The National Showman Pageant is a competitive stage performance competition for men and drag kings.
There was a lot of live singing and some pretty epic dance numbers.
The level of preparation was impressive. Although not all of the performances were equally as entertaining, this pageant was far more polished than many of the female drag pageants I’ve seen in the past.
I look forward to the next one!
Some of my neighbors and I finally made it to the Cedar Springs Wine Walk. This monthly event has been going on for a while, but this is the first time we got organized enough to actually attend.
And gurl…
For $10, you get a wine glass which the local businesses fill up for free. We made it to about 5 places before we had to start carrying people home.
Well my article is finally out! Although I look haggard a little tired in my picture, I am glad that the interview has finally been published!
Dallas-Fort Worth Relocation Magazine is a publication of the Dallas Regional Chamber and D Magazine. The goal of this publication is to help introduce Dallas to new residents and show everyone what a fabulous place this is to live.
As if the Erika Jayne concert and being selected for the Hotels.com campaign weren’t exciting enough, Michael and I decided to continue the fun at the Stoli Key West Cocktail Classic on Monday night.
Even though we have seen the advertisements for this event for weeks, we did not seriously consider going to it until we bumped into Stoli LGBT ambassadorffat the Erika Jayne show.
Patrik reminded us that the Key West Cocktail Classic was happening and told us to RSVP.
Apparently only Michael got the message – RSVP’s were already closed by the time I got around to the website. However Patrik got me a wristband anyway.
I expected the cocktail classic to look more like a career fair (booths with several sample-sized cocktails.) It turned out to be a full show hosted by Patrik and local gay celebrity Steve Kemble.
Real Housewife LeeAnne Locken was also three as a judge.
The celebrity judges at the Stoli cocktail classic including Steve Kemble and LeeAnne Locken.
The owner of Liquid Zoo was also a participant – she was a stand-in for one of her bartenders who is recovering from cancer.
The performance was everything that we imagined: Drag queens opened the show, and we even got a sneak peek at the Real Housewives of Dallas (including gay favorite, LeeAnne Locken!)
Real Housewife Erika Jayne Girardi singing at Brick nightclub in Dallas.
In addition to an usual amount of WebEx meetings, the power kept shutting off in my building. This made for several unscheduled dog walks, which Ingrid and Gunter appreciated.
After work I made my way down to the iLume Park “Grand Happy Hour” – a weekly lobby happy hour which replaced the daily happy hours from when I first moved in.
Margaritas and beer at the iLume Park Happy Hour
Happy Hour is also a strange thing in this building because angry former residents sometimes show up uninvited to bitch about how much they hate iLume Park (while drinking the free booze at iLume Park…)
The conversation quickly switched to the scene outside of the building – the front entrance to iLume Park was cordoned off because a portion of the building’s brick façade came crashing down.
It may take me a while to see a particular movie, but I inevitably do. (With the exception of Frozen, which I am boycotting.)
A few months ago, a friend recommended Tangerine to me, and I finally got around to watching it.
It’s sad and hilarious.
The conversation about hiring security guards was one of the strangest things about last month’s epic apartment building meeting.
“I can give you a daily happy hour, or I can give you security guards,” the building president said. “But I am warning you, armed security guards are going to change the vibe around here.”
She was right.
Now I routinely run into packs of 2 to 4 security guards when I leave my building. Most of the security guards just glare at residents without saying anything, so it is highly awkward.
In addition to the joy of seeing family, and an excuse to do touristy things, visits from my mother also have very practical benefits – like preventing my apartment from burning down.
When my mother was in town, she noticed a very odd smell coming from my laundry closet.
“You know it’s not supposed to have a burning smell when you dry clothes, right?” she said. “There’s not supposed to be lint everywhere either.”
The busiest part of my winter is always after the holiday season ends – my clients are ready to start ambitious projects, we have an all-team meeting in Minnesota this coming February, and tax season is rearing its ugly head.
I’m volunteering with a community tax center again this year. That means that I am joining a hoard of accountants to provide free tax services to low-and-moderate income individuals in the Dallas area.
Apparently the mass tenant exodus, police drama, and middle-of-the-night fire alarms culminated in the building manager being fired.
The iLume Park management company then called a “member meeting” of all of the residents to announce the changes and clear the air.
It was a shit show.
The meeting was led by the management company president / general counsel (who coincidentally reminds me a lot of Donna Shalala). She gave a short speech about how things are going to change and a brief overview of her plans.
She also pointed out that the most recent 3 a.m. fire alarm was due to some drunkards who set off the hour-long alarm by hopping a fence and intentionally tampering with the fire equipment.
I had a fabulous time going out with my neighbors the day before. We went to Dish, BJ’s, and Pegasus bar, among other places.
Shots at Pegasus Bar in Dallas, Texas
I spent my day working while eyeing loops of the Dubai hotel fire on CBS News. I then gave my apartment the deep clean which I should have done before my mother came to town for the holidays.
I’ve alternatively described my apartment building as a dog-friendly residential hotel, Melrose Place, and an adult dorm.
In true dorm fashion, my neighbors occasionally trigger the fire alarm in the middle of the night. This happened today at 3 a.m.
There are leaves on the ground, but the temperature still hits the low 70s almost every day.
Although it is not quite tropical Christmas experience that I had in Miami, it is still way more pleasant than Minnesota. At least I can still trot around in shorts!
Life has been very full lately with work, sprawling dog walks, dates, holiday parties, and marathons of The Good Wife.
My cup runneth over again.
Elaborate Christmas decorations in Highland Park, Dallas.
Gunter’s leather doggy jacket.
My building is modeled after a hotel, so we have breakfast and happy hour in the lobby. It’s one of the reasons why it can feel like Melrose Place at times and also why it is so easy to stay on top of what’s going on.
The dogs and I are walking in Perry Heights, which is a tiny historical neighborhood immediately behind my apartment building.
Perry Heights has some pretty single-family homes and it is a great place to walk dogs because the area is removed from all of the gay bars on Cedar Springs road. This cute residential area is also very poorly lit at night – the few street lights that exist are dim and often covered by huge trees.
The darkness of Perry Heights makes it really hard to pick up after my dogs without using the flashlight application my phone. However, the darkness it made it really easy to notice a car slowly creeping towards us with its lights dimmed.
It is 5:15 a.m., and I am typically one of the first people at the café. (It is the first stop on the morning dog walk.)
Aside from the normal collection of doctors and nurses, there is a strange, short man standing by the half-and-half. He’s mumbling and shaking.
I look over to the barista, who is glaring at the man, who is apparently high.
All the typical things happened – there were drag queens, ridiculous outfits, sloppy messes, and brawling lesbians.
Unlike Minneapolis gay pride or Chicago gay pride, I got to experience this parade as a resident. My building is right in the heart of the metroplex’s gay district, so I didn’t have any of the typical logistics to worry about.
My building also threw a block party for residents with a drag stage and open bar. My neighbors and I spent most of our time watching from our gated-off VIP section on the parade route.
Dancing at the iLume Block Party at Dallas Pride.
In addition to the open bar, there were also these guys from a local HIV resource center walking around handing out jello shots. I think they overestimated the number of party attendees, so they ended up giving 10+ shots to each person.
Mom in the lobby of my building – iLume in Oak Lawn, Dallas. The chairs are oversized.
Dallas is hard to compare to other cities – it’s huge, but not walkable or historic like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Dallas is also not as touristy as Miami, and scale of everything prevents it from being quaint like Minnesota.
Perhaps Dallas is just special.
We spent the weekend touring various neighborhoods, including Uptown, Oak Lawn, Highland Park, and downtown.
Food trucks by Klyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas, Texas. The Hunt Oil Building is in the background.
Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, with the Museum Tower luxury highrise building in the background.
Exploring the Dallas Museum of Art in downtown. I love this painting.
It’s Saturday and I’m walking my dog around the front of my apartment complex. I notice police lights and see a thin blond woman getting arrested by two bored-looking Dallas PD officers.
It’s only 11:30 a.m.
A group of residents appears outside.
Everyone seems to have a unique horror story about her prior scenes and blowups.
Me: “What kind of ratchet-ass building did I move into that someone is getting hauled off by the cops before noon?!”
Neighbor: “Oh, it’s really just her. This isn’t the first time she’s been arrested either.”
Charming.