Study Tip: Map Out Your Ideas

If you didn't already know, I am a senior in college, and this semester I have a course load of six classes. Yes, I said six. I am also naturally lazy, so I keep having to ground myself from various things (ahem, Pinterest and YouTube) so I might actually get something done. 

As I said: I'm lazy. 

Anyways, my favorite way to study is to grab my pen case and some notebook paper and map out the people, ideas, and themes. I tend to group things together by chapter and by color. 

For example, in this class I am learning about the history and culture of Spain. For chapter six, I drew out a map for the four different kings and major events/ideas that occurred during their reign. I assigned a different color to each king/timeframe. 

I find this much easier to read and understand than just a boring page of notes, plus your brain has to organize the information into groups and then you have to physically write it down. Great way to study, no?

Hint: for lots of studying ideas, check out the blog Organized Charm.  It's full of tips that has helped me at the University.

October 2015 General Conference

What I Took to Heart...

It's funny how a major decision can be placed before you right before General Conference weekend. Let's face it; it happens to (probably) most of us...

...and it's amazing what kind of clarity and answers that the Spirit can bring.

What did I get out of this past weekend's General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

Ten Ideas:

1. God will hold you up in your times of weakness.
2. Don't let fear keep you from doing something new.
3. You are doing better than you think you are.
4. It will all work out.
5. Get up and go learn something.
6. Center yourself on the Lord and His Gospel. That will help you not to be such a mess [pottery wheel metaphor].
7. Exercise faith in every aspect of your life.
8. Inspire; don't just impress.
9. Small efforts lead to big results.
10. We don't have to be perfect, but we need to be good at getting better.

..and pancakes are always a perfect treat for the Sunday morning session (Larsen family tradition).

Recipe for chocolate chip pancakes can be found here.
I'm not a perfect cook, but I'm learning!

Minimal Makeup Kit

"Happy girls are the prettiest." -Audrey Hepburn

Welcome to my newly-lightened makeup kit. I recently pulled a konmari and tossed out anything that was old, unused, or didn't make me happy.  I spent too much time putting myself together in the morning, just to end up looking like myself.  So why not just be myself?

So here it is: my minimal makeup kit (and I still have all my bases covered for my needs).
[or in the case of the eye shadow palette, beyond covered... I'm thinking about finding a nice duo because for me, twelve colors really is too much...but it is very nice!]

Primer. Concealer. Blush. Eye shadow. Mascara. Lip balm. Lip gloss. Perfect for us fair-skinned ladies.

I am working toward not wearing any makeup on a daily basis. Who knows if that will ever happen? Maybe if I can finally get the science behind skincare figured out...