Blog Posts

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.

The Importance of Understanding Depression

Welcome back to the Liv Ahwatukee Apartments Blog. Today we’re reaching out to residents living in our Phoenix, AZ apartment community with a post about depression. While some people are enjoying the onset of spring, some people are struggling with depression. If you know — or think you might know — someone who deals with depression, it can be beneficial to try to understand what it’s like for them. We decided to turn to Reddit , an online community where people can post content such as links, text posts, and images. The more popular the comments in the post, the more points they receive. We found a Reddit thread where people have written about how to help someone understand what depression is like. If you have advice you’d like to share, please leave a comment below for our residents. Here are two of the most popular comments from the thread about understanding depression: “I always described it like cancer. You might get diagnosed when you're younger, but you can probably catch it early enough and fight it off. And you're safe for a while, but you know the possibility is there that it will return. Also, now that you know it's in your genes, you worry for your family. Your children. Maybe you decide not to have kids if you're young enough. This could be an easy decision or an excruciating one. But you have to make it.” “Imagine living in a cardboard box on the street, in the rain, starving to death...and being okay with that. That's how it often makes me feel. Like I have no motivation, total apathy and I just want to melt into the floor.” Taking the time to learn about depression and trying to understand what people are feeling is a great way to show mindfulness to people who face depression on a daily basis. You may even begin to understand why winter is not fulfilling for every person that you care about. Then let that understanding translate into empathy, kindness, and allyship throughout the entire year. Do you have any advice to offer? Share in the comments below.

What we can Learn from Bilbo Baggins

For many of us, our lives are not unlike the character Bilbo Baggins, sitting comfortable and safe within the walls of our apartment home, safe like in the Shire in Middle Earth as written by author J.R.R. Tolkien. Like this hobbit before his grand adventure, many of us are comfortable: we take afternoon drinks when we like, we stroll outside when we like, and we’ll get around to adventuring when we feel up to it. But life, as The Hobbit teaches us, is filled with unexpected adventures around corners that are often considered calm. Today the Liv Ahwatukee Apartments Blog invites you to consider your life as an adventure, one that’s filled with bad or unfortunate experiences (losing luggage, experiencing a broken heart, etc.) and good adventures (falling in love, traveling the world, etc.) to even things out. In today’s post, we share a few lessons learned from one hobbit to us, lessons that can help even the weakest person on their greatest adventure. Friendship is Important One of the strongest and most often repeated themes in The Hobbit is friendship. During Bilbo’s daring adventure, he is often surrounded by companions. Without these individuals, there were times when Bilbo could have died. In our lives, it is important to remember who our friends are and to stay true to them as they are to us. You may not need them now, but who knows when a mountain troll will come knocking on your door? Appearances can be Deceiving Bilbo was not the largest of hobbits, nor was he the most intimidating. Even when faced with great odds, he did not appear to be a threat. There were times when Gandalf was sure to think he could not be successful. Despite all this, Bilbo achieved what he set out to do because he kept moving forward. No matter the size of the adventure or the number of monsters that come barging through the hallways of life, remember that the physical size or appearance of a person is no measure of their heart, passion, and will to achieve victory. Opportunity may come Knocking We’re not always looking for adventure. Sometimes the opportunity comes at a most unexpected time. Remember to take chances in life. Have the courage to say “yes” and go on an adventure for yourself when the chance arrives. Whether your adventures happen in Phoenix, Arizona or somewhere else, we wish the best for you. Share your own lessons by leaving comments about your adventures below. We’d love to read about them!

Reddit Movie Recommendations

Welcome back to the Liv Ahwatukee Apartments Blog! Sometimes you just need a moment (or a few hours) to let your mind relax. One of our favorite ways to do that? Movie night! Today we thought it’d be fun to dive into the world of online communities and see what the users of Reddit have to say about what to watch. If you don’t already know, Reddit is a website where people can post content such as links, text posts, and images, which people can comment and vote on. The more popular the comments in the post, the more points they receive. In thinking of all the upcoming movie nights you’ll probably hold in your Phoenix, AZ apartment, we found a great Reddit thread about movies people thought were going to be good but then ended up being amazing. So, without further adieu, here are the movies that received over 1,000 points from that thread: Over 2,000 Points How to Train Your Dragon Galaxy Quest Over 1,500 Points In Bruges Tucker and Dale vs Evil Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 21 Jump Street Shaun of the Dead Ip Man Stardust Zombieland Over 1,000 Points Stranger Than Fiction Fantastic Mr. Fox Groundhog Day Lucky Number Slevin The Prestige Scott Pilgrim vs. the World District 9 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Despicable Me Sunshine Wall-E Drive The Avengers Visit IMDB for descriptions and ratings of the above films. If you’re planning a movie night in your apartment, you’ll want to prepare by choosing snacks. Food Network has a lot of movie night food recommendations, but we love this list probably most of all: “Mini Movie Night Foods.” Check out their menu: Mini Lasagnas with Sweet Corn and Mascarpone Mini Sandwich Buffet: Mini Grilled Cheese and Tomato, Mini Rachael’s and Mini Spicy Patty Melts Mini Antipasto Calzones Mini Meatballs with Raspberry-Balsamic Barbeque Sauce Mini Espresso Cakes with Peanut Butter Frosting Do you have a list of movies that surprised you by how good they were? What about some delicious movie night snack recommendations? If so, share in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

Three Exciting Games to Enhance your Game Night Experience

If you’re a regular visitor of our the Liv Ahwatukee Apartments Blog, you’ll know that we love writing about board games. We love writing about board games almost as much as we like playing them — not just because they’re fun, but because they bring people together. This month, we’re encouraging residents of our Phoenix, AZ community to invite a few friends over to play something exciting. Here are three exciting board games that will make your next game night experience the best one yet! Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game If you’re into the whole “zombie-craze,” then this game is perfect for you. Dead of Winter can be considered the closest version of a Walking Dead board game. You and your friends will take on the role of survivors living in a weakened colony where humanity is haunted by flesh-craving creatures. Work together (or secretly against each other) to obtain important objects, protect the colony, and fight off the dead. For two to five players. Captain Sonar We like to call this game “Battleship on Steroids!” Why? Captain Sonar takes the classic Battleship game and turns it into a real-time team battle for domination. For up to eight players, you and your teammates will control a submarine. Hurry and locate the enemy sub before they blow you out of the water! Just remember, communication is key! For two to eight players. T.I.M.E Stories This is one of our favorite board games of all time. In T.I.M.E Stories, players act as time travelers who are trying to prevent temporal faults in the universe. Take on the roles of different people from the early 1900s and medieval times as you travel back in time to save the world from an ever-growing force of darkness. For two to four players. Find out more about these great games by visiting boardgamegeek.com .