10 Ways Your Apple Devices Can Help You in College

Taking my medicine seems
to not happen in the chaos of,
well, studies and such...

Surely you know by now that smart phones are helpful, and laptops are useful. As college students, though, it's vital that we use those iPhones and MacBooks to their fullest potential. Here are a few ways to use your phone/laptop you may not have considered...

1) Alarms and Reminders
Obvious, sure, but oh-so-helpful! Keep forgetting to take your medicine? Set a daily alarm! Too many errands to remember? Make a to-do list! Can't get out of bed in time for New Testament? (Come on, surely it's not just me...) Set FIVE alarms!

2) iStudiez Pro

This $5 app may be the best five dollars you'll spend in the next four years. (Poor like me? Wait for an iTunes gift card this Christmas!) This app lets you organize your class schedule, professors, assignments, and more! It also has full calendar integration so you can see all of your events for the day in one place.
There's also a version available in the Mac App Store, if you're interested in syncing to multiple devices, which I highly recommend!

Ignore my conversation. I'm just really competitive.

3) Messaging App
This one provides seamless transition in conversation from your iPhone before class to your laptop during that terribly mundane history lecture. Just be sure to turn on read receipts in your settings and you're ready to go! Set up a study date without even leaving class.

4) Soothing Sounds
Whether you're a client of Songza, LastFM, Pandora, or Spotify, you can get the most of your studying experience by breaking with a little jam session every so often, or mellowing your mind with that slow jazz station.
I highly recommend Songza, by the way. The free app/website acts as your own personal Music Concierge. You tell Songza what you're up to, and it recommends a station you may like, including no-lyrics stations for studying!

5) Self Control
Don't have any? That's ok! Tap the Do Not Disturb on your iPhone and download the Self Control app for you Mac and viola! You're all set to cram for that Christian Ministries test tomorrow morning! Self Control blocks the websites you know are distracting for the amount of time you choose. Just be sure you're committed, because once you click that "Start" button, there's no turning back...

6) Quizlet
If you're like me, you never had to study in high school. (If you're not like me, skip to #7.) I've found 2 extremely great ways to study:
#1: grab a study buddy! Talk through your notes together and ask questions about what you don't understand in your extremely jumbled lecture notes from that day you're pretty sure you dozed off.
#2 (here's where the technology comes in): copy your notes from Evernote to Quizlet. Make online flashcards that you and your study buddy can go over, and you can flip through these tomorrow right before your exam. It saves paper, and Quizlet is available on your iPhone and laptop. Plus they just have a really cool story.

7) Evernote
"Copy my notes from Evernote...?" you're thinking. I know, I can hear you. If you don't have Evernote, you need to download it immediately. It lets you take notes in the best way possible. Make to-do lists, collect pictures, quickly save an idea for that 12-page research paper, and clip web articles you need to read before Expos class on Friday. Evernote gives you unlimited storage for all of those articles, notes, and lists, and they're just an all-around cool company.

8) Copy (or other cloud storage client)
If you're like me (nevermind.) You should definitely store your files on the cloud, whether that be Copy (my current favorite), Dropbox, or any other server. This lets you access your files from anywhere as long as you have internet access - including the media center computer that connects to the only printers on campus. This pretty much eliminates the need for a flash drive. Not to mention, Copy gives you 15GB of storage just for signing up!

9) Kindle Textbooks
Consider buying the Kindle format of your textbooks. These are often cheaper, and definitely lighter in your backpack. Plus there is a Kindle app for both your iPhone and MacBook, so really you don't even need to remember to take your Kindle to class. It's super handy to have all of your textbooks in the palm of your hand!
Kindle also offers renting services for certain books, so be sure to look into that.
Bought the wrong textbook? Kindle returns are easy. I realized 2 weeks into the semester that I bought the books for a different section of the course, so I contact customer service and they gave me a refund. Amazon rocks!

10) FaceTime
Need to ask your mom a very important question face to face? Need to ask for your little sister's opinion on your outfit for that bonfire this weekend? Just set up a quick FaceTime call! From either your phone or your laptop you can be in contact with pretty much anyone in the world who has another Apple device. Just be sure those pesky relatives aren't calling you during that history lecture!

Hopefully these help! College is rough, as I'm learning, so it's always nice to have some help along the way, either from study buddies, long-distance family members, or even your technology!

P.S. Don't have an Apple device? I hear there's a new iPhone out...

Happy studying!
~ Kat

Oh, also, I wrote this blog post while studying... The epitome of self control.

Oh, and also! My relatives aren't pesky. I love them all very much. (:

The Litter Box Summer School

This summer I've been working with two of my favorite boys to keep them thinking over the summer. We've been doing music lessons, math, reading, and Spanish, but the longer I've been teaching, the harder it's been to come up with lesson plans, especially since Big and Little are starting 1st grade and preschool, so they are learning different things.

I did some research and found some teaching materials that I really liked, so I started pinning them, when I finally decided just to go ahead and plan out the rest of our summer. And then I decided to share the plans!

Let's Upcycle!

I finally did it. I finally joined the upcycle bandwagon.

I bought this (hideous) dress at Goodwill for $4 last week. It was part of our girls' night. We went to Goodwill and found ungly dresses with upcycling potential.

I really liked the pattern at the bottom, so I wanted to incorporate it a lot in the new design.

follow @oliviaeggroll on instagram

I also wanted to do an open-backed dress, inspired by this instagram post by @oliviaeggroll.

Plus I love bows. I mean, really, they're just adorable. Anyways, here is the finished product! I'm pretty proud of it, considering this is my first ever upcycle.

Hopefully there will be more to come! I did, after all, buy four dresses at Goodwill...

Read more about this project here!

Happy upcycling!
~ kat

The Green Smoothie Experience

Brace yourself, because this may shock you...

I've been working out every day.

I know. It's crazy. Unbelievable. But true! Granted, it's only been a week, but I'm still proud! I guess since it's summer I've just had more flexibility with my schedule. I'm making time to go to the gym!

Anyways, when I get home from the gym, I'm hungry! But I never really feel like eating, ya know? Like, why would I go to the gym and work out, then come home and eat a full meal? It just doesn't seem right. So instead, I make a smoothie!

It's amazing how much fun a blender can be. This green concoction is made up of, well, whatever I could find in the fridge. I started with a handful of spinach, cause I've heard that goes well in smoothies. There were some strawberries, a few pieces of pineapple, a few grape tomatoes (like I said, whatever I could find in the fridge...), a scoop of vanilla greek yogurt (that was all that was left), some regular vanilla yogurt, and almond milk to fill the blender to 3 cups. That made two pretty delicious servings of what I will now call... The Leafy Love Smoothie.

I made that up just now, so the name's not set in stone...

So there's my creation for the day. And man, was it good after a long hard workout. FatGirl kicked my butt with her squat routine...

Happy crafting!