Blog Posts

What to Blog About

Welcome back to the Liv Ahwatukee Blog! For our third post of the month, we thought it’d be fun to reach out to any bloggers living in our Phoenix, Arizona apartment community. If you’re not sure what to write about before the month is out, or maybe you’re just looking for additional topics, we’ve got a list of ideas that will please a wide range of readers. Check them out below! 1. What are your mid-to-end year goals? 2. Review a product 4. Best and Worst movies of the year so far 5. Write about your favorite people to follow on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms 6. Write about hilarious or embarrassing stories 7. Best books of 2018 8. Write about how NOT to do something 9. Make a top 10 list 10. Write about your favorite author 11. What’s the best thing about living at Liv Ahwatukee? 12. How to host the best game night or party 13. Favorite memories 14. How to do something 15. Write about bacon (or something else that you love to eat) 16. Favorite recipes 17. Frequently asked questions on your blog 18. Top 10 Youtube videos of all time 19. Songs you can’t get out of your head 20. How to start a blog 21. Volunteer experience 22. Rant about something 23. Share your favorite gifs and memes 24. What’s your experience with Virtual Reality? 25. Best and worst-looking websites 26. Host a contest 27. Give advice about something you love to do Blogging can be fun, but it can also be difficult to know what to write about. If you’re just starting out or are thinking about starting a blog, then be sure to write about something that you are passionate about. Whether it’s movie reviews, favorite board games, or a rant about how much you dislike a food that everyone seems to love, your blog is almost like an extension of your life that you get to share with the world. Thanks for reading!

Cleaning Out Your Apartment: Throw These Things Away!

There’s no better time than the beginning of a new season to get rid off a few things from your apartment. At Liv Ahwatukee, we’re inviting all of our residents to declutter their apartments in Phoenix, Arizona. Care to join them? Here’s what we think you should throw out (or, in some cases, pass on to a friend): — Expired Food — Old makeup — Magazines (not all, but definitely some issues from years past) — Boxes for TVs, computers, etc. — Old batteries — Socks with holes — Socks without a match — Dishes you never use — Unused plastic containers — Stained clothes — Old towels — Dried up nail polish — Movie ticket stubs — Old receipts — Unopened items you’ll never use — Pens and pencils, — Toothbrush (time for a new one!) — Art projects from years ago — Hotel amenities (shampoo bottles, soap bars, etc.) — Old calendars — Earbuds — Cracked dishes — Movies you’ll never watch again — Old shoes — Old phones, phone chargers, phone cases, etc. — Alarm clock (that’s what phones are for now!) — Recipe books you never cook from — Coloring books that are all used up — Travel maps or brochures — Basically, anything that is broken — Old textbooks — Kitchen appliances still in the box — Old catalogs — Calculators (when’s the last time you used one other than the one on your phone?) — Past wedding invites and favors — Expired coupons — Old underwear — Clothes showing a lot of wear — Scratched DVDs (make sure they work!) — Take-out menus — Duffle bags (Have a lot? Toss them!) — Shoes that look great but no longer fit — Exercise equipment you no longer use — Old birthday, holiday, and anniversary cards that hold no sentimental value — Multiple cooking utensils — Mason Jars — CDs for old computer programs — Old keys Which items will you be throwing out this month? Share in the comments below.

5 High-Speed Photography Tips You Need to Learn Now

Welcome back to the Liv Ahwatukee Blog! Last month, we shared a few tips on photographing the different elements. Today, we’re kicking off the month with some high-speed photography tips. High-speed photography can capture moments unseen to the human eye, like the impact of a bullet as it passes through glass, the bursting of a water balloon, or even the rising of a splash of water. High-speed photography is sure to leave anyone with a sense of wonder, and quite honestly it’s not too difficult to get right. Here are five high-speed photography tips you need to know if you want to take some pretty amazing shots. Whether inside or outside of your apartment in Phoenix, Arizona, invite some friends over to capture an unforgettable moment. Keep it Dark For great high-speed photography shots, consider using a dark room. The darker the room, the better. You might be surprised how much clearer the shots come out as you use the flash in this setting. If there is any other source of light in the room, be aware that it can affect the resulting photograph with unwanted blurring. Choose the Correct Shutter Speed High-speed photography requires freezing a subject so that its motion is stopped. Choosing too slow of shutter speed will make it difficult for your camera to keep up with the motion, and therefore can result in blurred images. Depending on your subject, you’ll want to choose a shutter speed that matches its motion. When practicing high-speed photography, take a few pictures and then try adjusting the shutter speed to see if you get better results. Use the Flash One of the best ways to begin exploring the different possibilities of high-speed photography is using the flash on your camera. Being a great alternative to shutter speeds, using a low power flash can stop almost any object. But keep this in mind: low is for faster objects and high is for slower objects. Try the Zoom Method This can be a pretty effective method when working with high-speed photography. For this method, start with a slower shutter speed. Keeping the camera level, begin to zoom and then hold down the button to open the shutter. Zoom during the entire shot. Try playing around with different shutter speeds. Once you feel comfortable with this, try it with a moving vehicle. The added zoom gives an extra feeling of motion in the final shot, and we’ve seen some pretty fantastic photos come out of it. Use a Shallow Depth of Field Setting the lens of your camera to its widest aperture can leave a great effect on high-speed photography. If this is something that you’re seriously considering getting into, it’d be worth an investment in a lens that opens to f2.8. Choosing a wide aperture creates a shallow depth of field, putting the focus on the subject while blurring the background. Have you taken some cool high-speed photos? Share your experience in the comments below. Thanks for reading today’s post!

Board Games of the Month: Tokaido and Viticulture

Today, we’re highlighting two board games that we love: one about winemaking and the other about taking a journey across Japan. When you host your next game night, consider adding these two games to the agenda. Viticulture When playing Viticulture: Essential Edition … “You find yourself in rustic, pre-modern Tuscany, where you’ve inherited a meager vineyard. You own a few plots of land, an old crush pad, a tiny cellar, 3 workers…and the dream of owning the best winery in Italy. “Your job is to allocate your workers and helpful visitors to complete various tasks throughout the year. Each season is different on a vineyard, so the workers have different tasks they can take care of in the summer and winter. There’s competition over those tasks, and often the first worker to arrive at each one has an advantage over the rest. “Using those workers and visitors, you can expand your vineyard by building structures, planting vines, and filling wine orders as you work towards the goal of owning the most successful winery in Tuscany.” Tokaido Passport Game Studios shares some great images and information on this fun and exciting board game: “In Tokaido , each player is a traveler crossing the ‘East sea road’, one of the most magnificent roads of Japan. While traveling, you will meet people, taste fine meals, collect beautiful items, discover great panoramas, and visit temples and wild places but at the end of the day, when everyone has arrived at the end of the road you’ll have to be the most initiated traveler – which means that you’ll have to be the one who discovered the most interesting and varied things. Through a unique zen mood, Tokaido is a strategic game while being extraordinarily peaceful and easy to learn.” We hope you have a great month of fun in and out of your apartment in Phoenix, Arizona. Share your favorite place to buy board games in the comments below so that members of our Liv Ahwatukee apartment community can know about the best places to find deals on great games.

Taking Photos of the Elements

In Phoenix, Arizona, we’re blessed with so much beauty all around us. Just a few steps outside of your apartment opens up a world of motion and wonder that’s perfect for picture taking. Some of the most beautiful shots are of nature in action, things involving fire, water, wind, and earth. The problem is, these four elements are almost always in motion. The Liv Ahwatukee Blog is sharing a few photography tips to help you out and get you started on capturing clean images of the elements. You don’t have to be the Avatar to manipulate and control the elements. All you need is a camera. Fire A great trick to taking photos of fire is to make sure you are using a quick enough shutter speed . A quick shutter speed helps freeze motion. If you’re not sure where to begin, a good starting point is 1/250. You can adjust it from there if you’re still not getting a good enough shot. Check your camera’s manual, or search online, if you’re not sure how to adjust the shutter speed. Water Photographs of water in motion are some of the most amazing nature shots available. Like with fire, successful water photography can be achieved by setting your shutter speed. Experiment with both fast and slow shutter speeds; a fast shutter speed will freeze the water in place, and a slow shutter speed will make the water look “soft,” blurring parts so that it is almost white. The effect of both is nice. If you want the best image using a slow shutter speed, use a tripod to keep the camera steady. Shooting at a slower shutter speed can take longer, and the slightest bump of the camera can be the difference between a clear image and a blurry mess. Wind Shooting outside on a windy day can prove to be difficult. Using sandbags for your camera setup or tripod is one solution that, while not perfect, can really help when the wind starts getting really rough. If there’s a person in the shot, have them face the wind; you don’t want their hair getting in the way. As always, try to adjust the shutter speed; you just might freeze those blowing trees in place for a nice clear image. Earth For landscape or shots with nature, we recommend using different-sized lenses. Try using wide as well as smaller lenses. We suggest the telephoto lens which offers a narrow view but focuses well on beautiful moments like a reflection in a river. Also, try taking shots during different times of the day. Some of the best shots are right after a storm, or when the sun is going down. We hope you find these tips helpful. If you don’t have a camera, play around with your smartphone’s camera settings. Why don’t you try it out today? Thanks for reading!

Sweet Treats in August

The Liv Ahwatukee Blog is featuring five delicious dessert recipes. Hold a dessert night in your Phoenix, Arizona apartment before August is through. We hope that you enjoy these recipes and that you have a great month here in Phoenix! Coconut Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling from Yellow Bliss Road These coconut cupcakes filling are sweet, filling, and delicious. The raspberry filling is especially scrumptious. Combine cornstarch, granulated sugar, fresh raspberries, and water to make it. Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes from The Recipe Rebel Have you ever tasted something so sweet? You’ll love how the strawberry cupcakes and rich cream cheese combine for an out-of-this-world treat. Lemonade Cupcakes from My Frugal Adventures Nothing says “summer” like lemonade. Time to try this before summer has officially ended. This easy-to-make treat uses a lemon cake mix, cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon curd for a dessert your friends will love. The lemon curd adds just the right amount of flavor to these lemonade cupcakes. Peach Cobbler Coffee Cake from Lemon Tree Dwelling Peach cobbler coffee cake is the perfect treat for a warm August day. Head to our local grocery market for fresh peaches and a pint of homemade ice cream. Dish out a heaping serving of peach cobbler coffee cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a sweet after work treat. Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies Recipe with Coconut from Food, Folks and Fun These carrot cake whoopie pies are an awesome (and delicious) snack that we think you’d love trying this month. We are big fans of the coconut cream frosting. Mix cream cheese, unsalted butter, powdered sugar, salt, coconut extract, and shredded coconut together for a frosting that will blow your mind. What are your favorite dessert recipes? Leave your favorite recipe in the comments. Thanks for reading our post!