Painting With a Twist has an interesting back story. After Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, friends and Louisiana natives Cathy Deano and Renee Maloney thought their neighbors could use an activity to help them de-stress. They started holding painting classes and encouraged the budding artists to bring their own wine. Eventually it blossomed into Painting With a Twist, which now has 81 franchise locations, including one in Spring, near The Woodlands.

Bring your favorite bottle of wine or other beverage, invite some friends, and a professional artist will walk you through how to create a painting, step by step. All of the painting supplies are provided. If you don't have any painting experience or artistic leanings, that's okay, because the goal at Painting With a Twist is to simply have fun. And who knows, maybe you will be happy enough with your final result that you will want to hang it on your wall!

Painting With a Twist
570 Sawdust Road
Spring, TX 77380
(281) 465-4995
paintingwithatwist.com
Read the reviews on Yelp.

CC-BY-SA-2.0/Flickr/cernaovec

Sometimes you crave a sweet dessert after your evening meal, but digging out pans and preheating the oven just seems like so much work. If you want to create a tasty, creative dessert dish without messy baking, no-bake recipes are a convenient alternative.

You can make just about any type of treat with a no-bake recipe, from cookies to bars to candies. These five recipes are also perfect for last minute dinner parties or those times when the kids need a snack for school with little advance notice.

Double-Chocolate Mascarpone Raspberry Pie [Better Homes and Gardens]

Creamy Frozen Lime Pie [Recipe Lion]

No-Bake Snickers Caramel Apple Pie [Fox News]

Cookies & Crème Pudding Pops [Kraft]

Strawberry Freeze [Kraft]

CC-BY-2.0/Flickr/cookbookman17

In need of a little retail therapy? Treat yourself to a shopping spree at The Woodlands Mall, a mall boasting both indoor and outdoor shopping areas. Anchored by Nordstrom, Macy's, Dillard's, JCPenney, and Forever 21, this mall offers a wide variety of retailers and specialty stores. Think Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Coach, Vera Bradley, Williams-Sonoma, Fossil, and many more.

The mall is clean, and dining options are available. If you have children in tow, take them for a ride on the carousel located on the second floor. Parking can be a challenge here, but valet service is only $5, cash. The Woodlands Mall is open Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sundays, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The Woodlands Mall
1201 Lake Woodlands Drive
The Woodlands, TX 77380
(281) 363-3409
www.thewoodlandsmall.com
www.yelp.com/biz/the-woodlands-mall-the-woodlands

CC-BY-SA-2.0/Flickr/kthread