Sponsored Post: McGraw-Hill SmartBook

You know how computers are slowly taking over the world and making our lives easier? Well, I am 100% excited about that. And even more excited when it means less time reading textbooks!

I am super proud to team up with McGraw-Hill as they spread the word about SmartBook! 

If you haven�t heard of it yet, check out this video from McGraw-Hill Students:

SmartBook is amazing because it optimizes study time through these 4 steps:

Preview

You do know that you should be scanning textbook chapters before you read them, right? This is because it�s a lot easier to comprehend information when you can see where it fits into the big picture. SmartBook delivers a quick overview of each chapter for this exact reason! 

Read

While technology still hasn�t developed a way to transfer the information directly into our brains in our sleep (hurry up, please!), it can make reading lengthy and boring texts a little more effective. SmartBook highlights important learning objectives so that you can always be sure you�ve read the most important information! And with interactive questions along the way, it also automatically highlights what you need to learn and bypasses what you already know. 

Practice

We learn by doing. This is why you can explain the information from that research project you did last semester better than the information from the test you had last Friday. SmartBook�s interactive technology allows you to quiz yourself on the material and automatically highlights the concepts that you need to review. 

Recharge

If you�re like me (and you are), you can read all day long, no problem. It�s the retaining of information that�s the problem! The more that information is repeated or used, the more likely it is to end up in your long-term memory� and that�s what�s going to help you make your next A! :) 

Next Tuesday, I�ll post a little more about the science of why it�s SO important to preview before reading! 

What are some of your strategies for reading information? Are you excited about technology and textbooks? What do you think would be some advantages/drawbacks to �smart� textbooks? 

More about → Sponsored Post: McGraw-Hill SmartBook

Easter Basket Cupcakes - total time 1 hour

I think Mother Nature is trying to teach us a lesson... enjoy the sunny and 80 degree days because the next day there could be an inch of snow on the ground! Oh my poor daffodils. :( What can you do...

Since it is cold outside again, might as well whip up some Easter treats from scratch! My grandma used to make the best yellow cake and chocolate frosting ever! She would make it when the whole family was coming over for a holiday dinner; Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas... and once in a while throughout the summer when my sister and I were over at her house during summer break. To this day, it is the only cake I would ever get seconds of (unless you count cookie cake as a cake... and then that throws the whole idea out the window). I can't quite remember what made her cake so special, I just remember really enjoying it.

My husband's favorite cake, as it turns out, is also yellow cake with chocolate frosting. So I thought I would give it a go making yellow cake from scratch. Turns out, it is egg yoke (not butter, like I originally thought) that makes yellow cake yellow (unless its a box mix, in which case there is probably some food coloring that makes it extra yellow). He said these are the best cupcakes yet... and I've made so pretty darn good cupcakes (according to other people, of course... case 1, 2, and 3)

I had the idea of these chocolate shavings Easter baskets last year (because I don't like coconut) and it just didn't work out. I used a vegetable peeler, which made the shavings too wide. Then I used a grater and the chocolate melted in my hands. This year I used my handy parmesan grater and it worked out nicely. Knowing most people don't have room in their kitchen for an extra gadget (and a parmesan grater is definitely not a necessity), you could use parchment paper around the chocolate and take breaks to toss the chocolate in the freezer to prevent a melty mess. Or you could use chocolate sprinkles and avoid the complication altogether!

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More about → Easter Basket Cupcakes - total time 1 hour

100th Post: 100 Inspirational Quotes

Welcome! Today is a pretty special day (for me, anyway) because�

this is Organized Charm�s 100th post!

I just wanted to take a quick minute to say THANK YOU to all of the people who read this blog regularly! When I first started writing it in August, I had NO idea that it would resonate with people the way that it has! So keep doing what you�re doing and know that I completely appreciate every comment/e-mail/follow/visit! 

Y�all make me feel so encouraged and I wanted to give that back in a way. So here are 100 of my favorite motivational quotes for y�all! Please feel free to add your favorites at the bottom!

Character:

�Be proud for what you are rather than for what you have.�

�Be truthful, gentle, and fearless.�

�Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud.�

�Do all things with kindness.�

�Every man at some point is gonna lose a battle. He�s gonna fight and he�s gonna lose. But what makes him a man is that, in the midst of that battle, he does not lose himself.� -Friday Night Lights

"Fortune and love favor the brave." -Ovid

�Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.� -Minor Myers Jr.

�If you can be anything, be kind.�

�She who dares, wins.�

"Whatever you are, be a good one." -Abraham Lincoln

Change:

�Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Life the life you have imagined.�

�If you�re still alive, you can still change.� -John Mayer

�In the end, we only regret the chances we didn�t take.�

�In time, all things will fall right in place.�

�Love where you are.�

�Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.� -Ralph Waldo Emerson

�The best way to forgive is to forget.� -Unknown

�What�s comin� will come and we�ll meet it when it does.� -Hagrid

�You�ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.� -John C. Maxwell

�Your largest fear carries your greatest growth.� 

Creativity:

�Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.� -Oprah Winfrey

�Creative people don�t follow the rules, they don�t necessarily break them either. They almost always make their own!�

�Do beautiful things with your beautiful life.�

�I just wanna go on more adventures. Be around good energy. Connect with people. Learn new things. Grow.�

�I realized this week that I just cannot do it all, so I will choose to do what I can. Fabulously.� -Clinton Kelly

�It never gets easier, you just get better.�

�I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares.� -Saul Bass

�May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.� Nelson Mandela

�The best way to predict the future is to create it.� -Peter Drucker

�You know you�re on the right track when you become uninterested in looking back.� 

Education:

�Always keep learning. The second you stop, you will be outdated.� -AJ Kumar

�Greatness does not come overnight; it is developed slowly, painfully, and with humility.�
�I am just striving to be more me than I have ever been.�

�I don�t love studying. I hate studying. I like learning. Learning is beautiful.� -Natalie Portman
�Keep yourself educated and never stop learning.�

�Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others.� -H. Jackson Brown Jr.

�Never give up on a dream because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.� -Earl Nightingale

�Small steps every day.�

�There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.� -Ernest Hemingway

�You can never be overdressed or overeducated.� -Oscar Wilde

Happiness:

�Collect moments, not things.�

�If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.� -Ronald Dahl

�Fear doesn�t shut you down, it wakes you up.� -Veronica Roth

�Keep going no matter what.�

�Once you learn how to be happy, you won�t tolerate being around people who make you feel anything less.�

�The less you respond to negative people, the more peaceful your life will become.�

�The world�s a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.� -Saint Augustine

�Too much of anything is bad, but too much champagne is just right.� -F. Scott Fitzgerald

�What�s my guilty pleasure? The thing is, I never feel guilty about my pleasures.� -Tom Hiddleston

�You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.� -Oprah Winfrey

Life:

�A simple hello could lead to a million things.�

�Enjoy the little things.�

�Get up. Shower up. Show up. And never give up.� -Zig Ziglar

�Good things take time.�

�Had I not created my own world, I would certainly have died in other people�s� -Anais Nin

�Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.� -Rumi

�Stop holding yourself back. If you aren�t happy, make a change.�

�We are our choices.� -J.P. Sartre

�What�s for you will not pass you by.�

�You are exactly where you need to be.�

Love:

�Be selective in your battles for sometimes peace is better than being right.�

�I was fierce and wild in love when I was young� -Ben Nichols

�If it�s both terrifying and amazing, then you should definitely pursue it.� -Erada

�Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.� Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

�Let all that you do be done in love.�

�Love yourself first and everything else falls into place.� -Lucille Ball

�Spread love wherever you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.� -Mother Theresa

�When someone else�s happiness is your happiness, that is love.� -Lana Del Rey

�Wherever you are, be all there.� -Jim Elliott

�You are the finest, loveliest, tenderest, most beautiful person I have ever known.� -F. Scott Fitzgerald

Optimism:

�Be stronger than your excuses.�

�Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.� -Christian D. Larson

�Change your thoughts and you�ll change your world.�

�Commitment means staying loyal to what you said you were going to do long after the mood you said it in has left you.�

�Complaining is pointless, either act of forget.�

�Don�t compare your Chapter 1 to someone else�s Chapter 20.�

�Give this world good energy.�

�Have some faith in yourself.�

�The mind is everything: What you think, you become.� -Buddha

�What you tell yourself everyday will either lift you up or tear you down.�

Today:

�Don�t worry about what comes next.�

�Enjoy it, because it�s happening.�

�Find beauty in the small things.�

�I think in terms of the day�s resolutions, not the year�s.� -Henry Moore

�If we wait until we�re ready, we�ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.�

�It�s never too late to be what you might have been.�

�Rise up and attack the day with enthusiasm.�

�The future is no place for your better days.� -Dave Matthews

�Wake up and live.�

�Whatever the present moment contains, embrace it as if you had chosen it.� -Eckhardt Tolle

Work:

�Being a winner is never an accident. Winning comes about by design, determination, and positive action.� -Bob Proctor

�Good things happen to those who hustle.�

�I find the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.� -Thomas Jefferson

"It always seems impossible until it is done." -Nelson Mandela

�It�s a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together.�

�Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door.� -Kyle Chandler

�Success is not easy and is certainly not for the lazy.�

�Success isn�t a result of spontaneous combustion. You have to learn how to set yourself on fire.�

�The dream is free. The hustle is sold separately.�

�Work hard and do great things.�



I love you all! Go out into the world and have an amazingly awesome day!

:) 

More about → 100th Post: 100 Inspirational Quotes

Closet Organization Solutions

On my 4 Things to Organize in April checklist, my closet was right up there! I have a pretty good system in place for keeping up with what I�ve worn and purging it frequently. What I need is kind of a revamped closet organization system!

As I always do, I turned to Pinterest for inspiration and it did not disappoint!

(click on photos to follow links)

Buy uniformed hangers.

If all of the hangers match, the closet looks 100% more organized and put together. Plus, designate a specific number of clothing items for your closet and buy that many hangers. It will be a good reminder that your closet it getting too full! 

Find a cute way to display your accessories.

From pegboards to hooks to repurposed picture frames, Pinterest is FULL of cute ideas for displaying all those little accessories we need! Rather than just messily cramming them into a drawer, why not put them on display like a cute little boutique? Maybe it will make you enjoy getting dressed as much as you enjoy shopping! 

Store your shoes. 

Shoes are another one of those things that are easy to accumulate. If you don�t quite have the closet space of Sarah Vickers, no problem! Try a hanging heels on a curtain rod on the wall, a shoe rack on the back of the door, and storing flats/sandals in a bin on the shelf in your closet!

Find an organized home for tiny clothing items. 

So, hanging up clothes is easy but what about all those little things like scarves and tank tops? Luckily, they�re super easy to roll up and fit into small spaces! How about in a tiny dresser drawer, a �shoe rack�, or grabbing a couple of small clear drawers from Target? 

Hang your bags.

These are one of my biggest challenges! I love the way that they fit onto closet shelves and I can line them up neatly but I hate the way they get all smooched. Try designate a hanger in your closet as a �bag hanger�, a tension rod with S-hooks, or hanging some pretty hooks where you can easily reach them!

Pre-made closet system.

Of course, if you�re really getting serious about closet organization, Home Depot and Lowe�s have a TON of pre-made closet organizational systems! Just choose one that fits and works well for you!

You don�t have to have it all out at once.

Finally, this is one of the biggest things that keeps my closet in check. It isn�t necessary to have every item out all season long! Having 3 extra bins to hold clothes for each season will free up a TON of closet space!

Now let�s get those closets put back together! Summer is right around the corner and you don�t want to waste all that beautiful weather by being inside reorganizing a closet, do you? Me either :)

What kinds of closet organization tips do you have to add? Do you organize it a little at a time or do a big seasonal overhaul? Have you invested in a professional closet system or just created one that works well for you? 

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Weekly Menu

Wow!  What a gorgeous weekend!  The kind of weather you wish could be all year long.  Had no issues reaching my steps goal with my Up band because I just wanted to be outside walking around enjoying to weather.  Spring has officially sprung and I'm loving it!

Snoop is loving it too.  It's been 6 months since he could roll around in green grass.  It looks like he is smiling in the second picture.  :)

We're in the home stretch of meat-free Lent.  I just placed my Green BEAN order for this week and it felt kind of weird adding ground turkey to my bin after a month and a half.  Truthfully, the only thing I miss is being able to pick from anything on the menu.  Most restaurants offer a few vegetarian options, but sometimes you're just not in the mood for the one thing... and removing meat from another dish leaves you with... sides.  It will be nice to have more options again (but then again, sometimes I can be pretty indecisive, so having two options to choose from makes my decision easier).

Alrighty... here's this week's menu!

fajita taco night

spaghetti bake (minus the ground turkey)

veggie sushi

tortellini soup and grilled cheese

out for my mom's bday

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Grilled Asparagus and Poached Egg - total time 20 minutes

Eggs are a great source of protein for vegetarians and omnivores alike. There have been many studies and reports that go back and forth on whether eggs are healthy for you or not. Some say that they are high in cholesterol and that people shouldn't eat more that one or two a week. Others says it's the ultimate health food and should even be consumed raw. I like to think reality is somewhere in between knowing that eggs are low fat, high protein, have dietary sulfur (great for you hair and nails), and the yolks have carotenoids (similar to carrots). I also love eggs... so at this point of being meat-free for around 40 days now... we have gone through quite a few eggs!

With Easter coming up, eggs are center stage. You may be hard boiling some right now to dye different colors. Or you could be filling a bunch of colorful plastic versions with candy in the next few days. Eggs are a symbolic message of rebirth, so the iconic Easter egg completely makes sense.

Celebrate Easter with this quick, delicious brunch. Perfect timing for asparagus which are at their peak right now and the buttery, runny yolk over top... just delicious! We actually had this dish for dinner, it is quite filling with a side dish of crispy roast potatoes. It's minimal ingredients and cooks quickly, the slowest part is that you can only poach one egg at a time, but they only take a minute or two. :)

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More about → Grilled Asparagus and Poached Egg - total time 20 minutes

Class Folder Organization

I used to go really overboard with my school binders. I would go to Office Max/Target and spend tons of money on brand new cute binders, color-coded tabs, laminated dividers, and labels for every class. I made sure I had a place for EVERYTHING and I kept EVERYTHING in them. 

And, although it was helpful to have all of that information in one place, a lot of the sections actually just went unused. As time went on, I began to appreciate simplicity a little more. And now I am 100% certain that simplicity = efficiency!

The way that I organize my wedding folders now, I actually learned while I was wedding planning! When it comes to wedding planners, there are some that are huge, excessive, detailed, and expensive. But honestly, all you need is a list of things left to do and a list of things that are done. 

A list of things to do and a place to keep receipts of things that are complete? Sounds a little like coursework, doesn�t it? I thought so, too! 

Here is my newer, simpler, efficient-er way of organizing schoolwork!

Buy Folders

Buy a simple 2-pocket folder for each class. I like to assign a color to each class and buy them in those colors, but obviously you should buy whatever you think you will want to look at everyday! The main idea here is that these little folders are amazing for the following reasons:

They are easy to fit into your bag/backpack/purse

They are light to carry around campus

They are easy to keep organized

They make it easy to use

They are cheap!

Place Syllabus on the Right Side

Once I get my syllabi for my classes, I open it to the page with all of the due dates and place it into the right side of the folder. This makes it super easy to check what chapter I need to read this week, or when that next big project is due. As the semester goes on, I highlight the current week in yellow and re-highlight it in pink when the its complete.

Print Out All Assignment Instructions

At the beginning of the semester, I go to the campus computer lab and print out the directions for every project. Then I put these into the left side of the folder and order them according to their due dates. If I have a physical copy of my current work-in-progress (presentation outline, rough draft, study guide), I keep that on the left side along with its instructions.

OCD SIDE NOTE: I also like to use index cards to keep track of individual assignments because I can paperclip them into my class folder, into my planner, or hang them on the wall. It�s just a quick reference for the when, what, how much, and basic instructions of each assignment.

Keep Graded Papers Behind Syllabus

Once graded assignments are returned, I place them behind the syllabus on the right side of the folder. I only keep my graded assignments. And actually, thanks to the semester assignment spreadsheet, I could even do without keeping those papers (but I just like to).

Create a �Handout Folder� at Home

Create a folder at home for class handouts. Ending the semester with a ton of miscellaneous handouts that you may or may not use in the future is inevitable. Just create a little file folder at home for those types of papers so you don�t have to carry them around all the time! 

Of course, there are classes that require more thorough folders (like research projects) but this system works pretty well for basic, �lecture classes"! SUPER simple. SUPER efficient. 

Have you developed a system for organizing school binders/folders? Does it work well? What parts of organizing classwork are the hardest for you? 

More about → Class Folder Organization