Day 218 – Ritz Camera in Sanford closing and how you can help your area

Ritz Camera Sanford

After Circuit City I am sad to see yet another business of the Target Plaza at W P Ball Boulevard go: Ritz Camera in Sanford is closing and having a closing sale. Hopefully this is the last one to go and the vacant building will be filled promptly.

Since we have seen so many local businesses close lately I have become even more determined to support local businesses. I won’t take my business to other areas but look instead for alternatives in this area. We have great businesses all within reach so why drive all the way to the Disney/Orlando area if we can have the same in Sanford and Lake Mary? My next mall visit will be at the Seminole Town Center, not the Mall at Millenia, and the next restaurant or bar will definitely be a local business in Sanford or Lake Mary (well, not much would be changing here…). I am happy that our beautiful area has such great places that we can all enjoy, why not support that? It has taken a long time for them to come out here, let’s not lose them now! The big ones will survive, they typically do, I am determined to help the small ones now.

On a positive note, Colonial Town Park in Lake Mary and downtown Sanford have become very popular recently. In the past weeks we have noticed full restaurants and bars and lots of people out here! That is great news and makes going out in Sanford/Lake Mary even more fun

So next time you’re thinking about driving all the way down to I-Drive or Universal for entertainment, think about possibly exploring this area for a change. It will save the environment through less gas consumption, reduce your driving and increase your amusement time and, last but not least, it will help you and your community!

Day 217 – Gorgeous VW Beetle in Sanford FL

Chris Beetle on Park Avenue in Sanford

After Trivia Night at the Black Swan in Sanford, Chris let me take a picture of his VW Beetle. What a gorgeous car – and so much history! This is a classic VW Beetle and even though Chris admitted that it takes a lot to maintain a car of this age, it must be a great feeling to be the owner of such a special and unique car. I bet Chris beetle gets a lot of looks on the streets of Sanford

For those of you who want to look into VW’s newer version of the Beetle, check out VW’s dealership in Sanford. Here’s their info:

Aristocrat Volkswagen Inc.
4175 South Orlando Drive
Sanford, FL 32773
(407) 321-2277

Day 216 – Centennial Park in Sanford FL and Cinema in the Park

Centennial Park in Sanford

The Centennial Park in Sanford is a beautiful spot to spend an afternoon reading or playing with the kids. The pavilion makes a great place to sit and chat with friends. The Sanford Centennial Park is located between 4th and 5th Street and Oak and Park in Sanford.

The park is also the location of the popular Cinema in the Park, a free movie night event, that takes place every third Friday of the month after 8pm. For upcoming movies check out this web site. Now that it’s warmer at night time a movie in the park is a great plan for an evening out. Don’t forget to bring your blanket or lawn chair – popcorn is free! After that, you can visit one of the local bars and restaurants in downtown Sanford.

For more info contact Barbi Bauman, Special Events Supervisor at 407.302.5815. The next movie event is set for May 15th. See you there

Day 215 – Downtown Orlando Brick Building

Brick Building in Orlando

A lot of the buildings in downtown Orlando remind me of the ones you’ll find in downtown Sanford – only that the buildings in Orlando are a lot bigger and most of them nicely restored. I am hopeful though that all the historic buildings in downtown Sanford will look just as good, if not better, than the ones in Orlando one day. They’ll never be as huge but just as beautiful I think!

More on Orlando downtown on a different post. This is just random rambling…

Day 214 – Bank Owned Historic Home for sale in Sanford FL

Bank Owned Historic Home

This is truly one of the cutest and best priced historic homes (asking $175,000 150,000) I have seen in a while in Sanford! We showed this home (sitting on a huge corner lot on Oak Ave) over the weekend and I took a couple of pictures of the outside because I thought the home had a unique and romantic touch to it. I especially love the little brick walk way that leads to the house. And isn’t the brick elevation, red shutters  blue wood and white trimming a gorgeous combination? I love homes with character and this one definitely has it!

Since I didn’t take pics of the inside etc., here’s a bit about that:

The total living square footage is 2,750 (3/2) which includes a detached 1/1 carriage home/garage apartment w/ kitchen (makes a great rental and obviously perfect when the in-laws come to town). The home has a 2 car block garage with workshop space. As most of the beautiful historic homes this home also features a fireplace and real wood floors. Last but not least there’s also a little brick patio perfect to enjoy those sunny days and warm Florida nights.

Needless to say, whoever buys this steal will be the proud owner of a true gem in historic Sanford. Email me in case you’d like to see the home or want to receive more info, who knows, you could be that new lucky owner

More info about this historic home for sale in Sanford FL

Charming inside and out!

Day 213 – Bar Camp Orlando

BarCamp Orlando 2009

This weekend we attended Bar Camp Orlando at Wall Street Plaza in Downtown Orlando! But wait a moment – the name may be a bit misleading. This event is not centered around bars and thereby drinking. It is taking place in bars but centered around recent trends in technology, design and related topics. Bar Camp Orlando is an annual event (in its third year) and from what I can tell there will certainly be a next time. The event was well attended and I heard positive feedback throughout, not only because it was free to attend (free lunch by sponsors included) but also because of the very casual, yet informative “think tank” environment. Experts were sharing their experience and gave attendees a good overview of their field.

Of course, there were a couple of sessions that sounded Chinese to me, due to my lack of PHP or other programming languages. So I still don’t know how to create an iphone application (boohoo) but, oh well, it’s good to know there are people out there who can get the job done. We learned a bit about Social Media, the favorite topic at every conference I have attended in the past 2 years – but hey, you never learn enough and the presenter really knew his stuff, very impressive!

Altogether the event definitely fulfilled everything it promised (visit this web site for info on that and to view the slides of the presenters in case you missed the event) and I am planning to attend again next year. BTW, the weather was great, sunny downtown Orlando proved to be the best venue for Bar Camp Orlando. Great was also our little break at the Waitiki Bar, enjoying a super delicious Mango cocktail

Click on Keep Reading to see all pictures.

Day 212 – Great Dessert Place in Lake Mary FL

Nana's Brownie

I love sweets! I am also very picky though when it comes to sweets… So I rarely find just the right dessert.

I might have found dessert heaven though at – and this is surprising – The Vineyard Wine Company in Lake Mary’s Colonial Towne Park, obviously not what you would consider a dessert place.

We met friends for drinks after work and ended up ordering a dessert (we actually shared which made the treat even more precious!). The dessert I am talking about is called “Nana’s Brownie” and is a perfect combination of the finest ingredients – yes, you can tell! The brownie wasn’t technically a brownie but a very fine chocolate mousse (not too sweet, just right). The mousse was accompanied by Vanilla ice cream (surrounded by fine chocolate) and fudge to “dip” the mousse in.

I am happy that every once in a while I find a dessert that is worth mentioning in the world wide web I will definitely go back for more and maybe explore some of the other fine desserts at the Vineyard Wine Company.

I had previously mentioned this great little wine bar/restaurant on Day 74, here is their info again:

The Vineyard Wine Company
1140 Town Park Avenue Suite 1260
Lake Mary, FL 32746
407-833-WINE

Day 211 – Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium

Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium

After driving by the Sanford memorial Stadium so many times now I had to stop and finally take a picture of it. The stadium is located on Mellonville Avenue, less than a mile from the historic district, south of Lake Monroe. I didn’t know much about the stadium so I did a bit of research and here’s what I found out:

The Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium was originally built to serve as Spring training home for the New York Giants. The Boston Braves also trained here. Right now the ballpark is used by amateur leagues and home of Sanford Babe Ruth Baseball and the Sanford River Rats, a collegiate league summer team. The stadium fits about 2,000 people.

I think the stadium would be a great spot for concerts! Hopefully one day

Here’s the complete info:

Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium
1201 S. Mellonville Avenue
Sanford, FL 32771
Phone: 407.688.5155

Day 210 – Jackie Robinson lived in this Historic Home in Sanford FL

Jackie Robinson lived here!

Call it coincidence or not, today, on April 15th 2009, US Major League Baseball is honoring the 62nd anniversary of Jackie Robinson (the first African-American Major League Baseball player) breaking the “color barrier” on the baseball field. Therefore all major league players are supposed to wear Jackie Robinson’s number 42 shirt. Well, and today we happened to show a historic home in Sanford, FL where Jackie Robinson used to live during his time in Sanford. That is confirmed by the Sanford Museum.

Sadly though, Sanford wasn’t mentioned as a happy place for Jackie Robinson. The following is quoted from Wikipedia:

In 1946, Robinson arrived at Daytona Beach, Florida for spring training with the Montreal Royals of the Class AAA International League (the designation of “Triple-A” for the highest level of minor league baseball was first used in the 1946 season). Robinson’s presence was controversial in racially-charged Florida. Since the Dodger organization did not own its own spring training facility (the Dodger-controlled spring training compound in Vero Beach known as “Dodgertown” would not open until the spring of 1948) scheduling was subject to the whim of each locality, several of which refused to host games involving Robinson. In Sanford, Florida, the police chief threatened to stop the game if Robinson did not leave the field; in Jacksonville, the stadium was inexplicably padlocked shut on game day; in DeLand, the scheduled day game was called off on account of faulty electrical lighting.

Only a year later, on April 15 1947 Jackie made his debut in front of over 26,000 people in Brooklyn New York making him the first player since 1887 to break the baseball color line.

To read more about Jackie Robinson and his moving story follow this link.

The home, by the way, was built in 1920 and is currently listed at $279,900. 5 bedrooms/3.5 baths with 3,063 square feet. It is located right off Sanford Avenue and can easily be converted into an office or any commercial purpose building. With this home you would truly own a piece of history!  Email me for more info and pictures.

Front Door

Back Alley

Day 209 – It sometimes rains in Sanford FL

View from my office window

What a rainy morning! My daily picture shows you the view out of my office window. Yes, it does rain sometimes in Sanford! At some point around 10 or 11am you could have thought it’s night time.

Fortunately we live in Florida and by the early afternoon the rain was gone and it got a lot brighter even though still cloudy. We need days like that though once in a while to appreciate how beautiful all the other days are