Kindle Tips & Kindle vs Kindle Touch

Now that I've had my Kindle for a month, I think I have a pretty good grip on it. I wanted to share with you guys the things that I've learned thus far.

But first, I'll start with the obvious... to return the Kindle for the new Kindle touch or not? The new Kindle information was released earlier this week and I had to sit down and decide what to do.

Kindle Keyboard vs Kindle Touch 

On the left, we have the Kindle Touch (Kindle 4). On the right, we have the Kindle Keyboard (Kindle 3), which is the model I have. Let's break down the statistics:

Hmm.. not much of a difference, is there? Basically, with the touch, I'd be getting a tiny bit less space for books in a more compact device. The touch is shorter, but it isn't slimmer. It weighs an ounce less, but how big of a difference does an ounce really make? 

Personally, I've never been a fan of touch screen. My boyfriend converted me from my blackberry to a Droid phone and I still can't get used to it. I've had it for almost a year now and I still long for my blackberry keyboard. Sure, my droid may run a lot smoother than my POS blackberry, but I just want a keyboard I can feel. It makes it a lot easier to operate.

Would I want the same thing in my Kindle? I've come to the conclusion that yes, I need a keyboard. The touch screen itself doesn't glide and respond as smooth as I'd like it to, according to this impression (click to see the Kindle touch in real life). It's definitely no Iphone, I'll tell you that much.

My final decision? I'll be keeping my Kindle Keyboard. If you, on the other hand, need to have the most up to date gadget and don't mind the touch screen, then I'd say go for it. The only con for you is that you have to wait until November 21st to get your Kindle. That's much too long for me! I could have read 10 books by then. 

Kindle Tips

1. Did you know that you can share books with other Kindle holders? The other person has 14 days to "borrow" it before it expires. So get a Kindle group together and share away! Here's a link on how to do it.
2. There are a ton of free Kindle books for you to download. 
• Amazon has their list of top 100 free ebooks.
• There are many blogs that update daily with ebook freebies or steals. My favorite is Pixel of Ink. They also give you a synopsis of the book and a reader rating to make your life easier!
• Amazon has a Kindle Daily Deal where they offer a book for 75-85% off list price for 24 hours. Each day there's a new book! You can find it here, subscribe for email notifications, or follow them on twitter or facebook to find out what the daily book is.
• Okay, this isn't free, but Amazon also has a list of 100 Kindle books for $3.99 or less.
3. If I could, I would re-buy all my cooking and baking books as ebooks. The Kindle is ideal for the kitchen when you need to look at a recipe. You can also bookmark and write notes right into your kindle after making a recipe (which is why I believe in the Kindle Keyboard so much). There's no bulky books taking up space in your kitchen or losing the page you're on halfway through the recipe.
4. One word: Overdrive. What is that you ask? It's the library's reserve of ebooks that you can borrow straight to your kindle. It's pretty much the greatest thing since sliced bread. All you need is a library card and sometimes patience for your book to become available. Not all libraries have overdrive, but you can find out if yours does by going online to their website. 
• My library back home has it and I can borrow 5 books for 7, 14, or 21 day periods. 
• You can put your name on a waiting list for the book you want to come back in stock if someone else is currently borrowing it. When the book becomes available, the library will send you an email to let you know that you're the next one in line to borrow it and you'll have 4 days (not all libraries are the same) to claim it. If you don't claim it in those 4 days, the next person waiting in line will get the chance to borrow the book.
• If the book is available, you can download it to your Kindle instantaneously. 
• It's free!
5. Another thing that I've recently discovered is NetGalley. Basically, publishers release books earlier to those who are willing to review it for them (though you aren't obliged to). It's free to join (and free to receive books) and there are a couple of publishers that release Kindle versions of the book, but know that it isn't always an option. 

That's all I've got for now. If you have any questions, ask away! I hope this helps some of you out there!

Fishtail Braid

And this is the reason I'll never be a video blogger. So awkward! I did it just for fun, anyways. It's been almost 5 months since my last video so I figured I was about due for a new one.

This is the video I used to learn how to do a french fishtail braid, and this is the video I used to learn how to do a normal fishtail braid.

PS. I just watched it and realized that the last ten seconds are of my frozen face. Oops. I told you I'm new to videos. I can't even figure out how to cut it right.

Book Review: Lunch Wars

Lunch Wars, by Amy Kalafa, had me reeled in on the first chapter of statistics. Did you know that "only 2 percent of school-age children eat the USDA's serving recommendations for all five major food groups [and] half of America's school-children eat less than one serving of fruit a day?" This book hit me with a lot of hard facts. I never thought about it until now, but reminiscing on my own grammar school lunches made me realize that I probably fell into that 2 percent.

Being a kid, you don't realize exactly what your body needs or what's healthy for you. You just eat what tastes good. Most of the time, it's in the form of highly processed sugars (remember icee juicees?). It's the parent's responsibility to take control of the child's lunch menu and be aware of their eating environment. If we don't, then the future generation has no hope for a healthy lifestyle.

Throughout the book, the city Berkeley is mentioned quite a bit. Little did I know that I was living in the city where the school food revolution all started! I had no idea how different the elementary schools are here than from the ones back home. They have a jug of milk that kids dispense their wanted amount from (to reduce throwing away milk and reduce the amount of waste from cartons) and gardens that the kids maintain and cook from. If I had all of that in my elementary school, I'm sure I'd be more inclined to learn about eating good food at a younger age.

Kalafa does three things in the book. She identifies and makes you aware of the problem, proposes many solutions, and then gives you a guide on how to act out those solutions. Kalafa has done all the work herself so that moms everywhere can simply follow her simple guideline on improving school lunches. One person may not seem like a lot, but moms uniting across the US have created a movement together... a school food revolution!

{This was a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.}

Girls' Night

Ever wonder what a girls' night looked like? Well, you're in luck! My dear friends Cathy and Cristina decided to get rid of the boys for a night and have a girls' only extravaganza.

 

Here's the whole gang! Say hello to Boalt's lovely 1L ladies (except for me). I may not go to Boalt with the DB, but I feel right at home with these girls!



A lot of embarrassing stories were told, along with a good round of "never have I ever."



Of course, there's a bit of FB stalking, scoping out the Boalt cuties!



...and lots of food!!



These boys decided to crash the party later in the night (but really my DB was coming to walk me home :) and were terrified by the number of girls in a room.

DIY At Home Menu Board

Yesterday, while scrolling through my google reader, I stumbled across a post that really caught my eye. Smitten Blog Designs posted some adorable free printables to make your own at home menu board. I've always wanted to have one in my kitchen so I decided to print it out for myself (not to mention that I have another good excuse to put my Costco pack of dry erase markers to use). This template matched my kitchen the best out of the three designs provided.

These are all the supplies that you need (I forgot to include the glue stick in the picture):

I got this frame from the Crate & Barrel Outlet by my house. Originally $44.95, I got it for $6.95! The best part about it is that I don't have to deal with any screws or hinges to put in a picture. See those two metals dots on the top and bottom? They're magnetic. All I have to do to open the frame is push through the hole on the back and the glass pops right out.

Supplies:

• one menu template, printed out from here (courtesy of Smitten Blog Designs)
• construction paper in the color of your choice, big enough to cover your entire frame
• scissors
• glue stick
• an 10"x12" frame (you can use an 8"x10" if you don't want a background)

Instructions:

1. Cut the construction paper to fill the entire frame, 10"x12".
2. Glue the menu on top of the construction paper, centered.
3. Put the paper into the frame.
4. Use a dry erase marker to write on top of the glass. Erase and write a new menu every week.

 

Shoe Extravaganza

I'm really slacking on the home decorating posts. My apartment has such little natural light that I never feel motivated enough to take pictures. Well, I woke up this morning and made it my goal to photograph my shoe area. Here you go!

 

I bought this shoe stand at Ross for $12.99. This is the first thing in my apartment that I put together all by myself, so I'm quite proud! Sure, even a seven year old can put this together by themselves, but hey, I wasn't born with building hands.

As handy as the shoe rack is, it doesn't hold all of my boots. I quickly remedied that problem by having a shoe box that is easily stored underneath my bed.



My DB constantly gives me crap because he doesn't think anyone should have this many shoes. I say that he's lucky I left 1/4 of my shoes at home! By the way, two of the shoes on the rack are his :)

Girl Crush: Alexa Chung

Alexa Chung is one of the many reasons why I believe happas are the cutest beings on earth. I mean, have you ever seen a happa baby? I can't handle it! Technically, Ms. Chung isn't a happa... she's 1/4 Chinese and 3/4 English, which doesn't quite make half, but who's keeping track?

Beautiful and a wonderful fashion sense? I can't handle it.

My Dear Boaltie

During the first week at Berkeley, my DB had a couple of events to get to know some of his fellow classmates. This picture was taken by Alan, one of our new buddies that we feel like we've known for forever, at their "picnic BBQ". By the way, who has a "BBQ" with no barbeque?! Totally lame... A girl needs to eat!

Wearing: Random guy's shirt (by that, I don't mean a random guy... I mean a random shirt from the guy's section in a random store), vintage belt, Union Jeans, Louis Vuitton bag, necklace I put together with two rings and a chain.

 

My Kindle Case (Plus some extras!)

I've been addicted to my Kindle ever since I got it. The first one I got had a scratch on the screen, so I had to send it back for a replacement. The new one was shipped via 1 day shipping! You gotta love Amazon's customer service.

I've already finished three books in three days with it. That makes roughly... what... 900 pages in the past three days? Eeep, I'm not even in school! I don't know how I ever lived without the Kindle in my life before. The moment I got it, I went online looking for cute cases. I can't help it... I'm a girl, I accessorize. It's what we do.

I really liked this and this case by Kate Spade, but the $85 price tag wasn't too appealing. I mean, heck, I could almost buy another Kindle with that money! So I reverted back to good ol' Etsy, where I found this little gray pixel gem.

The quality is top notch, it's stain resistant, and has extra pockets for me to hold things in. It's very lightweight, not bulky at all, and most importantly, not flimsy! I got it a couple of days after I had ordered it. All in all, I'd say job well done. The shop, servicepartner, had a bunch of other cute designs too:


like this one


and this one

Here's a few others from Etsy that I considered:


found here


loved the teacups on this one


and the heavy duty feel of this one

What do you use for your Ereader, if anything?