February 5^th is an important day for football fans. It’s the game play that sports fans have been waiting for all season long. SuperBowl XLVI will host the New York Giants and New England Patriots in Indianapolis at Lucas Bowl Oil at 6:30 ET on NBC. Who will win SuperBowl XLVI is the question on everyone’s mind but what you should be asking even before that is: Who’s hosting the SuperBowl party?

If the answer is you then best of luck! From cleaning the house to preparing the meals, the SuperBowl can seem like a lot of work for just one day but we all know it’s something worth doing in the end. That’s why we’ve come up of a list of Superbowl recipes so you won’t need luck, just these recipes!

Everyone

• Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites
• BBQ Portobello Sliders
• BBQ Chicken Deluxe Pan Pizza
• Chicken Quesadilla Pinwheels
• Baked Buffalo Chicken Pasta
• Smore Nut Bars
• Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

Healthy

• Spinach and Artichoke Dip
• Chicken Nachos
• LowFat Jalapeno Poppers
• “Fried” Cheese Sticks
• Sweet and Spicy Potato Oven Fries
• Hot Wings
• Spinach Brownies

Grown Ups

• Chile Con Queso
• Easy Mac and Cheese
• New England Fried Shrimp
• Smoky Chili Dogs
• Bison Steak Sandwiches
• Battered Buttermilk Fried Chicken
• Crockpot BBQ Chicken

Take a look at what we’ve got in store for YOU during the  12 Days of Giving (check out Resident Central to find the time & place your community will be having these holiday events):

1. Tacky Sweater Day

Ever get an oddly-colored, super-snazzy (ahem, tacky) sweater as a gift from a distant relative? Don your jingle bells, appliqués and sequins that will put the “err” in “merry”!

2. Pet Snack Day

We haven’t forgotten about your pets this season! After all, we know they love the holidays too. There’s nothing like a little snack that would be a perfect present during the holidays. What pet can resist?

3. Holiday Cookies & Milk Day

Tis’ the season for a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. The holidays without them just wouldn’t be the same so we’d like to share some with you. Enjoy milk and cookies with us before we keep them for ourselves!

4. Holiday Card Making Day

Get it done! We’re giving you a jump start this holiday season by having a station that will help you create a holiday card! This card is sure to brighten someone’s day or could be added to your holiday collection. You’ll be happy you joined us!

5. Holiday Movies Day

Drinking eggnog, building a snowman, or slogging it through a packed black Friday sale at the mall and a heartwarming holiday flicks are much a part of tradition during the season. The season isn’t the same without them! Curl up in the Cinema after a long day of fightingyour way through the crazy malls.

6. Morning Coffee & Donuts Day

If you’re one of the many people who can’t function without their morning jolt, I have good news for you – we have your cup of joe AND hole-y donuts! Go ahead and indulge. You don’t need an excuse especially before the holiday shopping rush!

(CC BY 2.0) mel5545

7. Storytelling Hour

Break away from the holiday madness by bringing your little ones into the Great Room and settling them in for a magical hour of live readings of children’s books and holiday classics. Use this time to assemble and wrap their presents secretly! A hot cup of chocolate will be served with peppermint candy canes during the hour.

8. Sing a Holiday Carol Day

Spread joy to our team members by singing to them this season! It’s not singing in the streets, in an open public place, or on a house step so don’t by shy! Our doors will be open to you all day.

9. Holiday Treat Day

A spirited season calls for a fun take home treat, like a goody bag filled with treats! We know you’ve been getting holiday candy cravings so let’s eat the holiday bliss with savory sweets!

10. Game Night

The holidays are here and your life is a whole lot busier, what could be better than a little resident bonding to get out of the house? Put your holiday jammies on early and let’s have a cozy evening inside the Great Room. A boring evening just got fun for everyone!

11. Holiday Ornament Making Day

Make this holiday a merry one with inexpensive decorative homemade holiday ornaments. Trees have started going up, so why not make this year’s tree unique? Give a new sparkle to plain ornaments by joining us for a festive afternoon.

12. Gift Wrapping Day

Holiday gift giving doesn’t have to mean giant trash bags full of discarded wrapping paper! We know that one of your favorite things about the holidays is wrapping gifts (on the very last minute) so if you’re running out of time, come to us and we’ll take over the hassle of gift wrapping for a day.

It’s simple to enter:

• Have a member from your household get a raffle ticket from a Trillium team member when attending a holiday event.
• Fill out the ticket completely. *All information must be filled to be entered into the raffle drawing.
• Give the raffle ticket back to a Trillium team member if they haven’t collected it from you by the end of the event.
• Mark you calendars for December 23rd, 2011 at 5pm. Winners will be announced and given their prizes!

Happy holidays to all and to all good luck!

(CC by 2.0) clairity

Thanksgiving so often becomes about planning, cooking and entertaining, that it could run a host ragged! Thanksgiving is about celebrating with friends and family and the food coma to follow. Here are 7 tips that will help you relax and have fun with Thanksgiving this year.

Affordable Decorating

Pick up toys to keep the kids entertained, holiday dish towels for the clean up and even inexpensive serving plates at your local Dollar Tree or other similar discount stores near your Phoenix Apartments.

Keep It Simple

Thinking that having “the perfect meal” or having “the perfect house” when everyone comes over will only stress you out! Having the ultimate Thanksgiving dinner is nice, but having a great time with good company is better.

Potluck Celebration

Asking guests to bring a dish to help ease the financial burden is a great way to spend less time at the grocery store and save time and money on cooking! Ask your guests to bring an appetizer, side dish, or dessert.

Accept Help

The host/hostess DOES NOT have to do everything. Ask for help whenever you need it.

Appreciate Your Guest

Make or have cards for everyone who will be coming. Ask everyone to think of a reason they’re thankful for that particular person and write it down. Turn it into game by having guests write down on a piece of paper what they’re thankful for and have them put it in a basket when they arrive. When everyone has enjoyed the feast, have each person pull one out, read it aloud and guess who it is.

Start A Tradition

Whether it be trying dishes from different countries, prayers before digging into the food, gathering again the next day for leftovers, having all sorts of music play while cooking or setting the table, eating outside on the lanai rather than in the dining room, playing football with your family before the big meal, having a wishbone to break for a lucky wish, or creating a bizarre centerpiece to have at the table every year; inspire to adopt something new this year!

Volunteer

Do something good for those who are less fortunate than you. Many people find that volunteering at places such as local food banks or soup kitchens is the best way to consider others during the holidays. Help out and be reminded how truly blessed your life is.

Holiday planning and entertaining can make it easy to lose sight of what makes Thanksgiving special when you have so much things going on around you. Reap the benefits of your hospitality by remembering this: this day is for enjoying your loved ones, being grateful for all the blessings in your life and the big smiles on every ones faces throughout the day that will last well into the night.

*Some of our Phoenix Apartments will be having Thanksgiving Feasts of their own. Check your community calendar at Resident Central to see when it is and then RSVP with the leasing office. While you’re there, please remember to make a kind $5 donation to UMOM (breaking the cycle of homelessness) during the event.

Soldier

Bat

Zombie

Lamb #1

Lamb #2

Black Bird

Red Bird

Mouse

Pirate

Made up your mind? Choose who’ll win & VOTE!

*Voting ends at 5pm November 1, 2011. Winner will be announced immediately.

(CC by 2.0) Sarah_Ackerman

The spirit of Halloween is floating in the air and though candy is a treat for all (and a cavity waiting to happen), so is frightful costumes and spooky haunts! How will you get into the festive scare of All Hallow’s Eve?

Thank your freaky pumpkins that you’re a resident at our Phoenix Apartments!

We want you to bewitch us with your chilling costumes or thrilling patios. Who in the devil will win? Check out your specific community to find out which creepy contest they’ll be having during the month October!

*Submit pictures to contest@trilliumresidential.com with your name, community, and apartment number to enter starting October 13th! Deer Valley, kindly make a $1, $3, OR $5 donation to Big Hearts for Little Hands before entering. Pictures will be categorized by community and posted on our blog for proper resident judging. Winners will be announced on October 31st and given their prize as well.

Trillium Cave Creek

Enter our kids/pets contest! Each 1st place winner will win a sweet prize! From Oct 13th – 31st, snap a pic of your kid/pet, submit it to contest@trilliumresidential.com, and we’ll let our Cave Creek residents be the judge!

Trillium Deer Valley

Kindly make a $1, $3, or $5 donation to Big Hearts for Little Hands and enter our kids/pets contest. As a thank you, each 1st place winner will win a sweet prize! From Oct 13th – 31st, snap a pic of your kid/pet, submit it to contest@trilliumresidential.com, and we’ll let our Deer Valley residents be the judge!

Trillium Papago

Inspired by the spooky ghosts and goblins that Halloween brings? Then, let’s turn on the thrills and chills for some frightful fun! Transform your patio or balcony into a freaky, creepy, cool haunt and make the community look festive this Halloween! From Oct 13th – 31st, snap a pic of your patio, submit it to contest@trilliumresidential.com, Papago residents will take a look with a walk by, and also be the one to judge! Compete to be the 1st ($50) and 2nd ($25) place winners and win a sweet gift card! Who will be bewitch us with the scariest of them all?

Centrado

Get ready to howl this Halloween! ‘Lil pumpkins, devil dogs and frightening felines are all dressed up for Halloween. If you think your pet will be the center of attention in their Halloween costume now’s your chance to show everyone what a show stopper you have! From Oct 13th – 25th, snap a pic of your pet, submit it to contest@trilliumresidential.com, and we’ll let our Centrado residents be the judge! Compete for the prize that’ll sure put a scare into your night – tickets to Howl-OWeen at the Phoenix Zoo!

Crystal Springs

Do your kids already have their entire Halloween costume put together? Have they been giving it a test runs? Either way, dress them up as their favorite monster, ghoul, or superhero, enter our kids contest, and you could score more than just treats! The 1st place winner will win a sweet prize! From Oct 13th – 31st, snap a pic of your kid, submit it to contest@trilliumresidential.com, and we’ll let our Crystal Springs residents be the judge!

*By submitting an Entry, entrant hereby grants permission for the Entry to be posted on the Trillium Residential Blog, Trillium Facebook and Twitter pages, and any/all web sites and or projects that Trillium Residential may build in the future. Entrant agrees that Trillium Residential is not responsible for any unauthorized use of Entries by third parties. Trillium Residential do not guarantee the posting of any Entry. Trillium Residential reserves the right to cancel the Contest and shall be under no obligation to award the prizes.

In honor of this lovely upcoming Fall season, one of our Phoenix Apartments will be having an Autumn Pie Party which gave me the idea to write this pie entry. (thanks Deer Valley team!)

I don’t know about you, but I’m not a baker. I’m a, “I’ll bake only if I have to; and when I mean have to, I mean there’s nothing quick to cook, I don’t want to go out and buy anything, I need sweets right this instant before I hurt somebody, have to.” When it comes to that, I don’t do so badly baking, but I’d still rather have something quick or just buy. So if you’re reading this and were hoping to find a delicious dessert recipe that I wrote up myself, sorry to disappoint. But what I can do is share with you is my favorite pie recipe (so far) that I found, baked with the help of others, enjoyed with said others, and have yet to find another recipe that comes even close to where this dessert took my taste buds.

photocredit_duodishes

Thank you to Duo Dishes for sharing this Apple Crumble Pie with Caramel and Cinnamon Honey Whipped Cream recipe with the world. Love it!

While waiting for your pie to bake or enjoying every sugary bite of it afterward, pop in this movie: Waitress. Maybe it will inspire you to bake more pies and when you’ve made so many pies that you don’t know what to do with them all, come down near our Tempe Apartments ASU and share some with me ;D

Are you a baker? If so, what kind of desserts have you made? If not, where do you go for your sweet fix?

photo by seanmcmenemy, (CC BY 2.0)

Though Memorial Day is really all about the spirit of remembering, it’s also the official holiday that kicks us off for summer. Whether you’re throwing a good old fashioned BBQ or lounging with friends around the pool, we want to start your unforgettable weekend by bringing you our finds of events in and around our Phoenix Apartments.

• Bring a wicker basket and spread your patchwork blanket under the stars with your family and children at Spur Cross Ranch or Lake Pleasant for an evening of stargazing. Begins at sundown!
• Make it a movie night when you make your way to Tempe Kiwanis Park who’ll be showing one of Paramount’s most loved series, Shrek Forever After! Shrek is having a mid life crisis and when Rumpelstiltskin pulls a trick erasing Shrek from existence, Rumpel rules supreme in an alternative timeline. Starts at 7.
• Swing batter batter, swing batter batter, swing batter up! On Memorial Day at 5:10 pm., the Diamondbacks will at home in Phoenix as they take on the Florida Marlins at Chase field. Bring your family down, fill you bellies with ballpark goodies and enjoy the game that’s been called our national pastime.
• Wet ‘n’ Wild is known for their slides and attractions but on Memorial Day they’re also known for their Fireworks Show and BBQ! The firework show is free with park admission and the display begins at 9:30 p.m. The all-you-can-eat BBQ from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and will include grilled BBQ chicken, hot dogs, green salad, western style beans, corn-on-the-cob, sliced watermelon and beverages. A limited number of tickets will be available day-of the event so get your tickets today!
• Go with the Salt River flow and help the environment at the same time when you tube it this Memorial Day. Join Tubers as they pick up any trash they can lift while floating down the cool waters.
• Have Memorial Day feast without lifting a finger. Yah, you heard me right! So how you ask? Café 24/7 at Wildhorse Pass Hotel & Casino’s will have a Half Slab of BBQ Ribs ($11.95) or Half BBQ Chicken ($8.95). All dinners include baked potato, corn on the cob, and cole slaw. Deal lasts from May 28 – 30 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Now, that’s what I call jackpot!
• Go big or go home with a staycation at the W Scottsdale. All weekend long W Scottsdale is hosting chic poolside fun over the three day holiday with live beats from national and local recording artists, refreshing summer cocktails, festive food served poolside and special room rates. Book the VITAMIN D package starting at $189 and you’ll enjoy a pitcher of Mojitos poolside along with a bag of schwag as part of the package. There is an entry fee for non-hotel guests of $25 each day with lounge chairs reserved for hotel guests only. Daytime and evening cabana reservations are available to non-hotel and hotel guests.
• What’s Memorial Day without Trillium? You don’t need to leave home when you have us! Our communities are hosting a few Memorial Day events themselves. Our Tempe Apartments are hosting a Memorial Day Weekend Relaxer, our North Phoenix Apartments is hosting a Saturday Afternoon Baseball event, and our West Valley Apartments are hosting a Memorial Day Pool Party. Aren’t you lucky to be living in the right place?

Remember, the true meaning of Memorial Day is a day of remembrance to those who have passed away servicing our country. It’s also a day to remember your loved ones who are no longer here. Take some time in between the things you’ll be doing this weekend and visit those who are dear to you.

Have a good one everyone and we hope you enjoy your three day weekend!

photo by bjornmeansbear, (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Has Mother’s Day caught you by surprise, with no backup plans? Our Phoenix Apartments are having great events for Mother’s Day, but just in case you’re not able to make it down to the Trillium Great Room for the celebration, no problem! Here are a few things to do on that big day that just might please your mom and you too.

• What could be better than a bouquet of flowers? See what’s in bloom when you take a stroll with your Mom through the Desert Botanical Gardens. Currently on exhibition is Chihuly: The Nature of Glass. The garden is open from 7am-8pm. After you both enjoy the Spring air, you can take Mom to the Patio Café on Ullman Terrace for brunch!
• Show Mom how to spa when you take her to get pampered at Cloud Nine Spa. On this special day, take her for a hair cut, color, massage, facial, wax, nail service, or all of the above! This resort spa offers surprisingly affordable prices located right here in Tempe. 8707 S Priest Dr Tempe AZ 85284
• Reservations are recommended at District American Kitchen and Wine Bar, which has put together a lovely Mother’s day brunch buffet. Ham, omelet, breads & pastries and even bottomless mimosa’s! See the whole menu. Open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Prices: $29 adults and $12.50 children 6 to 12. For more information call, 602.817.5400
• Scottsdale on Sundays will have its Spring and Wine Jazz Series. This fantastic function space artfully blends luxury, shopping, dining in Arizona’s pristine natural beauty, pleasant temperatures, and golden sunshine. Guy Pennacchio, who presents a stylist tribute to Frank Sinatra, will be playing on El Pedregal’s expansive amphitheater with a professional raised stage and first-class lighting, from 1-4 pm.
• Take your Mom for an adventure at Wildlife Zoo and Aquarium. Their indoor exhibits feature fish, mammals, birds, invertebrates, amphibians, and reptiles located in three buildings where each building has a different title and theme. As for outdoors, rides are integrated to view animal exhibits along the way. This will be a fun trip for the whole family. See the zoo map. Admission for Adults: $27.50, Kids 3 to 12 Years: $14.25, 2 & younger: Free.
• Whisk Mom away to the city of Jerome. There are many things to see and do in this enchanting town with its unique shops and restaurants, great music, and winery. Have her stay at one of the local bed and breakfast for a weekend getaway and she’ll not only want to enjoy Jerome, but might even want to take a day trip to the surrounding communities close by like: Sedona, Prescott, and even the Grand Canyon.
• RSVP to tour the Wrigley Mansion. Together, you and Mom can learn about why it’s a recognized landmark and its Phoenix history. Tours are $15 and at 3pm on Sundays. Lunch packages are also available! For more information, call 602.955.4079.

No matter what you decide to do with your Mom on her big day, our luxury AZ apartments would like wish you and your family a wonderful time together and a happy Mother’s day!

First place will receive a $500 credit on their rent and second place receives $250.

Congratulations to the following teams:

Trillium Deer Valley:

First – Hit Men 4 Hire

Second – McCluskey & Welch

Trillium Cave Creek

First – NFL Asia

Second – Kiss the Baby

Trillium Papago

First – Southern Cal Swagg

Second – Huskies

Trillium Pinnacle Peak

First – Mikanie

Second – Pink Panther

Barossa & Indigo

First – Peoria Jocks

Second – US Chair Force

Based on 2010′s season, 2011′s Fantasy Football Season will bring fierce competition! Drafts are just 8 months away… woohoo!!

The food drive for St. Mary’s Food Bank at Trillium Cave Creek ends on Dec. 31st and we need to get more food in to fill up the box! Please bring down any non-perishable food items you have (unopened) to help those in need. As an extra incentive, anyone who comes down between now and the 31st and brings food will be entered to win a $20 Starbucks Giftcard! Be sure to show your items to one of our team members to be entered to win! Thank you for your support.