Community Blog

When you enter your apartment, what do you feel?

Do you feel happy? Sad? Do you dread turning the key or look forward to stepping over the threshold? Do you feel peaceful and at ease OR instead, do you feel agitated and grumpy? What you find behind that door is key to your overall well-being!

Every apartment is a dictator on some level. The condition of our living space often dictates how we feel about the upcoming day, about going to bed, about waking up in the morning or life in general. Even for those of us who spend very little time at home, our apartments have the power to shape our viewpoint. If our space is a disaster, unkempt or cluttered, it can cause a certain level of confusion in other areas of life, too! That is THE reason it’s important to create a HOME that’s well organized, clean and comfortable.

You need and deserve a place that is all your own that energizes you, sets you at ease and sets the tone for the life you want to live!

Take a minute to just absorb your apartment surroundings. What is your apartment dictating to you right now? Take your time to identify your feelings. Once you’ve done that, ask yourself this: What do I want from my relationship with this space that I’m not presently getting?

Once you’ve concluded the difference between what you are feeling right now and what you WANT to feel when you’re home, you can begin taking the steps necessary to create the apartment home you desire right here – right now at The Gate.  It’s called Apartment Therapy and sometimes, you just need some!

If you and your apartment are in need of counseling, check out the book, Apartment Therapy by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan. With his guidance, you can change what’s behind door number one!

You CAN make your apartment home FABULOUS!

Mark your calendar, gals! GIRLS NIGHT OUT is coming Tuesday, September 28 to the Village Country Club!

GIRLS NIGHT OUT is designed especially for our VILLAGE LADIES! If you’re a sassy, classy Village Lady, YOU are invited to an awesome evening of music, food, drinks and prizes along with cool stuff to see and buy and so much more!

Lincoln Charities will benefit from your $2 admission ticket at the door and you’ll benefit from a night out with your best girl buds. Bring a friend and have a blast at GIRLS NIGHT OUT at the VCC the 28th.

Keep your eyes peeled for more details to come!

Sorry guys! It’s a NO testosterone zone!

The value pets bring into our lives is tough to calculate. But let’s give this a shot anyway:

Rough cat tongue on chin: $75
Puppy Breath: $100
Total blindness to human failures, weaknesses and dismal imperfections: PRICELESS

Our critters improve the quality of our lives beyond any price tag but we can’t ignore the fact, they DO have a price tag. Pets aren’t cheap! Beyond the initial purchase or adoption expenses, a small dog can cost upwards of $8,000 during the course of its lifetime and CATS … Whoa! They can set a happy cat lover back as much as $10,000! That’s a boat-load of catnip!

Start-up costs of pet adoption can be pretty staggering in-and-of themselves, let alone the ongoing expenses. That’s why it’s important to do an honest evaluation of your budget BEFORE you fall bum-over-tea kettle for an adorable little bundle of love. If it appears that your budget won’t allow for the long term commitment to a pet, there are other options for animal lovers.

Animal shelters in the area have many needs. Donation of cash or goods is always welcomed and they are often looking for the gift of TIME. Volunteering time or donating goods to local shelters like Dallas Animal Services or the Tri-City Animal Shelter can make a difference in the life of an animal. Even small donations can help to ease medical expenses for an animal in need.

Giving due consideration to the Cost Of Pet Ownership is the responsible thing to do even though in the end … we know they are worth every penny!

This is a great time of year to join The Village Book Club!

If you love to read and enjoy poignant discussion about the books you’re devouring, join The Village Book Club! Every month, the Book Club reads a book from the list and at the end of the month, they meet for discussion.

September’s book is Sarah’s Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay. The story is a fictional account of a young Jewish girl, separated from her parents during the mayhem of the July 1942 round-up of thousands of French Jews. The story is really two tales interwoven. That of Sarah in ‘42 and that of present day magazine writer, Julia Jackson who stumbles upon the story and the secrets within it.

The Village Book Club is the perfect way to get to know your neighbors, while enjoying your love of reading! Get your copy today and mark your calendar for the next Book Club meeting, September 29 – 6pm at The Village Country Club!

For more information on The Village Book Club call 214-772-2414.

Do you LOVE The Village Book Club? Click the Comment Button and tell us why!

Give your taste buds a gourmet treat and at the same time … make a difference in Dallas!

Dining with a purpose never tasted so good! Abacus at 4511 McKinney Avenue is only minutes from The Village and one of the 120 + participants in this years Restaurant Week 2010!

Not only will guests enjoy outrageously awesome menu selections created specifically for this event, but for every $35 Restaurant Week meal sold, restaurants are donating $7 to two local charities; the North Texas Food Bank and the Lena Pope Home. Restaurant Week is a great way to lend your support to help North Texans in need!

Make your reservations today! 214-559-3111

Zoofari at the Dallas Zoo - the best end to the summer

Target’s Zoofari Days event August 14-17, 2010! Kids under 11 get in are FREE and we older kids get in at half-price!

So you won’t miss anything, The Dallas Zoo has expanded its schedule. You’ll see training presentations, listen to the tales of zookeepers and see all the wild stuff the zoo has to offer!  See the new Giants of the Savanna habitat, home to elephants, giraffes, lions and more! Let your wild animals go crazy in one of the many bouncy houses during Zoofari AND enjoy crafts including a community mural where you can add your own artwork to the big picture.

Don’t forget to BRING YOUR OLD CELL PHONE to help a gorilla out! The donation of your old cell phone can make a difference!

Concerned about this summer heat? You can chill out at any one of the Cool Zones set up throughout the zoo to keep that sizzling sun at bay!  Zoofari is THE BEST way to wind up the summer.

Price: Free for children to age 11 and DZS members; $6 for ages 12 and up; $4.50 ages 65 and up. Parking is $7.

When: Saturday, August 14 through Tuesday, August 17, 2010. The Zoo is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: Dallas Zoo
650 S. R.L. Thornton Freeway (I-35 at Marsalis)
Dallas, TX 75203-3013
214-670-6826

Hack your kitchen for beauty supplies

Don’t panic if you run out of make up remover!  In fact, don’t ever buy it again! You have what you need right in your kitchen!

Grab a bit of olive oil and wipe the mascara away. Not only does it clean the stuff right off GENTLY but it’s a great moisturizer for around your sensitive eyes!

Next time you need to exfoliate, head to your cupboard and grab the baking soda. Brush your teeth with it while you’re at it. Heck! Bathe it it! It’s GREAT for your skin!  And if you want SHINY HAIR… think HONEY, you sweet thing you! That’s right … a bit-o-honey with water will do you up proud and have your hair shining like the sun.

So many of your favorite EXPENSIVE products can be replaced by less expensive stuff found in right your kitchen for much less.

Dry hair? Puffy eyes? Flaky skin? No worries! HACK your kitchen for the perfect and natural beauty substitute!

Are you totally TICKED OFF? Are you BENT OUT OF SHAPE, P.O.’d or downright red-faced ANGRY?! Then it’s time to give ANGER MANAGEMENT THE BOOT at the annual FIGHT NIGHT 2010 at The Village Country Club!

Let’s face it, sometimes the only therapy you need is to punch someone’s lights out! If you’re mad at your bone-headed EX, if your boss is such a jerk you can hardly stand it or if you’re mad as a hornet with your freaky roommate, then EMAIL your gripes TODAY to p1@theticket.com and get ready to come out swingin’!

The rules are:
Fighters must be between the ages of 18 and 35 (no exceptions)

Fighters must be within 10 lbs of the opponent

You have until AUGUST 26TH to get REALLY CHAPPED!

WHEN: August 26, beginning at 5pm

WHERE: The Village Country Club. Park at the Dallas Children’s Theater for free and take the P1 Shuttle

COST: No cover for Village Residents

MORE INFO: Theticket.com

Do your holiday shopping RIGHT NOW at the Dallas Arboretum!

You’ll find gifts for the entire family from cookbooks, gardening books and coffee table books to books for kids that are both beautiful and educational. The gardener in your family will love the garden tools on display as well as wind chimes and outdoor art. There’s dazzling jewelry, china and keepsakes as well as vases, bowls and figurines marked down to remarkably low prices.

Don’t forget the concert lover! Buy lawn chairs, picnic baskets, fans, coolers, party supplies and much more at the Arboretum.

The Hoffman Family Store is located just inside the entrace by the main ticket booth in Ginsburg Plaza. Members receive a 10% discount on top of the already reduced prices and Seniors will enjoy even more savings on Thursday another 20% discount.  Store Hours are very accommodating and everyone is welcome!

Image by Madison Berndt via Flickr

YOU can play an ACTIVE role in helping to save threatened gorilla habitat! AND IT’S SO EASY! Just Recycle your old cell phone at the Dallas Zoo and help a gorilla out!

Like you, The Dallas Zoo believes in saving endangered animals and their precious habitat. You might wonder what a cell phone has to do with saving endangered animals. Did you know that Coltan, the raw material used to manufacture cell phones, is mined almost exclusively in the Congo? The Congo is smack-dab in the middle of the endangered gorilla, okapi and elephant habitat. By RECYCLING the old cell phones, we’re not only decreasing the amount of hazardous materials left in landfills but also decreasing the mining that’s endangering the animals and their homes.

The Dallas Zoo has joined the cause by collecting cell phones for recycling through a program called ECO-CELL.  When you visit the zoo, bring your old cell phone and drop it off at collection stations located in the Zoofari gift shop, the Gorilla Research Station or the Discovery House in the Lacerte Family Children’s Zoo.  Every time you recycle a phone through ECO-CELL, the Dallas Zoo gets MONEY which is deposited in the Dallas Zoo’s Conservation Fund.

It’s a great way to help a gorilla out by REUSE, RECYCLING AND REDUCING waste!  Your are less than a 30 minute drive from becoming a gorilla’s hero!

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