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Organization Tips for National Clean Off Your Desk Day

January 11th is National Clean Off Your Desk Day, and with all the work and life that happens at our desks, it couldn’t come at a better time. A clear surface and organized space means lower stress, easier transitions, and fewer steps needed to get your work done. Part of the reason our desks get so cluttered to begin with is that, sometimes, leaving clutter sitting is easier than putting it away. So National Clean Off Your Desk Day isn’t just about clearing the surface — it’s about creating a system to prevent clutter in the future. (But it’s okay if you need to do a thorough clean again next year!) We’ve split the process into three steps, from planning, to organizing, to a clean workspace: Prioritize what you use most See that coating of clutter on top? Leave it there, for now. It’s no use trying to put desktop detritus away before you’ve carved out a space to put it — if you cram things into drawers right now, they’ll come right back out when you reorganize! Instead, strategize first. Develop an organization system that gives you easy access to what you use most, and saves less-accessible drawers for lesser-used items. Items you pick up every few minutes, like a calculator or pencil, belong on top of your desk. Items you use several times every day belong in your easiest-to-access drawers, and items you rarely use at all belong in your desk’s least convenient drawer: that one at the very bottom, or maybe the one that jams upon opening. Think about ease of use, and also think about saving your back from bending over twenty times a day just for a fresh sheet of paper! Reorganize your drawers Now that you’ve strategized, it’s time to set that organization system to use. If your organization system hasn’t changed at all, that might be a matter of just shifting a few things around—but if your desk has been working against you for a long time, especially if you can’t figure out why, it’s time to take everything out. This cuts down on organization time in the short term, and makes for a smoother system in the long term. You’re not just patching up what’s not working, you’re organizing from scratch! For quick access to small items, like paper clips or thumbtacks, consider a drawer divider. If you have to file papers, now might be the time to invest in a drawer insert to hang your files vertically, rather than creating a pile to dig through. If you find items you don’t use at your desk at all, set them aside in a small box or bin. Complete this step with what’s already in your drawers before moving on to your desk’s surface. I know that clutter on top looks tempting, but the finished-job feeling of clearing your desk is another reason we’re saving the best for last. Put away things you don’t need Now you can shift your focus to the top of your desk. Look for simple ways to slim down which tools earn the honor of staying on your desk’s top. Do you need a pen cup filled with two dozen working pens, or will two or three suffice? Consider decorations too: Your workspace should be uplifting, but too much decoration can still cause more stress than it alleviates. Moving some decor up off your desk’s surface and onto the wall will help give you some breathing room. It’s also time to clear away coffee mugs, water bottles, old scraps of paper or wrappers. Bring cups or dishes to the sink and garbage all the way to the trash can. Everything feels better when the job is done all the way. If there’s extra room in your bottommost desk drawers, those items you don’t use can be shuffled back into them — we understand the need to make the most of your storage! But if you have the storage space, try to give anything you don’t use at your desk a home away from it.

Delicious Local Restaurants for National Spaghetti Day

National Spaghetti Day is January 4th, and we thought we’d celebrate by pointing out some excellent local restaurants that serve spaghetti dishes worth trying sometime soon! As our residents know, we love any opportunity to showcase the things that make our neighborhood and the Gilbert area so special. So, without further ado, here’s three nearby restaurants with wonderful pasta dishes for National Spaghetti Day! Baci Italian Bistro Family-owned and run, Baci Italian Bistro has been serving Gilbert since 2002, but the first version of the restaurant was opened in Illinois in 1990, by the same family running the Gilbert version now. They have an array of tasty Italian dishes, including pasta such as gnocchi florentine, pasta ala baci, and sausage boscaiola. They’re doing both delivery and takeout, so feel free to give them a call and order dinner to bring home! Eatalio Pasta & Wine Eatalio Pasta & Wine serves, as the name may suggest, pasta, pizza, and wine in the Gilbert area. They have both delivery and quick curbside takeout, and serve a selection of delights, including carbonara, capellini pomodoro, and even classic fettuccine Alfredo. Zappone's Italian Bistro Zappone’s Italian Bistro also has both takeout and delivery services, making it easy to get a bite when you want it. They serve award-winning Italian food, featuring pasta that’s handcrafted in-house every day with fresh ingredients. They have both a dinner and a lunch menu, as well as a separate cocktail menu. Their pasta selections include, among many other options, spaghetti and clams, amatriciana with pancetta, and lobster fra diavolo. We hope you enjoy exploring some of these wonderful restaurants, residents, and eat something delicious soon, whether it’s for National Spaghetti Day or not!

New Year's Resolutions You Can Keep

We think everyone can agree that this past year has been a lesson in even the best laid plans going awry. No one could have really planned for exactly what 2020 held. And now, going into 2021, we’re looking ahead to the new year, and we want to talk about New Year’s resolutions. Oftentimes, we go into the start of a new year with very specific, lofty goals, and then feel disappointed in ourselves when we don’t achieve them exactly as intended, or can’t sustain a major life change with no build-up for very long. The problem here may actually be the resolutions we’re making, rather than us for not keeping them. You can’t control life, and when we make pronouncements like ‘this year I’m going to run every single day’, we inevitably set ourselves up for failure that can discourage us from making progress on our goals later on. This year, with 2020’s unpredictability in mind, let’s try to make some more basic, simplistic New Year’s resolutions that are keepable. Try For “More” Rather than a massive overhaul that requires meeting a very specific goal, whether that’s pounds lost or books read, we should consider a more easily fulfilled goal: the word “more”. Think about going into the new year with that word in mind, rather than a big statement along the lines of “in the new year, I’m going to write a little bit every single day.” It’s hard to control every single day, and when we fail at such big, specific goals, we might feel defeated enough to give up entirely. “More” is broad: in the new year I want to cook more, read more, be more creative, eat more fruit. Doing it more than the year before is a success, even if it’s just by a little bit, and that little bit can add up to a habit that sees you doing these things more and more in the coming months and years. It’s an encouraging success -- doing it more than the last year is enough, and every time you get a little further on it, you’re just succeeding further at the goal. It’s a mindset that can lead to the genuine building of better habits. Start Small It can be incredibly easy to feel that the new year is the start of everything changing and set goals that are a little too ambitious right off the bat. We understand -- there’s a temptation to start strong, and finally make the changes you’ve been talking about! But it also makes it easy to burn out quickly, and it’s much harder to get that momentum back after that happens. Start slow and small, and build up towards that big ultimate goal you have. Rather than beginning with “every day”, start with a couple of times a week, and increase it as you go. Be Kind To Yourself The most important part of recognizing that you can’t predict the year when it comes to making your goals is to remember to be kind to yourself and give yourself leeway when you feel you’ve messed up. Succeeding at a resolution is more than just what happens on one particular day, and you’ll be a lot better at getting back up and starting again tomorrow if you forgive yourself for not always being 100% up to snuff. Happy 2021, residents! Whatever your goals are, we wish you the best of luck in achieving them in the coming year.

Recipes for National Cocoa Day

There’s something about hot chocolate that brings to mind winter, and the holidays, and cozy nights in. It’s warming, and delicious, and always feels like you’re treating yourself a little bit. Well, it is winter, and the holidays are certainly fast approaching, so with the excuse that National Cocoa Day was on December 13th, here are a few twists on the classic hot chocolate recipe for you to try at home. Unicorn Hot Chocolate This recipe is colorful, playful, and sweet! It’s a fun variant for fans of white chocolate. Ingredients: 1 cup of white chocolate chips 2 cups of milk 2 cups of half-and-half 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract Pink food coloring Whipped cream and sprinkles for garnish Directions: Combine your white chocolate chips, milk, half-and-half, and vanilla extract in a saucepan on your stove. Then, heat the ingredients over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture is hot. You don’t want it to boil, just to heat. When it’s hot, whisk in your food coloring until the resulting color is your preferred shade of pink! Then, simply split the drink into mugs, and top with whipped cream and sprinkles. Peppermint Hot Chocolate Peppermint is another classic holiday flavor, so combining it with hot chocolate will make you feel doubly festive. Ingredients: 1 ¼ cup of whole milk ¼ cup of cream ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 tablespoon of sugar 1 tablespoon of peppermint baking chips ½ tablespoon of cocoa ½ tablespoon of vanilla extract Whipped cream for garnish Directions: Combine your milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat, and bring the mixture to a boil. When it’s boiling, remove it from the heat, and add your cocoa, chocolate chips, and peppermint chips to the mixture, and whisk until everything is melted together and the mixture is smooth. Then, pour your drink into individual mugs, and top with whipped cream! Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate This is a creamy, decadent recipe that’s basically peanut butter cups in a mug. Ingredients: 2 cups of milk ½ a cup and 1 tablespoon of chopped up peanut butter cups ¼ a cup of powdered sugar ¼ a cup of unsweetened cocoa powder 2 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter ¼ tablespoon of salt Whipped cream, for garnish Directions: Heat your milk in a saucepan over medium heat, until it’s hot but not boiling. Then, whisk in your powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt until the mixture is smooth. Add in your peanut butter and the ½ a cup of chopped peanut butter cups, and whisk again until it’s all melted in and combined. Bring the mixture to a boil, and let it boil for about one minute, or until it begins to thicken, stirring regularly as it does. Then, remove your saucepan from the heat. Split your drink into mugs, and top with whipped cream and the remaining peanut butter cups! We hope you enjoy these recipes! Let us know in the comments if you give them a try, and how they turned out.

Local Gilbert Bakeries for National Brownie Day

National Brownie Day is December 8th, and we want to take the opportunity to highlight some local Gilbert bakeries that are great options for fulfilling your chocolate-y cravings! Rise Up Bakery Rise Up Bakery is a local shop that’s been family owned and operated since 2014, and provides baked goods made from scratch every day with fresh ingredients. They like to give back to the community as well, holding high school fundraisers and giving tours of the bakery to school groups and scout groups. They have a whole section dedicated to brownies and bars, including a festive candy cane brownie, a peanut butter brownie, a caramel brownie called carmelita, and more. It’s a delicious option for all your brownie needs. Cinnaholic Cinnaholic features online ordering, so you can take it easy. They sell classic homemade fudge-style brownies, and a whole assortment of cookies and edible cookie dough, if you want something to go with it. They also have some seasonal items like wreath cakes and gingerbread house rolls. Their baked goods are all freshly baked, and vegan, for those who want that option. The Great Gadsby Bakery The Great Gadsby Bakery’s website is currently being renovated, but their Facebook page has all the necessary information to know what they sell! They have a rotating menu, and do call-in orders for pickup. They have a special holiday menu, including a holiday dessert box if you want an assortment of goodies, which feature delicious salted caramel brownie squares! This is another family-run bakery. We hope you liked this selection of local bakeries for National Brownie Day! We’re a big fan of pointing out some incredible local shops that our residents might not have been to before, and we hope this could help inspire you for the next time you want to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Gilbert Holiday Celebrations

The holidays are on their way, and our local Gilbert area is celebrating in its own special ways! We’re a big fan of ensuring our residents are up-to-date with some of the fun happenings going on in town, so we want to bring your attention to a few of the things going on for the holiday season. Gilbert Water Tower Light Show From now until January 3rd, you can through downtown Gilbert and past the Gilbert Water Tower to the sounds and sights of the holidays! You can tune into the radio at 88.9 FM and hear holiday songs every thirty minutes from 5:30 PM to 10: PM every day, and the lights in the Heritage District and on the water tower will synchronize to the seasonal sounds! It should be pretty, and a nice way to brighten up your regular commute. Menorah Lighting for Hanukkah After December 10th, there will be a menorah lit in Gilbert for each night of Hanukkah, which goes until December 18th! The lightning will take place at Water Tower Plaza, which is located at 45 W Page Avenue, Gilbert AZ, 85233, and it’ll be on top of the hill south of the Gilbert Water Tower. This could be a nice thing to see without needing to infringe on social distancing guidelines, and will be nice for the holiday! Holiday Lights Map If you’re decorating for the holidays, you can submit a photo of your light display here , where it will be added to an interactive map for those of us that want to take a drive around town and take in the creativity of different displays! There’s going to be three sets of prize packs offered if you submit by December 16th, and they’re all stocked with local treats! Even if you’re not decorating yourself, the interactive map is a great way to find places nearby to take a look at some of the excellent displays going up and get in the holiday spirit. Happy holidays, residents! We hope the season treats you well.