Apartment Blog

Green doesn’t just have to be the color for your party, make it the theme!! Green living can extend to how you entertain! Making it green is easy on the environment and easy for you to do! Mimicking the tips we’ve already given you for St. Patrick’s Day Party Ideas, we’ve matched some eco-friendly ones. Check out these tips:

Tip 1: Invitations
As I always suggest, send out electronic invitations. Besides giving your party a more casual tone, you also save on paper that is just going to be thrown out later.  Or if you’re party is going to be formal and dictates having an invite, try to use recycled paper invitations.

Tip 2: Decorations
Just for the sheer expense, I always try to recommend fun crafty ideas for holiday decorations. Take a look at our St. Patrick’s Day Party ideas. But it turns out, not only will these save you money; they are also more environmentally friendly! Making your decorations would be a creative and a fun thing for you and your friends or kids to do.  And as much as it hurts, my favorite party staple that I always recommend–balloons–is actually pretty bad for the environment! They often end up in the ocean where they are consumed by sea life, which eventually die from balloons blocking their digestive system. So looks like all my ballooning days are over! 

Tip 3: Food & Drinks
A cute and easy idea to avoid waste is serving finger food. By serving finger food, you alleviate the need to have utensils or plates.  Your guest can just have their little sandwiches, cheese & crackers, cookies, chips on napkins.  And if you want to save on purchasing cups, offer your guests canned or bottled beverages. You can recycle them when they are done!  Wow, this tip allows you to save on a little bit of money as well! Cha-ching!

Tip 4: Entertainment
If you’ve read our blog about St. Patrick’s Day  Party ideas then you know we suggest doing contests, having music or a movie playing in the background.  These ideas don’t require too many materials. But another idea I’d like to add is doing Karaoke! You don’t necessarily have to have a machine (although it helps), but just grab a bunch of your already ‘tipsy’ friends for some movin and groovin and perhaps a little singing!  This should make for a lot of entertainment!! 

While we are making suggestions about how to make your St. Patrick’s Day party more eco-friendly, please remember these tips can certainly be used for your other parties.  If you’re having a Birthday celebration soon, think about using some of these ideas. Not only are you helping the environment but you also may be saving some money in the process!! Bonus!!

Source: Progressivekid.com

As everyone knows, Lent is in progress. This is a time when many people choose to give up something in their life for 40 days. The standard is to sacrifice something in your diet, such as chocolate, candy, etc. Many health conscious individuals give up something diet related, enabling them to adhere to their program. But what some fail to realize is that the true purpose of Lent is for your sacrifice to help you recognize the blessings that are taken for granted most of the time.

According to AmericanCatholic.org, “Lent is about conversion, turning our lives more completely over to Christ and his way of life. That always involves giving up sin in some form. The goal is not just to abstain from sin for the duration of lent, but to root sin out of our lives forever.”

Now I am just as guilty as the other health conscious individuals because I gave up chocolate this year for Lent. While I could make the argument that chocolate is considered a sin to my diet, I have no plan to give up chocolate for life. So I am not really taking the true meaning into my lifestyle. But that hasn’t always been the case for me; one year I gave up swearing and had a jar to collect money from myself should I ‘slip’ up. That period of time has impacted my vocabulary ever since.

So whether you gave up sugary treats, smoking, swearing or whatever-my question to you is…how are you doing? Have you been able to maintain some resistance towards the something you gave up? In my opinion, if you follow through on a goal you set for yourself (no matter what that goal may be, e.g. giving up chocolate for 40 days) then you have made an improvement in your life and maybe one day you’ll be ready to take on something bigger!

I hope everyone is doing well with their goals! Good Luck!

Source: AmericanCatholic.org

ForRent.com would like to bestow a wish on all our friends with the following Irish Blessing this Saint Patrick’s Day!

Always remember to forget
The things that made you sad.
But never forget to remember
The things that made you glad.

Always remember to forget
The friends that proved untrue.
But never forget to remember
Those that have stuck by you.

May your neighbors respect you,
Trouble neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And heaven accept you.

May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

Source: corsinet.com & ireland-information.com

So this year you want to host a fun green filled St. Patrick’s Day party, huh? Well, follow these tips and you’re sure to not disappoint!

Tip 1: Invitations
As always, we start our hosting parties with letting the guest list know who, what, where, when, etc. These invitations can be hand crafted, store bought or emailed! Chose whichever suits the party you’re throwing or guests attending. Regardless of the medium chosen, have the St. Patrick’s Day theme clear with lots of green, shamrocks, leprechauns, etc. Think of clever phrases or jokes to get a rise out of the receiver, such as: ‘Knock Knock, who’s there, Irish, Irish who?, Irish you a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!’ Ha ha ha!!

Tip 2: Decorations
Think green and silly when it comes to decorations for your party! Shamrocks and leprechauns are a must on the walls and windows. Take a look at our St. Patrick’s Day Crafts blog for ideas on how to create some of your decorations or go with store bought ones. I always advise using balloons as I think they scream party! But additional decorations would be needed on the buffet table such as green table cloth, napkins, cups, confetti, centerpieces, etc. Also make attire a decorative element by having everyone wear green and leprechaun hats!

Tip 3: Food & Drinks
Keep the green theme going with your food too! You can have green cookies, green M&M’s, chips with guacamole, fruit that’s green, green beverages, etc. Let your imagination run wild! And if you can’t think of enough foods that are green, you can always use food coloring! The obvious drink choice for a St. Patrick’s Day party is beer. Traditional Irish beers, such as Guinness or Murphy’s Irish Red Ale, would be served. If your party does have alcohol please be responsible for all your guests. Have someone as the designated driver for those that drink or offer guests to stay the night.

Tip 4: Entertainment
A must in every party is to have entertainment for your guests. You can have contests such as a limerick contest, St. Patrick’s Day games or just music or videos playing in background for noise. A suggestion would be having the music/movie coordinate with the theme, i.e. St. Patrick’s Day party having Irish music or one of the Top 10 St. Patrick’s Day Movies playing on your T.V. Either way, you’ve got to have something fun and interactive so your guests won’t be bored!

With these four tips your St. Patrick’s Day party should be a blast! Your guests will have a smashing time and you’ll be regarded as the best host! Enjoy!

Source: ehow.com

Did you know that there is a town called Valentine? It’s the “Heart City” of Nebraska with a scenic backdrop comprised of cliffs and pine trees. It was named after E.K. Valentine, who as a Congressman from Nebraska was chairman of the house committee on Agriculture for six years while in office. From 1870-1885, as a member of the House of Representatives, he was instrumental in passing a bill to protect settlers from ‘land sharks’. Due to his popularity in the region, Valentine, NE was named after him. This small town has a land area of 2.01 square miles with only 1,380 people per square mile! It’s comprised of 46.6% males and 53.4% females with the median resident age of 40 years old.

Something of particular interest for you apartment renters, is the “Heart City’s” median rent asked for vacant units, in 2000, was $283!! The median gross rent in Valentine, in 2000, was $435!! That’s amazing! I know that I pay double that where I live!! View apartments in Nebraska on ForRent.com.

During Valentine’s Day this town is always buzzing with festivities. For example, February 14^th, Valentine’s Day itself, gets many travelers from all over the country wanting to get married there! Another big event that happens on Valentine’s Day in Valentine, Nebraska is the Valentine’s Day Coronation. The Valentine’s Day Coronation, which is a community-wide celebration, is where students from each grade, K through 12, are elected to participate in the ceremony which has a different theme each year. The King and Queen of Hearts are crowned from the Senior class with a dance held afterwards for the high school students.

So if you’re not sure what your plans are this Valentine’s Day, you could always visit the quaint town Valentine, NE to celebrate your love!

Are you throwing a Valentine’s theme party this year? Do you need some ideas? Check out our five tips for throwing an awesome bash this year!

Tip 1: Invitations

Depending on the formality of your party, you can choose official invitations, emailed invitations or just verbally announce. Either way you choose, make sure it’s using the holiday colors and verbiage (lots of LOVE) while also setting the tone for the party.

Tip 2: Décor

Obviously you’ll want to stick somewhat to the color scheme of Valentines, like red, white and pink. Incorporate these colors in many of the decorations to give your party a truly lovely look. You might want to think about streamers, plates, napkins, cups, table cloth and of course the party staple balloons! And as I mentioned in our ‘cheap decorations’ blog, you can always make a lot of your decorations by using construction paper, colored plates cut out in the shape of hearts, or print out images on your computer. It’ll add just a bit more flair while not depleting your funds!

Tips 3: Food/Beverages

This is where a lot of your budget is going to be spent. You could do the usual finger foods for the party, i.e. chips, dips, wings, etc. Or you could do a dessert buffet! Give your guests all the treats they can take! J For beverages you can have the normal soda, water, etc. Or you can have a theme drink like ‘lovers punch’ or something of that nature.

Tip 4: Entertainment

You’ll want your guests to be entertained during your party. So make sure there are plenty of fun games for everyone to be involved in, music for the background and/or dancing as well as crafts for any children involved or adults that particularly enjoy it! But if you’re having an informal gathering where everyone knows everyone, then it may not be necessary to do all this. Just let everyone mingle!

Tip 5: Gifts

If you are going to be doing games, make sure there is a prize for each of the winners. You could also do door prizes or a gift exchange. And don’t forget little party favors as a thank you for the guests attending.

Did these ideas help? Will you incorporate them in your Valentine’s Party? I sure hope so!

Okay, so I was searching on the web and I found this cool article on MSN.com. (I copy and pasted the text for you below.) As you all know, my boyfriend and mine’s favorite Christmas movie is the Grinch. Read what the article says about Grinch lovers like us and figure out what your favorite Christmas movie says about you!!

Article:

By Margot Carmichael Lester

Your new guy says he can’t get through the holidays without watching A Christmas Story at least three times (he even has the leg lamp). Or it’s your new lady friend who sings all the tunes from Santa Claus Is Coming to Town in the shower. We asked pop culture mavens Alexis Bondoc, columnist for IntrepidMedia.com, and Ian Williams, an author/director/filmmaker, how a person’s all-time fave Christmas show reveals his or her dating M.O. Read on for some intriguing insights!

A Charlie Brown Christmas
Alexis: The fella who never misses this show is probably a classic guy who already knows how to dress and laugh. Slip him a CD by Vince Guaraldi (who did the jazzy numbers on the show) as a gift.
Ian: If your girl loves this show, deep down, she may want to don a black turtleneck and get existential—this show has a message. But she always has time to dance (who can resist that music!) and maybe she can make clouds of dirt like Pigpen.

A Christmas Story
Alexis: Aww… He’s got a wistful, nostalgic sense of humor and can probably remember every Christmas morning growing up. But, more importantly, there’s more than a slight chance that he didn’t get that one certain gift that every other kid on his block got — the Radio Flyer wagon or the super-cool robot set — and can still remember that deprivation NOW. Will you be the one to indulge him now?
Ian: Your romantic partner is something of a happy medium: corny, yet cool. Not cool in a desperately hip way, but subversive enough to keep things interesting. She hasn’t forgotten what the wonders of childhood were like—and doesn’t want to.

Bad Santa
Alexis: If this is your guy’s favorite seasonal show, then hold your horses. This guy is the Anti-Santa who would probably be happy to make a bunch of gift deliveries with a bottle of Jack Daniels. His ideal vision of Christmas probably involves telling little kids they don’t need Barbies or that Mickey isn’t a real Mouse and that he lives next to a 7-Eleven instead of the North Pole. Run, run, run. Unless you’re happy spending your time with the embodiment of Life’s Little Destruction Book…
Ian: Most likely, your lady was waiting for a movie like this long before it came out. Finally, someone told a Christmas story without much of a moral… and with lots of cringing along the way. Not one for nostalgia, your girl probably wants to order Chinese food rather than prepare a feast. If you are equally dark in your outlook, well, merry, merry!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Alexis: You don’t have to worry about this guy at all. He’s offbeat, sure, but he’s got a good heart. He probably loves celebrating Christmas with a delightfully creative and witty sense of humor instead of tradition. He’ll probably surprise you with completely novel ways of marking the holiday season.
Ian: The girl who loves this one is a sucker for ritual, and why not? We all know what happens to the Grinch, but the magic is in the retelling. The Whoville song is treacly and boring, but the Grinch’s theme, with jazz glissandos and rich baritone, make it a yearly must-see. But you must ask this woman: Does she identify with the Grinch… or the Grinch’s poor dog? That will give you some important clues!

It’s A Wonderful Life
Alexis: If your guy likes Frank Capra’s all-time classic, you can put good money on the fact that he’s as classically appealing as Jimmy Stewart—and probably as thoughtful, too. Thoughts count a lot with this kind of guy; make sure yours are up to snuff.
Ian: Like Crowded House sang, “Wherever there is comfort, there is pain,” and don’t your baby know it! She gets It’s a Wonderful Life as it was meant to be: not a sing-songy holiday card, but a deeply sad reflection on dreams deferred. She’s a deep-thinker… and probably a keeper.

Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer
Alexis: Any guy who picks this stop-animation classic is probably as unique as little Rudolph is. He probably celebrates Christmas — and lives his life — with a playful and creative streak. I mean, this is a guy who lives for the island of misfit toys and the Bumble! He’s probably quite a character.
Ian: Yikes. Easily the most anesthetized and goofy of the Xmas specials, Rudolph has the subtlety of a “Hang in There!” cat poster. Repetitious and cloying, it goes down like a bowl of red frosting. Your girl might be cute, but she’ll put antlers on your dog and giggle like she was the first to think of it. Consider yourself warned!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Alexis: The guy who loves this one is manly enough to really get down with Christmas and the classics, especially if he’s a Fred Astaire fan. This guy truly loves the holiday. You will celebrate every possible tree-lighting, sidewalk chorus group, eggnog-pouring moment, and you will do it with a smile on your face.
Ian: If your baby’s favorite is this one, she’s probably a Goth chick. No other Santa origin myth is quite so dark. Sure, Fred Astaire narrates, but St. Nick as an unwanted orphan? Hunted like a criminal? We knew Santa’s psyche was complicated, but we didn’t know he needed therapy.

Now, we’re not saying you should take any of these interpretations as the gospel truth. There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. But you should learn a little about yourself. What’s more, adding these insights to other information could help you figure out if you and your sweetie have a future full of holly-jolly Christmases together—or if your holiday honey will leave you feeling like your heart got run over by a reindeer. Ho ho ho!

Margot Carmichael Lester’s work also appears in Go magazine.

Don’t let the excitement of the holiday season make you vulnerable to theft this holiday season. Here are some tips to help you avoid identity theft and protecting your home.

Deter thieves by safeguarding your personal information

○ Make sure you shred any financial documents and paperwork before you throw them out.

○ Don’t give out personal information on the phone, through email or mail unless you know who it is you are working with

○ Don’t carry around your Social Security card or write it on your checks.

○ Keep copies of your receipts when purchasing gifts.

○ Never tell anyone your PIN for the ATM and don’t write it down on your card!

○ To be extra cautious you can always sign up for a credit monitoring service so you can view changes that occur on your credit report.

Protect your home from potential criminals

○ Be cautious about locking the doors and windows to your house. Also don’t forget to lock your garages and sheds.

○ If leaving for an extended period of time, make sure your neighbors have a key to your place and pick up your mail (if you don’t already have it held at the Post Office)

○ Have lights set up to be on automatic timers.

○ Don’t hide spare keys near your door (i.e. under the rug, above the door, under a rock, etc.) Burglars know this trick!

○ And don’t leave descriptive telephone answering machine messages. (Like they did in Home Alone) It just lets whomever (even telemarketers) know that you will not be home for a certain period of time.

Make sure you are safe this holiday season by protecting against identity theft and other holiday crime.

Source: Federal Trade Commission

How do you and your family celebrate for the holidays? Are there any traditions that you’ve always done or are you starting new ones? I’m still new to this whole ‘holiday on my own’ type thing, so here are some traditions that I’ve found (plus some that my family have always done).

When you think of Christmas, what is one thing you know you’ve got to have? Well, the Christmas tree of course. Traditions start around this significant symbol in many ways, from picking out the Christmas tree, having special memories of ornaments, to sitting around the tree opening gifts. So that’s where my traditions start. Usually, my family and I would go to one lot and pick out a tree. Each year we’d take turns as to who got to pick it out. However, the last two years (the start of my ‘on your own holiday’) I have put up my fake tree. My old traditions with my family have been replaced by new traditions. And as far as time frames, I always put the tree up after Thanksgiving!! I say, let one holiday pass before you start celebrating another! And another tradition that surrounds the Christmas tree for me is ornaments. Every year my boyfriend and I pick out a Grinch ornament for our tree, since ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas´ is our favorite Christmas movie. So we get at least one Grinch ornament every year. (Pretty soon our whole tree will be all Grinch ornaments!)

Other decorative Christmas things that I’ve found (and do) are advent calendars. At my parents place, the advent calendar was a blank Christmas tree and each day we’d open up the calendar door that contained a surprise ornament. The 24th of December was always the star of the tree. Another decorative element that can be a tradition in your home is the dinning room table; whether it’s holiday dishware, a centerpiece or table cloth. I’ve never had holiday dishware but centerpieces we’ve had. It was always a large candle with a berry & holly wreath wrapped around it.

An extraordinary holiday tradition that I want to get into the habit of is giving to the less fortunate. When I was in high school I did the Angel tree with our National Honor Society and since then I’ve only done it once. I’d like to get back into the habit of doing that and maybe even doing some volunteer work too. Christmas is after all about giving not receiving!

What other holiday traditions do you and your families do? Are there any you’d like to incorporate in the future? We’d love to hear your ideas!

Can you tell if this tree is real or fake?

With Thanksgiving behind us, the hunt is on for the ideal Christmas tree! Along with this honored tradition is a decision to make: real or fake? In today’s society, your decision on which tree to purchase can speak loads about you as a person.

So how does one choose? Below are some facts about each to help you decide.

With a real tree you get a warm fuzzy feeling when you bundle up and go searching for the perfect one. You also guarantee the smell of pine in your home for the entire holiday season. And of course, an environmental bonus- a real tree is biodegradable. Bet you also didn’t know that more than 100,000 Americans are employed by the live Christmas tree businesses, so you’d also be supporting local economies (not overseas workers) by purchasing a real tree.

However, with an artificial tree you get to reuse the tree for many years to come, which is kind of like recycling. The endless supply of pine needles on your floor will no longer be there and you won’t have to worry about pesticides that are used on real trees! They are easy to set up and easy to store. Plus, you can always buy candles that smell like pine trees to get the full effect!

So seeing the benefits of each, which one would you choose? I can say that last year was the first year I made a purchase of an artificial tree; all the previous years I had a real tree. And it looks like I’m not the only one. Artificial trees are steadily gaining market share. About sixty percent of U.S. tree-displaying homes are putting up artificial trees! Taking a quick poll of co-workers, half have real Christmas trees and the other half have fake.

Another cool thing I read about is that San Francisco’s Department of the Environment started a neat program. For $90, the city will bring a live, 7 to 9 foot potted tree to your home for you to decorate. After Christmas, the city will retrieve it and plant it in one of San Francisco’s tree-starved neighborhoods. The downside; the city doesn’t offer pines! But despite that minor flaw, the program proved to be successful, as it sold out of its stock of 100 in just four short days!

What are your opinions? Has anything you read here changed your views?