Dallas: Familiar Ground, Fresh Eyes

January brings a breath of fresh air. The holidays fade, routines return, and daily life stretches out to find comfort in familiar rhythms. Temperatures in the 60s and 70s made it easy to spend time outside.

This week in Dallas has been about moving through known ground with attention. Taking advantage of the weather to walk and linger. Letting the city’s everyday energy set the pace, and moving with it.

We’ve been weaving through the Dallas Farmers Market, wandering Deep Ellum’s mural-lined streets, exploring the Bishop Arts District, and passing through the AT&T Discovery District. Some of these are places we’ve known for years, now encountered at a different season of life. Some corners feel unchanged. Others clearly aren’t. Dallas keeps growing, and part of the pleasure of being back is noticing where that growth shows up.

The city feels awake right now. Illuminated and clear. Fully present.

Returning with fresh eyes

We spent time this week at the Dallas Museum of Art, our first visit in more than a decade. We planned the trip intentionally around the museum’s first-Sunday free admission, aligning cost awareness with an afternoon set aside for proper exploration.

The collection spans roughly 5,000 years of human creativity, and we moved through much of it with purpose. Covering ground matters to us. We like to understand the scope of a place and experience its full presence. Walking the galleries gave us a clear sense of the museum’s breadth, while still allowing moments to slow down when something captured our attention.

We spent extra time with two specialty exhibits: International Surrealism and Constellations, a contemporary jewelry collection. Both rewarded close looking. Not everything has to explain itself to be worth time.

The museum sits within the Dallas Arts District, one of the largest contiguous arts districts in the country. Afterward, we strolled through Klyde Warren Park, busy with Sunday energy, then walked past the Winspear Opera House, Meyerson Symphony Center, and Wyly Theater. The district has grown and reshaped itself considerably since we last lived here. The DMA feels more embedded in the life of the city now.

Coming back after so long blended memory with intention, carrying the energy of engaging a familiar place on new terms.

Winter tables and shared meals

Winter shifts the tone of the market. The energy is still there, but it’s steadier. Fewer distractions. Heartier ingredients. Conversations that linger a bit longer.

At the Dallas Farmers Market, we grabbed a pastry at La 57 Bakery and coffee at Palmieri Café, then explored The Shed for fresh vegetables. We couldn’t resist a few tastings as we strolled past the vendors.

Later, we stopped by Deep Ellum’s Le Bon Temps for French fried beignets and wandered into Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters in the Bishop Arts District for a cold brew and café au lait. Small indulgences that anchor a neighborhood visit.

For dinner one evening, we made the trip to Terry Black’s BBQ, with all its rustic charm: country music, communal picnic tables, and smoked meats in an expansive space. Another night, we stopped by Verona Italian Restaurant, a neighborhood favorite, for pizza. And plenty of meals were cooked at home, accompanied by conversation and game nights.

Food this time of year feels less about novelty and more about gathering. There’s comfort in that rhythm, and quiet joy in meals shared with friends and family.

Quiet preparation

Dallas has offered a useful pause. Not a break from movement, but a chance to prepare without pressure.

Between family time and short day trips, we’ve been organizing footage, reviewing recent work, and outlining what February needs to hold. This is less about scaling production and more about clearing friction. When we arrive in Tenerife, we want our attention free for the place itself, not pulled back toward logistics or loose ends.

This phase is about readiness. Systems in place. Creative instincts warmed up. A rhythm established that leaves room for curiosity once we land somewhere new.

Settling into Dallas rhythms

Weekdays have found their shape quickly. We wake at seven, drink a nutritional shake, and head straight to the local gym to start the day with movement. The membership runs $30 a month with no contract, which makes it easy to commit for just the weeks we’re here. Some mornings include time in the sauna, cold plunge, or massage chair, a routine that pays steady therapeutic dividends.

We return, clean up, have a protein shake, and shift into work mode. Some days work happens at the house. Other days it means settling into a local café, usually $8–12 for coffee.

We pause for lunch. Run an errand or two. Take a walk or snap a few photos. Then it’s back to work for a few more focused hours before easing into the evening. Dinner is cooked at home more often than not. Afterward, we play a game, watch a show, spend time by the firepit, or work on plans for what’s next. Then we do it again.

We also make time to reconnect with old friends. Nothing formal. Just time together.

On weekends, we explore the city or get outside of it for a change of scale. A picnic and short hike at Eisenhower State Park, with wide views over Lake Texoma, offered exactly the post-holiday reset we were looking for.

Eisenhower day trip cost breakdown
• Park entry: $5
• Picnic supplies (cheese and charcuterie from Whole Foods): $15
• Trail snacks: $6
• Gas (~150 miles round trip at 27 mpg, $2.25/gallon): $12.50
• Total: ~$38.50 for two

A full day outside, good food, and no rush to get back. That’s the kind of value that makes Texas day-tripping hard to beat.

A Texas interlude

On the drive back from Eisenhower, we made a stop at Buc-ee’s, a Texas roadside institution. The gas price caught our attention first. $2.25 a gallon. After months of seeing $4 and more out west, it felt almost like a gift.

Inside, it was exactly what you’d expect if you’ve ever been to one. Long rows of pumps. A store that feels more like a small convention center. Beef jerky in every possible form. Smoked meats. Texas-branded snacks and treats that pique curiosity. Entire sections devoted to Buc-ee’s shirts, hoodies, hats, and housewares. Coolers, mugs, and travel gear stacked alongside food displays.

It’s less a quick stop than a brief immersion. A place where errands and spectacle overlap, and where the scale alone makes it part of the trip rather than just a pause along the way.

This week’s photos stay close to the creative texture of Dallas.

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Next week centers on family and celebration. We’re gathering for a wedding, a moment that brings people together across generations and marks the beginning of a shared life built on commitment, faith, and hope. There will be time with relatives we don’t see often enough, long conversations, shared meals, and the kind of joy that comes from celebrating something that truly matters.

We’re looking forward to being present for it all. The celebration itself, the time together, and the reminder that some moments are worth stopping everything else for.

We’re beginning the year with intention, but not rigidity. With movement, but not urgency. Full days shaped by familiar places, shared meals, and steady routines feel like a solid foundation for what’s ahead.

There’s a particular satisfaction in returning to places we know well and engaging them on new terms. Not chasing novelty, but paying attention to what has changed, and to how we have changed alongside it.

As the year opens, this rhythm feels grounding and quietly energizing. A way of moving forward that leaves room for ambition, presence, and care in equal measure.

Until next week,
S&S

Some Great Place
Living local in a global world