Things to know about Florida

If you are thinking of moving to Florida, or even thinking of visiting Florida, here are a few things we at the Kendi Haus have realized after a year and a half of living there.  We lived in the Treasure Coast.  Not sure if all of Florida is like this, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a state wide thing.

Cheers

1.  Florida hates left turns.  If you have the unfortunate luck to need to go left to your destination, FL will make you pay for it.  Your choices will be limited (if you even get a choice).  There are no such things as "Michigan lefts" down here so you pretty much have to drive out of your way just to bang a u-ey.  I don't know, but I almost get the feeling that FL might be afraid of left turns...

2. Traffic circle are wrong here.  They use them, they just don't know how.  For those of us that do know how to do a traffic circle, it is frustrating.

3.  There are no sidewalks.  Or there are very few.  And no streetlights in the neighborhood.  Kinda scary...

4. Wildlife is EVERYWHERE.  And the birds are pretty big.  The Sand Hill Cranes, suffer from an excessive amount of confidance.  My co-worker today told me they act more like people than birds.  Creepy.

5. Rednecks love fireworks.  They love to shoot them off for any occasion, including Sunday night.  Just Sunday night.  It is quite frustrating how many rednecks come out of the woodwork here in Florida.  Not that rednecks are bad, but fireworks at 10:30pm on a Sunday night are.

6. It might be the fact that it's hot most of the year here, and that means shorts and t-shirts more, but it seems like EVERYONE here has a tattoo.  And not just a tattoo, multiple tattoos.  It's not a bad thing.  Just an observation.

7.  If there is a body of water, people feel like they can fish in it.  Even if it says private property, no trespassing.  And is behind a hospital and two research facilities.  They bring their boat.  In my opinion, it's incredibly tacky.  Security!

8.  It's a pet peeve of mine to be nickel-and-dimed and the Orlando area has it down to a science.  I know it's a big tourist attraction with Disney and Universal Studios, but come on.   When I pay for a hotel and you list all the "amenities" I shouldn't be charged an extra fee for them.  Aren't amenities the things that are supposed to get you pick one hotel over the other?  Aren't they supposed to be included in the price?  Once again, tacky.

9.  I've realized, after some time here, that it's one thing to vacation in Florida.  It's another to work and live here.  I've always loved Florida.  To me, it means vacation.  Living and working here, on the other hand, is frustrating.  Half the population is retired and therefore not in a hurry.  The working half has to maneuver around them.  It's exhausting.

10.  If you want to own a car here, Florida really makes you pay for it.  It cost me around $400 to register my car here in Florida.  That's ridiculous to me.  

11.  Lets talk houses.  They aren't that great down here.  There is hardly ever a two story house, or a basement, or a functional garage.  Most people have turned their garages into another room.  Mostly storage, but I've seen flat screens and couches set up in some.  If you need more room, then build a bigger house.  I'd like to park my car in the garage, especially in the rainy/hurricane season.  And you won't find a lot of brick or wood.  It's mostly plaster or stucco.  It looks cheap, and quite frankly, is.  I might be bias on houses since my Dad taught me how to build a good one.  Good thing we have no intention of buying down here...

12.  Driving here is really bad.  I don't know if it's all the seniors or what, but in the course of one week, I had three different people tell me about accidents or almost accidents.  All involving left turns.  People here, and in the south in general, don't know how to do left turns.  Let me clarify it for you right now.  The ONLY time left turns have the right of way is on a green arrow.  If there is no green arrow, left ALWAYS yields to other traffic.  ALWAYS.

13.  Summer in Florida, or at least the Treasure Coast, sucks.  They don't put that on the brochure.  It is 90 degrees by 9 am, a storm moves in around noon and it's full on thunder storming from 4-7pm.  Everyday.  If you work, your day basically sucks.  So plan accordingly. 

14.  They don't know how to ride bikes down here.  You are suppose to ride with traffic.  You are supposed to act like a car. It makes me crazy.

15.  Neighbors only care about you when you become interesting.  And then they become crazy.

Adventures with Flat Stanley

Before we left Florida, Kevin volunteered to do "Flat Stanley" for one of his grad school friends son. Now, I had no idea what Flat Stanley was.  Turns out, I'm one of the few people that didn't know.  Flat Stanley is a book about a kid named Stanley that gets flattened in a mishap.  His parents then mail him to California and wackiness ensues.  Teachers are using Flat Stanley as a geography lesson.  Basically, the child sends Flat Stanley to someone in a state other than their own.  You show Flat Stanley what it's like to live where you live and you send him back with a letter, pics or souvenirs showing off you town.  Pretty fun, right?!

We got Flat Stanley and took him to the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart.  We wanted to go anyway and Flat Stanley gave us the perfect excuse.  We got to pet stingrays, learn about sea turles, see some sharks and Gunnar made friends with a puffer fish.  It was a great day.  

We still had Flat Stanley for our move home, so we showed him the RV and all the states along I-75.  I think he got a lot out of his trip with the Kendi Haus!  And he recovered well after his little accident with Gunnar...

Cheers!

Gunnar doesn't look that thrilled to be showing Flat Stanley around...

"See the fishy?"

"Of course I see the fishy, Daddy.  He's staring right at me!"

Flat Stanley almost got to touch a sting ray!

Kevin was really good at getting them to come to him

Nice catch!

I took Stanley to the beach really quick.  I think he liked it.

Ready for the RV trip!

Looking at the horses in Kentucky

Maternity Photoshoot

Kevin always has a comment when I want to get professional pictures taken.  He doesn't see the point, especially since we just got a shiny new DSLR camera for Christmas.  But I can't do the things the professionals do yet, so I get help.  I don't think I've spend nearly as much as I could have on pictures.  He's always surprised at the cost and always pleased with the results.  And I like having something to show our kids someday.

I started looking for a baby photographer months ago.  I didn't want to spend a fortune but I wanted to capture that newborn, scrunched up look that's only around for a couple weeks.  And I sure didn't know how to do it myself.  I wasn't having any luck until my coworker mentioned that her wedding photographer actually does babies more than weddings.  So, I checked it out.  And she was pretty good.  We worked out a deal for maternity photos too, which I was excited about because I was going to pass on those to get the newborn pictures (even though I really wanted some nice preggy shots).  

I guess the theme of our little guy's journey so far is the beach.  We announced we were having a baby with a beach pic and now the maternity photos are at Bathtub Reef Beach in Stuart.  I don't think that I will risk his newborn pics at the beach, but maybe 6 months or something?  We'll see.  Anyway, here they are.  I'm 34 weeks pregnant, my ankles are huge, I'm exhausted from walking in the sand, the humidity ruined my hair, and I'm covered in bug bites.  But I love them.  :)

Cheers

Photography by Danielle Love Photography.  If you want to see more pics, we were blogged!  :)

December in Florida

So, this was our December.  How was yours?  :-P

Cheers!

National Pie Day 2014

I learned about National Pie Day (not to be confused with Pi Day) last January and threw together a pie baking contest with my co-workers. The prize for the best pie was a diet book that we were going to sell in a garage sale. When we moved to Florida I thought it would be a great idea to continue the tradition with my new co-workers. This year we had prizes in 5 categories: Best Dessert Pie, Best Savory Pie, Best Healthy Pie, Most Visually Appealing Pie, and Pie of the Year. While we only had 4 official contestants (store-bought pies were ineligible), my co-workers didn't disappoint. I found an apple pie recipe on the Food Network website. I was going to make Alton Brown's apple pie, but it was a little complicated and required to many ingredients that we didn't have on-hand. Ning brought in an Oreo ice cream pie, Ronald made a shepherd's pie, and Jennifer made a sweet potato casserole in pie form. Elias planned to make a pizza, but he ran out of time Wednesday night. Ronald's shepherd's pie was the clear winner of the day taking home the Best Savory Pie, Best Healthy Pie, and Pie of the Year awards. I'll admit, the healthy pie award was a bit of a stretch, but the shepherd's pie was the closest thing we had to healthy. I took home the Most Visually Appealing Pie and Ning won the Best Dessert Pie. The prizes this year were pie servers.

All the ingredients assembled.

Fresh out of the oven.

All of the pies assembled for the tasting.

The prizes.

The aftermath.

Walton Rocks Beach

A couple weekends ago, we FINALLY spent some time at the beach.  We went back to the dog beach because I liked that it wasn't really crowded and the beach was big.  It was really windy but hot.  We got blasted by sand a few times, which I chalked up to getting exfoliated (which I needed anyway).  We didn't take our boys because they didn't really like the beach the first time we went.  There were lots of dogs and most of them ran up to say hi, which we didn't mind.  There were also really cute little crabs digging holes in the sand near us.  We didn't stay for very long but it was nice to just lay on a beach for a couple hours.  We're going to try and not repeat beaches from now on since there are so many to choose from.  I want to find a good place to go swimming.  I love our new beach life.

Cheers!

Selfie on the beach!  I got my bathing suit for $10 at Old Navy

He doesn't take serious pictures

I tried something new out in the sun.  This "browning lotion" had good reviews and is supposed to be all natural, although a little pricey.  I didn't see a big difference after the hour it recommended, but I'm going to stick with it.  I can't be pasty white now that I live in Florida.  Has anyone tried it?  Any safe recommendations for getting some color?

One Stop Shop

The PSL civic center has a One Stop Shop every month in the parking garage.  I went to check it out today.  I thought it would be bigger.  I thought there would be more crafts.  I was hoping to get some Christmas shopping done.  I didn't get anything that I was looking for, mainly a new furniture DIY, but I did take home this cute mini globe for $2.  It looks great with our leather bound books and antique bookcase.  And it reminds me of my Aunt Karen.  She loves globes.  :)

Cheers!

Food Truck Invasion

Every second Friday of the month is the Food Truck Invasion at the PSL Civic Center.  While in ATL, I wanted to go to the food truck park but never had the chance.  Well, I wasn't going to miss this opportunity in FL.  Food trucks have really upped their game.  It's not fair food anymore.  Sure, you still get elephant ears and pizza and fries, but you can now get BBQ, fish, wraps, Mediterranean, Mexican food and so much more.  There were so many choices, I had a hard time deciding.  And the food trucks change every month.  There is also a DJ.  It seems like people in PSL like to get together and hang out and the Civic Center provides a lot of opportunities for them to so.  I can't wait to have visitors so we can go and check out the food trucks.  :)

Cheers!

Retro Halloween

Every third Saturday of the month, the Minsky Gym near our house has a community garage sale.  Since Kevin had to work yesterday, I went to check it out.  I love garage sales.  I had high hopes of finding some treasures to decorate with.  It was smaller than I was hoping and I wasn't having any luck until the very last booth, where I saw these...

Vintage paper Halloween decorations!  I remember my mom putting these up in our house in Taylor.  And I know they are getting more popular now, which means they are getting expensive.  The lady sold them to me for 10 cents each.  I didn't even have to bargain!  I almost feel guilty about the price since they go for much more on Ebay.  I got $1.50 worth.  I decorated when I got home.  :)  

Learned this from my MIL.  She decorates the windows and cabinets of her house like this.

Love this skeleton

Here's the outside!  Now, all I need are Trick-or-Treaters!  PS: those ghosts glow in the dark

You'll notice Chester peeking out the window.  He and Freeman do that a lot.  And it's about time I introduce Pepe, our albino flamingo and Louis, our bookworm turtle.  They have been with us since our first house in GA.  I'm hoping to get a girl for Pepe soon.  And please ignore the weeds.  We're taking care of them today.  :)

Cheers!

Oktoberfesting 2013

It's Oktoberfest!  Since we are still new to the area, we are checking out all Oktoberfest celebrations we can find.  Our fab civic center was the first one we went to.  It was hosted by the German American Club of PSL and it was free.  There were food trucks and German food and music.  We got there kinda late and missed the "Frankenmuth" beer, but Kevin got another German beer that he liked.  They also had some amazing bratwurst with sauerkraut.  I'm not usually a fan of kraut, but I tried some on the brat and it was pretty good.  We didn't stay for too long, but had a good time none the less.

Got his German beer.  He's a happy boy.

Brat, kraut and beer.  Nom nom nom...

What do I get at Oktoberfest?  An empanada.

The following weekend we went to the Palm Beach Oktoberfest.  I found a groupon that got us half off admission and a beer each.  Not bad for $13.  Kevin brought his Hofbrau boot to fill up and wore his Oktoberfest t-shirt.  He was ready to go!  This Oktoberfest was hosted by the German American Club of Palm Beach.  They are a bigger club and have a nice clubhouse.  It looks like the buildings in Frankenmuth, MI.  We were really excited when we walked in.  The outside pavilion is surrounded by a bunch of small German bars.  The music is loud and piped into the other seating section in the food area.  They went "kid-friendly" this year with a carnival and play area.  They also open the clubhouse to the public and have food, beer and dancing in there.  That's were I went to escape the heat.  We caught the adult dance troupe performance and the bagpipes.  The food was also amazing!  More German food than I'd ever seen any where.  Kevin was super excited to get sauerbraten (his favorite German dish) and I had some really good potato pancakes.  We saw the tapping of the keg and parade of flags.  Kevin enjoyed everything so much, he has decided to join the club.  Maybe next year, I will be slinging beer with the rest of the ladies...

Cheers!

 

Getting his boot filled with Hofbrau

Full on Oktoberfesting!

No one wants wine at Oktoberfest!

Frankenmuth, MI represent!

Ordering his favorite German meal, sauerbraten

What do I get for Oktoberfest, round 2?  Mashed potatoes.  :)

German dancing