Day 182 – Diana and Mike’s New Home in Clermont

Diana and Mike in front of their new home

After looking at homes in Ocoee, Winter Garden and Clermont since January 2009, we finally found the perfect home for Diana and Mike! And best of all, it’s brand new!

Today we met for the first walk through with Pulte Homes, the builder. Diana and Mike were allowed to be real picky since this is a brand new home. So we walked through the home and looked into literally every corner and made the home inspector take plenty of notes so he can arrange to have things fixed.

Next week is the closing and then Diana and Mike will be proud owners of their very first home! On top of that they will qualify receive the free $8,000 from the government! How exciting is that??

We always enjoy working with First Time Home Buyers and even more when it is friends who we are helping! We look forward to the house warming party

Here’s a great web site for all you first time home buyers in Central Florida to get your home search started!

Day 181 – St Patricks Day 2009

St Patricks Day 2009 at Fiddlers Green

No matter what day of the week it falls on, St. Patricks Day is still a favorite! This year it fell on a Tuesday…

When we arrived at Fiddler’s Green in Winter Park around 7:30pm, the line was already 2 hours long! Of course, Fiddlers was packed as expected!! My daily picture doesn’t really show how crowded the parking lot was, sorry, my flash didn’t do well that night and I had to toss most of my pictures… But believe me, there was an ocean of green all over the parking lot – after all, you don’t want to be pinched on St. Patrick’s Day, right?

Friends of mine went downtown and reported the party on Wall Street was a blast! Too bad we missed that one, but there’s always next year

St Patricks Day 2009!

Day 180 – Amura Sushi in Lake Mary Colonial Town Park

Amura Sushi Lake Mary

Without a doubt one of the best Sushi places in Central Florida: Amura Sushi (+ Chophouse, Wine and Steak). Luckily, Amura has also a location at Colonial Town Park in Lake Mary Their other locations are in Downtown Orlando and Dr. Phillips Orlando.I have been to the other locations and have to say, I truly like the Lake Mary location best, also because it is the more spacious one with a nice outside patio, great for a warm summer night.

Amura is a trendy restaurant with a great variety of Sushi and Japanes cuisine. They also have a special lunch menu with delicious combo meals and bento box lunches, all around $10-15.

Nightlife at Amura Lake Mary: The Lake Mary location now offers Ladies Night again on Thursdays with reduced prices on their Martinis!

Here is their information:

Amura Lake Mary
950 Market Promenade Ave
Lake Mary, FL 32746
(407) 936-6001

Amura Orlando
55 W Church St # 170
Orlando
(407) 316-8500

Amura Dr. Phillips
7786 W Sand Lake Rd
Orlando
(407) 370-0007

Web Site

Day 179 – Carlos n Charlies opening at Colonial Town Park Lake Mary

Carlos and Charlies opening in Lake Mary

Carlos’ n Charlies has picked Lake Mary for their Orlando location!!! The Mexican restaurant/bar will open soon at Lake Mary’s Colonial Town Park in the location that used to host the Latin restaurant Austral (and before that Ultra Luce, etc.). Please note that Lake Mary, next to Austin, will thereby be the only US location of Carlos and Charlies. Their other locations are mainly in Mexico (of course, party cities like Cancun and Ixtapa among others) and Aruba.

After visiting Carlos and Charlies web site I quite honestly can’t wait for it to open!! This looks clearly like it’s going to be the new place to party in Lake Mary/Sanford! I am all for the variety and I think after visiting Dexter’s and Liam Fitzpatrick’s quite often I am now up for a bar with “Mexican spice”

I will post more once this place is open so stay tuned…

UPDATE on 5/5/09:

Yay! The opening date has been confirmed to be Saturday, June 13th, 2009! Can’t wait

For more information or if you are interested in a job at Carlos’n Charlies call 407-333-3482! Good luck!

UPDATE on 6/8/09:

The opening has been postponed to the 19th of June. On that evening there will be a private Opening Party – and we are invited, yay I will post all about it on this Blog!!

Day 178 – Eola Wine Company Winter Park

Eola Wine Company Winter Park

Inside Eola Wine Company Winter Park

Eola Wine Company is a great little wine bar on Park Avenue in Winter Park, FL. It’s a charming place, great for a relaxing evening with friends. It’s a casual but trendy atmosphere – loving the sofas, exposed brick with wooden wine shelves and of course the outside sitting area on Park Avenue – perfect in the summer!

With over 100 wines Eola Wine Company really has something to offer! And for those who don’t like wine so much, there is also a big selection of imported and micro brewed beers available.

An upcoming event of the Eola Wine Company is the Downtown Pour, this year taking place on April 25th 2009 from 5pm to 8pm on Eola Avenue between Pine and Church. For $30 you get to sample food and lots of delicious boutique wines. You can call 407 592 6949 for more information.

Eola Wine Company Winter Park
136 S Park Ave
Winter Park, FL 32789
(407) 647-9103

Eola Wine Company Downtown
500 E Central Blvd
Orlando, FL 32801
(407) 481-9100

Web Site

Art Work at Eola Wine Company

Day 177 – The Smokehouse at Route 46 in Sanford

Inside the Smokehouse at Route 46 in Sanford

On day 149 I had mentioned the Route 46 Entertainment Complex. Today I finally had the chance to check out one of their restaurants for lunch, The Smokehouse.

The place is more of a cafeteria style BBQ grill which makes it perfect for lunch, especially if you don’t have too much time. The food came out quickly and the service was good. I am typically not a big fan of BBQ grill restaurants but The Smokehouse had a great alternative: Fajitas

So altogether I think it’s a nice place in a great location. The prices are reasonable and the servings good size. I especially like the outside patio, perfect for a warm spring day!

Click here for more information about the Route 46 Entertainment Complex in Sanford

More pictures of The Smokehouse and Route 46:

Day 176 – Alive After Five and The Alley Blues Bar Sanford

It's A Green Thing Alive After Five

Wow, this month’s Alive After Five, “it’s a Green Thing”, was a huge success! Whether it was the good weather, the St. Patrick’s Day theme or the recent time change that allows people to be out a bit longer during day light, bottom line, the turn out was great and we had fun. You could see green masses all over First Street, Palmetto and Park Avenue. St. Patrick’s Day really seems to be everyone’s favorite and there was no pinching needed

We ended the evening at The Alley on Park Avenue. The Alley is a Blues Bar with unique interior. You will immediately notice the wall and ceiling that are completely covered with words and drawings. It’s a very arty look which I love! Definitely one of its kind and hard to copy.

The Alley features Live Blues Fridays and Saturdays from 9pm to 1am and Sundays from 4pm to 8pm.

Hours of Operation:

Sun. 10:00am – 12am
Mon. 4pm – 12am
Tues. 11:00 am – 12:00 am
Wed. – Sat. 10:00am – 2 am

Contact
The Alley
114 S. Park Ave
Sanford, FL 32771
407-328-0700

At the bar in The Alley in Sanford FL

Unique!

Inside the Alley in Sanford FL

Day 175 – New Look of Hollerbach Willow Tree Cafe in Sanford

New Look of Hollerbach Willow Tree Cafe

Yes, the Hollerbach Willow Tree Cafe, Sanford’s famous German restaurant has a new look! They also have expanded and there are rumors that they are soon moving a European food store into the store next door (formerly Maya’s Used Books store – but don’t worry, Maya’s Book store is still there, she just moved further down on First Street to the corner with Magnolia Square). I didn’t have time to stop by and check out the Willow Tree that day but will soon be back and report what is new! I’m excited about it, especially the rumor of the new European food store

Day 174 – Are you a Home Depot or Lowes Person?

Home Depot in Sanford FL

Since I was looking for a vacuum cleaner today I had to visit 2 local home improvement warehouse stores: Home Depot and Lowes. To make a long story short: no, I didn’t find what I was looking for. Nevertheless I took my daily pics at the two locations. I couldn’t help but wonder: are you a Home Depot or Lowes person? Is there even a difference?

Home Depot Lake Mary

For my part, I mostly visit Home Depot (of course only if I have to because I am by no means a handy girl…), however that is more out of convenience. The location is just closer to where I am located and you can reach Home Depot easier from I-4. I mean it basically is right off the Exit 98 in Lake Mary.

I have to say though, when it comes to their advertising and branding, I prefer Lowes. They are just so much more my style – and they have a partnership with HGTV which is one of my favorite channels (yes, even in my spare time I have to look at real estate…). Also, and I am not sure why that was, I noticed that Lowes keeps their store temperature higher. It actually felt quite pleasant to be in there compared to Home Depot. Now I am not sure if they did it because they need to save money or because they are green. The latter I would prefer because I think being green is NOT about saving money, it is about saving the environment. The money saving is just a nice side effect.I wish LOWES was a bit better located because to drive all the way down Lake Mary Boulevard in order to get there is not time smart and not green because of the gas pollution. But then again, how often am I really going?

Anyway, are you a Home Depot or Lowes person and why? Just curious…

Here’s both stores info in case you need some tools

Home Depot Lake Mary
4600 W Lake Mary Blvd,
Lake Mary, FL 32746
(407) 333-9650

Lowes Sanford
3780 S Orlando Dr
Sanford, FL 32773
(407) 430-4060

Day 173 – Seminole County School Bus

Seminole County School Bus

To someone like me, who didn’t grow up in the US and never went to school here (other than college), an American school bus is something very fascinating. So when we drove by a huge school bus parking lot today I just had to get off and take picture of this yellow piece of nostalgia – I am assuming that’s what it is because these buses have been driving around the US for easily 50 years haven’t they?. I am loving it

Here is a link to the provider of the buses in the picture, Seminole County Public Schools.

PS: German school busses are boring looking – if there are even any to begin with (we rode either public transportation or our bicycles to school)…