Reviews

Review and Favorite Features of the Sharp AQUOS Crystal Smartphone

December 17, 2014 by Sandra 2 Comments

I participated in an Influencer Activation Program on behalf of Influence Central for Sprint. I received a sample device to facilitate this review. #SprintMom

For the past few weeks, I’ve been getting to know the Sharp AQUOS Crystal Smartphone. I carry it around in my purse, use it at home, pull it out in the car (but only when my husband is driving), and today, I took it with me to the movie theater to see the latest Hobbit movie with my husband and kids. 🙂

I wanted to snap some pictures of my kids with the Sharp AQUOS smartphone to test out the picture quality yet again. And while I wouldn’t say the overall picture quality is awesome on this smartphone, I think it’s pretty good.

Woot! It’s finally time to see #TheHobbit Just a little excited! 🙂 #shareAMC #BOTFA pic.twitter.com/seSIg9TzZp

— Sandra Calixto (@thesensiblemom) December 17, 2014

Sharp AQUOS Crystal Smartphone Review

There are a lot of things to love about the Sharp AQUOS. For starters, there’s the fact that you can make calls and exchange text messages over a Wi-Fi signal.

And I love that I can use this smartphone as a mobile hotspot and easily get online when I’m away from home. My kids like it, too, because it means that they can be on the internet during our long car rides to David’s appointments in Chicago.

Another feature that makes this smartphone stand out is that it comes ready with OfficeSuite 8, which allows you to create and/or edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files. This could be very hand for working away from home or even for drafting a quick blog post.

In addition to OfficeSuite, the Clip Now feature is great tool, because once you enable it, you can take screenshots of your screen with one quick swipe. Those screenshots are then saved on your Sharp AQUOS smartphone with an embedded URL for easy sharing!

Screen & Sound Quality

My kids watch videos on YouTube just about every day. In fact, we don’t have cable, and the television in our home is mainly used for watching our favorite movies. Instead of watching TV, when my kids have earned some “electronics time,” they get to pick a device and watch pre-approved kid’s videos online. 🙂

And now they can watch their online shows on the Sharp AQUOS Crystal smartphone’s amazing 5-inch edge-to-edge HD screen! Trust me, streaming video on this smartphone is something you’ll enjoy! It’s feels like you’re watching a small television. Impressive!

The final favorite feature I’ll mention is the fabulous sound quality you get from the Sharp AQUOS smartphone, and it’s because of the built-in Harman Kardon LiveStage with Clari-Fi technology.

I like using the AQUOS smartphone to play music throughout the day, but when I’m using the phone while at my desk and put in earbuds… wow! 🙂

As you can see, there’s much to like about the Sharp AQUOS Crystal smartphone. And if you’re looking for a budget-friendly smartphone for yourself or even to give as a gift, this smartphone is a great option.

What are some of your must-have features in a smartphone?

How I’m Using the InStyler Max 2-Way Rotating Iron to Straighten My Hair (Before and After Pictures)

December 5, 2014 by Sandra 2 Comments

Thanks to Vocalpoint for the InStyler tools and for partnering with me on this review.

When it comes to my hair, I keep it simple.

If you’ve watched any of my YouTube videos, you know this is true. 😉

It’s not that I don’t want to spent a lot of time fixing my hair every day – it’s just that as a mom of five, ~~kids start banging on the door~~ I don’t have the time to spare. But I don’t use that as an excuse to walk around looking frumpy day-in and day-out. (And I KNOW my husband appreciates this!) Nope. After I wake up, I get ball rolling, put on some makeup, and fix my hair.

InStyler Hair Tools

Most recently, I’ve started using the InStyler MAX 2-Way Rotating Iron to straighten my hair. Someday, I’ll learn how to curl my hair like a pro. For now, I love the ease of straightening my hair and having a put together look in a short amount of time.

InStyler actually offers three different hair tools: the TULIP Auto Curler, the Ionic Styler Pro, and (my favorite) the MAX 2-Way Rotating Iron.

Back to the MAX 2-Way Rotating Iron, you can see that it has a built-in brush, and the barrel easily rotates in two directions depending on which side of your hair you happen to be working on. You can even curl your hair with the MAX, but I’m sticking to its straightening features for now. Of them, I like that the InStyler MAX straightens my hair while giving it body and volume.

It doesn’t leave my hair super flat like some flat irons do.

Extra Features on the InStyler MAX

While you can certainly use the MAX 2-Way Rotating Iron out-of-the-box, it comes with two additional pieces that I definitely recommend using. First, there’s the removable cool tip, which allows you more control as you use the InStyler MAX.

Then there’s the thermal guard. It protects your scalp and fingers from the hot barrel. At one point, I decided to use the MAX without the thermal guard. Bad idea! Lesson learned, and I won’t be doing that again! 😉

The Part Where I Step Out of My Comfort Zone

So… I don’t normally post pictures of myself like this here on the blog, but I want to show what the InStyler MAX can do. However, I wish I would’ve taken these BEFORE Thanksgiving and the five extra pounds that have decided to stick around. That’s what I get for procrastinating!

Even so, I think they turned out okay. 😉

Here’s what my hair looked like BEFORE I used the InStyler MAX 2-Way Rotating Iron:

And here’s what it looked like AFTER:

I liked the ‘after’ so much so that I decided to switch out the profile picture on all of my social media accounts to that image.

And now I’ve crossed one more thing off my to-do list. 🙂

Which one of the InStyler hair tools would you be most likely to try? Or, straight or curly, which do you prefer for your everyday look?

P.S. You can visit the InStyler website and enter the code SAVE30 for a 30% discount on the line of InStyler tools. This code is good for the purchase of two tools through 1/31/15.

Peep and the Big Wide World (Plus a Fun Science Activity!)

November 28, 2014 by Sandra 3 Comments

This is a compensated campaign in collaboration with PEEP and Latina Bloggers Connect.

Homeschooling my 5-year-old son, David, is not easy.

He’s always been my strong-willed child and lets me know right away when he doesn’t like something. Whether it’s coloring or working with flashcards, if he’s not interested in it, well, school can turn into the “low part” of his day in a hurry. 😉

As his mother and teacher, I don’t want that for him. I want him to be excited about school and learning. So you can imagine how excited I was to have discovered an entire website full of educational activities that David actually loves!

Peep and the Big Wide World

The website is called Peep and the Big Wide World. It’s named after the series by the same name that appears on public television. Maybe your kids have watched an episode already?

The Peep and the Big Wide World series stars a wide-eyed chicken named Peep, a robin named Chirp, and an endearing duck named Quack. They live in a large urban park — a place of endless wonder, adventure, and mystery – perfect for learning science and math concepts each and every day!

David and my other kids have been getting to know Peep and his friends, and amazingly, David and Isaac, my 7-year-old son, are learning even as they watch.

They learned how to “Mississippi count” the other day. 🙂

They’re learning even more from the Peep and the Big Wide World educational apps that we installed on some of our electronic devices. As a mom, I’m a huge fan of apps that teach my kids rather than simply entertain them.

The mobile-friendly digital hub gets preschoolers engaged using fun activities and helps parents be ready and confident to facilitate the exploration of math and science with their child.

Pour and Squirt Water Activity

One of my favorite parts of the Peep and the Big Wide World website is the educators area where you can find a number of different activities to engage your child and encourage their curiosity.

My three youngest kids loved this pour and squirt water activity that I came across on the website.

We basically filled different sized bowls with water, and then they used a variety of household items to pour, squirt, and play.

Mentos Science Activity

Seeing some of the different activities on the Peep and the Big Wide World website made me think about a science experiment we’ve been wanting to try as a family, but kept putting off for one reason or another.

We’ve been wanting to try a fun and easy science activity that involves dropping a bunch of mentos candies into different kinds of pop.

There’s an incredible chemical reaction that occurs between the pop and the mentos, and you really must see it to believe it!

So, we created a video. 🙂

We finally carved out time, gathered the supplies, put on our jackets, and had a GREAT time experiencing such a crazy experiment first-hand!

Below is the video we created for the mentos science activity. The results might surprise you!

I’m so glad we took the time to finally try the mentos experiment.

It is as fun as it looks. 🙂

But, you know, I’m even happier to know that I have another resource when it comes to teaching and homeschooling my kids. I’m certain that I’ll be going back to the Peep and the Big Wide World website again and again. I love that there’s even a Spanish version of the site available – perfect for when I start introducing my kids to more español!

Are your children familiar with Peep and the Big Wide World? Do your children enjoy doing science activities at home?

Connect with Peep: For the latest updates, you can “like” Peep Latino on Facebook and follow Peep here on Twitter.

How I Use My Intel Tablet to Stay Organized

November 16, 2014 by Sandra 6 Comments

#sponsored: I’m required to disclose a relationship between our site and Intel. This could include the Intel Corporation providing us w/content, product, access or other forms of payment.

If it’s not on the calendar, it’s not REAL.

This is a saying I heard earlier this year, and it made a huge impact on my thinking. How so? Well, now I schedule as much as I can on my Google Calendar. Getting ready for the day, homeschooling, cleaning, blog posts, reminders to schedule blog posts, recipe testing, photo shoots, social media reminders, emails, exercise and on and on.

I schedule it.

I’ve stopped using a paper planner and instead plan out the important and even mundane tasks on my Google Calendar. It’s made a world of difference, and I don’t see myself ever going back to writing out my schedule again. One huge reason is because Google Calendar allows me to block out time for each task, and that makes it easy to see when I’ll have time for something and when I’m over scheduling myself and need to make a change.

How I Stay Organized

I’m not able to sit down at my computer as often as I’d like to (kids, you know 😉 ), so I’ve been relying mostly on my smartphone for Google Calendar reminders throughout the day. I’ve also loved using my smartphone to quickly create short notes or lists that I can come back to when I need them.

Honestly, this way of getting things done works for me.

But… when there’s an opportunity to make staying organized even easier, well, I say try it! And that’s exactly what I did when Intel sent me an Asus MeMO Pad 7 Intel Tablet to review.

As you can see, the Intel tablet is larger than my smartphone, but it’s still small enough to carry around the house and not feel like it’s a burden. It has a 7-inch screen and is quite thin and lightweight which makes it easy to slip into your purse.

The display is AMAZING! Whoa. I wasn’t expecting such a high-quality display from such a budget-friendly tablet! I’m so impressed. 😉

By the way, electronic devices are difficult to photograph well, but trust me, the screen display is crisp and clear.

Asus MeMO Pad Apps and Organization Tools

Besides the great outward features, the Asus Intel tablet is equipped with its own apps. One of my favorites is the “Quick Memo” app. In a flash, this app allows me to create a note or list like the one I made in the picture below.

I can then pin that list to the home screen of the tablet, so that I can see it and tackle whatever it is that needs to be done.

There are a lot more Asus apps on this tablet. I’m personally looking forward to understanding the Asus “Do It Later” app very soon! 🙂

Google Calendar on the Asus Intel Tablet

I still use Google Calendar every single day. I would be a mess without it. But it’s bigger and better on the tablet than it is on my smartphone. It’s so much easier to see my schedule and move things around. And calendar reminders go straight to my tablet as well.

So, for staying on top of everyday life and so much more, I love this Asus Intel tablet! 🙂

Review and Favorite Features of the Sharp AQUOS Crystal Smartphone

Sharp AQUOS Crystal Smartphone Review

Screen & Sound Quality

How I’m Using the InStyler Max 2-Way Rotating Iron to Straighten My Hair (Before and After Pictures)

InStyler Hair Tools

Extra Features on the InStyler MAX

The Part Where I Step Out of My Comfort Zone

Peep and the Big Wide World (Plus a Fun Science Activity!)

Peep and the Big Wide World

Pour and Squirt Water Activity

Mentos Science Activity

How I Use My Intel Tablet to Stay Organized

How I Stay Organized

Asus MeMO Pad Apps and Organization Tools

Google Calendar on the Asus Intel Tablet

What are some of your favorite ways to stay organized?

Categories

Reviews

Sharp AQUOS Crystal Smartphone Review

Screen & Sound Quality

InStyler Hair Tools

Extra Features on the InStyler MAX

The Part Where I Step Out of My Comfort Zone

Peep and the Big Wide World

Pour and Squirt Water Activity

Mentos Science Activity

How I Stay Organized

Asus MeMO Pad Apps and Organization Tools

Google Calendar on the Asus Intel Tablet

What are some of your favorite ways to stay organized?

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