Yesterday was a LONG day. Trust me, it was a fun day, but definitely a long one. π
My little brother and his girlfriend, Ashley, headed to Orlando for the day and joined Derek and I for some fun adventures in the Chevy Traverse.
Aren’t they cute? π
Our first adventure involved a trip to the Winter Park Art Festival in downtown Winter Park.
The Winter Park Art Festival is a HUGE event where they shut down Park Ave. and have hundreds of local artists from around Florida come and display all of their beautiful artwork.
We saw paintings, photography, sculptures, jewelry, crafts, and just about every other form of art you can think of.
I LOVED these paintings of food. Too bad they were asking more than a couple months worth of rent for each of them. π
We put our name in for a table at one of the restaurants with outdoor seating and decided to hit up our favorite wine bar down the road for pre-lunch drink.
The WIne Bar off of Park Ave allows you to load up a card with a pre-set amount and gives you the option to select which wine you would like to try and use the card to pay by the ounce.
I had an ounce of Shiraz and sipped it slowly while chatting and exploring.
On the way out of the wine bar I grabbed a sample of toffee trail mix and shared with the group.
When we got the call our table was ready we headed to Bosphorous Lounge for lunch.
The weather was just too perfect to eat inside. The 40 minute wait for a table on the sidewalk was 100% worth it!
You can not go to Bosphorus without ordering Lavas (hollow bread)!
The four of us split the lavas and the babaganoush.
I love their babaganoush. You can tell it’s made fresh because the eggplant is still stringy and chewy. Love it!
My little brother was in Germany last summer and had his fair share of Turkish food after nights full of drinking a bars. When he saw Doner Lamb on the menu a big smile spread on his face. He could not stop talking about how great it was when he was in Germany and I think he was impressed with the version he ordered for lunch.
I had a bite and it was very tasty.
I knew I would be filling up on bread, so I ordered the house salad as my main meal.
It was quite possible one of the prettiest house salads I have ever ordered.
The salad was packed in that bowl. I ate all of the yummy toppings, but there was so much lettuce that by the time I was stuffed it looked like I had barely touched it!
Before I was too full, I did manage of few bites from Ashley’s chicken. It was very flavorful and moist. Yum.
After lunch we headed back to Traverse and headed off to Adventure #2 all the way across town.
Menchie’s!
My little brother and his girlfriend had yet to experience the phenomenon known as self serve frozen yogurt. I was happy to introduce them to the concept.
I think they were impressed! π
I had a little bit of everything and loaded up with fruit for my toppings.
We still had one more mission up our sleeves!
Mission # 3 = Universal!!
Derek and I ALWAYS forget where we park our cars in theme park parking lots. Ashley thought of this brillant idea to take a photo of the location of our car.
Genius! We were able to find our car with out a problem when we made it back to the garage later that night. I always knew this girl was a keeper!
Islands of Adventure in Universal is just a month away from unveiling the new Harry Potter themed portion of the park. They recently removed all the construction scaffolding from the area and were able to get a sneak peak.
For the duration of March and April, Universal Studios is celebrating Mardi Gras every Saturday night. The park has been transformed to represent New Orleans and there are plenty of fun characters roaming the streets and creating a fun, festive mood.
Derek and I had fun prepping for own trip to New Orleans in just a couple of weeks.
One of the main draws for the Mardi Gras Celebration is the concert series that is included with admission to the park (or in our case is included with the annual pass).
I am a BIG fan of Miranda Lambert was excited to see her on the schedule for tonight!! π
We enjoyed the rest of our day in the park by taking in some rides and the sights. We did a make a detour so the boys could get a beer.
I had a few sips of Derek’s Shock Top, but was perfectly satisfied with the water I had been guzzling all day. π
For dinner were all decided to taste test the Cajun food Universal has set up in honor of Mardi Gras.
I ate the $8.00 Jamalaya and was disappointed but how small the serving was.
I should have took a photo of my hand next to the serving. I think my hand was larger. It was tasty, just not very filling. π
After dinner we headed to the Mardi Gras parade and fought over all the beads.
Apparently I am an awful bead catcher. π The only ones I were able to claim were the ones that fell on the floor. I’m going to blame my inability to catch beads on a mix of my lack of height and how forceful and bead crazy everyone around me was.
At 8:30 Miranda Lambert took the stage just as the parade ended.
The set up for the concert was very well organized. We were able to find a decent spot in the back and never had to worry about anyone squishing us into the crowd.
Miranda Lamber is an awesome live performer. She is cute, always had a story to tell, and can really belt it out! It was a great concert to end our day with.
When we made it back home I had a piece of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread.
And promptly passed out. π
I’ll be back later with my morning adventures. I thought this post was getting a tad long! π
What a fabulous day!!! Adam and I are saving up for a trip to the Harry Potter park next year… I can’t wait!! Glad you got your camera flash fixed too π
Haha I once took a photo of where I parked my car in downtown DC. SO HELPFUL! Your weekends are far too fabulous! What a great day for adventures in a sundress and sunglasses too.
I love the pops of color in the jelly bean painting!
I’m watching Harry potter right now- can’t wait to see that side of the park!
I cannot wait for the Harry Potter park to open. I am going to try and convince my bf to take a trip there with me to see it!
wow, so many pictures!
Fro Yo, Universal, sunny weather, the Winter thing, pumpkin choc chip bread….gosh you had an awesome day! Some of those paintings actually looked like photos, pretty incredible!
But yeah, my ultimate jealously lies in the fact that you went to Universal. Enough said!!
Have a good day π
Wow what a day!! I love those food photos – they are so real looking! Quite a fun packed Saturday!!
Wow what a crazy busy fun filled day!! You got a lot accomplished! I’m so excited for the Harry Potter park. I’m hoping it’ll be so cool that you just FEEL like you’re there in Harry’s world. Like in Disneyland, y’know? And lucky you got to see Miranda in concert!! How fun!
Holy Moly – I wish I couldΒ΄ve spent the day with you guys!
MustΒ΄ve been a lot of fun… Gotta love Disneyland!
π
Have a terrific Sunday, girl!
Brazilian XOXOΒ΄s,
Gabriela
I love cramming my weekend with tons of adventure. Sounds really fun! And I so need to go to Florida when that HP themed part of the park opens. I am HP OBSESSED!
miranda lambert is the shit! i love her songs, they’re so much fun to sing along to in the car. and good for running to as well!
your day looks like it was chock full of stuff. i’m exhausted just reading about it haha.
Looks like a totally fun day! I’m jealous of your sunny Florida weather and the amount of theme parks you can choose from – looks like you have so much to do! I’d definitely want the jelly belly painting, those are awesome.
Wow! What a fun day!! I’m so jealous!!
Every time you talk about it, I’m baffled by this self-serve yogurt concept. I’d kill to have one nearby. Looks like a fun day!
What a fun, busy day! I love Universal studios – looks so different since I was there years ago.
Looks like such a blast! I want some of that hollow bread… π
what a funnn day! i love froyo.
How fun! It sounds like you really did a lot of fantastic stuff this weekend. π
Sounds like you had a great day! I love Miranda Lambert and I’m glad to hear she is as good in person as she in on CD. Country music has some of the best performers.
sounds like you had a fantastic, fun-filled day! i love miranda lambert – how fun to stumble upon a concert shes having!
How fun to spend the day just wandering around Orlando and ending up at Universal. And looks like your brother and his gf had a great time too π
What a great day! So action packed full of fun:)
Wow! You sure managed to cram a lot into one day. It looks like so much fun. I am really, really excited for the Harry Potter theme park – I am addicted to the stories and movies π Thanks for the sneak peak.
I am SOOOOOOO jealous you got to see Miranda!!! She is my favorite! There may be a bit of a girl crush going on there π
oooooh it all looks like so much fun!! Glad to see that you had a great day! I love all that sunshine!
I wish there was a yogurt place like that where I live!!
wow, that WAS a full day! looks so fun though…i’m glad you guys had a great time!
Looks like you guys had a blast!
Gahhhh I can’t wait for Harry Potter world.
Girl, come down to Louisiana and I’ll make you some real jambalaya!
Whoah! What is that wine dispenser? I am going to go to that place just to see it! Do you know where else they have those; that’s amazing!
I love art festivals! That one looks really fun!
what an awesome day! glad you had a bunch of fun with friends and derek… still drowling over all the fro yo you have on your blog!
Great day!!
Love your blog, this looks like an awesome day. I have to admit, though, Derek in his RAYS shirt was my favorite part…not that I lust after your BF, I just happen to love the Rays!! Woo-hoo!!
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