HOW TO SURVIVE FINALS (AND ACTUALLY GET SOME SLEEP)

Sadly, finals are here and it’s one of the most stressful times of the year. My finals actually got canceled because of covid and I’m honestly thankful. I know most people still have them so in today’s post I’m going to be sharing my lifesaving tips for surviving finals and actually getting some sleep! (sounds crazy, right?) Keep reading for the tips and don’t forget to comment and follow if you liked this post (:

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tips to feel motivated

hey guys!! feeling motivated can be really hard but today I’m coming at you with some tips that will help you feel motivated when you’re feeling lazy. 🌻

online school tips

hey y’all!! since everyone is doing online school now I thought I’d give you guys some tips since I did online school for for 3 years and learned a TON of helpful info. so bookmark this post because you will use it ❤

Desk Tour

This is the first post in a mini-series about my desk! The next post will be on Monday 🙂 Today, I’m going to be giving you all a tour of my desk! This was requested when I asked for post ideas- if you have any more, please let me know on this post.

An overview of my desk

Note: the table to the left (which you can just barely see in the picture, oops!) is part of my desk too, but it doesn’t have anything on it and it’s really just a place to spread out when doing homework or taking notes.

Closer shot of my desk 🙂

This is the wall above my whiteboard- I generally keep encouraging quotes, calendars, and tools up here. (I also just realized that I still have my January calendar up- I cropped some of it out of the photo but it’s up there. oops!

My current Verso de Memoria (Memory Verse) for Spanish class: Proverbios 3:1-8 (Proverbs)

An adorable bible verse that a lady in our church made my mom- you bet I snatched it right up! (Actually my mom gave it to me, don’t worry)

I honestly don’t need this anymore, but it’s a chart to remember the regular verb conjugations in Spanish. I made it toward the beginning of the school year when I was having a lot of trouble with them..

Wow this is… not so cute? I made this a while ago, maybe I’ll make a new one to put up there.

Now we’re onto the whiteboard! I copied this art (can you tell I’m not an artist at all?) from something I found that I liked. Great verse, but I didn’t do it very well 😦

I’m trying to earn ~300 dollars for a Christian camp I want to go to this summer, and this is a super simple tracker I made for it 🙂

I’m tracking the amount of practice time for piano in February, so I just printed out a cute calendar 🙂

My handy dandy expo markers (which are totally crooked, oops)

My little… storage tray? I normally keep books on it. Right now I have a notepad, birthday card (actually my birthday was not recent, I have no idea why that’s there…) The Scarlet Pimpernel, and a math book I got from the library.

My planner!

An ugly shot of my computer. Pretty self-explanatory, I guess.

My random little storage thingys. The pencil pouch holds my brush pens, pens, pencils, and highlighters.

The cute but falling apart folder holder my brothers made me. It holds all my school folders and stuff, haha.

My random box of papers + craft supplies… it’s a mess but organized if that makes sense? I’ve had the box/drawer since age 5 which explains the stickers on the front… lol.

This is the top drawer of that cube thingy. I put my bigger binders + books I’m reading for school in here.

Currently reading for school:

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis (actually we just finished this, on to The Silver Chair)

The History of the Kings of Britian by Geoffrey

Richard lll by Shakespeare (we just finished this one too, Ephesians from the Bible next)

And this horribly blurry picture of my dictionary 🙂

My Spanish and Science binders

Below the drawer in the cube is where I put my textbooks/manuals.

And ending with this awful self-timer picture of me writing in my planner 🙂

 

 

Thanks for reading 🙂 Happy (Belated) Valentine’s Day! Did you all read the story behind it in school? We did, every single class and then later at dinner, hahaha.

 

My Plum Paper Planner: Thoughts

How has your past week been? Mine was good, but busy as usual. This week, I’m going to share my thoughts on my Plum Paper Planner (this is my third month using it). I’m really excited about this post!

Watch the video below for a flip-thru of my planner (the meat of the post, honestly!)

 

 

 

Do I still like it?

If you read my initial review post, you will know that I gave it a 4.8/5 stars.

Here was my original criteria (with comments in purple):

1. Pretty Has a nice cover- looks nice enough to have on desk. Yes! My planner cover looks great still, so this one is the same.
2. Durable Not going to break or fall apart, will stay clean and won’t rip. Yeah… not so much. I’m pretty careful with my planner, but the plastic “mat” is really gross (but I haven’t tried cleaning it yet) and the pocket fell out. However, the other pages have stayed in (even the tabs, which I’m constantly pulling), and the binding is still fine. 
3. Inexpensive I don’t have tons of money, so under $50 was my goal. Was it worth the money? I’m going to say… YES! 
4. Good Size Doesn’t take up lots of room, but has enough room to write. I’ve been able to fit all of my assignments in perfectly, and it fits in my drawer neatly. 
5. Customizable Something that I can personalize to fit my needs and that doesn’t have extra pages I don’t need. Though I don’t actually like some of the categories I chose myself, I have been able to block them out with my gold brush pen.

so i’m going to say that….

the plum paper planner IS worth it!!!

A Peek at my Book spread:

One of these photos was taken on the 3rd and the other on the 8th. Can you guess which is which of course you can?

September Review & August Goals

 

As is my custom at the beginning of each new month (that sounds so weird), I’m going to do a review of how September went and go over my goals for October!

Ooh, this one is lots of fun! I have quite a few photos that I took in September, so buckle down and enjoy the ride 🙂

 

August Review + September Goals

Calico Critters Photoshoot

A non-expert’s overview of Bible Journaling

How I write my blog posts

Goals from September:

• Post 4 times on C & C ✔- I did this one! Check the “Posts this Month” section in this post to see what they were!
• Post 4 times on QTE ✖ Nope! I’m actually taking a (hopefully temporary) break from QTE because I’ve been majorly busy. Hopefully next month I’ll have news along these lines to share with y’all- I have something really exciting coming up!
• Send out a Monday email on the C & C mailing list twice✖ Nope! However, if you’re on the mailing list, you did get an email explaining some of the new changes 🙂
• Participate in a challenge/giveaway on another blog ✖ No… If you’re hosting a giveaway or challenge on your blog, please let me know. I love participating in things like that !
• Start using my school schedule ✔ Yup!! I did this one, but I changed up my school schedule just a bit.

Next week’s post is all about the Planner- YAY, but for now, I’m going to give y’all a little peek into my planner for October!

 

^ My adorable reading log. I’m writing this on the 3rd, so I’ve already added some fun books!

I know this is blurry and oh so behind-the-scenes, but this is reality when I was setting up my planner. Plus, if you read my How I write my blog posts post, you’ll recognize what’s up on my computer screen!! I really like this photo, which is weird because it’s really bad! But I love the reality of it 🙂

• Start using the mailing list again- send out emails on the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th (Mondays)
• Use Habit tracker in planner
• Use reading log in planner
• Participate in a challenge/giveaway on another blog

Thanks for reading! What are your goals for October? Did you finish everything you planned to do in September?

Preparing for the school year// 8 tips and tricks

I can’t believe that summer is coming to a close already! My brothers start school on Monday, but luckily I still have a few more weeks since I start on the 28th. To help you prepare for that day, whenever it is for you (comment when you start school below) I decided to give you guys a few tips!

NOTE: I tried to make this tips applicable to any school situation, whether you go to public, private, online or home school (I know there are way more, okay!! Just a few of the main ones), so hopefully they will be applicable to your situation!

 

 

This one is SUPER important, no matter what your school situation is. Even if you can’t control exactly what happens during your school day, you can still make a schedule/routine for your homework time, before school time, and after school time. And if you can control what happens during your school day, DO IT! Making a detailed plan helps you stay on track. Don’t forget to schedule breaks into your time too, however.

I generally like to make routines and schedules, because you have to accept the fact that there WILL be distractions, and there will be things that keep you from doing your work right on schedule. I would recommend giving yourself some buffer when you make your schedule. A good tip is to double the amount of time you think it will take, but that doesn’t always work out. Maybe 10-15 minutes of buffer is all you need.

QUICK TIP: Start implementing your schedule 2 weeks before you’ll actually start using it. If you’re used to sleeping in during summer like me (but I call sleeping in 8AM) than this is essential. To keep you awake, maybe watch a new show or listen to a new soundtrack that you haven’t listened to before.

This isn’t absolutely essential but it does help a lot. Try to find your teacher’s email on your school’s website, go to back to school night (do they even have that past elementary school??), or send a letter to your school with your teacher’s name on it. I like to make it short and sweet because you don’t want to take up too much of your teacher’s planning time. In it, you should introduce yourself and ask a couple questions about the class.

QUICK TIP: When you introduce yourself, don’t just talk about your personality. One thing you can do is tell your teacher about your history with the subject (is it one of your favorites? Do you do well or not so well? Do you not like this subject?) Be real with your teacher. It’s always better if you can tell her/him instead of them having to figure it out.

This will make you so much more motivated to start the school year. Here’s a few cute and useful supplies that you actually need!

1. Plum Paper Planner
2. Colorful mechanical pencils
3. Plain binders + cute diy covers
4. Colorful pencil pouch
5. New art supplies you had your eye on
6. Pilot G2 pens in ALL THE COLORS
7. The amazing Pigma Micron (Sakura brand) pens

You could also grab some notebooks, but I recommend binders and writing your notes on notebook paper. I like how you can add and remove things and they last way longer, too.

Okay, I admit it. This is mostly for fun. If you haven’t grabbed a cute planner yet, do that! Then, add in all of your classes and activities. Make your planner all ready to go for the first day of school! If you blog, then add in blog posts or anything like that for you. You don’t want to have to prepare your planner the night before school starts, so do it now!

A couple weeks before school starts, make some outfits that you’d like to wear. Take pictures of them, and viola! You can put your lookbook in a special album on your phone/computer, you can add magnets and put it on a whiteboard in your closet, you can make a Pinterest board for them, you can make a poster of them, the possibilities are ENDLESS. Next time you’re wondering what to wear, you have a bunch of outfits already prepped!

This is really helpful! You can make a list on your computer and print it out or hand letter a cute list that has ideas for easy, quick, and healthy meals and snacks. That way you know exactly what to have. You could even put the amount of time it takes from start to finish, including eating, so that you can choose something that fits into your time frame.

QUICK TIP: Prep snack baggies of veggies or something else that’s healthy to make it even easier that opening a bag of chips. When you have healthy goodies prepped beforehand, you’re more likely to eat healthier. Awesome, right?

This can be as simple as printing out some cute artwork and organizing your desk, but it is so helpful on the first few days to have a comfy, clean, and cute space to do your work. Whether it’s your desk, locker, reading nook, or homework area, this will make a big impact! You’ll feel more motivated to get things done, and who doesn’t want that?

QUICK TIP: Print out cute seasonal decor from Pinterest or something of the sort. You can spend one afternoon making loads of decor pieces, then store them somewhere. For each holiday, simply hang up the decor you already have prepared. Of course this isn’t essential, but it’s so much fun!

This only takes a few minutes, but learning some new cute do’s will help so much in the mornings. You can also practice makeup looks. Simple but SO helpful!

QUICK TIP: Make a hairstyles or makeup lookbook as well and hang it up in your bathroom or vanity.

 

Hopefully these tips will help you out. I’m certainly not an expert but I will be implementing these tips in my own life!

Also: I used a lot of Watermelon Script (font) in this post. Do you think it conflicts with the blog design + different fonts? Please let me know below.

April Recap + May Goals

Hi guys! Thanks so much for your sweet comments on my previous post(s).

April recap

Sadly, I don’t have goals to recap for this month 😦

This month’s posts:

YOU can help pregnancy centers

Collab with Megan @Animal Wonders Blog

I’m launching an email list??

To the woman that’s had an abortion

Quick update

Yay, I posted 5 times this month! That’s my goal, so I’m so glad that I accomplished it. I had 1 Monday post and 4 Friday posts, again, my goal! That’s great.

This month’s stats:

Total followers: 62 Yay, we passed 50!

Top three countries:

America wins with 278 views

Malaysia comes to a close second with 23 views, and

India gets 3rd place with 15 views. Wow, Malaysia and India? That’s so cool! I was definitely expecting America, Canada, and another country to be the top 3, but that’s not what happened!

Views: 333 Wow, what a cool number! 

Visitors: 106 Wow, it’s amazing that 106 different people viewed my blog this month. That’s amazing!

Likes: 92 That’s not great, but it’s high for me! Also, it evens out to about 18 likes per post, which is pretty good.

Comments: 108 WHAT? There are more comments than likes, which is super crazy and funny. This one evens out to about 22 comments per post, which is great!!

Those are this month’s stats. I think that this month was awesome stats wise.

May Goals:

1. Use my bullet journal every day, with the exception of 1 day per week. I don’t normally bullet journal on Saturdays or Sundays, but this month I want to bullet journal on Saturdays too. 
2. Review my new planner. I have a special review planned for this month… get ready!
3. Write 5 posts for this month.
4. Plan ahead 2 posts for June. I want to take a vacation, but still post for you guys!
5. Post some photography. I just got my first ‘real’ camera, so I’m really loving taking pictures.
6. Clean out my desk and computer files from school things. I only have  1 more week of TPS and 2 of Veritas, so this month I need to finish up school things.
7. Send out emails every Monday and Friday this month. This will be a lot, but I think I can do it.

Thanks for reading!

In which two homeschooled bloggers collab

Recently, Ariana and I found out that we go to the same school: VSA!! (Veritas Press Academy in case you didn’t know)

So, we decided to do a home/online school collab.

My answers will be in this color, and Ariana’s will be in this color.

Warning: You are going to ENJOY this!!!

Have you been homeschooled all your life?
Nope! My mom taught me to read when I was 3, and she taught me for 1st grade. Then, long story short, we had a family crisis, so I went to school for the 2-4th grades. I’ve been homeschooled for the last few years though.

Yes! Till the day I die. (Song reference), lol. But, yes, I have. 😃

 

What is your favorite thing about homeschooling?
I definitely agree with Ariana’s answer. So true!! I also love the flexibility and added family time.

Hum…in homeschooling I am taught how to think, not what to think. Some schools just teach for test, not for life.

 

What is your favorite subject?
#Omnialltheway I think it’s safe to say that I’m an Omnibus fan… LOL!

History, history, history. 😊

 

Do you play an instrument? If not, do you want to?
I do play an instrument… piano! I’ve been doing it for 6 years now?

I am learning to play the guitar.  It is really fun!

 

Are there times when you don’t want to be homeschooled?
Sometimes… when I go into my emotional girl moments… XD! But overall, no! I love being homeschooled.

Hum…no, not really.

 

Do you do a co-op?
Not unless you count VSA.

No idea what is, so no.

 

Is your mom your only teacher?
Nope! I have 6 teachers besides her.

No, I do VSA.

Did you enjoy this? I know it was short, but it was fun to write. I hope that Ariana and I will do more collabs in the future!

Did you enjoy hearing me fangirl over Omnibus?? Let me know down in the comments if you are an #OmniGirl!!

 

 

Whoops//Changes coming up

Hey guys!

First of all, So sorry that I haven’t posted in OVER A MONTH! Seriously, that’s awful! There are a couple changes coming up on the blog, just wanted to let y’all know.

1. Mutka (https://designpiquestudios.com/) is redesigning my blog! She’s amazing and so easy to work with. I can’t wait to get the new design up. Not sure when we’ll be done, hopefully in the next couple weeks or so.
2. IDENTITY CRISIS!! Ahh! Okay, I exaggerated a little bit, but I’m not super sure what you guys want to see C & C (my little nickname for this blog) become. That is one of the reasons that I haven’t posted in a while; I’ve had ideas, but I haven’t been sure of what Y’all want to see.

Possible Post Examples:

And now my mind goes blank…

Books I’m reading: Do you guys want to see what I’m reading? Not sure if that would appeal to you, but it wouldn’t be too hard to post; I’ve been reading a LOT lately. 

Book Review(s): A couple of books I’ve been reading might be fun to review on here. If you want to see this, let me know!

Writing: I’m in the planning stage of my new novel that doesn’t have a title so if you want to see that journey on here, I could do that.

Modesty/Clothing/Fashion: What do you guys want to see in this category? I could post a couple ideas that I’ve used for myself and maybe you would enjoy that. Not sure, though. 🙂

Art: Warning: I am NOT an artist. This may not be the best category… LOL. I’m not SO great at art… enough said.

Organization/Minimalism/Downsizing: This has been on my mind a lot, so if you want to see this let me know.

School: Okay, okay, sounds super boring, but maybe you want to see this. IDK

 

What are some of your ideas for what C&C should become? I’d love to know, so comment below.