The Perfect Side Dish For The Holidays

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Do you have your holiday meals planned? Whether you are bringing a dish or making everything, planning your holiday dinner can be stressful. However, the most important part of a holiday meal is being together with your friends and family. We have a few easy creative dishes that will be a hit this holiday season. Take an hour or two and make these delicious dishes, we are positive they will be a hit with your holiday party. 

Sweet Potato Casserole

A great classic holiday side dish is the sweet potato casserole. This holiday classic is one that everyone looks forward to this time of year. You only need a few ingredients and 45 minutes to make your tastebuds happy. Do you want to make this, but you do not have a dish? Head to Williams Sonoma to grab a 9 by 13 glass baking dish. Check out All Recipes to find the whole recipe to this delicious dish 

A Holiday Salad

Salads always seem like the easiest thing to make for a pot luck. However, take some time this year and get creative with a unique and handmade winter salad. We are so excited to try this Winter Salad with Avocado, Pomegranate and Almonds. This easy recipe is done in 30 minutes and feeds eight people. You can even find the fresh produce locally at Whole Foods. You can even pair this salad with a Citrusy Chilean Sauvignon Blanc for a complete meal. See the easy steps to your delicious salad at Food and Wine. 

A Festive Chocolate Lollipop 

Cookies are what everyone craves at Christmas, but you can always mix it up with a delicious chocolate treat. Stick with the theme and make these Nutter Butter Reindeer Pops. These adorable lollipops involve taking a nutter butter dipping it in chocolate then adding decorations. These delicious treats end up looking adorable and tasting delicious. You can find candy to decorate with at The Candy Store. We think loved ones of all ages will like these adorable treats. You can find the recipe at Country Living. 

We hope all of our Wilson residents have a great holiday. 

Make A Difference This Holiday Season

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‘Tis the season! December and the holidays is a time to celebrate the spirit of giving. But who says you have to limit your gift giving to friends, families and coworkers? The holidays are also a great time to support local and national causes alike! Even better, with so many organizations to choose from, it’s easier than ever to support a cause that speaks to you personally.

At the same time, there are are so many organizations asking for help that it can be hard to decide who deserves your time and attention. To help you with this decision, we’ve listed a small handful of our own favorite local groups:

San Francisco Food Bank. The San Francisco Food Bank is on a mission to end hunger in the area. And to help do that, they distribute more than 41.5 million pounds of food a year! They'll be sponsoring multiple food drives with both schools and businesses during the month - and if you can’t make a planned event or if you’re too busy to stop by one of their donation drop-off spots, you can always support them directly online!

San Francisco SPCA. Who doesn’t love helping adorable puppies and kittens? Our local SPCA is a wonderful group, and the perfect group to support to help ensure that local animals are given food, warmth, shelter and care during the holidays. If you’ve thought about supporting this group with your time - or even with your spare pennies! - now is the perfect time to do it! (Of course, we’d advise planning on helping these guys for more than a few weeks if you plan on volunteering with them - as any shelter staff member or volunteer will tell you, cute animals need help year-round!)

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals Foundation. The holidays can be particularly rough for families in hospitals - and are especially heartbreaking when the patient is a child. The UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals Foundation exists to help families who are in this extremely upsetting state. In addition to collecting gifts for the children staying in the hospital, this foundation collections items that help family members just as much. Even donations of basic toiletries that families may need replaced as they’re sitting by a child’s bedside can bring a little bit of joy to what might otherwise be a depressing holiday season for these people.

These groups are just three examples of local organizations that are working to give back to the community this season - not to mention year-round! If these three don’t speak to your personally, though, have no fear. Thanks to websites such as greatnonprofits.org, it’s easy to look up organizations that are working out of San Francisco this season. With just a few clicks, you can find a group that you’ll feel good making a difference with!

What do you think - will you donate to one of these groups? Or did we not mention an organization that you personally love to support?

Last-Minute Holiday Gifts for Everyone in Your Life

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It happens to the best of us. You’ve made a list and checked it twice, but you left off your second cousin...and now you need a gift with very little time to get just the right thing! Whether you’ve been invited to a last-minute party or you have unexpected guests, sometimes you need a last-minute gift. And if you don’t have time to go shopping or order something online, it can be a big challenge!

Fortunately, there are plenty of places you can go for a nice last-minute gift. Why not try…

Make Your Own Unique Wall Art

A wonderful gift that you can wrap up and put under the tree is a piece of totally unique handmade wall art. You’re probably thinking, “But that will take forever!” Fortunately, this DIY magazine wall art has a big impact and doesn’t take long at all. So head over to Dick Blick, grab a canvas and a stack of old magazines, and get to work on an unforgettable art piece your giftee is sure to love.

Everyone Loves a Tasty Treat

If a yummy edible gift is more up your recipient’s alley, delightful holiday chocolates make a tasty gift that they’ll love. Of course, you can’t just zip down to the mini-mart and grab a Hershey’s. We suggest Cocoabella for upscale chocolates that look as good as they taste. If you want to get even more caffeinated, take a visit to Equator Coffee, where you can buy a variety of single-origin coffee (after grabbing a cup for yourself, if you’d like!).

Give the Gift of Beauty

Flowers don’t have to be a boring, impersonal gift. A gorgeous arrangement can make a lovely hostess gift, or can even work well for a variety of other holiday occasions. Consider getting a bouquet from local florist Natalini Flowers. Florist Crispy Luppino creates totally unique and amazing floral arrangements that are sure to please your giftee.

And If All Else Fails?

The best part about living in San Francisco is the wide variety of delightful restaurants serving cuisine from all around the world. Take your lucky last-minute giftee for lunch or dinner at Oriental or farmerbrown. After all - what better gift is there around the holidays than the gift of time? Spending an hour or two together over a lovely meal is a great way to cement your relationship this holiday season.

Decorate Your Home For The Holidays

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Thanksgiving and Black Friday events are over, this means that it is time to decorate for the holidays. Living in an apartment can provide you with many options to decorate. You can create a perfect winter wonderland in any space with a little creativity and work. We have gathered a few apartment holiday decorating ideas that we love. Make sure to share your holiday photos with your Wilson neighbors on our Facebook Page.

Windows

The windows in your apartment may be a favorite for you. Do you have a great view of the city or community? Use this space to start your holiday decorating. First, you need to gather some materials. Go to Pier 1 Imports and purchase some icicle lights and window snow paint. Hanging the lights while giving the illusion of snow on your windows (even if you are in a warm climate) is the perfect way to jump start your holiday spirit.  Apartment Therapy can give you a few more ideas on how to make this look perfect. 

Tree, Mistletoe, or Wreath?

The classic holiday items are perfect for any space, but deciding what is appropriate for your space is important. Mistletoe will fit in any apartment, all you need is a doorway or archway. Grab some mistletoe from Target and hang it in a high ceiling area in your house. Also, to add some holiday scents to your home, you can purchase a wreath. Even if you are not able to hang a wreath in your apartment or doorway, you can lean it against the wall on top of a cabinet or dresser. We recommend purchasing or making a wreath with scented pine cones in the arrangement. This gives you a nice holiday smell in your home all December long. 

Be Creative

Getting in the holiday spirit is about your personal preferences. Do you have any decorations that are sentimental? Make sure to prioritize and put these up before anything else. These items will end up becoming your favorite pieces, and they will be displayed in every home that you live in.

Thanksgiving DIY

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Thanksgiving is almost here. If you are hosting Thanksgiving or helping out, there are plenty of things to do to be ready for Thursday. Food preparation, cleaning, dessert baking and of course setting the table. The table may seem like the least important task, but with a few creative touches you could have a gorgeous holiday table that all of your friends and family will remember. Keep reading to learn how to make the perfect centerpiece for your new Thanksgiving tradition.


Flowers

The staple of any centerpiece are the gorgeous flowers. For a Thanksgiving centerpiece, we recommend sticking with browns, golds, oranges and reds. Apartment Therapy recommends using mums, goldenrods, hypericum and mystery greens. Instead of getting these flowers at the big superstore, head to your Union Square Flowers for fresh gorgeous flowers. Union Square Flowers is located at 780 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94102, just 5 minutes from your home at The Wilson.

Accessories
Whether you live in the city or in the country, you can always find creative ways to use what is available outside. Head to Mission Dolores Park and pick up some branches, pine cones or leaves from the trees. This is the perfect accent to your completed centerpiece. You may not use everything you find, but it is better to have extra than not enough.

Gather Your Supplies

You will need glue, rubber bands, scissors and more for your centerpiece. Head to FLAX art and design to gather your supplies. You can even get creative with what you want to include in the centerpiece. If you want to add some glitter or a coat of paint to stick with a theme, you can pick that up at FLAX art and design also. The final look of the centerpiece is all up to you.

Put It Together

Start by putting one stem and laying another across it. Make sure to continually attach your stems together. You keep doing this process in a clockwise motion. Once you have a few basic stems and flowers attached, start inserting leaves, branches or anything else you have gathered. Keep building this way until you have a bouquet that you are happy with. You can then insert the bouquet into a vase, or build a base out of the leftover supplies that you have.

We hope your new centerpiece comes out beautifully. If you want detailed instructions and images, please go to Apartment Therapy to learn more.

Thanksgiving Food Drives and Donations

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Thanksgiving is a great day to spend with friends and family. Every year we say what we are thankful for, as we have a day or two off work to relax and enjoy our time together. However, not everyone has a place to go on Thanksgiving. San Francisco has many organizations that raise money or collect donations for this specific time of year. Here are a few options that will let you give back this Thanksgiving.


The SF-Marin Food Bank helps supply over 47 pantries across the area. They have a goal to collect 500,000 pounds of non-perishable food via food drives and $8 million in donations by the end of December. These amounts add up to almost half their annual budget. Thanksgiving dinner is not the only thing these donations provide. They also organize regular meals and holiday meals throughout December.


The SF-Marin has other programs for helping others with Thanksgiving and other holidays throughout the end of the year. You can donate money on this page for the SF-Marin Food Bank. Every dollar you donate through November 26th will be matched by Sutter Health. This match donation program will continue up to $50,000. This gift will help the coordinators donate over one million pounds of food to neighboring food pantries and community partners.


Everyone loves turkey on Thanksgiving. The SF-Marin Food Bank is in need of 2,500 birds before Thanksgiving. These turkeys help provide Thanksgiving meals at all of SF-Marin’s Thanksgiving dinners. You can donate a turkey at either of these sites: Marin site: 75 Digital Drive, Novato, CA 94949 or San Francisco site: 900 Pennsylvania Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94107.


Finally, you can also volunteer for this great organization. They are looking for help with many of their food drives and other dinners they have throughout the year. They are in specific need of people that can speak Korean and Russian. You can sign up on their website SFMfoodbank.

We are so thankful for our friends, family and wonderful residents at The Wilson. Do you know of other organizations in need of help? Share them on our Facebook Page.

Cozy Up With A Drink And A Fire

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The weather is getting chillier, and that means the days of outdoor happy hours are limited. However, in San Francisco there are many bars and restaurants that bring the outdoor experience to the winter months. Cuddle up by a fire at these patio bars and restaurants for your work happy hour. You can stay warm while enjoying the outdoors all year around.

Zeki’s

The “friendliest bar in San Francisco” may be self proclaimed by the Zeki’s owners, but this Nob Hill location is perfect for the chilly winter months. The roaring fireplace is a perfect setting to sip your favorite cocktail long into the night. You can visit this cozy bar at 1319 California at Leavenworth. 

The Summer Place

It might have summer in the name, but you can still enjoy the chilly weather at The Summer Place. Their cozy fireplace makes it a warm location to enjoy the gorgeous San Francisco outdoors. Cozy up with your favorite drink, few friends from The Wilson and enjoy the night away. The Summer Place is a short drive at 801 Bush at Mason. 

Swig

Swig is a perfect place to relax after a long day at the office. The fireplace is in the center of the downstairs room that can get busy on weekends. We recommend getting there early if you want to sit by the fire. Swig is located at 561 Geary at Jones. 

Twenty-Five Lush

This bar is unique and a great place to hang out with friends. They have ‘60s-style suspended fireplaces making it one of the coziest bars in San Francisco. Make sure to check their website ahead of time to avoid coming in during a private event or party. Twenty-Five Lush is located at 25 Lusk at Townsend. 

The Riptide

If you want a bar experience that is cut right from a holiday movie, come to The Riptide. Their cheap drinks and logs cracking in the brick fireplace will keep you warm during the chilly winter air. They also have free snacks for you to enjoy throughout the night. You can find The Riptide at 3639 Taraval (at 47th Avenue).

These are just a few of the bars in San Francisco that are perfect for the chilly winter weather. Try a few and figure out which one is your favorite, before the first cold day hits.