As one of the premiere active retirement communities in the country, it's no wonder that the overwhelming number of Garlands members are aging remarkably well. This is thanks impart (if I do say so myself!) to our highly personalized fitness program. A remarkable 75 percent of Garlands members actively participate in a regular fitness program! As their trainer, I try to tailor a plan to meet each individual resident's needs-something that caters to their likes, personalities and abilities.

We offer something for everyone-from Tai Chi, Body Flow, Body Pump, Walking club, pool aerobics and conditioning classes. Plus our cardio and weight equipment are top notch! This blog will detail all the fun exciting fitness activities going on at The Garlands.

I hope to see you back!

Labels: active retirement communities, active senior living, Chicago estate planning, chicago retirement community, Fitness and Activities

In an age of instant communications, it sure is nice to get a real letter that speaks from the heart. We're fortunate to get many like this one...

Dear Susan,

Coming from the hotel industry, I know what it takes to attract people and offer the best service possible. Your organization has exceeded the highest standards possible.

Your housekeeping staff does an outstanding job with the hotel suites. I have never seen a room as clean as yours. Anywhere.

Special thanks to the food and beverage department for the superb food and service--it was nothing short of the finest hotels in the world. The Food and Beverage manager was charming and gracious, and he certainly knows his job.

And special thanks to Roger and Carlo from Member Services for their wonderful ride to and from our home in the city.

I can't say enough about the entire staff. Everyone in every department is exceptional, and we certainly look forward to living in such an environment.

As for you, Susan, what can I say? You made an emotionally difficult task so much easier. Your hard work and patience was so much appreciated.

Thank you and everyone at The Garlands for all you did to make us very excited about moving to The Garlands.

Sincerely,

Margie and Scott Abrams

Labels: active retirement communities, active retirement community, active senior living, Chicago assisted living, Chicago estate planning, garlands blogger

If you've been keeping an eye on the construction project in our backyard, you've seen that the exterior--with the exception of gutters and balconies--is complete. Now that the majority of the exterior envelope as well as the roof assembly, mechanicals, electrical and plumbing rough--in is finished, work on the interior is proceeding right on schedule, including drywall taping and sanding, ceramic tiling and painting.

As you may recall, the building is divided into six vertical sections containing four floors of various-sized units. The first vertical section, at the east end of the building, will be complete in approximately 60 days. Moving east to west, the remaining five vertical sections will be carefully choreographed so work will proceed efficiently floor-by-floor within the subsequent vertical stacks. When blocks of units are completed, a rigorous punch-list process will ensure that the new residences meet the highest standards expected at The Garlands. Meanwhile, since they do not align with the units on the floors below, separate dedicated work crews will be assigned to the 16 penthouse suites. The penthouses have numerous atypical construction conditions related to the sloped roof trusses that create the opportunity for aesthetically striking ceiling conditions within many of the units.

Labels: active retirement communities, Alzheimer's Care, Chicago estate planning, Midwest retirement home, Phase II

"Images from Tibet" features the photography of Brian Ziegler, son of Garlands' member, Gregg Ziegler. For over ten years now Brian has pursued an avocation of photography from his international travels. This exhibit presents works from his trip to Tibet in the fall of 1999. Each image was captured on color negative film, transferred into digital format by scanning, and then printed onto canvas with an inkjet plotter. Join Brian on September 9 to discuss his travels through the lens. "Images of Tibet" Art Reception with pictures.

Right to Left: JoAnn, Gregg, Brain & Lyra (Brian's Daughter) Ziegler.

Labels: Chicago estate planning, chicago senior living, Fitness and Activities, upscale retirement home, upscale senior living

In part 1 we looked at why balance deteriorates as you age. All too often, as people's balance worsens, they tend to reduce their daily activity level out of a fear of falling. They don't want to do anything that might cause them to fall. However, this only causes more problems. Last time we learned that the activities of your daily life help keep your balance in shape. Therefore, decreasing those activities means that your sense of balance does not get as much use, allowing it to deteriorate further (due to the "use it or lose it" principle).

This can develop into a vicious cycle: Decrease in activity over the years = Balance gets worse = Further decrease in activity out of a fear of falling = Balance gets even worse.

The end result of this cycle is a person who can't walk anywhere without having one hand on something sturdy, like a couch, the wall, a cane, or another person. This is the type of person who will routinely not participate in outings that their family and friends are going on because they think they might fall. Poor balance is now causing a lower quality of life. The problem is, you can't completely quarantine yourself from falling. Even if you don't go out much, and you try to avoid any potentially hazardous situations, life will eventually throw an unexpected scenario at you that will challenge your balance.

If your balance is not used to being challenged, this situation can result in a fall, and it often does. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), for people over sixty-five, falls are the most common cause of injury and the number one reason for admission to the hospital. By now you're probably thinking, "Okay, Mike, I understand that the activities that I used to do were also training my balance, but I can't just go out and start running around like a teenager just so my sense of balance will get some exercise."

You're right. At this point, a lot of those things you used to do might be dangerous for your body. That's why I developed balance exercises, so we could challenge your balance while in a safe environment. That concept is called "Controlled Instability." More on that in Part 4. Stay tuned for Part 3 next month, where we'll discuss traditional senior exercise programs and their impact on balance.

Mike Ross
Author of "The Balance Manual"
balance-exercises.com

Labels: active retirement community, better balance report, Chicago estate planning, Fitness and Activities, Midwest retirement home, senior living, upscale retirement home

Not rain, snow, excessively cold temperatures or even a tightened economy has impacted the progression of the Garlands new Phase II residences. In fact, as of this spring, the shell of the building that will hold these 85 new homes is 80% complete, with the framing of the roof trusses and asphalt shingling soon to follow. Next up: the brick masonry, a signature architectural feature of The Garlands upscale retirement community, will commence throughout the summer.

Meanwhile, the interior designers are working their magic as they weave a careful blend of texture, color and fine finishes to create the casually elegant ambiance our residents and guests love.

Building upon the success of The Garlands initial phase of development, Phase II sets yet a new standard for retirement communities nationwide.
There is no doubt that today's retiree wants . . .

-Bigger residences
-Open floor plans
-Plenty of storage
-And the highest quality

The Garlands offers all this and more. Start planning for your future today. A refundable deposit lets you secure The Garlands Phase II home of your choice while you plan for your move in late 2010.

Call 847-304-1996 to schedule an appointment to review floor plans and pricing options.

Labels: active senior living, Chicago estate planning, Phase II, senior living, senior retirement communities, the garlands

I enjoy the walk from my apartment to the other buildings and activity sites of our upscale retirement community: Resource Center, Surround Sound Theater, Performing Arts center, Fitness Center, the bank and gift shop etc. The pleasurable beauty of the Prairie style architecture, and the cool ceiling and door lighting fixtures are never tiring.

I marvel at the information freely given by my neighbors at each door I pass. I use the name plaques to reinforce my memory and visualize those I know. For those I have not yet met, I embed the name in my mind, until I meet that neighbor.

But, my favorite pleasure is stopping to closely look at the Little Shelves outside most doors. Take a look yourself and discover some of the special interests of your neighbor. The Little Shelves reveal a lot. I gaze at shelf photos of members and family--many grandchildren. Some photos of good times, long past, and good times just lived. How nice they look, then, now and during the passage of time.

Squeezed onto these Little Shelves are flowers, real & artificial, highlighting the seasons or special meanings. Many arrangements, carefully designed, are beautiful. One will never go hungry during a stroll around our buildings because members offer a variety of sweets to those passing by: chocolates and hard candy. Like the flowers, the types of candy differ at Easter, Halloween & Christmas.

The souvenirs, on the little shelves, hint at the travels taken or at some special love of the decorator. There are sculptured birds and grand elephants from India. Dolls displayed for beauty or as a reminder, to oneself, of a reassuring security needed long ago.

Yes! There are stories on the Little Shelves, interesting stories worth knowing about. Ask your neighbor tomorrow about their memories resting quietly on their Little Shelves.

Labels: active retirement communities, active senior living, Chicago estate planning, chicago retirement community, Jack and Rita, upscale retirement community

Where is the Greatest Generation Tom Brokaw wrote about? Some are here at The Garlands. I learned this at a November Veterans' day gathering.

One member, a Marine Captain landed in Japan after the Nagasaki bomb to assess damage, another was with Chennault's Flying Tigers group in Shanghai. A Navy man's destroyer lost its bow to a Kamikaze bomber at Okinawa, and a Merchant Marine helped safely guide ships through the oceans of the world.

Members flew for our various air forces in combat missions; transferred personnel and materials. Army member won a Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster fighting in Germany at Remagen Bridge. Navy man rode PT gunships into battle. A medic in France tended wounded during the Battle of the Bulge.

One of our ladies, a WAC (Women's Army Corp) gladly re-enforced our military medical needs in the United States and another member helped returning troops, refueling at Newfoundland, telephone anxious families.

The Greatest--friendly, interesting members: avid world travelers, bridge players, play reading actors, poker players, ladies charitable sewing, fancy car lovers, participants at dances, kite flyers, and, yes, Grandparents!

They rarely talk about their war, but there is a lingering pride for having helped defend our Country.

Labels: active retirement communities, Chicago estate planning, Jack and Rita, senior living facility, upscale retirement community

The frequent visits with Jennifer, John and the grandchildren are a continuing joy. The swimming pool and billiards tables at "GaGa and Papa's big castle" make their trips from downtown Chicago to Barrington exciting, fun-filled adventures. Our son, John Michael's first visit from his home in Brooklyn, NY quickly convinced him that we had made the right choice.

Both children are very content that we chose an aesthetically pleasant and safe environment. The various social, educational and athletic activities, as well as, the nearby and on site health care facilities put them at ease. They like our new home, so much so that they suggested putting their names on the waiting list for this upscale retirement community!

--Jack

Labels: active retirement communities, Chicago estate planning, Jack and Rita, senior living facility, upscale retirement community

It's great for the gardeners, but not so great for construction of an upscale retirement community, i.e. The Garlands Phase II. Ours has been an unusually rainy summer, and has definitely kept our tradesmen from working on certain days. The good news is, we are not far off schedule and have every reason to believe that we will be caught up by September.

Labels: active retirement communities, Chicago estate planning, Phase II, senior living facility, upscale retirement community

Today, tradesmen have been busy framing-up the walls along the perimeter of the building. Columns are also being framed and set on the existing footing. In fact, most of the columns that hold up the first floor on the east side of the new building are completed. Soon we'll begin pouring the columns in the center of the building. For us at The Garlands, it's exciting to see how Phase II is changing and enriching our upscale retirement community!

Labels: Chicago estate planning, Phase II, senior living facility, senior retirement communities, upscale retirement community

We have frequently been asked why we chose the upscale senior living of The Garlands. We hope that our story may be of help to you as you consider a similar move.

First, a little background is in order. I retired from a career as a sales and marketing executive in a large corporation, and Rita is a retired operating room nurse. Time passes, and we decided to leave our large townhouse for a retirement community where we could avoid maintenance and repairs. The question became, with the option to move anywhere in the country, where should we go and to which community?

The invitations, from many active retirement communities, to have lunch and tour their facilities proved to be exactly what we needed to learn, compare and decide. Visits to nine or more retirement communities revealed many differences. Then our daughter, Jennifer, alerted us to The Garlands here in Barrington. After a few visits we followed our hearts from Philadelphia to Chicago and sealed our choice by selecting The Garlands.

-Jack

Labels: active retirement communities, Chicago estate planning, Jack and Rita, senior living facility, senior retirement communities, upscale retirement community

Kenneth E. Hurd, the renowned interior designer whose work includes the historic renovation of New York's Waldorf-Astoria and who created the interior design of the Garlands first phase will return for a Phase II Garlands engagement.

With Ken's leadership and vision, our goal is to create the same level of quality, finish and feel people have come to expect of The Garlands. We constantly receive compliments for the casual elegance of our interior design. As one of the preeminent active retirement communities in the country, we feel a responsibility to such high standards, and we're thrilled to have Ken back on board to help!

Labels: active retirement communities, active senior living, Alzheimer's Care, Chicago estate planning, chicago retirement community, Phase II