March Reflection

(View February 2012 Reflections here!)

Not much really happened in March. To me, March is just that awkward month between February and April because it's between winter and spring. Some exciting things did happen though, which I'll share!

I was inducted into National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society. | In order to get into the National Honor Society, a person must have an average of A- or higher in all classes for six consecutive terms and be in all Honors classes. So basically, you have to be halfway through sophomore year to get inducted! In order to get into the Spanish Honor Society, a person must have an A- average in all classes for six consecutive terms. I qualified for both of those, so I was inducted! If you follow me on my personal Instagram, you probably saw this picture of me and my best friend after we were inducted:

(I finally had something to wear my impulse buy dress to!)

I exercised more. | The gym in my town had a free trial offer where you could sign up and use their gym for free for a week. I love going to the gym, but I don't have a membership, so I thought this free trial was great! I was only able to go four days out of the week (on the weekends) because of school and sports, but I loved going. I'm not able to have a gym membership right now because I just don't have the time. I'm planning on getting a gym membership there in the summer, though! I've exercised a lot this month, which I'm happy about because that was one of my New Year's Resolutions.

I went on the highway for the first time. | I used to be scared of driving, but I've become so comfortable and at ease with it. I've already had seven out of twelve road lessons with my driving school! My driving instructor took me on the highway for the first time this month, which I thought would be horrible, but it wasn't bad at all.

I filled out a volunteer application at the library. | One of my favorite places is the library, which is why it's so important to me. During the summer, I make weekly trips there and come out with a stack of five to seven books. After attending Human Awareness Day at my school, I really wanted to volunteer at my town library. So I filled out an application! The librarian told me I would be doing things like dusting the shelves, filing papers, making sure the books are in order, etc. which doesn't sound too bad to me.

I bought Hunter boots using Amazon gift cards. | As some of you know, I have a slight obsession with Checkpoints. After saving up Amazon gift cards I got from there, I was finally able to buy my very first pair of Hunter boots! My boots should be here sometime in April, which is perfect because I'll need them for the rainy April weather.

What are some accomplishments you've had this month?

Latest Obsession: Meditation

As most of you know, I tend to stress out over a lot of things and don't really try to find time for myself. The fact that I don't set aside time for myself could be part of the reason why I stress out so much, but you never know. While reading through one of the blogs I follow (it's totally killing me because I can't remember which blog it was!), the blogger said one habit she got into was meditation. She said starting her day off with mediating helped her to be refreshed and decrease her stress level.

So, I thought to myself, "Since it works for her, would it work for me?" That's when I decided to try meditation. It started with me going into YouTube and searching for a quick mediation video. I did a five-minute one for my first time. I actually really enjoyed it, so the next couple of days, I continued to mediate at night and searched for longer videos.

Meditation not only set aside time for myself, but it helped me to de-stress. I chose to do the guided meditation videos, because meditation is really hard to do when it's guided, so never mind doing it on my own! If you need time for yourself and/or a way to de-stress, I strongly suggest trying meditation.

Do you meditate?

Blog Post Inspiration

When I was new to blogging, I used to email various bloggers from the blogs I liked about where they got their blog post ideas from, and they all said the same thing: everything that is around them. At first, I didn't think that was much help, but I thanked them anyways. It wasn't until the traffic to my blog and amount of followers/readers started to increase that I realized what exactly those bloggers meant.

When writing blog posts, don't try to write about what you think other people will like because then it's not showing your true self. Write about what you like. Take a look at everything around you and get inspired from everything you like. My planner is full of blog posts ideas just because I write down every single thing that I like. Get inspiration for your blog from your surroundings.

How do you think of blog post ideas?

What Today Consists Of

I've never done this type of post before, so I thought I'd do it today! Today is Holy Thursday, so I have a half day and no school tomorrow. Dismissal is at 11:15 today. I have track at 12:30, so I might go out for pizza with Tyler before practice starts!

I'll be home by around 2pm, so I'm planning on showering, changing into pajamas, and then reading! Six of my friends are coming over tonight for a sleepover, so I want to relax before they come over.

What are your plans for today?

Dropbox

Dropbox is a website that allows you to store files in order to access them from anywhere at any time. All you have to do is create an account! You can even share files with a different group of people, like if it was for a group project or a company. Also, you can download Dropbox to your computer so you can open a file more easily.

I use Dropbox almost every day. It's really helpful when I'm in the library at school during study while working on a document. I can easily just upload the document to Dropbox when I'm done or have to go instead of emailing it to myself like I used to do. Emailing things to myself never seemed to work out because I tended to either accidentally delete the email or not be able to find it because of so many other emails in my inbox.

Dropbox also has an app, but I don't think I'm going to get it because I don't really need to open files from my phone while I'm on-the-go. I'll probably download it when I get my new iPad because next year, my school is putting everything on iPads... so Dropbox will be a really handy thing to have!

Do you use Dropbox?

Study Tips 101: Studying for a Vocab Quiz

As a lot of you know, my grades and schoolwork mean a lot to me. I devote a lot of my time during the week to studying and doing homework, so I've developed multiple different study habits. So, I thought I would share one with you on how to study for a vocab quiz in English!

First I make flashcards of the words out of the recycled paper I have. The flashcards have everything I need to know - the word, the definition, synonyms, antonyms, and related phrases. I love having a hard copy of the flashcards because then I can carry them with me wherever I go and study whenever I have extra time in class.

Quizlet helps me so much with studying for vocab. I make a separate Quizlet for every part I need to know - one Quizlet for synonyms, one Quizlet for antonyms, one Quizlet for definitions, and one Quizlet for related phrases. The various sets really help me to memorize everything. Making the sets and studying them can be very time-consuming, but it's worth it to me!

Along with making flashcards and Quizlets, I also start studying about a week or more before the vocab quiz. That way the information can build up in my head, and I'm not just cramming everything in before the quiz in a short period of time.

How do you study for a vocab quiz?

What I Love: Lana Del Rey

I seriously love Lana Del Rey. Her voice is so soothing, and her music always tends to calm me down and put me at ease. Not only that, she's beautiful! I mean, just look at her. I would die to have her hair in that picture.

I found out about Lana in the summer through one of my friends from New Jersey. I liked her music before anyone else really knew about her (besides people on Tumblr!), so a lot of girls from my school started to like her this year.

Going to one of her concerts is definitely on my wishlist.

Have you listened to Lana Del Rey before?