Category: Uncategorized (17)

San Francisco is a city that is always full of life, and if you are one of our tenants living in our affordable San Francisco rooms, then you already know the never-ending list of activities you can do in this city. If you aren’t living in our San Francisco housing, don’t worry, you can still book one of the fully furnished single rooms or affordable shared rooms on our website! Today, we are going take you beyond just your average SF housing group and guide you through a tour of the famous beautiful and mysterious science museum of Pier 15: The Exploratorium!

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The Exploratorium is a ceaseless learning laboratory that features over six-hundred exhibits in the museum. You are also free to explore any of your subject of interest as the laboratory features galleries and showings based on phenomenons such as making your own telescope, making a battery from a penny, and even turning garbage into gold! There are an endless number of fun activities to do in the museum and we are going to reveal some of our favorites!

 

Distorted Room

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Are you a fan of Alice in Wonderland? If you are, then definitely take a peek into this seemingly normal room and you’ll see how people seem to get bigger and smaller as they walk around this exhibit, just like in the movie! This unusual room is made to give of an illusion of an average square room, but in reality, the ceiling on one side of the room is actually twice as high as the other! Don’t forget to bring your camera for some unforgettable pictures in this wonderfully bizarre room!

 

Colored Shadows

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In this exhibit, make your shadows come to life in all sorts of different colors as you stand in front of the wall. You can make these colorful shadows walk, jump, or even dance in hues of purple, red, yellow, green, and blue. Just because you are in a museum, doesn’t mean you can’t have your own little dance party!

 

Spectral Meadow

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Another colorful phenomenon, the Spectral Meadow is a piece of art that consists of various arrays of lights created by a rather unusual but famous artist… The Sun! Sunlight itself, after being filtered through diffraction gratings on the windows above the gallery, shines on the floor as well as the walls of the exhibit in beautiful colors. Being in this exhibit truly feels like you are immersed in the lights of a rainbow.

 

The Tactile Dome

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Are you up for a challenge? The Tactile Dome is one of the most popular and loved exhibits in the Exploratorium where you have to walk, crawl, or climb your way out of a path completely covered by darkness! Heighten your senses to a maximum and challenge yourself to a maze completely in the dark!

 

Remember, the Exploratorium has hundreds of different exhibits available for all ages and these were only some of them. If you want to check out the rest of the fun activities, you can visit their website here.

 

We hope you have fun exploring!

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2019 has officially ended and the new year is eagerly making its way into the world! San Franciscans all over the city are celebrating the new year with parties, dinners, and lots of fun gatherings in order to enter the 2020 with a positive attitude. As a tradition, this holiday also means reaching new ambitions and goals with the opportunity for a fresh start. Whether it is succeeding in a difficult class, living a healthier lifestyle, or even learning a new talent, we know that sometimes it isn’t always so easy to attain a goal that you have always wanted. So here are some secrets to making a new year resolution and sticking to it!

Plan Ahead

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It is always a good idea to write down your goals and have a suitable plan as to exactly what you want to achieve. For example, the most common new year’s resolution is to start eating healthy and exercising. To attain that resolution, it would be helpful to start thinking about the times or days of the week you want to head to gym so that it fits into your schedule, or even about the healthier options that make it onto your grocery list. Having a good plan will keep you on track and give you motivation for following through with what you have written down.

Rewarding Yourself

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It is not a surprise that a person would be more willing to follow through with something if there is a reward at the other end, especially one prepared by the person who knows you the most: your own self! Rewarding yourself can be an excellent motivation for sticking to that new lifestyle you have always wanted and can even be a great encouragement especially for the first few weeks of your resolution. Make some extra time to treat yourself to a spa day or a trip the movies!

Keep Trying

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Making a change to a lifestyle that you have been following for years is challenging, so it is important to always have a good attitude towards your new goals no matter what happens. Remember that small missteps are always a part of reaching new goals, so don’t be discouraged and give up after making a mistake. It is also absolutely fine to start over and recommit yourself to your objective if you have to.

One Step At A Time

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It may be tempting to try to achieve all your goals at once, but it is actually better if you spread out your strategy and aim for one objective at a time. When you attempt to do everything at once, it is a lot easier to get overwhelmed and discouraged, so concentrate on one thing that you believe you will be able to do, and move on to another once you have reached your goal.

Don’t forget to always have a positive outlook on the new year, and we hope that 2020 will be full of fun and surprises!

Happy New Year from all of us at Urbanests!

December is here and San Francisco streets are lighting up with beautiful and festive Holiday scenery. There’s no doubt that Christmas season is almost upon us, and although it’s only the first week of December, it’s hard to contain the excitement of the season! This year, our holiday spotlight is on the famous buzzing plaza at the heart of San Francisco… Union Square!

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Every year, Union Square hosts a month-long event called Winter Walk where the famous plaza is festively decorated with scenery including 17,000 square feet of green space, food trucks, beer and wine gardens, and many different performances and events. Visitors come out from all over the Bay area to enjoy treats and take Instagramable pictures at the mobile photo stations with their friends and family to spread the Christmas joy.

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Apart from the many food trucks offering delicious treats and meals, Winter Walk also has scheduled performances throughout the month of December that will definitely immerse you in the Holiday spirit! Here is a list of upcoming events found on the event website, including themed performances, carols, and even disco-parties.

  • December 6: Dickens Fair Choir from 11:30 am-12:30 pm
  • December 6: “Mean Girls” themed drag performance by local drag queen Tye and friends at 6:30 pm, 7:00 pm & 7:30 pm
  • December 7: Performance by the Salvation Army Children’s Choir
  • December 9: Urban Flowers – Wreath & Centerpiece Demos from 11:00 am-2:00 pm
  • December 13 and 21: Pop-up appearances by the Bay Area’s beloved Dickens Fair
  • December 13: Silent Disco presented by HUSHconcerts from 5:00 pm-9:00 pm
  • December 15: Core Power Yoga from 11:00-11:30 am
  • December 16: Urban Flowers – Wreath & Centerpiece Demos from 11:00 am-2:00 pm
  • December 21: Special Winter Solstice performance by Luminescent Grand (the world’s first synesthesia piano)
  • December 23: Museum of Craft & Holiday Craft Station from 11:00 am-2:00 pm

 

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Another Holiday-highlight from Union Square is their famous outdoor Ice Rink located at the center of the plaza. Every Christmas season, the rink opens and is surrounded by holiday decorations such as the massive Macys Christmas tree, lights, and more. There are also special themed events and parties happening during the month of December, including free ice-skating lessons if you are a beginner. You can check out their full list of events on their calendar!

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It may not snow in San Francisco, but that shouldn’t stop you from all the Holiday fun happening in the city.

If you want to stay on top of all the Holiday events this year, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter by clicking the link below and know about all that’s happening in the city of San Francisco!

Sign up for our Newsletter!

 

 

Halloween just a few days away, which means candy, haunted houses, and scary costumes. With that being said some of you might be wondering, what if I don’t have a costume ready? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! There are tons of spooky costumes that you can make yourself so you won’t have to spend the day sitting at your San Francisco housing, and go have some fun this Halloween! Here are some of our favorite simple and fun DIY Halloween costumes that you can make yourself.

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Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

 

  1. Paper Doll Costume

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Get creative with this affordable DIY and make a costume out of an everyday essential… Paper! Grab some large paper or even pieces of cardboard and paint on any outfit of your choice and impress your friends with an entire outfit made out of pieces of paper!

 

  1. “Life Gives you Lemons” Costume

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Make the best out of our favorite quote and dress up with a Life Gives you Lemons costume. All you need is a yellow or white outfit and some lemons to recreate this fun and witty costume!

 

  1. Emojis

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Emojis make a fun and quirky costume for Halloween, and the best part is there are so many to choose from! Scroll through the hundreds of different fun emojis to find the one that you would want to dress up as! You could make the costumes out of paper, old T-shirts, or you could even purchase an emoji costume online or at your favorite Halloween store.

 

  1. Mime

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Remember that striped shirt you bought years ago that is now sitting at the back of your closet? You can easily create a mime costume simply with anything that is striped! Simply throw on some white face paint and creative mime-like designs to make your costume come to life. If you don’t have a striped shirt, you can always make your own with some dyes and an old shirt!

 

  1. The Classic Ghost

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Ah.. The classic ghost, it truly never gets old! This costume is one of the easiest and quickest and is suitable for anyone that wants to have a fun outfit without spending too much time or money on it. You can make the canvas out of tablecloths or by sewing pieces of white cloths together and drawing the face on top with markers or sharpies.

 

  1. Sims Character

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Sims characters are easily recognized by their green symbols floating above their heads. If you need a super quick and clever costume, cut out some cardboard pieces and glue/tape them together to make the diamond shaped symbol. Then, simply paint it green and attach it to a headband (you can even make your own out of tin foil) and you are done!

 

We hope these ideas are useful in helping you choose a Halloween costume this year!

 

If you liked this blog, don’t forget to check out some of our other ones too here, and we hope you have a spooky and fun Halloween!

All the Places You Need to Know About to Maintain Your New Year’s Fitness Goals

It’s early February.  By now you may have given up on your New Year’s resolution to get outside of your short term rental in SF, lose 5lbs, eat more greens, go to yoga once a week with your roommates in San Francisco, or whatever it is you kicked off 2018 thinking you were going to achieve.  Maybe you’re losing steam because you realized just how much a membership at Equinox costs, or that sometimes pizza really just tastes better than kale.  Well this is here to re-motivate you! Get off the couch in your San Francisco furnished apartments and get moving! Keep reading to discover health inspired places you might not have known existed!

PART 1: PLACES TO GET YOUR BODY MOVING!

Screen Shot 2018-02-08 at 2.44.45 PMYelp.

Yoga to the People

A donation based yoga studio dedicated to bringing people together through the love of yoga. This is a great place to experience a top quality yoga session without paying top dollar.

2973 16th St., 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103

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64 Shattuck Sq., Berkeley, CA 94704

Screen Shot 2018-02-08 at 2.44.58 PMThe Sweat Report.

Ritual

Fast-paced hot yoga set to upbeat music and candle light. More than just yoga, this is a sweat-filled rhythmic workout.

586 6th St., San Francisco, CA 94103

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Katie Sweeney, Haute Living.

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With classes ranging from barre to HIIT, you’re bound to get sweaty at this full body workout fitness studio.

327 Divisadero St., San Francisco, CA 94117

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Bold

Practice the Lagree method in the calming environment of the Bold studio.

3167 College Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705

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HIT Fit SF.

HIT Fit SF

This fitness studio is known for its fiery boxing, TRX and circuit training workouts.

2345 Harrison St., San Francisco, CA

OR

1150 Sutter St., San Francisco, CA

If group fitness classes aren’t your thing…

You can still get off the couch and go outside your San Francisco housingYou can go for a run along Ocean Beach or through Golden Gate Park. Try climbing the stairs to Coit Tower a few times.  If you really feel like busting your quads, bike up and down the infamous hills of San Francisco. Checkout this guide to all the best pull-up bars in the city if you’re looking for an upper body workout.

And be sure to keep an eye on event calendars to stay up to date with all of the upcoming community workout sessions in your neighborhood!

 

Did we give you some good ideas to get you moving? Keep an eye out for Part 2, where we discuss all the places (outside the kitchen in your furnished housing) in San Francisco that will help you feed your body right to meet your New Years resolutions!

More blog posts here. 

Hey, rest is an important aspect of fitness too. If you are looking for a short stay apartment in San Francisco click here!

Post made by contributor Rachel Fay.