Dallas To Do List – Sing Alongs, Fingerpainting and Blaxploitation

LakeSide Market's Summer Festival invites you to be an artist for the day.

With July, a.k.a. National Ice Cream Month, winding down, you have only a few days left to justify the hot fudge sundae you ate for dinner as your patriotic duty. Even so, there are plenty of fun things going on this weekend in the Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex, everything from a Mamma Mia! sing-along to your chance to fingerpaint a brand new car

Mamma Mia! Sing Along! Did the upbeat musical Mamma Mia! make you feel like singing in your theater seat? If so, swing by the Studio Movie Grill – Dallas, 11170 North Central Expressway, Dallas, TX 75243 (map) on Saturday, July 31, 2010 for the 2:00 p.m. show. The Women’s Chorus of Dallas invites you to join in as they sing along with Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Collin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard and all the other stars of the hit movie Mamma Mia! Tickets are $15, which includes refreshments and permission to shamelessly belt out ABBA hits during the movie. To buy tickets online and more information, check out the Womens Chorus of Dallas official website.

The Legendary Foxy Brown: Pam Grier Book Signing Legendary actress, Pam Grier, comes to the South Dallas Cultural Center, 3400 South Fitzhugh Avenue, Dallas, TX 75210 (map) at 12:00 p.m. Saturday, July 31, 2010 to read from her book, Foxy: My Life in Three Acts. Her tell-all book is full of juicy details, including her relationships with Richard Pryor and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The book also tells of her many challenges and adventures, from battling with cancer, Hollywood hypocrisy, and her acting career – past and present. Admission is free. For more information, visit the Dallas Cultural Center website.

LakeSide Market Summer Festival It has probably been a while since you fingerpainted, but ArtLoveMagic and LakeSide Market want you to be an artist – if only for a day. So, with that in mind, the non-profit group and open air shopping center are teaming up to host the LakeSide Market Summer Festival on Saturday, July 31, 2010 from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at Lakeside Market, 4021 Preston Road, Plano, TX 75093 (map). If you have ever wanted an excuse to paint, play music, or even fingerpaint on a brand new car, this is it. For more information, read my article, Be An Artist at the Lakeside Market Summer Festival .

Artist, David Rodriguez, of ArtLoveMagic painting at an event.

Da Vinci After Dark While the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is always a fun place to bring the kiddies, on July 31, 2010, the museum is hosting an after hours event geared toward adults. Da Vinci After Dark is a night of activities designed to inspire your inner Renaissance man or woman. From 6:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m., visitors can enjoy physics demos, live entertainment, a wine tasting event, and creative projects, such as creating a Da Vinci style sketchbook, and making things, such as catapults and masks. For more information, read After Hours Event at Fort Worth Science Museum .

Summertime Concerts and Carriage Rides at Watters Creek Bring your appetite and a blanket to Watters Creek at Montgomery Farm, 970 Garden Park Drive, Allen, TX 75013 (map) for an evening of outdoor dining, live music and horse-drawn carriage rides. Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday through October 16th, 2010, Watters Creek hosts Live! on the Green, with live performances starting at 6:30 p.m. This week’s musical performers are: (Thursday 7/29) Ken Savage & The Best Kept Secret, (Friday 7/30) Classic Steel, and (Saturday, 7/31) Joe Vincelli. For more information, read Summertime Concerts and Carriage Rides at Watters Creek

Group sketchbook at an ArtLoveMagic event.

KRLD Restaurant Week OK, so it’s actually 3 weeks long, but in any case, KRLD Restaurant Week is just around the corner, which means you need to make reservations right away. Over 130 great restaurants in the DFW are participating this year. Your reservation entitles you to a fabulous 3-course meal for a mere $35. In turn, not only are you boosting business at a local eatery, but $7 of that prix fixe meal goes straight to a local charity, either the North Texas Food Bank in Dallas or the Lena Pope Home in Fort Worth. For a full list of participating venues and more information, read KRLD Restaurant Week – Dallas Dining Deal Benefits Charity.

Dallas Bridal Show Brides-to-be will want to check out this hot summer bridal show July 31‑August 1, 2010, 10:00a.m. ‑ 5:00p.m at Dallas Market Hall, 2200 Stemmons Fwy, Dallas, TX (map). For more information (including how brides can get in for free) read Trio of Summer Bridal Shows in North Texas.

Escape to Wonderland The Gaylord Summerfest Wonderland Adventure is not just for children, although they will love it. Come stroll through 4 1/2 acres of air-conditioned gardens, play a game of chess on a huge board, or sip yourself silly with the Drink Me Progressive Cocktail Sampling. The Gaylord Texan Resort is located at Gaylord Texan Resort, 1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, TX 76051 (map). There’s a lot going on, so check out the full SummerFest article for more – much more – information.

Photo credit: Jenice Johnson (top), Vanessa Bates (middle), and courtesy of LakeSide Market Summerfest (bottom)