the moment we drove our rental car out of its garage we were welcomed by dried yellow flatlands. our early adventure started by waking up 4am so our first stop was to eat. we headed towards "bishops arts district", which was written to be an artisty boutique shopping with good restaurants. when we arrived friday morning, it was more like a ghost town. it took us awhile to find our restaurant which was the only place in the whole district that had people in it. "hatties" is glorified southern cooking in a modern and chic decor. the place was definitely the happening place. isaac's fried chicken tasted extra crispy with a light buttermilk batter. my mac-n-cheese with additional fancy cheese was two thumbs down.
after fulfilling our stomachs, we headed to adams mark hotel. once we were at the lobby, both of our jaws dropped because we never seen such a long line to check in and seen such a long line of cheerleaders. what a coincident to have a conference with the national cheerleader association. i'm sure it was going to be a heavenly experience for all the pathfinder boys and some girls. luckily a short little angel escorted us to the front of the line! also, i was pretty excited when my husband got us upgraded to the newly reinovated $500 rooms for free!
though i had planned my all day excursions of dallas sightseeing by myself, i was spontaneously led to one of afternoon seminars. a familiar friend was presenting a case study on church planting. to my surprise, what a huge inspiration it was to attend this case study called "london live." basically, he inspired us that if you find yourself unhappy or unsatisifed with your church, find a group of leaders and go start your own church. The presenter claims that though Adventist church has many insights of the Bible, we do not know how to love... Therefore, "doctrine can not change, but methodology must change." "PEOPLE HAVE LOST FAITH IN INSTITUTIONS, BUT HAVE FAITH IN PEOPLE AND COMMUNITY." "Truth is not a doctrine, truth is a person." there were many innovative and modern ways he was presenting his so called evangelistic crusades in the city titling, "the true sex and the city" and "how to be a player." i was so blessed by the genuine and sincerity of the speakers.
in between the meetings, i slept since i was sick and ate out because we hated the hotel food. three other restaurants we tried were: avanti's, a great restaurant in uptown for live jazz and late dining, asian mint for americanized thai, chinese, japanese in a popular zagat rated rest, and breadwinners cinnamon roll was too sweet for me.
sunday was a day to myself because isaac had "pastor meetings." i started my day in a real farmers market that had only produce to purchase. then i drove in circles to find the dallas aquarium. the aquarium was really neat because the spiral architecture allowed the viewer to begin with the top of the ecosystem: the rainforest, then to the flatlands and the marsh, to the bottom of the ocean. i was quite entertained staring at the crazy giant sea otter, australian sea horses, and grey manatees. the next spot was the dallas museum, which i didn't find interesting and was too boring after observing constant movement of interesting being at the aquarium. then, i found the 1st neiman marcus in the us closed which i could not check out! so i went to the beverly hills of dallas, highland park to shop. surprisingly most of the stores were closed their too. but i got to kill some time at the chain stores. i was bummed i couldn't find any boutiques to get my country boots and hat.
overall my dallas experience was positive because i loved the room i stayed in and the conference i attended made me feel proud to be an Adventist. however, the city itself is pretty unattractive and not as sexy as LA or NY.
