Home Sweet Home

…Ingolstadt! My home town in Germany, that’s where the trip went ;o) The picture shows my parents’ home. So my old home is the setting for the end of the 365 challenge about Sanford, FL (my new home). I can’t think of a better ending…

I am enjoying my family and friends and the short time I am spending here. Therefore, not much more at this point.

Yay, I did it, the challenge is complete, 365 days felt short and long at the same time. When I look at some posts they seem to be ages old, but when I think about the start of the project it feels like just yesterday. It has been a very time consuming project but it was totally worth it. Along the way I have met some great people. Thank you also for all the encouraging words you have posted here, those really kept me going. I hope this blog has made you curious about Sanford and given you a good impression of  life in Sanford and its surrounding areas (sure, with exception of my excursions…).

Counting every day has also made me aware of how precious every day is. “Carpe Diem” – don’t postpone things to the next day. Many times the challenge has given me the extra energy to do things. Things that I might not have done hadn’t it been for my daily picture and a good story – things that I would regret to have missed. I am hoping to keep this energy and will continue to be open for new things and places to explore.

I have enjoyed this challenge very much, have obviously learned a lot about Sanford and the surrounding areas and I will continue this blog – just not every day. I will post whenever I find a new spot in Sanford or the Orlando area that could add to this blog. Looking forward to maintaining it for many years to come ;o)

Couch Potato Day

So I guess our official “Labor Day” was today since we spent a good amount of time on the couch. I am not sure how the name “couch potato” was invented but I think that’s what we were today. We watched almost 3 movies and were just lazy. That’s because tomorrow’s Labor Day will be a work day for us. Laboring on Labor Day…

Depeche Mode in Tampa FL

How exciting, we went to the Depeche Mode concert at the Ford Amphitheater in Tampa! I have been a fan of this awesome band since my teen years so I couldn’t wait to finally see them live. It was such a great experience and I didn’t want the concert to end. Below are more pictures of this unforgettable night along with the video I took.

Depeche Mode Tour of the Universe 2009

Before the Concert

At the Depeche Mode Concert in Tampa

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMrlYpOkul8]

Eddie Money Concert Orlando FL

Tonight we were invited to the anniversary party of Fields BMW featuring Eddie Money who was going to perform live for all guests.

Well, Florida’s weather kind of got in the way and the concert was canceled last minute even though the stage and everything had already been set up.

Luckily Fields BMW had an outstanding buffet inside their facility and an open bar so we still had a great time. Well, maybe next time…

Fields BMW Orlando FL

For those of you who don’t know Eddie Money, here’s a video I found of one of his greatest hits ;o)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbhXmSBlS_U]

Lupe and I

Wow, 2 days in a row at Carlos and Charlies? Yes, it’s been a crazy week. Tonight we all got together to say good-bye to Lupe and ended up at Carlos and Charlies in Lake Mary.

Since it was a Thursday night, Carlos and Charlies had $2 Margaritas all night. The music was great (good mix of everything including Latin Salsa and Merengue) and there was quite some traffic on the dance floor ;o) We all had a blast!

It took 3 to build it up

This month we are the hosts for the monthly wine club meeting (had previously hosted it in April). So because we expected rain we thought ahead and built up a cabana tent on our patio. And we were right, it did rain! But thanks to the tent we all stayed dry and had a great party! Thanks to the 3 guys at our house ;o)

Squirrel by Lake Eola Orlando

Those of you who know me a bit better might know that I find squirrels absolutely adorable! On top of that they make me laugh everytime they run/jum around – hillarious ) I have no clue what it is about those little rodents that I like so much… Squirrels seem to be quite common in the US and Canada, not in Germany. The only squirrel I got to see was the occasional red squirrel in our yard that came out in the Fall. I remember it used to be a big “event” and we all stormed out every year when the squirrel came back for a chance to get a glimpse of it… So when I first moved to the US you can imagine how excited I was seeing those cute little animlas on a daily basis. Well, I haven’t lost my excitement about them so here is my little tribute to my favorite animal, the squirrel…

Sanford 365 Blog in Orlando Sentinel

Yay! I was very excited when I received a call last week about a potential article featuring the Sanford365 Blog in the Orlando Sentinel! Of course, I agreed to be interviewed and sure enough, the article was published today in the Orlando Sentinel.

Here is a link to the article.

Today's Orlando Sentinel

This is obviously a huge success for the site and I had a grin on my face most of the day ) Almost 1,000 people visited the blog because of this article so far and I got very good feedback from everyone, thank you so much at this point!!

Only 37 more days to go until completion of the challege! But as you can read in the article, I will  keep this blog alive once day 365 passes because I am truly enjoying to write about Sanford and the community. It just won’t be every single day…

Risk #1

My sister gave us Risk, the popular board game 2 years ago for Christmas. We never got to play it until now. Since none of us knew the rules we had to teach ourselves, but the rules are quite simple to understand: it’s all about world domination!

So Jose, his nephew, our friend Lupe and I started playing around 8pm on a Saturday night – and did not stop until 2am! Anyone who has played Risk before will understand why – this game truly takes forever… Even when we stopped we were far from being finished. Well, technically I was already “finished off”. My “Pink Army” lost its final territory in the Middle East around midnight and that meant game over for me. Picture #1 still shows my army still quite strong but after some strategic mistakes (shouldn’t have tried to go after Europe, but hey, I’m attached to it…) I only had one little army left in the Middle East (see picture #2). I was left in the game for “strategic reasons”, so to say as a buffer…

Well, one thing’s for sure, I am not a master in the wage of war. It may be my lack of testosterone that caused the short life of my armies. Nevertheless, a very fun game and I might give it another try, especially since Jose now seems to be addicted to it…

Risk #2