Blog Posts

Breakfast Ideas

Summer mornings can be busy and rushed. Grabbing a doughnut or Pop-Tart on the way out the door is probably part of your routine at least a couple days a week. Eating breakfast can help wake you up and kickstart your metabolism. Benefits of eating breakfast can be found right here . The site says, “Breakfast is often described as the most important meal of the day, and rightfully so — it not only provides important daily nutrients such as protein, fiber, calcium, and carbohydrates, but it also helps improve school performance, allowing students to do better on tests, according to the Food and Nutrition Service. If your child feels tired or has difficulty concentrating during the day, consider adding breakfast to his or her routine.” Even if you’re not feeling hungry in the morning, having something cute on your plate looks way more appetizing than boring oatmeal! We’re helping you get out of your breakfast rut with these fun and colorful ideas! “Unicorn toast” is the new trend in breakfast foods. Don’t let it fool you — it doesn’t taste like candy for breakfast. This filling and nutritious breakfast will keep you fueled until lunch. Adeline from Vibrant and Pure, a Miami based food artist, came up with this spectacular creation. Head to her Instagram to see some of her creations. So what exactly is Unicorn Toast? Grab your favorite whole wheat or gluten free bread and toast as usual. Adeline mixes beet juice with cream cheese for a pink hue! This is a fun way to avoid any artificial flavorings or colors. For alternative diets, try vegan or dairy-free cream cheese. Other toppings for toast include mashed avocado, chia seeds, honey, sliced banana or figs. Adding fruit to your breakfast can help ensure you’ve got something healthy in your diet each day. Mixing up your usual breakfast routine can add some fun to those boring gray mornings! We hope that you have a great month here in Hollywood, FL. Thanks for reading the Sunset Palms Blog!

June Holidays in Hollywood, FL

In this post, the Sunset Palms Blog is featuring a few of our favorite June holidays. We are celebrating National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month, Rose Month, National Doughnut Day (June 2nd), and Camera Day (June 29th) this month. We hope that you get the chance to celebrate a holiday or two! National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month Head to your local farmers market for National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month. The Yellow Green Farmers Market is open all year long. It offers everything from fruits, vegetables, and organic chicken to coffee, tea, and salsa! Get everything you need — including chocolates, soups, and baked goods — at the farmers market! Rose Month Rose Month is the perfect time to visit the Miami Beach Botanical Garden. The Miami Beach Botanical Garden is “an intimate 2.6 acre Garden with a very big mission! We call ourselves an urban oasis in the middle of the glitz and neon of South Beach, a place where locals and visitors can come and enjoy the numerous cultural and artistic programs for all ages offered year round.” There’s no better way to celebrate Rose Month than with a fresh bouquet of roses. Yelp has a guide to the Best 10 Florists in Hollywood, FL . National Doughnut Day (June 2nd) Celebrate National Doughnut Day with The Dandee Donut Factory , Mojo Donuts , or Krispy Kreme Doughnuts on June 2nd. Krispy Kreme often offers promotions on National Doughnut Day. Check their website for details. Try your hand at making your own donuts for National Doughnut Day. We love these old fashioned chocolate cake donuts from American Heritage Cooking. Dunk these delicious donuts in a cup of black coffee or in a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Camera Day (June 29th) Take a picture or two on Camera Day. National Geographic has plenty of great advice for photographers. Learn everything from how to take a picture with your camera phone to how to photograph inside of a cave by using their tips and tricks. You can find their photo guides here . What’s your favorite June holiday? Let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading our post!

Start a Book Club

This week the Sunset Palms Blog is featuring two of our favorite books and some tips to help you start your own book club! Gather your friends, head to your local library here in Hollywood, FL, and start a book club this May! We hope that you have a wonderful month here in Hollywood, FL! First things first — gather a group of friends and neighbors for your book group. Ask around on Facebook, start a book club on Goodreads , and pick a day each month to meet. Come up with a system for choosing books. We recommend letting members of your book club vote on which book to read or letting a different member of your book club choose the book each month. Come up with discussion questions for your book club. Dedicate a certain amount of time to discussing the novel and leave some time for socializing and catching up. Have group members sign up to bring snacks. We have included two books for your book club below: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi “ Effia and Esi are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle’s dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast’s booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia’s descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.” Collected Stories of William Faulkner by William Faulkner “Forty-two stories make up this magisterial collection by the writer who stands at the pinnacle of modern American fiction. Compressing an epic expanse of vision into hard and wounding narratives, Faulkner’s stories evoke the intimate textures of place, the deep strata of history and legend, and all the fear, brutality, and tenderness of the human condition. These tales are set not only in Yoknapatawpha County, but in Beverly Hills and in France during World War I. They are populated by such characters as the Faulknerian archetypes Flem Snopes and Quentin Compson, as well as by ordinary men and women who emerge so sharply and indelibly in these pages that they dwarf the protagonists of most novels.” What’s your favorite book? Let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading our post!

Celebrate Food in May

In this post, the Sunset Palms Blog is featuring five of our favorite summer recipes. Make one of these delicious recipes for an awesome Memorial Day meal. Head to your favorite park in Hollywood, FL, pack a picnic basket, and plan a Memorial Day get together this month. Grilled Chicken and Asparagus Caprese Spinach Salad with Bacon and Avocado from Closet Cooking Make this light summer salad for your Memorial Day meal. You’ll love the blend of textures and flavors in this delicious dish. Top it all off with balsamic vinaigrette, diced avocado, and sliced basil. You’ll love this homemade balsamic vinaigrette . Hungarian Mushroom Soup with Fresh Dill from Plating and Pairings Season this Hungarian mushroom soup with paprika, soy sauce, lemon juice, chopped fresh dill, chopped fresh parsley, salt, and pepper. We think that you’ll love enjoying a bowl of this delicious mushroom soup with a fresh roll. Top it with your favorite brand of crackers and a little bit of sour cream. Garlic Parmesan Roasted Red Potatoes from Plain Chicken® Pair this delicious side with a steak or your favorite barbecue chicken. You’ll love the garlic, onion powder, paprika, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and grated parmesan seasoning these mouth-watering potatoes. Barbecue Pot Roast Recipe from The Gunny Sack Season your roast with olive oil, sea, salt, black pepper, and a 28 ounce bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce. Head to your local home goods store for your very own dutch oven to cook this delicious meal. This is the perfect dish to make for a Memorial Day at home. Samoa Truffles from Shugary Sweets Turn your favorite girl scout cookies into a delicious dessert. Mix together shredded coconut, dulce de leche, sweetened condensed milk, Nilla Wafer cookies, and Ghiradelli dark chocolate wafers to make this sweet treat. Pair this dessert with a bowl of vanilla ice cream or a tall glass of milk. What’s your favorite summer recipe? Let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading our post!

Laundry Day Etiquette

Here at Sunset Palms we are pleased to offer the amenities that make life easier for the residents of our apartment community. Being able to do laundry without driving all over Hollywood, FL trying to find an open laundromat is one way we offer solutions to our residents by having a laundry care center available. Today, we’re taking a look at laundry day etiquette and providing some laundry day tips as well. Laundry Day Etiquette Be Prepared Save time in the laundry room by preparing before you go. Pre-sort your laundry before you leave your apartment. Put together a laundry day kit which includes everything you typically need for doing the laundry — detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets, stain treatments. A bin or a tote with handles works well for this. Perhaps invest in a wagon (which folds flat for storage) to transport your laundry to and from the laundry care center. Plan Ahead If at all possible, do your laundry during off-peak times. It’s a given that the weekend will be busy at the laundry care center, so if you can, do your laundry during the week. Try to stay with your laundry so others won’t be waiting for you to switch your load. If you must step out before your washer is finished, set an alarm on your phone to remind you to get back in time to switch out your loads. Do not toss your neighbor’s load into the dryer. They may have things that need to be air dried that could be ruined. Be Courteous Don’t take over multiple machines and all of the counter space. If it’s busy try to leave at least one washer available for someone else. Clean up after yourself. No one wants to deal with spilled detergent or bleach. Be sure to clean the lint out of the dryer when your load is finished so it will be ready for the next person. Laundry Tips Keep Socks Matched — use a mesh laundry bag for each member of the family; they fill the bag with their socks; wash, dry, return the bag to each person. No more lost socks! Find the tutorial for how to do this here . To keep hampers smelling fresh, fill a knee-high (or cut off) nylon with baking soda. Know the open end and hang inside the hamper to absorb odor eater; replace about once a month or as needed. To keep dark colors from fading, wash them inside out. Be sure to zip zippers and fasten buttons so they don’t catch during the washing or drying cycle. We appreciate our apartment community and the courtesy our residents display in the laundry facilities and elsewhere. Thanks for reading the Sunset Palms Blog today!

Hollywood Apartment Living at Sunset Palms

Welcome to the brand new blog for Sunset Palms, our apartment homes serving the Hollywood community. We will update this blog every few weeks to keep you up to date with local events in and around Hollywood, Florida as well as recommendations for local restaurants, attractions, and more. We’ll also speak to topics that deal with apartment living, like suggestions for decorating, organizing, and making the most of your experience at our apartment community. Perhaps we’ll bring you book and movie reviews or craft projects and recipes. Truth be told, we hope to bring you a little bit of everything to make your time at Sunset Palms memorable. Today, for our first post, we’d like to introduce ourselves. Here’s a little bit about our apartments for rent in Hollywood, Florida. Our Hollywood Apartments Looking for a studio, one-, or two-bedroom apartment for rent? You’ve come to the right place. Here at Sunset Palms, we want you to feel at home. That’s why we provide apartment amenities like air conditioners, large closets, and patios. Every resident in our apartment community also has access to a swimming pool, sports courts, and a laundry care center. Give our leasing representatives a call today to find out how to make Sunset Palms in Hollywood, Florida your new home. Sunset Palms is managed by Monument Real Estate Services, LLC. MRES provides quality housing in the Southwest, Southeast, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. They also sponsor the Monument Cares Program, an effort to collaborate with residents who serve the local Hollywood community. Learn more about Monument Cares here . Thanks for reading our very first blog post! We hope to bring you exciting content in the coming weeks and months to enhance your living experience at Sunset Palms. We hope to put you in touch with all that Hollywood, Florida has to offer. Take a moment and leave us a comment to suggest topics for future posts. While you’re at it, let us know why you love living here at Sunset Palms.