You only have one week left to prepare your April Fool’s Day pranks, so find some quiet moments this weekend to plan a fast one on your kids/spouse/boss/pets. Life is too short not to pull really immature pranks at least once a year. In between scheming, check out the following people and places:

Friday: The Unity Church of Dallas is hosting Pastapalooza, and, as you probably guessed, it’s a festival filled with Italian food, music, and merriment.  The $20 dinner is already sold out, but catch the entertainment at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday: Spring has officially sprung so get out there and enjoy it with Jazz in the Park featuring Texas Gypsies and Briefcase Blues at the Shops at Park Lane, 4 p.m.

Sunday: Several private schools are hosting mother-daughter events (Ursuline Academy has a fashion show, Dallas International School is serving up tea), but why let the tuition-paying parents have all the fun? Grab a child of either gender, and head over to Congregation Shearith Israel for an 11 a.m. art class with Marcy Stollon.

The April 2 Community Street Fair is rapidly approaching and about 35 volunteers are still needed to do everything from monitor the bathrooms to manage the booths. If you have a tie to W.T. White High School and a couple of hours to spare next Saturday, e-mail streetfair@wtwhitecommunity.org with your name, phone number, and a preferred role and time for volunteering. For a full list of openings, go to the jump.  Read More…

If you haven’t swung by Borders at Preston Oaks Shopping Center yet, you’d better hurry. While earlier discounts were hum-drum, sales are now up to 60 percent on books, and up to 80 percent on other products such as E-readers and stationary. And if you’re not a book worm, you can get tables, chairs, shelves and just about anything else in the store at a buyer’s premium.

In other news, the cafe has closed and the store no longer offers wireless access. There’s still no word on an official last day of business, but at this rate, they won’t have products to sell for too much longer. I think we’d all trade the cheap prices on hardbacks to keep this Dallas staple, but alas that’s not an option. So meander through the aisles once more and pick up a souvenir to remember the good old days.

As I strolled up to the Scotland Yard for the Highland Park-Pearce baseball game last night, I happened upon a line of about 25 people standing in front of a truck.

Upon further review, it was the Sprinkles Cupcakes Mobile.

The Preston Center store is celebrating its fourth anniversary. On Tuesday, sales were donated to the Highland Park and Pearce baseball programs, as fans got to enjoy a little national pastime and tasty cupcakes.

When the news broke that Cowboys standout receiver Dez Bryant had been issued a criminal trespassing warning at NorthPark Center this weekend, I was left scratching my head.

Not because the antics of Jerry’s latest bad boy are out of character, but because a crime of this nature should have been on my radar when I compiled the police report yesterday. How could I have missed the several paragraph long narrative and a suspect description that included the unmistakable No. 88?

Well, because that report has yet to be released to the public.

The copy on the WFAA website is an internal report and does not appear in the searchable database open to the public. It has nothing to do with the nature of the crime, as criminal trespassing routinely appears in public reports. It has nothing to do with the date, as other crimes committed on Saturday have already made there way to the official database. One can only deduce that the reason the report is not available for public consumption is that the offender is a Cowboy. A Dallas Police officer who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity confirmed that this report was handled in an unusual way.

“I don’t understand why it was done like this,” he said. “Maybe because he’s a Cowboy.”

Gee, you think?

Front Row: Olivia Vanarsdale and Spenser Olson. Back Row: Meg Lemler, Coach Andy Silverman, Spencer Saada, Brooke Domek of the American Heart Assoc., Lena Annino and Mia Butler.

St. Alcuin students raised more than $3,000 for the American Heart Association on March 4 during Jump For Heart, a community service event. The funds will be used to help pay for new medicines for children with special hearts and to assist doctors discovering new medicines and treatments.

Students participated in the campaign by jumping rope, shooting basketballs, and running relays, in addition to learning about heart disease prevention and wellness. The youngsters also raised pledges and donations for the campaign, which were presented by the children and Coach Andy Silverman to Brooke Domek, American Heart Association, in the school gym.

I kinda stole all of the thunder in the headline, but if you know someone at Franklin Middle School who goes above and beyond the call of parental duty, you have 24 hours left to make a nomination for PTA Life Membership. While the nominator needs to be a Franklin PTA member, the nominee does not. E-mail your nomination (name and a few sentences as to why you believe this person deserves the honor) to Beverly Kohrs at bkohrs@swbell.net by 10 p.m. tomorrow.

For the full details, go to the jump. Read More…