Step 36: Sarasota Day 4

Sarasota Day 4:

Beautiful Sarasota tree in bloom

After a late morning or sleep we headed to St. Armonds circle. First order of business was getting my mom a Mother’s Day present and I already knew exactly what I wanted to get her. Nearly every day since I’d arrived at Sida’s house I was noticing these shirts she was wearing. They were short sleeved but with a slit in the shoulder; perfect for people like my mom who refused to were tank tops but still wanted a bit of sex-appeal. The colors were bright, the material beautiful and Sida owned about 10 of them.

http://www.ohmygauze.com/cottongauze/
"Oh My Gauze" is a woman’s clothing store that started with a trip to Mexico and one woman’s dream to make comfortable, breathable, maintenance free clothes. She now has 3 stores and sells her clothes wholesale to a number of other vendors. With 10 of the shirts in her closet, along with dresses and other things from the shop, it was no surprise that when we walked in the people who worked there knew Sida. We took our time looking around but I knew the second I saw it what shirt I’d be getting my mom. Bright lime green; that was the one for her. I walked right over to the post office, put it in an envelope and sent it her way.

Mom in her "Oh My Gauze" shirt

That done we now headed to the beach. It’s always nice going to the beach during a week day; far less people. However, there was one man that I immediately recognized from a few days before as he was in exactly the same place, in the same clothes, and doing the same thing (reading a newspaper with a walkman in his lap and headphones on). He was young, maybe mid-thirties. He looked as if he’d been on that same stretch of beach for weeks and I wondered, what happened to him?

We enjoyed the water and sun for a while and then decided it was time for some lunch. We headed to a little Deli that Sida said was one of her favorites. It turns out it is the same place that catered my cousin’s wedding. Nellie’s Deli.

http://www.nelliesdeli.com/

When we walked in it was pretty clear that this was the place for locals to get their fast, wholesome, and reliable lunch in. The design was modern and simple. The layout made it easy to get around people and fast to order. I ended up with a garden Vegan Burger that was delicious.


After lunch we headed to the store, ‘Bed, Bath and Beyond’ so I could do some wedding shopping. In a few days I would be attending my friend Barb’s wedding and had yet to get the gift. Luckily the gift registry options now a days sure makes things easy on a late shopper. I went to the wedding section, scanned the registry and quickly headed out with items I knew they wanted and a few that I liked and hoped they would too.

a beautiful wrapping job for my friend's wedding gift

Back at the house, Sida helped me wrap the present and it turned out beautiful! Then we were busy scanning recipes and preparing for the lunch she was in charge of at the Buddhist center tomorrow. After deciding on the menu and getting a few things done we headed to bed so we could get an early start on the cooking tomorrow.