Welcome And Week’s Headlines

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Welcome to the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson. This week, a major Highland Park Road project is changing the way many of us get around town. The Scots are headed to football playoffs, and Snyder Plaza finally has a new Chinese restaurant. I went, I ordered enough food for a small committee, and I already have a favorite. I also sat down with Highland Park boys basketball captains as they prepare to open their season Friday. We talked about the expectations surrounding the team, what happens when talent and chemistry come together, and what they hope to accomplish this year. Plus, I have your holiday calendar including a Kai Omega Christmas market giveaway you will definitely want to hear about. Let's get into it.

Imperial Chef’s First Impressions

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Welcome to the Bubble Bow.

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Let's begin with the buzz and the bubble. Imperial Chef is now open at 6718 Snyder Plaza, giving us something this neighborhood has needed for a while. A nearby Chinese restaurant with a full bar. I stopped by recently while creating a video for them, and the first thing that I noticed was how friendly and intentive the staff was. Our server Chloe took wonderful care of us and helped us navigate a menu that made it very easy to keep ordering. We tried the peeking duck, steamed dumplings, spicy octopus, and peppered steak. The peeking duck may be the signature dish, but the peppered steak was my personal favorite. Although I would like the record to show that I took my research responsibilities very seriously. The restaurant has a polished feel, but still comfortable enough for a neighborhood dinner. And because it has a full bar, it works for a quick weeknight meal or a night when you would like your dumplings accompanied by a cocktail. You can see the food and my full visit in the video on Instagram at Bubble Lounge Podcast. If you've already been, let me know what you ordered because I clearly need to go back and continue my investigation.

Wycliffe Reconstruction And Detour Reality

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Now let's go around the bubble, beginning with something that may affect your daily routine. Construction on the Wycliffe Avenue Reconstruction Project began this week. The project covers Wycliffe from Oaklawn Avenue to Highland Park's eastern town limits, and it is expected to take approximately 20 to 24 months. At 20 to 24 months, this project will be a part of our daily lives for a while. We may as well give the detour a name and add it to our family Christmas card. The project includes replacing aging infrastructure, improving flood protection, and rebuilding the roadway near Connor Lake. Road closures and traffic control changes are already beginning, and the town has posted maps showing how residents and the surrounding areas can reach their homes. I will put the official Highland Park project page in the show notes. If Wycliffe is a part of your regular route, take a look before you leave home and give yourself extra time. We are all about to discover several streets we apparently have been driving past for many

New Shops, Taxes, And Scam Warning

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years. We also have several local business updates. Paws Studio Park Cities is now open at 5643 West Lovers Lane. They offer infrared saunas, cold plunges, chyrotherapy, compression, float therapy, and several other recovery and wellness services. I recently visited and the space is beautiful. I'll be sharing more about Paws soon. Sunday Best is a new lingerie boutique which has opened in Snyder Plaza. I have not had a chance to go inside yet, but it's always good to welcome another locally focused shop to the neighborhood. On to Lake Pajamas has also opened its first permanent Texas store in Inwood Village just in time for holiday shopping. In University Park, voters approved Proposition A in the November 3rd election. The measure raises the city's property tax rate to provide four additional police officers, two firefighters, firefighter retirement funding, and new technology for residential parking enforcement. The estimated annual increase for a home with the city's medium taxable value is about $193. And a one-time friendly reminder from this week's police report. A resident lost $6,250 after someone posing as a sergeant claimed money had to be deposited in a Bitcoin location to avoid arrest. If anyone calls demanding immediate payment to keep you out of jail, especially through Bitcoin or gift cards, hang up. Call the police department directly using the number on the city's official website. A legitimate officer is not going to send you a Bitcoin machine to settle your imaginary bond before dinner.

Scots Football Playoffs Update

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Now it's time for a quick Scots report. Highland Park closed the regular season with a 63-0 win over Newman Smith. The Scots finished district play undefeated at 6-0, improved to 7-3 overall, and will enter the playoffs on a six-game winning streak. The by-district round begins Friday night at Highlander Stadium. The Scots host McKinney North at 7 p.m. McKinney North is also 7-3 and runs a triple option offense, so this will be a different test for Highland Park defense. At this point in the season, though, the message is simple: win and advance. Tickets are available through Highland Park Athletics. Remember that ticket prices increase Friday afternoon and the clear bag policy will be in effect. I'll put the ticket link in the show notes. The Lady Scots volleyball team reached the regional final after defeating second-ranked Liberty Hill in four sets. They faced McKinney North Tuesday night at Curtis Colwell Arena. Congratulations to this team on an outstanding postseason for giving this community so much to cheer

Boys Basketball Season Expectations

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about. Now we are moving from football playoffs to the beginning of basketball season. The Highland Park boys basketball team opens its season this Friday. This group received plenty of attention during the summer after going undefeated in June, beating Duncanville and earning a number one preseason ranking in Class 5A from the great American shootout. That number one ranking tells you how much attention this team is receiving before the season even begins. I recently sat down with the team captains to talk about handling those expectations, building chemistry, leading their teammates, and what they want this season to look like when it's all over.

Meet The Captains And Roles

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Guys, welcome to the show. Well, let's start by going around the table and just introduce yourself and say your grade, your position, and how long you've been playing basketball.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

I'm Drew Fisher. I'm a junior. I play power forward. I've been playing basketball since I've been five years old.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

I'm Zach Jackson. I'm a senior. I'm a combo guard and I've been playing basketball since I was about five years old as well.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

I'm Chris Martinez. I'm a sophomore. I play point guard, and I'd say I've been playing basketball around the same time. Like five years old, I'd say.

SPEAKER_03 6:37

Yeah, all right. So we've got some longevity here for sure. Well, you guys are really expected to have quite the season this year, it sounds like your team is ranked number one in 5A in the Gasso,

How The No 1 Ranking Happened

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which is the great American shootout. Can you tell us what that is?

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Yeah, so Gasso is an organization that includes teams from all around Texas, all divisions, going from 6A to 1A. And they hold tournaments, games, and leagues across the fall and summer circuit, and teams compete against the different levels. And we managed to have a really good showing. We beat teams like Duncanville, teams like DeSoto, all these top teams by a pretty significant margin. And you know, the work we've been putting in in practice showed out on the court and gave us that ranking.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

Well, that's a pretty amazing ranking. What was your reaction when you first heard about it?

SPEAKER_00 7:30

I wasn't surprised after we had seen the results from the games, but going into the Gastro tournaments, I knew that, yes, we wanted to finish top, but we didn't expect to see this because that's how we did. We all believed it. But the fact that it came to a fruition was really cool. And it was really impressive just to see our team t come together so much because going into the summer, we all knew each other on a decent level, but we clicked super well. And the time that it took from this summer to now and the progress we made has been very great, and just we'll obviously continue to grow closer to each other, and that will definitely help.

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We've had some strong off-season results against some really tough competition. Was there ever a specific moment when you thought, guys, we kinda got something going on here?

SPEAKER_02 8:15

I would say like over even like the first couple of games of summer, we looked really good. We hadn't won a game by less than 20 points. And so I felt like our chemistry, like over our two weeks of summer practice, was already like way ahead of schedule. And so there was a vision.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

We just continue to build off of that chemistry. Everyone is connecting, the ball is moving super well.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

Well, I always like to talk about the theme

Ready To Rise And Why Not Us

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for the year. I always get a kick out of uh of hearing you guys tell us what the theme is and what it means to you. But this year's theme is ready to rise. And in your locker room, it says why not us? What does that mean?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

So ready to rise, we have about five returners, and we had two incoming transfers and people from the middle school. So it was kind of we knew we had a strong returning basis. So the players on the team, they're ready to rise, and then I'll let Drew and Chris talk about the why not us because I feel like that embodies our team more than the actual slogan.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

I feel like the why not us people like you see Highland Park and you don't really look at the basketball aspect. I feel like they look at us and they're like they don't see us being any good. Like I feel like whenever you look at us during like layup lines, you're like, oh yeah, this team, this team's gonna be an easy win, and then we should go out there and show 'em what we got, and it's not what they think it is.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

There's more of a profile to us being from Highland Park. They kind of have this stereotype towards us, and I feel like as a team, we've kind of rewritten that, and our play style is completely different from years past. And teams nowadays are saying more hard to play against, where our coach likes to joke how previous teams were named Highland Park without the D because we don't really play any defense. You know, this this year it's changed. We we are Highland Park, and you know, we say why not us because we haven't won a state championship. So why not this year? Why not us?

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Yeah, why not us also? Because we want people to realize that we have talent and we have stuff to bring to the table in terms of good basketball, and that's just it's it's a goal for us in a saying that we we say just to make us believe in each other.

SPEAKER_03 10:34

Well, what would it mean to you all to bring Highland with a D's Park, the first state championship in basketball?

SPEAKER_00 10:42

It would mean a lot. It would mean a lot for everyone in the community just uniting over the sport of basketball and how great that would be just for everyone to support the school, support us, and for us to bring home a championship.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

And for future students, future generations, for that banner to go up, maybe get an increased uh exposure. Get increased exposure for the program, have more and more kids play basketball, stick with it in middle school, stick within a high school, and continue on a tradition of winning and excellence and continue to win state championships.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

Well, this team is really interesting

Leadership Without Seniority

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this year because you have a mix of everything from freshmen to seniors, even here within the captains. We have a sophomore, a junior, and a senior, which is kind of unheard of, right? It's usually all seniors as captains. So can you tell us about that?

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Yeah, so Chris, I mean, first ever sophomore captain, I think, in Highland Park history. Maybe not uh definitely in basketball, but I think maybe in all sports. First, first sophomore captain ever. I mean, Chris isn't I wouldn't say as vocal as me or Drew, but he is way better of a player than us, and he shows his leadership out on the court, out on the hustle and the way he plays. And I'd say Drew does a good job of managing both. He shows his grit, his hustle on the court, and he's vocal and gets the team together. And I'd say, you know, I don't really show it with my play as much, but I'm definitely vocal and I'm definitely our hype man and try to get us involved in everything.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

And that goes to show that being a leader isn't tied to how old you are. You really can thrive in a leadership position and prove yourself just by being a great person, great teammate, and just being vocal out on the court, even if you're not necessarily a senior.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

Yeah, HP has normally been like uh upperclassman led, like the underclassmen usually or not all the time, but sometimes could like not get a chance because they're younger, but it just goes to show that like how everyone has a opportunity to affect our team and affect our wins.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Yeah, I would say that the culture we'll we're building in the locker rooms and we have the title of captain, but everyone in that locker room, from Will as a freshman to Walker as a junior, Graham is a senior, Kellen is a senior, all of them lead by example, all of them lead by what they do on and off the court. And I would say that just because we have the title of captains doesn't make us above the rest of our team because we all put one foot forward for the other and try to do our best as a team.

Finding Your Place After A Move

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Well, Drew, you have kind of a unique situation in that you moved here from Atlanta last year. Tell us about finding your place in a new school and also on this new team and who helped made you feel the most comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Yeah, it's it's been great. Back in Atlanta, I went to a very small high school. I had 19 kids in my grade. So when I moved here, I obviously knew it was gonna be harder to find a group of people that I I could be around and be myself around. And having basketball as a sport and being able to participate in that has been such a great outlet because I was able to meet pretty much all my friends the summer going into my sophomore year. They were they weren't given to me, but because I play basketball and they also do, it uh it works out pretty great. So yeah, sophomore year, every day I was meeting someone new. There's still many people I'm yet to meet, but it's definitely been a big change, but not as much as you would expect, just because people here have been so welcoming with open arms to just bring me in and make me a Scott, I guess.

Why Fans Change The Game

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How important is it for those stands to be packed and people being loud and cheering you on?

SPEAKER_01 14:40

The number one team in the state is definitely not the number one team in the state without its fans. So I would say having them is definitely instrumental to our success, whether it's making chirps or comments at the opposing team, just being loud when we need them to and bring their rowdiest energy to the crowd. But it's probably in all seriousness, seriousness, other than our preparation, it's probably the most important factor to a game.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

I would agree. I've seen some sports events where the stands were packed and the energy was wild, and it definitely made the difference, all the difference in the world. Well, for somebody who has not been to a Highland Park basketball game, can you set the scene and tell them what they can expect?

SPEAKER_00 15:21

I would expect great basketball and great basketball, I say, is worthy of people who are enthusiastic about it. So expect us to be playing our hearts out on the court, having a great time, and just making the game enjoyable.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

So even if you don't know much about basketball, you can come, and it wouldn't be hard to tell how fun our team is to watch this here.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

And most importantly, I think they could expect to win.

Season Opener Details And Wrap

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That was such a fun conversation. I was so impressed with how seriously these players take their roles as leaders while still sounding like a group of friends who genuinely enjoy playing together. The Scots open this season Friday at 5 p.m. against Wiley at Wiley High School. We'll be cheering them on Friday and throughout the season. Go Scots!

Work With Bubble Lounge

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Do you want to reach Park City's families? That's easier said than done. This is a community that relies on word of mouth, personal recommendations, and people they trust. For over eight years, the Bubble Lounge has built that trust by sharing the people, places, and businesses our community should know about. If you'd like to introduce your business to our Park City's audience, I'd love to talk to you. Visit BubbleLounge.net and click work with us. Now for a few things to put on your calendar.

Holiday Calendar And Ticket Giveaway

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First, Chefs for Farmers wrapped up Sunday, and it was once again one of my favorite Dallas events of the year. It brings together talented chefs, restaurants, farmers, and beverage partners. But what makes it so fun is that it never feels like a formal tasting of it. It feels like the best backyard party in Dallas, assuming your backyard has dozens of chefs and no one asks you to help clean up. If you missed it, sign up for Chefs for Farmers email list now. VIP tickets sold out months in advance this year, and the email list is the best way to hear about your 2027 tickets when they are first released. Next, Kyomaker Christmas Market returns November 19th through the 22nd at the World Trade Center. More than 200 merchants will be there and the market supports nine local nonprofits as well as educational scholarships. Since it began in 1978, Kyomega Christmas Market has distributed more than $12 million to the Dallas community. The preview party is Thursday evening. First call shopping is Friday morning from 9 until 1 before the general admission crowd arrives. General shopping begins Friday afternoon and continues Saturday and Sunday. And I have four first call tickets to give away. Two lucky winners will each receive two tickets, which means Unifriend can shop early before the biggest crowds arrive. Watch Bubble Lounge Podcast on Instagram for the giveaway posts and entry details. These are wonderful tickets, so don't wait until the final hour and then text me asking whether Instagram was serious about the deadline. Instagram is always serious about the deadline. Also save Sunday, November 29th for Universities Park annual tree lighting at Centennial Park. The celebration runs from 3 until 7 with children's activities, performances, food trucks, and an ice drink, a snow slide, and of course Santa. The tree lighting is scheduled for 6.30, and I'll be there serving as the MC, so please come say hello. And finally, the Armstrong Bradfield Preschool Association's Home for the Holidays home tour is Friday, December 4th from 9:30 a.m. until 1 o'clock p.m. The market home remains open until 3. This year's tour features five homes in the Highland Park School District, and the money raised supports kindergarten and first grade classrooms at Armstrong and Bradfield. I'm proud to support the tour as a media sponsor. The ticket link is in the

Martha’s Take On Holiday Self-Care

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show notes. Before we go, here's Martha's take. The holiday season has officially started, which means many of us are about to spend six weeks acting as if exhaustion is a festive tradition. There are parties, school programs, shopping lists, family plans, and calendar invitations arriving from people who apparently believe November has 47 days. This year I'm trying to remember that taking care of yourself is not something you earn after everything else is finished, because everything else is never finished. Somebody will always need a gift, a reply, a reservation, or a side dish. Last week I talked with Dr. Haddock of Ember MedSpa about self-care, looking refreshed without looking like a completely different person and the treatments people are asking about before the holidays. She also shared a very special offer for Bubble Lounge listeners. I received several messages from people who found the conversation helpful. So if you missed it, go back and listen. It may help you make a plan for yourself or find a gift for someone who would appreciate a little time devoted entirely to them. My advice for the holidays is to choose the things that matter most. Leave some breathing room in the calendar and stop treating burnout like proof that you did December correctly. There are no bonus points for arriving at Christmas completely depleted.

Links, Reminders, And Goodbye

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That's it for this week. All the links we mentioned, including the Wide Cliff Project, playoff tickets, the Kyle Omega Christmas Market, and the ABPA home tour, are in the show notes. Follow Bubble Lounge Podcast on Instagram for the Kyle Omega giveaway, local updates, and everything happening around the park cities. Thanks for listening. I'm Martha Jackson, and I'll see you next time in the Bubble Lounge.