Fourth of July Food and Fire(work)s

Sorry I'm late with the posting... my car appointments took WAY longer than I expected and I am totally exhausted--not to mention that after spending the day sitting and thinking and sitting and thinking some more (all the way through eating lunch at a restaurant all by myself!) I decided to change majors.

This is a HUGE step for me and totally out of my comfort zone but I know it's something that I will enjoy much more and will lead to more opportunities...so the second half of my day I spent rearranging my schedule for the Fall and pushing my graduation date back a year so I can be:

Ok, so not EXACTLY MacGyver but I'm going to go for environmental science! I'm really excited. That's sort of what he does on the show, right? :-P Sometimes at least!

Okay so 4th of July...

We went to my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE VEGAN RESTAURANT!! Ethos Vegan Kitchen in Orlando, FL.

Check out this pizza!

and this bruschetta!

Pumpkin Penne Pasta w/ Seitan:

and this "sheep's pie"

and tofurkey ruben!

This is kinda a lot of food..and yes we ate there for lunch AND dinner!!!!!

They also have these yummy sodas:

(and cookies---not pictured)

So after going to Ethos (the first time), we stopped at IKEA! I got a garlic press (coolest thing ever) and a tea infuser (also really cool) and only $1-2 each.

Then stopped at the fancyschmancy mall. Found this cute bike print shirt but the cut was weird and too expensive for me to buy and try to alter:

Stopped and got yummy carrot juices. Mine had mango and Marc's had banana.

I also stopped at the Sanrio store to get gum for my Hello Kitty gum dispenser...I'll have to upload a picture later. It is adorable and I've had it forEVER.

So we ventured down to Lake Eola where there were a bunch of tents set up and whatnot all around the lake and look at the beautiful rainbow:

Except that it shortly thereafter POURED and there was nowhere to go. We eventually found our way, completely drenched, to a parking garage (that was locked) thus hiding under the awning but someone eventually let us all in. We walked around and around trying to find an outlet that worked so my friend could charge her phone. Marc kept trying doors to see if any of them were unlocked and one was so we went into this condo building to charge her phone. The condo building, however, was private and you could only get in with a key *cough.

Then the fire alarm went off!!!!!! We went out into the lobby and tried to act "normal." Some guy who lived there started yelling about some people that were in the lobby if they really lived there or just hiding out of the rain. We just acted normal whilst he kicked everyone BUT us out of there. Even though we were soaked (IDK how to figure that one).

Then the firefighters showed up and I let them in (remember the doors only open from the inside--you need a key to get in!)

See!? Totally not joking. We waited til it stopped raining then went back out but I was really sick of the ginormous crowd and feeling awful from being so soaked (and waterlogged shoes) that I convinced Marc and Frances that we should go back to Ethos. Which was AWESOME!

The end...

Oh yeah, after my car appointments today I decided to try out the new Sweet Tomatoes that opened near me. They had vegan Thai Udon Noodle salad and Vegan veggie soup that was delicious. I also had a baked sweet potatoes and some fruit. Yum. (though a bit expensive for the buffet)...this is where I ate all alone--in a REAL restaurant. Don't think I'd ever done that before, haha.

So I'm glad I didn't eat anything covered in bbq sauce or watch any fireworks on the fourth (though we did see a few on the drive home). I feel accomplished doing my normal eat lots of vegan food routine. It's just ALL SOO GOOD!!!!

xoxo
Kristi(E)