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"As a kid, I spent some time in Dallas but I&amp;amp;#8217;ve always wanted to head back to explore more of The Lone Star State. So today, I&amp;amp;#8217;m so excited to share this very extensive Houston guide from the ever adorable Amy of kelinda.KELINDA. Here are Amy&amp;amp;#8217;s favorite picks: Where to lay your head: Hotel Icon. Nestled in downtown Houston, Hotel Icon is just a block or two away from some of the city&amp;#x27;s best nightlife hotspots. Downstairs in the lobby is Voice, an awesome restaurant and lounge that serves up a mean (and strong!) cocktail. The happy hour on Mondays through Thursdays evenings is a favorite of Houstonians, particularly those who are looking to unwind after a long day at the office. Where to shop: The Galleria. Texas&amp;#x27; largest mall is one of the best places to go for retail therapy. It has a blend of teenage favorites like PacSun and Abercrombie nestled right alongside high-end shopaholic destinations like Louis Vuitton, Burberry, and Chanel. The mall also includes plenty of department stores, including Nordstrom, Macys (two of them!), Dillards, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Neiman Marcus. Not to mention that the mall itself is ridiculously pretty and comes outfitted with a huge skating rink. Couture Blowout. Located near some other used clothing shops on Westheimer Road, Couture Blowout has a neatly organized selection of designer shoes, clothing, and accessories at great prices. All of the items are in tip-top shape, which is a welcome relief from the more questionable items with busted zippers and missing buttons available at other thrift stores. But if you&amp;#x27;re like me and sometimes have a strange craving for rooting around more eclectic selections, you only need to stroll down the street to Taxi Taxi Clothing or Buffalo Exchange to satisfy that urge. Where to grab a bite to eat: Cafe Caspian. Houston has some fabulous ethnic eats and Cafe Caspian is one of my favorite unexpected finds. The marinated beef dishes with basmati rice are amazing and I find myself returning time and time again for the Barg, cooked medium rare, please. The service is friendly, especially if you&amp;#x27;re a regular, and throughout the meal, the freshly baked bread keeps coming. Tan Tan. Houston&amp;#x27;s impressive Chinatown houses some of my favorite places to eat, but the one place I keep coming back to time and time again is Tan Tan. This casual Cantonese-style &amp;quot;fast food&amp;quot; restaurant is open late and always jam-packed with hungry patrons at all hours, but don&amp;#x27;t worry about having to wait too long for a place to sit - it seems Tan Tan always has room for just one more table. Do not miss out on the Special House Rice Cake which I can only describe as delicious fried goodness that every visitor to Houston needs to experience. The Hobbit Cafe. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Lord of the Rings geek, but even if you don&amp;#x27;t know the difference between a Harfoot and a Stoor, you can still appreciate the good eats that this quaint little restaurant serves up. The sandwiches are anything but hobbit-sized (though it is common knowledge that hobbits eat a lot) and come stacked high with a side of chips or French fries. Order anything with avocados - like the &amp;#x27;Gandalf&amp;#x27; sandwich, which features cheese, mushrooms, and avocado - and you will get what seems like the entire contents of Jason Mraz&amp;#x27;s avocado farm wedged between two slices of whole wheat bread. Where to hang out: Midtown. Midtown is Houston&amp;#x27;s unofficial Cool Kids Club and the neighborhood features some the hippest, swankiest, art-iest and most unusual eateries, bars, and shops in the entire city. Visit the row of bars that dot Westheimer/Elgin Road in Midtown or stop by the used clothing strip for some bargain-hunting adventures. In fact, Midtown is the place to go if you&amp;#x27;re looking for something to do on a Friday night, or even on a Sunday morning. Museum District. The museum district draws in people from all over the country throughout the year, and with 18 museums to scope out, it&amp;#x27;s easy to see the appeal. All of the museums have free admission days, and several of them are free all the time. The Museum of Natural Science is always a crowd pleaser, and there&amp;#x27;s even a neat butterfly exhibit where you can hang out in a huge room filled with greenery and butterflies of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Don&amp;amp;#8217;t be too surprised by the pat-down you may receive from security upon exiting, though - some butterflies have been known to try to smuggle themselves out. Where to head if you&amp;#x27;re looking for a good time: Traders Village. If you don&amp;#x27;t mind the Texas heat, head over to Traders Village to browse the immense collection of flea market stalls that set up there every weekend. There are always kiddie rides, games, food carts, and interesting things to peruse, but if you head over when there&amp;#x27;s a little something extra going on, you&amp;#x27;ll get a fuller experience. Sometimes, the market hosts things like chili cook-offs, dance performances, and car shows. NASA. It&amp;#x27;s not every day you get to visit a space station. OK, so NASA&amp;#x27;s visitor&amp;#x27;s center in Houston isn&amp;#x27;t actually a space station but rather a place to house some cool astronaut memorabilia, but it&amp;#x27;s still worth a stopover. You&amp;#x27;ll get to see actual moon rocks, pieces from shuttle crafts, and tour the inside of a replica space station. Miller Outdoor Theatre. A great way to spend the evenings is to scope out the free shows going on at the Miller Outdoor Theatre. You can check out dance shows, theatrical performances, live music, or even an outdoor movie screening while kicking back on the grassy hill that slopes up from the stage. During the summer, the Shakespeare Festival draws in droves of locals. Best of all, there&amp;#x27;s hardly a bad seat in the house. And a helpful insider&amp;#x27;s tip: Public transportation is fine, but it&amp;#x27;s restrictive in a city where the majority of residents drive from place to place. To really explore Houston, rent a car and hit the highways as the locals do. If you&amp;#x27;re ever confused about how to get somewhere, you can ask nearly anyone here and they&amp;#x27;ll be more than willing to get into the details of which streets to take to which highways to which exits to which stoplights. Finding your way around this city is like an art, and Houstonians are typically eager to show off their human GPS skills. Thanks so much Amy! Have any of you been to Houston? What&amp;amp;#8217;s your favorite thing about the city? And where are you planning on taking your next trip? Let&amp;amp;#8217;s put stamps on our virtual passports with these insider&amp;amp;#8217;s guides! * Have you ever been to Berlin? * What about Chicago? * Ooh, Toronto! More Ways to Get Glamour Visit Shopglamour.com for cute stuff starting at just $10! Enter the latest Glamour sweepstakes! Follow us on Twitter Add us to your iGoogle homepage Top Photo: Jupiter Images. All Other Photos: Courtesy of kelinda.KELINDA"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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