Blog Posts

Summer Movie Marathon

To kick off the summer at The Lenore, we’re going back in time to 2017 to spice up our movie nights! Today, we’re sharing a few of the best (and worst) movies of last year, as reflected by movie reviews found on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes , as well as our own viewing experience. Grab a friend from Baltimore, MD and host a movie night in your apartment. Were you able to watch all of these titles? Which ones did you skip out on? Best Overall Lady Bird “In 2002, an artistically inclined seventeen-year-old girl comes of age in Sacramento, California.” Coco “Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family's ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.” Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri , The Shape of Water , and The Greatest Showman were also really great. Best Superhero Logan “In the near future, a weary Logan (Hugh Jackman) cares for an ailing Professor X (Patrick Stewart) at a remote outpost on the Mexican border. His plan to hide from the outside world gets upended when he meets a young mutant (Dafne Keen) who is very much like him. Logan must now protect the girl and battle the dark forces that want to capture her.” We also can’t forget about Spider-Man: Homecoming and Wonder Woman . Best Horror Get Out “Now that Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.” Of course, we can’t forget about Stephen King’s IT . Most Shocking Experience Raw “Stringent vegetarian Justine (Garance Marillier) encounters a decadent, merciless and dangerously seductive world during her first week at veterinary school. Desperate to fit in, she strays from her principles and eats raw meat for the first time. The young woman soon experiences terrible and unexpected consequences as her true self begins to emerge.” There’s no denying that Mother! was also one of the most shocking releases of last year. Worst Movies The Emoji Movie , The Snowman , Geostorm , Wish Upon , Tulip Fever , and The Mummy were all terrible in our opinion. Do you agree or disagree with our list? Is there a movie you’d like to add? Leave a comment below.

How to Grow Your Instagram Following

Gaining thousands of followers on Instagram is difficult, but it’s not impossible. People who have hundreds of thousands of followers and more on Instagram have something in common with one another: they found something that works for them. Sure, some of them are famous. Some found a niche that no one else was filling. Some people know how to put themselves out there. Some people are using the right hashtags with relevant content. Today, we hope to help you get past whatever is holding you back from reaching your “follower count goal” with the ideas in today’s post. As of September of 2017, Instagram reached 800 million users . Still think it’s impossible to reach your follower count? Relax, there are plenty of followers to go around. Whether you’re posting about daily life in Baltimore, MD or love to share apartment tips while chilling in The Lenore apartment community, these ideas can help. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below today’s post! Use the Right Set of Tools Some of the most successful brands that are thriving on Instagram right now are using specific tools. What are they? Entrepreneur.com shared 10 Instagram tools that have proven successful in building brands and generating a following. This list includes SocialDrift, Grum, VSCO, Canva, Linktree, and Ink361. Click on the above link for more detailed information about these tools and more. Use the Right Hashtags Using the wrong hashtags or not using them at all is basically “social media suicide.” Did you know that there are actually “restricted” hashtags that you should never even touch with a 10-foot pole? Here’s a list of restricted and banned hashtags that you should avoid in all of your Instagram posts. There are...way more than we expected. Be Creative Sometimes there is no better tool than your own natural drive for creativity. Posting something out of the ordinary and original can catch a potential follower’s attention in an instant. Coming up with that originality, well...that’s on you. Ask yourself what you have to bring to the table. No one else is you. No one else has experienced life as you have. Find out what makes you unique and run with it. We hope these ideas help to increase your follower count on Instagram. Thanks for reading!

Spring Sweets

The Lenore Blog is happy to welcome spring! We’re featuring five of our favorite spring dessert recipes for you to enjoy at your next picnic or dinner party at your apartments. Visit your favorite bakery in Baltimore, MD if you’d rather buy your sweets. Cannoli Poke Cake from Life, Love and Sugar White cake mix, sweetened condensed milk, ricotta cheese, mascarpone cheese, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, cinnamon, mini chocolate chips, and powdered sugar make for a treat that will have your guests begging for another slice. No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Pie from Art and the Kitchen This no-bake strawberry cheesecake pie is a creamy and delicious treat. Combine jello, sugar, and cream cheese to make the sugary filling. You can make the crust with graham crackers and fresh strawberries. Lemon Bundt Cake from Love from The Oven This lemon bundt cake can be made with lemon cake mix, sour cream, instant lemon pudding mix, oil, eggs, warm water, lemon zest, and lemon extract. Top it all off with cream cheese frosting flavored with lemon extract, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting from Pinch of Yum Nothing says “spring” like carrot cake. Carrot cake cupcakes can be made with fresh carrots from your local farmer’s market. Make the cream cheese frosting with cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Mint Chocolate Mousse Cookies & Cream Parfaits from The Kitchen McCabe Chilled heavy cream, egg yolks, salt, sugar, vanilla, bittersweet chocolate chips, sugar, peppermint oil (or extract), mint chocolate cookies, and mint leaves combine for a delicious spring dessert. Make your own whipped cream for an even sweeter treat. Have a favorite recipe or spring dessert? Leave a comment below so that we all can enjoy. Thanks for reading our post! We hope that you have a great month here in Baltimore, MD.

Dinner Conversation Topics

Dinner with friends and family is great, but sometimes the conversations can lull or turn controversial, especially if you have visitors. Today, we’re sharing a few dinner conversation topics for residents of The Lenore apartment community. Whether you’re eating in your apartment or at relatives outside of Baltimore, MD, these conversation starters are sure to help keep things interesting and peaceful. Food Facts These are great because dinner is all about food! The food items mentioned here are pretty random, so that makes it all the more fun. Add in a few food facts of your own from this list of Top 100 Random Food Facts . — Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine. — 25% of all the vegetables consumed in the U.S. are French fries. — The fear of vegetables is called Lachanophobia. — Soda accounts for 25 percent of all the beverages consumed in the U.S. — There are more Subway sandwich shops in Manhattan than there are actual subway stations. — It takes a Twinkie about 45 seconds to explode when cooked in a microwave. Questions Think you can come up with better questions than these? Add some of your favorites in the comments below. — What are your vacation plans for the upcoming month? — What’s the most amazing hotel (or resort) you’ve stayed at? — What’s the best travel experience you’ve ever had? What’s the worst? — Do you have a terrible dinner experience you could share? Random Whether it’s asking a hypothetical question or honest opinion, these ideas are fun to bring up at the dinner table. If you’d like to add to this list, share your comments below. — You just won $5 million. What's the first thing you’ll buy? — If you could have named yourself, what name would you have picked? — Your most creative leftover mashed potatoes idea: Go! — If you were a pair of shoes, what kind would you be? — Pick a movie that reflects your life. What are your go-to conversation starters? Let us know by leaving a comment below. We hope these help. Thanks for reading!

It's Time to Decorate!

Hi, readers! Welcome back to The Lenore blog. In today’s post, we’ve got some fun ideas for decorating your Baltimore, MD apartment. Taking on the task of coordinating your entire apartment can seem like a daunting endeavor, but we’ve got some fun ideas to share. Have things in your home that you really love and that spark joy in your heart? Even things like a toaster or bath towel can be something you love. If you’re in a rush, choose affordable items that can be replaced without feeling like a waste of money. Investment pieces will go a long way and can last you a really long time. Choosing high-quality items may not be part of your budget, but you can certainly take time to save and work toward those items. As you’re decorating on a budget, you don’t have to choose things you don’t like. DIY projects are a great way to put your own spin on a craft. Most are pretty inexpensive to make, so you won’t have to spend a ton of money. Be creative with colors and prints you choose for your home projects so you can enjoy them. This DIY blanket ladder is a great idea that can be made with less than $10. A ladder is a nice touch because it’s not always the most common decor item and it gives a rustic touch to any home. They serve a purpose and they are beautiful to look at. A DIY Hexagon Shelf carries a great vibe, and we think it would go perfectly on a bathroom or bedroom wall. The author of this idea suggests placing a small plant inside. A plant, a book, a craft, or another trinket would fit nicely in a shelf that’s built to showcase the significance of whatever item you choose to put in there. Check back next month for another great blog post about apartment living tips and tricks. Thanks for reading The Lenore blog.

Best TED Talks

This month, The Lenore Blog is featuring a few great TED talks. We hope that you get the chance to listen to one or two in your apartment or on your way to work in Baltimore, MD. TED talks are a great way to start your day and get inspired — listen to one of them today! Sarah Kay: If I should ever have a daughter… Sarah Kay is a spoken word poet who travels around the world teaching poetry with her organization, Project V.O.I.C.E. Kay teaches the value of trying to interpret the world and write down our stories in this inspiring TED talk. “Now, I know that the number one rule to being cool is to seem unfazed, to never admit that anything scares you or impresses you or excites you. Somebody once told me it's like walking through life like this. You protect yourself from all the unexpected miseries or hurt that might show up. But I try to walk through life like this. And yes, that means catching all of those miseries and hurt, but it also means that when beautiful, amazing things just fall out of the sky, I'm ready to catch them. I use spoken word to help my students rediscover wonder, to fight their instincts to be cool and unfazed and, instead, actively pursue being engaged with what goes on around them, so that they can reinterpret and create something from it.” Lux Narayan: What I learned from 2,000 obituaries Lux Narayan read thousands of obituaries hoping to learn what makes a successful life. This TED talk details the lessons he’s learned. “We uncovered, many lessons from lives well-led, and what those people immortalized in print could teach us. The exercise was a fascinating testament to the kaleidoscope that is life, and even more fascinating was the fact that the overwhelming majority of obituaries featured people famous and non-famous, who did seemingly extraordinary things. They made a positive dent in the fabric of life. They helped.” Jia Jiang: What I learned from 100 days of rejection Jia Jiang decided to combat his fear of failure with rejection. He spent a hundred days getting rejected and discovered the power of asking for what you want. “When you get rejected in life, when you are facing the next obstacle or next failure, consider the possibilities. Don't run. If you just embrace them, they might become your gifts as well.” What are your favorite TED talks? Let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading our post!