Blog Posts

Recipes for National Grapefruit Month

Did you know that February is National Grapefruit Month? Nantucket Gate Blog is back this week to help you celebrate it with some delicious grapefruit-inspired recipes! Whether you test them out in your Tacoma, WA apartment sometime this month or you make them somewhere else, make sure to try a few of these recipes: Coconut Ginger Broiled Grapefruit If you haven’t yet experienced the delicacy that is broiled grapefruit, then you absolutely have to try out this recipe. The idea of warm grapefruit may sound weird, but we promise, it’s far better than you could imagine! This recipe spices it up a little bit by adding dried coconut, grated ginger, and coconut sugar to give your broiled grapefruit and crunch. Pink Detox Salad Are you looking for a healthy salad that you’ll actually love eating? This one will surely do the trick. Using baby kale and/or spinach as the base, add a plethora of pink and red fruits that are in season! Grapefruit is a perfect one to add this time of year, of course, but you can also add pomegranate, strawberries, watermelon, or whatever else you find at your local grocery store! Grapefruit Sorbet It may not be particularly warm outside yet, but we still think it’s a great time to make a batch of this smooth grapefruit sorbet. One of our favorite parts about this recipe is that there are only two ingredients: freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and sugar! This sorbet’s soft pink color is stunning, and in our opinion, it enhances the whole eating experience. Grapefruit Bars For a nice twist on your classic lemon bars, try out this grapefruit bar recipe! You can use the same bowl to make the buttery crust and the tangy filling, so you won’t have to worry about making a mess. To make these, you’ll need whole wheat flour, brown sugar, butter, eggs, grapefruit juice and zest, lemon juice, sugar, baking powder, and cornstarch. Enjoy this tangy new twist on a classic treat! Make sure to treat yourself to something grapefruity this month, whether it’s one of these recipes or another favorite way of yours to eat grapefruit. Thanks for reading!

Celebrating Black History Month

Nantucket Gate Blog is here to wish you a happy Black History Month! Every February, we get a chance as a nation to reflect on the unquantifiable contributions that African Americans have added to our society, as well as consider ways we continually wipe out racism towards people of color in our country. This year, we are here to help you explore a few different ways you can celebrate Black History Month. The nice part is, you can do most of these things within the comfort of your Tacoma, WA apartment! Read February is a great time to enjoy books, poems, or discourses by Black authors. Reading is an effective way to experience a window into the lives, hardships, injustices, and culture of others, with the African American community being one of the most accessible. We recommends works by Ralph Ellison or Toni Morrison and poetry by Langston Hughes or Maya Angelou! Watch In addition to reading materials, there is plenty you can watch to celebrate and appreciate the work of Black artists. If you’re in the mood for a movie, there are countless choices that prominently feature African American actors and directors. If you’re looking for documentaries or movies based on true stories, we recommend 13th and Hidden Figures . Listen When you ask somebody what type of music they enjoy listening to, it’s not uncommon to hear the response: “everything except rap.” While it’s perfectly acceptable for each individual to have their own taste in music, we encourage everyone to try out some rap or some other form of music that was created by the Black community this month. It’s true that the lyrics in rap music can sometimes seem abrasive or content heavy, but ask yourself questions like these while you’re listening: why might this rap be including this content? What is the life like of the artist performing this song? Why is it significant that they have made it in the rap world? We suggest listening to Alright by Kendrick Lamar or My Own Way by Chance the Rapper. If you absolutely can’t get through any rap, try out jazz or blues! Get Involved More importantly than supporting Black art, we suggest you find ways to serve people of color in your own community! First, find out some of the current injustices people in your community face. Then think about how you personally can help. Are there youth near you at risk of leaving behind their education? Try finding a program that will help you mentor them! Do you have a Black-owned business near you? Support it regularly. There are plenty of ways you can get involved according to your own hobbies and interests. We hope you enjoyed our post today. Have a great week!

A Yearlong Guide to House Cleaning

To conclude our theme this month of posts that will improve your quality of life, Nantucket Gate Blog has a few resources for you this week that will help you keep your Tacoma, WA apartment clean not only this month but all year! Thanks to the Chicago Tribune, we have this extensive yearlong guide to house cleaning . Keep reading as we highlight a few tasks from the list for the month of January, as well as repeated monthly cleaning tasks! Declutter Your Apartment The first month of the year is the perfect time to free up some space in your apartment by decluttering! You’d be surprised at how much stuff you can acquire over the course of the year, so setting aside some time this January to sort through all of your belongings is a great idea. Make sure to evaluate all of your belongings in every room — even what is buried away in your closets! See how many bags of unwanted clutter you can fill to either throw away or donate to charity. Clean Your Light Fixtures When was the last time you deep-cleaned your light fixtures? There’s no better time to do it than right now. Once you’ve taken note of all the light fixtures in your house, take any removable parts like glass or plastic coverings down for a thorough wash. Using a solution made of three parts warm water and one part vinegar, wash each covering to get them cleaner than they have been in ages! Repeat These Tasks Monthly In addition to specific monthly tasks, the house cleaning guide recommends you repeat a certain set of tasks every month. Here are a few of them we found helpful: Vacuum and spot-clean furniture. Wash kitchen and bath mats. Polish wood furniture. Disinfect computer keyboards, remotes, phones, and switches. Wipe down all appliances. Thanks for reading our post this week. May your year be full of cleanliness and comfort!

Books to Help You Kick-start Your Year

This week, Nantucket Gate Blog is bringing you another post that’s perfect for the month of January! With a new year often comes a desire for fresh new perspectives, growth, and change, and what better way to get those things than from an uplifting book? Whether you need a little something to motivate you on your morning commute or you want something encouraging to help you wind down at the end of the day, make sure to check out these titles! Millionaire Success Habits by Dean Graziosi This book may sound like a “get rich quick” scheme based on the title, but Millionaire Success Habits is so much more than that. Rather than implying that it takes spending way more time than you have to “make it," Graziosi has compiled useful strategies and habits that will help you live a more successful life with tips for ridding yourself of unproductive routines. Take one step further toward the version of yourself you envision becoming by reading this book and implementing a new success habit this year! Rising Strong by Brené Brown In Rising Strong, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Brené Brown give us new tools that will help us rise back up after something in life knocks us down — failure, disappointment, heartbreak, you name it — and she shows us how to create a new ending. After starting a national conversation about shame, courage, vulnerability, and worthiness, Brown is here to teach us something about walking into our painful stories, getting curious about what we find there, and revolutionizing how we choose to let it strengthen us. Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication by Oren Jay Sofer Amazon’s description of Say What You Mean is perfect: “We spend so much of our lives talking to each other, but how much are we simply running on automatic—relying on old habits and hoping for the best? Are we able to truly hear others and speak our mind in a clear and kind way, without needing to get defensive or go on the attack? In this groundbreaking synthesis of mindfulness, somatics, and Nonviolent Communication, Oren Jay Sofer offers simple yet powerful practices to develop healthy, effective, and satisfying ways of communicating.” Are there any other books you plan to read to kickstart your 2019 year? Let our Tacoma, WA apartment community know in the comments below!

Tips for Implementing a Morning Routine

Last week on Nantucket Gate Blog, we discovered some of the benefits of implementing a more consistent morning routine. Setting the mood for the day will help you prioritize your time and be more productive. A morning routine will boost your confidence and contribute to a belief that you truly can achieve your goals. Ultimately, it will reduce stress and fill your life with a greater sense of peace. Read on for a few tips you can start practicing today in your Tacoma, WA apartment to start developing a morning routine that works for you! Set Aside Enough Time Does your current morning consist of setting your alarm for as late as possible, staying in bed longer than you should, and then running out the door while still getting dressed and shoving a bite to eat in your mouth? Creating a beneficial routine will require a little bit more than that. For most people, a healthy morning routine will fall somewhere between 30 and 90 minutes. A good way to know that you’re taking ample time is that you legitimately benefit from your time each morning and that you enjoy it as well. The simplest yet hardest goal to help you achieve this is to not hit the snooze button! Get Your Body Moving One of the easiest things to do right after waking up is lying in bed and scrolling through your phone until you feel awake enough to roll out and get your day started. Instead of using that time to look at the content you’ll likely see later in the day anyway, spend some time getting right up to wake up your muscles and your mind and doing something to get your body moving! You might enjoy a full-on workout first thing in the morning, but if you don’t, there are plenty of other ways you can move your body. If you enjoy yoga, consider doing a few simple poses that make your mind and body feel a little more at peace. When your muscles feel tight, stretching is a good way to do something good for your body before you spend the rest of the day wearing it out. You might even consider taking a short walk! Whatever movement you choose to make, it will help your body. Remember to tell yourself that as you adjust to this new routine! Fuel Up the Right Way Isn’t it funny how we’re always told how important breakfast is, yet some of the most sugary foods with the least nutritional value are marketed as breakfast foods? It’s important that we not only eat in the morning but that we focus on nutrient-rich food. Rather than choosing a bowl of sugary cereal that is likely to give you a few minutes of energy and then make you crash, make sure to incorporate enough protein, whole grains, and fresh fruit into your breakfast fuel up. We hope these tips will be beneficial to members of our apartment community. What is your favorite way to get going in the morning? Let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading our post today!

Benefits of a Morning Routine

Welcome to 2019 from Nantucket Gate Blog! We’re excited to see what surprises this new year brings, and we hope you are too. We know that New Year’s resolutions have become somewhat comical these days as they are often left unachieved, but we also know the big impact that small positive changes can have on our lives. That’s why today, we’re encouraging you to reevaluate your morning routine! Having a consistent routine each morning is an important key to a successful day. People often make it seem like you have to be up before 6:00 AM if you want to succeed at implementing a morning routine, but it’s more realistic and sustainable to listen to your own body and choose a wake-up time that works best for you. Trust us, the physical and emotional benefits of starting this daily practice are priceless! Today, we’re here to highlight some of the most significant benefits you’ll experience as a result of redefining what your morning looks like. Productivity Morning routines are widely known to increase productivity not only in the early hours themselves but throughout the entire day. By taking charge of what the beginning of your day looks like, you set a precedent for the rest of the day, and you’re far more likely to use the rest of your time efficiently as well. It turns out that a little intentional action in the morning goes a long way! Confidence While positive self-talks using phrases like “I am an achiever” and “I love who I am” surely have a positive effect on self-confidence, you’ll see a more tangible increase when it is reinforced with constructive experiences and consistent action. That way, you’ll not only be gaining a stronger belief that the words you are saying about yourself are true, but you’ll also be gaining a stronger belief in your own ability to accomplish what you set out to accomplish. Peace A significant source of stress in life comes from feeling unable to reach goals and finish tasks; it decreases our confidence, thus likely decreasing productivity as well. Accomplishing something at the beginning of the day will lead to greater peace of mind, making it easier to keep achieving goals throughout the day. Ending the day feeling accomplished can lead to a more peace-filled evening and a better night’s sleep, which will then make the next morning feel even better than the last. We hope you’ll be able to reap some of these benefits as you start implementing a morning routine in your Tacoma, WA apartment. Stay tuned next week for some tips on how to do so!