Hello from London!

Quick update from London:
We are having a lot of fun seeing the city. So far gone to see Stonehenge and Bath, and toured a lot of beautiful and interesting places in London. Favorite things is that I'm getting tons of opportunities to feed my inner Anne Boleyn Fan Girl (it's a real thing), and I really can't get over the fact that royalty is a real thing in this country. I know that sounds dumb, but you hear about real queens and junk and think "yeah, okay. I like that. Good for them, I'm sure." Then you see it all, like the palaces and ceremonies, and it is the real deal! A lot of times these tours of castles almost seem like a serious theme park or something.
 I'll post other (and better) updates when I have to ability to upload pictures along with it. Until then, I can say that the time change is so weird. I am going to bed when it's the middle of the afternoon in Texas. One day we had to wake up really early, and people from home were still out on the town from the previous night. I am real life living in the future.
PROOF: these pictures were taken around 9:30 AM- it was 3:30 AM back in Texas. WHAT?! Blows my mind.

That's all for now as my computer is about to die and my brother has stolen my charger. Family vacations, am I right?

big D, little A, double L, A, S!

 

This weekend, my entire family met up in Dallas to see a recording of NPR's radio show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me...", which is a HILARIOUS radio news-quiz for those who aren't familiar. Honestly, getting a solid thumbs-up from all four members of the Dunn household is a rarity, and "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me..." is something we can all always agree on and really love and enjoy. We were so excited to see the show live and get to see the production in action- who knew radio would be so fun to look at?! It ran about 2 and a half hours live and was so different from what you end up hearing on the radio! I definitely think NPR should release an uncut edition for the die-hard fans. Yes. Die hard public radio fans. Proud.

We also had a lot of other fun things to see and do while we were all in Dallas. We went to the brand new Perot Museum of Nature and Science, which is a beautiful, new museum right in the heart of Dallas. We went because my brother, Charlie, has always had a fascination with dinosaurs, and maintains paleontology is his missed calling. There was a lot of learning to do at the museum- space, dinosaurs, lots and lots of sparkly things on one floor (my favorite).

I've had to adjust back into reality because this past weekend was so much fun and so wonderful. It was great to get to see my parents and just be able to relax and have fun with the two of them. I miss them a lot here in Austin, so it's always a treat to just be able to enjoy having them around.

OH! And of course, no trip to Dallas would be complete without Sprinkles Cupcakes... I mean come on, do I need to say more?

East Texas

Because I'm about to be headed back to Austin, I'm cramming in all the East Texas I can. Today was the full blown East Texas experience. My mom, dad, and I headed over to Canton's First Monday Trade Days, which is always an experience to say the least. You kind find some great stuff here, and some weird stuff you had no idea existed. We went with the intention of finding a bookcase for my apartment... seeing as how my printer and half of my book collection have been hanging out on the floor of my bedroom for the past few months... I felt lucky that we found the white, distressed, metal shelf unit that's pictured above! What a gem!

We did not, however, think about how we'd be getting this home... there was room for two people and a bookshelf in the car, which didn't exactly fit with our current situation. Who knew my parents had a pair of medical scissors in their car that could function as a makeshift screwdriver? (Hint: no one did. Surprise, surprise!) Believe it or not, medical scissors are not the most effective screwdriving device. With that discovery having been made, I rode home from Canton on top of a bookshelf in the back seat. But that is really all okay, because then we ate at Country Tavern (world famous for their barbeque) where I got to have brisket that is the standard to which all other briskets are held to, and blackberry cobbler that is crafted by God, himself. I absolutely insist that we eat there every time I come home.

After Canton, Country Tavern, and un uncomfortable car ride, I (and my books and my printer) are very happy for the East Texas adventure had today.