10 Books On My Spring TBR List

Hello Lovelies!

Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly link-up hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's theme: Ten Books On My Spring TBR List.

The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork

One Week With The Best Man by Andrea Laurence

I've read the first two books in this series and loved them, I wanted to read this one as soon as I finished them but it hadn't been released. I checked back a few months after reading the others and it still hadn't been released. But last month I finally discovered that it had been released and now I am super happy and excited to read it!

Summer's List by Anita Higman

I don't remember how I found this book, but I think it sounds interesting and I would like to read it.

Shattered Rose by Tammy L. Gray

I really want to read more YA and NA, I mostly read romance, so I want to branch out this year and read a bigger variety of books instead of the same thing over and over again.

A Wrinkle In Time  by Madeline L'Engle

Speaking of wanting to read more than just romance, I really want to read more classics, this one looks like a good place to start.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe , Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Ever Seen by Christopher McDougall

I think this one is going to be really inspiring and I can't wait to read it.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

I liked the movie version, but I want more, so I'm gonna read the book and get the full story!

American Sniper by Chris Kyle

I actually already bought this one, I just gotta find the time to read it, I think it's gonna have to wait I'm already reading three books at the moment.

Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp

I love reading anything that has something to do with psychology, mental health, addiction, so now that I've found this book I need to read it!

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I also love reading stuff that has anything to do with WW1 and WW2,  it doesn't matter if it's fiction or nonfiction, I just love to see peoples thoughts on that time period.

What is on your Spring TBR list? Leave a link or list below!

XoXo,

Lori

How To: Write A Paper

Hey y'all, since the new school year has started in most places by now, I thought I'd share some of my tips for writing papers this semester! In school my favorite subjects have always been History and English, I've passed all of my English classes with no less than a final grade of 97 and in one class my final grade was a 100, so I'd say writing papers are definitely one of my strong suits.

Below I've listed the process I go through when I'm writing a paper and I also included some links to help you out!

1. Write a good thesis statement. 

2. Outline. Write one sentence for each paragraph.

3. Research. Find evidence to support your thesis.

4. Add some fluff. Add information and facts to support your thesis.

5. Proofread.

6. Edit. 

7. Ask a friend or teacher to read it and make suggestions. 

8.  Let it sit for a few hours, then go back and re-read it with a clear mind.

9. Make final edits.

10. Turn it in, sacrifice a chicken and hope for the best!

If you're still having trouble writing your paper here are some links to help you out!

How to Write A Research Paper
When to Cite
Paper Rater-Paper Grader
How to write a kickass essay with 1/2 the stress
Guide to Writing Thesis Statements

Well that's all for today, I hope this helps you this year! If you wanna see more posts like this or similar to this, let me know below, I'm open to any suggestions or requests!

XoXo,
Lori

July Goals Update

Hey y'all! Can you believe tomorrow is August? I can't believe it, I wish we could freeze time for a week so I can get everything done that I need to do!

 Honestly, I'm actually starting to panic, I have so much to do, and I feel like I'm running out of time. One of the reasons I've been so stressed is because I decided a few weeks ago that I won't be using the CommonApp when it becomes available tomorrow, so that means I have to do all of my college applications separately, and I have to write essays for all the schools I apply to!

So, if over the next few months I don't post as often you know why!
But for now here's an update for my goals this month!

Read 2 Books

Lose Weight

Be a Better Blogger

Finish College Prep US History Part 2

Start and Finish English 2 Part 1

Start Geometry Part 1

Visit UE campus

 Send in UE college app

Write 10,000 words for Camp NaNoWriMo.
Order ACT study books.

5 out of 5!

Lose Weight
If you read Monday's Weight Loss Update, then you already know everything there is to know.

Start and Finish English 2 Part 1
Finishing my history course took way longer than I had planned, but I did finish it, now I'm just waiting for my teacher to close my course so I can get English 2 opened and I'm not sure how long that will take, usually 7-10 days but sometimes it can take longer.

Visit UE campus.
I had an appointment to tour the campus on Monday, but unfortunately I had to cancel it due to bad timing and health issues. But I did send in my application and hopefully soon I'll get to re-schedule!

Write 10,000 words for Camp NaNoWriMo
I made it to just over 7,000 words this month, I didn't write as much this month as I did last month, but considering everything that happened this month I'm happy with my results.

Order ACT study books.
Oops, I kinda forgot about this. I'll try to remember to order them tomorrow!


So that's all for this month! Did you accomplish your goals this month?

XoXo,
Lori

July Goals

Hello lovelies, I hope you had a great weekend, I know I did, and for those of you on the east coast I hope Arthur didn't mess up your plans too much.

Read 2 Books

Lose Weight

Be a Better Blogger

Finish College Prep US History Part 2

Start and Finish English 2 Part 1

Start Geometry Part 1

Visit UE campus

 Send in UE college app

Write 10,000 words for Camp NaNoWriMo.
Order ACT study books.

SO there's my goals for this month, what do you hope to accomplish this month? Let me know below!

XoXo,
Lori

June Goals Update

Hey y'all, today I want to update you on my goals for June, I didn't accomplish everything I wanted to, but I'm working on it.
By the way, I don't know if you noticed but I changed my blog name!
One of my goals for this month was to work on a new blog design and spend more time blogging. Earlier this month I made a  design and I liked it, but I didn't love it, so I decided to work with someone who knew more about blog design than I do.
 So far only the header has been uploaded, but the rest should be up soon, and I can't wait to see it and share it with you. When everything is in place I'll do a blog post about it and share all the details with you about the blog designer.

In case you didn't see them earlier this month, here's this months goals.

FINISH College Prep U.S. History Part 2

Start and finish English 2 Part 1

Finish half of Geometry Part 1

Read a book.
Take better care of my hair.
Spend more time blogging.
Be more involved in the blog community.
Work on a new blog design.
Start working out again.

6 out of 10

FINISH College Prep U.S. History Part 2
This month I've had to take a step back from focusing only on school, I've been dealing with some health issues, and because of that I haven't been working as much as I usually do.
Unfortunately, that means I didn't accomplish any of my goals for school this month. I really wanted to finish my History class this month, but I didn't. Depending on how hard I work I should have this class finished in 1-2 weeks, and then I'll be able to move on.

Start and finish English 2 Part 1
Because I'm only allowed to have two classes open at a time I didn't get to start English 2, but as soon as I finish the history class I'll start on English 2 and I should have Part 1 done by the end of July.

Finish half of Geometry Part 1
I also didn't start Geometry, my goal was to finish at least three units, but that didn't happen, but I did get the first unit of the course outlined and I decided on how I'm going to take notes for the class.

Start working out again.

Due to the issues I've been having I just haven't been able to start working out. I'm hoping that after I see a specialist next month I'll be able to get back on track, but till then I just have to wait it out and see what happens.

So that is all for today, I hope you liked it!
XoXo,
Lori

May Goals Updates

Hello lovelies, I hope your having a great day! Today is not going to be a good day for me, I have to go to the doctor, and I also have to go to AT&T because last night some asshole decided that they wanted to hack my iPhone! So yeah, I'm not looking forward to today, but I'm gonna put a smile on my face and deal with it.
For now, here's an update on this months goals.

Finish Algebra 1.

Finish College Prep U.S. History Part 2.

Start my Geometry class.

Sign up for the June ACT.

Study and take a practice for the ACT.

Clean out my closet.

Join the gym.

Lose 2 pounds.

Narrow down my list of colleges and Universities I want to apply to.

Search and apply to new scholarships.

I accomplished 7 out of 10 of my goals, and I'm really satisfied with myself. This month hasn't been the easiest, I've been dealing with some health issues and so hopefully next month will be better.

Finish College Prep U.S. History Part 2.
I really wanted to finish this course this month, but for the first half of the month we had issues with out internet. Last Monday, the cable company finally sent someone out and we needed a new modem, so they switched it out and now I'm finally starting to get back on track.

Join the gym.
Like I mentioned in Monday's post, I wasn't able to start working out this month due to issues with my knee.

Lose 2 pounds.
I'm not too sad about this, I did manage to lose one pound this month, so I'm pretty happy with that.

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with myself this month, May was definitely full of up and downs and I can definitely say I'm ready for a fresh start in June!

How did you do with your goals this month? Let me know below or leave a link to your blog post about it!
XoXo,
Lori

Dressing Like a (Young) Professional

Last year after I turned 16 I decided I wanted to get a job to save some money for college. Well that didn't turn out as I planned, I applied, and applied, and applied some more, but nothing.
So I stopped looking.

In March when I turned 17 I decided to start looking again, and so far I still haven't found anything, I've turned in about 10 applications and I still haven't heard anything yet, but I still have hope that something will pop up soon.

While filling out these applications, I started thinking about the future, and about what I want to do after I graduate high school. I know I want to go on to college, I'm just not sure what career path I want to go down.

(I'm thinking about majoring in Psychology with a minor in History.)

After I started thinking about all the different career choices, I started to think about the different work environments, and workplace dress codes.

 Then a little light bulb flashed in my head, I knew immediately that I wanted to make a blog post about this. 

Recently I've been trying to do more fashion-y type blog posts so I thought this would be the perfect excuse to do a fashion post.

I tried to incorporate different styles, to suite different careers. You can't wear dresses in all careers, and you can't wear a pantsuit in others, every career and workplace is different, and that's great! 

Now that I look at it, I realize that the third set is kind of all over the place, but that's okay!

My favorite set out of the three is definitely the first set. I used to hate dresses and NEVER wear them, but for the past year I've kinda become obsessed and I want to buy every dress I see (but I don't).

Anyway that's all for today, I really hope you like it, and let me know what you think below.
XoXo,
Lori

Goals for May

Hello lovelies, it's a new month, which means it's a new chance to start over!
Over the past few weeks I've been slacking, but it's a new month, and I'm hitting the books and the gym hard!

Via

Finish Algebra 1.

Finish College Prep U.S. History Part 2.

Start my Geometry class.

Sign up for the June ACT.

Study and take a practice for the ACT.

Clean out my closet.

Join the gym.

Lose 2 pounds.

Narrow down my list of colleges and Universities I want to apply to.

Search and apply to new scholarships.

So there's my goals, I'll give you an update at the end of the month, wish me good luck!

XoXo,
Lori

April Goals Update

Earlier this month I shared with you my goals for April and since it's the last day of April I think it's time to give you an update.

Look into buying a new exercise bike.

Finish College Prep American History Part 1

Start College Prep American History Part 2.

Take two College Prep American History Part 2 exams.
Get A's on all my History exams.

Exercise 2-3 times a week.

Find a new eye doctor and get an appointment set up.

Log my meals/snacks in MyFitnessPal app at least 15 days this month.

Go through my closet again and get rid of the MANY pairs of jeans I never wear!

Go to the Chiropractor at least twice.

I did really good this month, I accomplished most of what I wanted to get done, and even though I didn't finish everything I'm still really happy with myself.
Now here's a little bit of information on the goals I didn't finish.

Take two College Prep American History Part 2 exams.
I finished Part 1 and I just started Part 2 yesterday. The reason I didn't accomplish this is because I didn't realize that for the last two unit's in Part 1 I would have to do double the reading.
Unit's 1-3 of Part 1 only had 3 chapters each, so that's what I was expecting for Unit's 4 & 5, but instead they had 6 chapters, so I wasn't expecting that and it messed up my schedule, but that's okay, next time I'll just have to pay more attention.

Exercise 2-3 times a week.
I almost made this happen. But last week I didn't exercise, and the first week of the month I only exercised once. I'm kinda sad about this, but I'll get over it, as I explained yesterday I'll be joining the gym soon, and hopefully I'll be able to buy a new stationary bike to have at home too.

Go through my closet again and get rid of the MANY pairs of jeans I never wear!
I'm just going to be honest I completely forgot to do this. This month has been all over the place, and I just didn't even think about my closet.

Well I guess that's it for April, this year is going by way to fast, I can't believe tomorrow is the first of May!

XoXo,
Lori

Playing Catch Up

Happy Saturday lovelies, I hope you're having a great weekend so far! This weekend I'm actually not going to be able to relax at all, I have so much I need to catch up on.
You may have noticed that I didn't post five times this week like I usually do, well I didn't realize it till it was already too late.
For the past few months I've been really busy, so I've been trying to write and schedule my posts ahead of time so that I don't forget to post, and that just didn't work out this week.
Honestly I've been in a bit of a slump for the past few weeks, I have plenty of material, I just haven't given myself the time to sit down and finish all 55 of the posts in my draft box.

I decided that I need to take a weekend to take care of myself and finish the things I've been putting off for far too long.
So this weekend I will be sitting down to catch up on a few things, and I want to share them with you.

Here's what I plan on doing this weekend:

1. Schedule two weeks worth of blog posts.

2. Paint my nails.

3. Try to finish 'Let Love Find You' by Johanna Lindsey

4. Look over my history final and send it in.
5. Search for scholarships.

I'll try to give you an update on Monday during my Monthly Weight Loss Update, but if not them I'll tell you about it on Wednesday when I give you an update on my April Goals.
XoXo,
Lori

Goals for April

Hello lovelies, can you believe we're already a week into April? This year is going by too fast!

This month my goals are focused around school and health. 

Look into buying a new exercise bike.

Finish College Prep American History Part 1

Start College Prep American History Part 2.

Take two College Prep American History Part 2 exams.
Get A's on all my History exams.

Exercise 2-3 times a week.

Find a new eye doctor and get an appointment set up.

Log my meals/snacks in MyFitnessPal app at least 15 days this month.

Go through my closet again and get rid of the MANY pairs of jeans I never wear!

Go to the Chiropractor at least twice.

That's all for today check back tomorrow for a book review!
XoXo,
Lori

March Goals Update

Earlier this month I shared with you some of the goals I hoped to achieve in March, and today I want to update you about them.

Open a savings account with my birthday money.

Finish College Prep American History Part 1.

Start College Prep American History Part 2.

Take my Algebra 1 Part 1 Quarter 1 Exam.

Read 3 Books.

Finish unboxing my bedroom.

Less junk food, and only one soda a week. 

Clean out my closet, and sell or donate old clothes.

Start the search for a new mattress and box spring.

Write 5,000 words for my new novel idea.

I think I did really well this month, I accomplished most of what I wanted to get done. Towards the end of the month I did get sick and so it kept me from finishing some of my goals, but I'll explain that below.

Open a savings account.
The reason I didn't get this accomplished is because I forgot that I have to get my address changed on my ID before I can open an account.

Finish College Prep American History Part 1.
I accomplished most of this, this month, but due to me being sick I wasn't able to finish it. I'm still not feeling to well, but I'm starting to catch up and get back on track.

Take my Algebra 1 Part 1 Quarter 1 Exam .
Honestly I just didn't feel like doing taking my test, so I didn't. I'll get to it, eventually.

Write 5,000 words for my new novel idea.
I actually decided to just keep writing for my original idea, but hopefully I'll get to start on my new idea soon. But I did manage to write a little more than 2,000 words for my original idea.


That's all for today, I can't believe that this month is almost over!
XoXo,
    Lori

March Playlist

We are into the second week of March, and last week actually wasn't too bad. I took my first History test and made an 80%. I'm actually pretty happy with that grade considering the test was over the entire first Unit.

This months playlist consists of a lot of country music, 5 out of the 8 songs on this playlist are country, and I love it!

That's all for today lovelies, I'll be posting everyday this week (except Saturday), so check back for me posts!

XoXo,
           Lori