Apartment Blog

It’s a tradition with my family year after year. We always pile up in our car and drive around to look at Christmas lights. There is one house in particular we always stop and see. We call it the ‘NOEL House’ as it has the ‘NOEL’ saying prominently displayed on its rooftop. We also make it a point to go to see the Holiday lights at Virginia Beach Oceanfront. There is something grand about looking at the holiday light displays across our city. I look in amazement at the creativity and the excitement that I feel. I feel like a child again, anxiously waiting for the big day!

Accumulated by americasbestonline.net, here is a list of the best holiday light displays in cities across the nation. Look who turned up number 11! J If you are near one of the areas, make sure you go out and look at the wonderful lights displayed.

1. Silver Dollar City- Branson, MO
Millions of Christmas lights cover the whole park. Plus, the entire city is transformed into a holiday wonderland each evening at 5:30 p.m. as guests join together on the Square for the lighting of the dazzling, five-story Special Effects Christmas Tree. Adorned with over 250,000 lights coordinated to blaze to the musical movements of Christmas songs, this unique Special Effects Christmas Tree presents classics such as “Carol of the Bells” and Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” in a spectacular light and sound show.
  
2. Oglebay Festival of Lights- Wheeling, WV
In 1985 a holiday tradition began at Oglebay and spread throughout the city of Wheeling. That tradition is the Winter Festival of Lights celebration. The first year, displays and landscape lighting covered about 125 acres over a three-mile drive throughout the resort. Since then, the show has grown into one of the nation’s largest Christmas light shows, covering more than three hundred acres over a six-mile drive throughout the resort. 
 

3. Fantasy of Lights- Pine Mountain, GA
A 5 mile drive by car or trolley takes visitors past 13 holiday scenes with more than 8 million  Christmas lights.  Since 1992, this outdoor light and sound show has glittered with holiday magic for millions of people. Families from across the Southeast have added Fantasy In Lights to their list of memorable holiday traditions. This year, experience the 15th annual Fantasy In Lights with its eight million lights creating more than a dozen beautiful scenes, and you’ll see why this is the brightest holiday light show in the South! 
 

4. Smoky Mountain Winterfest- Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville, TN. 
Smoky Mountain Winterfest is a magical celebration that begins in late fall.  Ride the Trolley Tour of Lights around Pigeon Forge and claim a spot on the sidewalk  for Gatlinburg’s “Fantasy of Lights” Christmas Parade, featuring lighted floats, marching bands and giant helium balloons.  This event combines 3 Tennessee cities: Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville. These neighboring Smoky Mountain towns are ablaze with 5 million lights thru February. 
 

5. Trail of Lights - Austin, TX
The  Trail of Lights is a mile long display of 42 lighted scenes, US Post Office, Santa’s House, the Yule Log, and an entertainment stage. The festival begins with the lighting of the Zilker Tree, a 155 feet tall, 180 feet diameter lighted tree consisting of 3,309 bulbs on 39 streamers strung from Austin’s historical Moonlight Tower. Since 1987 the honor of lighting the tree has been bestowed upon the winner of the city-wide children’s tree coloring contest. The tree lighting ceremony takes place on the first Sunday of December. 

6. Magical Nights of Lights - Lake Lanier, GA
Rekindle an old tradition or create a new one at Lake Lanier Islands Resort’s 16th annual Magical Nights of Lights holiday celebration. Known as the world’s largest animated light extravaganza, the fun kicks off November 22 through December 30 from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 pm. nightly! Bring the whole family a drive through tour of over six miles of twinkling, holiday light displays and a live nativity scene complete with live actors and animals!

7. Holiday Festival of Lights, Charleston, S.C.
Charleston County Park & Recreation Commission created the Holiday Festival of Lights to bring families and friends together and to raise support for the Charleston county park system. With over 600 individual displays located throughout the park in 132 power locations, the Holiday Festival of Lights is a magical sight to see! 
  
8. Enchanted Garden of Lights, Chattanooga, TN
See Rock City! The gardens’ natural beauty is complemented by more than 25 holiday scenes as half a million lights illuminate rock formations along the Enchanted Trail. 

 9. Southern Lights - Lexington, Ky.
The annual Southern Lights event is the largest fundraiser held for The Kentucky Horse Park. Over 25,927 vehicles passed through the electrical wonderland in 2006 alone! Everything from petting zoos, model railways, arts, crafts, and Santa Claus fill the Indoor Attractions section free of charge to guests.

 10. Mission Inn - Riverside, CA
This magnificent hotel and grounds have over two million Christmas lights!  Enjoy the sounds of the holiday season as our Dickens’ Carolers stroll throughout the hotel every Thursday through Sunday, beginning November 25, 2005, or enjoy a romantic carriage ride around the grounds - to take in the lights of the holiday season.
 
11. 100 Miles of Lights - Virginia Beach, VA
Come share the glow of the season and experience millions of lights and hundreds of events from Virginia’s capital city to the Atlantic Ocean. The region will glitter and glow, sparkle and shine with lights, lights and more lights. 100 Miles of Lights features holiday events and activities in Richmond, Williamsburg, Newport News, Hampton, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach.

Drive-through and walk-through light shows will dazzle and shine with more than two million lights, providing a colorful backdrop to the wide range of events and activities for the young and young-at-heart. Lighted boat parades, city illuminations, festivals, parades, living history re-enactments, caroling, dining events, music and dance are among the many activities occurring throughout the region from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day.
12. Bright Nights at Forest Park - Springfield, MA
New England’s most popular holiday destination and largest drive-through lighting display. Two and a half miles of Forest Park are illuminated with more than 500,000 twinkling lights, bringing the magic of the holiday season to life for people of all ages, in dozens of dramatic scenes such as “Poinsettia Fantasy,” “Seuss Land,” “Toy Land,” and “Victorian Village.” Plans are in place this year for bright new displays, and special celebrations to commemorate the holiday traditions of the many cultures that make up the region.

Source:
http://www.americasbestonline.net/christmas.htm

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

A New Year’s Resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous. The name comes from the fact that these commitments normally go into effect on New Year’s Day and remain until the set goal has been achieved[1].

We at ForRent.com strive to be the leading internet listing service for apartment seekers. We want to give you an opportunity to choose your next loft, townhouse, condo, efficiency, house, duplex or apartment for rent by searching through over 50,000 apartment listings nationwide on our website. We also wish to be apartment hunters’ guide when searching for tips and advice in their daily life as well as during the apartment search. So that is our resolution, to be all those things for you!

So what are your resolutions this year?? If it’s to find a great new place to call home, go to ForRent.com! We can help you make your resolution a reality!

[1] Wikipedia.org

Since we’ve posted information about Christmas and Hanukkah, I thought I’d post a brief history of Kwanzaa as well.

Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26^th (today) till January 1st and is a holiday for honoring family, communities and African Culture. The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which means “first fruits” in Swahili, a Pan-African language which is the most widely spoken African language. It was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, a professor in the department of black studies at California State University at Long Beach. This celebration is held for seven days, one day for each of the below principles.

Day One: UMOJA (Unity)

This principle promotes togetherness among families, communities and races.

Day Two: KUJICHAGULIA (Self-determination)

This day is about creating and living with each others’ unique identities.

Day Three: UJIMA (Collective work and Responsibility)

On the third day, those who celebrate Kwanzaa encourage each other to embrace individual problems as issues that the community can solve.

Day Four: UJAMAA (Cooperative economics)

Ujamaa promotes entrepreneurship that will benefit the community.

Day Five: NIA (Purpose)

People strive to improve the community with their vocational skills.

Day Six: KUUMBA (Creativity)

Kuumba is closely related to Nia. Kwanzaa stresses any creative work that will make the community a better place for present and future generations.

Day Seven: IMANI (Faith)

The last night of Kwanzaa encourages people to believe in each other and the victories won by their ancestors.

Kwanzaa isn’t a religious holiday, so it is not uncommon for a family to celebrate both Christmas and Kwanzaa.

Do you or somebody you know celebrate Kwanzaa? Tell us a little bit about your traditions?

Source: OfficialKwanzaaWebsite.org

There is a great deal of diversity in today’s apartment communities, much like the diversity throughout our country. And when I think about diversity, I don’t think about students. But there are large cities that often have many students from various countries such as Atlanta, GA. Did you know that Atlanta has 5,500 international students from 140 nations studying at its area colleges and universities! That’s amazing! Many of these students will live in apartment housing, either student housing or regular apartment communities and even though they are living here during their studies, many never really get to meet and know Americans. However, the Atlanta Ministry with International Students (AMIS) has provided “getting to know you” opportunities to students since 1978. Through churches, civic and service organizations, corporations and individuals, the international students get to connect with Americans. “AMIS” is a French word that means “friends” and AMIS has built friendship and hospitality bridges with over 50,000 students!!

One of the programs AMIS has is the Christmas International House. International students from colleges and universities across the US come to Atlanta, and Atlanta international students go out to different cities. Families and individuals share their homes for a one or two-week period during the holidays, and everyone shares another culture, perhaps a different religious background and often different political views. Wouldn’t that be neat, to share your culture/values with a person from another country? Imagine what we’d learn?

Whether you live in an apartment, a condominium, a small house or a big house, there may be opportunities like this for you in your area. In the midst of our diversity everyone stands together as one human family. You could build a bridge!

Do you know of any similar programs in your area that you would like to share?

You love your apartment community so why not help keep it safe? There are some things that all of us can do to help make where we live just a little safer! For example, you could start a neighborhood watch program, or if your apartment community already has one, become more involved.

Any motivated individual or a collective group can organize a neighborhood watch program, doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, single or married. All you need to do is send a flier around the neighborhood stating your wish to organize a neighborhood watch program or visit your neighbors to communicate your efforts. Set up a meeting at your apartment or the clubhouse so that you and your neighbors can discuss any issues that are occurring. As a group, you should create a list of topics that you find concerning and that need to be addressed. The committee can organize a schedule for who will be patrolling areas and when. Other items you may need are mentioned below:

A time and place to meet regularly, a map of the community with spaces for names, addresses and phone numbers, brochures or other material on topic of interest (i.e. crime rate, neighborhood facts, etc.) as well as Neighborhood Watch Signs that need to be posted around the community (You can purchased these at the National Neighborhood Watch Institute website)

Once you’ve got the basic set up taken care of, you may want to have a police officer come in and sit with the committee to give some ideas of how to spot a potential crime or unusual behavior, how to handle a crime, and how to report one.

Hopefully with all the steps mentioned above and of course visiting the USAOnWatch.org site, you’ll be able to accomplish your goals in making your apartment community a safer one for you and other residents alike.