An Orlando Adventure: My Friend's "New" 1970s Pad, Flea Market, Vegan Feed, Robots

This past long labor day weekend my roommate and I visited our childhood friend Ruth at her brand new "old" house in Orlando. She's like my "other" sister. (The other "sister from another mother" being my roommate.) We spent childhood collecting creatures and berries in the nearby "woods", devouring quantities of ramen noodle soup and Dr. Pepper only children could withstand and breaking into homes being built to tell ghost stories.

I have a particularly hilarious memory of Ruthie tolerating my weird-ass entrepreneurial spirit early on: I combined lots of household items into a "sludge" trying to make a concoction I could reproduce and sell. Ah, suburban boredom! I'm so proud of Dr. Ruthie and her adorable new abode, I wish I lived closer to help her paint and remodel it. Here's the highlight reel from the weekend:

Ruth's house is situated on a golf course in the Orlando area and features ample 1970s details. I'm excited to help her find any housewares she needs for it and happy for her and her fiance on the well-priced score. My favorite detail is the stained glass owl beside the door: So awesome! We also have...

An amazing courtyard in the front with ample space to grow a lush garden! (The three plants by the door were purchased for my apartment while visiting Orlando. Will blog about them soon. An "Orlando Haul" is likely in-order.)

The bathrooms had lovely custom-made river pebble and wax reason countertops and beautiful light-fixtures. The gold foil wallpaper will unfortunately be replaced.

I love the window above her kitchen sink, perfect for looking outside while washing dishes. She'll be removing the very 70s laminate but I appreciate the sunny orange she's painting in place of the original dingy brown, it calls back to the house's era.

And it matches this original light-fixture that hangs low at the other side of the kitchen. Sometimes I think I'll rent forever but seeing her home gave me the itch to settle into a permanent abode of my own. I love the flexibility of renting but it'll be nice to have ground of my own to break into and walls to paint one day.

Day One: Our first stop was Loving Hut, a vegan restaurant chain. I've been to this location and the one in Tampa, Florida. I'm sad and grateful there isn't a location in Jacksonville, Florida because I'd eat All The Things always and re-rail all work-out and healthy eating progress.

The spring rolls, faux meat skewer, brown rice and steamed veggies were delicious. I treated myself to a watermelon boba as well. I was the only vegan in the group; grateful my carnivore friends humored me with this delectable treat.

After dropping Huy off at the library we ventured to the Evil IKEA for window shopping and inspiration. I took snapshots of my favorite compositions as always and came home with a clearanced interior design book and some beautiful plant-children to cherish. My favorite spaces were the fully outfitted apartments with small square-footage. I'm obsessed with tiny spaces and want to create the same homey feeling in my spacious (now empty-enough to echo post-purge) apartment.

Chairs like the one directly above, an actual headboard/bed like the one above and glass-front curio cabinets are on my to-find lists.

I love how they carve out little nooks everywhere. This tiny apartment replica had an office, living room and bedroom all in one tiny space.

The next stop was Ethos Vegan Kitchen, a first for me. At first glance I could eat just the decor, clean and industrial with vintage details and local art on the walls.

I love the velvet collection and large, colorful pieces inspire me to get painting to make similar statement pieces.The food was delicious but just like Loving Hut, not exceptionally healthy stuff. I wouldn't normally eat so much processed-anything in one day, vegan or not. It was all delicious, though!

We walked off dinner at a huge outdoor mall. Orlando has an abundance of shopping and beautiful structures; this mall had multiple koi ponds and different "themed" areas- one was a decent replica of a romantic night in Europe!

Day Two: Our first stop on Sunday was Flea World, where most of the wares were the usual Made in China flea market junk. I did scoop up a plant and a bit of Kawaii goodness that I'll share later.

My favorite booth was stuffed to the brim with pop culture goodness, I geeked out of Voltron, Shogun Warriors (that set above, incredible! valuable, too), 1970s Star Wars toys and more. I'll share a full post later, it deserves it!

The final stop was downtown Orlando, where mutlti-hued swans frolicked in lake Eola and a bustling farmers market was full of goodies to buy. We shared fresh coconut water straight from a huge coconut, a green drink, and fresh fruit. To make up for the previous day's vegan gluttony, of course!

My roommate Marianne, Me, and Dr. Ruthie, Pharmacy Manager.

It was fun to have the best-friend crew together again. We've enjoyed countless sleepovers where we dreamed of the future and did ridiculous crap (cross dress as boys and pretend to fight in front of a busy street to gauge reactions being the craziest of our bordom-inspired stupidity). Even when separated for several months or even a year, we reunite like no time's passed. Marianne's still the "closet" nerdy, wild party girl, I'm still the artsy, scattered, right-brained hippie and Ruth's the organized, quiet one- blessed with innate math smarts. Put us in one house and we'd make silly sitcom fodder. We'll certainly be planning more trips to Orlando into the future.

Anyone have places we can't miss on our next kitschy Florida and/or Orlando road trips? Let me know! We want to check out Florida bioluminescent bay, just found out that we have one of those! (Though it's not as bright as the ones in Puerto Rico.)

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