😠 Lacey & I have started collecting trinkets to set out as ⭐good luck charms⭐ to help us during crochet night. I had an entire list of tokodoki ones I was going to get for us. Kinokuniya had literally every other blind box imaginable, but not a single tokidoki.

The Dallas Art Museum had a collection of Surrealist art as part of one of the temporary exhibits. 

In between all our amazing meals, we went to the Balloon Museum and the Dallas Art Museum. 🎨We had two very different experiences at each art exhibit. Give me a minute to get my pictures together and I'll write all about it!! 

Erica & Lacey's vacation photo album // Dallas, TX // April 2024

If you thought Lacey and I drove down to Texas just for the yarn crawl (Pictures of neat stuff and some accompanying thoughts...: Erica & Lacey's vacation photo album // North Texas Yarn Crawl // April 2024 (ragsreborn.blogspot.com), you'd be wrong... there is so much more for us to do while we were down there. 🚗 Were we exhausted from driving around all day to different yarn shops? Yes. 😅 Did that stop us from doing a scavenger hunt in an immersive art exhibit and walking around downtown Dallas? Nope. 

Deviled Egg Co - Denison, TX. 

One of the best and most unique restaurants I've been to in Texas. Everything we got was so delicious!! 😋

Neither of us had breakfast and we only did a quick Starbucks stop in Ardmore, OK, so we were starving when we got to our first destination for lunch. 🍴 We had lunch at Deviled Egg Co in Denison, TX. 🥚🍸 They had the best deviled eggs that we've ever eaten. Literally. OMG!! The eggs were SO GOOD 😋 We each ordered a cocktail, Brussels sprouts for an appetizer, and three eggs to share family style. We got the smoked salmon (we both agreed it was the best by far), the jalapeño popper, and the Ceasar salad (which was a little underwhelming compared to the others). Lacey noticed that they mixed cream cheese into the egg yolk. Her husband is a bit of a home cook so she was taking notes so he could replicate the sprouts and eggs at home for dinner at a later date. I do not cook so I just had to savor everything at the restaurant. The eggs and cocktail were just what we needed to start our day of yarn shopping! 

Giant Eyeball - Dallas, TX

When we were mapping out our trip, I noticed a landmark labeled "Giant Eyeball" near our hotel. 👁 We took the 5minute walk to it after we checked in. I wasn't sure what to expect but I didn't think it would be so literal. LOL We ran into some other tourists and tried to figure out how to get into the lawn, but I don't think it's for the public. Still a neat photo opp.

Sweet Tooth Hotel - Dallas, TX

Speaking of photo opps, strap in because there's about to be a ton of pictures! 📸 Our next stop was Sweet Tooth Hotel. It is an interactive art installation. You can buy regular tickets and just walk around, or you can buy the scavenger hunt to look for clues in each of the rooms and get a prize. We chose scavenger hunt! It was a cool experience but 1. it is set up for selfies, TikTok videos, and aimed toward influencers, which we are not, 2. the first room is amazing but the installations get less and less artistic, and 3. there is a bar connected to the "hotel" and I'm pretty sure you're supposed to enter the rooms drunk (or at least buzzed) to fully enjoy them. We were completely sober so probably didn't have as much fun as we should have.  

The first room (inside of an elevator) is a crocheted bakery tea party. It is the most creative, adorable, whimsical, and well-made amigurumi I've ever seen. 😲 I've never seen anything else like it, so I have no comparison point but I'm still going to claim that this is the best crocheted room! It was also perfect for our yarn crawl. The shelves were stocked full of cookies, donuts, cakes and ice cream. 🍦🍩🍪🍰 And the table was laid out perfectly for a garden tea party. I wanted to stay in here forever! 

The clue inside of the room was to count the toy mice. I was so taken in by the amigurumi that I wasn't even paying attention to the mice. Luckily, Lacey was on it. There are nine. 🐭 I loved that this was the first room we saw, but it also kind of sucked because every room after it was a letdown. It's hard to top a crocheted bakery! 

We went into the second elevator and entered a neon pink bedroom. There was a phone on the desk with a fake phone book. I saw a telephone number for "Red Phone" but I didn't dial it. In hindsight I probably should have because I think we missed a room in here. There was a door behind the curtains by the Sweet Dreams bed. I tried opening it, but it was locked. 😠 I saw some streamers caught in it so there is probably something behind there, but I couldn't figure out how to get in. Lacey didn't share my curiosity, so we moved on. The clue in this room was to count the giant worms. There were 2 but they were so meh that I forgot to photograph them. 🐛

We walked into the closet and was in the bathroom. This was when I realized this entire installation is for photos and social media. It was a big room but there was hardly anything in it. Just a few items that you can pose by. The scavenger hunt clue was to count the legs, but this room had none. I saw another door, but it was "locked." We weren't sure what to do so I left to ask the front desk attendant. She said to push through the shower. I took it literally to mean the golden showerhead, so I started banging through the wall (trap door, maybe?). Much more sensible Lacey suggested that we try the locked door again. Turns out that I'm just too weak to push a door open so I thought it was locked when it was only heavy. 😖 I bet this is the same thing that happened when I tried opening the door behind the curtain in the bedroom.

Next was a library with legs hanging from the ceiling. There are five. I love going to these types of immersive art installations, so I know the gimmick is to touch, crawl into, and open everything. 📖 One of the books had a safe inside and the code was mice, worms, legs (9-2-5). Inside was another code for the next room. 

Before we got to the next room, we took a detour into a surveillance room. It was just a room with red lights and lots of CCTV and mirrors for walls. Kinda creepy, kinda boring. Then we went to the bathroom (an actual working one), down a hallway and to the gym. The gym was kind of neat, but we were both dressed up and couldn't play on the equipment. Of the four areas we saw, the public restroom was the coolest. LOL 

The last room was a living room. This time we did dial the phones. 🖁 The telephone number for the yellow phone didn't do anything, but the blue phone had a message for us! Half of the living room was normal, and the other half was painted black with neon green trim -- how did I forget to take a picture of this! The message told us to explore the bookshelf for another dimension. There was another safe in a book and we needed the code from the previous safe (242). That lead to a code word (it was either doorways or bookshelf). Then you open the fireplace and enter a neon desert. 🌵

It was in the desert that I realized this exhibit is better experienced with an alcoholic beverage in hand... and with a group of friends (especially an outgoing one to get the party started). There were lights, mirrors, and loud music. 🎵 Perfect for dancing and posing for silly pictures. Sober me and mellow Lacey just stood around unimpressed. LOL In our defense, we're almost 40 and I'm pretty sure the core demographic of Sweet Tooth Hotel is aged 14 - 27. 

There was one last room, but it was definitely a throwaway room. It was a gigantic advertisement for Topo Chico. The only good part of that room was the bed ... because I was wearing heels and I needed to lay down for a bit. My poor feet! 😭 After our rest, we headed back to the front desk to collect our prize for completing the hunt. It was a motel keychain, actually pretty rad. The front desk area had some merch but I didn't enjoy my experience enough to buy something to commemorate it with. 

Our last activity for the day was dinner. I wanted to have dinner at the fancy restaurant in the hotel since we were both dressed up. We stood around for a while, but the hostess never showed up. 😑 There were other diners enjoying their meal, so we knew the place was still open. Losing patience, we left and walked to a late-night taco place. Uno Más was good, but I think I was still so in love with the deviled eggs we had at lunch that I was making a harsh comparison. Our waiter was extremely soft spoken but spoke super fast. I had to ask him to repeat literally everything he said at least twice. When I was talking to Lacey the next morning, I decided that my shrimp tacos were actually really yummy, and the elotes were, too. 🌮 The rice was weird, though, it tasted like it was either cooked in coconut oil or was flavored with an unfamiliar spice. 

Uno Más - Dallas, TX

I picked out a place for us to go to for breakfast the next morning (Starship Bagels) but it was closed. 😞 We roamed a bit around our hotel and decided to get Starbucks and skip breakfast. ☕ Lunch wasn't far off, and we needed to start day two of the yarn crawl. Before we left, we walked through Thanksgiving Garden. I thought it was Thanksgiving like the holiday, but it was thanks giving, like praising the lord. It was a serene garden but had entirely too many Bible verses littered about. Too in your face and could have been more subtle. 

Thanksgiving Garden - Dallas, TX

The early bird (bottom center picture) certainly does get the worm! 🐦 We saw this bird rooting around in the grass, pick up the worm, and eat it as it was wiggling about. It was like watching a nature documentary!

On the Lamb was in the same shopping center as a couple of restaurants, and we settled on LA Burgers for lunch. It was really tasty. 🍔 My only complaint is that I guess the owner was trying to save money so he didn't have the air conditioning on. It was already 80℉ and very humid so it made our dining experience uncomfortable. It's so hard to photograph a hamburger because all you see is the top bun, but I promise it was yummy. 😋  The curly fries were good, too, extra crispy like I like them! I got the Texas burger, which came on Texas toast with bacon, steak sauce and jalapeños. The jalapeños were all clustered to one bit so that bite was a doozy! LOL

LA Burger - Grapevine, TX

We had to stop in Buc-ee's on our way out, but the one in Denton was too far out of the way. Instead, we went to a new (to us) one in Melissa. It was just as nice as the ones in Fort Worth & Denton. The only thing that threw us off was that the sides of the store where the food and non-food merchandise is was switched. We got snacks, t-shirts, and gifts for our spouses & dogs, gas & bathroom breaks, and then journeyed home. It was a mega fun trip, but in hindsight, I should have given us more time to rest. I'm too old for non-stop activities. By the middle of the second day, we were already getting burned out; and by the end of the day, we were pooped. We just sat in silence in the car trying not to doze off on the way home. We paid for a nice hotel and we should have used it more. I admit defeat now, but will that stop me from overplanning me & Wes's vacation this summer? Probably not. 😅 LOL 

Buc-ee's - Melissa, TX

Erica & Lacey's vacation photo album // North Texas Yarn Crawl // April 2024

It finally happened!! 😃 Lacey and I went on our massive yarn shopping trip. 🚗🧶I first saw an ad for the North Texas Yarn Crawl on Instagram probably in December or January. We've (mostly me because I'm an obsessive planner and Lacey is extremely laid back) been looking at the participating yarn shops, various crochet projects, and other things to do in the Dallas area ever since. We got our itinerary sorted out in March and have been counting down the days. I probably drove Lacey crazy with all my plans, but I think overall, we both had a good time. 

We drove down to Texas on a Tuesday, stayed until Wednesday, and planned to visit three local yarn shops each day (along with some other activities sprinkled in). We ended up doing two the first day and 4 the second. I wanted to throw in an extra one on our way back to Oklahoma, but we didn't have time. 😞 Our first stop was in Denison; the GPS on my phone directed us to drive through Madill, OK. We drove over Lake Texoma, which was really pretty. We took random state highways all the way from whatever town comes before Madill on I-35 South all the way to Denison, TX. It was a lot more scenic than I expected. 🌳 Lacey & I both agreed that it looked like Arkansas. 

Quixotic Fibers - Denison, TX

The first yarn shop we visited was Quixotic Fibers. It is a small shop inside of an old train depot. The entire depot has been converted into a boutique artisan mall. The other shops looked cute, and I would have loved to walk around to browse but we were on a strict timetable. We decided to use all of the yarn we bought on this trip to make a capelet (Ravelry: Crocodile Stitch Capelet pattern by Bonita Patterns) so the first skein we buy determined the color pallet for the rest of the project. So much pressure!! 😬 LOL Even though Quixotic was small, they still had at ton of beautiful yarn. And the owner and her employee were super nice. Best customer service I received on our entire trip! I saved up all of the gift cards I got for my birthday & Christmas to use on this trip. Her point-of-sale system was having a hard time accepting my Visa gift card. I think any other manager would have tried two, maybe three times, and then told me that their system doesn't accept Visa gift cards and asked me to pay with another card, but she tried several times using multiple techniques until it worked. Her employee chatted with us and made us feel comfortable while we waited. 10/10 ⭐top notch!!

McKinney Knittery - McKinney, TX

Our original plan was to head to Farmersville, TX to go to the two shops there but all the shops closed at 5pm and we were cutting it close. Our hotel was in Dallas so I thought we could make it to the shop there. Google showed Knit Dallas closing at 6pm but Lacey saw on the shop's website that they close at 5pm. We wouldn't make it after all. 😩 The only shop that was open late was McKinney Knittery. We went here the last time (Pictures of neat stuff and some accompanying thoughts...: Lacey and Erica's vacation photo album // McKinney - Dallas - Norman // September 2022 (ragsreborn.blogspot.com)) we were in Texas but decided to go again since we liked it so much (plus it meant an extra stamp on our passport). The store was still amazing with a big selection of nice yarn, but the excitement was gone for me. I guess you can't recreate a first impression. 

Matching shorts & a view from our hotel room.

I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to go to all of our planned shops because I underestimated how far we'd have to drive between each one and how awful Texas traffic is. Lacey reminded me that there is nothing we can do about it, so stressing is futile. To unwind, we worked on our current crochet project. Didn't make too much progress on our socks but they're coming along. 😊

Knit Dallas - Dallas, TX

We got up early the next morning and tried our hardest to get to the first shop as it opened at 10am. We go there closer to 11am 😑 Knit Dallas was Lacey's favorite shop that we visited. I liked it well enough, but it was insanely overpriced. I expected to pay a premium for hand-dyed yarn from indie shops, but their prices were out of control. Their only saving grace was that they gave me a ton of postcards that they get for free from one of their yarn brands. 📬 There was a regular shopper there when we came in. He must have known the owners because he was telling them all the hot gossip about the yarn crawl. He already visited a lot of the shops, so I asked him for intel. Richard reviewed our list and agreed that we picked some good shops, but he said Fiber Circle was a gigantic mess (we went anyway... and it was) and that Cynthia's Corner wasn't worth our time (we ended up skipping that one). We hung out with Richard a bit more, chatted with the owners some and then headed to the next one.

On the Lamb - Grapevine, TX

I really liked On the Lamb. It was the first shop we visited where I awwwwed as I walked in. 😮 It was quiet, smelled nice (not that the other shops smelled bad, but I think this one had a distinctly pleasant air freshener), and it was arranged/decorated in a way that appealed to my aesthetic. The owner must be a Nightmare Before Christmas fan because she had spooky themed decorations placed all over. Either the owner or her husband is from Oklahoma (the other is from Indiana; I can't remember which is which), so we talked about the yarn shops here. They had Yeti-type tumblers with their logo printed on and the phrase, "I came, I crawled, I got the cup." I wanted one but already have entirely too many cups. In hindsight, I should have taken a picture of it. 

Yarn and You - Farmersville, TX

We drove about an hour to Farmersville for our last two shops. We passed Blue Ridge, TX, where Lacey got her two Italian Greyhounds. I joked that we should stop in for another, and surprise them with a sibling when she got home. 🐕 Yarn and You is my absolute favorite shop that we visited!!! 😍 It was probably one of the biggest stores, too. It was sooooo spacious. A couple of the other stores that had a lot of yarn variety felt cramped, but not this one!  It ticked all of the boxes for me: cute store decor, easy to navigate layout, fantastic yarn selection, and lots of other merch. I wanted a sewing basket because the fabric was adorable but didn't buy it because I can probably find that fabric and make it myself, but I did buy a ton of other non-yarn merch from the shop. The best part is that all of the shelves were labeled. We needed DK weight for our capelet project. I had the hardest time finding a DK section in the other stores. We had to check each individual skein for details on their label. Yarn and You had stickers on each of their shelves specifying yarn type, brand and weight. 10/10 ⭐ genius idea! The shop had a giant clearance section, which I also appreciated. The owner was also super nice and friendly. 

Fiber Circle - Farmersville, TX

The last shop was across the street on the other side of the parking lot. There must be some drama between Yarn and You and Fiber Circle, like they used to work together but something happened (the two stores are complete opposites of each other in every aspect, from yarn quality to the owners' personalities to the general vibe of the store). Fiber Circle is a humungous discount outlet store. It is a two-story building with yarn haphazardly placed everywhere with zero organization whatsoever. 😵The owner and her friend were badmouthing one of the mayoral candidates when we walked in. They let us roam the store without greeting us or asking if we needed help. I would have enjoyed perusing through their million shelves, but it was the end of the day, and I was pretty drained from all of the driving. Lacey also seemed over it. We walked around the entire place but didn't buy much. I saw some new types of yarn that I've never seen before--like weird textured yarn and "yarn" made from tinsel and ribbon. I wanted to buy some but didn't have a project in mind for it, so I passed. The only good thing about Fiber Circle is that they are inexpensive. Like super cheap! This was the last stop on our crawl so we asked if we could turn in our passports. The owner vaguely gestured to a desk and told us to put them there. I'm hoping they actually get to where they need to go for our prize entries. Cross your fingers for us that we win the grand prize! 💰

My goodies!! 😍The yarn on the bottom left will be for our capelet project. Hoping all of those colors vibe well together.

And thus concludes our first yarn crawl. 🧶We both had fun but agreed this should probably be a once in a lifetime thing instead of an annual thing. LOL My top three shops are Yarn and You, Quixotic Fibers, and On the Lamb. 🏪 I got a skein from each shop we visited to use on our capelet project, and I bought enough yarn for another project I have in mind, as well as lots of other goodies. We explored around the hotel, ate at some awesome restaurants, and visited an interactive art exhibit/scavenger hunt while we weren't yarn shopping. Pictures and details of that here (Pictures of neat stuff and some accompanying thoughts...: Erica & Lacey's vacation photo album // Dallas, TX // April 2024 (ragsreborn.blogspot.com)!

Wes and Erica's vacation photo album // Tulsa, OK // December 2023

We went to one of my friend's weddings in Tulsa. Wes absolutely hates selfies. 

One of my childhood friends got married on December 2nd and we got to celebrate with her. 🎉 The wedding was on a Saturday afternoon in Tulsa (only a 2 hour drive), so we could have just went and came back... but why waste a chance to take a mini vacation and eat out as much as we can??!?

A suitcase Christmas tree... very appropriate for a hotel lobby. We stopped in Barnes & Noble after dinner for my Unicorno. They had the sky mochi series, which I've been wanting! 🦄

My friend, Chinh, and I met as alter-boys (are they called alter-persons now?) at St. Patrick Catholic church in middle school. (She's a bit younger than I am so I think I was in high school and she was in middle school... regardless it was a loooong time ago). I haven't talked to her in ages so I was pretty surprised when I got the wedding invitation from Zola. I was so surprised that I texted my mom to make sure she also got an invitation, and to make sure that it wasn't spam. LOL My mom texted Chinh's mom and confirmed that yes, we are all invited to celebrate this happy day. 👰 

Our first meal in Tulsa was dinner at Zogam Café, a Malaysian restaurant. The restaurant was a tiny spot in a shopping center. It was really hard to find since their sign was unlit and we came when it was already dark. This was my first time having Malaysian food and it was really good. 🥘My favorite part was the runny egg on top of my fried rice. (Wes said he would have preferred his egg fried.) I also liked the bits of anchovy mixed into my rice. The only thing I didn't like too much was that the sweet & sour sauce for the tofu was way too garlicy, but I'm not a huge garlic fan so that's on me and not the restaurant. The restaurant had pictures of Malaysian landscape hung on the walls. One of the pictures showed two men looking off into the mountains, it didn't show their faces but I swear one of the men in the pictures was our waiter. 🌄

We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Daily Grill, the next morning. About the hotel - we stayed at the Hyatt downtown and the valet service was superb. 🚗 Like, seriously the best! The Grinch musical was performing at the BOK center when we arrived, and there was some sort of professional bull riding/rodeo convention going on at the hotel that same night. Regardless of how busy it was, we were still checked in super fast and my car was parked right away. And it was brought right back out as soon as we needed it. We came and went a lot so we got to know both the day and night valet drivers. Both were excellent. 👍 Anyway, back to breakfast. We originally were going to walk to Dily Diner. It was only about a 10 minute walk but it was 37℉, and I only packed a hoodie (silly me forgot my jacket in our haste to leave the house). I got an everything lox bagel and Wes got the steak and eggs. He said the skirt steak was marinated really well. I liked my bagel but I think the restaurant was pricier than the tastiness of the food. 

Notice how there are no pictures from inside the market because it was just a giant slow moving crowd.

We had some time between breakfast and the wedding ceremony so we went to the German Christkindlmarkt. 🎄🎅 It is an annual tradition at the German Association events center. The events center is very small and the market is very large. I've been a vendor at events that try to cram in as many vendors as possible and it is NOT an enjoyable experience. All the shoppers are funneled through like cattle since there is literally no aisle space and you don't really get to interact with anyone. I did not enjoy the Christkindlmarkt at all because there was zero room to browse & shop. I'm sure the building was 5-10 times over capacity and we'd all be in danger if there was a fire or any other sort of emergency. There were a few booths I would have liked to look in but I couldn't get near them because of the crowds. It was awful. Even so, we still managed to support a few local vendors. We bought honey butter, Wes bought a bookmark, and I bought Christmas ornament (pen pal gift). One of the German association members collects nativity figurines which she displayed in a tiny room (probably a broom closet) called Bethlehem village. She had so much stuff!! All the figurines were laid out in a cityscape on a table. 

Now onto the wedding of Chinh & Steve. 💗 This is by far the nicest and most elaborate wedding I have ever attended. Chinh was flanked by 3 photographers and a videographer everywhere she went. She also had a drone circling overhead for the outdoor events. The ceremony was held at Holy Family Cathedral and the Bishop of the Tulsa & northeastern Oklahoma diocese presided. ⛪ It was a traditional Catholic wedding with a full mass. No cell phones were allowed so I didn't get any pictures but it was a beautiful ceremony. We had a sendoff afterward and a 3 hour break before the reception.

We went back to the hotel to grab a snack at Topeca Coffee. I got a strawberry Italian soda (good but I wish it had whipped cream on top) and a salted chocolate chip cookie. 🍪☕Wes got a juniper berry latte which he said had too much berry and not enough juniper. (He got a cold brew from the café previously and said it was good).

Reception time!! 🙌We all gathered in the foyer of the Big 10 Ballroom for a meet & greet with Chinh and Steve. We got a turn to take a picture with them and sign their wedding book. Once the reception officially started, we were ushered in and found our tables. Wes & I weirdly weren't seated with my mom & stepdad. There were a few others from St. Patrick there but none of us were seated together. Wes says it's so we can mingle and meet new people, but I would have preferred sitting with old friends to catch up. The reception started with a traditional Vietnamese lion dance! 🦁

To all of my friends who plan on getting married soon -if your wedding reception doesn't involve a lion dance, I'm not coming. LOL

Then it was time to eat; there was a Vietnamese buffet on one side of the room and an El Salvadorian buffet on the other. 🍴I stood in line on the El Salvadorian side behind one of the groomsmen and got tips from him on what to get. He suggested the mixed pupusa (with pork, beans and cheese) and it was so good!! I ate from both buffets and enjoyed the Salvadorian stuff more. The reception had all the usual dances and speeches, and it was all very nice (and extremely organized!) The other neat thing, besides the lion dance, was a troupe of Salvadorian dancers came out to perform traditional dances. Around 9pm, we had a faux sendoff (drone awaiting) where Chinh & Steven got into a Rolls Royce, drove around the parking lot and came right back in. LOL It was freezing outside. It gave us oldies a chance to go home while the cool kids danced the night away. 

The next morning, we had brunch at Kilkenny's. I've always heard great things about this restaurant but have never been. It got the traditional Irish breakfast and it was SO MUCH FOOD!! I only ate half of it. It was really good but I think I prefer an American breakfast. 😅My favorite part was the grilled tomato - a whole tomato!! 🍅 I only expected a slice or two. 

After breakfast, we stopped in Hey Boba to get drinks for the road. I got a honeydew milk-tea with boba and Wes got a passion fruit oolong tea with boba. Both were standard drinks and pretty good. The owner is what made this café so cool. Aside from being a boba café owner, she teaches Sunday morning square dance lessons at the park and she is a horticulturist. 🌱🌸She grows Chinese plants in her yard and brings them to sell at the café. I bought a Chinese mum and she gave me very thorough instructions on how to take care of it. 🌺🌿She is the sweetest lady; she gave us a piece of oatmilk candy for being her first customers of the day. 

My plant is currently enjoying the weather on the patio. I'll take a post a picture in a few weeks if it survives. 🤞

And that wraps up Tulsa. We have to wait a week at home, and then it's my annual birthday trip to Carrollton, TX to eat at as many restaurants as we can at the Carrollton Town Center! Until then ✌

Saved the best picture for last: delicious wedding food!! 😋