Top Five iPhone Apps of 2011

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again.  I.  Love.  My.  iPhone.  It is somehow always on my person.  Always.  I use it to go grocery shopping, I use it for my school work, I use it for my workouts, and it has even replaced my alarm clock.  So here, for your perusal, are my top five apps of 2011.  (You can get these apps in the iTunes store.  Most of them were free.)

Couch to 5K

I became a runner this year.  I didn't mean to.  I'm still not sure how I feel about it.  I've never liked running, and I think I still don't.  But I wanted to up my fitness level and have something to strive for in my workouts, so I decided to train for a 5k.  There were a few workouts that were really tough (like the one that has you run for 20 minutes straight), but once I pushed through those, it wasn't too bad and I felt good.  I have yet to run in a true 5k race, and I'm hoping to do one or two of those next year.  But for now, I can run for 30 minutes, which is about 3 miles.  It's not a blazing fast pace by any means, but it's more than I've ever been able to do.  A marathon is definitely NOT in my future.  Probably.

iStudiezPro

This app helped me find my balance in schoolwork.  It lets me schedule in what assignments are due when, when I have tests, and it keeps track of my grades as I complete homework, and take tests and quizzes.  It was so helpful to know that I didn't need to swallow everything all at once....just bite size pieces every day.  It's a little time consuming to enter everything in the beginning, but so worth it!

Grocery IQ

I've been through several grocery list apps and have found this one to be quite good.  It allows me to set up an account that both Scott and I can use to add items to our shopping list using our iPhones.  It scans barcodes and lets me set up a favorites list to quickly and easily add frequently purchased items to the weekly shopping list.  It is a bit slow at startup as it reconciles in the beginning, but other than that, it's awesome!

Cozi

This is not only an app, but an online family organizer.  I love using this because all members of my family can access this and add their individual events.  When I open this app, it updates and I can see who is doing what (and more importantly, where and when I have to drive them there).  It also has a to-do list, a family journal...it's really quite the all-in-one app.  I use it only for family calendaring.  Simply great.

Sleep Cycle

I get up early.  Really early.  Waaaaay too early.  Like dark-thirty in the morning.  It's always hard for me to get up and get going when I'm jarred out of my sleep by some annoying alarm.  This app works differently and begins waking me up when I'm in a lighter stage of sleep.  I know, sounds hokey.  But it works.  I plug it in and set it face down on my mattress when I go to bed at night and it senses my movement to determine when I'm in deep sleep or light sleep.  It then goes off when I'm in light sleep, so as to let me have a more natural wake up, and letting me feel more refreshed.  It doesn't help me sleep longer, but I sleep smarter because I wake up when my body is more awake.  It's still hard to get up, but that's because my bed is comfy, and not because I've been audibly slapped awake.