texas was poppin'

MIL had created a mental list of fun places to hit up while we were on their new home turf.  while we didn't really get to hit a lot of them (mostly due to the miserable heat and humidity - have i whined about that enough yet?), we did manage to cross off a handful of them.  one such spot was the mom and POPcorn shop, in nearby mckinney.

 

too bad for her:

one of the IL's neighbors had shared some of their flavored popcorn with them - a mix of buffalo wings and ranch.  one taste and they were hooked.  after a sample in the store, i couldn't blame them.  it was really pretty tasty.  but of course, i was enthralled with the ginormous selection of sweets.  one step in the door and i was instantly reminded of another candy shop we'd been to before, the kind of store i would love to own one day.  there was lots of nostalgic and penny candy:

 

 silly and gross-sounding stuff:

these little boxes of gum made me laugh.

there was a nice selection of classic sodas.

i thought it was neat that the little signs by the jars shared what year the classic kinds of candy made their debut.

the teen wanted to pick up one of these, but one glance at the price tag and even i balked - $5 for a bacon-flavored sucker?  no thanks.

and the good stuff - a whole bunch of different popcorn flavors, both sweet and savory.  popcorn balls, too!

we did just fine, though.  happy campers right here:

and as we toted our loot down the street to find lunch, this reminded me of "back to the future":

we'd also picked up some yummy beverages, which we popped open at the table.

as we were finishing our lunch, the bean woke up.  and since the candy shop was on the way back to the car, we stopped in so she could see it.  and she got to pick something out for herself.

this is almost embarrassing.  but you'd expect nothing less of me, right?

oh, and i made this dress, just the night before we left for our trip.  i'd seen a similar one at forever 21, but they were out of my size and i thought maybe i could figure out how to make it myself.  i know it's a little hokey looking, but hey - we were in texas.  heh.

it's comfy and it has a twirly skirt.  so there.