The "Final" Blog Post

Here we are, 8 months after I've started this blog. I'm about to graduate High School and move to a different state, 5 hours away from my family, and more importantly, my dog.
There's something to be said to the fact that you learn from your mistakes, and I've made quite a few throughout my time in high school. I've failed. A lot.
In middle school, you showed up, you got a B. You wrote your name on the paper, you got an A. In high school, it was a whole new world, one where unless you worked your absolute hardest, you were not going to succeed. My grades in High school are not something I'm particularly proud of. They're not great, not terrible, but also, not a reflection of who I am as a student. I'm not going to talk about grades now though, that's another topic for another day.

Here are some things I learned in high school and hope to apply to my life in college:

-Join student government (I didn't do this and regret it!!)
-Talk to him, what's the worst thing that can happen?
-Work hard first, then reward yourself
-Block Netflix
-Make time for your friends
-Don't sleep your days away
-Kiss up to the teachers a little bit
-Running can be fun
-Put yourself out there
-Be loud

As you can see, I learned a lot in high school besides how to calculate the velocity of a watermelon speeding through space. Yes. I learned things that will help me academically next year, but I think that some of the most important things I've learned are more personal and will help me immensely in years to come.

If I had to choose one thing that I learned through out all four of my years in High School, it would be to put myself out there. Oddly enough, I've never been a very quiet person in the literal sense of the word, but I've also never been one to volunteer at a magic show or try out for the leading role in the musical. I have a lot of self-confidence, but I don't love the lime-light.
My junior year of high school, I was put in a situation that I could either take advantage of, or leave completely alone. After a few months of sitting quietly, I decided to take a chance. Long story short, there was a guy I liked in one of my classes that I didn't know very well, but ended up getting to know him a little bit better through working on homework and through music events. You can read more about it here in a post I wrote last year.
Moral of the story, it didn't work out, and it took me a while to get over the idea that I "failed" at achieving my goal. I would have so much more regret having not done something, as opposed to the regret I have towards the way the situation ended. As I mentioned in the post I wrote last year, some of my best memories were made because I put myself out there.

Although there are many things I regret about high school, I know that those regrets can be channeled into creating an amazing time in college.

Some Pinterest Inspiration:

I think this quote is my favorite

I'm not sure if I will continue blogging on this blog, but I know I will continue on my fashion and lifestyle blog, North Shore Proper, so be sure to follow me there to follow me though my journey at Bellarmine University!

NorthShoreProper.Blogspot.com

summer music

When people ask me what type of music I like, I just laugh. I have a very diversified taste in music I'd say. I enjoy my fair share of Frank Sinatra, The Black Keys, Luke Bryan, Pharrell Williams etc. So basically a little bit of everything, but when warm weather comes around, all I want to do is cruise around with the windows down and listen to country music.

I live on the NorthShore of Chicago (shameless plug for my fashion blog), so there's not a large country music culture up here, unless of course it's County Thunder (a local music festival) weekend, and in that case suddenly everyone is Blake Shelton's biggest fan. However, I actually enjoy certain country artists. Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley, and Luke Bryan are some of my favorites. But as much as I enjoy country music, I can only listen to it when the weather is nice and it's the end of the semester or summer time. I've made a connection in my head that country music = summertime, and it seems as though I can't listen to that type of music unless there's nice weather!

If you haven't already downloaded Spotify, you need to! Its a great solution to those times when you want to search up a song but down own it on iTunes!

Here is the link to my country playlis!

The Cost of Graduation

My senior year of High School is coming to a close. It's hard to believe, but there are only 51 days until graduation. Wow.

Background photo via

This year seemed to have revolved around money and finances. Paying for college, which of course includes paying for scholarships, calling financial aid offices across the country, filling out the FAFSA etc.

This year, I've tried to focus on saving money for college next year for me to spend, as well as trying to save my parents money because I know they're stressed out about paying for my education. I can deal with that. I don't mind saving some of my money because I know I can use it later, but the end of this year is getting VERY expensive very quickly.

Let's just do a quick cost break down of my second semester of Senior year:

AP Testing (I'm taking four tests): $364
Visting Colleges over Spring Break (lets include gas and a one night stay at a hotel): $160
Prom Bids (I'm paying for my date as they're coming from a different school): $140
Prom Dress: $90 (I'd say most peoples cost at least double this though. I found mine on sale)
Miscellaneous Prom expenses (sweatshirt, lakehouse rental, gas, boutonniere, etc.): $150
Graduation Dress (this isn't necessary, but I'm saving up for a specific one): $180
Senior Breakfast Ticket: $10
Grad Night Ticket: $45
Graduation Announcements: $70
Graduation Party (luncheon for the family with 20 people, $25 a person): $500
Graduation Presents for friends (lets say for 5 close friends): $100
College Freshman Orientation (Let's say two nights in a hotel and gas): $200

That comes to a grand total of......... drumroll please...............

$2,009

That is the cost of graduation. Of course things like Prom and a new graduation dress are optional, so with the necessary expenses of AP testing, college visits, graduation announcements, and a small grad party:
$1034

*Insert Crying Emoji Here*

So why is it that as we're preparing for the most expensive four years of our young adult lives, that we spend so much money? Some of these expenses are split between parents and students, but I would say that these are conservative estimates.
The average price of a Prom dress at our school most likely brushes $300, and if your college is in California, you have to add another $1000 for plane tickets.

I personally think that this is a bit silly to spend so much money on some pretty frivolous things as we're so stressed about maying for college, but that seems to be what our school system and community has instilled into our minds.

Spring

Spring has a feeling. Sure, there's a day when we officially say "it's Spring," but when it's really spring, you can feel it. It feels like a chilly breeze on your bare legs, the windows down, and eating on the patio without mosquitoes eating you alive. When we think of Spring, we always think of being outside and the weather and flowers. Why is that? When I think of winter, I usually think of Christmas and my Birthday. Fall? Jeans, vests, and boots. Summer? It's just plain hot.

So why is it that Spring is a time of year so associated with nature? I don't think I'll be able to answer that in the blog post, but I am good at rambling, so maybe I'll figure it out by the end.

The holiday I associate with Spring is Easter. When I think of Easter, besides Reese's peanut butter eggs of which I consume more than a safe amount each year, I think of bunnies and flowers and baby chickens. Why? Well that's what American's have associated with Easter. Easter is a Holiday centered around Christ (in the Catholic Religion at least) and his resurrection, so why the commercialized holiday seems to hone in on baby bunnies and chickens, I'm not sure.

What other widely celebrated holiday can you think of that in so whole centered on animals? I can't think of any.

Spring is a time of rebirth for so much of our world. For students, it can be grades, and in nature, flowers, grass and foods. Spring can also be a time of the year that is overlooked as it's spent recovering from a particularly brutal winter where weather jumps from -4 to 75 in what seems like a week (in Chicago this frequently happens). 

So as we go through this wet and muggy Spring make sure you appreciate it, because before you know it, you'll be complaining about the weather once again.

The College Freakout Pt.1

"College Freakout" is a term I coined this year while going through the college application process. It is used in the following way "I'm going through the 'Holy Crap college is expensive' freakout, hbu?"
I'm currently in the middle of a "I didn't apply to enough schools" freakout.
Newsflash: It's March. Pretty much no schools are still accepting applications. I AM going to one of the five schools that I applied to. There's a part of me that knows I'll find happiness wherever I end up (as cheesy as that sounds) and then there's a part of me that is panicking because I feel like I didn't do enough research or go on enough campus tours or write enough application essays.
There's so much change coming up in our lives, graduation, moving away from family, etc. I think that freaking out about college has just become my way of dealing with it. It's also very difficult to come to the realization that after thinking and planning for college for the last few years is finally becoming reality, and there is no more "I should look into that school" because it's done. There are no more chances.
I remember all throughout high school talking to seniors, people who had graduated and even faculty and having them tell me that high school goes by quickly and to make sure that you're taking everything in. Well, I'm a second semester senior, and time seems to be going faster than ever. Spring Break is this month, and then after that Prom, then graduation, the orientation and then all of a sudden, I'm a college student. That's a lot of transition in a very short amount of time, and it's causing me and many students a lot of stress.

Sickly

Sickly. The word itself doesn't seem strong, or healthy.
I hate being sick. I'm currently sitting on my couch with a sinus headache, a lovely wheezing cough, and a very stuffed nose. This is the third time I've gotten sick in two months and I hate it. I know what your thinking: nobody likes being sick. I know, nobody likes being sick, but I especially hate being sick a lot. I feel like being sick, even if it's just a small cold, is a sign of weakness.
I'm definitely not the nicest or most empathetic person. We all have those friends that just seem to be sick all the time and I can't help but see those people as weak. Technically, their immune systems are weak so it's not really that far of a stretch.
I'll be leaving for college in just a few months now, and it really worries me how much I've been sick despite getting the flu shot in November. I think that my mom is right: not getting enough sleep weakens your immune system and makes you more susceptible to even the most trivial of ailments. Going into college, I know it's going to be very important to not only get enough sleep, but also make sure I'm using hand sanitizer, not sharing drinks, and staying away from those who are already sick.
I hate being sickly, but that is exactly how I feel right now.
I urge everyone to make sure they're getting enough sleep and washing their hands etc. because it's been a very rough flu season, and I wouldn't wish whatever I've got to anyone simply because they're lacking sleep.

Fatigued

I write this post as my eyelids work overtime to try and stay open, even though it's only Eight O'clock and I just woke up from an hour and a half long nap. I could call this fatigue. If there's one changed I've noticed my body undergo all through out high school, it's that I'm not constantly tired. I could have had nine glorious hours of restful sleep (I just got a FitBit Heart rate monitor which will help me tack my sleep and see how restful it is) and wake up and feel exhausted.

I think as you grow through your four years of high school, you become more and more okay with the idea of over-working yourself. For many, the goal in high school is to succeed by any means necessary, and often times that means sacrificing your health via sleep deprivation and poor eating habits. I'm extremely guilty of falling into both of these traps, however, I'm working on taking better care of myself in preparation for college next year.

Yesterday, the National Sleep foundation released their updated recommendations for amount of sleep needed to be healthy. I created a survey below to see how people measure up to the recommended amount of sleep. I hope to create another post after I've collected sufficient results from the survey detailing what seemed to be the most popular responses, especially per age group.

Click here for larger view of the infographic

all sales final

Panorama taken by me at the local library

The week before finals is upon us. Fondly referred to as "Hell Week" at my school, students spend their time studying, crying, chugging coffee, and driving around looking for a parking spot at the library (aka me for the last 10 minutes). This week is one that is not taken lightly by teachers or students. Projects are assigned and collected, unit tests are taken, and (in some cases) online grades are updated for the first times in months.

The idea of final exams seem just that: final. The word lends itself to panic and thoughts of doom and destruction uncontrollable by the student. I know in my case, finals are when I realize just how important those five point assignments were back in September, or how little of AP Statistics I truly understand. Looking back on my first set of finals my freshman year of High School (I'm currently a senior) I suppose I thought they would only get easier as the semesters went on. Yet here I am, upon what I hope to be my last set of finals in high school, just as panicked as I was in 2012. I feel slightly more prepared, and slightly more anxious, but perhaps that's just the 3 cups of coffee I've had so far today.

Perhaps the most daunting aspect of finals is the idea that you're about to pull together five months of knowledge into one exam, project, or paper, and it's going to count as 1/5 of your semester grade. You have absolutely no control over what happens after you click send, or turn back your Scantron, all thats left to do is refresh the online grade-book compulsively until your pointer finger falls off. I promise it will be okay. Your fingers will not fall off (unless we get another polar vortex then I make no promises) and the world will not end.

Please join me in a toast (of a caramel macchiato) to kick off Hell Week right:

Here's to the late nights and near caffeine overdoses (yes it's possible, please be careful folks!). The endless typing, highlighting, and of course, perpetual fear that you're not good enough.

Cheers!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

I have a confession; I love to read. I have another confession; I hardly ever read anything that's not a book for school. It's not that I don't have time, it's that I don't make time. Back in august, I wrote a blog post on my other blog that listed 18 things I hoped to accomplish by my 18th birthday which happens to be this Saturday the 10th. One of those things was reading 5 non-school books. I finished only one. I feel extremely disappointed because I know I could have read five easily over winter break, but in true Jordan fashion, I didn't.

One book that I have ready recently was: "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns)" by Mindy Kaling. This book definitely fits into the genre that I've been interested in recently which is comedian biographies. Isn't that a genre? If not I just created it so there. I'm currently also reading "Yes Please" by Amy Poehler, and hope to start "Seriously, I'm Kidding" by Ellen DeGenres soon. I'm not sure why I've been so into this genre lately. Perhaps it's been my incessant watching of both The Office and Parks and Recreation on Netflix. Both are a slippery slope folks. Consider yourselves warned.

via

I knew immediately that I wanted to read this book based on the title. I know, I know. They say never to judge a book by it's cover. But this cover was just so cute, and I immediately connected with the title! I'm not going to lie, I was half suspecting this book to be the chronicles of her time acting in and writing for The Office and The Mindy Project, but it's so much more then that. Although she does discuss her time on both The Office and SNL, she talks about her childhood and adolescence as she grew into the comedy world.

The book is sectioned off into little bite sized pieces. Some discuss her discovery and growing love for comedy while others display that comedy by for example, listing fashion advice for guys. I found this style to be very easy to read, and extremely relatable. I would categorize this book as a "Beach Read." It's content and writing style make it easy to read in a long weekend. 

I think one of the most striking themes from the book however, is the idea that celebrities lives are not all that they're portrayed as in the media. Sure, we all know that, but Mindy does a great job of not just telling, but showing us what it's like to go on a crappy first date, or not fit into a sample size dress. 

I would highly recommend this book to any girl (or guy) wanting a good laugh, and, I got a paper copy for Christmas, so if anyone wants to borrow it, feel free to ask!

(It's also availible electronically at the GPL - that's how I read it initially)