Blog Posts

Disconnect More

Do you find yourself on your mobile device or computer too often? With technology advancing as quickly as it is, it can be easy to forget ourselves in our tech, which can lead to consequences we never intended. In this week’s Quincy Plaza Blog, we’ve got a few suggestions of ways you can disconnect and enjoy your life a little more. It’s time to put the phone down and get out of your Arlington, VA apartment! No Phones by Your Bedside If you find yourself tired in the morning, it may be due to the amount of sleep you’re getting. If you charge your phone by your bedside, you may end up spending more time on your phone browsing social media rather than sleeping. This can have an adverse effect on your sleep patterns and, subsequently, your mood. Charge your phone in another room or, if you use it as an alarm, set it somewhere where you’d need to get up out of bed to reach. Leave It at Home One way to disconnect is by simply leaving your device at home. This may be a little scary for many people, but it can help you appreciate spending time with the people you’re with instead of diverting to a phone. Many people avoid doing this because they like having their phone with them in case of emergencies, so we recommend trying this tip when you’re headed out with someone else who has their phone with them. No Phones at Meals These days, it’s common to have your phone out during lunch or dinner, even when you’re with your friends. We’ve become so accustomed to having our phones out that we’ve forgotten the impact it has on our interactions with others. When you’re out with your friends at a restaurant for a meal, you can try playing a little game. The game entails everyone at the table stacking their phones in the center of the table so it’s visible to everyone. The first person to pick up their phone loses. If being branded the loser isn’t enough, you can set the condition that the loser has to pay for the entire meal, and everyone after the initial loser has to contribute to paying for the meal as well.

Step Up Your Instagram Game

Social media is a large part of people's lives. Whether they’re using it to connect with friends that aren’t in their local area, document their life through pictures, or keep up to date with current issues, most people are connected in some way. Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms now, which is why we’ve decided to share with you ways you can set up your Instagram game in this week’s Quincy Plaza Blog. Consistency Depending on your goals, how you approach posting on Instagram can differ. However, consistency in when you post can help you gain more followers and keep your followers engaged. Your Instagram account can seem bleak and uninviting if you’ve only got a handful of posts, so posting more can help you draw people in. Themes Not many people know this, but having a theme helps your Instagram account feel more cohesive and make it more aesthetically pleasing. Aside from celebrity accounts, the most popular accounts are the ones that employ a theme throughout their entire account. The idea behind a theme is to ensure that the pictures you post mesh together well. Try it out today! Quality One of the most important aspects of Instagram is the quality of the photos that you post. A good quality photo can do more for gaining followers than 100 mediocre ones, especially since Instagram is a visual medium. Familiarize yourself with some photography techniques like composition, lighting, and depth of field. Applying these simple techniques will improve the quality of your photos while helping you think more creatively while taking photos. We hope you enjoyed these Instagram tips, but we want to remind you that you don’t need to apply any of these tips if they don’t fit what you use Instagram for. The use of social media is personal, so don’t feel obligated to apply any of these tips. If you’ve got some Instagram tips, leave a comment for our Arlington, VA apartment community!

Tidy Your Home this Spring

Now that spring is here, it’s a good time to go through your home again and tidy up! Spring cleaning is a regular practice here in the United States, but many don’t do it well, so we’ve decided to share with you some crucial tips in this week’s Quincy Plaza Blog! Declutter Through the seasons, you may have accumulated items and loose leaf pieces of paper that take up space in your home. We suggest going through your home and pinpointing these items, placing them in a pile to be thrown away or donated. It may be difficult to figure out which items in your home need to be removed, so consider this: if you haven’t used it or even seen it in over a year, you probably don’t need it in your home. Remember, donating appliances and other usable items gives it new life in the hands of someone who may need it more than you. Move the Furniture When tidying and cleaning your home, move the furniture! You’ll be surprised at how much dust and dirt accumulates and what ends up rolling underneath the furniture in your apartment. Instead of cleaning around it and leaving it be, move the furniture and get down to clean under them! As you move the furniture, you can use it as an excuse to rearrange your furniture and give your home a brand new look! Stay Organized with Boxes As much as you clean and tidy up, you may end up having loose items that may not have a home. Combat this by investing in some boxes to store these loose items. Not only will these items have a place, it will also give your apartment a more tidy look and can help you get more organized! Get ahead of the game this spring by tidying up and enjoying a cleaner home! If you’ve got any cleaning tips, share them with our Arlington, VA apartment community!

Waffle Day!

Waffles are a great breakfast food, but they’re especially good when there’s an entire day dedicated to them! March 25th is Waffle Day, so we’ve decided to share with you some delicious ways you can shake up your waffle game in this week’s Quincy Plaza Blog! Grab some syrup and your utensils and dig into some of these delicious recipes! Chicken and Waffle Sliders with Buttermilk Syrup Recipe Waffle Day is the perfect time to try chicken and waffles! These chicken and waffle sliders are absolutely delicious — a perfect savory twist on a typical breakfast food. Use prepackaged chicken strips and waffles to cut down the cook time (but feel free to make your own waffles and chicken strips if you’d prefer!) so you can enjoy these sliders right away! This recipe isn’t complete without the buttermilk syrup, so don’t forget a large dollop of this on your slider! Banana Cream Waffles Banana cream pies are delicious, so it makes sense that banana cream waffles will also be! These banana cream waffles topped with homemade vanilla syrup will put you on cloud nine when you have it for breakfast first thing in the morning. Try them out! Gather up these ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and McCormick Banana Cream Baking Flavor. Cookies and Cream Waffles Crushed pieces of Oreo cookies in the batter is the secret to this cookies and cream waffle recipe. Along with Oreo cookies, you will also need milk, heavy cream, eggs, butter, and original Bisquick mix. Top your waffles with whipped cream and more crushed Oreos! With this recipe, you’ll be able to indulge in the delicious Oreo goodness without thinking it’s too early to indulge in the cookie. We hope you enjoy these waffle recipes and use them to celebrate Waffle Day! If you’ve got a favorite recipe, share it with our Arlington, VA apartment community!

YouTube Food Channels

If you spend a lot of time on YouTube, you’ve probably been exposed to a variety of channels and their respective videos. YouTube attracts all types of content creators from comedians to tech gurus, but in this week’s Quincy Plaza Blog, we wanted to highlight the gems of the video-sharing website: food channels! You may want to get a towel or napkin to wipe the drool you may experience while watching these videos. Tasty A subsidiary of Buzzfeed, Tasty brings food to the masses through beautiful videos! If you’ve ever seen a cooking video on Facebook or Instagram, it’s probably a Tasty video or one that’s modeled after the ones made by Tasty. Brilliant videography combined with amazing recipes will be sure to make you salivate! This channel is definitely worth subscribing to! Binging with Babish If you’ve ever seen a tv show or movie with food, you’ve probably wondered how to make it or even how it tastes. Binging with Babish is a YouTube channel dedicated to creating dishes that are featured on television, in movies, and even in video games. Check out this channel for some delicious recipes! Mark Wiens If Asian food is your go-to cuisine, we highly recommend checking out Mark Wiens’ channel. Based in Thailand, Mark travels around the local area to find the best places to eat, from street food to restaurants! He also doesn’t limit himself to Thailand, either! Experience the tastes of Asia through videos with Mark Wiens! Be careful, as you watch his videos, you’ll be salivating in no time. Food channels are a fun way to see all the amazing food that the world has to offer, so we hope you enjoy these channels we’ve recommended! If you’ve got any food channels worth watching and subscribing to, let our Arlington, VA apartment community know of them!

Anime for Beginners

Have you ever heard of anime? This Japanese animation phenomenon has taken the world by storm as of late and it’s not a wonder why. Anime, much like western cartoons, is filled with fantastic stories. In this week’s Quincy Plaza Blog, we’ve got a short list of shows that we think you should try out if you’re looking to get into anime! One-Punch Man (Netflix) Many superheroes struggle with handling their powers and many find themselves seeking to get stronger to defeat stronger enemies, but that’s not the case for Saitama. Follow Saitama in his difficult journey in gaining notoriety, even though he’s capable of winning every fight with just one punch. Unlike other anime, One-Punch Man is a satirical take on the traditional superhero storylines! The series only has one season, and it’s 12 episodes long. Don’t binge too fast. Black Clover (Hulu) When magic runs the world around you, how would you feel if you didn’t have the capability of performing magic at all? Black Clover follows the adventures of Asta, a fifteen-year-old boy who, despite his lack of magical prowess (technically, lack of magic entirely), seeks to become the wizard king before his rival and good friend Yuno. There are 31 episodes in Black Clover’s only season on Hulu. Sword Art Online (Netflix and Hulu) What would you do if you were stuck in a virtual reality video game and dying in the game meant dying in real life? Kirito, an avid video gamer, finds himself in a game where, to get out, he has to clear all 100 floors of the game’s dungeon. Will he beat the game or falter to the game and perish? Check it out today! Catch up on the anime phenomenon by checking these titles out! If you have a favorite that’s not on our list, share them with our Arlington, VA apartment community by leaving a comment!