Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Discount Dance Shoes

 So Ursula Undress gave me this magical website called Lightinthebox.com that had discounted ball room dance shoes.  I couldn't resist the lure of cheap shoes!  Especially since you could pick the color, heel height, etc...

So I decided to purchase two pairs of shoes.  The very shiny rhinestone pair on the left for only $39.99 and the strappy purple on the right for only $29.99. The black came as is, but I was able to get the purple with a lower heel for rehearsal purposed.  This seemed like an amazing deal as with shipping it was less than $90.00 which considering most ball room dance shoes are $150 per pair, I was pretty happy to get two pair at almost half price.  Plus, you get reward points back for purchases on the website and if you have eBates (which I do) you also get 6% cash back that will later be deposited into your Paypal account!

They were supposed to ship in 4-5 weeks, to my happy surprise it only took like 2 weeks to get both pairs of shoes.  I was very excited about getting them since I have a show this weekend.  They gave me tons of tracking alerts and were very easy to stalk on the DHL website.

I was a little disappointed by the rhinestoned ones as one entire row of rhinestones on one of the straps came off.  (see picture)  However they were still cheaper then what I would have spent on the stones and then a pair of shoes and then taking the time to rhinestone them, so it's a small fix for a reasonable price and since I have all the stones that came off and a bag of extra stones that came with the shoes I will make it work!  The purple ones are awesome and I love them, period the end!  Glad I ordered the lower heels for rehearsal and teaching as I wanted something comfortable and pretty.  Totally an excuse to wear all the purple!

So in conclusion, I probably won't order a pair with stones again unless I'm just feeling moderately lazy since there's a good chance I would have to repair the stones, but I will definitely order some other pairs for stage and rehearsal.  They have a huge selection of dance shoes including ballet, jazz, modern, etc... So this will probably be a regular thing for me.  I, in fact, already have my next two pairs picked out!

Monday, November 11, 2013

Pallookaville: From cart, to truck, to brick and mortar!

If you live in Atlanta and ever leave your house to take in one of the bazillion festivals around town through out the year you've probably at least heard of Pallookaville.  Famous for it's gourmet corn dogs, (as seen below on The Tonight Show) Pallookaville started as a converted vintage hot dog cart before evolving into an old US Mail truck that was given a new life as a food truck.   The star of the dogs was the Fryinstein Monster: part 100% beef frank, part Polish kielbasa, and part Italian Sausage dipped in Cornbread with your choice of pepper or cheese...seriously, this is a thing and it is amazing!

Whether or not you've actually gotten to eat this amazing food depends on your luck and/or dedication as it often found with a line around the block because the food is that good.  A once special occasion food can now be a part of your regular diet!  The most recent step in Pallookaville's evolution includes an actual brick and mortar restaurant!  No longer do you have to wait for a festival to get these delicious items and they've expanded their menu as well.  The menu of gourmet carnival food includes Reubens, foot long hot dogs, burgers, poutined fries, specialty syrups for amazing drink concoctions and boozy milkshakes known as Shaketails!

I sadly wasn't able to go to the soft opening on Halloween night since I was working at Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse, but you better believe I was there for opening day on November 4th.  I drug a few friends from school with me for lunch around 1pm and it was hopping!  We put our name on the list and after a surprisingly short wait we were seated and on our way to deliciousness!

After scoping out the menu Martha and I got Black Cherry sodas while Justin braved the Tiger's Blood.  (I say braved because we really weren't sure what Tiger's Blood was, but it sounded cool so he ordered it.)  For food: I got the Fryinstein Monster and Poutined Fries (Poutined is gravy and cheese curds), Martha got the 100% beef frank and cheese fries (she's boring and only eats 3 things ever so the fact that there was something she wanted was pretty amazing!), and Justin joined me in Fryinstein goodness!  (Funnily enough, Justin had already eaten lunch when I text him to go to Pallookaville, but he could not resist the siren call!)

Tiger's Blood turned out to be a fruit punch type flavor (who knew) and the Black Cherry sodas were delicious!  The food came out really quickly, which was impressive with how busy they were.  Everything was delicious, but I admit I was defeated by the fries and corn dog and had to take half of it to go.  I went to school right after and gave the left overs to Xander because he is Canadian and nothing makes him happier than Poutined Fries, seriously you would have thought I gave him a brick of gold he was so happy!

The staff was great, it does help me feel comfortable that I knew quite a few people that work there, however I did not know our waitress and she was super awesome.  They asked if we wanted to separate our checks when we went up to pay, that's so rare that somewhere will ask rather than you having to ask them.  Seriously, that little extra touch of awesome customer service already sets this amazing place ahead of many others.  Not to mention the super amazing atmosphere that is a cross between the old soda shops of the 1950s and the best carnival parts of Coney Island which includes lots of autographed photos up on the wall from many of Jim Stacy's amazing life experiences.  From his amazing hidden eatery show Get Delicious, to being a previous partner in the Star Bar and the Starlight Drive-In, Jim has always been ahead of the curve on what's hot just by being true to himself and what he enjoys doing.

So yeah, that was last Monday and I have a lunch date there with my bestie on Wednesday.  At about 2 miles from my apartment, I think that Pallookaville will be a regular stop on my culinary rotation.  Once I've tried everything on the menu maybe I'll do an update.  Did I mention there are seasonal items as well?

UPDATE 11/13/2013: Went to lunch there today and had the Pastrami Reuben, poutined fries (I may have a pouitne problem) and a Butterscotch Soda.  My bestie Andy had the B. Franklin with swiss fries and a butterscotch soda and Martha again had her hot dog and cheddar cheese fries with a coke.  The Reuben was AMAZING, with the fries I could only eat half of my sandwich  since it's a HALF POUND OF MEAT!  I traded a bite of my sandwich for a bite of the B. Franklin, it was also wonderfully delicious.  Everything is so much food, at well over 6 feet tall I can only assume that everything there is Jim sized!  Andy is the only one of us that made it to the clean plate club today.