I have three favorite memories from this school year in seventh grade. First, I loved working on the twenty percent project in my core class. It was so fun to learn something I enjoyed for six weeks. My choice was calligraphy and I loved seeing mine and my friends progress through our projects. Next, I loved having the opportunity to be a part of home economics. It was so fun cooking or baking in the kitchen every Friday. It was especially enjoyable because one of my best friends was in my cooking group. I loved learning new techniques and terms from the class as we made so many new foods first semester. Also, I am so proud that I was able to receive a student of the month award from my science teacher. It was very special to me because I feel science is my hardest subject so getting an award from her meant so much. Lastly, I loved every lunch I got to spend with my friends. It was always a great time to talk and get a break of the school day together. As you can see, I loved my seventh grade year.

This week, my goal was to finish my trifold for my presentation. I completed this goal as I showed my examples and decorated my board with washi tape. I also showed past work to explain my progress. This week was a great week and I didn’t have any struggles at all. Since nothing went wrong, I had no adjustments to make. My ultimate goal was to learn how to write calligraphy. I believe I completed this goal as I learned the uppercase and lowercase alphabet, connecting letters to make words, and examples on how to use calligraphy. I am very proud that I now know how to do something new and am so happy I got the opportunity to learn something I normally would not have time to do. The twenty percent project taught me to make a plan and stick to a weekly routine of working on something. I learned how to use my creativity and to make adjustments in life if things do not go as planned. Next week, I will be presenting my calligraphy trifold on Wednesday to parents of my grade.

A woman that has an impact on my life is my mom. Firstly, my mother is important to me because she truly cares for me. My mom loves me and is dedicated to be there at everything I do. She has never missed a dance competition, performance, or school event. My mom comes to everything to support me. Secondly, my mother drives me everywhere. She will take me to school and pick me up everyday. She takes me to dance everyday and is kind enough to take some of my friends some days too. Lastly, my mom is understanding. She will listen to what I want and helps me make decisions to help my life for the better. Some special advice she has given me is to work hard to meet your goals. My mom has told me if you don’t work everyday and care for what you want, you will not have the outcome you wish for. As you can see, I love my mom very much and she makes an impact on my life.

This week, my goal was to accomplish making a written calligraphy alphabet and handmade examples on how to use calligraphy in real life for my trifold. I accomplished all these goals last week, so this week I will be putting my trifold together. I accomplished glueing on my envelope examples, my alphabet, and writing out my title. I also planned out what I am going to put on the whole trifold. I spread my papers and work finding the best way to show it. This week was a great week and I had no struggles at all. Since nothing went wrong, I had no adjustments to make. Next week I will be working on finishing my trifold. I will glue everything on and add some finishing touches. I am on track to finish everything on time before the deadline. I am excited to highlight my examples I made and show the progress of my work in my presentation.

This month, I read A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson. This book is about a high school senior named Pippa Fitz-Amobi who wants to solve a murder for her year-long senior project. Five years ago, a popular high school senior named Andie Bell was murdered supposedly by her boyfriend, Sal Singh and then who committed suicide. But, Pip doesn’t think Sal actually did it. Sal was always a kind, selfless person never seeming to have killed his girlfriend. So, Pippa’s goal is to try to find out who truly killed Andie Bell and prove Sal Singh innocent. Yet, someone is sending her cruel messages telling her to stop her research or something will happen to the people and things she loves dearest. What will Pip do? Will she continue her research or face the consequences?

I loved A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder because of the genre and setting. I know the genre is a mystery/thriller and I’ve never read a book like this so I really enjoyed it. I usually read rom-coms so reading a mystery book is way out of my comfort zone and I am so grateful that I tried it out. I am now definitely going to read the second one of the trilogy. The suspense of the book to find out who did it kept me on my toes. Also, the setting of it being with teenagers in high school is what I loved because it kinda gave the vibe of the regular rom-coms that I read. So, the fact that the story took place as her as a teenager with still some teenage problems and fun really helped me attach to this novel. As you can see, I loved reading this story because of its genre and setting.

My favorite character in this novel was Pippa Fitz-Amobi for her determined spirit, intelligence, and realistic personality. Pippa is determined because she works hard and looked at every little detail to get the murder right. She spends most of her time interviewing and finding clues to get her final suspect. Pippa is intelligent because she put all of her evidence together to be the true detective into finding the different parts of the mystery. The knowledge that she has also gets her great grades and helps her do well in school. Pippa lastly feels realistic because she isn’t a professional detective and a high school senior who wants to solve a murder. She also acts like a teenager as she goes to house parties and has sleepovers with her friends. Evidence from the text that shows Pip is detail-oriented is, “ A good detective never overlooks a small detail.“ This quote explains how Pip says she will always look over everything before she makes a decision. This happens a lot in this novel when she decides to check over all her research so she cut down to the real suspect. As you can see, Pippa is my favorite character for her determination, intelligence, detail work, and realistic personality.

My favorite quote from the novel is “ The people you love weren’t algebra: to be calculated, subtracted, or held at arm’s length across a decimal point.” This quote was meaningful to me because I believe that you can love whoever you want or the people that you weren’t supposed to love. Like the author states, it doesn’t need to be totally planned out who you need to love, you can feel free to love whomever your heart desires. Also, the people you love most aren’t always blood related to you.

During April, I read We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Solomon. This story is about an incoming college freshmen named Quinn Berkowitz. Her family owns a wedding planning company called Borrowed + Blue and she plays the harp at their weddings as a bonus to the marrying couple. Her family works with a catering company that has a son named Tarek Mansour who she has fallen in love with and confessed her love to at end of the previous summer before he went to college. This summer, Quinn still has feelings for him but doesn’t know if he does for her. She also has trouble figuring out if wedding planning is for her or if she’s just trying to build and continue her family’s company. She even learns to make harps and finds something for herself but doesn’t know how to tell the people she loves around her. How do you think Quinn will cope with all the emotions and secrets bottled up inside of her?

I loved this novel because I loved the growth of the main character, Quinn Berkowitz. I loved seeing her hardships, ups, and downs throughout the story because they showed who she truly is. For example, the troubles she had with her parents about learning what she truly loves and overcoming her mental health troubles. The connection between Tarek and Quinn was also so cute as love grew at each wedding they helped at together. The way the author described they glanced at each other and how Quinn saw him was adorable. Now you know, I liked this book for the character development and love connection between two of the characters.

My favorite character in this novel was Quinn Berkowitz. I loved her character because she was caring, a perfectionist, and self aware. I liked that she was caring towards her family not wanting to let the down their family business. I enjoyed her being a perfectionist always wanting to be at her parents standards even if she didn’t feel like being at them. Lastly, I love her self awareness as she was capable to tell how others felt and decide what to say to help them in her business and personal life. A quote from the text to describe Quinn’s trait of being emotional, “ That voice. It’s a time machine of familiar longing, tugging me back.” This explains how Quinn feels because she doesn’t want to leave her family and their business behind but wants to follow her dreams. She doesn’t want to leave her family but everything about her family is their wedding planning life. So, Quinn is trying to comprehend how to leave the business but not her family with it. As you can see, Quinn is my favorite character for her perfectionism, emotional side, caring sense, and self awareness.

My favorite quote from We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This was, “ And sometimes the world is terrible, and love stories… They make it feel less heavy.” This quote was meaningful to me because I love reading romance books and reading helps me find time for me when I am too overwhelmed. I love reading as a hobby outside of my regular daily life as it is an escape for me to dive into the stories of different characters. To me it is so fun to try different books and recently I have also been trying different genres.

While working on my twenty percent project this week, I finished my goal of learning how to connect my letter to make words. Additionally, I wrote on envelopes in calligraphy to show an example of using calligraphy in real life. This week was amazing and I was able to accomplish my goal and extra. I didn’t have any struggles during week four. There was not much time because we had a different schedule for state testing but after I was done with my state testing on Thursday, I got extra time to work on my calligraphy. Since nothing went wrong, I have no adjustments to make except for being ahead. I am ahead, of my goal next week of writing on signs, envelopes, and making a calligraphy alphabet. So, next week I will be working on, planning out my trifold and putting it together. I will be writing my title out, bringing supplies to figure out how I want to place my examples, and put my practice sheets on my board.

This week, I accomplished learning how to write my alphabet without the worksheets. My goal was to finish writing my alphabet for my trifold without the workbook underneath with tracing paper. This piece of work will be on display at my presentation. Additionally, I had time to practice learning how to link my letters to make words which is next week’s goal. Week three was a great week and I have no struggles to share. Since nothing went wrong, I have no adjustments to make. But, since this week went wonderful, I will start looking for signs and envelopes to write on for my upcoming presentation. It would be great if I could start writing on them to tape or glue on my trifold. I would like my presentation to show different ways people can use calligraphy in real life. Next week, I will continue learning to connect my letters to make words and start writing on signs for my trifold.

My favorite room in my home is my bedroom. My bedroom is decorated with gold dots, on the white walls and has more gold accents throughout the room including my gold body-length mirror, hanging picture display frame, pencil holder, and lamp. My bed has a light teal frame, white comforter with teal bedsheets, and a gray accent pillow and blanket hanging off my bed. My desk is a light wood and I have a white desk chair. One of the reasons I love my bedroom is my bed. It’s so comfy and I love getting a good night’s sleep in it. I also love the way my bed looks with the teals, whites, and grays. Another reason my bedroom is my favorite room in my house is my closet. I love my closet because it holds all my clothes and books. I love figuring out my outfits in the morning with all my clothes and organizing my clothes by color and type. Lastly, I love my bedroom because of my books and bean bag chair. I love taking time to read in my room in my bean bag chair in any sparred time! As you can see, my bedroom is my favorite room in the house for these three reasons!

While working on my twenty percent project this week, my goal was to finish learning how to write the calligraphy letters M through Z in uppercase and lowercase form. Some successes I experienced this week were finishing learning how to letters M through Z in calligraphy in lowercase form. I practiced on tracing paper multiple times to get my letters fluid and correct. Over the week, I also found some brush markers to make my letters look more like authentic calligraphy. My main struggle was that at the end of twenty percent project time in class, I found out that I am not on track with my project. I found that the two different kinds of letters I was learning were both lowercase so I never accomplished learning the uppercase calligraphy letters. The last two weeks I have only accomplished writing the whole alphabet in lowercase. Because I didn’t get to write my calligraphy letters in uppercase, I had to make changes and learned how to write the uppercase calligraphy letters over the week before my next work time in class. Next week, I will be working on learning how to write the whole alphabet on my own without the outlines within the worksheets.

In the last weekend of February, I had my second dance competition of the season. At this competition, I competed my solo and two group routines. I’ve visited to this competition for the last five years and it is so fun! But, this time was extra exciting because I won first overall for my solo over twenty other soloists! I was ecstatic that I won and it was the best feeling because the hard work paid off. It was definitely the highlight of my competition season so far. I loved walking up to the front of the stage receiving my trophy and representing my dance studio. I especially enjoy my solo this year over last year’s solo, because it has so much personality and I enjoy the lighthearted music. I wear a light purple, knee-length dress with bows on my costume, and dance with a tissue box. The tissue box fits my dance because the dance is named “Cry To Me”. I love my solo and am so happy and grateful that I won first overall!