I haven't quite gotten it figured out yet, but it seems in game hours don't equal leveling up? It seems that I spend a lot of time playing Skyrim, but the leveling process seems pretty slow. Probably because I don't know what I'm doing. Just today I played about 2 hours and when I was done, I looked at my level bar and it had hardly increased. What's the magic formula to level up faster or at all...lol.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

To level up, you have to use skills.

Here is a page that explains how our characters level up: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Leveling

You might want to think about bookmarking that web site for future use. I contains much valuable information about the mechanics of playing the game. Good luck.

This. A skill is increased by using it - in the case of combat skills, you need to use the skill on a valid opponent. In the case of crafting skills, more powerful potions/enchantments and stronger weapons/armour increase your skills more than weaker types.

I guess this is why my friend told me to put on every necklace, ring, bracer, armor and drink everyone potion available when you do your smithing. I guess it gives a larger quantity of skill points. But you'd have to find activities you can do often, like smithing or alchemy, because when I go on a mission/quest I usually shoot my bow about 10 times if I'm lucky, so that's not gonna go very fast. See what I mean?