Blog Posts

It's Time to Take a Break

Even the most skilled adventurers need to take time to refresh! That’s why in today’s blog post, we of Liv Ahwatukee Apartments are encouraging our residents and readers to make time for a break. Whether you live in Phoenix, AZ or somewhere far away, we hope you make relaxation a priority so that you’re well rested for your next adventure! This week’s quest: take time to relax. Hide your phone. Or just tuck it away somewhere out of sight! A simple way to instantly make a room more relaxing is by removing electronics . Every day, our bodies are stimulated by screens, so it’s probably a good idea to take some time away from them. Spend quality time reading a book, taking a nap, or even relaxing in a bath of hot water. That extra 15, 30, or even 60 minutes without a screen distraction might be worth more to you than you expect. Cook something. Sometimes it just takes a warm meal to make you feel better. In addition to the many recipes that we’ve shared on our blog, Bustle has a great list of 16 healthy recipes we encourage you to make in the near future. Enjoy dishes like Creamy Butternut Squash Linguine, Beef Bourguignon, and Twice-Baked Potatoes! Buy a plant. Add a touch of nature in your apartment. According to SheKnows , plants are “a good way to induce relaxations. Despite size, their presence in a room is invigorating. Every room should have something earth-themed to merge nature with the indoors.” We like the sound of that! We hope you make time to relax this week. Take a break from electronics, cook something new, or buy a plant and add it into your living room as a way to induce relaxation. Whatever you decide to do, remember that this is time specifically for you and nothing else. Don’t worry about your bills or daily stressors… Instead, give your body the much-needed attention that it deserves. If you do, then this quest will be a success!

A Simple Dungeons & Dragons Menu

Welcome back to the Liv Ahwatukee Blog. This month, you are a traveler seeking adventure, and our hope is to help you succeed in your endeavors. At our apartment community in Phoenix, AZ, we hope to inspire in you a sense of purpose and excitement in February. This week’s quest: dine appropriately in your apartment. Adventurers need nourishment! That’s why we’re sharing a Dungeons & Dragons-themed menu for your dining pleasure. Check out the following ideas for an elemental dinner, edible fireballs, and more! Elemental Dinner Menu We found this great article on the Dungeons & Dragons website. Click on the above link for step-by-step instructions for great dishes like Saganaki (for the fire element), Shell Pasta Soup (for the water element), Roasted Root Vegetables (for the Earth element), and Cotton Candy Cloud Cocktail (for the air element). Here’s what the article says about “decor” in order to get everything set up for this creative menu: “Everyone needs an excuse to get fancy once in a while, right? Here’s your excuse. Get out your nicest plates and silverware, light some candles, and use those cloth placemats and napkins you never bother with. Or, if you don’t want to get too crazy, go for a more rustic adventuring vibe. Cut placemats out of kraft paper and use twine loops as napkin rings. Either way, print out a menu and place one at each place setting.” Edible Fireballs For this sweet treat, you’ll need the following ingredients: heavy whipping cream, semi-sweet chocolate chips, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and Pop Rocks. Here’s what The Geeky Hostess has to say about this dish: “These fireball truffles were created for a Dungeons and Dragons lover. The truffle, named after a popular spell from D&D, has a hint of spice and a bit of a kick from the Pop Rocks. Use them to butter up a new DM or make them for everyone in your adventuring party!” Tavern Menu We love this D&D-style Tavern Menu that The Geeky Hostess put together. She first includes an image of the actual menu, followed by an explanation of each item. How cool is that? If you’d like to put together a similar type of menu, she even includes a link to the free online program that she used to design it: “I made the menu using Canva , my ultimate favorite graphic design tool. It allows you to make great images very quickly, even if you have no graphic design skills. I would highly recommend it!” We also recommend that design tool!

Be the Bard of Liv Ahwatukee Apartments

Have you ever played Dungeons & Dragons ? Since it was first published in 1974 , Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D) has been a major focus of the role-playing game industry; for many people, it has filled hours upon hours with fun and challenging puzzles that players of all ages have enjoyed. If you’re unfamiliar with the basic mechanics of D&D, we warn you that our goal in today’s blog post is not to educate you. If you’d like to learn more about D&D, we encourage you to visit the Dungeons & Dragons website where you can find all the information that you’ll need. In D&D, players control a character. Each character has a specific race (dwarf, human, elf, etc.) and a class, which is basically the kind of character you want to play (fighter, wizard, cleric, rogue, ranger, etc.). Today, we’d like to focus on the bard class. Dungeons & Dragons encourages the idea that both words and music have power beyond vibrations and sounds. Bards are masters of song and speech. They are versatile, may prefer to watch combat from the sidelines all the while encouraging their party with magic which inspires their comrades. They are masters of talents, perfecting their musical skills beyond what others have accomplished. This month, we’re encouraging our residents to be bards of our Liv Ahwatukee Apartments community. Before the month is out, take inventory of your talents and abilities. Write down different attributes that shape your character. Discover which traits you can focus on to improve upon, thus adding to our apartment community to make us stronger together. Are you a master of talents? We’d love to hear you say “yes” by the end of the month! In the month of February, we’re going to build on this topic of Dungeons & Dragons . Think of the residents of Liv Ahwatukee Apartments as your party or group of heroes. Each week we’ll have a new task or objective appear in our blog, so be prepared for it! If you’re not part of our community in Phoenix, AZ, don’t worry. Follow along in your own community wherever you are located. Thanks for reading!

YouTubers with Great Apartment Tips

Okay, so maybe you’re not ready to try out any DIY projects this month. Maybe you’re lacking inspiration and creativity. One of our favorite ways to get inspired about apartments is through YouTube. If you didn’t already know this, there are a ton of YouTubers dedicated to making your apartment dreams turn into realities. From keeping up on the latest design trends to offering simple ways to organize your apartment home, YouTube offers a fountain of knowledge that’s free for you to learn about. Join us as we learn from our favorite apartment-related content creators on YouTube. Apartment Therapy In their own words, Apartment Therapy is “saving the world, one room at a time.” They’re not kidding! We love the content they’ve released onto the internet, including playlists of house tours, how-to hacks, and organization tricks. If you’re looking for something apartment-related, they probably have a perfect video for you on their channel! Mr. Kate Mr. Kate is a lifestyle brand which strives to approach life with a creative approach. Some of our favorite videos of theirs are about room makeovers, and they have plenty of those! If you’re looking for creative approaches to organizing your bedroom, decorating your apartment, or altering an IKEA dresser into something that looks like it came out of a steampunk graphic novel, Mr. Kate has great ideas you’ll want to check out. Studio McGee From the website : “After graduating with a degree in Public Relations Shea realized that what she really wanted to do was design. A few semesters into design school, her bright and clean aesthetic had attracted a wait-list of clients and no idea how to handle the workload. After many late nights of brainstorming and collaboration husband and wife team, Syd and Shea McGee, decided to take what was a small business for a stay-at-home mom and turn it into something much more.” The McGees have a great YouTube channel with plenty of videos about designing your home. We encourage you to take a look and get inspired. Whether you’re living in Phoenix, Arizona or somewhere else, our Liv Ahwatukee Apartments team wishes you the best in your search for inspiration and creativity for your apartment home. If you have a favorite YouTube channel with extraordinary apartment-related content, drop a link in our comment section. We hope you have a great week!

Tags and Bulbs and Paint, Oh My! It's DIY!

Last week our resolution was to cook more, and another resolution that we have at Liv Ahwatukee Apartments is to try something new, so we’re focusing on DIY projects! We have our eyes on a few specific ones at the moment: salt dough tags, light bulb vases, and marbleized paint art. Read them over and start making them right away to join in! Salt Dough Tags : You don’t have to use these nifty tags as wedding favors as the author of the post suggests, although that’s definitely a great idea. To make these salt dough tags, you’ll need flour, salt, water, heart-shaped cookie cutters, stamps, an ink pad, bamboo skewer or straw, ribbon, and sandpaper. Each step is defined clearly; there’s even a picture for each step so you won’t get lost or confused as you try to make these. Just click on the above link to get started! Light Bulb Vases : You’ll need the following items for this project: old light bulbs, needle nose pliers, a nail set, a hammer, wire, wire cutters, wooden dowel, a drill, and electrical tape (optional). Once again, we appreciate the simple steps, each with pictures to show what you’re supposed to do during each stage of the project. Marbleized Paint Art : If you’re looking for additional art to display in your apartment, we suggest making your own! This brush-free project is something that will look great in your living room. Gather up watercolor paper, acrylic paint, wall paint, oil-based paint, rubber gloves, plastic drop cloth, and someone to help you for a fun time. Thanks for visiting today’s blog post. We’d love to hear about your favorite DIY projects. Are you currently working on any? Or is there a DIY project you’ve been wanting to try out? Feel free to share in the comments below. We hope you have a great month here in Phoenix, AZ!

Cooking with Chef Gordon Ramsay

As we’ve thought long and hard about our 2019 resolutions, there’s one that comes to mind over others: cook more with loved ones. Luckily for us, Chef Gordon Ramsay, a Michelin Star chef and television personality, launched a YouTube playlist last month to encourage this exact idea. US Magazine covered some great details about this playlist, which we’d like to share with residents of our Liv Ahwatukee Apartment community. Here’s the link: “Gordon Ramsay Launches YouTube Kids Playlist With Holiday Cooking Ideas, Chef Tips for Little Ones” Upon visiting the article, you might wonder why we’re sharing it because of the focus on “holiday cooking with kids” — at first glance we even almost pushed it aside completely. But as we read the article and watched the videos Gordon Ramsay compiled, we learned that any amateur chef, no matter how young or old or at what time of the year, can benefit from this playlist. From US Magazine: “The 21-video playlist offers everything from festive cooking ideas to chef tips for kids and parents who plan to cook up some fun in their own kitchens this holiday season. In fact, several of the videos feature cameos from one or more of Ramsay’s own children – Meghan, 20, Holly, 19, Jack, 19, and Tilly, 17. “In one entertaining clip, the MasterChef Junior host, 52, whips up hand-made mint chocolate truffles with a young Holly and Jack… In another video, Ramsay cooks tasty scrambled eggs and veggies in a matter of minutes – the perfect weekend breakfast for parents who don’t have a ton of time on their hands.” Here’s a link for the first video of the playlist, which is an introduction by Chef Ramsay himself . Following this, you can watch a tutorial for handmade mint chocolate truffles, simple scrambled eggs, and much, much more. We hope you join our Phoenix, AZ apartment community as we strive to cook a little more with loved ones in 2019. Enjoy!