Hey guys! It’s Shay. 🙂
I’m not really doing much of anything, just working here at the Orientation office right now and working my butt off in all my classes. Graphic design is more time consuming than you’d think!

I recently went with fellow Ambassador Ben to a local restaurant, Life Alive, which just so happens to be next to my favorite local art store, Van Gogh’s Gear. Life Alive is an organic and vegetarian friendly restaurant located on Middle Street in Downtown Lowell. Now, I like meat and if you put a steak in front of me, I’d be a happy camper. But this food was SO. GOOD.
I got a Hot and Healthy Bachelor [wheat tortilla with boiled eggs, sun dried tomatoes, greens, broccoli, carrots, and melted cheddar], and Ben got The Fool [Udon noodles in sesame ginger sauce, with kale, mushrooms, tofu, and sesame seeds]. I was sick that day too, but after I ate I felt so much better, it was amazing! It is a little pricy there, because they offer organic products and quality ingredients, but it’s totally worth it.
http://www.lifealive.com/

If vegetarian isn’t your thing, and you like more Asian-geared food, I’d definately recommend going to Viet Thai, a Vietnamese/Taiwanese restaurant located right by Lowell City Hall on Merrimack Street. The restaurant has a nice cozy feel to it; you just choose a seat and they come to you. You get so much food for such a great value, I always get the rice noodles with beef, and it’s cooked with cabbage, carrots, baby corn, and other vegetables. It costs me about $6/$7, and I get enough food to last me legitimately three days.

There’s also Monkeys on Merrimack Street [so you can go there after Viet Thai!], which has awesome ice cream. Who cares if it’s November? Ice cream is awesome all the time.

You can also find lots of cute little shops and stores throughout Downtown. There’s Found, which is a vintage store that has loads of things that you might find up in Dad or Grandma’s attic. There’s also the Brush Art Gallery, which is free and where you can go see in progress works of artists working at the refinished lots, and buy various prints and original pieces. And finally, don’t forget to check out the backbone of Lowell, the Lowell Mills which have AMAZING tours [we went for Orientation training, and I had a blast!]

Well, that’s it for me for now! :]