Tag Archives: app

Dec1

Tamagotchi App

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Tamagotchi App

Howdy! I absolutely love being a bunny mom and am a fan of all things cute and cuddly whether IRL or with substitute pets. Of course I’m talking Animal Crossing and most recently the Tamagotchi app! I have been using Finch regularly for a while now and have grown pretty bored with it. There’s literally just nothing to do on the app although I appreciate the mental health aspect of it. I needed a substitute pet with more interaction and after browsing around on the app store, I found the Tamagotchi one and have been obsessed!

My most fond virtual pet memories are racing my siblings home from school to see who could check their Neopets account first. I was addicted to that game and it really was the ideal substitute pet platform with games, shopping, exploring, and decorating. Nothing will ever trump Neopets in my opinion, but this Tamagotchi app is delightfully reminiscent of it and I am loving it! I have always wanted a real Tamagotchi to fit in my pocket and this app is the next best thing. Better, in fact, as you can see all of your activities on a bigger screen and in color.

The premise of Tamagotchi is the same as any other substitute pet. Feed it, clean it, keep it happy. However, there is so much more to it than that. In the Tamagotchi app your pets can get jobs, go to school, and land an apartment. You can dress them up, decorate your house, and add fun things to the areas surrounding the shops like water fountains, picnics, and mini golf. Earning points to shop with is as simple as going to the arcade that has about fifteen games to pick from. I am especially partial to the Candy Crush style game as well as the ice cream scoop one. It reminds me of the Coney Island mini game in Mario Party!

This app is kid friendly and clearly just as amusing to adults too. My Tamagotchi app is exactly what I wanted Finch to be and I look forward to playing and leveling up every day. I have found myself growing incredibly weary of social media as of late and wanted something to do on my phone other than doom scrolling. The Tamagotchi app has been the perfect substitute and it sure beats getting depressed on Facebook every hour lol. Highly recommend. 🙂

Looking for a virtual pet of your own or simply to kill time? Download the Tamagotchi app – it’s a blast!!

Did you have a Tamagotchi growing up? What is your favorite virtual pet? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug19

App Obsessed

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App Obsessed

Howdy! I am a HUGE fan of social media and enjoy posting on my Facebook and TikTok so much. As a word girl through and through, I rarely watch TikTok videos and leave my social media intake to scrolling through Facebook. However, let’s be real – Facebook has become a massive buzzkill and it only gets worse by the day considering the political climate in the USA. Scrolling for fun became doom scrolling and I just couldn’t take it anymore. So, I post a bunch of BS, avoid what upsets me like the plague, and call it a day.

Normally, my social media time is when I get home from work and Johnny is playing video games. We’ll do our own thing, chat about our day, and then go on to having dinner and watching our favorite shows. With my usual source of entertainment on the outs in the past couple of weeks, I have been left with nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs. It’s hard to cozy up in my favorite chair with a book when video game noises are reverberating throughout the living room! So, I decided to do something different and downloaded a couple of apps called Finch and Flutter. I had seen several ads for both of them when I was on the hunt for funny memes on FB and figured it couldn’t hurt to give them a go. I’m so glad I did because I have been LOVING them!

Let’s start by discussing Finch. Finch is an app that revolves around mental health and well being as you care for a little bird. After you download the app, it does a mental health screening. What are your challenges? What would you like to improve? Then, it creates goals that revolves around that which will help your bird grow, earn points, and go on adventures. For example, if you struggle with focus, one of your goals might be to turn off your phone notifications when you are working. If you are working through anxiety, your goals could include doing some breathing exercises which the app will walk you through. It’s pretty cool!

When I was little, Neopets was the website to be on and my siblings and I were obsessed with it. In fact, I can remember racing each other after school to the computer room to be the first in line to check on our virtual pets. Having Finch is really like having a pocket pet or Tamagotchi and it hits right in the nostalgia. It might not have the best games ever like Meerca Chase but it is still a lot of fun and fulfilling too! It feels good to check off goals as you complete them and I do feel better when I use it. As a caffeine queen, I have several goals a day to drink more water. And when I spend my mornings working on the computer, stretch break or stepping outside goals come in very handy. It’s nice to check in with my little bird every day and I always look forward to when my Poppy comes home from her adventures to tell me about her new discoveries. Highly recommend! ❤

The other app I have been using daily is called Flutter. Long story short, you are in a lovely forest that plays the most soothing music and your goal is to fill it with moths. You can expand your surroundings with the points you earn, decorate it with flowers and mushrooms to attract different species, and nurture your moths by feeding them pollen and leveling them up. There are challenges to complete like missions the wise owl in the forest sends you on, growing mushrooms for the resident ant, and feeding a gigantic frog fireflies to earn flowers.

Flutter is extremely mindless but incredibly pleasing. Your forest and the music is absolutely charming and it’s nice to watch your moths flit about as you wait patiently for a new one to grow. It’s exciting to continue leveling up because your moths just keep getting better and better and you can learn all kinds of interesting facts as your insect encyclopedia expands. Flutter is definitely not as goal oriented as Finch but I still really enjoy using it. So much so, that I haven’t even tried their butterfly or under the sea expansions because I am so invested in my forest! 😀

If you are sick of doom scrolling during your spare time, I cannot recommend giving Finch or Flutter a try enough. It has been a welcome change of pace from my usual routine!

What is your favorite app? Have you used Finch or Flutter before? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Dec4

1500 Day Duolingo Streak!!

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1500 Day Duolingo Streak!!

Howdy!!! As most of you know, I thrive on having a strict routine. It brings me a lot of comfort to know ahead of time what my day is going to look like and I rarely stray far from it outside of the weekend. Knowing that I live for a good schedule, it should not come as a surprise that there is nothing more pleasing to me than a good streak. No, not running naked through the neighborhood, but doing something regularly and tracking the days! My most recent accomplishment for a streak happened this past weekend when I hit 1500 days in a row on Duolingo:

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I always say that if I had a super power, I would want to be fluent in every language in the world. I would love to be able to communicate with people in any language that they are most comfortable with! While I am not there yet lol, I have to say that Duolingo has been a great asset. For over FOUR YEARS now, I have woken up every morning and completed at least one practice session of French. It comes as naturally as my daily early morning Facebook check and I have never forgotten or faltered. Probably because the owl would blow up my phone if I did!

Because of massive time restraints, I don’t get to work on Spanish, Italian, German, and Czech as often as I would like. However, I am always pleased with my recollection when I can squeeze in a multilingual practice. And, I am extremely happy with how my French has advanced over time. I have studied French literally since high school and it has been my dream for as long as I can remember to go to France. Will I ever get there? Who’s to say? But I love that I would feel comfortable with my communication if Johnny and I treat ourselves to a very belated honeymoon. 😀

Thanks to the handy Duolingo app, I get to start my mornings off right with something I enjoy so much. I can’t wait till my next milestone!

Which languages do you speak? Which languages would you like to learn? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Apr4

Fetch Review

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Fetch Review

Hello!! Way back to last October, I went out to dinner with my bestie at our favorite Mexican restaurant. As we were paying our bill, I noticed she was snapping a picture of her receipt and learned that it was for an app called Fetch. She explained that all you had to do was take pictures of your receipts and you would earn points towards gift cards. So, I signed up, we both got points for her referral, and I was ready to take the Fetch app by storm!

When I first started using the app, I thought it was great! It was exciting to see the points climb with each receipt scanned and you would get a bonus scanning one receipt per day. With your receipt, you could spin a wheel for additional points and that really helped speed up the process. Another thing that made a difference in my point count was occasionally scanning receipts that I unknowingly purchased “featured deals” with. This would normally happen during big grocery shopping trips – one time I got twelve hundred points from one receipt. 😀

Despite constantly increasing my points with almost daily receipts and “spin to win” bonus points, it still felt like I had a long way to go. A ten dollar Amazon gift card alone costed twelve thousand five hundred points! Then, Fetch eliminated the bonus points and my account began moving at a snail’s pace. It took me from the beginning of October to the end of March to get my ten dollar Amazon gift card and it felt like a drop in the bucket for using the app almost daily for over a half a year.

As I have continued using the app, I find myself wondering why I even bother and am probably going to delete it soon. These receipt scan apps are, honestly, more trouble than they’re even worth. If you are consistently referring friends and shopping deals on Fetch, I’m sure it can be a somewhat lucrative tool. However, if you’re like me who has no friends and never shops any of the deals, you are in for a slow going process. Am I happy to have an extra ten bucks on Amazon? Sure. Was it worth saving and scanning receipts for such a long period of time? Meh… Not really.

If you are thinking the receipt scan apps will have you cashing out immediately, it is not like that whatsoever. They sound awesome until you realize how much effort goes into getting one gift card!

Have you used any receipt scanning apps before? What did you think about it? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Mar27

1250 Day Duolingo Streak

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1250 Day Duolingo Streak

Hello!! I have been using Duolingo for so long that I don’t really think about it anymore. It is a staple in my morning routine of wake up, check Facebook, check my email, and practice a French lesson before starting my day. And, as often as I can, I try to do lessons in Spanish, Italian, German, and Czech too. This past weekend, I achieved a milestone streak of 1250 days of completing a lesson on Duolingo and I couldn’t believe it. That’s almost three and a half years!!

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HUZZAH!!!

In case you haven’t noticed, I am a very routine oriented person and it works beautifully for me. Once something that I am committed to becomes part of my schedule, I do everything in my power to keep it going. Duolingo is a perfect example of that because I love to learn new things – especially languages. Learning French is a goal that I have been working on since high school and I am thrilled to still be going strong with it. Although I wish I could practice my other languages more, I don’t have all of the time in the world in the morning and when I get home from work, I just want to sit lol.

Despite not practicing the other languages I am just okay at, I have noticed a better understanding when I hear them spoken. For example, Johnny has been sick with a nasty virus for the past handful of days. When I am sick, I turn to my comfort shows of anime and reality TV. Johnny, on the other hand, is a history buff and has been watching tons of WWII movies and documentaries. Whenever I am around and French or German is being spoken, he always calls me in to translate and I have a very high success rate! It is rare that I have the opportunity to put my language knowledge to the test and I was reveling in it. It made me feel so good that there were a few things in the programs Johnny was watching that he needed my assistance for. That seriously never happens!

I am so proud of my 1250 Day Duolingo Streak and can still barely believe my own eyes about it. It seems like just yesterday I downloaded the app and it has, without a doubt, been a fantastic tool to use. I can’t wait to get to a 1500 day streak – my next big milestone!

Do you use Duolingo? What language(s) are you learning? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Dec11

Medieval Times OOTD Bloopers

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Medieval Times OOTD Bloopers

Hello everyone and welcome to the blooper reel from my Medieval Times OOTD!! I so enjoyed visiting The Green Dragon Inn board game bar this past weekend and am already itching to go back. It was, hands down, the coolest place in Akron that I have ever visited and I am still amazed that this gem is just a hop, skip, and a jump from me. Sadly, the lighting in the bar itself wasn’t conducive to taking OOTD shots so I had to resort to snapping pics outside. Aside from my fantastic faces, there are two glaring bloopers in these shots so take a look and let’s discuss further:

The sassiest village person from a video game. “Doth said WHAT?!”

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Lol I genuinely have no idea what’s going on here

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The hood is coming up so it’s time to embark on an adventure

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…Is the hood even on??

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AYYYY psyche it is!!!!

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I LOOK DOUBLE GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Did you find the bloopers I was talking about?? If you guessed “the huge wad of chewing gum on the ground” and “my sunglasses stem pointing directly at my crotch” then you are a winner!! Lmao, I have no idea how I didn’t notice these two glaring issues while I was taking these pictures, but omg was I annoyed when I was looking through them later and realized it. With something as obvious and out of place as these particular problems, I was SO close to calling this OOTD a wash. Then, I had a brain blast…

I began looking for apps where I could edit these photos and remove the rogue gum and glasses stem. However, I ran into the problem of having to pay for every app I was interested in and I just wasn’t about to do that. Cheap? Yes. Petty? Always. After lots of searching, I finally found an object removal app that was free, but it was the jankiest process known to mankind. Getting rid of the gum and glasses stem on this app called “Fixit” or something of the like took a long time of trial and error. It was a very finicky, touchy app but that’s what you get when you don’t want to pay for something. On the bright side, I only had a few photos to edit from the original post and left the blooper shots as is because, let’s be real, it’s a hell of a blooper!

The Green Dragon, gum, and glasses oh my! These pictures were definitely my wake up call to do a better check of myself and surroundings before Johnny starts snapping away!

What is your favorite photo editor app? Is there a board game bar in your neck of the woods? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Oct11

That’s So Fetch

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That’s So Fetch

Hello!!! I used to be an avid user of the site InboxDollars and haven’t been on it in weeks. InboxDollars is a survey taking website to earn money for gift cards and I used to get Amazon cash pretty frequently with their paid emails. Then, they did away with them and I haven’t visited the page since. Luckily, my bestie introduced me to her favorite gift card app called Fetch when we were at dinner last week. I have been using it every day since and I am obsessed!

Fetch is really neat because literally all you have to do is take a picture of receipts from purchases and you earn points for gift cards. The receipts can be any price and from anywhere. In fact, I just submitted a receipt that was barely over a dollar from McDonald’s lol. You guys know I love a crispy Diet Coke! Fetch is a handy little app and I thought I would share it with all of you. Why not get something back from the items or services you are buying anyways?! I am already a fifth of the way there to a ten dollar Amazon gift card – it’s that quick and easy.

Below is my referral code so we can both earn points when you create your own Fetch account. Here’s to free money!

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Have you used gift card apps or websites before? Which one is your favorite? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Mar1

Using Tech To Improve Your Mental Health

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Using Tech To Improve Your Mental Health

Mental health is something that goes overlooked far too often. Throughout the pandemic, everyone’s screen time increased exponentially. Today, we’re going to explore some effective ways that we can use tech to improve mental health:

Entertainment and destressing:

Many of us feel like we need to destress and unwind at the end of a busy day or a stressful week. Technology offers us a host of entertainment options, which can lift our spirits, distract us from stressors, and help us to feel calmer and more relaxed. From interviews with music stars on TV shows like Tavis Smiley PBS and the latest movies to online games, TV box sets, and customized playlists, you can choose from a vast array of platforms, sites, apps, channels, and shows to enjoy your downtime, boost your mood, and chill out.

If you are finding it difficult to destress and unwind, even during a relaxing evening spent watching TV, then you may want to explore the amazing world of cannabis or CBD to enhance your relaxation. While this is not an option for everyone, it can be helpful. You can start by purchasing some CBD gummies or by visiting a well-established online weed dispensary Emeryville, or one more relevant to your location, to discover a strain that’s right for you.

Boosting physical health:

Looking after your body often has benefits for your mind. Mental and physical health are intertwined. More and more people are using tech to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and disease. Examples include using wearable activity trackers, food diary apps, and devices that monitor sleep quality and duration. Increasing activity levels, eating a healthy, balanced diet, and getting enough sleep can make a huge difference to your psychological well being.

Exercise makes you feel good, it aids sleep and it is also a natural stress buster. A nutritious diet fuels your body, preventing you from experiencing low energy levels and ensuring your body gets all the vitamins and minerals it needs. Sleep is vital for optimal mental health. If you’re tired, you may be irritable, your energy levels will be low, and you may experience mood swings. A lack of sleep can also increase the risk of anxiety, depression, and chronic stress.

Connecting with others:

Socializing and interacting with others is proven to enhance mental health. Human beings are naturally sociable creatures and we enjoy talking to others and spending time with friends and family. Technology has been instrumental in bringing people together and encouraging us to make new friends and stay in touch with family and friends even when we can’t get together in person. Technology can help to prevent isolation and loneliness.

Finding help and advice:

Many people find it hard to talk about mental health and they are reluctant to seek advice. Technology can help those who are struggling to find charities or organizations that provide help and connect with others who have been in the same situation. Using smartphones, tablets, and computers can also make it easy for people who want to reach out to find the relevant support by providing easy access to websites or contact details for doctors, therapists, and organizations that offer free advice. It can also be beneficial to join forums or social media groups to meet people who experience similar problems, particularly if you don’t feel comfortable opening up to people you know.

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Many of us are making an effort to protect and improve our mental health. Technology plays an increasingly integral role in modern healthcare and it can help to boost and nourish mental health. You can use tech to destress and have fun, connect with others, enhance physical health, and find help and support all from the comfort of your couch!

Featured Image By: Pixabay

Oct21

One Year Duolingo Streak!

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One Year Duolingo Streak!

Hi! This has been a year of very exciting milestones for yours truly. I recently achieved a 1,000 day streak of writing in a row on lifewithlilred and, today, I have reached one full year of daily practice on Duolingo! Every day, I have been working on my French, Spanish, Italian, Czech, and German and I am amazed at the progress that I have made in all of them. If you can’t tell, I am a woman who thrives with a routine and it is so exciting to see my hard work continue to pay off.

Because I have six years of experience of being taught French in high school and college, it will always be my best language in terms of speaking, reading, and comprehension. Unfortunately, I’m not really sure how speaking my other four languages would go because I haven’t had the opportunity to interact with anyone who speaks them – especially in COVID times because Johnny and I haven’t been able to travel for our honeymoon like we wanted.

That’s not to say that I haven’t noticed big improvements, though. I am always tickled when Johnny and I are watching a TV show or movie and one of my five languages is being spoken. More often than not, I can get the basic gist of what is being said and it makes me feel very proud of myself. Now, the next challenge will be figuring out which language to start learning next!

For the longest time, I have answered the “What would your super power be?” question with being fluent in every language. It has been a time consuming task to achieve this without being bitten by a radioactive spider but learning on Duolingo every day brings me one step closer to that dream. 🙂

Which language should I learn next? Which languages can you speak? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug17

Budget Friendly Shopping For Your Home

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Budget Friendly Shopping For Your Home

Shopping for furniture, accessories, and appliances for your home or apartment can be so costly that it almost seems easier to leave things as is rather than updating or upgrading. Believe you me, I get it! However, I also know how effective budget shopping can be because I furnished my entire apartment on secondhand items. Today, we are going to explore a few different budget friendly options for your next home makeover:

Secondhand Stores:

The most effective eco and budget friendly option for making upgrades in your home is, hands down, second hand shopping. Buying secondhand is amazing because you are repurposing old things and preventing them from being dumped into a landfill. Your local Goodwill could be a treasure trove of unique furniture and accessories that you didn’t know you needed. This is also an ideal option for people who don’t want their homes to look like everyone else’s because of all of the cool accessories and knick knacks you can find. My art wall in my apartment is completely made from old pieces of art that I bought at the Goodwill.

Facebook Marketplace:

Another great option, similar to secondhand stores, is the Buy, Sell, Trade marketplaces on Facebook. This could be perfect if you are looking for used appliances for sale, furniture, or other odds and ends. The beauty of the Facebook Marketplace is that once you find the replacement for something in your house, you can list the no longer needed item and make some extra cash too. 😀

Always remember if you are purchasing from someone selling on a marketplace type website that your safety is paramount. It is best practice to meet up in a public location like the parking lot of a busy grocery store or coffee shop. You can never be too careful.

Apps:

The OfferUp app is a virtual garage sale where you can both post items for sale and make purchases. I haven’t used this app in a while but I have had a lot of luck in the past selling things on it. I have seen everything on OfferUp from cars, appliances, outdoor equipment, and clothing. The nice part about this app is that it categorizes all of the items on there which will really help narrow down your searches for something specific. You definitely don’t get this luxury at a local thrift store.

Yard Sales:

Summer is the best season for people to host yard sales due to the promise of good weather so now is a great time to do some browsing in your local neighborhoods. It might be a mixed bag but it is another option to save some money while making purchases for your home. You all know the old saying of one man’s trash!

Making updates to your home doesn’t have to break your bank. Get started with the ideas above and see how much you can save today!