Friday, May 8, 2015

Making the Most of Your Summer Using iPhone Apps

FTC disclaimer:  I am part of the U.S. Cellular Better Moments Blogger campaign.   I received compensation for this post but all opinions are my own.

U.S. Cellular offers a FREE PRINTABLE Parent Child agreement to help you discuss safety of the Internet, cell phone usage, limits, and courtesy with your teen or tween.  You don't even need to be a U.S. Cellular customer to access this, although I have been for 10 years and highly recommend them. 

My life is so busy right now!   I'm sure everyone can say that, because as summer begins, so do activities.  I remember a Facebook post last year about this time where someone said, "Seriously people, there are other days in May besides this Saturday".   This year I am feeling like everyone chose the 23rd as the day to do things.  After I chose it as my wedding date!   I heard of nothing going on that day when we picked it -- last July.  Since then I've learned of four weddings, a bridal shower, a flea market,
the only softball game that falls on a Saturday, dance recitals, and probably about a dozen more activities.  But, right now I'm dealing with planning a wedding, rehearsal dinner, day after BBQ, and Goodbye Brunch on Memorial Day.  (We're having a destination wedding in our home town.)  How am I keeping all this organized?   Google Calendar is a lifesaver as it can link things from different devices.   I typically keep all my blogging notes in my iPadAir, but I often have my iPhone 6 with me when I'm out and making appointments.  So by just adding it in the calendar I have it everywhere!

My fiance and I are excited to get back into Geocaching.  It's like a world wide treasure hunt where you search for a hidden container and then sign the log, sometimes swapping trinkets.   Of course I use my U.S. Cellular phone for it, and thanks to the nationwide coverage I've been able to find geocaches at the spur of the moment from Utah to Louisiana and this summer, I'm planning on finding some in Boston.  I especially like the caches that are hidden in unique or historical places.  I often use my phone to take photos while we are discovering new areas and a number of them are being placed in the wedding slide show we are doing.  Without this app, we never would have found a cool place like this.
Toll House at Addison, Pennsylvania



A third app that is also very helpful is Hipmunk because on occasion if my fiance has two days off in row we might make our day trip into an overnight trip.  There is a town about three hours from where we live that is known to have some of the best geocaches in the world.  It's a little far for a day trip, but an overnight is do-able. With Hipmunk we can book hotel rooms no matter where we are thanks to nationwide service from U.S. Cellular.  While we have not yet booked flights from this app, it's possible to do that as well.  This was a very useful app for us last summer when we had to make two last minute trips to Alabama because of my fiance's grandfather's health.  

If you have an Android device, such as the Samsung Galaxy S5, be sure and check out Snapseed for editing photos.  I generally just use the tools within my phone, but if you want to take your photos to the next level, this app is a must.  There are so many people who want to join us on our wedding day but can't -- I have friends around the world.  So we are planning on having a wedding hashtag.  If that isn't creating better moments with U.S. Cellular, I don't know what is!  :)  Photo sharing is so natural these days we decided to embrace it.  

If you're on the go and want to check sports scores, you might want to use the app The Score.   I'm not into sports, so this is one I haven't used personally but have heard good things about it.

Those are just a few ways I'm planning on using my U.S. Cellular devices to help create better moments all summer long!

3 comments:

  1. I really need to try Geocaching. It always looks like so much fun!

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  2. wow you are really good at this. I would love to try these apps, if I had that kind of service I would!

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