Auston Grove Apartment Homes Blog

Participate at the White Deer Monster Dash 5K & Trick-or-Trot Family Fun Run

Date: October 29th

White Deer Monster Dash: 4PM
Trick-or-Trot Family Fun Run: 5PM

Entry Fees:

$35 for White Deer Monster Dash
$10 for Trick-or-Trot Family Fun Run

Runners can dress up in their best Halloween costume for a chance to win a ghoulish prize. The race begins on Baffaloe Road and ends in Lake Benson Park. Awards will be given after the last runner has finished.

Register online: www.GarnerNC.gov

For more information call: 773-4442

Best Costume Contest

T-shirts provided to all “White Deer Monster Dash” participants

Top 1 Age Groups:

19 & Under
20–29
30–39
40–49
50 & Over

Top 1 Male and Female

Stick around for Goblins In the Park at 6 pm. FREE hay rides, carnival games, crafts, Trail of Terror, Hallow's Eve Family Trail, costume contest and more!

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Get in on the savings!

The N&O announces Deal Saver beginning TODAY, July 11th. If you've used Groupon or LivingSocial online, then you're already familiar with the great deals offered.

The N&O will offer the same type of deals through their new DealSaver site. This will be their own site with daily deals featuring discounts up to 90% off at local businesses. These are fantastic offers but limited in number of time of purchase.

The N&O will mail each "Deal of the Day" directly to you (and will not use your address for any other purpose.) They just want to have as many users as possible to maximize the exposure for their participating merchants. Click here to sign up for your free daily email and start taking advantage of these bargains! Like to have your own ad on DealSaver? Call June at 836-5711 or Helen, 829-4833.

Weekly Update from the Chamber, events this week and next:

TODAY, July 11, 8:55 am to noon (continues through Friday)

• Summer Camp at Zebulon United Methodist Preschool
  Theme is "The Great Outdoors"; call 269-6554 for info.

Thursday, July 14, 9 am

• Ribbon Cutting at State Farm Insurance, 1300 N. Arendell Ave
  Co-sponsored by the Wendell Chamber. Refreshments provided!

Friday, July 15, 10 am

• Ribbon Cutting (by Town of Zebulon) at new Tot Lot inside Zebulon Community Park, 301 S. Arendell Ave (for info call 823-0432)

Saturday, July 16, 10 am to 4 pm

• Zebulon Shrinettes Christmas in July fundraiser
  Zebulon Shrine Club, 1201 W. Gannon Avenue
  For more info, call Kristen at 404-5114 or Jo at 284-2888

Saturday, July 16, 7 pm

• Thomas & Hatchett in concert at A Garden Event. Enjoy an eclectic mix of music - Native American style! For info, call 747-1180.

Monday, July 18, 7 to 7:30 pm

• Mompackages Zeb/Wendell chapter meets at Wendell McDonald's

Tuesday, July 19, gates open at 3 pm

• Hotter than July Cruise'N Car Show at North Raleigh Hilton
  Call 804-382-3644 for more info

Wednesday, July 20, 11:45 am to 1 pm

• East Wake WIN luncheon at Eastern Regional Center
  RSVP required! Call the Chamber at 269-6320; note new location!

Thursday, July 21, noon

• Ambassador meeting at Chamber building

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Friday - July 29, 2011

This season Muddy the Mudcat and the Carolina Mudcats are partnering with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Wake County to gather school supplies for their cause.

Bring 3 new school supplies to the game on Friday, July 29th and you'll receive one (1) FREE general admission ticket.

That night is also Muddy's birthday so many of his mascot friends will be in attendance along with free birthday cake!

Friday - August 12, 2011

New & Used Sports Equipment Drive

Benefiting the Special Olympics of North Carolina

For more information, call Macy Dykema at the Carolina Mudcats at (919) 269-2287 or visit the website at www.carolinamudcats.com

Download Flyer by Clicking Here

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Auston Grove will be hiring part time grounds help this Summer and wanted to see if any residents were interested before we posted to the public. This position is for grounds assistance and will entail outside work, climbing stairs and light lifting. Duties will include but not limited to help with many different projects, cleaning and grounds trash pick up however, no experience is necessary. The position is for the months of May, June, July, August and September. It is for 20 hours per week (almost any schedule can be accommodated). This position will pay $13 hour but doesn’t include any benefits or rent reductions. It is simply a way to make some extra Summer cash. Please contact Chris Jones at (919) 217-9995, cpjones@hhhunt.com, or stop in the office.

Apartment Homes in Raleigh, NC

Auston Grove will be hiring part time grounds help this Summer and wanted to see if any residents were interested before we posted to the public. This position is for grounds assistance and will entail outside work, climbing stairs and light lifting. Duties will include but not limited to help with many different projects, cleaning and grounds trash pick up however, no experience is necessary. The position is for the months of May, June, July, August and September. It is for 20 hours per week (almost any schedule can be accommodated). This position will pay $13 hour but doesn’t include any benefits or rent reductions. It is simply a way to make some extra Summer cash. Please contact Chris Jones at (919) 217-9995, cpjones@hhhunt.com, or stop in the office.

Apartment Homes in Raleigh, NC

If achieving a “work-life balance” were easy, there wouldn’t be so many articles and advice books on the subject. But what does it mean to achieve a “balanced life?”

When you are able to maintain balance, you don’t feel as if your life is overwhelmed by any one task. You’re not spending so much time working that you don’t know what your non-work self is like, and you’re not constantly stressed by an unmanageable to-do list. You feel that you are actually living, rather than just rushing through the days.

Here are some suggestions on how to bring your life more into balance.

Prioritize sleep, exercise, and eating
When many responsibilities all call for our attention, it becomes easy for us to allow some of our most basic and healthful needs to be downplayed. Proper sleep and exercise help ensure our bodies are operating at full capacity, and they leave us feeling more relaxed as we live out each day. Pay attention to your body’s needs and rhythms, and honor them as best you can.

Prioritizing eating and the food you choose does not necessarily mean that you have to spend more money on food, or even force yourself to eat more healthily. It does mean being mindful of what and when you are eating. If you know you spend four out of five work lunches wolfing down something at your desk, allow yourself the freedom of a planned lunch out. And if you’re going to eat ten Oreos in a row one afternoon, make sure you enjoy them.

Identify and rethink your coping behaviors
If you’re very stressed, chances are you’re using something - maybe shopping, alcohol, or those Oreos - to help you feel better. While coping mechanisms are understandable human traits, you may want to think about alternative healthy activities that would allow you to relax without potentially draining your budget or leaving you feeling poorly.

Maintaining balance in your life means being aware of the things that stress you and attempting to change them or cope with them before you feel compelled to resort to behavior that will be counterproductive to your well-being. Instead of spending money, for instance, focus on another activity you enjoy. Instead of drinking or eating more than you will enjoy in order to relieve your stress, take the time to figure out why you would want to do those things in the first place.

Schedule time for quiet
Whether it’s prayer, meditation, yoga, writing in a journal, or just sitting and paying attention to your breath, having a few protected minutes of quiet in your day can be healing and revitalizing. Invest this time in a restful activity — watching TV, checking Facebook, or playing video games may not work as well for helping you feel more balanced.

Figure out what you can let go of
If you are simply trying to cram too much into 24 hours, you may need to cut some activities out of your packed schedule. It may not be obvious at first what you need to drop. Some experts recommend tracking your time; others, tracking your moods. Has one of your friends turned into an emotional vampire? Is that side project that once seemed so exciting now exhausting? Is your Saturday night out leaving you feeling bleak on Sunday? An honest appraisal of the events and relationships in your life may help you prioritize and potentially change some of them for the better.

Assess the “work” part of the work-life balance
Keep in mind that taking steps like these to improve your work-life balance may not go far enough to mitigate the negative effects of a job that is simply not suited to your personality, no matter how much that job pays. If you can’t leave a job that you find awful immediately, then make yourself a promise that at a definite date in the future - three months, six months, a year from now - you will re-evaluate your options. Write down your escape plan, as if you were formalizing a contract with yourself. If you find you have trouble clearly evaluating all the pieces of your life, you might want to consult a therapist, spiritual leader, or trusted friend to help you talk it all out.

Whether you “live to work” or “work to live,” you can always strive to streamline your life and make all its pieces work together more smoothly. Balance is an important goal for being happy with the things you have to do, as well as the things you want to do - and may help you deal with the difference between the two.

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Do you like to keep a journal as a record of your life experiences to help you remember and catalog the fleeting thoughts of daily life? How would you feel about sharing those thoughts or observations with others?

If this interests you, you might wish to start your own online blog, which is like a journal that you compose in cyberspace.

A blog can be a place to share your expertise or interests, collect your thoughts, or even market a business. Read on for reasons why creating a blog might be for you.

What will your blog be about?
If you decide to start a personal blog, the sky’s the limit in terms of what you can write about. In keeping with the old axiom to “write what you know,” sharing information or insights about your everyday experiences is a great way to start blogging. Linking your observations to facts and information that can educate and entertain others is a bonus that will likely keep readers coming back.

Whether you choose to write a food blog, a travel blog, a political blog or one about garden gnomes, you may very well find an appreciative audience interested in what you have to say.

For business sites, of course, blog topics should relate to the product or service being promoted.

Which blogging site will you choose?
There are a number of different interfaces you can use for your blog.

Blogger, now a Google property, was one of the first blogging sites. Tumblr has a simple, yet sophisticated format, and Posterous makes setting up a blog quick and easy. WordPress themes allow for a very smooth, professional look.

LiveJournal, as the name implies, has a more personal than professional approach. Like a MySpace for the blogging world, LiveJournal’s focus is on community and groups gathered around shared interests. Its options allow users to make their journal as private or public as they like. Diary.com is a similar option that also lets you sync with task, calendar and social media applications.

A live journal…and more
Blogging began as a way to expand a personal Web presence by talking to friends and strangers about what you love - or hate - in a ‘dear diary’ style. With a blog, you can get personal in a timely way, updating it whenever you want. You can create an online journal that just might become “appointment reading” for friends and fans.

Fame can be achieved through blogging. In 2003, a frustrated temp, Julie Powell, decided to cook the 524 French recipes in Julia Child’s book “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in the span of one year - and blog about the experience, at the same time. Her Julie/Julia Project project gained a large following and was adapted into a 2009 major motion picture, called “Julie & Julia” - the first time a blog had been brought to the big screen.

Powell’s blog ultimately had a dual purpose: it was both a personal expression and a professional outlet for her as a writer. This is common: a popular blog may take the form of a professional (or intentionally unprofessional) observation about a person’s experience in his industry or a citizen-journalist’s update on a particular subject.

Though the blog - and its new media cousins, Facebook and Twitter - have institutionalized the habit of sharing personal information with scores of complete strangers, the most-read posts of today are either truly informative or else very funny, offering readers tips, insight or humor that they can’t get anywhere else. And as businesses make blogging a part of their marketing plans, it seems everyone is bidding for the most eyes.

Perhaps you don’t care about publicity; you may just have something to say and don’t really care how many others will read it. Either way, if it’s time for you to blog, there are more ways to do it quickly and easily than ever before.

Like a pen-and-paper journal, a blog is the perfect venue for stream-of-consciousness creative writing and sharing about any number of topics - for all to read and share. Choose your blog host, your topic, and your style - the only limits are the time and energy you find to post what you have to say!

Apartment Homes Raleigh NC

Posting your resume online can assist you in your job search by making your unique qualifications known to thousands of employers who scour the Web for job candidates. But simply posting an online resume won’t get you hired. Find out how to leverage your online resume to help you find the job you’re looking for with these tips.

Why should you have an online resume?
Online resumes are fantastic job search tools because they’re efficient. Just think how long it would take for you to mail a copy of your resume to every potential employer - the time and expense would be staggering!

But with an online version at the ready, you can distribute your resume to hundreds or even thousands of potential employers and networking contacts quickly - and that’s an important advantage. In a job search, speed counts.

Online resumes are also convenient. Let’s say that you start your job search by informing all of your friends and contacts that you’re on the lookout for a new job. That’s a great beginning-of-job-search strategy, but your friends aren’t going to carry around paper copies of your resume with them everywhere they go. If a friend has a contact with a potential position for you, however, that friend can easily share the link to your online resume with a potential employer. Online resumes really can help your contacts help you.

Online resume tips
Once you realize how important it is to have an online resume, it’s good to know how to make your resume stand out in a crowd. Start by making sure that your online resume is filled with strong keywords. If you post a resume to a large job board like CareerBuilder.com or Monster.com, you should know that employers search for candidates on these sites by scanning resumes for keywords, specific search terms that illustrate the qualities and skills employers want. If you want to work as a software engineer, for instance, then a few good keywords to include in your online resume might be:

• Master’s degree
• Linux
• Software design
• Algorithms
• Network security

These terms are good keywords because they are specific to a software engineer’s job. Remember that employers will be looking for different keywords applicable to skills required in their industries. If you have created a well-crafted resume, the right keywords should be there.

Keep in mind that you can do more with an online resume than simply post it on job boards. You can attach the link to e-mails for quick responses to job inquiries or for dispersal among networking contacts. (If the print version of your resume has fancy formatting, you may need to convert your resume to plain text format so it is easily readable when copied and pasted into an e-mail.)

Remember to keep your online resume current. You should always keep your current resume online so that it accurately reflects the breadth of your skills and achievements. Certain job board sites also push newly-updated resumes to the top of the heap for employer searches - another reason why keeping your current resume online is a plus.

Get the most mileage out of your online resume
In addition to keeping your resume current, you can help make your online resume work for you by maintaining active status on social networking Web sites where you post your resume. Each time you update resume information on one of these sites or interact with other uses in some way, the site informs all of your contacts that you’re active. LinkedIn, for example, does this via a weekly newsletter; Facebook uses a live feed. If a former coworker repeatedly sees your name in her weekly LinkedIn newsletter, for instance, she’s more likely to think of you when she hears of a job opportunity. In this way, networking sites like LinkedIn, Plaxo, or Facebook keep working for you even when you are not actively job searching.

An online resume really can be a tremendous asset to a job seeker. Follow some basic guidelines to keep your resume current and well-written, and you may dramatically increase your chances of finding employment.

Apartment in Raleigh, NC

You might think it’s tough to conserve resources living in an apartment, but it’s actually easier that you imagine. You can go green and take conservation matters into your own hands by making small changes and putting these eco-friendly tips into effect in your apartment and around your community.

Save fuel
Cutting back on car trips reduces the use of fossil fuels and the amount of pollution in a city. It’s as simple as walking, riding a bike, taking public transportation or carpooling. Start by mapping out a walking or biking route to work.

Look up local bus and train routes and start commuting via public transportation. Organize carpooling groups for your apartment community. If you are planning a move and looking for a new apartment, try to find one that is close to your office or your favorite shopping areas. Practicing energy conservation with your commute is a big step in the right direction.

Watch your water use
One of our most important natural resources ends up going right down the drain if we aren’t careful. Hundreds of gallons of water are wasted by individuals every year. Conserving water is as simple as turning off the faucet when you are brushing your teeth or washing your hair. You should also alert your apartment maintenance staff when you notice a leaky faucet or other water leak in your apartment or in community common areas. Be proactive by asking your apartment manager if you may install an energy-efficient showerhead in your bath.

Encourage energy efficiencies
There are a number of ways to go green on your own in your apartment. Make sure you turn your lights off when you’re not at home, and replace light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs that conserve energy. You can also unplug phone and battery chargers, as well as other electronics, when not in use. Even small changes make a big difference.

Remember to consult with your landlord first before you make any energy-efficient changes to permanent fixtures in your apartment.

Learn the 3 R’s
Reduce, reuse and recycle are the 3 main tenets for energy conservation. Try to work these into your daily routine. Reduce the amount of energy you use by keeping your thermostat set lower in the winter and higher in the summer. Cut down on waste by installing a water filter on your faucet instead of buying bottled water. Help your community reuse items by organizing a yard sale or swap meet to exchange used furniture, clothing and household items. And make the most of your community’s recycling efforts: you might raise awareness about recycling by recruiting volunteers to pick up recyclables door-to-door.

These are just a few of the ways you can practice conservation at your apartment and in your community. You may be able to partner with your apartment management to suggest conservation steps for your apartment community. You might even take recycling to the next level by organizing an electronics recycling drive right in your own apartment community.

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THE AUSTON GROVE OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2011 FOR AN OFF-SITE MEETING IN RICHMOND, VA.

IF YOU ARE A RESIDENT HAVING A MAINTENANCE EMERGENCY, PLEASE DIAL 217-9995 TO LEAVE A MESSAGE FOR THE MAINTENANCE STAFF. FOR ANYONE WITH QUESTIONS OR LOOKING FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO LEASINGOFFICE@AUSTONGROVELIVING.COM OR CALL LEAVE A MESSAGE AND WE WILL RETURN ALL CALLS AND EMAILS ON FRIDAY.

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