Staying Home

Beat quarantine boredom with virtual classes and at-home activities from these Dallas pros

From offering quarantine kits to streaming workout classes and movie screenings, local businesses have proven their ingenuity in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. Similarly, as North Texans grapple with their new normal — and an unprecedented amount of together time — they’re searching for creative ways to beat quarantine boredom and even learn a new skill or two.

Whether you’re looking for a new hobby or ways to decompress, here are seven ways to fill your time over the next few weeks.

Make a mask with Kathy Fielder
Dallas designer Kathy Fielder has joined efforts to supply those in need with non-medical face masks. She created a unique pattern designed to be fitted, functional, and washable. Visit her blog for step-by-step instructions and a video how-to, so you can create your own masks with materials found around the home.

Touch up your roots
Your hair color doesn’t have to suffer just because you’re homebound. Stylists have gotten creative with at-home emergency hair coloring kits featuring specific formulas mixed for you and step-by-step instructions for how to apply. Dear Clark, The Songbird Society, and Figueroa are just a few of the salons offering this service. Kits start at $40.

Take a cheese class
Scardello Artisan Cheese is offering virtual classes with themes ranging from “Chocolate and Cheese” to “Old World vs New World.” Experts will share their knowledge on the night’s theme and walk you through various pairings via Facebook Live. To participate, reserve your seat online — there are a limited number — and pick up your cheese plate and accompaniments from Scardello on the day of the event. Classes start at $30 with the option to add a bottle of wine.

Build your own terrarium
East Dallas’ Jade & Clover has created DIY Terrarium Kits to help locals stay busy while social distancing. Pre-made kits are $25 and include one mini glass terrarium, one succulent, sand, and gravel. For a one-of-a-kind creation, you can build your own kit with your choice of terrarium, succulents, and up to three sand colors. Kits are currently available for pickup only, but local delivery will be added soon.

Master meditation
If there were ever a time to give meditation a try, it’s now. Breathe Mind and Body opened its ultrachic Highland Park meditation studio last year and has been popular with mindful Dallasites since. Typically, the studio offers guided meditation classes for $26 each. Now, Breathe is hosting free guided meditations multiple times a day via Instagram Live. Daily schedules are posted to the website.

Learn a new skill
From Intro to Comedy Writing to Photography 101 and The Art of Super Smash Bros., North Texas Performing Arts truly has something for everyone. Classes are taught online through ZOOM by performing arts instructors across Dallas and offered a la carte, starting at $9.99 for open classes and $14.99 for exclusive classes (limited to 10 participants). Recordings are available to registered participants after each session.

Experience Dallas Blooms
It’s peak season for the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden. And though you can’t enjoy the garden’s annual Dallas Blooms festival in person, you can experience it virtually, with informative video tours led by Dave Forehand, Vice President of Gardens. Video tours are free, but donations are welcome.

Kathy Fielder is teaching everyone how to make face masks.

Photo Courtesy of Kathy Fielder

Kathy Fielder is teaching everyone how to make face masks.

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Jobs report

Texas ranks among 10 best states to find a job, says new report

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

You have a better chance of landing a job in Texas than in most other states.

If you’re hunting for a job in Texas amid a tough employment market, you stand a better chance of landing it here than you might in other states.

A new ranking by personal finance website WalletHub of the best states for jobs puts Texas at No. 7. The Lone Star State lands at No. 2 in the economic environment category and No. 18 in the job market category.

Massachusetts tops the list, and West Virginia appears at the bottom.

To determine the most attractive states for employment, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 34 key indicators of economic health and job market strength. Ranking factors included employment growth, median annual income, and average commute time.

“Living in one of the best states for jobs can provide stable conditions for the long term, helping you ride out the fluctuations that the economy will experience in the future,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo says.

In September, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas led the U.S. in job creation with the addition of 195,600 jobs over the past 12 months.

While Abbott proclaimed Texas is “America’s jobs leader,” the state’s level of job creation has recently slowed. In June, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas noted that the state’s year-to-date job growth rate had dipped to 1.8 percent, and that even slower job growth was expected in the second half of this year.

The August unemployment rate in Texas stood at 4.1 percent, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. Throughout 2025, the monthly rate in Texas has been either four percent or 4.1 percent.

By comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate in August was 4.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2025, the monthly rate for the U.S. has ranged from 4 percent to 4.3 percent.

Here’s a rundown of the August unemployment rates in Texas’ four biggest metro areas:

Austin — 3.9 percent
Dallas-Fort Worth — 4.4 percent
San Antonio — 4.4 percent
Houston — 5 percent

Unemployment rates have remained steady this year despite layoffs and hiring freezes driven by economic uncertainty. However, the number of U.S. workers who’ve been without a job for at least 27 weeks has risen by 385,000 this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in August. That month, long-term unemployed workers accounted for about one-fourth of all unemployed workers.

An August survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed a record-low 44.9 percent of Americans were confident about finding a job if they lost their current one.

This story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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