On The Brighter Side

Hey Hey!!

First off, if you look to the right you can see a new email subscriber! If you enter your email address, every time I post something new it will be sent to your email. Easy peasy.

So after reading my last two posts I realized that you are all probably thinking I'm super depressed, hating my life, and wishing I was in the -35 degree weather of Minnesota. Who wouldn't right?

WRONG!? We do miss our family and friends but we are having so much fun getting settled here, exploring everything Dallas has to offer, and enjoying the Spring (yes it is already considered Spring here) weather!

So instead of reminiscing about what we are missing, this post will not only have a "brighter" perspective (thank goodness), but I'll share about what we did last weekend in the beautiful sunshiny weather. There was tons of bright sunshine that filled our souls and got us exploring a local park/lake. No more Betsy boo hoo here. Oh...boy....

ONWARD!

So since Andy moved down here in early January he (and now Lincoln and I too) have been staying in a one bedroom apartment in Uptown Dallas in temporary, furnished housing. First off Uptown is what the locals call "uppity," "swanky," "hip," "hoytie toytie" (no idea how to spell that), you get my drift! It is the happening place for all 20-somethings that have lots of money (not us).  The first weekend we were here in January we heard bar traffic out our window from 11pm-3am. We never realized there was a club across the street. We saw tons of people driving around in their swanky cars (literally Porsches, Lamberginis, Audis, etc and ladies in stilettos and mini dresses ready to drop a fine dime and bust a move. That really wasn't our scene and at first we thought it was going to be a long 2 months stay here until we found a more permanent living situation. After exploring a bit we have really come to like it and we have loved many parts of living here temporarily.
Here is what we have loved about living in Uptown Dallas.
Walkability:
The apartment was chosen because it was within walking distance of Andy's office and it currently takes him a grand total of 8 minutes to walk to his office. Amazing! He absolutely loves it and most days he can go for a run with Lincoln before work because he is so close and doesn't have a longer commute. You can walk EVERYWHERE. You can walk 5 minutes in any direction and find at least 10 rockin' outdoor patios (that allow dogs too!) with amazing food and local beers. These are not swanky bars with fancy cocktails, but normal people in jeans drinking beer at picnic tables who bring their dogs with them. Yes, that is our kind of crowd!! We have learned our favorite places with the most amazing tacos and beers. I can walk to a Walgreens, grocery store, shopping, restaurants, bars, Andy's office, banks, running trials, parks, everything. It is not a bunch of skyscrapers or high rises either, it kinda feels like the Minneapolis Uptown with lower buildings and older homes as businesses, but definitely not as hipster. The weather is nice too so walking to dinner is totally doable with a light jacket or sometimes just a scarf and sweater....LOVE IT! Here is Lincoln and I at dinner last weekend on the patio of Social House. He did so well!

Dog Friendly: 
Almost everywhere that has a patio that you can access from the streeet allows dogs. They don't even have a sign, you just walk in with them. No big deal! Even MN which is super dog friendly has stricter rules about that. That's probably a good thing now that I think about it.  They may be more sanitary but Dallas is definitely more fun to explore if you can bring your pooch too! Also, everyone has dogs. If I wasn't a dog person, I would probably hate living here because dogs are everywhere. Thank goodness we're not. One thing that is annoying though is that since it is so dog friendly the city PROVIDES poop bags and trash bins to pick up and throw away your dogs poop like the picture below. Amazing right? Well even though it convenient and free, people still don't pick up after their dogs. You definitely have to watch your step at all times.

Katy Trail: 
The Katy Trail is like the Greenway. It is an old railroad track that was converted into a 3.5 mile long running, walking, and biking trail right through Uptown. There is an access gate to the trail about 200 feet from our apartment door.....yes loving that! We love going for runs on the trail with Lincoln or even for just a quick walk that doesn't have to go through the street intersections, deal with sidewalk traffic, or walk by buses. We also discovered a few fun, outdoor bars (yes they are outdoor ALL YEAR LONG) with yard games, picnic tables, lawn chairs, and accessible right from the trial. Our kind of place.

Well there you have it folks, our breakdown after living in Uptown Dallas for two months! It's been fun but but the most exciting part is that now we are moved/moving into our new town house and can't wait to be somewhere bigger, quieter, and with our own things. I have definitely missed quality knives, a garlic press, and more than 4 bowls. Our moving truck arrived on Monday and I have been spending my days unpacking, organizing, and figuring out where all our crap belongings will go! Stay tuned for a post with pictures of our new place after we are more or less settled.

I will leave you with a few pictures from last weekend when we visited the White Rock Lake (nearest lake to our town house - about 3 miles away) and walked around a bit. The sun felt amazing at 75 degrees and it was so soul-filling and peaceful to walk around a lake and take in the beautiful scenery. We are definitely finding the peace here now. :)

Lincoln refuses to sit in the backseat whenever we are in the car. He finds his way to my lap EVERY TIME and enjoys the windows down and soaking up the sun as much as we do! :)

We got to the lake and Lincoln immediately spotted birds....and that was the end of it! He couldn't keep his eyes off of them and wanted to jump right in the water and catch them. 

 We found a large area of the park that was pretty vacant and open so we sent him off leash so he could explore on his own! This dog is not an uptown, apartment-living dog but a hunting, field dog! He was so happy here so we'll definitely be back.

Thanks for reading this LONG post and I hope you have all been staying warm, well, and loved. :) 

Love, 

Betsy, Andy, and Lincoln