Blog Posts

Tips on Disconnecting

Social media has its benefits for everyone that uses it, but it can be a detriment and a time waster as well. During the summer, it can be hard to see others on tropical vacations while you’re at home in your Chandler, AZ apartment, and there may be times when it’s better to disconnect. In this week’s Liv Avenida Blog, we’ll share with you some simple tips on how to step away from your technology and appreciate the things around you! Make Your Bedroom a Technology-Free Space How many times have you decided that it’s time for bed and then ended up on scrolling mindlessly on your phone until you finally decide you have to get to sleep past midnight? Choosing to keep technology — and especially phones — out of your bedroom is a good way to ensure you actually sleep. Keeping your tech out of sight will help to keep it out of mind. The common argument for keeping technology close by (especially your phone) is being in reach in case of emergency. This is valid, but if you are expecting emergency phone calls, you can keep your phone charging away from where you sleep, preferably in a place where you have to get up out of bed to retrieve it. Read a Book Even though we often do plenty of reading on our smartphones and computers, we tend to shy away from picking up a book and reading these days. Make a goal to pick a book and read it cover to cover, whether it be a fantasy novel, thriller, or biography. When you do, put your phone in another room, turn the TV off, and go to a quiet spot so you aren’t distracted. Let yourself be free of distraction and really get invested in what you’re reading. Leave Your Phone Behind For people who are particularly attached to their devices, one good way to disconnect is to leave your phone at home when you go out. Whether you’re only leaving the house for a short period of time or you’re headed out with friends, leave your phone at home and focus on whatever you’re doing and whoever you’re with. Once you get over the initial withdrawal, you’ll find that without the distraction of your mobile device or the social crutch of ignoring everyone else for your screen, you can more fully enjoy the company of the people that are with you. Disconnecting can be difficult, but it’s also a healthy and refreshing thing to do. Do you have any tips on how to disconnect? Let our apartment community know what you do to disconnect from technology and connect with your friends and family in real life by leaving a comment below!

Last Minute Father's Day Gift Ideas

For those of you who haven’t found the right Father’s Day gift yet, we get it. Life gets busy, and it can be hard to find something your dad will actually use! This week on Liv Avenida Blog, we’re here to help you out with a few of our favorite last-minute ideas that any father is sure to love. Whether you’ll be with your dad this year here in Chandler, AZ or you just plan to send him something to show your love, check out these ideas today! Wallet Ninja Are you looking for something inexpensive that will be just as appreciated as anything else? The Wallet Ninja is a great option. This multitool fits easily in your wallet just like any credit card would, yet it can be used for eighteen unique purposes! The next time someone needs a screwdriver, bottle opener, ruler, can opener, or ruler, your dad will be able to both surprise and impress everyone by whipping his new Wallet Ninja right out of his pocket. Hydro Flask Does your father have an insulated water bottle yet? They are game changers! Hydro Flask makes the best bottle we’ve seen yet, guaranteed to keep liquids as cold as when you put them in for 24 hours or piping hot for 12. Choose between 20, 32, and 40-ounce bottles, depending on how serious of a water-drinker your dad is. The best part? These bottles have a lifetime warranty! Magic BBQ Rub If your dad can be found out on the patio grilling meat all summer long, then this spicy barbecue rub will surely hit the spot. He’ll be even more impressed to know you mixed it together by yourself. Head over to a local grocery store like WinCo that sells spices by weight, and get just enough of each spice for a double or triple batch. Pick out some sort of container to put it in, and your gift is ready! Buckshot Pro: 3-in-1 Outdoor Tech Gadget The Buckshot Pro is the perfect gift for dads who love both technology and the outdoors. It’s a Bluetooth speaker, a portable device charger, and a flashlight, all in one device! On top of that, it’s water resistant, so you won’t have to worry about it if it gets a little bit wet. This is also an ideal gift for any bikers out there because it comes with an accessory to mount this gadget on bicycle handlebars. Have you already picked out your gift? Help the rest of our apartment community get some ideas by sharing it in the comments below!

Celebrating National Best Friends Day

Liv Avenida Blog welcomes you to the month of June! In addition to summer vibes, this month also brings something you might want to celebrate this year: National Best Friends Day! This year, the designated day to commemorate the relationship you have with your dearest friend is Saturday, June 8th. To help you make this day special, we’re giving you four simple ideas you can try out to show your best friend how much you care about them. Whether they live here in Chandler, AZ or whether they’re halfway across the world, consider one of these ideas today! Plan a Surprise Outing A great way to show your best friend that you’re thinking of them is to plan a day filled with activities you and your best friend love doing. Let them know that they should plan on spending the day with you, but then tell them that the specific plans are a secret! Do you have a favorite place to eat when you’re together? A hike you’ve been on that you enjoyed? What about a bar or a nightclub where you two have a funny memory? Whatever you choose to do, fill your day with all of your favorite things to do as two friends. To go one step further, dress up like your best friend, and tell them to dress up like you! Make a Playlist Another idea for National Best Friends Day is to spend time creating a playlist just for you two. If you’ve spent enough time together, chances are, you have specific songs that remind you of one another. Preserve all these tunes by putting them on a playlist so you and your best friend can listen to it when you’d like to recall some of your favorite memories. If you need help filling up your playlist, check out this list of best friend songs . Send a letter Finally, a personalized letter will always make your best friend smile. This week, set aside some time to sit down and write a sincere and thoughtful letter to your friend. Draw doodles in the margins or throw in a funny picture of the two of you to make them laugh while they read it. Make sure to mail it in time to get there on or before June 8th! What do you plan to do for your friend on National Best Friends Day? Let our apartment community know in the comments below.

Last-Minute Memorial Day Ideas

Happy Memorial Day from Liv Avenida Blog! We hope you are enjoying the day off from school, work, or whatever other commitments you usually have on a typical Monday. If you don’t already have plans for the holiday today, we’re here to share with you four last-minute activities you can do to make today enjoyable. Try one of these out near your Chandler, AZ apartment sometime before the day is over: Visit a Cemetery Do you ever take a trip to a nearby cemetery on Memorial Day to place flags or flowers on the graves of loved ones? If not, consider making it a Memorial Day tradition; you can start this year! If you have any loved ones buried nearby, you can use it as a moment to honor their names by thinking of memories you have about them. If you don’t know anyone buried in a local cemetery, consider going with flowers anyway, and looking for graves that don’t yet have flowers on them. Try to identify a grave of a veteran that hasn’t had any visitors yet, and pay tribute to the service they did for our country by leaving a flower near their headstone. Pack a Picnic If you’re looking for a fun way to have lunch today, why not pack a picnic and take it somewhere pretty? You likely eat lunch inside every day, so take advantage of the day off and the warm weather by eating a simple meal you enjoy with people that you love. Make sure to pack some sunscreen, as it might get pretty hot outside. If you find some shade, you might even try taking an afternoon nap in the open air after you finish eating. Take a Day Trip If there is a small town outside of Chandler that you’ve been interested in visiting, or if there’s a nearby hike or outdoor sight that you have wanted to check off your list, Memorial Day might be the perfect day to do it! Benefit from the freedoms you have — both because today is a day off, and because of the rights you enjoy as an American — by going somewhere of your choosing on a day you have open. You don’t have to travel very far to have an adventure. Plus, sometimes the most enjoyable experiences are to be had in our own backyard. Get Ready for Summer Maybe you’d prefer to spend the day inside today to catch up on organization or cleaning. There are plenty of things you can do inside your apartment to make today worthwhile. Because summer is right around the corner, it’s time to get ready for it! Start by unpacking any summer clothes, beach towels, and pool toys that you may have stored away. To save space, you could use those same boxes to store any winter clothing or decorations that you still have out. If you’d rather take it easy, consider brainstorming a few ideas for a weekend trip you’d like to take later in the summer. Whatever you choose to do to welcome the next season, it will likely get you in the summer spirit. Thanks for reading our post, and have a happy Memorial Day!

Fresh Recipes for National Salad Month

Welcome back to Liv Avenida Blog! Every May is National Salad Month, and since we’ve noticed that a bad salad can taste really bad, we decided to share some recipes with you that will taste better than you could have imagined. While it’s not quite summertime yet, the weather is starting to warm up, and a cool summer salad can serve as the perfect meal or side dish. This month, when you’re stumped on what to fix for dinner, we suggest you try one of the following recipes out in your Chandler, AZ apartment; when you find that perfect recipe, you might just want to make it all summer long. Steak with Tangy Sauce and Watercress Salad by Bon Appetit If you love steak, then it’s impossible not to love this delicious protein-packed salad. Starting with a base of watercress lettuce, Persian cucumbers, and mint leaves, top this salad with medium-rare rib eye — or skirt steaks if you want something simpler — and a delicious vinaigrette. Avocado, Orange, and Jicama Salad by Food and Wine Are you looking for a fun twist on a side salad to add an exciting touch to your meal? Make sure to test out this recipe with a delicious Mexican flare. This salad’s main ingredients are oranges, jicama, avocados, cilantro, and lime juice, and the combination creates a salad that is creamy, citrusy, and crunchy, all at the same time! Charred Corn Salad with Mint, Parsley, and Cilantro by Food and Wine Bring together lots of exciting ingredients with this charred corn salad from Food and Wine. The corn itself has a fun new flavor after it has been grilled and charred. By adding mint, cilantro, parsley, jalapeno, onions, and maple syrup, you’ll have multiple distinct flavors combined in one salad that turn out to be surprisingly complementary. Which of these salad recipes caught your eye the most? Do you have any other favorite salads you will make this month? Let our apartment community know by leaving a comment below!

Fitness Center Tips

If you haven’t yet succeeded at implementing a consistent exercise routine, we imagine that from time to time you think about how to make room for one in your busy schedule. Luckily enough for you, living in our Liv Avenida apartment community means that you have access to a complimentary fitness center. We think the best way to implement more working out into your daily life is to start with the resources in front of you! Today, our blog has a few simple tips for using the fitness center more efficiently: Find a Gym Buddy We suspect that the convenient location and the scaled-down size of our fitness center will make your experience exercising a little less intimidating, but it’s never a bad idea to bring a friend along with you to make it even better. Having a person to interact with that you have chosen in advance eases the tension and pressure of doing things the “right way” at the gym. Chances are, there are plenty of people right here within our community who are looking for a fitness buddy as well! Don’t Overlook the Weights For someone new to working out at the fitness center, it can seem appealing to stick with the familiar and intuitive equipment like the treadmill, the stationary bike, and the elliptical machine. Don’t get us wrong, cardio is an important component of a fitness routine, but it’s a mistake to replace strength training with more cardio out of convenience or familiarity. You may not intend to get ripped or to gain a noticeable amount of muscle, but a moderate amount of weight training using both free weights and weight machines will help keep your body in healthy working order. When combined with cardio, it’s also the optimal way to burn calories! Unplug It’s true that phones can, in theory, be a helpful tool at the fitness center, but they can also get in the way of you having productive exercise time. Apps like timers and music might enhance your workout, while messages and social media will slow it down. We recommend putting your phone in airplane mode while at the fitness center! Include Something Fun Last but not least, we think that in order to sustain a lifestyle of fitness and exercise, it’s crucial to include something you love doing in your mix. If shooting hoops is your style, make sure to scope out a place to play and a group of people to play with so that you have some more exciting form of exercise in the mix each week. If not, find a way to make your time in the fitness center more fun. You could watch a movie while you run, lay down a mat and follow along to an upbeat workout routine, or create an energetic playlist. Even more, you could incorporate another sport or physical activity you love to do somewhere in Chandler, AZ outside of the fitness center into your weekly schedule! We hope these simple suggestions will help you know how to take better advantage of our fitness center. Thanks for reading!