Bernal Heights has the best view of the San Francisco skyline in all of the city. The grassland on the hilltop is home to a remarkable urban ecosystem, including the California poppy, raccoons, opossum, skunks, a variety of raptors and, at times, at least one coyote. Pretty impressive for a neighborhood that also has great bars, restaurants, and shops.

This 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment at 1855 Alabama St has all this right in it's backyard, although hopefully the coyote will keep its distance.

Thea Stranger-Najjar is a Los Angeles native who loves Chicago because of the snow, great shops and because the bands want to be here. She might be Chicago's only resident who doesn't enjoy the summer as much as she does the winter.

Name, Age, Occupation: Thea Stranger-Najjar, 27, administrator for Pediatric Residency at the University of Chicago

Neighborhood: Logan Square, Northwest side of Chicago, Ill.

Abode: One-bedroom apartment, with a husband and two dogs. It's a little crowded, but it works.

How long have you lived in Logan Square? A little over three years. And before that I lived in Humboldt Park, the same area but a little south. Everything is a neighborhood here in Chicago so you move a couple of blocks and you are in a totally different neighborhood.

"I vant to suck your blood, er, I mean,...disposable income!"

The vampire bite that truly hurts is the one that sucks money from your wallet. As Earth Day approaches (April 22nd) we all wholeheartedly endorse energy conservation, but it's easy to overlook the daily energy waste that trickles to tsunami levels as a result of our plugged-in lifestyles.

This waste, dubbed "vampire energy", costs us - big time. Americans spend an estimated $3 billion unnecessarily thanks to the energy sucked by appliances, electronics, and computer accessories. You can probably think of a few things you'd rather purchase with your share of the money wasted...

These early days of spring cleaning will have you eyeing your possessions with a bit of should-it-stay-or-should it go mentality. Before you're too quick on the draw to either "trash them" or "donate them," consider the word "upcycle."

Not to be confused with recycling, upcycling is taking an old or useless object and turning it into something better. Your boxes of cassettes? A recycle bin full of egg or yogurt containers? That unloved container of small green army men? Pure design gold!

Renting an apartment or any type of residence is relatively simple. You discover a vacant unit, call to arrange a showing, fill out a rental application, sign and write a check for the deposit -- and you're in!

But the moving out process can be more stressful or difficult. Personal experience leads me to propose a simple three-step strategy that nearly always guarantees your deposit is returned – even if you have to take your case to court.

This three-step strategy is an important part of the lease arrangement and requires only a modicum of planning. You will need the following items:

More Rental Roommate Nightmares coming your way via our friends at Craigslist. Today we have we have potential roommates who warn you not to take free rooms then turn around and offer you a free room; a man who will exchange rent for running "errands"; and a woman who just wants you for sex. Just another day on Craigslist.

Look, it's a parking garage!
No, it's a shopping mall!
Wait, it's a 2-bedroom, 2.5 bath condo that will set you back about $2 million!

To be precise, the new mixed-use building complex at 1111 Lincoln Road in Miami's South Beach is all of the above and more - parking spaces, high end retail, and 4 condo residences - wrapped up in a striking concrete-and-steel structure by the Swiss star-architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, the dynamic duo that gave us the Beijing "bird's nest" National Stadium and the copper-clad M. H. de Young Museum in San Francisco.

Now they're injecting some classy design into the Miami real estate market, still shaking off the doldrums of price deflation and overloaded inventory, but ready it appears to take a bet on an innovative development (the Swiss duo are also designing the Miami Art Museum).

There's a new type of envy swarming the streets of Chicago, or make that EnV, a new luxury 29-story highrise set to open in the River North neighborhood in June.

The Web site campaign lures you in with photos of men flanked by models, crowds of paparazzi and designer pooches sitting in limousines. Albeit a clever ploy to sensationalize the lifestyle you'd attain by living in this building, the developers are not exaggerating the luxurious accommodations.

Pre-leasing for this sweet rental is already in full-swing and the incentives for signing early are two-months free on a 14-month lease for one- and two-bedrooms. But luxe comes with a price tag. One-bedrooms start at $2,346 (however, one-bedrooms with a view bump up to a starting rent of $2,724) and two-bedrooms start at $3,052.

The all-glass, LEED-certified building is a stand-out visually in the neighborhood. Just look at it at night emitting a blue-ish purple tone (pictured left). Up top, the rooftop pool has a very Miami-ish feel with white cabanas and chaise lounges. Other communal spaces include the 24-hour fitness center and a fire pit lounge -- a wintertime spot to socialize seems to be the new rage in Chicago.

You can't dispute its location either. It's in the heart of River North across the street from the Merchandise Mart, amid the hub of art galleries and trendy restaurants, and a five-minute walk to the Financial District and the Gold Coast.

However, there are a few things you might want to know about the neighborhood while considering this building --or especially when negotiating your lease.

Let RentedSpaces teach you a few new tricks this week: how to hail a taxi the high-tech way, how to live with less, how to hire a hot handyman, and more. It was all here on RentedSpaces this week.

Apartment Guru: How to Handle Noisy Sex-Door Neighbors
RentedSpaces' own Apartment Guru tackles the delicate question of how to approach your awkwardly amorous neighbors when they dial the volume up to 11. The best (hottest, at least) suggestion? Pay them back in kind. Read more.

Hail a Taxi With Your iPhone
Don't just wander the streets of the Big Apple hoping to bump into a cab (it's not always as easy as TV and movies make it out to be). Let super-cool iPod app CabSense help you hail a ride. Read more.