Community Blog

It’s a common known fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  What you eat during those precious moments in the morning, are used by your body to provide energy and strength.  But I do understand how easy it is to neglect breakfast.  Maybe you are running late, or maybe you just aren’t in the mood to eat the same old eggs & bacon.  Well I’m here to tell you that a great breakfast may be the key to having a successful day, mentally and physically.

Oprah Winfrey’s trainer, Bob Greene , is quoted as saying “To jump-start your metabolism and get an energy boost, you have to choose a nutritious breakfast with a satisfying mix of carbohydrates, fat and protein.” The author of “The Best Life Diet Cookbook” also suggests that nuts, nut based butters and eggs help you control your cravings and makes you feel fuller.  This is important because it’ll decrease your need for mid-morning snacks, and will help you stay on track with weight loss goals.

No one likes waking up early in the morning, but we might as well add the extra protein needed to maintain our energy throughout the day.  Here is a recipe to help jump start your morning:

Smoothie Starter

The Smoothie Starter is a cool way to start the day with 10 grams of protein from All Whites rather than from chalky protein powder.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup AllWhites

3/4 cup orange, pineapple, apple or cranberry juice.

Directions:
Pour the AllWhites and juice into a glass and shake well or place them in a food blender to mix well. For a thicker shake, add bananas, strawberries, plain yogurt and/or a couple of ice cubes to the blend.

If you need further recipe suggestions, search the web and find the endless ways to make your breakfast work for you!

Summer House Residents– How do you jump start your morning before heading to campus or to the office?

This past weekend, the annual “Eat Real” festival brought lots of sustainable dishes, local demonstrations and organic grocery options to the Bay Area.

Jack London Square was set up like a local Farmer’s Market extravaganza— a handful of local crafters as well as chefs and food experts presented resources for sustainable living and cooking at home or locally.

Eat Real Festival came about to bring awareness to community members about easy and safe foods that can be just as accessible as fast food.

Butchery contests, homemade dairy churning (which was later used to make ice cream), treats made from local grown produce and select meat buying demonstrations, comprised the event schedule.

The best part about the event is all the DIY information, and free samples event-goers got to take home after.

My personal favorite was the homemade ice cream and cold cuts from the butchery demos.

CHECK OUT WHAT YOU MISSED!

YOU CAN DRINK “REAL” TOO!

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• “Eat Real Festival” and related posts (blogs.kqed.org)

Are you prepared to head to the Frank Ogawa Plaza today? From 4-6:00PM, true Oakland fans will be amongst the throng of people at the Raider Nation Celebration!

Meet team players, Q&A with the coaches, see the dancing Raiderettes and get cool prizes and giveaways! If you don’t have season tickets, or at least one, you may want to be among the crowd-goers, because I’m sure there will be some being given away (don’t say we didn’t tell you)!

Grab the camera and a Sharpie—there will be photo and autograph opportunities with the players, Raider Legends & Raiderettes! Perfect for your 2010 season scrapbook! 

Come decked out in your Raider gear! Get the newest stuff at The Raider Image (Hegenberger Gateway Retail Center) in Oakland, CA.

Who’s Going out Today and Who Are You Looking Forward to Seeing?

Check out this cool, fan video of Raider Highlights!

Whether you spend most of your time on Alameda’s Naval Base or you have a significant other that does, there’s mostly only macho things to do when not at work. Various gyms, sports bars and other grisly things lie in the vicinity but what happens when you’re in the area looking for some cute outing to partake in during the day?

You may have passed by two older,  warehouse looking buildings while driving on Monarch St., but in fact the establishments host one of two very spirited places for a weekend afternoon.

That we speak of is St. George Spirits, Alameda’s largest artisan distiller. Take tours, or take part in the tasting room which has scheduled tastings throughout the day. The original distillery, founded more than 30 years ago, offers absinthe, brandy, whiskey and vodka straight from the source, for visitors to sip and sway to (be careful not to break any of the antiques).

What’s best about St. George is,  tours and tastings are free for those who come to a scheduled visit.

After a nice afternoon learning and tasting, grab some of the bottled-up potion from the distillery. You can also pick up a package at any one of SF retailers close by.

The distillery is located at 2601 Monarch St in Alameda.

Make a break from the Complex (pun intended) sometime to go check it out with your buds or your hun.

…San Fancisco Food Fest!!! The weekend has come where filling up with some good eats is very easy to do!

Get a sample of San Fran’s infamous mobile food carts as well as street restaurants alike. Can you map out 5 Blocks of all kinds of meats, dessert, organic delights in your head, much less your stomach? Follow your belly growl to the FOOD FEST THIS WEEKEND!!!

When: Saturday August 21st, 2010 11AM-7PM

Where: La Cocina Community Kitchen, 2948 Folsom St., San Franciso CA

• Directions from Summer House Apartments

Cost: Admission is free! Depending on how wanderlust your appetite is, there are different passport options available to travel through foodie heaven!

List of Vendors

Activities

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• Street food festivals in high gear (sfgate.com)

Feel fitter and become more energetic with Yoga. You regular exercise routine is good, but Yoga brings the mind and body together as one—making you a more happier and peaceful you!

For those who have wiggled a little in the Yogi world, you may be alright to start Beginner Yoga right in your living room; or you can take advantage of the versatile teachings at the Alameda Yoga Station.

The importance of practicing Yoga is first learning the proper body alignment and foundation in which to perform it. Teachers practice the most influential form of yoga, which is Hatha Yoga.

Yoga can be incorporated into any aspect of stress or activity in your daily life. With the fall session coming up at The Station, a series of different workshops to partake in:

Yoga For Better Sleep: Learn poses and breathing exercises that balance energy and nurture a more restful sleep.

6-Week Beginner Yoga Basics: Great for beginners who would like to take on Yoga as a long term practice at home or in exercise. Learn basic poses and concepts of the Iyengar Style of Yoga.

Holiday Stress Reduction: Take these sessions to help alleviate stress through stretches and relaxation techniques. Learn how to relieve energy tension and channel serenity.

Who knew all that could be done through downward facing dog!

The Alameda Yoga Station is located right down the street at 2414-A Central Avenue. Summer House Residents should definitely drop in and see what a class is about!

Nowadays, if you visit a household, expect nothing less than a Blu-ray DVD player and HD TV adorning the entertainment center.

It’s only right that we finally get to rent movies that put most of our TV’s to work. True, most of us with “swanky” electronics should be able to buy vs. rent, but as long as there’s Red Box, don’t hold your breath!!

Within the last couple of weeks, the $1/Night Movie Vending Empire announced that it will offer Blu-Ray New Releases in over 13,000 kiosks for only $1.50/Night. That’s only a .50 increase in price point, for full HD viewing satisfaction.

The first wave of Blu-ray titles being loaded into kiosks include Warner Home Video’s “The Book of Eli,” Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s “The Bounty Hunter” and Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s “Green Zone.” [1]

New Blu-Ray Releases…

Summer House Residents—Make a date with your living room and grab a movie from one of these Alameda Locations

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• Redbox to offer Blu-ray rentals for $1.50 (geek.com)

What’s that smell in the air? Aside from freshly mowed turf lawn and stale beer from outdoor tailgates, it’s the aroma of NFL Football Season!

We’ve still got approximately one month before the regular season kicks off on September 9^th , but the NFL knows how much we itch for those 17 weeks! For the love of the game, the best gift for Football Fans across America is NFL Preseason Football! Besides, we were running out reasons to gather at the local bar on a random weekday night!

Get your lady up on the game, or scout out the potential of your fantasy football picks during the preseason schedule.

Be sure to not miss a beat when the Oakland Raiders play:

Week 1: Oakland vs. Dallas   Thursday August 12^th, 2010 at Cowboys Stadium (9PM)

Week 2: Oakland vs. Chicago Saturday August 21^st, 2010 at Soldier Field (8:30PM)

Week 3: Oakland vs. San Fran. Saturday August 28^th, 2010 at Oakland Coliseum (9PM)

Week 4: Oakland vs. Seattle  Thursday September 2^nd, 2010 at Oakland Coliseum (10PM)

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• Oakland Raiders Vs. Dallas Cowboys: Does It Matter? (bleacherreport.com)

Have you been to Jack London Square this summer? Whenever you are bored or have plans for an easy-going weekend, there’s always something going on at the Square!

Check out these weekend events if you’re still up in the air about what to do (cue the weekend countdown):

Friday August 6th, 2010

Best of East Bay (5PM-11PM)

Celebrate everything about East Bay including live music, kids’ activities, exhibits and live entertainment. Celebrate the best of the products and ideas that came out of East Bay this year!

Works by Daniel Healey ( 6PM-9PM)

It’s opening night of the collection exhibit of Daniel Healey! The collection will be up until September 19th, but nothing is better than opening night! The Oakland curator and artist feeds off “cul-ture” from throwaway elements—in this collection, he makes are from scraps of contemporary magazines and newspapers.

Saturday August 7th, 2010

Jack London Square’s Farmers’ Market

Have an easy, breezy Saturday afternoon shopping for some good, fresh local produce and eats! The summer’s coming to an end so take advantage of the great seasonal items in this year-round event!

When looking for a job, or even making your first steps into the corporate world, young people are the most drastic candidates to make or break their own chances of

standing out.

Post-graduates focus so much on what they’re going to say and how they come off on paper, that they forget how they’re coming off in person. Young men especially are ones that could use this post. Appearance is just an important factor in letting your potential employer know that you mean business. Ditch the drab gray/black business suits and bring some of your personality and character into that outfit to make a lasting impression! Since we know how much you hate to shop, take our advice this go-round.

AskMen.com gives us these top 3 summer suit looks that are Executive, Fun and Fashionable:

• The White Suit: If you are clean enough to not spill soda, sit on dirt surfaces, then you could pull this suit off for the 2-3 hours surrounding your job interview. Wearing it to work will be for the more fashionably advanced.  Be careful because you could look like a cheap Miami Club owner if you pair this less-is-more look up with something cheesy. Stick a solid, quality dress shirt (muted tones suggested) underneath the suit and wear a dark colored solid shoe to match.

• Linen Suit: Yes we’re in Cali, so a linen suit will pass over with the hot weather. J. Crew fashions have created a breathable suit for men to don now in the corporate environment. (It’ll also hide the sweat spots from your nervousness from your interviewer) The jacket has slimmer trim, tailored lapels and is cut a little shorter on for a cleaner and younger look.

• Navy Cotton Suit: We know we said to ditch the drab, but if you’re not too confident of stepping out of your comfort zone, this a perfect example of a traditional yet fashionable suit style. The Cotton Suit is a lighter version of the traditional suit. Its finish is a little but more tailored to look simpler and more clean. The last thing you want to do is walk in an office looking like you spent hours starching the pants and jacket lines. No flap pockets and wrist buttons (no cuff links) give a flat look that will look just as fresh at 5PM as it did at 8AM!

Take the time out one weekend and get down to business! Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco is only 30 minutes away from Summer House Apartments! Suit up and visit these stores:

J. Crew

Banana Republic

Nordstrom’s

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