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BUY LOCAL. MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

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THE IST

For personalized information on how to buy or sell your home contact me for a complimentary market analysis at 972.680.0365 or shirley@shirley-homes.com

This is all about the unexpected. You are at a standby eatery and discover some item on the menu — something you did not intend to order — that throws you for a pleasant loop. Here are

1. MATCHA LATTE AT WHITE ROCK COFFEE. Most of us hang here for the live music, homey atmosphere, free WiFi and ready access to our favorite legal drug — everyone knows this coffee shop on Northwest Highway and Shoreview has some of the best java this side of Columbia. But I know a few coffee drinkers who have turned to tea after trying the rich, foamy and honey infused matcha tea latte hidden deep within the “other hot drinks” section of the menu.

2. ARTICHOKE SALAD AT TONY’S PIZZA. We’d known well for many years that Tony’s was an entirely reliable joint when it came

Bestbiodiesel And Gourmet Tacos

Sure, there are probably a handful of places where you can fill up on gas and tacos in one stop, but the biodiesel and top-of-the-line taco options make Green Spot on Buckner near White Rock Lake a unique neighborhood commodity.

MENU ITEMSTHAT MIGHT MAKE YOU SAY, ‘OMG! HOW DIDI MISS THIS?’ to pizza, pasta and calzones, but it wasn’t until a recent diet effort that we discovered the Artichoke Salad on the menu. At $4.95, the robust salad is packed with lettuce, Italian ham, mozzarella (drop this if you’re doing the diet thing), black olives and artichoke hearts. The diets didn’t last, but we regularly return to Tony’s for the salad.

3. HUSH PUPPIES AT AW SHUCKS.

We’d been here a million and one had never eaten $1.95 per basket Hush Puppies until it suggested that try them. With each layer — from the crispy outer crust, through the sweet cakey inside, right down doughy, creamy middle — we were certain we would look at this old way.

Bottle Rocket

NorthPark Center, the Ice House building on Commerce (formerly Hinkley Cold Storage) and a home just off Northwest Highway are among the spots director Wes Anderson chose to shoot the cult classic movie, “Bottle Rocket”, starring Luke and Owen Wilson.

Had enough of the daily grind? Grab a good book, or your Advocate, and steal a moment for yourself. Here are a few Quie T corners w Here you can crack a Book treat almost any type of pet imaginable, it’s not unusual to have a Gila Monster or a rare exotic bird waiting alongside you in this Garland Road strip center clinic — needless to say, this makes the wait interesting (especially if you have a curious Boxer in tow).

1. MockingBird-Peavy Park. It’s a simple little green space atop the Buckner overpass with a perfectly placed pavilion and one of the prettiest views in the city. Plop down at the picnic table and take in a fall afternoon and an entertaining magazine article. (Oh, and improvements at the accompanying playground are underway.)

3. Half Price Books. Try visiting your local boutique, trying on a dress, and then wearing it around the store … for hours. Or going to your favorite grocery store, opening up a bag of chips, and consuming it right there. If you didn’t get thrown out, you’d at least be frowned upon. not so at Half Price. At the flagship on Northwest Highway near Central Expressway, it’s perfectly acceptable to cozy up in a nook or cranny of the store with a book for as long as you wish.

Waiting for the light to turn, the line to move or the mechanic to tell you the bad news — seems like we’re always waiting. Here are a couple of ...

2. KWIK KAR BY THE LAKE A popular kids’ play area makes waiting easier on parents, who can enjoy a cup of fresh coffee in the clean, roomy and comfortable waiting room across from the Dallas Arboretum.

When it comes to public restrooms, cleanliness is key, but we want to recognize those spots that do a little extra to make your visit comfortable, convenient and, dare we say, entertaining. Here are PERFECT

Places For A Pit Stop

State Farm’s money-saving discounts and award-winning service will make you feel like you’re in the winner’s circle. Call the agent near you.

2. LAKEWOOD LANDING. It’s reasonably clean, most of the time, especially considering that it’s inside the loveable local dive bar on Gaston, but this place also offers unique entertainment (reading material) in the form of its colorful veniently placed in the heart

Neighbors say they love the “super-sterile hand dryers”

John Hamman, CPCU 8330 Abrams Rd., Suite 104 214-341-3050 john.hamman.lcjs@statefarm.com

Jim Collins, CLU 11807 Preston Rd. 214-349-7455 jim.collins.bts5@statefarm.com

Reginald W. Johnson 6333 E Mockingbird,Ste. 275 214-821-4242 reginald.johnson.coqr@statefarm.com

5. QUICK

WHITE ROCK LAKE. This one gets conveniently placed be said for the 7-11 the street, but it doesn’t comes to sanitation sistently clean, spacious, and it beats using the

Jennifer Wilcox 9660 Audelia Rd., Suite 123 214-348-0480 www.jenniferwilcox.com

Rob Braun 9601White Rock Trail, Suite 214 214-343-1515 www.robbraun.net

Providing Insurance and Financial Services

Our neighborhood is teeming with creative minds. In fact, it’s home to several inventors — not the nutty mad-scientist ilk (though we claim and love some of those too), but real inventors whose creations have earned them a pretty penny and a place in history. We’ve come up with a whole list of THINGS INVENTED

In East Dallas

1. PEDAL PUSHERS. In 1951, a clothing designer named Maryon Van Gilder ran into a production snafu that left 100,000 pair of pants too short. “Thankfully, it occurred to me the pants would be excellent for bike riding because they wouldn’t get caught in the spokes,” Van Gilder says. “I told one of my assistants to go ahead and put in a hem, and we’d call them ‘pedal pushers’.”

2. FROZEN MARGARITA MACHINE. The bartenders at Mariano’s Tex Mex restaurant, formerly located at Old Town shopping center, were peeved at the constant frozen margarita orders because they took so long to make. Owner Mariano Martinez - mous margaritas so, he turned an old Slurpee machine into a frozen margarita maker and everyone was happy. Today his original margarita maker is on display at the Smithsonian Museum.

3. “GRANDMA GOTRUN OVER BY A REINDEER”. If an original song can be considered an invention, this is one so catchy that — though it might drive you crazy once a year — it will never go obsolete. The mind behind the zany ditty about an alcohol-fueled accident involving an old lady and a reckless reindeer is that of Hollywood Heights singer-songwriter Randy Brooks. Though he must have heard the campy carol a zillion times over the past 30 or so winters, it still warms his heart. “I can’t remember when the emotional high of hearing the song wore off,” Brooks says. “Now it’s more of an intellectual response — one of gratitude for how it has enriched my life.”

4. MARSHMALLOW GUN. For their son’s birthday party, Beaver and Kim Raymond of East Dallas rigged up a toy pump gun that shoots marshmallows. As soon as they saw how the kids reacted, they knew they had a smash hit on their hands. In 2009, their Marshmallow Shooter company saw $7.9 million in sales. They sell internationally at major toy retailers such as Toys R Us, and have appeared on “Ellen” and the “Today” show.

5. FLETCHER’S CORNY DOG. Neil and Minnie Fletcher owned and operated the theater company known as the Madcap Players. People came from all around Dallas to the Fletchers’ Haskell Avenue theater. One night Neil wanted to prepare a snack for the crowd and improvised with what he had laying around his tiny kitchen — wieners and corn meal. He wrapped a wiener in the corn meal, fried Corny Dogs to his audience.

If you’ve seen it, you know it. Someone regularly dresses the fire hydrant right across the street from Times Ten Cellars in seasonally appropriate clothing. It was wearing a white sweater one chilly December day, and in February, it sported a string of Mardi Gras beads. It’s been seen in short and long sleeves, striped and solid button-ups, always with a few buttons undone at the middle allowing for proper fire hose access. This is our neighborhood’s BEST DRESSED FIRE HYDRANT

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