May 2018

May is National Bike Month, today is National Bike to Work Day, and we want to help you celebrate in style! Did you already read our story on the benefits that biking brings to neighborhoods, including commerce, safety and healthier lifestyles? Are you one of the thousands who attended an event on biking or tried to bike to work this month with encouragement from your community? Now we’ll show you how to integrate the same style you bring to your home search and design to enjoying cycling around your favorite Nook Neighborhoods.

• Find the closest bike path to frequent. They're often right under our noses, or beside trails we already tread, but bike paths can take you through beautiful natural scenery, to places you may have never seen before

Beautiful bike trails are always a highlight when searching for a new neighborhood. If there's a place near your home to safely ride your bike surrounded by a soothing nature trail, or even ride to a locally owned coffee shop, that's a fantastic feature.

There are more benefits to living near bike trails that might be obvious, even if you're not a cyclist yourself. Beyond the trails, many cities are rebuilding to include bike lanes, inviting cyclists rather than shunning or trying to ignore them. They've found many benefits to this inclusion, some planned and some not.

• The more that bike lanes are tried and improved upon, the better an area’s infrastructure in general, studies have shown. When space usually reserved for cars is expanded to

You’re looking to sell your home, looking around at all the steps you need to take, everything you must prepare. With most home searches starting online nowadays, is it really necessary to have an open house? Considering that an open house is how 50% of new home buyers found their dream property, Nook Experts say yes!

So how can you prepare for the big day? We have some basic tips for making the best impression on potential home buyers!

• Curb appeal, curb appeal, curb appeal. This is the first thing anyone would say. Take a good and objective look at your front yard and door. You see them every day, so it’s easy to gloss over the imperfections. A new mailbox, new numbers or coat of bright paint on your door does wonders towards inviting people

“Gardens and flowers have a way of bringing people together, drawing them from their homes.”

― Clare Ansberry

Gardens are often used as a retreat from the world, a relaxing hobby, a way to influence a small part of the world through your careful handiwork, a way to give back to the environment and improve your health...there are so many great reasons to garden that it’s hard to narrow them down.

We have a huge variety of gardens in the world too, with succulents and modern styles among the Nook favorites. Where did this part of our homes come from? Why do we have such a dreamy view of garden spaces? Let’s dig into the history of the garden to find out:

• Early Egyptian gardens brought shade and cool areas to their climate, often enclosed

Gardens often bring to mind lush landscapes of flowers bursting out of planters and urns. We often see row after row of one flower or vegetable planted in neat little patterns with gently manicured grass along the paths. Some love the carefully thought out geometric shapes and some love a more wild showing. Some go so far as to theme out their outdoor spaces, creating fairy homes and herbal tea gardens, or going all out enchanted into a Disney dreamscape. For someone who dreams of living in a hobbit hole, these garden designs feel right at home.

Yet, there’s such an appeal to the more modern design for gardens which serve a function, putting people first, then plants. If you’re a fan of the modern style of architecture’s clean lines and meticulous use

Welcome to #TastemakerTuesday, where we’ll feature the visionaries in our favorite nooks who are dedicated to building a better community through their talents.

“You cannot connect the dots looking forward, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” - Steve Jobs at his 2005 Stanford University commencement speech.

For 20th anniversary of the iMac, it's hard not to reflect on the role of Steve Jobs in our modern lives. In a time of cultural excess, he saw the future he wanted, which in 1996 included the very controversial decision to not include a floppy disc drive in the iMac. (Remember floppy discs? Unless you worked at the Pentagon in 2016, you haven’t touched one in years.)

As he said at his famous Stanford

As we delve further into Cinco de Mayo to gain a better understanding - remember, it isn’t their St Patrick’s Day, nor is it Mexico’s Independence Day - it’s interesting to look at Mexican architecture, and how it’s been affected by outside forces through the years. If The Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 had gone another way, we may have found more French influence in their architectural history.

• If you look closely at the main cities in Mexico, you can understand their history through the Spanish Colonial derivatives. Seriously. Try it.

• The Mayans’ taste in architecture brought many wondrous shapes and structures into the world around 100 AD, namely: Teotihuacan (the "Place of the Gods"), where the Great Pyramid of Cholula, the Pyramid

When Nook Sales Experts match a buyer with their dream home, the only thing as important as architectural style is the neighborhood. That’s why we’re bringing you the #NookNeighborhoods series, where every Wednesday you’ll find cool history and culture to make sure you don’t overlook an area that could have the best nook for you.

1862 was a true David and Goliath victory for the Mexican army when they overcame more than triple the number of French forces. Although that fifth of May did not end their invasions into their country, the pride in their win resonated north through much of California, with impromptu celebrations by Mexican miners. Since that day, America has enjoyed Cinco de Mayo, even as Mexico largely ignores the holiday. The 1960s Chicano

Change is very stressful for some people and more exciting for others. Unless you chose to live out of a suitcase or as an undercover agent, moving definitely sticks as one of the top ten most stressful situations. But why is it so stressful? No matter how well you plan to move or how much help you have, there’s always some way that it could go more smoothly. If your company isn’t relocating you - or even if they are - more than likely you’ll run straight into these situations that increase our stress level tenfold.

1. It’s going to be stressful, yo. The first thing to do is just admit that and create the context in which you can face that stress. Whether it’s scheduling chill out time with friends or hunkering down to get it all done early and