Apartment Blog

For some people Halloween means as much to them as Christmas would to another person. As such, this occasion would be deemed gift giving. I have actually received a card and flowers from a friend on Halloween because it is her favorite holiday. Regardless if you are the gift giver or receiver, here are some great Halloween gift ideas.

Get Creative! Potion labels are a cool way to personalize a bottle of your friend’s favorite drink or bottle of wine. Just add a themed label appropriate for Halloween and you’re set!  Or creating a collage scrapbook already decorated, just waiting for the photos of this year’s party to frame or bind.

Homemade goods are a unique way to show your friends, or guests at a party, that you appreciate them. Everyone loves a good homemade treat. For this holiday, why not do a candied apple or pumpkin spice bread or ghost shaped cookies. 

Tickets to a fun Halloween themed event. There are bound to be places in your city that will celebrate this spooky holiday. Why not help the Halloween enthusiast in your life celebrate by buying them a ticket. It could be a hayride, haunted house, roller coaster theme park or maybe even a special movie premier.

Provide some type of entertainment by purchasing a Halloween book or movie. If your friend is into the whole scary experience, there are plenty of Halloween movies guaranteed to spoke him or her. Check out our list of 10 Awesome Halloween Movies.

If there are other Halloween gifts you have given or received, let us know! It would be nice to see all the imaginative ideas for this holiday.

Halloween is just around the corner, and if you’re planning on wowing your friends with your costume ideas you’re going to need to start planning ahead. To take care of the hardest part, thinking of the ideas, we’ve taken the liberty of researching awesome couple costumes.

Take a look:

• Jim and Pam-famous couple from the series ‘The Office’ are getting ready to get married.
• Peter and Lois or Stewie and Brian from the series ‘Family Guy’ are guaranteed to be a hit at any party!
• Danny and Sandy from the infamous movie ‘Grease.’
• Edward Cullen and Bella Swam from the hit ‘Twilight’
• Johnny Cash & June Carter
• Shrek and Fiona from the ‘Shrek’ movies

Whatever costume idea you choose, have fun with it. Halloween costume parties are always so much fun. Happy Halloween!

Most people in the United States celebrate July 4^th with barbeques and fun in the sun with friends & family. But do you really know why the holiday is so important to our country? I read a terrific description on Kaboose that really breaks it down for kids and adults to understand the significance of this Saturday. Take a look…

Imagine how you would feel if someone older than you (maybe an older sister or brother) kept telling you what to do all of the time and kept taking more and more of your allowance. That is how the colonists felt in the years leading up to 1776. Great Britain kept trying to make the colonists follow more rules and pay higher taxes. People started getting mad and began making plans to be able to make their own rules. They no longer wanted Great Britain to be able to tell them what to do, so they decided to tell Great Britain that they were becoming an independent country.

The Congress met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and they appointed a committee to write a formal document that would tell Great Britain that the Americans had decided to govern themselves. The committee asked Thomas Jefferson to write a draft of the document which was officially adopted the on July 4, 1776 after some changes were made. That is why it is called “Independence Day.” Congress ordered that all members must sign the Declaration of Independence and they all began signing the “official” copy on August 2, 1776.

As you may know, the Declaration of Independence is more than just a piece of paper. It is a symbol of our country’s independence and commitment to certain ideas. The signers of the Declaration of Independence wanted the citizens of the United States to be able to look at the document and immediately think of the goals we should always be working for, and about the people who have fought so hard to make these ideas possible. The people who signed the Declaration risked being hanged for treason by the leaders in Great Britain. They had to be very brave to sign something that would be considered a crime!

So every time we look at the Declaration of Independence, we should think about all of the effort and ideas that went into the document, and about the courage it took for these people to stand up for what they knew was right — independence!

On this Fourth of July, it is important for you to remember those people as well as the people who are still to this day fighting for our right to be independent; for our rights of freedom.  And that is largely done by our military countrymen. 

If you’re anything like me, the idea of Father’s Day is a daunting one. Not because I don’t enjoy celebrating my father, I do! He’s an unbelievable man who has taught me so much and I love him dearly. But, because I am always at a loss of what to get him. What to get a man that has loved me and cared for me all these years? What to get someone who has truly been there for me whenever I needed someone? Those are the questions that always creep up when Father’s Day rolls around and I rack my brain trying to think of something. 

And of course, I want it to be something creative. Something I’ve not done before to really show him how much I appreciate him. Well after racking my brain for hours, I’ve come up with a list of five ingenious ideas (if I do say so myself).

1. Go the sentimental route. A video montage or collage of photos with you and your father (or the whole family) would really be something special for your father to receive. It’s something he can truly cherish for many years to come.
2. Make an afternoon date with him! If he would enjoy activities such as miniature golf, ice cream, lunch, then why not take him out? He deserves to have a bit of fun doing child-like things for a day!
3. Splurge for some hobby supplies. Every father has a hobby he enjoys! Whether it’s a sport like soccer, racing or maybe just fixing up cars, give him something that he would benefit from. Be careful though, you don’t want to overuse this tip as it could become predictable.
4. Bring him humor! There are a plethora of items that would fit the bill, books, trinkets, etc. In fact, I was on Barnes & Nobles web site and saw quite a few books that poke fun at ‘Dadisms’ or have cartoons to depict father-like situations. Guaranteed to make every dad grin, chuckle and laugh out loud.
5. And finally, time is all your father really wants. He enjoys spending time with you, his child. So be sure to spend good quality time, even if it’s not doing anything special, just to be with him.

This photo is something my father and I did when we were in Key West….father-daughter bonding! J

Outdoor cooking is pretty big during the summer time. I know I love the smell of the charcoal burning. It’s the embodiment of summer in my mind. So if you’re planning on grilling up some yummy burgers, I wanted to suggest a few condiment combinations that might really spice up your meal.

1.  You can go the classic route with cheddar and barbeque sauce. For a hardy burger, add a little bacon.
2. Go for a tropical taste with a fun, fruity salsa. My favorite is from Harry & David’s, Raspberry Chardonnay Salsa.
3. A delicious Mediterranean combination would be feta cheese and olives.
4. Want to go the healthy route? You can do turkey burgers topped with lettuce, pickles and green peppers. And add some salad dressing like Caesar or blue cheese.
5. And who could forget the onions! Grill the onions with a little bit of Cajun or Southwest spices for a blazin’ burger.

If you’ve got some great topper suggestions, let us know! Sharing recipe ideas for burger combinations works out for everyone!

Memorial Day weekend is the official kick-off weekend for the summer!  It’s definitely the traveling weekend for the beach and any other hot vacation spots. 

I’m not actually going to the beach, but the country.  I LOVE the country.  My cousin and her husband recently relocated to Greensboro, NC.  It’s interesting because although they live in the country, they’re still close to civilization, the city I mean.

Let me start with the drive.  A lot of people get head starts on their travel because EVERYONE is on the road.  BUT, the drive from Portsmouth, VA to Greensboro, NC is a calm, peaceful one.  For one, the only interstate, if that’s what you want to call it, to take in VA is 58 and there’s never any traffic.  It’s just a nice drive through the countryside.  Of course once you get into Carolina you’re on actual highway, but it’s still not congested.

There’s plenty to do in the TRIAD area.  During the day I’ll probably catch a minor league baseball game. Since the Greensboro Grasshoppers have away games the entire weekend we’ll roll down the way to a Winston-Salem Dash game.  And I can’t go on vacation without shopping.  The actual city part has plenty of shopping, outlets and indoor malls alike.

And there’s some good sight seeing.  Greensboro holds a lot of history.  It’s nice to just be able to drive around and take all of the scenery in.  It’s so pretty, fields of green, houses separated by almost a mile, farms, cows, horses, I could go on…

Of course we can’t forget the nightlife.  The general consensus is that Greensboro doesn’t have much nightlife.  Now if you’re in to going to upscale clubs, then no, Greensboro is NOT for you.  But I like the fact that EVERYONE is so down to earth and so friendly.  We just hit up the nearby bars and chat it up with the locals.  People treat you like family and you can’t get that up north.

Well, I hope everyone has as good a Memorial Day weekend as I’m going to have.