May the Fourth be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day everybody!

This should honestly be a national holiday (even though today is a Sunday, so it wouldn't matter...)

I'm stuck inside right now, trying to clean up my apartment. With all of my finals (my final finals!) I have let my apartment become a complete mess. Which, if you've read basically any other post here, you'd know that I am most certainly not okay with it.

I hate messes. But I also hate cleaning. Which is why usually I just tidy up as I go along. But I haven't had enough time! Stupid finals!!

So today, instead of wandering around my apartment complex, enjoying the lovely weather and beautiful flowers in bloom, I'm stuck inside cleaning my apartment and watching QVC.

Which is also bad. Because now I really want this laptop...despite having just bought a new one last July!! 

So this is basically a struggle in every single way. 

I mean, look at how beautiful it is outside!!

I need some motivation, I just haven't found any of it yet!!

Does anyone have any suggestions for motivating myself? Or some quick cleaning tips? 

I would really appreciate it!!!

Study Tips

With finals just around the corner, I've definitely been getting a little bit worried about being prepared.

In high school, I never really had to study; I was in honors and AP classes and graduated with a 4.3 (on the 5.0 scale, obviously), so when I got into college and first realized that--GASP--I would actually have to study, it was a bit of a shock.

Now that I'm finishing up my senior yer at my university, I have become rather good at studying, if I do say so myself. Although, I am still the reigning queen of procrastination. 

Here are a few of my favorite study tips that I've learned along the way. Some of them might sound a bit overused, but trust me--they work.

1. Take Breaks
   I know, I know. You're studying and you're so productive, so you don't really want to take a break, but I swear by this. I'm a big fan of the 25-5 rule: you study for 25 minutes, then take a 5 minute break to do whatever you want: eat a snack, browse Facebook or Twitter, fit in some quick exercise, whatever really. Apparently this is called the "Pomodoro Technique," or something.
   I'm a big fan of using technology to help anyway it can, so I recommend Pomoroido on android to time your studying/productivity and alert you when it's break time. For iPhone users, Pomodoro Time Management Lite is a good alternative. If you have a Windows phone, I think the Tomato Productivity Timer is the best free option.
   
2. Drink Water
   If you haven't heard this one, you've probably been living under a rock. Apparently, drinking water while you study increases your brain function or something. It also, you know, keeps you hydrated, which is always important. I don't think there is anything worse than being distracted by how thirsty you are and how dry your mouth is. Talk about unpleasant.
   And, whadya know, there are apps that track your water consumption, too! I have not yet found one that reminds me to drink water (the fact that I find that necessary is a little embarrassing), but I love that Fitbit gives you a visual representation of how much water you've had that day.
   
3. Listen to Music
   I feel like this one actually goes against everything you're taught about studying, because it pulls focus away form your work, right? Well, I'm not talking about flipping to your favorite Beyoncé or someone playlist. In fact, recently I've been  big fan of the Hans Zimmer station on Pandora. If you don't know, Hans Zimmer is a well-known composer who's worked on films like Inception, Pirates of the Caribbean, 12 Years a Slave, and even The Lion King! The music gets me super pumped and I actually feel like I'm doing something important, rather than studying for that econ final.

Those are my best study habits. Are there any that you swear by?