Summer of Freshmen/Sophomore Year To Do

Currently this is the second month of my summer vacation with the first year of college under my belt and this break has allow me to prepare myself for another challenging semester of a pre med student. So I am sharing with all you what I am doing this summer that will help prepare you for the upcoming semester and to progress into a potential pre-med candidate.

1. Preparing for Organic Chemistry - according to my pre-medical advisor Organic Chemistry is a course taken during Sophomore year of college, and it is known by college students as a very tough course. My advisor told me that average time spent with Organic Chemistry is about 30 hours per week! The textbook the course is using is Organic Chemistry 7th edition by John McMurry. The professor suggested that we should review chapter 1 through 3 and if we are feeling ambitious go up until chapter 5, and work through all the problems in the textbook. Whenever a professor suggest something,  I think they are actually saying "you should do this if you want to succeed". So I am throughout this summer slowly going through chapter 1-5 making sure I understand the concept taught so during the semester I will not be overwhelmed. Below are some links to aid in preparing for Organic Chemistry:

Organic Chemistry taught by Khan Academy

Online Preparation Review Guide for Organic Chemistry recommended by my Organic Chemistry professor .

2. Preparing for Introduction to Statistic & Introduction to Sociology - what I have learned these two semester of freshman year is that not to take my 4 credit classes for granted. These 4 credit classes have a huge impact on your GPA. So I have learned to prepare for the worst and hope the best. So preparation is really important to me so with everything going on this semester I will be able handle it with ease and stress free. For introduction to statistic, I am using AP Statistic preparation guides from Barron's. For Introduction to Sociology, I am looking at these links:

Online from American Sociological Association 

Sparknotes

Wikibooks Introduction to Sociology

3. Volunteering - During the summer, it is a great opportunity to shadow doctors and volunteer in hospital, free public health clinics, or even doctors' offices. Volunteering in the potential career field you are looking into going to during the summer would look wonderful on a application because during the school year it is difficult because there is so much going on from school work to extracurricular. I am looking into volunteering at a hospital, free public health clinic, and a private practice. So fingers cross that I will be able to do that this summer. 

4. ENJOY! - This to me is very important because we have just went through a semester of hard work due to the path we choose to take. This summer is a wonderful opportunity to catch up with old friends, new friends, family, and yourself. I find it wonderful to take time to myself by exercising, picking up a hobby I couldn't do during college such as pleasure reading or learning yoga. It is a perfect time to refresh, reboost, and relax before another chaotic year of pre-med life.

101 Things To Do Before Summer is Over

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OOTD: Dressing Up

So today, I have my last meeting for my EE ( well it got canceled but I didn't know that). I wanted to look nice so I wore my purchases from Sunday's shopping trip.

Tops: Tommy Hilfiger white tank, Forever 21 black blazer
Bottoms: Aeropostale jeggings
Accessories: Charlotte Russe floral infinity scarf and Forever 21 ring; COACH leather bag in black and white
Shoes: knee high black suede boots

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OOTD: Too Cold For School

Haha so it is 0 degrees and a windchill of -15 and do they cancel school...nope :/ So unhappy right now.

Tops: Tommy Hilfiger basic white long sleeve shirt
Bottom: Aeropostale jeggings
Accessories: sparkle cream H&M scarf, Forever 21 gold bow ring, no purse ( trying the backpack lifestyle)
Shoes: Columbia winter snow boots

Stay warm!
x o x o

OOTD : Hiker Thursday

Sorry for the belated OOTD because I drove to school today and we stopped for a quick Starbuck fix and so I forgot my phone in the car at school. So now I can do the post(:

I look like a hiker/jogger person today....good or bad?

Tops: black pullover sweater and PINK pink cami
Bottom: American Eagle gray leggings
Accessories: homemade scarf (a gift from a friend) and forever 21 ring and COACH gold satchel
Shoes: ankle black plain booties

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Tackle those Midterm Woes

It that week again....midterms *cue the dun dun dunnn*. Here are some tips to tackle those deathly midterms. Sorry the pictures are not align, I know it bugs me too :/

1. Make Notecards - if you have standards like IB does or just general topics that will be tested then notecards can help you with studying because they organize the topics and are convenient to take around with you to study. If you are getting tested in vocabulary, then notecards are fabulous and are usually recommended to use for vocabulary because you can quiz yourself or take it on the go!

2. Make Study guides - this is good if you have some time before your midterm for a certain subject and if you know what chapters are going to be tested. Making study guides are like making a condense version of all your notes and what you have learned into a packet where you can study everything you need to know. Plus, you can put diagrams from the textbook into it like in my biology study guide so you can visual see things if you are a visual learner like me. Also, it is good to t4 or highlight the information on the study guide to help better your understanding even more. If you have an iPhone/iPod/iPad, then get the app, Evernote, because you can put in you teacher's ppt or notes and study on the go and it is all in one place!!!!

3. Re read those Notes/Lecture Notes & T4 - if you didn't get a midterm review guide like me for biology :/ then re reading your notes and lecture notes are your best bet to study for the midterm. Likely the teacher will put materials that you learned about and lectured on. So, t4ing or highlighting are great refreshers for studying because by T4ing you will more pay attention to the information instead of glancing over. Don't have the lecture notes or still don't understand a concept, look it up online because they are people out there that teach these things better and it will help you learn and understand. Some sites include khanacademy.org

4. Don't stress eat! - Midterms are stressful and stress eating will not help and just will break you out or put a few pounds on you, so instead when you are stressed out take a breather and put down the textbook and walk around for a few minutes, take a shower/bubble bath, watch some funny youtube videos, or drink warm water/tea/coffee to help sooth you brain. This will make you feel rejuvenated and motivated to study again. I find also despite many things against it that listening to your favorite music will help you power through the large amount of informations you need to learn again.

5. Practice Practice Practice and Repeat - Especially in math or chemistry, doing practice problems will help because they will allow you to practice the materials you have learned. Also, they say practice makes perfect so you can refresh you math skills with practice problems and apply what you have learned because they for sure will be on the midterm. Also, for languages like mandarin re write characters are a good way to ingrain them in your brains, and this can be applied to memorization of materials. Repeat them over and say them out loud because then you will hear it and absorb it instead of re reading in your head.

6. Drink tons of water - I know this sounds like a tip for good skin or exercising but really it help! I find that when I take a test or studying, drinking water help me focus better and keeps me motivated. You don't want to be dehydrated and not be able to focus so drink some H20 and not soda or sugary drinks because sure they will give you the buzz but after you will feel brain dead. Thats why I don't recommend coffee beforehand if you have a long day of midterms because you are bound to crash.

7. Sleep! - I know I break this rule way to much for test, but seriously SLEEP! If you really are desperate for study time, then way up a little bit early because your mind will be refreshed instead of staying up late and feeling tired because your brain will not absorb anything and you will just be hurting yourself.

Be confident! YOU CAN DO THIS! No matter what happens just know you have tried your best (: 

Oh, don't cheat because you won't be helping yourself (:

x o x o

For more tips this site is one of my favorites for studying tips and just in general:

TheCollegePrepster Intense Study Tips

Random Daily Dosage: Performing Miracles

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That is me....
Picture from here

Hello! So this blog post will be very short and sweet because I can't waste any time if I am to perform a miracle tonight. So, being my procrastinating self ( I swear. I am trying to improve; it is one of my new year resolution!) I didn't finish my Biology Internal Assessment nor my Chemistry Internal Assessment nor did me, B, and S finish our TOK presentation. This is all due tomorrow and we are presenting on Tuesday....I am doomed. First, I didn't even start Chemistry yet and I still need to make notecards and make sure my slides for my part of the presentation, perception, is correct and will get me a good grade. UGHHH! These are the nights were I am like OMG why, but it is partly my fault and I will be celebrating when I do finish(: Well wish me luck...because I am going to up all night and it will be a miracle if I actually get to sleep early.

x o x o

***UPDATE: So, I did end up finishing both IA's at 3.00 am and presented my TOK presentation on Tuesday. It was scary going first but we did fine and talked really fast. (: 

Long Night Ahead

So I have a feeling that I will be up tonight to the wee hours. This is because I took a nap right when I got home and watched the Prom Queen Homecoming online series on the CW which was ehhhh....okay but addicting. This made start my homework at like 8 pm.....bad if you have a ton of biology and chemistry to do (cough cough me). So I got my tea by my side and hopefully I won't want to sleep nor do I not sleep at all. So in class we are reading satires for HL and let me tell you I hate it...I don't understand it at all :( Plus todays lecture I was bored an doodled art which I love but never took an art class :( Plus I got my first impromptu IB essay back...I got a D! What! I usually don't score that low...usually A's but this was a shocker. Well, at that day I wasn't into the question and in 20 minutes I thought I wrote not so well. Welp! I need to improve and focus. Just wanted to update y'all on whats going on! Have a lovely Thursday!

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Daily Random Dosage : Sick Day

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Sick Day outfit. warm bowl of chicken noodle soup & medicine

So I got sick on Friday from my friend who got it from my other friend ( chain reaction ). I went to 1st hour this morning to do test corrections to raise my grade for the 1st quarter, but we didn't do it in class. We just needed to take them home and turn it in on Wednesday morning. I left right after 1st hour. My nose is all stuffed up and my voice has changed due to having a soar throat. Ugh! and I can't get sick because tomorrow I am working for Election Day and I want the $85 they are paying us. But on a side note, my friend B and I are debating whether or not we should do Solo & Ensemble together for our senior year. It will be difficult because I play the violin and she plays the flute, but our music teacher told us it could work. Well, I'm off to bed! Don't catch the sick bug (or do if you want to get sick)!!

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Photo Diary : This Past Week Catch Up!

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Paid my IB test money ... getting this schedule ... things just got real !

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Math SL .... studying .... well I fell asleep while studying ... 

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My dresses I got from dElia's which were each $10!!! Very good deals!

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My nail polish haul at Ulta this past Sunday with my sister and her friend. I spent way too much money for these ($18.00) but there was  a good deal with selected O.P.I nail polishes (2 for $12) and L'Oreal which were $2.99 each!!! Such good deals! Top Left : O.P.I  It's My Year Top Right : O.P.I  Excuse Moi!Bottom (in order) : Rimmel 286 Rags to Riches | O.P.I  Excuse Moi! | O.P.I  It's My Year | L'Oreal 102 Boozy Brunch | L'Oreal 101 Tweet me

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My first time pumpkin carving! Do you like my kitty ??? (: I did it with my sister and my best friends which is shown in the line up in the dark wit my sister's being the stars!

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My best friends D, B & J( who is not pictured) & I were all Dalmatians trying to recreate the 101 Dalmatians but unfortunately there was only 4 of us LOL. Do you like our tails ? I found them in a Halloween store... what are the chances ? (:

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Diary : Happy Early Action Deadline Day

Hello! Sorry for the M.I.A recently, but this week has been stressful and I am starting to feel under the weather. Since I have so much to say, this will be my diary entry and I am going to make a separate entry for my photos (:

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween though Hurricane Sandy was a bit of a party pooper. I hope all of you in the east coast is safe and my prayers go out to you! Help them by donating to the Red Cross (<-- click the link to help the victims!) So, the weather is getting very cold and windy here due to the Hurricane.

Tomorrow is the last day of the first quarter and because of this, I have been overwhelmed by the amount of homework and due dates because of the push for last minute grades. Let just say this involve very late nights for me. I have a problem with laying down to rest because it results in me sleeping instead. I am trying my sister's method : take a nap and stay up late. Tomorrow, I am also attending an Election Day training session at the city hall because I am working Election Day from 10.30 am to 9.00pm for $85 (I need the money). It was funny because when our school announce this we were all crowded around the office door in the morning to get an application and when the admissions asked who was doing this for money, a majority of us put our hands up, and when he asked who was doing this for NHS hours, only one person raised her hand.

However, HAPPY EARLY ACTION DEADLINE DAY all my fellow seniors applying early action for college/universities! I know a majority of my colleges were all applied for early action and I already got accepted to 2 universities already so I am debated whether I want to apply to a highly selectively school that I wanted to do regular decision because I am already done. There was a mishap with transcripts that on my parchment account I was marked as the class of 2012....which they are already in college.... So, I was a walking dead today literally....I was so tired and getting sick from the lack of sleep.

Math test on probability and calculus was ho hum...meaning not good not bad. I just pray and hope that I did well enough to raise my math grade to an A because right now I have a B+ because of our grades consisting of only test grades -_- Band was boring and mix it with tiredness = horrible. It was funny though this sophomore bass clarinet fell asleep during rehearsals holding her bass clarinet and she looked so adorable, but this saxophone chic kept staring at her and didn't do anything like "ummm don't just stare at her...that's weird". English, we had a socratic circle on the Battel of Books by William Swift, which I have to say in my opinion was an awful book to comprehend. Because our teacher talked for about an hour, we only had 5-10 minutes for our socratic circle which didn't give us a lot of time to say anything...-_-. Luckily, I did manage to get a few words in there (: By the time TOK came, I was ready to collapse. Thank gawd it was the last hour of the day or else I wouldn't be able to function at all.

Well I took a nap until 6.30pm and took a shower, so now I am ready to tackle a late night! Starting to listen to Christmas music right now...I know it's early but I love it !!!! (:

x o x o 

Random Daily Dosage

So I'm just lounging on my couch with huge senioritis hanging over my head. As you can tell, I'm watching The Voice....omg I totally heart Dez!!! I hope he wins. This week for our school is short because we had a play to watch today, a student development day Wednesday, and I don't get to go tomorrow because I got to go to get my middle name legalized. So just felt like giving a random dosage of my life.

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Diary: College Applications...'Nuff Said

picture from this website: redbubble.com

I don't have any photos sadly to post so I guess this will just be a diary entry...also I didn't post Sunday's diary entry because I did absolutely nothing....at all.

So this morning, I set my alarm for 4.10am so I could wake up and study for my chemistry and history and then do my Mandarin reading reflection. However, even though I woke up at 4.10am, my body would not get up so I went back to sleep until 5.45am which then I rushed to get ready and didn't have time to study so I just did my reading reflection.

All we did in Mandarin IV was give our presentation on education which was a bore and gave me time to study chemistry and history.

Biology, I found out from B and S that we had an oral chapter 17 and 18 vocabulary quiz if we had time after our lecture and I thought that was on Wednesday after the test, so I freaked out for like the most part, but we didn't have one.

Lunch, Z left because on the weekend she absolutely had no time to do anything including studying for the two tests so she left and J was P.O that she skipped, but really everyone would do the same thing if her situation was put on them. Our school announced that we were able to sign up for homecoming court and really in my school homecoming court is taken as a joke and no one really does it because we don't have a homecoming dance and its only for the Powerpuff Game that is taking place like next week. B and I decided we wanted to nominate S for Homecoming King and we got the form and he was soooooo P.O which was funny because we weren't going to do it because I mean come on who wants to write an essay.... not me.

Chemistry kinetics test was okay like I had no idea how to solve for the rate constant like I plugged it into the rate expression but I couldn't get k by itself and with time running out....I made some stuff up :P But my teacher, Mrs. P didn't distinguish which is HL and which is SL so we had to do all and I didn't really study the HL material so I just bs'd my way through.

History was actually not that bad except it was freezing in the classroom. Seriously my hands turned into icicles. I felt confident but some parts I really didn't go into much detail as he wanted too so I'm not sure.

My mom, sister and I went to watched the premiere of Once Upon A Time, but my sister tivo'd the recap special and not the premiere so we ended up watching the recap which is so good because it really sums up what is happening and got my sister and mom into the show. We all ended up watching the premiere on the computer via hulu.com. The premiere was absolutely wonderful! So excited to see what happens! Did any of you guys watched the premiere?

So I finally sat down to work on my college applications....Ohmygawd....it was hell (excuse my language). Luckily, I had my friend D who completed it because I had so many questions because I wanted to make sure I had everything perfect. It is not difficult but tedious. My brain at one point wanted to explode and so I turned to my savior....coffee and cookies. I finally at 9.35 pm finished my first application, sent my transcript, and paid my application fee. Lets hope everything goes well. I still have 5 more application to finish...yay me....Now I have finish my homework (Hamlet...and Biology....oh geez) and study the ACT ( I don't I have time). So I'm going to go cry in a corner now, just kidding!

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Photo Diary + Diary: Friday Night Lights

I know today is Sunday, but I didn't have time to put them up so you are going to get both Friday's and Saturday's Photo Diary + Diary! Two for One (:

Today was one of the most hectic yet the most fun night ever! So I drove today because my dad decided to take the day off. So I got to drive my future car to school! I had to get there early because I had a Math SL test on descriptive statistics and had to pick up my IB invoice from Mr. L. I wore my pink Old Navy sheep like jacket with my PINK cropped pink/drk gray top and my AERO dark jeggings that are at the last leg of wear and my destroyed flat suede black scrunchy boots. I looked like a sheep which for Halloween my friends and I are going as obese sheeps (inside joke).

I didn't have time to go to my locker since there was already a long line to pick up our invoices and I was running into math class with my lunchbox, B day backpack and huge GUESS purse. My hugest concern with the math test was 1) I wouldn't be able to figure the problem out and 2) (the problem I always run into) I wouldn't be able to finish on time. However, this test was actually not that bad, I finished with 2 minutes to spare and had time to review and look over.

Band was same old same old, but English was the day of socratic circle....on Hamlet....So since on Thursday I absolutely did nothing I had no notes on Hamlet and I was discussing the soliloquy of "To Be or Not To Be" and that actually went okay. One guy, A, kept on arguing and everyone was kinda getting fed up with him and another girl next to me, V, said the most ridiculous thing ever that made people stop and stare at her with her it was saying that the 1st option of Denmark is like a circle and within a prison and they were all going to die unless they were out of the circle....wtf? But I realized that my jacket sleeves made my arms look like llamas, and I thought if I was a dude wearing this jacket I could go to a girl and be like "check out my llamas"....loll.

TOK was such a blow off because.....we had a sub! Mrs G. who was the coolest sub with the coolest glasses that were circular and hot pink! We wanted her to be our teacher instead of our current TOK teacher. We ended having the last hour to do homework which we just talked.

I came home and caught up on my tivo'd stuff, which was Project Runway (omg the babies were hilarious!), Modern Family (it was an okay premiere, not as funny as some of their other episodes), and the new show Elementary (really cool and I kinda want to watch the original BBC one now). Then I lost track of time and had to quickly get ready to meet D and my friend from my home high school, M, to go to the homecoming game for our home high school.

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So I didn't have an gear from my homeschool, so I went with the colors, blue and black. So I wore my v-neck royal blue t-shirt with my AE light wash distressed jeans with my Hollister thick braided leather buckle belt, AE suede brown clog slippers and my Northface white fuzzy jacket. I regret wearing the distressed jeans because it was freezing towards the end of the game. Let me tell you that I am an intense person when it comes to sport... I mean I get very into it. Also, it was my first ever live football game and it was so exciting because I got to see people that I went to Elementary and Middle School with play! The Eagles shut out the Panthers who didn't have that people come support them by 53-0! It was really really good! (:

Until next time.

x o x o 

Preview: homecoming, college application, birthday surprise dinner, studying to gossip girls

Photo Diary + Diary: I thought today was Friday

I seriously thought today was Friday. Because we had no school on Tuesday, I am seriously messed up on my days and forgot we had school tomorrow.

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Today was going to my lazy day because I didn't feel like doing anything, so I decided to try the sock bun that I failed so many times before because of the layers of my haircut. However, I finally got it to work! Was so so so so happpy :) I used an old sock I had (as you can see it has school buses on it). My layers did come out but I just used bobby pins and hairspray to keep it in place. Then, I decided to wear my new H&M oversize cardigan and BAM comfy cozy chic and I have gotten so many complements on my hair and plus it makes me look like I have a ton of hair :)

The local tv station came to our school to interview and showcase our school today and it was very cool being they told us this while we were having a college presentation for the college 

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Oh so much homework, this week or next few days! I at first had 3 test and a presentation on Monday which were Biology, Chemistry and 20th Century History and a Chinese presentation  My worst nightmare came true at first, Biology and Chemistry on the same day, and that would mean all our Biology would be due and it is a lot (an example of the specific notes we had to do above). Then today our teacher spoke these beautiful words, "Your ch 16.17.18 test is going to be moved to Wednesday." OMG joy!!!! Happiness !!! That means I can study for the dreaded Kinetics test in Chemistry. I dropped recently to SL Chemistry because I can't handle HL and I was afraid of failing the IB exam. 

I have a Statistics test tomorrow for SL Math, which I took a Statistics class in 10th grade as an AP class and now I'm cracking out the AP books and now not even the AP books, but the ACT books. Yes, if you look closely you can see that I have an ACT admissions ticket... I am taking the ACT yet again. Because I gotten a 29 on the ACT and after hearing all colleges talking about scholarships and honors college starts at a 30 so I need to get that 30 or higher. So this would be my...(embarrassment) 10th time taking it...yes I said 10th. I started taking it in 2009 so like 8th-9th graders. Yes, I was that young... what was my parents thinking.

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Hamlet....tomorrow for English class we have the dreaded socratic circle. If you haven't participate in a socratic circle before it is basically a small group of people inside a circle discussing while everyone else sits outside and "listens". I say "listen" because truthfully no one listens. I don't like socratic circles because I hate being under pressure to talk... I get nervous and start blabbing. I especially hate dominators in the groups because then I don't have time to talk and get the A. So, I usually try to get group of people that don't talk, but tomorrow's group has a few dominator so we need to battle it out.

Well I was bored on Wednesday in English class and me and my friend B were talking about the Renaissance festival with my table mates and B brought up her favorite part... the pickle selling man because he sells the pickles funnyingly (not a real word). So I drew pickles in all my table mates Hamlet books on page 157. I got the girl pickle, B got the boy pickle, K got the french pickle (she's taking french, and her pickle is my favorite), D got the sleeping pickle (bc she always sleeps in class. B claims it looks like a puddle), S got a musical pickle (she is taking IB music), and other K got the shopping pickle (she is very upper class like and is very fashionable). So I am the odd chicken out again for our table for groups which I am happy because I don't want to duke it out with my friends.

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So the parents are away for our school's Open House and while "studying" meaning attempted study or do anything which I didn't do anything due to the lack of concentration and my stomach growling "feed me", I made myself a toaster strudel. OMG they are heaven and I <3 the frosting to the nth degree. Eating breakfast as a midnight snack is always yummy. My sister nibbled on my strudel because she is trying to keep the weight down for Homecoming...stay strong baby sister. But we ended up....

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Making a whole meal. At least it was healthy, it was avocados, scrambled egg whites, sliced Asian pears, and green tea.  I was in charge of eggs, which I messed the pan up because I added more egg whites than I did vegetable oil making the egg soak up all the oil and causing the pan to be stuck to the eggs. The oil is limiting reagent while the eggs were the excessive (chemistry is seriously starting to get to me).


Preview of tomorrow: Homecoming football game, college applications, ACT and driving (yeah buddy!)

Until next time.

x o x o