I got the chance to be an Orlando tour guide this weekend. My old college roommate, the beautiful Lauren Hammer, came to visit me this weekend. She got in on Friday and I took her to see my work before heading home to cook dinner before I took her to my favorite little dessert place downtown. Jess, Kristi and Jillian joined us at The Dessert Lady, so please don't think that Lauren and I ate all this on our own.
Then, we headed to the Grand Bohemian to meet up with CBell and hang out while enjoying the live jazz that they have there every weekend...What a great little gem in downtown ORL. While there, Jess says, "Hey, I think that's Lebron James!" Sure enough, Lebron and a few of his fellow Cavaliers teammates were hanging out in the same lounge since it was a night before the big game where they got BEAT by the Magic.
Saturday we started the day at the Winter Park Farmer's Market, a favorite Saturday morning activity for me. Then, Jillian and I took Lauren to Briar Patch, my fav little brunch place on Park Ave. Because of the cookies we tasted at the FM and the zucchini bread at BP, we decided to go home and bake... you guessed it: cookies and zucchini bread.
Then, it was off to Urban Flats downtown where we met up with Virginia and Bekah for a lovely dinner outside, before we all headed to meet up with Kristi at Rising Star Karaoke bar. This place is LEGIT. There is a live band, complete with back up singers/dancers. And yes, we did all make our appearances on the stage. Lauren and I sang Walking in Memphis, Bekah and Kristi sang Free Falling, and Virginia and Kristi sang our fav of the night -- Redneck Woman. Of course, there were MULTIPLE things to laugh at and about during the night, including the drunk girl who was also named Rebekah who swore it was her turn to sing, the dancing man and his mom, V spilling her drink on her jeans 3 minutes before having to go on stage, V and Bek changing jeans only for more to get spilled on V's jeans that were now on Bekah, Kristi's song choice for her and Virginia, the "Host" who thought he was a star, and the list goes on and on...what a fun night!
Sunday was relaxing. Took Lauren to FBCO with me - she even joined me while I taught my 10th grade girls at Sunday School. Then we had a little picnic at Lake Eola, which was so fun complete with AWESOME people watching and great weather, and then met Jaclyn at Jeremiah's. YUM! After a little afternoon nap at the house (OK, I admit it... I spent much of my naptime reading New Moon...don't judge), we headed to Status where Lauren got to meet many more of my friends, and confess her love for Tony. Or maybe she was just telling him where she lived... who knows.
Monday I had to take Lauren back to the airport before heading to work, which made me sad. I have seen her for the past three weekends in three different cities (Dallas, Chicago, Orlando). What ever am I going to do now that I don't know exactly when I will see her again?
Well, I hope that this little run-down has convinced you (and me!) that Orlando does have some pretty fun things to offer, outside of Disney, and has therefore made you realize that you MUST come visit. My house is always ready for visitors.
I feel like I constantly have ideas for blog topics, but never get around to writing them. Oops.
I am finally home for a little while. Until October 17, to be exact. That may not seem that far away, but when you've traveled as much as I did this summer, over a month at home with no travel is a nice break. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE traveling, but it makes friendships, community, church involvement, etc. a little hard. I am sure I'll get bitten by the travel bug again very soon, but for now, it is nice to have some consistency in my life. Still...Labor day weekend was a great time. Lauren and I (high school and current BFF) went to Chicago, my second visit of the summer. Amazing weather, amazing friend time, amazing city...well, you get the picture. Speaking of picture...wanna see one?? I thought so.
This past weekend was good. Spent some time with my family since my sister, bro-in-law, and the kids were in town. Natalie and Nathan are pretty much the cutest kids EVER and so freakin' funny. Nathan and I baked a cake together Saturday night. He's three and, actually pretty good in the kitchen. Funniest moment was when Nathan wouldn't stop talking to Natalie when they were supposed to be going to sleep. Brad went in to scare them into staying in bed and being quiet, and then at 11:30, when Nathan was still babbling, Elizabeth and I went in there only to find that Nathan had pooped. In the trash can. He was too scared to leave the room after Brad talked to them about staying in bed, so his alternative was to poop in the trash can. It is always so hard to keep a straight face when kids are in trouble for doing something that was "bad" but also realllllly funny. Good thing I'm just an aunt and not the mom.
Saturday, I started the day with a mock triathlon workout of shorter distances, since my tri is next weekend. I wanted to know what it is going to feel like to do all three events in a row. My cousins did their tri this past weekend, and so I enjoyed being able to read about their experience in preparation for mine.
After the workout, I headed to the beach with some great friends in order to help Mancel and Jaclyn get engaged. We had to do the set up and then had to blend into the beach-going crowd and take pictures during the actual proposal. After shocking Jaclyn with our presence, we all had fun just hanging at the beach. I'm so excited for them!! CONGRATS!
Almost one year to the date of graduating from college, I went back to my "alma mater"...
Highlights of my trip to Texas (in no particular order):
- Lunch w/ Brenda and Ryan...I wish we had a McAlister's!!
- QT with two families: Brian/Brooke and new baby Briley! AND Chad/Sherene and kids
- Mexican food - especially hot and fresh flour tortillas at Papacita's
- Having a table of 15 people at dinner Thursday and looking around to realize I deeply love (and miss) each person at that table
- Visiting my old apartment - 15B, even though it was sad
- Driving down Noon Day Rd in Hallsville near sunset... one of my favorite country drives
- Seeing my future husband and planning our wedding (and no, I don't have any news for you)
- La and Em taking off work early to spend time with me
- Making dinner with my friends two nights in a row
- Bonfire in the country
- Breakfast with Christa, just like old times (except it was lunch back then)
- Watching the Office with 7 people on a couch
- Somehow having catch up time with WAY more people than I thought I'd be able to!
- Beautiful weather on Saturday
- Em and I making Jason's grad card on the hood of her car on the side of the road out of blue poster board
- Benny trying to kill me with the frisbee.... multiple times....during our late night sports outing
- The boys participating in a walk-off. And Jason winning.
- Pillow talk w/ Em and Lolly
- Naps on the Bean
- Tornado sirens
- Seeing some of my Texas parents (Brenda, Judes, and La's mom & dad)
- Getting to fill people in on my life and through that verbal processing, realizing just how much God has blessed me (new job - especially this, house, friends, etc)
- Coming home to a dinner date at Jason's w/ Lauren...I would be lost without that girl
- Didn't go to Bodacious but I did have homemade TX BBQ at Jason's party
- Realizing I am one of the few of our group of friends that cannot still hang out whenever I want.
- Small amount of drama... we're working on this.
- I was reminded how fun college was. Growing up isn't always as fun. BUT, I do recognize the need to move on and start this new stage of life.
- I'm missing Texas friends a LOT right now. I'm especially missing the level of comfort I feel with all of those people. They KNOW me. I sometimes feel like people here still don't. How long does that process take? I'm tired of being close acquaintances... I want deep friendships (in Orlando). I have a few and some are growing for sure, but I realized that it is hard to replace what friendships I had in Texas.
