Nestled just outside Memorial Park on a quiet neighborhood street, West End Bicycles is one of the city's oldest bike shops, and it's still the best. It started as a mountain-bike shop, and though it offers much more, including an impressive selection of Dutch-style cruiser bikes, the muddy buddy ethos remains. The staffers are patient and friendly, and accommodating to riders of all stripes and persuasions. They also sell a ton of gear and add-ons, including tongue-in-cheek items like flash cages for your bike frame. And if you're not in the market for a new set of wheels, the shop is still worth checking out anyway thanks to the large museum-like display of antique bikes, none of which the owner is willing to part with.

It's always been a dream of ours to have a pair of custom cowboy boots made. One day, when the riches roll in, we'll be heading to family-owned Tejas Boots in The Montrose to get those babies fitted. In the meantime, we can console ourselves by heading to Tejas to repair the shoes we do own. They can fix all manner of footwear maladies, from broken sandal clasps, to boots that need new soles, to heels in need of new caps, which they'll often do while you wait. They've even been known to repair leather jackets. Have a look around while you wait — the walls are covered in photos of presidents, athletes and other celebrities who've had boots made for them by Jose Gonzales.

Marva, who runs the Psychic and Holistic Fair the first weekend of every month, has a wealth of quivers in her bow. If she doesn't feel "on" with a client, she'll turn to tarot, palmistry or astrology — or perhaps a blend of all three occult arts. She's taught hundreds over the years in all things metaphysical, but says she's most proud of the work she does with an OB/GYN, helping the doctor and her clients choose dates during the process of in vitro fertilization...and later, the optimum birth date for delivery. "I help them create miracles," she beams. Marva created her own miracle last year when she "found" her long-lost love from high school and they got back together — hotter, as the saying goes, than a pepper sprout.

The Hot Water Guys proudly proclaim that they "install more tankless water heaters in one week than most plumbers do in one year" — and they'll invade your home like a well-organized army in that pursuit. Going tankless is the right thing to do, as it saves water, a more precious resource than any fossil fuel. It also frees up space in your home, since the compact little tankless water heater is mounted outside. These guys are so good they found both a water leak and a gas leak (!) on a recent house call and, what's even better, fixed both. They've got a good, stable crew headed by Kenny's brother, Bryan. We can't praise 'em enough. Even cooler, the Hot Water Guys themselves, Tom Massimin and Kenny Browning, are longtime Urban Animals (no, they won't skate in your attic).

The west side of Houston approximates Pacific geography. If you are looking for Southern Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino or Indonesian groceries, head for Bellaire Boulevard. If on the other hand you're in search of stuff from the colder reaches of the Pacific, head to Super H Mart, Houston's top purveyor of all things Korean and Japanese. The food court astounds with its bounty of hotpots, sushi, bibimbap, kimchi, Korean barbecue and amazing Seoul-style marinated fried chicken. There's also an outlet of the Frenchified Korean answer to Starbucks — Tous Les Jours — wherein one might find splendid coffee and flaky pastries from Paris via Pusan to Houston. The seafood counter alone merits a trip, and wow, those beans, that astounding variety of rice and all those oodles of noodles.

For Houston fanatics, Collectors Firearms is to gun geeks as Cactus Music in Montrose is to record geeks, or something like that. New guns, old guns and collectible guns are all here and accounted for, and the store's staff is always on hand to help school you on each piece. Not all the weapons at Collectors are your usual sporting goods fare either; there are some beautiful items here that are almost too pretty to do anything with but mount on a wall and stare at.

Whether you are buying birthday party favors for the kids, stocking up on cleaning supplies for the house or just penny-pinching, you can't do much better than Giant $ and their ten Houston stores. Their clean locations and daily deals make this a valuable resource for families looking to make ends meet, plus they always have some quirky foodstuffs on their shelves, like our favorite instant Vietnamese coffee.

Wake up to the smell of a country breakfast at the Honey Farm Bed and Breakfast. Located far enough away from downtown Houston to have a country feel but close enough to allow for quick trips in to major attractions and entertainment districts, Honey Farm is a working family farm with penned miniature horses, goats, llamas, chickens, ducks and rabbits. (You can pet and hand-feed them if you want, or take one of the tame llamas out for a stroll.) The house is surrounded by horse pastures and flower beds, with beehives located just a short walk from the front door. There are four rooms available for B&B guests: the Sunset Suite with king-size bed and a private sitting area, the Honey Room with a queen-size bed and private patio, and two simpler rooms. The owners harvest fresh honey from the farm's buzzing beehives; if you're lucky you'll get some with breakfast. And as a bonus, all those bees keep the flowers on Honey Farm well-pollinated, so there's always something blooming.

Who wants to buy brand-new clothes for their kid? It's wasteful, needlessly expensive and the little whippersnappers will outgrow them before you know it. Of course, you don't want to have your offspring looking like latter-day Dickensian ragamuffins, either, which is where Kid to Kid Clothing comes in. There, you can trade in your kids' own clothing for either cash (paid on the spot) or 20 percent more value in store credit, and their gently used inventory of school, play and fancier attire is second-to-none in the Bayou City. Name brands like Ralph Lauren, Gap, Gymboree and even Hanna Ander­sson and Lilly Pulitzer abound on their racks and shelves, all available at a bare sliver of mall prices.

Walk into the Kegg's Candies Meyerland-area store and you might think you see chocolate cupcakes among the offerings. Look a little closer — the yummy cupcake-looking treats are actually oversize peanut butter cups that have a big taste to match their size. Kegg's dates back to 1946, when Robert Kegg started experimenting in his mom's kitchen. That quickly led to a shop in the Rice Village. The shop has since changed hands, but current owner Carl A. Bartuch Jr. has maintained the Kegg tradition of using only the finest fresh ingredients to create delightful confections. Along with dozens of types of delicious concoctions, there are plenty of novelty items (light and dark chocolate shaped like poker chips, sports equipment, letters and the like). You don't have to have a pocket full of money to enjoy Kegg's goodies — milk chocolate rounds, pressed into turtle, sand-dollar, flower and butterfly shapes, among others, are all less than $1. For a behind-the-scenes look at Kegg's candy kitchen, visit the factory location (8168 Westpark) for a self-guided tour. See candy made from start to finish, and stop by Kegg's in-factory store and ice cream parlor, where you'll find frozen custard and Italian ice in addition to chocolate candy.