Your Heart In San Francisco

(Image courtesy of Patrick Smith)

We all have our own reasons for loving San Francisco. Whether it be the creative people, the vibrant city life or the accessibility of nature there are draws for every person.

Though we're sure you don't need any more of a reason to love it here - just in case writer Miles Young from renters.apartments.com breaks down the best parts of our favorite city! Keep reading to learn more. 

The Naturalists Paradise

San Francisco is often called the birthplace of mountain biking, and a scan of the surrounding areas will quickly tell you why. The city not only boasts mild temperatures year round, but it's close to some of the most beautiful natural parks on Earth. It is a mere 3.5 hours from Yosemite National park; weekend excursions for hiking, biking, and camping are a common occurrence for city folk.

There's also the gorgeous Point Reyes National Seashore, which is just 35 miles away. This scenic locale offers city residents a 70,000 acre preserve that plays host to whale watching, surfing, and countless forests and beaches to explore.

Clement Street

Often overlooked by visitors of the city, Clement Street is generally considered a second Chinatown, full of fantastic eateries and one-of-a-kind stores. Travel writer and San Francisco native Carol Terwilliger Myers highly suggests visitors explore local favorite Green Apple Books, an old-style bookstore full of discounted titles and rare selections.

The city is chock full of unique stores like this one, and Clement Street itself holds some of the most fascinating of them all. It's certainly a great place to spend an afternoon, and it's full of some delicious restaurants as well.

Ride the Cable Cars

Outside of San Francisco, public transportation is often one of the most despised aspects of any great city. But for natives, it's all but impossible to think of life without the iconic cable cars that still roll about the streets.

These relics of the past still function fantastically today, and for a small fee they'll take you wherever you want to go while giving you an amazing tour of the city in the process. They also give you access to some of the incredible views that San Francisco is known for, making them not only effective but a treat to ride as well!

Experience the Past

San Francisco is well-known for the city's obsession with the past. There's a vibrant mixture of old and new here, all seamlessly intertwined to create an incredible amount of character and charm. From used clothing stores offering up classic styles to the famous Great American Music Hall, this is a city steeped in rich, colorful history. If you've got a passion for days gone by, you'll love the unique style that the city actively embraces.

The Tech Scene

Geeks and techies are starting to take over San Fran, transforming it slowly but surely into a technological powerhouse. You'll find them everywhere, be that in line at the various, independent coffee shops or tapping away on their mobile phones while riding the city's cable cars.

The city is quickly overtaking Silicon Valley as the destination for the technically inclined among us. Startups are moving to San Francisco in droves, generating tons of new tech jobs throughout the area for those looking to move. For people searching for a career in the digital or tech fields, there's no better place to search than here.

While it's easy to see why San Francisco is one of the most beautiful places to live on Earth, under the gorgeous exterior you'll find a bustling metropolis as exciting as it is easy on the eyes. From the classically aged shops and iconic buildings to its surging digital and tech fields, there's something around every corner of San Fran to keep you surprised and coming back for more.

Cooking Up Some Kitchen Decor

(Image courtesy of Chalon Handmade)

Every kitchen has mostly the same features like a refrigerator, a stove, a microwave, a table and chairs, but what makes your kitchen unique? We’re all individuals and our traits should be reflected in the room we spend the most time in!

From the furniture and silverware that we choose down to the color of the walls, your kitchen provides ample opportunity to express yourself. This article from renters.apartments.com has a few great ideas to insert a little more personality into your kitchen. Keep reading to learn more!

Change up your walls: Instead of choosing rich, deep colors for your first project, you will likely feel more comfortable with a neutral like beige or gray. These colors won’t date the room and will prevent you from possibly getting quickly tired of a more drastic color palette.

Brighten up the kitchen: Use mirrors to capture the sunlight and bounce it around. Try putting a mirror across from a window or on a wall that corners against the window wall for the most light distribution.

Make seasonal changes: Moving the kitchen furniture into a 'summer arrangement' can optimize your space and give it a more airy feel. Make it light and breezy - think about removing some of the furniture and decorations for a lighter feel. Open those curtains and let the sun shine in!

Use slipcovers: Slipcovers over your chairs can soften the room and add to your decor. For the holidays, try using special covers in holiday patters or colors. For a nice summer change, use white cotton or canvas slipcovers on the chairs.

Get ideas from the pros: Look in magazines, books, television or the internet to get a flavor of the accessories and designs you would like to see in your kitchen. If you see a kitchen decorated in a way that you like, think about how you can duplicate the same decor in your home.

Decorate with cookbooks: You can make a nice display with your cookbooks. Try grouping them in interesting configurations with some lying down and some standing. Don't put small books next to tall books but align them in graduating sizes.

Warm it up with rugs: Area rugs can add a splash of color or cover up an old or unmatched floor. When buying rugs, measure your space so you can be sure to get the right rug size. Rugs used under a table should be large enough to also accommodate the chairs when fully pulled out.

Bring the outdoors inside: Don't be afraid to hang plants from any bare ceiling corner to give a lived in feeling to a plain kitchen. Plants provide interest and soften up the room. For above the cabinets or hard to reach places, silk plants work just as well as real ones, however, if you do buy silk, go with a good quality arrangement that looks realistic.

Change your look with accessories: A few strategically placed accessories can change your kitchen from dull to dramatic! Choose a theme and you could give your kitchen a whole new look just by replacing some key accessories like toaster covers, dish towels, canister sets, salt and pepper shakers and pot holders.

Change your cabinet pulls: There are so many different styles of cabinet pulls these days - figural, wooden, ceramic, glass - you should be able to find a design that matches your new decor easily. They are easy to install yourself and your friends will think you got new cabinets!

Add a border: Wallpaper borders are easy to put up and can add color and interest. You can use them at the top of the wall or go with a less traditional use underneath the cabinets. Use them at chair rail height to break up long walls. An even less expensive (but more labor intensive) alternative is to use stencils and paint.

Get Creative

(Image courtesy of Linus Bohman)

Our apartments are the spaces where we let our thoughts out. After a long day, we can come home and unwind and work on whatever project suits our fancy; but is your apartment well-suited to allow you the creative freedom you need to get the job done?

Using these quick tips from renters.apartments.com will get the creative juices flowing in your home before you know it. Keep reading to see a few of our favorites:

1. Add some surround sound. Research has shown that a moderate amount of ambient noise—just enough to stir up the air, but not so much that you’re distracted—can help your think more creatively.

Try queuing up a productivity playlist with coffee shop sounds on Coffitivity, the sounds of Stonehenge and exotic locales around the world on SoundTransit, or hear what I assume it sounds like inside a lava lamp with Brian Eno’s Music for Airports.

2. Change your colors. When tasked with answering questions requiring creative thinking, people reading the questions against a blue background performed markedly better than people who saw the same questions against a red background. Red, often associated with danger, caused people to be more alert, but blue triggered them to be more creative. Accent wall, anyone?

3. Make “tidy” the status quo. The “need” to clean up a messy apartment is the number one way to talk yourself out of doing creative work at home. Or at least it was, before everything we owned connected to the internet. Rid yourself of the excuse by cleaning for 10 minutes every day so your place stays tidy and you can’t procrasti-clean.

4. Get a French press. Or something fancier, like an espresso machine. Or something less fancy, like a thrift store coffeemaker. It doesn’t matter. What matters is drinking coffee can help you be more creative and productive. Ain’t science the greatest?

5. Track your progress. Jerry Seinfeld is famous for his productivity chain (also Seinfeld). According to Lifehacker, it goes a little something like this: First, get a big wall calendar that shows the full year on it. Next, get a red marker. Then, set yourself a goal—say, to write every day—and every day you do it, you get to X that day off the calendar with your marker. Get a couple weeks of X’s under your belt and your task is no longer “write every day,” but more simply, “don’t break the chain.”

Half the battle is following through every day and the other half is keeping that calendar where you can see it.

6. Use or make your walls. Hippy-dippy though it sounds, there’s a lot to be said for carving out what’s called a “sacred space” in your home. Do it well, and in time your brain will learn “I’m in my closet/office where I do fun creative stuff. It’s time to start thinking like that!” and get warmed up faster.

A sacred space can be anywhere, but it helps if it has a door—or a room divider, or curtain, or anything that helps you find the space you need to let your brain go on a daily fun run.

Any other creativity-boosting ideas to add? Share them in the comments below!

Quick Tips For Foodies On The Run

(Image courtesy of Nick Wheeler)

We know the routine. Between work, socializing, chores and sleep there are hardly enough hours in the day sometimes, especially when it comes to taking the time to prepare a meal. Simply because you have alot on your plate, (no pun intended) doesn't mean that you should be relegated to quick bites and snacking to fill you up. There is a balance to be found if you enjoy cooking on your own. Learn how to optimize your time, here, or just keep reading.

1. Buy Meat in Bulk

Doesn’t matter if you’re shopping for hamburger, chicken breasts, or fish, the best deals in the meat department come in the largest packages. At home, immediately divide those big packs into individual servings and put each one in a Ziploc bag. Add your favorite spices or marinade and then freeze ’em so you have instant entrées that just need to be grilled or baked. To save money, check out hangar steaks. They’re tasty, high in protein, and very inexpensive, says chef Josh Eden, of NYC’s Ten Ten restaurant. “Just cut them across the grain to keep them tender,” he says.

2. Keep Produce Fresh Longer

Don’t just chuck everything you buy into the fridge. Tomatoes, avocados, squash, and citrus are better off sitting on a cool countertop for a few days instead of being blasted with cold temperatures. Never wash veggies before storing either; just keep them in a loosely rolled plastic bag. You can also hit ’em with a dash of olive oil first. “The oil keeps them from going bad as quickly,” says Guillermo Tellez, executive chef at Square 1682 in Philadelphia.

3. Embrace Cubism

Instead of drinking the red wine leftover from that marinara sauce you made, pour some into an ice cube tray and freeze until you need it. You can do the same thing with fresh juice, pasta sauce, pesto, gravy, even broths and vegetable stock.

4. Rescue Leftovers

Got rice that came with your Chinese take-out? Nuke it with a little water and butter to bring it back to life. Leftover veggies? Add a couple tablespoons of water before reheating them. Stale bread or crackers? Scatter them on a baking sheet, sprinkle with a little water and reheat in the oven at 350º until warm and crispy.

5. Shop Like a Chef

Stock up on pantry staples like spices, olives, canned beans, and tomatoes, says Matthew Accarrino, the executive chef at San Francisco’s acclaimed SPQR. “They have a long shelf life and will broaden your ability to be creative, spur of the moment.” Always have on hand: whole oats (use in place of bread crumbs in meatloaf and meatballs for extra fiber and vitamins); whole- grain tortilla shells (to make quesadillas, bake them for crispy taco shells, or cut them in pieces for “homemade” pita chips); and light sour cream