Shopping & Services

This gigantic thrift-store-slash-antique-mall is excellent for perusing wares of all kinds, but the furniture selection is unparalleled. The styles of furniture range from traditional to contemporary, but you'll have the best luck if your style is more mid-century. There are dozens of couches, tables, chairs and knickknacks that will make your space feel exactly like the set of Mad Men. Each booth is run by an individual vendor, which occasionally means that you can do a little haggling.

A well-run boutique needs a welcoming atmosphere, trendy clothes and pristine changing rooms. Oh, and booze. Rio Ritz has all of this in spades. Earlier this year, Thais Moses took her online shop and moved into an old house in Uptown. You'd be hard-pressed to find something with a price tag upward of $50 in her well-curated shop. It's a one-stop shop for an outfit or a sparkly accessory for a night out. When you walk through the doors, you're greeted with a friendly smile from the shop girls and a freshly poured mimosa. Even the most apprehensive shopper is bound to enjoy the experience of spending a minute perusing the racks in this quaint, stress-free setting. No shopping mall required.

At first glance Ross at Peak Thrift Store looks like the kind of place that is too dusty and cluttered to even bother with, especially for those of us who aren't "extreme thrifters." The space is a little stuffy and unorganized, but there are plenty of treasures hiding behind those piles of old magazines. It's true that most of the furniture here is fixer-upper material, but isn't that why you have all those damn DIY boards on Pinterest in the first place? You may want to take an allergy pill before you go, but all those bargains will be worth it.

We were heartbroken when Christine Visneau announced she'd be closing her Little Bean children's shop a few years back. And even though the shop was sold at the last minute and quickly reopened, Visneau's line of chic home-sewn children's clothing was no more. We really missed buying those vintage-inspired, beautifully constructed girl's dresses and infant rompers — and we also missed the compliments they garnered when worn by our kids or given at baby showers. But after a two-year hiatus, Visneau's seamstress days are back ... and this time, she's made togs for grown-ups, too. We love the easy lines and comfy fabrics she uses to construct on-trend tops, dresses and caftans in her East Dallas home. Her day job as a fashion stylist makes her one hell of an accessorizer, too, and Vee Caravan's online-only shop is stocked with eye-catching jewelry and other adornments. And much to our delight, the baby garments have returned as well — making this Dallas-based corner of the Internet a true one-stop shop.

There was a time when this little store off Henderson Avenue was Dallas fashion's best-kept secret. You could pop in and buy something cuter and cheaper than Urban Outfitters or TopShop and none of your friends would already own it. Now the secret's out. The clothes are still cute, but you might have to fight your way through SMU students and trendy moms. But it's still worth the trip, because if you're looking for a colorful kimono, a black jumpsuit or whatever the latest trend might be, they'll probably have it. And if you're lucky, it will be in your size.

"A lot of Highland Park moms," the clerk behind the counter at Gemma Collection replied when we asked who shopped at the University Park store. That's not a bad clientele to have when you're selling reasonably priced jewelry. The pieces in Gemma's large assortment of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc., are affordable – ranging from around $50 to less than $200 mostly – but they don't look cheap. (If your customers live in the Bubble, even the low-priced stuff had better be tasteful.) Gemma features several local designers – Chandler Nixon, Taylor Custer and Holly Zaves Designs, among others – so there are pieces to fit a range of tastes, from polished stone to dainty monogrammed items and religious icons.

Unique Tailor is a plain-Jane little storefront that stays out front of the competition with great service and very reasonable prices. It's all very democratic and unpretentious. Everybody getting their fat butt or their skinny butt stuck full of pins in front of everybody else, with that kind of mutual shoulder-shrugging look that says, "Yeah, we kid ourselves." Unique Tailor is especially good at salvaging that worn-torn garment you want to keep for no good reason, and they do well with fancy garments, too. They also know all about rush jobs, five-alarm emergencies and critical lists. The staff has doubled over the years, so even though they're busy, they're not slow.

The small shop on Henderson Avenue calls itself a "Guideshop." That's means it doesn't sell clothing, precisely. Or rather it does sell them, but just not there. Confusing. It's simple, really. You go into Bonobos Guideshop to see the clothes, try them on and get fitted. Then you tell them what you want and they then order them from Bonobos via the Internet. Bonobos, you see, is the largest apparel company ever launched online; the Guideshop is its storefront. (It's sort of like the relationship between Best Buy and Amazon, only deliberate.) Why bother going to the store only to order online? Well, first, do you really want to order a pair of pants or a shirt without trying it on? (If yes, we hate you and your perfectly proportioned body.) But most important is the fact that the Guideshop is staffed with friendly, fashionable people who will literally guide you to the right item and fit in everything from tweed slacks and golf-wear to tuxes, business suits and a wide range of styles in shirts, sweaters, outerwear and pants. It's all stylish, modern and tasteful for men of all ages (by that, we mean you won't look like a hipster or your dad, just good). Bonobos calls itself a place for men who hate to shop, but at the Guidepost you might actually enjoy yourself.

This local vintage store is known for many things: eclectic jewelry, taxidermy, antique furniture. But it's the clothing selection that really sets it apart from all other second-hand stores in town. Racks of beaded dresses, fur coats, vests, blouses, denim and more line the entrance of the 3,800-square-foot store. Not to mention, they have all the boots a boy or girl could dream of. Whether you're shopping for a friend's barbecue or a bridal shower, you'll be able to find a one-of-a-kind piece of clothing that'll set you apart.

Buffalo Exchange is a national thrift chain that mainly sells modern, designer-brand and trendy clothes for about half the original price. Shoppers can also try selling their old clothes back, garnering better sales if the clothes are in-season and in good condition. The stores vary widely from each other, with some offering better deals than others, but the Dallas spot is a winner. It's easy to get lost for hours shopping in the Greenville location. High-end designer brands are available, not exactly for cheap, but much cheaper than they were new, and the store carries plenty of trendy clothes that are actually dirt cheap — think Forever 21, but on sale. All of these clothes are geared for younger people on various budgets, and that's what makes the store such a fun, friendly place to shop. On Saturdays and Sundays, the friendly hang-out is crowded with shoppers in their 20s and 30s and salespeople who aren't shy about making conversation on topics that have nothing to do with retail.

The restaurants of the Bishop Arts District earned it a reputation as a hotspot, but that's no reason to overlook the shops that fill many of the Oak Cliff neighborhood's storefronts. Nearly every store lining Bishop Avenue and 7th Street is at least worth peering into from the sidewalk. But if your wardrobe needs refreshing, you'll want to pop into Strut. The selection isn't huge, but the prices are right and they've got both the staples and the trends, from casual blouses and sleeveless tops to numbers perfect for a night out.

Someone keeps telling us that sewing is not a talent; it's a skill that's learned with lots of practice. We hope that's true, because it's becoming pretty clear that we were not blessed with an innate ability to load a bobbin or sew a straight line. And man, we need to know how to sew — clothes aren't made to hold up forever anymore and if we could fix the shoulder seam on that Forever 21 blouse on the fly, we'd be so ahead of the game. Michelle Kitto's Urban Spools wants to get us there — it's a veritable wonderland for beginner sewers, perfect for the under-confident newbie. Not only is there a range of classes for every skill level, but Kitto offers monthly "Sew"-cials, where those of us struggling to complete projects or thread needles can bring our machines and enlist the assistance of sewing pros and their seam rippers. One day, we'll spread our seamstress wings and fly, but for now, we'll take the help. Check the online calendar to RSVP or drop in and check out the inspiring collection of fabric and patterns always in stock.

Have you ever found yourself out for a night on the town hating the outfit you squeezed into on your way out the door? Or maybe your little black dress just isn't as exciting as the night ahead of you. Elluments is the perfect store for a costume change. Grab some jewelry or a sequin jacket and head out for the evening, with just a little more sparkle than when you started.

Sure, there are plenty of nail salons in town, and while most of them will get your nails looking their best, Castle Nail Spa in Mockingbird Station takes your manicure experience to the next level. The spa is perfect if you're looking for a basic mani-pedi or want to indulge in a full-blown spa treatment. There are so many treatments to choose from your classic manicure ($15), to full acrylic sets ($30). Pick from hundreds of nail polish colors, and if you're lucky you'll receive a brief complimentary shoulder rub at the end of your session. Oh, and there's free wine.

We never thought that we'd be able go a full seven days without washing our hair — well, not since that Ani DiFranco dreadlock phase in college, anyway. But it's happened a lot lately, saving us untold amounts of time and energy — and nobody's been the wiser. In fact, thanks to Pouf, our 'do gets more compliments than ever. The dedicated stylists there scrub your scalp, massage your head and neck, then give you a choice of several styles before they turn on the hair dryer and work their magic. The results: shiny, smooth and perfect hair that lasts for days with just a squirt or two of dry shampoo along the way. The locally owned salon specializes in blowouts, and they've got the service down pat. But what really sets Pouf apart from other blow-dry joints is their attention to detail: complimentary beverages served with twee striped paper straws; retro décor; easy online booking; and stylists who don't treat you like the next part on the assembly line. Pricing is super reasonable, too, with discounts for services Mondays through Wednesdays.

We all know that furniture shopping can be expensive, especially when seeking out the latest trends. The mid-century look is so hot right now, but you'll spend a pretty penny to re-create the look for your home. So, instead of shelling out $5,000 for that vintage-looking dining table, why not pay a fraction of that for the real thing? The Salvation Army Family Store is always stocked full of furniture, some of which is shaggy, but there's also the occasional chic piece. While it can be hit-or-miss, chances are if you frequent the second-hand shop enough, you'll find the perfect piece for your home.

One of these days, we're going to show up at Life of Riley — Deep Ellum's fantastic interior design spot — with a suitcase and just live there. And not because it's so close to Pecan Lodge. Well, not entirely because of that. Mostly, we just want to stay in the homey, gleefully curated space surrounded by old-school maps on the walls and the store's signature scent — a zesty mix of frankincense, myrrh, Indonesian teak and spice available in the form of locally poured candles. Owners Billy Milner and Jerod Dame have stocked the Main Street spot with quirky trinkets, timeless furniture and lush decor that would live out a lifetime in our homes. On a recent visit, we spotted houndstooth upholstered chairs out of a mid-century dream, glass lamps with vintage contours we're still salivating over and an antique wooden toy train that we had to restrain ourselves from taking for a spin. Bottom line: We want it all.

Five full-time experienced framers on staff handle framing jobs from $25 to $2,000, mostly in the $50 to $150 range, with most jobs completed within three days, a maximum of seven days for the most challenging work. Their ample staff allows Art Frame Expo to specialize in emergency rush jobs. In several visits they have always been open to whatever modification the customer wanted done, including some to get the work done cheaper. In one case they agreed to salvage an old frame that a lot of frame shops wouldn't have messed with. Obviously getting it framed by professionals costs more than doing it yourself, but at least the difference is plain to see when you get it done here.

There could be no name more apt for this Lakewood shop than Curiosities. Those among us who find design inspiration in the quirky and utterly weird will certainly come across something to love in this well-curated collection. As you shop, you'll find buckets of random goodies like old coins, political campaign buttons and a seriously good selection of vintage jewelry. Stay alert, though — the occasional stuffed animal may scare the bejeezus out of you while you're sifting through one of the stacks of old postcards.

Geeks who grew up in the '70s or '80s will be in nostalgia heaven as soon as they walk through the doors to B4. The front of the store looks like a Toys "R" Us that has been time-warped back to 1986. Among the Star Wars figurines, metal Ninja Turtle lunchboxes and random old toys (Stretch Armstrong, anyone?), the back of the store is sort of like a music museum, full of reasonably priced vinyl and weird old music memorabilia. The selection is impressively large, and you'll also be able to find the next up-and-coming trend in vintage analog music: cassette tapes.

This is the kind of thrift shop where serious thrifters do their shopping. The clothing racks, surprisingly filled with lots of brand new, brand-name items, are perfect for building wardrobe basics on a budget. Genesis Benefit Thrift store also has a deceptively good collection of books, and a nice selection of charming decorations for that dose of kitschy character your apartment desperately needs. Best of all, the few bucks you will be plunking down go to benefit victims of domestic violence. Win-win.

Pandemonium! may very well be the only place you'll ever need to buy an outfit for that tacky Halloween or "throwback Thursday" party your friends are planning. Located on Lower Greenville, the best (and worst) fashions of the '60s, '70s and '80s are crammed into every nook and cranny of this tiny little shop, meaning that it's easy to find the bell-bottoms or paisley shirt to complete your look. Occasionally you can also find a hidden gem that looks perfect with all those clothes you buy at Urban Outfitters and ModCloth. Sure, it's a little too kitschy sometimes, but couldn't we all use a little more twee in our lives?

The duds here aren't always high-end, but the clothing racks at Thrift World sometimes yield delicious designer finds. If brand names don't concern you, though, you could easily assemble your entire yuppie-bohemian wardrobe here from the rows of early-'90s flashback fashion that seems to be so popular with that crowd. A true thrift store, Thrift World is extremely reasonably priced, and it isn't uncommon to find an item that never saw a bit of wear before landing on their shelves. You may have to do some digging here, but it will certainly be worth it.

No, this isn't a vintage store, regardless of what the name might imply. Rather, this Henderson Avenue gift shop (which has a second location in the Bishop Arts District) is stocked full of books, prints, apparel, art and even snacks. It's the perfect spot to grab a unique, handmade card or piece of jewelry. Want to give something a bit more personal? We Are 1976 offers workshops in which you can learn how to knit, make a terrarium and even carve your own stamps.

If an acid trip could be recreated as a retail shop, it would be Voodoo Chile. It's technically billed as a "vintage store," but this place functions much more like an art gallery for its eccentric owner who claims that his name is actually Jimi Hendrix. Weird is an understatement for many of the items on these crammed shelves, like doll heads spinning on turntables, bizarre specimens in bell jars and old horror memorabilia. There's also a surprisingly solid collection of well-loved vinyl that you can buy on the cheap and a dizzying array of bedazzled "tobacco pipes." Wink wink.

A record store isn't just a place to go pick out the record you're looking for, pay for it and leave. It's a gathering place where you'll run into old friends and meet new ones, where you can hang out for hours just thumbing through the racks and listening to music, discovering new favorites based on the recommendations of knowledgeable clerks and your fellow music nerd customers. That sense of community is why they are so vital, and fostering that community is something Good Records excels at. Bringing out some of the area's greatest musicians for performances on Record Store Day every year is just one part of it. The store has regular in-store performances with locals and touring acts, and they're always free and often offer free beer and food to boot. As for the actual record-store part of being a record store? They've got a pretty damn good selection, too. You'll most likely find the album you're looking for, and because it's just so hard to leave, walk out with a couple others, too.

The difference between a good record store and a great record store is selection. There's a delicious high in finding a gem after sifting through a sea of records. But what if every record was a gem? That's the case at Dead Wax Records. If the stock is any indication, store owner Brad Sigler has the best music tastes in Dallas, bar none. And it's not even close. Whether it be jazz, post-punk, avant-garde or pop, there's absolutely no filler in Sigler's stacks, just brilliant find after brilliant find, each better and more unexpected than the last. As a result, Dead Wax feels less like a record shop and more like the private inventory of a choice collector, only here Sigler is more than happy to share the wealth. Because you see, Dead Wax isn't just about selling records, it's about cultivating a culture, and perpetuating a dialogue on the joy of music.

The Carrollton location may have come first, but now that owner Nick Ley spends the lion's share of his inking time at the Oak Cliff location, the Bishop Arts studio is the one that comes to mind when thinking of Saints and Sinners. And even if it is the newer of the two locations, you'd swear it's been there since Sailor Jerry was in business — the place feels as comfortable in the old storefront as the vintage clothing and yuppie art stores in the district. Ley's work is outstanding, as those willing to wait months for his work will attest, whether it's an elaborate, brightly colored chest piece, a tiny stippled black-and-white memento or a cover-up job. If you can't wait that long, check with any of the other artists there, who are friendly and helpful the moment you walk in — a relief from the eager salesmanship or prickly indifference you can get when browsing through flash books and photos of previous clients at other shops.

Inspired by the tradition of Korean Jjim-Jil-Bang spas, King Waterpark and the attached King Spa & Sauna provide a quick vacation without a trip to the airport. For the price of dual admission, you can enjoy both the saunas (try the fire sudatorium) and the steam rooms before spending the afternoon lounging on the lazy river at the water park. To have the full experience, certain spa amenities can be enjoyed au naturale. Not your thing? Enjoy a massage, sip a cocktail, chow down on some bulgogi and pretend you are far, far away from the stress of your day job. Oh, wait, it's Tuesday? Well, that's the perfect day to go.

You're walking down a downtown street, when you look up and spy a plexiglass pool elegantly jutting out from a building, several stories above your head. Yeah, you can probably see up some person's swim trunks, but that's not the point. The Joule has only been open for a couple of years, but it's already earned a reputation as one of the best hotels Dallas has to offer. In addition to that fantastic pool design, there are full spa services, funky rooms and a good chance you will see a celebrity or 10. It's located right in the center of downtown and within walking distance of the Arts District. Great for a staycation, honeymoon or other special occasion, as the price is no bargain, but it's certainly not as high as other cities' nicest hotels. It's also available as a wedding venue.

DART buses are incapable of making change. Ticket terminals at DART train stations often greet credit cards with a demoralizing buzzer. That alone makes GoPass worth the memory it will occupy on your mobile device. A couple of clicks and your phone is now a valid DART pass. Doubly helpful is the "Where's My Bus?" feature, which will tell you whether your ride is coming around the corner or if it's already gone.

If you have backyard chicken pets and you want to treat them like a bunch of animals, fine, go ahead, sling some kind of gross gray pellets at them and call yourself a farmer. But if you want your chickens not only to be well-fed but to have a strong self-concept and a sense of being loved, you need to get yourself to Trinity Haymarket in the Design District. Their motto is "whole feeds for the home flock," and they mean it. Everything they sell is organic. They have all the best whole grains in an incredible variety. They sell hay, straw, fodder, essential minerals ... wait, do you even know what fodder is? Of course you don't! That's why you need to get down to Trinity Haymarket, where you will discover a whole new world of galline accoutrements. Ask about their magic anti-ammoniac straw. It smells so good you'll want to use it in the house.

George is not a gecko. George eats geckos. Or he would, if he got a chance. George — who is Prince George, technically — is an extremely red Buff Orpington rooster, official mascot of Gecko Hardware, which is the kind of store you'd get if a regular modern shopping mall True Value married an old-fashioned country store. Well, in fact, that's what happened. Andrea Ridout, co-owner and founder of the store, put together all the local honey and cottage crafts you might find in a smart faux-country store with a regular True Value franchise where you can buy construction-strength trash bags. One of Ridout's specialties, not found in your typical True Value, is baby chickens and chicken-raising gear. George was sort of an unintentional adoptee taken on by store staff out of pity for a little girl who brought him in, explaining sadly she had just found out city ordinances allow hens but not roosters within the Dallas city limits. The store offered to let him stay there while they searched for a farm where he could live out his (five) years in peace. But within weeks George was such a hit that customers were dropping by just to visit him. Now he rules the roost.

Maybe it was all those Hemingway stories we read as a kid about big-hearted rivers, but there's something about fly fishing that tugs at our romantic soul. In theory, anyway. Actual fishing experiences – at lakes, bored, sunburned, stinking of bait and bug-bitten – have never been good. Still, a trip to Orvis always sets us dreaming about doing manly things in Montana. Fishing is sort of like eating at Olive Garden that way. Let enough time lapse between experiences and you end up telling yourself it wasn't really that bad. Listen, take our advice, forget the fishing and just go for the clothes at Orvis, whose two-level store offers fly rods and flies alongside suits and sporting wear and coats and rain gear fit for a sail on the Atlantic. (Don't get us started about how miserable boats are.) Their casual summer shirts are our favorite – linen and cotton numbers that'll make you look fashionably outdoorsy and keep you cool at the water's edge, which if you're smart is either on a golf course or a pool, with a gin and tonic, not a rod and reel.

Suburban Plants is a kind of inside secret among landscape designers and serious gardeners as a place where you can find good, strong, heart-hardy plants at very reasonable prices. For years it has been tucked up into a hard-to-get-to corner of the Dallas Farmers Market, adding to the insider cachet if you ever did succeed in finding it. But now the city in its we-know-better rush to re-design the whole Farmers Market is kicking them out, so Suburban Plants is venturing out into the big world of easy-to-find major suburban arteries. Their new place, opening before year's end, is at the southwest corner of La Prada Drive (not La Prada Parkway) right where Northwest Highway turns into Northwest Drive. Suburban Plants offers a lot of seasonal color and a full stock of perennials. They have shrubs and some small trees for sale, but, even better, they have good sources for larger trees. They can find anything you want and get it delivered for you at a good price.

Because you were born and grew up in the South of France and now you're here, because you went to school there, you visited once on vacation, you read about it, whatever reason you may have for missing the Midi, Rise No. 1 is ingeniously fiendishly designed to scratch your itch. It's a full-service restaurant specializing in savory and sweet souffles, brie and cornichon baguettes and other dishes that will take where you wish you were. Rise No. 1 is also a shop, offering a variety of French textiles, antique tableware and other merchandise imported from the South of France, as well as a nice selection of new and antique books and magazines. If you want to go back to the Midi or visit a little bit of it for the first time, this is the way to do it without buying a plane ticket.

Kendahl Airey is a specialist with training in deep tissue/sports massage, lymphatic, pre-natal and hot stone massage and oncology massage, for which she was trained at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She has clients who are NFL players and clients who are desk-bound journalists, all of whom need help with tough issues like scar tissue, torn rotator cuffs, knee or back pain. Her lymphatic massage is directed at reducing swelling of any kind, as, for example, in recovery from cosmetic surgery. Pre-natal massage helps expecting mothers deal with stresses and strains their bodies endure before giving birth, and the oncology massage is designed to boost the immune system and help the body fight the good fight.

Really old clocks are cool inside, all kinds of retro-looking gizmos clicking up and down, spinning and rocking together to keep the time. But old clocks are sort of like old people. They get kind of crazy sometimes, and just looking in there yourself, it's not easy to tell if your problem is your gong or your bezel, your pendulum or your bellows, your weights or your head-dressing, to say nothing of whether you'll need a hand-remover. When your old clock turns cranky on you, best to leave it to the trained professionals at Tic Toc Clock Shop, in business for 45 years. The shop always offers an array of antique wall and floor clocks including lots of wonderful cuckoo clocks well worth going in just to watch as they mark the hour. The only thing is, if you want to check out several of them and really observe them closely, you have to keep coming back every hour on the hour. But you know what? After you watch the first one strike the hour, you might just come back for the rest of them.

Not too many years ago Whole Earth Provision and REI were great places to go because it was otherwise so hard to find a lot of hiking, paddling and general outdoor gear in Dallas. Now they're good to know about because there is so much outdoor gear for sale all over the place, and most of it is crap. The problem is that the outdoor recreation market has grown big enough to make it worthwhile to knock off everything from headband flashlights to dry bags, with the knock-off stuff selling at way cheaper prices. And that stuff is OK — maybe even a good deal and preferable — if you think you're suiting up for a single outing, maybe two, and then it's all going into deep storage anyway. But if you need to buy gear that will stand up to repeated beatings, then you should at least pay a visit to Whole Earth Provision. Sometimes the cost difference is less than you might expect, and the quality difference is almost always huge.

If you need a lot of advice and guidance, you have to go to some place like The Cultured Cup, but if you sort of know what you're looking for in a loose-leaf tea or you know what you'd like to explore, Central Market offers a broad selection at fairly good prices. And this is not to say they don't have tea specialists working in the department. It's just that on busy nights you may have to hunt a bit to find one, and don't expect a long conversation. They also keep their tea department clean and tidy — a trick some other stores have never mastered. What is it about tea that makes it the grungiest department? But not at Central Market.

Did you know one of America's largest importers of British goods is in Grapevine? Well, now you do. The British Emporium has every horrifying British food you've never wanted to try, from steak and kidney pie to prawn-cocktail-flavor chips, alongside a smattering of Doctor Who merchandise and pictures of the British countryside. You're guaranteed to find something there you have never heard of before, or even conceived that it could be a thing. After all, remember how famous British cuisine is!

When you're heating up the wok, head to Hong Kong Market for all the ingredients for dinner, plus some amazing entertainment while you shop. On one occasion, an Observer staffer went to check out what they were told was an amazing special on lobster. While waiting at the seafood counter, another customer in line ordered live catfish. The guy working the seafood counter fished out a catfish, but it got away from him and fell on the floor. Without blinking, he reached for the baseball bat that had been leaning against the wall, beat the flopping-on-the-floor catfish senseless with it, turned to the line and asked, "Anyone want half-priced catfish?" Not only do they have fresh produce and all the Asian dry goods you could ever ask for, Hong Kong Market will always deliver a magnificent, WTF-just-happened-to-my-eyes experience.

Sooner or later you will tell yourself, "Yeah, this house is authentic and historical and all that good stuff, but I need to be able to open a window." As soon as you say that, you are off down the road to re-do Hades. The windows you've got won't open because they have been painted, nailed and puttied shut, and when you look really close at them they're halfway made out of old banana crates anyway. But as soon as you touch hammer or pry to one of them, you just made yourself a much bigger problem. Next way-station on the road to Old House Hell: How easy do you think it's going to be to find a replacement for that dude? Pause here. Before you pick up the phone and call the Jolly Roger Skull and Crossbones Carpentry Company to come out and build you new windows for the price of a Harvard undergraduate degree, go to Orr-Reed where you will find a wonderful trove of old windows carefully salvaged from old North Texas houses. Tell your problem to proprietor Hannah Hargrove. She'll probably take you to just what you need. Same goes for doors, lintels and anything else. Never have it made for you until you've checked with Hannah.

Kids of a certain age will never get sick of certain popular bounce-house venues. Parents, on the other hand, forced to haul their child to a party there every goddamned weekend, can barely choke down the bile. Enter Quiggly's Clayhouse. As its name implies, parties there involve clay — painting for the little ones, sculpting for the bigger ones — and fun. You will no doubt find your child's artistic creation precocious and adorable. More important, though, you'll be bathed in gratitude by your fellow parents for not dragging them to the bounce-house place.

There aren't many good reasons to drive to Grapevine. The best one, if you have a child obsessed with a certain brand of molded plastic block, is Legoland. It's a Lego theme park. With two million Legos. With a 4-D(!) movie theater. With Lego go-carts. It won't actually explode your kid's brain, but it will so inundate his senses that it will render him unable to muster the energy to outsmart you, at least for the rest of the day.

Do you have to go to a baby shower for a fancy baby? Go to Baby Bliss and snag all the expensive baby crap that fancy baby desperately needs. You want to spend 30 bucks on a onesie the kid will puke on in the first two seconds it wears it, and then immediately outgrow? Easy. You want to buy a $180 plush mermaid your new grandbaby will rip the hair out of? They've got you covered. The staff here is super nice and accommodating. Just tell them what kind of baby thing you want to spend lots of money on, and they'll point you in the perfect direction.

Sometimes, your kids are bouncing off the walls in your house, and you'd rather have them bounce off the wall somewhere — anywhere — else. At this desperate point, you make the choice to drive them to Jumpstreet. Jumpstreet is an "indoor trampoline park" (read: a warehouse space they lined wall-to-wall with trampolines), and is meant to be the perfect place for kids to jump out all that kid energy. What it really becomes is a place for kids to play a good game of "How Long Until I Get a Head Injury?" Something changes in the eyes of every kid who walks through the automatic doors here. They go primal. And there's no stopping it. Whether they're double-bouncing each other into the ceiling, begging you to let their not-yet-fully-formed-bodies ride the mechanical bull or vomiting in the bounce house, just remember: You signed up for this.

The play area on the third floor of the Galleria is enclosed, with only one entrance/exit. It's carpeted. And it's full of squishy, rounded-cornered stuff for your kids to climb all over. The whole thing is even lined with a never-ending bench, so every parent has a place to sit. And it's free. You would think it would be the perfect play place. But once you walk through the entrance of this play area, it's every soiled-diapered toddler for himself. This playground is jungle-themed for a reason. Every single one of these kids has been cooped up in a shitty stroller for an hour while Mom shopped for lingerie — they deserve this moment to let loose. Just buckle up, get a seat by the exitrance (that's what you call an entrance/exit, right?) and hold onto your butts. Hope you brought bandages.

On a 106-acre spread in southern Dallas, a particular species congregates every morning for a week at a time during certain parts of the year. That species: the yoga pants mom. The reason for their migration to these parts: Dallas Zoo day camps. During the summer — and again during both winter break and spring break — the Dallas Zoo hosts preschoolers through high schoolers for week-long themed educational camps. And the moms rejoice: They drop their kids off at 9 a.m. in a classroom just inside the gates where the order of the day includes animal encounters, zoo exploration and crafts. Said moms can then go to practice their standing bows, head to lunch with the ladies, clean up and drive to the camp pickup line at 3:30 p.m. And for those of us working for the man instead of flexing for the yogi, childcare is available for an additional fee both before and after camp begins. Wild.

That software you bought last year so you could learn a little conversational Spanish held so much promise, but here you are ... still struggling to figure out how to gender nouns and when to roll your Rs. That's because language acquisition doesn't really work that way. A computer can help you with rote repetition and memorization, but can never take the place of interaction. Full immersion in a foreign language is how you really get the bilingual ball rolling. It's a lot like diving into a pool to learn to swim, with context and social cues as your life preservers. Spanish House is a full-immersion language school founded locally by a pair of teachers. It offers nine graduated levels of group and individual classes so you can aprender Español on the double. Classes are small and informal and teachers are trained educators and native Spanish speakers. Spanish House also offers weekly lessons for children in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, plus a day care, preschool and elementary school — we know little ones that deftly back-talk in two languages after just a few semesters of Spanish House instruction.

Remember that time you thought you'd pay someone to address your wedding invitations in fancy calligraphy just like you saw on Pinterest and then HOLY MOTHER OF GOD it was, like, Uptown money? There's a reason: That shit's kind of hard. There's a whole science behind it, like the angle you need to hold the pen and the exact place you should place your blotting papers to avoid dreaded smearing. Lauren Essl's Blue Eye Brown Eye (named in honor of her dog's different colored irises) offers calligraphy classes in both Dallas and Fort Worth that show you all those things in about three hours — she cheerfully teaches beginner classes (the basics related to lower-case calligraphy), and the advanced class adds colors and uppercase letters. Basic supplies are included too, all for $165, which is about how much you'd pay for someone to address three of your shower invitations. With Essl's guidance and a little bit of practice, you'll be creating Etsy-worthy décor and stationary in no time.

The only thing better than this Goody Goody's booze selection is the welcoming and knowledgeable staff. Not sure what you're looking for? The Oak Lawn liquor store employees are more than eager to lead customers through the wide-ranging selection of liquor, wine and beer. Goody Goody also boasts some of the lowest prices in town.

All the way up in Carrollton, Lonestar is an incredible place for beer nerds, with regular tastings, and it's one of the most reliable places to pick up the rarest beers around. Owner Sam Ali has an incredible knowledge of his stock and is amazingly friendly, and they lean heavily on the Texas beer scene so you get the best local flavor. While all these big liquor store chains might be developing their big national craft beer ranges, the best place for those hard-to-find Texas bottles is undoubtedly secreted all the way up in the northern 'burbs.

Whether you're looking to adopt a cat, buy a bag of organic cat food or both, Pet Supermarket has got you covered. This pet supply store stocks every type of pet necessity imaginable. There's even a section exclusively for dressing up your fur-baby (what's cuter than a tiny dog in a chiffon tutu?). Don't have a pet? They have bunnies, hamsters, colorful birds, cats, guinea pigs and fish for adoption.

She's dropped the gardening know-how on WFAA's Good Morning, Texas and has a new book (Best Garden Plants for Texas) slated for spring, but for now, it's her free green advice on the web that Dallasites should be following. Leslie Halleck is the self-described plant geek behind Halleck Horticultural. As she explains, she provides technical horticultural consulting and business strategy consulting for industry, but "much of [her] time is spent generating horticultural content for green industry companies so they can better educate their audience." Impressive to be sure, but it's the byproduct that benefits Dallas' brown and wannabe green thumbs most — the free gardening advice Halleck shares on the Halleck Horticultural blog, Facebook page, Pinterest, and Instagram account. From her East Dallas hub, Halleck and crew provide peeks inside the industry as well as more intimate scenes from her own garden. She offers suggestions, like what to do with an overabundance of tomatoes or alternatives to planting tulips in a row; a series called Cocktail Gardening, complete with recipes; portraits of garden critters (including her own pets); a glimpse at urban homesteading; and seasonal planting tips.

If 2014's ice storms were anything to go on, tree pruning and maintenance aren't matters to ignore. Power outages, blocked roads and home repairs caused by fallen trees were big news. That's when homeowners new and old started learning and re-learning the importance of keeping trees trimmed. According to the certified arborists of Preservation Tree, not only does pruning create "aesthetically pleasing" trees, but also ones that are "structurally sound." Reducing the weight of the canopy "reduces incidences of breakage" when windy and icy times put stress on branches. And that's a good thing. But the peace of mind from choosing Preservation comes from the fact that their degreed arborists are certified by the International Society of Arboriculture. They don't just saw branches; they get up high, close and personal with limbs, studying them for crowding and disease. With three-story trees and oak wilt no stranger to Dallas, that's major. And they're thorough. Dead tree? Not only can they remove it, they'll make it like a tree so it leaves. There's no pile of stumps waiting for bulk trash day. It's gone to a mulch pile far away. While tree maintenance seems expensive at first consult, that's just it — the first time is the worst. Preservation becomes cost-effective when it achieves its eponymous goal.

Orange alerts and haze and gross. Dallas has seen it all this year. Anything to breathe better and cleaner is welcome, if not passionately celebrated. This falls under passionately celebrated. Oncor and the Arbor Day Foundation, once again, offered two free trees for qualifying homeowners this fall. By just filling out a simple survey — OK, maybe the dragging of the house map lines required a steadier hand than expected — one could apply for and see ideal planting location and potential savings from 8,000 available trees including burr oak, cedar elm, Chinkapin oak, Mexican white oak, pecan and Texas redbud. The decision was difficult with such a nice variety to choose from, but there was no wrong answer (except maybe that redbud). While the potential energy savings was the primary focus of the offer, the secondary improvement to air quality (thanks to HVAC savings and, well, more trees) really is an exiting bonus to come.

We've shopped high-end eyewear shops, one-hour mall chains and small, locally owned discount stores on the cheap. One thing they've all had in common is that no matter what sort of frames we've bought, from fancy lightweight titanium gems to standard plastic Buddy Holly types, once the person behind the counter gets done adding up all the add-ons and special mystery lens gewgaws, our reaction is the same: "How much?!" (We swear we once bought anti-rust undercoating on a pair of plastic lenses once.) Glasses are damned expensive no matter where you go, it seems, but the truth is we've always been happier with snazzy, high-tech, fashionable specs — within reason. We'll drive a cheap car, wear cheap clothes and drink cheap booze (lots), but for the stuff we hang on our faces and use to see, we'll indulge. Vision City offers eye exams on-site, one-hour turnaround for basic lenses and accepts vision insurance. But they also sell glasses from designers such as Tom Ford, Fendi and our fave, Silhouette. (The shop has tons of rimless.) The prices are about what you'd expect from anywhere else, but what the heck. Steel yourself with some cheap booze and indulge. This is your face we're talking about, and frankly, some of us can use all the help we can get.

Rock N Roll Vapes offers a vaping experience enhanced with a rock 'n' roll theme. By turning a broken guitar into a work of art and broken records into seat covers, owner John Smith infuses his passion for music in every aspect of his store. Offering signature e-juice flavors with heavy metal monikers like School's Out, Stand & Deliver and Summer Breeze, Rock N Roll Vapes blazes past its corporate contemporaries.

In a drab plaza on Wycliff Avenue, the hair salon next to a Dickey's barbecue shop from the outside looks indistinguishable from all the other hair salons that dot strip malls across North Texas. Inside, however, is a pleasant surprise — a youthful boutique filled with bags of long hair and lots of pink. Delilah Hair is really two businesses — one is a brand of hair extensions created by local hairstylist Marcos Venegas in 2007. The extensions, real hair that comes from China, Malaysia and Russia, are installed into clients' hair using cold fusion and tape fusion methods, which Venegas found to be less damaging than the harsh heat and chemical methods still used by many brands. "Delilah's first rule of business is keeping your natural hair intact," Venegas writes on the Delilah website. The salon, called the Delilah Damage Free Extensions Salon, opened in January, employing stylists who are trained in installing the extensions, and in keeping with the theme, have long, thick heads of natural-looking hair themselves. This salon is definitely partial to long, fluffy hair, but they're also happy to give regular-old short haircuts, no extensions necessary. Stylist Stephanie Meier recently gave a creative graduated bob cut to a Dallas Observer employee who was missing a large chunk of hair from the back of her head because of an at-home hair-cutting accident.

There are a few human beings equipped with a big enough reservoir of internal motivation that they can endure several months of arduous, time-consuming training. The rest of us occasionally need a bit of external motivation, and aside from a vein-bulging drill sergeant, there's nothing quite so effective as a large group of fellow runners quietly shaming you for sitting on your ass. The Dallas Running Club is such a group. It's open only to members ($40 per year), but otherwise there's no hurdle. There's space for 6-minute milers and 12-minute milers.

Dallas has made some drastic improvement in terms of making certain neighborhoods more bikeable, but sometimes it's getting between those 'hoods that seems daunting. While cycling from East Dallas/Lake Highlands to Deep Ellum hasn't traditionally been difficult, it's made inherently easier by the Santa Fe Trail. For a particularly tasty day without too much exertion, start out at T&P Hill at White Rock Lake, and jump on White Rock Creek Trail for a nice downward slope toward the Santa Fe Trail, taking it on to Deep Ellum. The five-and-a-half-ish miles have a few modest hills and plenty of intersections, so pedal pushers should be mindful of right-of-ways. But this isn't your typical fitness path. We chose this as our best bike trail because sometimes one just wants to leave the spandex at home (but bring a good bike lock). Once in Deep Ellum, Monkey King Noodle Company is our cycling destination for soup dumplings on the roof (BYOB), then it's the Cane Rosso patio for some Neapolitan carbs, or Pecan Lodge's patio for burnt ends in honor of bike butts everywhere. If timed well, Twilite Lounge, Cold Beer Company or Black Swan can provide some refreshment between stomach linings (drink responsibly). On the return, the Lot offers a final cold drink or sweet treat before reaching the bike racks back at the lake.