Friday Favorites: My Phone

Well, this seems to be a thing that blog people do on Fridays, so I thought I'd join in, partly because I like lists, and partly because I think it will be interesting to see how my answers change in the years to come. 

This week, I'll write about some apps I really love right now and use all the time. They're not really that exciting, so skip this post if you're looking for something riveting! 

First up, White Noise Free. When we were first married and lived in Washington, we didn't have air conditioning, so we bought a cheap and ugly box fan that has somehow made it through the years and now lives in our storage unit in Tallahassee (if we'd known then that it would last 7 years, I would have gone for a prettier one). Anyway, now I have a hard time sleeping without the noise of the fan, but sometimes it's freezing cold, or I'm not traveling with the fan, so I downloaded an app to substitute for it and drown out the birds that chirp all night long here (WHY? Probably to avenge their American brothers, ceremoniously evicted from the hole outside our window by yours truly). I use it in hotels when it's too quiet to sleep, or on nights where Carson's snoring. In short, this is a very helpful app and I get more sleep because of it! I think I just searched "white noise app" and downloaded the first one that came up. It has several different sound settings and I use the fan or airplane ones... I don't think I'd sleep well to "rushing waterfall" or whatever.

Google Photos - Chances are that if you've spent time with me in the last year, I've sung the praises of this marvelous service. There are loads of clouds for storing photos, but I love this one. Instead of plugging my iPhone into my (non-apple) computer, I can just open the app and upload all my pictures and videos into the cloud. Once they're backed up, I can delete the files from my phone to clear up space, but I still have access to them. I can create movies on the app, edit my pictures from its interface, and share albums. I can also download the files I've uploaded and still back them up on my external hard drive when desired. 

Notes App - Does everyone else use the notes app on their phone religiously, or is it just me? This is definitely, definitely one of my favorite apps of all time. I currently have 44 notes, one with a list of things I want to bring from Germany to the US, one with a list of gift ideas as they come to me, things we need, things we want, entire blog posts I've hammered out on the little phone keyboard while sitting on a train, grocery lists, meal ideas, a list of cultural observations, and my personal favorite - a list of ideas for two truths and a lie, with nothing that spectacular, but I'm not very good on the spot.

IMDB - I am that person who reads the spoilers. I have read the ending of a book more than once, and I feel comforted knowing what will happen if I'm reading or watching something with a lot of plot twists. I also like knowing whose voice that is in an animated movie, and just how many episodes of a show my least favorite character is in (if I know they don't make it the whole series, I rest easier). I'm also that annoying person who loves behind the scenes stuff, so I read the goofs and the trivia for each thing and spout the facts out as we watch. If we're trying to decide if we'd like a movie, I read the Parent's Guide for language and rating stuff, and I can watch the trailers too. Mostly I use this for the spoilers though.

Amazon - I LOVE Amazon. It exists in Germany, but I don't have German Amazon Prime, so I haven't used it much. Back in the States though? I price check things in Target by checking on Amazon. I do most of my birthday and Christmas shopping on Amazon, and I LOVE that you can make secret wish lists because I have a bunch and one of them is full of gift ideas for the people in my life, which I reference often and update whenever I read a blog post with gift ideas. 

Feedly - I used to use Google Reader, until they got rid of it a few years ago. Now I have all my blog subscriptions through this app, and I can scroll through and catch up without going to the individual blog posts, and I can also star the posts and save categories of things (like posts of gift idea lists). 

Apps I rely on overseas:

Dict.cc - This is a translation app, and I love it. It's not perfect and it mostly gives synonyms and not definitions, but it's helpful and I can use it without data when I'm traveling. When I go to different countries, I download that language pack and use it to get around, and so far, so good (Spain was hard because the translation wasn't in Catalan).

Google Maps - I use this one back home anyway, but I especially rely on it over here. I can star places I want to visit, download the offline areas of cities we're in, and navigate even on airplane mode. Thank you, Google!

DB Navigator - Deutsche Bahn is the big train company over here, and I use their app to figure out train schedules, book upcoming trips, and store my tickets. Very helpful.

FlixBus - Sort of the same thing as DB Navigator, but for FlixBus. I downloaded this because our payment information wasn't working on their website and finally did work here, but I can also check schedules and book cheap bus tickets, and store my booked tickets here to scan. 

Other things about my phone:

I sort the apps on my phone by color. I like to be able to see all the apps on my phone at once, so I've always sorted them into folders. I used to do it by category, but I felt like some of my apps didn't work well in the same category, and I like it a lot better now that it's color coordinated. 

Here's my phone right now. The background is a google image of a Rifle Paper Company Notebook. I liked the background but didn't see it available online, so I screenshotted it when I first got my phone and never changed it. I do own those notebooks too, thanks to my sweet friend Jillian.

I don't know if I've talked about what we're doing for phones here, but we still use our American iPhones (unlocked). We ported our US numbers to Google Voice back in August, so if you call the numbers we used to have in the states, we will get the memo that you called, just by way of email instead of phone or text. Carson accidentally ported his number to my email and mine to his, so I get an email with his Jersey Mike's Subs coupon texts every Monday, and all his FSU Campus Alert texts. We use Google Hangouts to call the States, and we can either use it to do a video chat from our computer or phone, or we can call a phone number and our numbers pop up like a real phone number when we call. 

We use Vodafone over here, and I think the reason we chose that network is because we were told it's the highest quality and works in most of the EU. It's more expensive than other networks like O2 or AldiTalk (we pay 15 a month soooo still not that expensive) and we do pay as you go and get a crappy amount of data that we don't really use, and a phone number and SIM card over here. I know people who have moved overseas and not gotten phones, but I'm glad we have the ability to use data and calling, just to track each other down if we're going to meet up!

While I've got you talking about phone stuff, I'll tell you about the charging cords I bought and love. I bought THESE on Amazon and had Carson's mom bring them over when she came in January. They are woven and came in a pack of three and I really like them. The color is nice, but I don't care about that. I like that they're woven and therefore sturdier than my sad iPhone cords were, that they're longer (it says five feet), and that they work! I went for the cheapest cords with the highest reviews and at the time, these were the winners!

Sandwiches and Frost and Christmas

Carson got published in this journal!

We finished all of Gilmore Girls early this past spring, and Carson really enjoyed it also. So when Netflix offered the new Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, we were really excited to watch it. We enjoyed most of it, thought some parts were a little strange (the musical!) and my favorite episode was Fall. I anticipated the ending.

A beautiful late fall day! There aren't often sailboats out anymore.

Carson wore this out running and asked if it looked good. I took this picture and then he laughed.

I was working on this awhile ago... painted on posterboard to give us something to put on our wall.

December 6 was St. Nicholas Day. On the night of December 5, children leave their shoes out and wake up to candy and small gifts placed inside by St Nicholas himself. We went to the Christmas markets that night where I had a run-in with St Nick himself. He doesn't look quite like he's pictured back home!

We visited a Doener place that's highly rated, and discovered that we actually prefer our normal place near our house. This was okay, but not our favorite.

The lake has started to freeze over. We've been taking lots of walks around it even though it's chilly.

On the way to church recently, this bush was all covered in frost. It still hasn't snowed, but this looked quite wintery.

And last but not least, I've been making a lot of fried egg sandwiches. I found a great way to fry the egg, put a slice of cheese on it, and place it on toasted bread. We've had these for a quick dinner several times. Since our toaster oven is so small, if we have veggies or something to go with it, we cook those later. We're super fancy and have our meals in courses :)

Hodgepodge

 Here are some things we've done recently while we haven't been updating this blog. Pictures and stories.

Ocala

We went to Ocala at the end of January. Carson presented a paper at a conference in Gainesville and that's really close to Ocala so we made a weekend of it. We watched a lot of the Food Network and HGTV, as usual. We went to Redbox and picked some stellar movies (aka awful), Morgan made meals in the crockpot, Carson and Caleb went to a basketball game, and we all went to lunch at a tasty place called Mojos after church on Sunday, where I had fish tacos for the first time and loved them. It was a restful and relaxing weekend, in part because Morgan is pregnant and was in her first trimester at the time. It was still great being with friends (who are actually family!) and we enjoyed our time (and Carson's paper presentation went well!).

I didn't stand on my tip-toes for this, and I really should have. 

It was sunny on our way back up to Tallahassee, so we sat in the sunshine at a rest stop.

Fun Mail

One day several weeks ago we had a "fun mail" day, which involved getting zero credit card offers or random sale papers in the mail. We got: a funny little decal for our car, Stella (thanks, Dad), a monogrammed headband and sweatshirt (which I wouldn't actually wear together - but thanks, Mom!) and our Amazon FireTV Stick, which we bought with a Christmas gift card. It is AMAZING. 

Camping In

The weekend that we stained the rocking chair, Carson made a tent in the living room. We sat in it while we watched a movie and then went to sleep in our own bed because it wasn't actually that comfy.

Just Random

I had a pen and Carson's leg was just sitting there, so I started with a smiley face and ended up drawing a... horrible cow. I can't draw well anyway, but for the record, it's usually better than this.

New Wreath

I got together with a friend from work and we made wreaths. Here's mine! It's springy/summery but I didn't really care.

Carson in High School

A friend of Carson's from high school texted this to him recently. This picture was taken on a trip his group of friends took after high school graduation. That thing in the background is a (apparently famous?) drive-through tree in California! Also noteworthy: it's been ten years since Carson graduated from high school.

Space Shuttle

Dad called me one night because the space shuttle (it wasn't actually that  but I can't remember what it was) was going up into space and was launching from near me. He got everyone at his work to go out and look it and got Carson and I to go to our street and do the same. And we saw it at the same time!

 You can't see it in this picture unless you know what you're looking for and have very good eyes. So here's a picture of the end of our street!

Two Stories:

The ticketing agent at the airport on my way to DC in January checked my ID as I handed over my bags. She started to hand it back, then rethought and checked again, something I'm used to, as I know I look younger than I am (if you tell me that one day I'll be thankful, save it - I've heard it before and don't need to hear it again though I know your intentions are kind). She said however that she was making sure I was OLD ENOUGH to fly alone. I'm not sure what the age is, but I'm almost 26, so the answer is yes, I am old enough. But thanks.

Carson hates cutting his hair, but also hates when it's longish and obvious that he has bedhead. He also doesn't like spending money on haircuts (a trait both of us sadly share). If he doesn't wet his hair in the morning it will at times look like a crazy party, which sometimes I notice and sometimes I don't mention because I assumed he noticed. So we were in the car halfway to church when Carson looks at his hair in the mirror and exclaims, "Why didn't you tell me I look like Bert from Sesame Street?" so I turned and looked, and he definitely did. I'm alone writing this and cracking up at the memory. I asked him why he didn't do anything back at the house and he told me "You are supposed to check for these things! I don't have time to look in a mirror!" which I'm taking to heart in the future. So now sometimes he'll be dressed in the morning and I'll say "You look sort of like Bert" and he will thank me and take a shower. Marriage is weird.

Things That Happened in April

Better late than never. Here are some things that happened this month that didn't merit one post but altogether let you know a little bit of what we're up to.

Carson got this bookshelf from a sale his school was having - now it resides in the guest room. In case you're wondering, this makes a total of seven bookshelves in our home. 

While he was setting up books, he told me that he thought I could probably fit into this bucket. He was right. Getting up was more of a problem.

This was taken a month ago, but Carson's been busy researching, writing, giving lectures in undergraduate classes, presenting papers, and naturally doing a little light reading. I used to think that I read a lot. 

Told you this was random. The Yankee Candle outlet (I didn't know they existed) was having a really great sale, which landed me with 18 little candles and scented wax "tarts" that I'm using in my Scentsy warmer. We'll be set for a long time.

The snow shovel and the beach chair. Because you can never be too prepared. 

I keep green onions in water in our breakfast nook. Just snip off the tops, change the water, and they last forever. I added a basil plant to this little indoor garden and plan on adding some more herbs as it gets warmer.

My retainer cracked down the middle recently. For eight years I wore this thing faithfully every night, until it fell out of its case, onto the floor and I stepped on it. 

I just really like my co-workers. 

These things were found on Carson's night table. Always be prepared.

I'm not sure why, but he texted this to me one day. I don't even remember him using that thing.

Carson made dinner one night: a yummy pasta sauce, too much pasta and smoothies. I know that sounds like a weird combination, but it's basically a salad in a blender (spinach, carrots, an apple, protein and raspberries), topped with whipped cream to make you think it's not healthy. 

Mr. Diligent.