Blog Posts

Flamin’ Hot Ice Cream and More Exciting Creations

When we heard that Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Ice Cream was a thing, we couldn’t believe it — and do you blame us? Honestly, we never really imagined combining Flamin’ Hot Cheetos with any type of dessert. Whatsoever. Sure, we’re all for those sweet-and-spicy, hot-and-cold combinations, but we never pictured Cheetos being a big component of any dish. Perhaps we were wrong to ignore it for so long. Here are a few recipes that just might surprise you! Make them today in your Liv Ahwatukee apartment! Cheesecake This is a pretty simple Hot Cheetos cheesecake recipe . You’ll need graham cracker crumbs, hot sauce, melted butter, sugar, cream cheese, cornstarch, lime zest, eggs, and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Click the above link for the full instructions. Macarons This recipe comes from kara’s couture cakes . Here’s what the creator has to say about the recipe: “Oh yes, I went there! These savory, spicy, sweet, not-so-classic French macarons are digging the Flamin' Hot Cheetos craze! Nope. They wouldn't be my first choice either, but I gotta say... They are AWESOME!” For this recipe, you’ll need the following ingredients: powdered sugar, almond flour, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, egg whites, cream of tartar, sugar, white chocolate, and heavy cream. Ice Cream Here’s the ultimate test: a recipe for something that’s supposed to be cold, and something known for its hot flavor — combined for one ultimate experience. Hot Cheetos ice cream is not something we would’ve imagined people actually ate, so you can imagine our surprise (and somewhat excitement) to learn that this recipe actually exists. Click the above link for full instructions. We hope you enjoy making these fun treats in your Cambridge, MA apartment. Before we leave you, here’s a fun fact about the history of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos : Richard Montañez, a one-time-janitor at Frito-Lay, dusted some Cheetos with his own homemade chili powder. After sharing them with his friends and coworkers, his life took a turn that he never expected. What can we take away from this? We think that Richard’s story of success is a great example for us to not be afraid to try new things. Okay, so maybe making Flamin’ Hot Cheetos ice cream won’t boost your career, but something else might. We hope this blog post (specifically these recipes) inspire you to continue to try new things in 2019. You never know what might happen. Thanks for reading! We hope you have a great month in Phoenix, AZ!

Inspirational Quotes to Live By

At Liv Ahwatukee, we think that everyone should have a mantra, meaning “a motivating chant, like the ‘I think I can, I think I can’ you repeat over and over to yourself on the last stretch of every marathon you run” ( vocabulary.com ). Many of us repeat our mantras in our apartments or at work. Often, they inspire us to live a better life, to make good choices, and to motivate our day-to-day lives here in Phoenix, AZ. Enjoy reading these quotes and see if any of them can be added to your list of mantras. “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” — Marthe Troly-Curtin, Phrynette Married “If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.” — Lemony Snicket, The Ersatz Elevator “A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.” — Helen Keller, The Simplest Way to be Happy “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” — H. Jackson Brown Jr., P.S. I Love You “Anything worth dying for is certainly worth living for.” — Joseph Heller, Catch-22 “The only limits for tomorrow are the doubts we have today.” — Pittacus Lore, The Power of Six “If you’re making mistakes, it means you’re out there doing something.” — Neil Gaiman, Make Good Art “You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” — Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men “We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” — J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Do you have any favorite quotes to add to this list? Share them in the comments, as well as any other life mantras that you live by. We hope that this month is filled with inspiration and motivation!

Tips for Hosting Guests

It’s been a while since we last tackled the subject of hosting guests. So, let’s talk about that! Welcome back to the Liv Ahwatukee Blog, a resource for residents and non-residents alike of our apartment community in Phoenix, Arizona. As the summer season approaches, you’re probably expecting a visit or two from friends or relatives. We understand how much work goes into having people stay over — it’s not always easy! We’ve learned that the better prepared you are for such occasions, the better experience you’ll get out of it. Today, we hope we can help you prepare for the future with a few simple tips. When acting as host in your apartment, you probably want your friends to think you’ve got it all together and planned; the same probably goes for how much you want an effortless feel at your event or during their stay. Use these ideas to take away the stress and give you more time to spend with your loved ones! Don’t be afraid to learn from trial and error here; some guests feel most comfortable with clearly defined private space and others are okay with an air mattress in the living room. Put together a basket of useful items for your guests, and they will be pleased to find what they may need close at hand. These tips come from Randi Garrett Designs : “1) Comfy bedding. I like to have a supply of extra blankets and pillows in easy reach of the bed. That way, your guests can choose the pillow that is most comfortable for them, and add a blanket or two if they take a chill. “2) Lamp on the bedside table and some books or magazines for some nighttime reading. I don’t know about you, but when I’m traveling, I sometimes have trouble falling asleep in a strange bed. A good reading light and ready access to books or magazines helps guests have something to do should they have trouble falling asleep. “3) Water and a little ‘welcome’ treat on the nightstand. I like to add some bottled water, or a glass and carafe on the nightstand near the bed. There’s nothing worse than stumbling around in the dark in unfamiliar surroundings trying to find your water to a drink! The treat is just for fun – I like putting a little truffle or two on the nightstand to help my guests feel special.” What are your favorite ways to help your guests feel at home when they’re visiting? We’d love to hear your tips, so please share in the comments below.

Healthy Eating Hacks

Last week we shared a favorite new workout obsession: Parkour. This week, it’s only fitting that we keep with the healthy theme by sharing hacks for healthy eating. You might be thinking, “Not another blog about healthy eating...I can’t take it anymore!” Don’t worry. We at Liv Ahwatukee Apartments understand completely — maybe a little too well. Switching to a healthy lifestyle can be a difficult and often disappointing venture, and if you’re like us, you’ve fallen short of your “healthy diet goal” more than once. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can be challenging and disheartening, but we think that the tips in today’s blog post will help lift your spirits. It all begins in your apartment. Before you start making changes, understand that you don’t have to be perfect to have a healthy diet. In fact, eating healthy does not require you to remove all the different foods that you enjoy — you don’t even have to change everything right at once. Doing so might set you up for failure. So if you’re going to start, start right! Here are a few key points to remember to get you moving in the right direction at a pace that’s fit for you, setting you up for success. Eat with others when possible. People tend to overeat when alone or in front of the television. Prepare your meals. By cooking your own meals you can be the boss of what goes into your food. Studies have shown that preparing your own meals will help you eat fewer calories, eliminate added or unnecessary sugar, and combat feelings of depression. Replace unhealthy foods. Cutting back on unhealthy foods can be difficult. Many people struggle with this because they don’t successfully replace those with healthy alternative foods. An example is to replace trans fats with healthy fats — goodbye fried chicken and hello grilled salmon! Drink a lot of water. Don’t mistake thirst for hunger. Staying well-hydrated is a great way to help you make good eating choices. When it’s all said and done, keep in mind how you feel after you eat. As you eat healthier food, you’ll start to feel better. This will help you make better conscious decisions about your daily food choices. We hope these tips help you move in the right direction when it comes to healthy eating. What suggestions do you have to help with eating healthy in your Phoenix, AZ apartment? Thanks for reading!

Parkour is Our New Workout Obsession

Picture this. You’re running from a hungry lion and only one thought is on your mind: “How do I get away from him before he eats me?” Before you have time to change thoughts you notice a table getting closer. Your thoughts race. You could go around the table, but why waste time? The lion will be that much closer. So instead, you jump over it, land, and keep running. There are more tables in the way and jumping takes a lot of energy, so you use a Kong Vault — diving forward over the obstacles and pushing off the tops with both hands while tucking in your legs. You’ve now passed over the obstacle just as quickly, but you’ve made the movement more efficient and saved energy. Behind you, the sound of the lion’s soft yet powerful roar fills the air, but you don’t look back. Instead, you run towards a rail, jumping over it as you place one arm down to propel your body sideways and guide its motion with your hand. You see a building with a low roof only thirteen feet high. You charge at it. Only a few feet away, you push off of the ground with your left foot and begin to run up the wall. Your body shoots up. You reach high with your hands and pull yourself over the top. You keep running along the rooftop and jump over a small gap. As you land, you notice the sound of silence. You’ve won. You’ve managed to outrun the lion. While Parkour is by no means a “new” exercise, it is something that we’re excited to add to our workout routine as the weather warms up. Parkour is first, moving from point A to point B in the fastest, most efficient way possible. Second, you are using your physical abilities and the surrounding environment to help get you through this path that you have chosen. As you saw from the example, the surrounding environment could be tables, bars, or even walls. You’re basically using your surroundings to your advantage. Check out this video on First 5 Beginner Parkour Moves to learn things like the basic roll, safety vault, wall run, turn vault, and precision jump. You can also check out Parkourpedia , an online resource to learn about Parkour, its history, and strength exercises. If you’re looking for an entertaining video about people who shouldn’t be doing Parkour, check out this clip from NBC’s show “The Office.” We invite you to switch up your exercise routine with basic Parkour movements. Get out of your Liv Ahwatukee apartment and explore Phoenix, AZ in a fun and exciting way. You don’t have to be training for your next obstacle course or be super fit to do well at Parkour. Just take a few simple steps and you’ll be moving smoothly and quickly to your next destination in no time.

It Pays — Literally! — to Save the Environment

This just in: It pays to be environmentally healthy! Our post on the Liv Ahwatukee Blog this week will provide reasonable ways that you can practice greener habits near your Phoenix, AZ apartment. We invite you to choose one of the following actions and implement it into your routine this year. Drive Less While you may have heard this time and time again, we can’t stress enough how beneficial it is for the environment to drive less and to use alternative forms of transportation. We know that many people rely on their cars to get to the important destinations in their lives, of course, so we aren’t suggesting you do something rash and give up using your car altogether unless you truly believe it will be the right choice for you. We are, however, suggesting you make the conscious decision to use your car a few times less each week and to take public transportation, to walk, to bike, or even to carpool instead. You’ll save on gas and your local air quality will be cleaner! Buy Second Hand When it comes to things like clothing, buying second hand is a great way to help out the planet. Clothing from a thrift store will cost you less. At the same time, you’re choosing to purchase something that has already been worn, which means that article of clothing didn’t have to be manufactured a second time in order for you to enjoy it. This may seem small, but on a large scale, buying second hand will help us reduce the unnecessary excess of energy used to make new clothes. You won’t even have to sacrifice fashion, either. Many vintage looks and vibes are coming back into style, so thrift shopping will help you curate a wardrobe that is unique and that still lets you serve all the looks! Thanks for reading today’s blog post. What do you do to simultaneously save money and the planet? Let us know in the comments below. We hope you have a great month! Visit us next week for more great content.