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Last big in-town adventure Dad and I went on before the Quarantine! We tried out a little place in the neighborhood called Jalisco Grill. It's everything you could ask for in a local Mexican restaurant. It's that kind of food you feel is "made with love"! 😌😂❤ The portions were huge, too much for either of us, honestly. Service was great, totally friendly and welcoming. Couldn't recommend this place to my SATX friends enough!

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Hailey here! ✌ Our quests have moved inside for now, though I have an old quest or two to document here. It's been a lot of homework and sleeping at our house, but we've out a lot of time into cooking, too! And we've found some winning recipes.

We found a flawless biscuit recipe (best I've ever had, for sure), our pizzas get better every time we make them, and this banana bread oatmeal with strawberries and chia seeds has become basically my favorite breakfast in the world - no exaggeration! What have you guys been doing while in quarantine? 🥣

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This past weekend, I got to enjoy the Texas Book Festival in Austin! I got to meet authors I love and authors I came to love, got signatures, and bought tons of books, of course. As like last year, I feel I came away from this with a lot of insight and inspiration, and I learned a lot! Someday, I'll be at one of these as an author. But for now I love getting to enjoy this! Can't wait until next year!! 📚💕

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Today, the three of us visited the Half Price Books clearance event at the San Antonio Event Center. They have SO much here, but to the point where it was honestly so overwhelming! 😪 There were lots of people and not a lot of time to look at everything, but they've got great stuff there at incredible prices. I got an XBox game, a hardback book, and a paperback novel all for $5.39. The event is going on through tomorrow, Sunday 10/20, 7pm, if you want to go check it out! There's a partner event in Dallas, I believe, so if that's closer to you, you might check it out!! 📚📖

I've never read any of Rita Mae Brown's books, never even heard of her until today, but I LOVE that she "partners" with her cat Sneaky Pie. Like???? I'm crying. 😹

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Last Lubbock post! West Straws Boba is probably the best bubble tea place in Lubbock, and one of my favorite anywhere. They have so many options, including both fun, fruity flavors and fancier teas, with lots of sinkers to choose from. Fast and friendly service, and it's directly across from the campus on 19th. They've got board games, a great atmosphere, and great drinks. I'm the only one rating it, lol, but I give West Straws an 8/10. 😋

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A couple more Lubbock adventures that I was too lazy to post last week! 😅

My friend and I checked out the annual corn maze in Lubbock/Southland, TX. We didn't get more than halfway through the maze this year, but in our defense, we were too stubborn to take any of the trivia questionnaires that were supposed to lead us out lol. Then we got the best kettle corn I've ever had in my life and toured the Pumpkin Village, which had a bunch of pumpkins carved with characters and Halloween messages, really cute. I would highly recommend this place to anyone in the area who's interested in some Halloween fun. 🎃🦇🍬🕸👻

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Another Lubbock adventure, and an old haunt of mine: J&B Coffee Company. This place is GREAT. First of all, I've never had anything here I didn't like. My usual is a Hodgepodge (caramel mocha latte, I think?) but their chai latte comes in at a close second. They also have great smoothies (highly recommend the peach) and incredible cookies (chocolate chip if you know what's good for you). They sell their own ground coffee in all kinds of internationally sourced flavors, and nice mugs and bottles to carry your drink around.

J&B is the epitome of the off campus hangout, and in fact, it was founded by Texas Tech students 40 years ago in 1979, only a 15 minute walk or so from campus. I started going because the German Club's Kaffeeklatsch is held here every Friday afternoon, but kept going back for the Hodgepodges and the cookies. 😍

Coffee: 9/10

Smoothies: 7.5/10

Cookies: 90/10 (trust me)

The smell of the place alone: 10/10 ☕❤

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Some solo quests in Lubbock today. When I was here last, they were closing down a World Market and I was kinda bummed. Now today, I found they'd replaced it with my dream come true. 2nd and Charles is the closest thing to my own Good Place. Books (new and used), video games, board games and RPGs, movies, music, manga and comics, and your sort of comic book shop/Hot Topic varieties of knick knacks. They had such cheap, good quality stuff, rare(ish) Funko Pop figures, and books I've been looking for for years. It's almost enough to make me want to move back here. Preferably right into this place's storage rooms. If you're a nerd in the Lubbock area, check this place out.

(Sorry for the blurry pictures, I was excited and there were a lot of people!!)

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First board game review!! Catan. I've been wanting to try this one for a while, and Artea provided us this! Let me tell you, it was WAY more fun than I think any of us expected. Complicated set up and rules, took a while to get started, but once you've got the hang of it, the game flows pretty easily and it gets competitive fast. Perfect for fans of Age of Empires (like us) or Civ. We're going to pursue this one further, and might even buy our own game, lol.

Complexity: 6

Time to play: 1-2 hours (def longer the first time!!)

Need to read the instructions? YES.

Overall Fun Rating: 8.67 funs

Cole: 9 funs

Hailey: 9 funs

Scott: 8 funs

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We gave this little place in our neighborhood a try today! It's just having a soft opening this weekend. Artea Bubble Tea and Eats, or as we call it, Bear Boba. 🐻❤ This was a great place. They do mostly high-end, "fancier" teas (special types of oolong, hibiscus teas with beautiful gradients, etc.) Their food smelled and looked incredible, but we didn't try any today - it was all about the boba. We had a fairly simple milk tea (Dad got some with custard creme) and it was pretty great! Good, solid milk tea and boba. Very casual, fun atmosphere and board games to keep you there for hours! Review coming on that part next. 😉 We'll definitely be coming back here!

Overall Rating: 7.5

Cole: 7

Hailey: 7.5

Scott: 8

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Cole and I hit up a Marianas Trench concert at the RockBox in SATX. I've been a fan of theirs for several years and never expected to be able to see them live! It was a great show. Josh Ramsey is an incredibly talented artist, and the rest of the band is just as impressive. The Unlikely Candidates opened for them, and they also put on a really fun show. The venue was small, but pretty charming, and actually pretty chilly, which is a huge feat for a standing room venue in south Texas. Lots of room and a good location. We had a great time, and would love to come back for another show! I'll also be on the lookout for opportunities to see Marianas Trench again. 😍

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Tried out Urban Bricks Pizza today in San Antonio, TX.

Overall Rating: 6.7

Cole: 6/10

Hailey: 7/10

Scott: 7/10

Good pizza! Our resident Pizza Boy isn't the biggest fan (he's still mourning Pizza Roto) but says it's "solid". We concur. Brick oven, and a build your own style. Like Subway, but for pizza. We tried pre-determined options today, though, the White Shroom and the Three Little Pigs. There are vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options here, too, and they give convenient calorie counts for everything. Modern but welcoming atmosphere, with nice employees. Tables, Dad points out, could use a cleaning. Outdoor eating area allows people with dogs to chill here for the enjoyment of all. Nice place, and we'll probably be back!