Treat Yo Self

   Last month Sharanya promised that she would come visit and stay with us since she had time off from work and wasn't able to come down for my fun birthday adventures. Plus this visit was only the second time we had seen each other this year. The first time being in Paynes Prairie in July.  How do we let six whole months slip away without spending time with our closest friends, especially when they only live two hours away? Since Mia had her last day of work with VOA/Stantech on Friday, she was able to spend 26 glorious hours with us. She is on a 37 day "vacation" before she starts work at her new job in Denver, Colorado on November 21st.

   Mia got to our house at 10:30 on Monday. We ran errands to the library and picked out some movie options for that night, Dollar Tree, Fallas, and Ross where Mia bought cute black flats with gold tips and a professional work purse. I saw a cool double jacket that looked a bit like that pilot jacket I tried on at the Space Center in California, and this one was only $15! Although I know I didn't need it since I have my usual puffy one with fake fur on the hood, I like my clothes looking different and I've worn that jacket the past three years. Vanity!

   After Ross we had lunch at House Blend Cafe and shared half of a veggie panini and she ate the side salad that came with it. (I had my protein breakfast a few hours before: two eggs with some leftover pork chops.) You'll see during the remainder of the post that I was not being strict with my budget. I only have $11 in cash left, but am okay with that, knowing that I do have $39 in Walmart credit, from the Savings Catcher app and Shopkick! I can definitely make $50 last me 10 days.

   We drove to a puppy store that I have not been to, but the store didn't open until 2pm. So we drove thru tiny downtown Ocoee and walked into a Plato's Closet type store. Mia got a blazer and a necklace. I also got a necklace with plastic looking stones for $5 (it was marked $7 but I told the cashier I only had five, which was true). I didn't have the Canon during this two hour period.

   The next building we passed was for taxidermy, but Mia saw a real live dog sitting inside at the window, so we went in to pet it and there was another fluffy dog. She read their names from their collars, Turbo & Marley. The guy inside gave us a weird look when we told him we were just there to pet the dogs. Lastly we went into a flower shop and talked to the guy there (Steve). He was making a beautiful arrangement for a funeral. My favorite part was when he said "I used to be a ballet major, but then I got fat." Sharanya called me shortly after that and we met her back at the house.

   After getting their bags in, we drove up to Sorrento and took a few pictures in front of the house we used for the Blood Widow orphanage. Then drove to Mount Dora and walked along a bike path. We didn't stay long because the mosquitoes were crazy!!! Then had lunch at Mellow Mushroom and shared a large Mega Veggie pizza which was really good. We never made it to the Downtown Mount Dora area that Lindsey likes and has visited several times, but it was already 5pm after we ate. 

Hillbilly zombies?

At the bike park in Mount Dora.

  We drove to Artegon (passing a billboard for Wicked being performed in Orlando in January!!!!!) because Sharanya wanted to go somewhere with trampolines and neither of them had been there. We walked around the different shops, taking pictures, then walked into Skyzone and signed the electronic safety waivers. At 7:06pm we each paid for our sessions ($12 for 30 minutes) and I noticed that Mia's receipt said "Jump Time 7:00-7:30" so I asked, "Does that mean we're already down to 24 minutes?" (which would also have to include using the restroom, getting a locker, putting on the mandatory socks provided). The girl said yes and we changed our session to 7:30 so we could get the whole time. We didn't see many clocks in the lobby and jumped in when we were ready. It was really fun and we definitely laughed a lot (and I may have stumbled a couple times when I lost control of my legs). They played trampoline dodge ball until our time was up and we all agreed that an hour would have been perfect. Surprisingly my legs weren't sore at all the next day.

   We had enough time to check out two more stores where Mia tried on a skirt and bought a handmade necklace made out of pretty gray stones. Sharanya told us we needed to go to Five Below (like a fun Dollar General) then to DD's Discount before heading home. When we got back, we talked to Michael for a bit, then watched "Trainwreck".

   Tuesday morning I had a training meeting at work from 8-10am, then drove over to meet Mia and Sharanya for lunch at Market on South. Mia called me when they got there around 10:15 and I was almost there. 

"I would like to get pictures in front of the sunflowers at some point while we are there," I told her.

She provided a quick pause, "Uh, there aren't any sunflowers, but there are corn stalks. We can pictures in front of those."

"What the heck? I just saw all the sunflowers there when I drove by the other day! Okay.." The sunflowers were what caught our attention when we went the first time in June. After we ordered our food (which wouldn't be "ready" until 11am when they start serving lunch) I asked the cashier about the sunflowers. She said they had to cut them down because they are hard to take care of and when the wind blows a lot they slam into each other and all the petals fall off. We managed to take a bunch of good pictures while we waited anyway.

Tempe and jackfruit taco photo by Sharanya!

I got the TLT sandwich (tempe, lettuce/arugula, and tomato)

 Mia wanted a Thai Tea so we went around the corner to Pom Pom's (I ate there once with her before and had a good sandwich), but first stopped into a record store. We dropped Mia back off at her car and gave lots of hugs, being promised that we would see her at least one more time before she and Jay move across the country, like Michael and I did close to four years ago!

 Sharanya and I went back to my house, painted our nails with glitter, then ended up stopping at the Oakland Nature Preserve. After that we were trying to meet Alana at the Clermont beach but there was a little issue with the timing and she couldn't leave her house at that time and suddenly we got really hungry so we went to Over the Top Pita. We finally found it after 10 minutes of Apple Maps telling me to make so many unnecessary turns after we had already passed the place without knowing. But it was fine since the food was super good. I got the gyro pita, Sharanya got the falafel pita with a side Greek salad. I got a punch card so I can go back and get a free pita eventually. I think Michael would really like that place too!

Cool foliage photo by Sharanya!

We went over to Alana's house and talked with her for about 20 minutes. She and Sharanya hadn't seen each other since my wedding (and one time before that for my 23rd birthday during Full Sail). Then we went back home, ran a couple errands with Michael, watched two episodes of The 100 and Sharanya headed back home. It was a really nice "weekend".