Apartment Blog

I know you know those people we’re referring to. The people you ‘have’ to like and ‘need’ to get a gift for. It could be a friend you’ve known through the various social circles you travel, or it could actually be a relative you’re not fond of. Whomever it may be, during the holiday season you are forced to come up with a gift idea suitable for them. Wouldn’t it be great if you could really tell them how you feel? Well how about doing it in a backhanded way through your gift this year?!?!  Take a look…..

1. For the friend who is always in debt and complaining about money-a ‘Managing Your Money for Dummies’ book (added bonus would be a piggy bank)!

2. For your smelly friends-a body wash gift basket set. She’ll think you’re just being sweet, but you’ll know the real reason why!

3. For the domestically challenged-a cookbook with a gift card to a restaurant. Just in case the ‘oops’ occasion happens (which we all know will)!

4. For the winer-literally a bottle of wine! Maybe even throw in some cheese. Better yet, a violin ornament. For the heart strings she’s pulling…….

5. For the friend with a POS car-a AAA Membership

6. For the friend who constantly talks about losing weight but can never seem to drop the chocolate-the ‘Weight Watchers Complete Cookbook’. (an accessory could be a scale)

7. For the single friend in your life-a frog statue with a note ‘kiss me, I’ll turn into your prince charming’…..then hopefully she can leave YOU alone!!

8. For the cat lady…..duh! ANYTHING with CATS!!!!! They’ll enjoy it, but you’ll get a kick out of the real reason you purchased it. Soon enough cat trinkets will start out numbering the actual amount of cats she has!!

9. For the friend who is WAY TOO chatty-a timer. Or better yet, if conversations always seem to circle back to her, a boomerang!!

10. For the ‘great listener’ friend-In one ear and out the other earrings. They are found at Uncommongoods.com

11. For the friend with constant drama-a set of Knife earrings. You could say it’s because she loves to cook……(but we all know the truth)! These are also found at Uncommongoods.com

12. And finally, sticking with holiday tradition-a Nutcracker! For the real ‘ball breaker’ in your life!  (nuts sold separately)

Hope this made you smile today, just thinking of the gifts you’d like to purchase for someone!! If you have any more ideas regarding gift giving for frenemies, let us know!! We all have them in our life….

As tradition with last years post Best Cities for Singles, we have posted the newest version for all those single folks! These rankings, done by Forbes, are meant to be a guide for young, ambitious singles who can live and work wherever they want.

To determine the best cities out of the 40 largest urbanized areas in America they devised criteria of seven categories:  number of singles, night life, culture, cost of living alone, job growth, online dating activity and coolness (the last criteria being my favorite). In order to determine the coolness of each city, a poll was conducted in which participants were asked “Among the following U.S. cities, which one do you think is the coolest?” It is no surprise that New York was deemed the coolest city overall.

Here are the top 10….

1. Atlanta, GA

2. San Francisco, CA

3. Dallas, TX

4. Minneapolis, MN

5. Washington D.C

6. Seattle, WA

7. Boston, MA

8. New York City, NY

9. Orlando, FL 

10. Phoenix, AZ

Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, tops the Forbes list of the best cities for singles mainly because of its great night life, high number of singles in the area as well as the great job growth market! In the eight years Forbes has been ranking America’s cities for singles, Atlanta has been in the top ten all but one year. Making it one of the friendliest cities!

Want to see if your city made the list?

Check out Forbes.com’s complete list of the Best Cities for Singles 2008 here. You can even sort by top cities for culture, nightlife, singles, job growth, living cost and online.