Blog Posts

Car Care and Cleaning Tips

Liv Avenida is an apartment community dedicated to our residents’ convenience and comfort. One of our amenities you’ll definitely find useful any day of the year here in Chandler, AZ is our Car Care Center. Learn more about its features and find some great tips to use as you care for and clean your car in today’s blog. Take advantage of your resources. You don’t have to worry about cleaning your whole car yourself if you take your car in for a wash. Check out these car wash shops in Chandler to find one that best suits your needs and wishes. Of course, there’s more to cleaning your car than giving the outside of it a wash! As soon as it’s washed, head home to Liv Avenida and use our Car Care Center’s auto vacuums to vacuum the inside. BuzzFeed suggests using a foam brush to dust in between the A/C vents and to get the knobs as you vacuum. They have a few other car cleaning hacks you can try, such as using a Magic Eraser to get sticky substances from your car surfaces and a toothbrush to scrub dirt from vinyl. Then use some basic home products to clean your car , such as toothpaste for cleaning your headlights or a coffee filter to dust. And don’t forget to check on basic car maintenance! Remember to check these five car-care tips that should never be ignored , including checking your tires and filling them up at the air stations available at our center. Keep a log of things that you only check or get changed every few months so that you don’t forget to check on them when the time comes. What are your favorite things about our Car Care Center? What are your best tips for caring for your car or your favorite places to go to wash it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading!

Three Fun Games for Game Night

Your apartment at Liv Avenida is the perfect spot for hosting some guests. Get to know your neighbors or friends better by inviting them over for a game night. Today on the blog we’re featuring a few games you can play for a fun time bonding with your friends. Nertz You don’t actually need to buy a specific game of decks to play this game. All you need is as many card decks as there are players (or half as many, if you’d like to pair up and play in teams of two). Each player essentially plays Solitaire and tries to score positive points by building cards on top of Aces of the proper suit in the middle of the group. Whoever gets rid of the 13 cards from their Nertz pile first calls “Nertz!” and ends the round. Each player gets a negative point for how many cards they still have in their Nertz pile. Tally up the points by dealing out the cards to their owners, and play as many rounds as you wish. We suggest you see who can get to 100 points first! Buffalo If you or your fellow game night-goers love to namedrop, this is the perfect game to include in your evening’s lineup. This card game requires that people draw two cards and name a person or character that fits the specific combination. The goal is to collect the most cards, so brush up on your history or pop culture before playing! This game easily accommodates large or small groups. Pass It On You don’t have to be an artist (and you don’t even need a lot of equipment) to play this game! You can print out the template on this website, or you can simply use paper and pens to play this artistic twist on the classic “Telephone” game. Each person starts their paper by writing a phrase or word combination on their paper. Then they fold it over and pass it to the next person, who will draw what was written. They fold it again so the next person can only see their drawing, and the person following writes down their description of the image on the paper. Keep doing this until there’s no room left for each player’s papers, and then unveil the results! What are your favorite games to play with a group of friends? Let us know in the comments so we can try them out! Thanks for reading. Have fun!

Movies Coming Out this August

Having a movie night in your apartment at Liv Avenida is always a great option for a fun summer evening. This month, if you want to get out of the apartment but still catch a great flick, head to your favorite movie theater in Chandler, AZ and catch one of these great new releases. August 4th Step — Documentary “STEP documents the senior year of a girls’ high-school step dance team against the background of inner-city Baltimore.” Wind River — Action, Crime, Mystery “An FBI agent teams with a town’s veteran game tracker to investigate a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation.” August 11th The Glass Castle — Biography, Drama “A young girl comes of age in a dysfunctional family of nonconformist nomads with a mother who’s an eccentric artist and an alcoholic father who would stir the children’s imagination with hope as a distraction to their poverty.” The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature — Animation, Adventure, Comedy “Following the events of the first film, Surly and his friends must stop Oakton City’s mayor from destroying their home to make way for a dysfunctional amusement park.” August 25th All Saints — Drama “ALL SAINTS is based on the inspiring true story of salesman-turned-pastor Michael Spurlock (John Corbett), the tiny church he was ordered to shut down, and a group of refugees from Southeast Asia. Together, they risked everything to plant seeds for a future that might just save them all.” Polaroid — Horror “Polaroid is styled in the vein of The Ring and Final Destination and centers on a high school loner, Bird Fitcher, who stumbles upon a vintage Polaroid camera. Bird soon learns that the camera houses a terrible secret: whoever has their picture taken by it meets a tragic and violent end. The girl and her friends must survive one more night as they race to solve the mystery of the haunted Polaroid before it kills them all.” What movies are you most excited to see this month? Which of these movies that are already out have you seen? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! Thanks for reading. Have fun watching these and any other movies you watch this August!

S'mores Recipes for National S'mores Day

August 10th is National S’mores Day! Celebrate right from your apartment by making and eating a delicious s’mores-inspired treat. Today the Liv Avenida Blog has some suggestions for a few recipes you can try all month long. S’mores Cookie Bars These s’mores cookie bars look absolutely delectable. Made with a “soft, chewy, slightly crunchy” graham cracker cookie and filled with a marshmallow cream and chocolate chips, this is also simple to make. We love how the way you assemble it lets the marshmallow cream and chocolate mix together and peek through the cookie topping the concoction. S’mores Bark — No Campfire Needed! Bark is always a great way to snack on some chocolate, and this recipe takes your favorite campfire treat and typical bark to a whole new level. All it takes is three ingredients: a pound of chocolate, a package of mini marshmallows, and graham cracker crumbs. Then look forward to breaking it apart and letting the marshmallow seep through! RITZ Peanut Butter S’mores We love how you can make use of some ingredients you probably already have in your pantry with this recipe. Gather together your favorite crackers, peanut butter, chocolate chips, and marshmallows for a creamy snack you’ll love to pop in your mouth any time of the day for a fun treat. S’mores Crescent Rolls Crescent rolls are one of the world’s best inventions: they’re easy and fast to prepare, and you can add most anything to it to make something catered exactly to your cravings. Fill them with Nutella, chocolate chips, and broken up graham crackers and drizzle with more Nutella for a new campfire-inspired creation to impress yourself and anyone you share it with. What are your favorite s’mores-inspired treats? Leave your suggestions in the comments so we can try them out. Enjoy! Thanks for reading!

TV Shows to Binge this Summer

There’s still a bit of summer left, so if you’re looking for a fun source of entertainment to keep you occupied at home here at Liv Avenida, watch a great TV show. Today on the blog we’re featuring a few shows you can stream in your apartment for a great way to mix up your summer excitement here in Chandler, AZ. 30 Rock Tina Fey stars as Liz Lemon, the head writer of a sketch comedy show in this comedy series, so you know it’s going to keep you tickled with laughter and relatability. Liz juggles all sorts of responsibilities as she struggles to meet the crazy demands of her wacky co-workers and friends, an arrogant new boss, and a crazy new star in this show. With a joke about almost anything you could experience in life, politics, work, and relationships, this show is a delight to watch if you need something to wind down to after a long day. Bones Named for the nickname FBI special agent Seeley Booth gives his partner, forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan, this show gives all the glory to nerds and others who fight crime and solve murders. It’s on its final season, so by the time you’re ready for it, you may not even have to wait for the last season to air on your streaming program of choice. It has great character development, but be aware: as with many TV shows and movies, your favorite character may die. Arrested Development This Ron Howard-narrated show follows the Bluth family, whose lives were thrown into disarray when the father, George Bluth Sr., gets arrested for shady business. Michael Bluth struggles to pick up the pieces of the family business while cleaning up the messes of every other member of his family, who each contribute to the dysfunctional family mayhem. However you feel about the Netflix-made final season, this show will definitely show you that family really is the most important thing. What are your favorite TV shows you recommend we watch? Let us know in the comments!

Easy Ways to Conserve Water this Summer

Summer in Arizona gets hot — there’s no denying that! But you can still conserve water and stay cool and hydrated by including good habits into your daily routine, in or outside of the apartment here at Liv Avenida. Today on the blog we’re featuring a few easy ways you can conserve water in your home. Don’t ignore leaks. One drip at a time, leaks don’t seem like a big deal. But drip by drip, they add up! You probably know this if you’ve ever experienced one. Report any drips you notice by sending in a maintenance request to our management so you can get the problem fixed and protect your apartment — and the earth — as best as you can. Use single rinses. Double rinses are good to use for those dishes, clothes, stains, and buildup that need more heavy rinsing to get and stay clean. However, most the time you could do just as well with a single rinse. Opt for that and see if you like the results. If you’re washing dishes by hand, cut down on the water you use to rinse by only turning on the tap when you’re washing each dish. Be mindful about bathroom water use. The bathroom is a place full of opportunities to use water — and that’s great! Water washes away the dirt that naturally accumulates, and we love modern plumbing. However, it’s easy to waste water. So make it a point to cut showers short, even by a few minutes, to save gallons of water. Turn off the faucet while you’re brushing your teeth. And save water every time you flush the toilet by filling a plastic water bottle with rocks or water and placing it in the toilet tank. This displaces water in the tank and cuts out on how much is used each time you flush! What ideas do you have for how to conserve water or otherwise save energy in your apartment? Let us know in the comments!