// Brain Training

I've become such a huge fan of brain training over the last few months. It all started when I innocently downloaded the Lumosity app on my phone. Soon I became addicted to playing little games each day and tracking my brain's "progress." After a week or two I finally convinced Mike to give it a go and now we manage to have a little competition each day as we "train." It sounds silly, I'm sure, but it's so fun! Over time I've really noticed a difference in my brain's functioning ability and I've grown to really really look forward to my games each day. I kind of feel like my Nana when I think about her love for all things Mahjong! 

While I haven't plunked down the cash for a full Lumosity account yet (oh how I want to! But then we'd have to shell out for two because Mike would be so jealous!), I love the free iPhone version. I've also found a few other free brain training games that are worth checking out, too! I mean, it can't hurt to train on three or four different games a day, right?!

Here are the brain games that I'm currently obsessed with:

LUMOSITY // Lumosity is available on the iPhone, iPad and computer, so it makes it super easy to use. I've noticed I really have to be "in my element" to do my best work though! (Read: on the couch, in the morning, in the quiet of the house haha) Even just laying/sitting a different way seems to throw me off my game! I've only unlocked a few of the games since I play the free version on my phone, but just browse the game offerings on the site! Seriously it makes me want to take the plunge daily. Ahh!

FIT BRAINS // When I was looking up brain training apps, this was one of the first ones to pop up in the App store. I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not, but it's actually quite effective. My only qualm with it (and it's probably silly!) is that when it counts down the "3, 2, 1" before starting a game, it goes WAY too fast! It's like it gives me anxiety as I'm supposed to start a relaxed game. The vibe with Lumosity is way more calm and overall better, but Fit Brains is also free and a nice little add-on when you're feeling frisky.

FLOW FREE // This is the lite/free version of Flow, and it's so addictive! The object of the game is to take a certain number of dots and create "snakes" to connect the appropriate colors without crossing over each other. (There's a "Bridge" version where you can cross, but that's a whole other story!) The free version has hundreds of levels and I blazed through over 150 of them in the first day. Some of them are super super quick (the easy levels are very easy), the hard levels start to get ya! I'd go a few days at a time without being able to figure one out. I'm a stickler though and I refuse to cheat and look up the answers, but boy I've been tempted!

I'm sure there are plenty more brain training apps and websites that totally rock (feel free to share those below!) but these are definitely my three favorite. I know if I overloaded my phone I'd just take up space and then not play any of them. Now I just have to convince myself that two annual Lumosity memberships are worth it!

Do you play any brain training games? If so, which ones are your favorite? I'd love to hear about others!

Instant Replay

one. waking up to these faces every morning. g is always passed out at the end of the bed. two. reminiscing over old photos of georgia when she was but a wee pup. three. scored these tartan litas for eight dollars! be still my ugly shoe lovin' heart! four. warm lunches at panera. five. pretty spring dresses are already hitting the shelves!

one. attitude pup. two. pipkin doing what she does best. three. playing with their new "fruit platter" toy set from target. four. wearing my new (and dangerous) senso diffusion shoes. five. pipkin being pathetic (another thing she's great at!)

one. georgia cuddling with dad. two. jeggings on a target run. three. georgia snoozin. four. pipkin snoozin. (seriously... if sleeping were an olympic sport [and bulldogs could compete], my girls would take gold every time. you don't even know. five. there was a bulldog security sticker on the bungalow... that means it's meant to be right?!

one. enid has picked up a habit or two thanks to the dogs... sleeping like this is definitely one of them. two. wearing my jeffreys that i scored during modcloth's cabin fever sale. three. had a photoshoot yesterday with elle + holly of jam and toast. i was loving the ombre theme. four. mike got some cuddle action with riley, elle + bryan's pup. five. and i had to get some too.  // all photos taken with my iPhone 4

This is what I've been up to the past week. Today I'm working on a bunch of design projects and I'm feeling stoked about them. Don't you love vague entries like that? haha What have y'all been up to?!

PS; Are you on Instagram? My username is 'kaelahbee'... come find me and let's be friends! xo


PPS; How many pictures of my animals sleeping can I possibly upload?!?! It's a little overwhelming, I know. But I can't help it!

Behind the Scenes: iPhone Edition #2

Here's the follow-up of iPhone 4 photos that I promised this weekend! Lots of pictures of my face and our silly, sleepy pups!

001. the girls riding in the car (typically they're much more enthused!) 002. playing with the frisbee 003. litas! litas! litas! 004. the loves of my life. 005. mike being silly in the car. 006. picnic feet. 007. pipkin photobomb!

001. lazy georgia. 002. lazy pipkin. 003. long brown hair. 004. pipkin making my foot a headrest (she came up and did that... i didn't put my foot under her intentionally haha) 005. pipkin sleeping on my chest as we napped. 006. red lippies and a red bow at work. 007. home sweet home (aka my desk)

001. my elf order that i scored for 70% off. 002. laziest dogs in the universe. 003. always sleeping. 004. sneak peek at my wardrobe. 005. mike putt-puttin' along on his scooter on our way to the puppy park. 006. work attire on friday.

Thanks for entertaining my photodump! Sometimes it's nice to clear my phone and to let y'all in on daily errands and activities :) I'm really excited for this week! There'll be lots of fun stuff going on! Happy Monday! xo

Do you have a Tumblr account?! Leave your link below! 

I want to check it out :) (I'm still constantly trying to get the hang of Tumblr!)

Behind the Scenes: iPhone Edition

I thought it was prime time to get some photos off of my phone and share on the blog. You might remember that I left my iPhone 4 out in the rain a few weeks ago... ha. Well I got a new white one and I never realized how many pictures I take with that thing daily! I'm about to sync it up (finally!) with my iTunes to get all of my old pictures back, but felt it might be beneficial to go ahead and go through these and share some! If you follow me on Twitter, Instagram (kaelahbee) or Tumblr then you might have seen a handful of these. Either way, I hope you enjoy! 

001. me and mike. 002. lazy, lazy pups. 003. really lazy pups. 004. cave city pit stop in kentucky. 005. what i wore on chicago roadtrip day 1. 006. trying on dresses in forever 21 (i didn't buy it). 007. trying on dresses in h&m (i totally bought it! how cute!) also met emily, the cutest blog reader ever, here!

008. i spent most of my time with my feet on the dash (this terrifies mike for if we have an accident). 009. cloudy cloudy chicago. 010. this was the exact moment we realized we felt right at home as though we were back in nyc. 011. crisp blue skies by the time we managed to park (took forever!) http://emilyschmemily.tumblr.com/ 012. cuuute thermos i picked up at an antique mall in volo 013. woodfield mall (? i think). holy huge mall! (and i got to meet another super sweet blog reader here! hi sydney! sorry if i was awkward!) 014. fun studded clutch i picked up in chicago for a night ~out on the town in wauconda


 


 
 
 
 


015. new old ladies at the local dive. yum! 016. susannah modeling the "hog" that i road that night (at like 3am). 017. chris airing up the tires for our late night bike ride. 018. spotting the you are beautiful project on the streets of chicago in bucktown (i covered wilmington in the same stickers!) 019. windturbine farms in indiana on the drive home (we became fascinated and proceeded to google these things the whole way home!) 020. our sweet city's skyline! it's never looked so nice. (see the little smokestack in the last 1/5 of the picture on the right? that's where we live!) 021. my sweet girl on her way home from nana's. i've never been so happy to see that face before!

Thanks for humoring me while I dumped all of these photos out! I'll be back tomorrow with another round! I know, kill me now! ;) Happy Saturday, honeybees! xo

PS; To see all of the other Behind The Scenes posts, click HERE!