Mamma Fairy

This spectacular public park located in Downtown Chicago is among the must-visit attractions in the city. The fantastic six-acre beach, Crown Fountain, Cloud Gate, and Lurie Garden are some of the most awe-inspiring sights to behold at the famous park.

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Perhaps the most excellent thing about visiting Millennium Park is that there are scores of accommodation options available in its vicinity. This eliminates the need to commute long distances to see Chicago’s stunning attractions, as most of them are within a short driving or walking distance.

You can consider any of the following accommodations near this magnificent Chicago park on your first (or next) visit to the city.

Top-Rated Hotels

Chicago is a diverse city with varied attractions, drawing in scores of visitors each year. The city is home to a fantastic music scene, delectable cuisine, historic buildings, and a wide array of other attractions. Many top sights are located in The Loop, and for this reason, it witnesses a vast amount of tourist traffic throughout the year.

Visitors can stay at some best-rated hotels near the park, such as Hotel Julian, Silversmith Hotel, Fairmont Chicago, and Hyatt Centric, to name a few. These are expensive establishments offering guests private bathrooms, luxury suites, on-site dining, flatscreen TV sets, and panoramic views of the city, depending on the room. Many of them also feature refrigerators in each room, besides gyms, spa centers, and massages for their guests.

You can find the best deals on all the best hotels in Chicago when you use an online hotel booking tool to book your stay. 

Pet-Friendly Establishments

Many people prefer to bring their dogs, cats, hamsters, and other pets along on their trips. If you happen to be one such animal enthusiast, you can book rooms at some classy pet-friendly hotels near Chicago’s famous Millennium Park. Popular choices include the Chicago Athletic Association – part of Hyatt, Virgin Hotels, and St. Jane Chicago.

Some online booking tools even let you filter by pet-friendliness, along with other categories such as budget, location, distance from the city center, etc., making it much easier for you to find a place that’s as welcoming to your furry companions as it is to you. 

Like other pet-loving accommodations, these places offer comfortable bedding, a play area, food and water bowls, and delicious meals for your furry friends. Some hotels also provide grooming sessions for the pets of their guests. 

Moreover, the cost is not too high, with an average room costing upward of $150. Rooms at the Staypineapple – An Iconic Hotel, The Loop, can be as little as $112, which is even better for people traveling on a tight budget.

Budget Options

Solo travellers and others unwilling to spend extravagant amounts on hotel rooms will be glad to know that there are plenty of budget hotels near the park. 

Some top options include Pendry Chicago, Kimpton Hotel Monaco Chicago – an IHG Hotel, and The Palmer House Hilton. For a reasonable amount, these hotels offer all the basic amenities that any star-rated hotel in the city does.

Furthermore, many of them have elegantly made rooms, free WiFi, complimentary beverages, a minibar, and gourmet snacks, among other things. Some of them are a couple of minutes away from popular entertainment, dining, and shopping areas in Downtown Chicago.

Regardless of which of the aforementioned hotel options you choose, you must use a hotel booking website that allows you to compare the prices of multiple hotels simultaneously to make sure you’re getting the best value for your money. 

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Preparing for a storm can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. A little preparation goes a long way when you’re ready for the worst. Follow these tips on how to get your home prepared so that if disaster strikes, you’ll know what to do.

Prepare Your Home For The Storm

The best way to prepare for a storm is to have an emergency plan, just like you would if your family was going on vacation or something of that nature. You should also take into consideration what type of weather conditions are expected in the area where you live and how they may affect your home before anything happens. Soaking up water damage can be very costly, so it’s important to take all precautions beforehand by boarding up windows, cleaning gutters, etc.

Know When To Evacuate Or Shelter In Place

A hurricane can be a very dangerous storm. It is important that you know when to evacuate or shelter in place. If officials tell you to evacuate, please do so. You may not have time to gather all of your belongings, but try to take important documents and supplies with you. If officials tell you to shelter in place, stay inside until it is safe to leave.

Protect Your Valuables With A Waterproof Container

There are many things you can do to prepare your home for a storm. One of the most important is to protect all of your valuables from water damage, especially if they have been placed in locations that might flood during a storm. This includes everything from clothes and personal items stored on shelves or hanging in closets to appliances such as televisions and computers, which should be unplugged before any severe weather occurs. The best way to avoid this type of damage is by storing these types of belongings in waterproof containers explicitly designed for objects like these.

Prepare Your Home For The Worst

If you live in an area that is prone to severe storms, it’s important to take some precautions beforehand to protect your home and property. Ensure that all windows and doors are boarded up or shuttered to protect them from high winds, flying debris, and flooding. If you have a generator, make sure it’s ready, so you can turn on fans if the power goes out during hot weather conditions. Reinforce the structure of your home by installing metal beams that have been assembled by robotic welding systems for extra strength.

Get Important Documents Ready Beforehand

One of the most important things you can do in preparation for a storm is to ensure all your important documents are safe and ready to go. This includes your birth certificate, social security card, passport, and any other vital papers you may need. Make copies of these documents and store them in a waterproof container or bag so that they’re easy to grab if you have to leave your home quickly. You may also want to consider storing some cash or traveller’s checks if there is no power or access to banks after the storm hits.

In conclusion, by following the tips mentioned above, you can help ensure your home is as prepared as possible for a storm. By doing so, you can help minimize damage to your home and belongings and reduce the amount of time it takes to get back up and running after a storm. Stay safe!

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When the word massage springs to mind, you’ll be forgiven for assuming it to be a luxury. However, while massages can be a great way to pamper yourself, there are tons of health benefits you can gain from them too. From reducing stress to alleviating joint pain, here are some key signs that it’s time for a massage.

High Stress Levels

Let’s face it, we all get stressed. Whether you’re a parent, you work long hours, or you are having problems in your relationship, high stress levels aren’t good for your mind and body. If you’re constantly under pressure, it’s time to look at ways to relieve stress. Getting a massage is a perfect way to alleviate stress. When you have a massage, it will lower the number of stress hormones in your body, while increasing levels of endorphins, which are hormones that make you happy. After your first massage, you should notice a decrease in your stress.

Frequent Headaches

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For those who find they’re getting frequent headaches, the root cause could be tension. Over time, tension can build up in your shoulders, neck, and trapezoid muscles, which can trigger headaches. To relieve this tension, getting regular massages can be a big help. Whatever type of massage you have, your muscles will relax which leads to better blood flow in your head. This should ease headache pain. For those who suffer from migraines, massage therapy can also be helpful.

Poor Posture

If you work in an office job, sitting down for long periods won’t do your posture any good. Being hunched over a desk can build tension in your body, leading to headaches, poor posture, and pain. To eliminate this strain and boost your spinal health, it makes sense to get a deep tissue massage in West Kendall, FL, or a location closer to you. Massages loosen and relax your muscles, which can promote better circulation throughout your body. 

Regular Pain

When you’re in pain, your body is signalling that something isn’t quite right. For many of us, we ignore the problem until the pain becomes too much to handle. Whether you have pain in your hips, neck, shoulders, or back, muscle pain or a soft tissue injury could be to blame. Some of us deal with pain better than others, so if it’s impacting your day-to-day life, a massage Abingdon from Utopia Beauty Salon could really help. This is because a massage therapist will locate any trigger points that are causing pain. When working on such trigger points, you’ll notice your pain subsides, and your muscles relax. 

High Blood Pressure

There are millions of people in the UK who have high blood pressure. If you’re one of them, there are lots of ways you can bring it down, such as exercising regularly and losing weight. However, something as simple as a massage may help in lowering blood pressure. This is because you have a chance to fully relax.

If you resonate with any of the signs above, a massage can do wonders for alleviating pain and discomfort. Whatever treatment you opt for, once you have regular massages, prepare to reap the health benefits. 

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One of the important lessons any blogger has to learn is that they need to make the best use of the assets that they have. This might include using your own experience and expertise for your blog content ideas, your sense of aesthetic, and perhaps even your connections to monetise it. However, one of the important assets you should never overlook is your community, and how they can help you build your blog. Here are some of the ways you can build the community that will help your blog move from strength to strength. 

Find the shared perspective or idea

First of all, your blog should be based around a specific idea or perspective that is so strong that anyone who shares it will be able to immediately plug into it. Finding your niche is also going to help you better come up with content ideas since you can apply the lens of that single strong idea to anything that falls in your realm of interest.

Include them

You should make sure that your blog feels like a community space, rather than just a place where you talk about what interests you. As such, you can ask people to contribute by asking them a question, or encourage them to ask you questions for  “Ask Me Anything” posts, or run campaigns that encourage them to share photos or other creations. It creates visible proof that there is a community at the beating heart of the blog, keeping it alive.

Keep actively engaging with them

Engagement cannot be an occasional or rare thing for your blog. You need to make sure that you’re keeping in touch with them consistently and some of the tools found in Disciple’s features can be excellent for that. For instance, you can make better use of push notifications, set up discussion groups and polls more easily, and even use live streams to connect with them in new and more direct ways. Finding new and ongoing ways to engage your community is going to help foster much closer bonds with them.

Give some real value

Don’t underestimate the power of something a little more tangible than support and engagement, either. Sometimes, real prizes and real rewards will foster a lot of support, not to mention giving you the opportunity to thank your community for all of their support. Running a giveaway now and then is great for maintaining visibility as well as positive relationships with your community.

Expand beyond your blog

This isn’t just about social media. Of course, you need to be engaged on social media. They’re one of the most important platforms for discoverability. However, you should also be looking at other bloggers and their communities and start building your networks through them. Blogger networking events like the Wonderful Wanderings conferences can be an excellent way to meet people with shared interests or perspectives that could have a lot of audience crossover.

If you want a strong blog, then you need to foster a strong community. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. 

Note: This is a collaborative post

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Starting a new business seems to be the easiest part these days, with the first quarter of 2021 witnessing the creation of about 303,000 new businesses. Unfortunately, creating a successful business appears to be the main problem, as research shows that only a third of businesses thrive after five years. If that’s not enough, it takes about two to three years for most new businesses to become profitable and hit the success mark. While there aren’t any shortcuts to success, your new business can avoid the long wait and succeed immediately with the following tips.

• Create a working team devoted to success

If you want to make your business success within its early years, the last thing you want to do is operate as a lone wolf. Working with a skilled team will cut down the time it takes to handle business operations, increase productivity and see positive results.

However, it is important to remember that employees can make or break any business, so you need to ensure that you assemble the right squad right from the beginning to help you achieve your business goals quickly. Having the support of a hardworking and talented team dedicated to your company’s success will equip your business for continued growth. 

Creating a great team involves two main steps. The first has to do with recruiting the right people, ensuring that you level the playing field, and creating a diverse workforce. The second step involves putting measures in place to ensure that your workers feel happy, cared for, valued, and motivated to work for your business as if it is their own.

• Find ways to reduce business risks

Starting a business is in itself a huge risk. Although you cannot control everything or avoid the risks, you can limit many external and internal threats that might slow your business’s progress. Data theft and other cyber security breaches can bring any business to a grinding halt. Therefore, you must implement effective security measures as soon as possible. You can also take advantage of various business insurance packages to shield your establishment from the damaging effects of litigation, natural disasters, physical break-ins, or theft, to mention a few.

• Aim at enhancing customer experience

Even more important than your workers are your customers. Aim to make your customers happy, and they’ll spread your business’s “good news” like wildfire. You can satisfy your customers in two main areas – your customer service quality and the quality of products to offer them. Believe it or not, a satisfied customer is as effective as the best marketing strategy you can ever put together. And speaking of marketing, the next point is also important.

• Don’t ignore digital marketing

From social media marketing to SEO-rich content marketing, digital marketing strategies are beginning to deliver quick results for new businesses. In addition, these strategies are also proving more effective than some of the heavy budgeted above-the-line advertising strategies. Today, you can easily advertise your business, attract customers, and complete business transactions on social media platforms alone.

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An extension is one of the most expensive home improvements you can undertake. However, there are ways in which you can reduce the cost to make it more affordable. If you’ve got dreams of extending your home, but you’re on a tight budget, consider some of these cost-cutting tips.

Always get planning permission

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There are cases in which you can extend your home without pursuing planning permission. However, it’s usually safest to seek out planning permission anyway, as in most cases you do need it. Failure to seek out planning permission could result in a planning breach, which could carry serious consequences such as heavy fines or an order to undo all the work.

Planning permission usually last for three years, which means that from the time of approval you’ll have plenty of time to utilise your permission and begin construction.   By making sure that your home extension is legal, you can prevent any huge costs in the long run.

Avoid moving interior walls

While an extension can be an opportunity to reconfigure a home, you should be wary of moving interior walls. Moving an interior wall – particularly a load-bearing wall – can cost thousands. This is due to the fact that piping and electrics also have to be relocated. It’s much better to keep interior walls where they are. 

Choose the right contractor

You should collect quotes from several contractors. This will allow you to compare prices and request price matches. While finding an affordable contractor is important, you should also consider their credibility. If you get a bad vibe from a cheap contractor, it may be better to not use them – a botched extension could be expensive to repair. Check out online reviews, get recommendations from other homeowners and make sure that any contractors you talk to have insurance and relevant licenses.

Shop around for materials yourself

You can ask contractors to sort out materials for you, however you may be able to save money by shopping for them yourself. Contractors will usually try to make a profit on any materials they order in. When you order the materials yourself, you don’t have to worry about this markup fee. Spend time looking into different timber merchants and brick merchants to collect different quotes. There are instances where you may be able to reduce the cost by negotiating. Make sure that you know the exact quantity needed and the exact type of material (an architect will be able to help you with this when designing the extension).

Find the right method of funding

The best way to fund a home extension is by saving up. However, for most people on a modest income, this can take years. A loan is often necessary to cover the costs – you have a few different options to consider such as extending your mortgage, re-mortgaging or taking out a home improvement loan to cover the costs. It’s worth comparing all these different options to work out which will be cheapest in the long run. Having a good credit score will give you more options when looking for a loan – interest will usually be higher if your credit score isn’t so good. 

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