Apartment Blog

There are many reasons to love Halloween.  Here are 5:

• 1. It means that Fall is really here. You get to enjoy the beautiful colors of fall and even enjoy the cool weather before the fresh winds of November roll through.
• 2. Candy is in abundance and you don’t have to feel guilty about purchasing lots and lots of it. People will automatically assume that you are buying candy for the neighborhood kids, but you may just be buying it for yourself! Enjoy it, it will be your last candy binge before Christmas!
• 3. Potential to meet new neighbors. Halloween gives you a reason to interact with neighbors that you may have been shy to meet in the past. It may also help your kids meet good friends in the neighborhood
• 4. Kids! Well, you may not be a fan of kids but you won’t be able to turn them down in their cute costumes. Even if you don’t have your own, you can spoil other people’s kids, see their smiles, and then see them leave. This might be the ideal interaction with kids.
• 5. Another excuse to have a party. The last quarter of the year can be extremely stressful and any occasion to have a party is a good occasion. Don’t miss out this year.

Have a Happy and Safe Halloween!

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

 Football equals Thanksgiving, right?  Now I would consider myself every inch of the word “fanatic” when it comes to sports, but I would have to put food over football when equating one or the other to Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving, by the way, is my favorite holiday!  Now that that’s out of the way, I would say one of our country’s greatest pastimes is to eat turkey and watch football on Thanksgiving Day.  Thanksgiving is a time for families to get together and just spend quality time.  Now for those of you who live in apartments, don’t feel left out.

I am also a renter who is having house guests for the holiday.  I live in a one-bedroom apartment, but it’s pretty roomy.  Roomy enough for my three younger sisters to crash.  It works because the atmosphere becomes more intimate and you get that closeness with your fam.  Granted they’re not rabid sports fans like me, they suffer through it to spend time with me!  Don’t let apartment living stop you from really enjoying your sports.  I know I certainly don’t let it stop me! 

The Thanksgiving Day Classic is one that carries rich tradition.  This American football custom began in 1920 showcasing five teams, all of whom are now defunct.  This year Thanksgiving Day gives way to 3 games on Thursday, November 27^th.  The Detroit Lions play host to the Tennessee Titans, fresh from their first loss of the season with a kickoff time of 12:30 PM.  The Titans will definitely be taking out some frustration.  Poor Lions, the Titans are going to whip them like some potatoes!  Next, the Dallas Cowboys play host to the Seattle Seahawks with kickoff scheduled for 4:15 PM on Fox.  Even without Tony Romo, Dallas should have no problem brushing the Seahawks to the side.  And last but not least, we have the Arizona Cardinals visiting the Philadelphia Eagles with kickoff scheduled for 8:15 PM on the NFL network.  I’m a little hesitant to give a prediction on this game because the Eagles are streaky, but Arizona, better yet, Kurt Warner, has definitely been showing more than shades of his former self. 

You can turn your apartment into a Thanksgiving Day Classic haven for your family and friends by visiting ForRent.com or our Holiday Guide on our blog.  Now don’t choke on turkey while screaming for you teams!  Gobble, Gobble!!  Happy Thanksgiving.

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

Okay, so we’ve posted a lot of ‘lovey, dovey’ blogs pertaining to Valentine’s Day. And truth be told I wasn’t even going to blog about this, but I go to check my email this morning and saw this article! It must be shared with everyone! It’s about revenge Valentine’s gifts. So let’s say you and your sweetheart just recently broke up, right before Valentine’s Day, and you want to send him/her a little reminder that you’re still mad about it! Well on Asylum.com, you can. This website offers you many little trinkets to send depending on the level of revenge you’d like to get!

Scrolling through their gallery I saw so many things that almost make me wish I had an ex to send them to! Like the severed middle finger. Instead of actually flipping off your ex, you can now send him/her one in the mail! An authentic voodoo kit to put a curse on your enemy or a mailed stinky dead fish (guaranteed to be extremely offensive) is also available! There are also ‘bitter hearts’ which are like conversation hearts traditional of Valentine’s Day, but with the words ‘dumped, despair and dysfunctional’ written on them instead. And lastly, a mixed CD of the most annoying sounds!

Even if you don’t have an ex you’d like to send a revengeful gift to, just seeing all the possibilities you could send has to make you laugh a little!! And put a little smile on your face this Valentine’s Day!!

DISCLAIMER: FORRENT.COM DOES NOT ADVOCATE THE ACT OF BEING REVENGEFUL IN ANY WAY. WE CANNOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ACTIONS TAKEN UPON SOMEONE AS THIS BLOG IS SIMPLY POSTED FOR INFORMATIVE PURPOSES.