Blog Posts

Life at Nantucket Gate

If you’re looking for spectacular location and modern amenities in your next home, stop at Nantucket Gate — a standout property in the Parkland neighborhood of Tacoma Washington. Every detail feels like the icing on the cake here at Nantucket. The Pacific Northwest shows off all its greenery and scenery right in your own backyard. A full-size gym and tanning facility on-site offer all you need to get in tip-top physical shape! Covered parking gives a safe and weather-proof option for those with vehicles. Our gated community is located near schools and places of work, allowing for short commute times. We offer walk-in closets and an in-apartment washer and dryer setup, which is a huge bonus considering how close the Nordstrom at Tacoma Mall (with all of those cute clothes) is! With studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom floorplans, we have all the space you need to fit your lifestyle needs. Modern finishes and luxurious touches within each apartment showcase our attention to detail. But our effort doesn’t stop there, we also have staff and maintenance available to address your every concern. Walmart, Fred Meyer, and Trader Joe’s are also located close to the property for all your grocery needs. Spend your weekend sightseeing in the area at Fox or Anderson Island.This is our favorite place for a picnic lunch and an afternoon of exploring — not to mention the perfect instagram shot! Head to Sprinker Rec Center for some fun and exercise. Frugal’s is a trendy little burger joint located not far away! Our walkscore and information on commuting can be found at this helpful resource , and our Facebook page here . Also located near Joint Base Lewis-McChord, which has a basketball court, fitness center, and daycare. We can’t wait to tell you more about this property and help you make your new home here at Nantucket Gate.

Puzzle Break Room Escape

Have you ever played an “Escape the Room”-style game? There are a few video games built around this sort of premise, like 999 (Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors) and numerous mobile apps. In these games, your character (and possibly several others) is trapped in a room and must solve puzzles to figure out the way to escape. The video games proved popular enough that several people decided to bring the experience into the real world. Real life “Room Escape” games can be found all around the country. They allow a group of friends (or groups of strangers, if you can’t get your own group together) to play an intense game of escape. The group is locked in a room full of puzzles and clues — some out in the open, some hidden — in order to construct still more puzzles and clues that will allow them to eventually find a secreted key and escape the room. Players have a limited amount of time to figure out all of the puzzles. (And don’t worry about becoming genuinely trapped; a staff member will always be on hand in the room with you to ensure that all is well and that no one gets too claustrophobic.) If that sort of adventure seems exciting to you, then you’re in luck: there are several within an hour’s drive from Vista del Rey apartments, most of them up in Seattle. Puzzle Break is one of the oldest and most well-known, offering their original room-escape game as well as “Midnight Carnival” and “20,000 Leagues” versions (what could be more exciting than trying to escape a sunken submarine?), and more. Other room-escape venues in the area include Ninja Escape! and Sherlocked . If you’d like to learn more about how fun room escape games can be (not to mention how great they are as a team-building exercise) from some expert game designers, check out this video . Have you ever done a room escape game? Let us know about the experience in the comments!

Recipes for National Pizza Month

Feeling hungry? Well, October is National Pizza Month, so you know what to eat! To help you out, we’ve gathered some delicious pizza recipes that you can try out whenever you like. Some are very traditional, and some are more unusual. Give them one taste tonight! The recipes and their descriptions are from Allrecipes.com. Mike’s Homemade Pizza "A great recipe for homemade pizza dough and sauce. The sauce is especially good. Top with whatever you like." Fast English Muffin Pizzas "Fast and VERY kid friendly.. they can make them and all you have to do is bake them! Pizza sauce, cheese and their choice of topping makes this a great snack or anytime meal!" Butternut Squash Pizzas “Individual ‘pizzettes’ with roasted onions and butternut squash, seasoned with rosemary and finished with Parmesan or Asiago cheese.” Chicago-Style Pan Pizza "This is the best Chicago-style pizza that I have ever had. Make sure that you use the Parmesan in hard triangle form. It tastes so much better when you grate it yourself." Pear and Gorgonzola Cheese Pizza "A very interesting appetizer pizza. Sounds strange, but everyone will love the unique combination of fragrant pears and distinctive Gorgonzola." Buffalo Style Chicken Pizza "Pizza with a little kick of buffalo wing flavor! Have your pizza and wings together!" Brie and Cranberry Pizza "I love baked Brie. This is an easy and delicious way to prepare it. Any kind of jam may be used in place of cranberry sauce (I like raspberry). I have been told by many that they'd like to make a meal out of it." Give each of these tasty recipes a try this month — you’ve still got a few weeks left before National Pizza Month is over, after all. Let us know in the comments which one was your favorite! And if you have any favorite pizza recipes of your own, share those so that all of us at Nantucket Gate apartments in Tacoma can try them out!

DIY Halloween Decorations, Part II

Last week we shared a few do-it-yourself Halloween decorations for you to try out; this week we’re back with a few more! These will all look great in your Nantucket Gate apartment, so give them a try. Click on the links below for the how-to directions and the rest of the descriptions. Head in a Jar “Make someone’s head rest outside your door, submerged in a huge jar! And the fact that it looks oh so real can scare the hell out of your friends. Make your very own versions of the spine-chilling Head in a Jar at home, putting a large jar, some food coloring, paper lamination, a printer and a photo editing software to a creative use. The secret to the effect is two different photographs blended together, which are then laminated and put in the jar!” Chicken Wire Ghost “Here’s an idea to make original chicken wire ghosts, perfect to be placed in your garden and horrify all those who enter. This ghost is so realistic and frightening that it can actually give everyone some real goosebumps. Made using some fence wire transformed into a ghostly, translucent-looking figure, this DIY ghost project is surprisingly easy for the results that it produces.” Paranormal Portraits “Alter the way you look at all your special ones this Halloween by transforming their pictures into bone-chilling Paranormal Portraits. Place them inside the house on a display table or hang them in the back shed on some old barn doors to decorate your Halloween party in an unforgettable manner. Learn how you can craft haunting ghostly portraits from the regular photographs of your friends and family with this detailed tutorial.” Which of these DIY decorations is your favorite? Do you have any favorite homemade Halloween decorations of your own that the rest of us can try? Let us know in the comments!

DIY Halloween Decorations, Part I

October is here, which means it is time to get ready for Halloween! We want to help you bring the spooky into your apartment at Nantucket Gate in Tacoma, so we’ve gathered together a few great DIY decorations that will be perfect this Halloween. In fact, we found enough that we decided to do two posts; so come back next week for some more great decoration ideas! Click on the links below for the how-to directions and the rest of the descriptions. Bloody Handprint Window Clings “What fun would it be to do a budget-friendly Halloween craft project at home that yields some unique looking Bloody Handprint Window Clings, along with some spooky fake blood drops. Instead of buying them from the stores, try these do-it-yourself, reusable gory window clings; they can be made in only a few steps and are just what you need to add a gruesome element to your festive decorations.” Floating Head Hanging Ghosts “Cheesecloth hanging ghosts are a Halloween craft that are perfect for the kids to be a part of, or even do all by themselves. Get a haunting Halloween view alive by hanging these homemade ghosts from tree branches or porch railings. These are not only easy to make, but also quite a cute element to the Halloween fever. Learn how you can make them levitate right in front of you and the guests.” Skull Floral Arrangement “Whether it’s a planter transformed into an artistic skull, or a skull turned into a pretty house of flowers — all the trick-or-treaters are going to keep swinging between the two thoughts ! This gorgeous DIY Skull Floral Arrangement can work as the most amazing decorative piece for your center tables, and those colorful, vibrant flowers loaded inside make the ambiance oh so fresh, fragrant and all the way more beautiful. You need an artificial skull, a scissor, a cutter, some foam and lots of flowers.”

Oktoberfest Northwest

October is coming up, which means it’s time to get ready for beer, brats, and fun: Oktoberfest! As it just so happens, there’s a big Oktoberfest celebration coming up not too far from Nantucket Gate called Oktoberfest Northwest. We’ve grabbed some info from their site; read up and then plan to visit! What is Oktoberfest Northwest? Oktoberfest Northwest hosts Western Washington's largest Munich-style Festhalle Biergarten and is the Northwest's exclusive home of Hammerschlagen®. Oktoberfest NW started back in 2004 and ever since then the festival has brought authentic food, bier and entertainment to guests. This is the Oktoberfest event you won't want to miss! Where is it? We are lucky enough to host our Munich-style party at the Washington State Fair Events Center in Puyallup. (Street address: 110 9th Ave SW Puyallup, WA 98371.) If you need help with directions, you can find more details here compliments of the WA State Fair Events Center. When is the event? Oktoberfest Northwest will be held October 7 - 9, 2016. The hours vary as follows: Friday Oct. 7 noon - midnight (21 & older after 7pm) Saturday Oct. 8 11am - midnight (21 & older after 7pm) Sunday Oct. 9 11am - 6pm How much does it cost? Admission varies on each day and at certain hours as follows: Friday from noon - 3pm: FREE Friday after 3pm: $12 Saturday: $12 Sunday: $6 (Half-price courtesy of The News Tribune) Kids 12 & under can attend for FREE all weekend! (Note: 21 & older after 7pm on Fri. & Sat.) How much money should I bring for drinks and food? We can't tell you how much money you should bring, but we can tell that beer/wine tickets are $6 each and all restaurant food items will be $10 or less. Steins are also available, they cost between $15-$25 depending on the size and type. We take Visa, MC, AmEx & cash. An ATM is also on site at the festival. Beer & wine is purchased with tickets, which you buy on site inside of the festival. Under 21? Come join the fun! Kids 12 & under are free to attend all weekend. While minors aren't allowed to enjoy the adult beverages, we’d love to invite everyone to the party till at least 7pm on Friday and Saturday. After that, it's 21+ only. However, on Sunday all ages are welcome all day. Can I bring my dog? There’s going to be a lot going on at the event and while we love your pets, we would like everyone to come enjoy their day, dog free. So, dogs are not allowed unless they are registered service dogs or wiener dogs registered for the race and only on Sunday.