There are so many people I would want to invite to dinner, but these are my top three: SZA, Sabrina Carpenter, and Olivia Rodrigo. SZA, Sabrina Carpenter, and Olivia Rodrigo are all famous, female, music artists. First, I would want to invite SZA to dinner because I love her music and she seems like a kind, well-rounded person in real life. Next, I would want to invite Sabrina Carpenter to dinner because I would want to ask her about her one of her newer albums, “Emails I Can’t Send” that I enjoy listening to. Lastly, I would invite Olivia Rodrigo because she’s one of my favorite singers and I would want to ask her about her tour going on right now. Together, we would eat at a fancy, Italian restaurant, and I would order spaghetti. As you can see, I would bring SZA, Sabrina Carpenter, and Olivia Rodrigo t o dinner with me.

Hi, my name is Mia and for my 20% project I have chosen to learn about calligraphy. This week, my goal was to learn the capital and lowercase letters of A through L. I accomplished this goal, and learned how to write some words with those letters including chalk, bad, glad, and back. I used a calligraphy work book to learn my letters and words today. I struggled seeing the difference between the way the capital and lowercase letters looked from the style that was shown through the workbook and wish I have bought a real calligraphy pen before this so it would be easier to write. Because I couldn’t see the difference between the uppercase and lowercase letters, I will adjust next week to find letters with more significance between each other on YouTube. Before next Friday, I will also find and buy a calligraphy fountain pen on Amazon. My plan for what I need to complete next week, is to finish learning how to write letters M through Z in uppercase and lowercase. I am so happy I chose calligraphy as my 20% project because I think it would be a great skill I could use in real life situations. Thank you for reading!

This month, I read The Upside of Falling by Alex Light. This book is about two high school seniors with their own different problems told between two different perspectives. Becca has no friends at school and head is always in a romance novel, liking to experience love in books instead of real life after her parents divorced. While on the other hand, Brett Wells is captain of the football team, has a perfect and wealthy family, looks up to his father as an idol, and is one of the most popular boys at school. But, when Becca’s ex best friend makes fun of her in class for never having a boyfriend, Becca wants to try to prove her wrong. So, Brett overhears the conversation between Becca and her ex best friend, Jenny and he steps in to the rescue and pretends to Becca’s boyfriend. Now, Becca and Brett are trying to hold up their fake relationship to show Jenny that Becca can have a boyfriend and for Brett to impress his dad idol that he can get a girlfriend. But, when Becca grieves with her past parents divorce and Brett’s pitch perfect family starts to fall apart, they find they have more in common than they think they do. Will their feelings and love for each other become real or stay fake?

I enjoyed this book because it was told from multiple perspectives, a cute romance, and had some hardships making it feel like someone’s real life. I liked that it was from Brett and Becca’s perspectives because I got to see what it was like in each of their personal lives and what they were feeling without the other character there. It was a cute romance because I liked how Brett flirted with Becca making her blush, paying for her if she wanted something, and took her on mysteriously fun dates. There were also hardships making it feel more real like financial problems, divorces, and loneliness. Overall, I liked this story for its two perspectives, rom-com feel, and lifelikeness.

My favorite character from The Upside of Falling was Becca Hart. I liked her character because she is a book lover, caring, and intelligent. Mostly all of her time is focused on reading, Becca always reads her romance novels during lunch and after school. She was caring to Brett as she would do anything for him and would always take time to help out at her mom’s bakery. Becca Hart is also intelligent because she works very hard in school and has straight A’s. A quote from the book is, “These books were safe. Like an alternate, paper world where anything was possible. And after my parents’ divorce, I gave up on love. I never wanted to fall into it or feel it because what was the point? These books let me feel it through other people. That way, I didn’t have to worry about being hurt. It sounds dumb, but they helped. They helped me when nothing else could.” This shows that Becca Hart is not a risk taker because she doesn’t want to fall in love like her parents did and have to deal with the chance of their being heartbreak. So, she decided to read romance novels and so she could experience love through the books without having to deal with the consequences in real life. As you can see, my favorite character is Becca because she is intelligent, a book lover, and caring to others

My favorite quote from the book is, “ Life didn’t have to fit into a four-sided box that was neat and tidy. It was okay if the box had three sides or the fourth one was hanging on with duct tape. It was okay if the corners were dented and if there was a big red FRAGILE sticker on top. It was all okay.” This quote was meaningful to me because I have learned that it’s okay if you’re not perfect and that you never can be. Sometimes you are sad or there is something gone on in your life that you’re struggling to push through but it’s all fine and everyone will make it out of it.

If I could have any job in the entire world, it would be to be a college cheerleader/dancer. First, it would be so fun to see the football games! I would love to be able to cheer the football players on as they play and this could help me learn a lot more about the game of football. Second, it would be fun for me to get all dressed up in costumes/outfits and have my hair and makeup all done. It would be also be a chance for me to work on and learn new techniques for my makeup and hair skills! Lastly, I would love to pursue my love for dance as a college cheerleader! It would be fun to still be able to dance and work on my technique as my job! After college, I would love to become an NFL (National Football League) cheerleader/dancer! These would be my dream jobs and I hope it will happen one day too!

This month, I read See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon. This story is about a young woman named Barrett Bloom starting her first day of college. On September 21st, she has the worst day ever! Barrett gets annoyed by the genius boy next to her in physics class, does terrible in her interview for a position in the college paper, and sneaks into a party where she sets the fraternity house on fire by a fallen down tiki torch! When she sadly reaches her dorm, Barrett finds her roommate locked her out and that now forces her to fall asleep on the common room couch. But when Barrett wakes up the next morning, she finds it is September 21st AGAIN and she’s back in her own bed! While her repeat day starts, she finds the genius boy from physics has been stuck in this crazy time loop too for months! As the two start to fall in love in their mysterious time loop, they find one another asking themselves what it will be like if they make it September 22nd? Would they still have the same connection they share now?

I loved this book because I enjoyed the time loop aspect to it. I have never read a book with time travel in it so I enjoyed reading that in this book. The experience of them repeating the same day never got boring for me because they experienced something different everyday together, showing each other their lives! It was also cool to see the two characters fall in love and learn to work together as then went from enemies to lovers. In the beginning, Miles annoyed Barrett so much, ratting Barrett out to their physics teacher in class. But as the story progressed, they learned to love each other’s uniqueness and love each other for who they are. I adored reading See You Yesterday for the time travel and romance and I hope you want to read it too!

My favorite character from this novel is Barrett Bloom. I love her character because she is a risk taker, as she isn’t afraid to do things even if there is consequences. A quote from the story to describe this is, “I’ve allowed myself to want things unashamedly, to put that out in the world and let the world respond. A risk I’m learning is okay to take.” This quote shows Barrett Bloom’s confidence because it tells that she’s fine sharing to everyone even if she’ll get embarrassed or regrets her decision. She’s confident in who she is and that confidence inspires me to share my ideas like her!

My favorite quote from See You Yesterday is, “I could wake up on the same day a thousand times, and every single one would be different because of you. Every single one would be life-changing. Because of you.” This quote was meaningful to me because it shows that the people around you can change your emotions so quickly. It connected to me because from my experiences, the things people said to me that day could have really made my day and made it memorable or it could make me feel hurt and upset for the rest of the day. Words can change everything and that’s why I loved this quote from the novel!

In February, I read The Summer of Broken Rules by K. L. Walter. This book centers around a teenage girl named Meredith who lost her older sister, Claire, eighteen months ago. This summer, she will try not to shut everybody out by joining her whole family on their yearly trip to Martha’s Vineyard. As this vacation will be extra special, with her cousin’s marriage, Meredith has just been dumped and will be dateless for the wedding! But when Meredith meets a handsome groomsmen, she makes an alliance with him for the family’s traditional game of assassin. With the fun game being Claire’s favorite part of the summer, this year Meredith will try to win it for her to honor her sister’s legacy. But, what will she do when she’s hopelessly falling for her cute groomsmen and trying to focusing on the game at stake?

I recommend this book because it has a cute romance, Taylor Swift references, and hard-core assassin game. The cute romance of Meredith slowly falling for Wit is adorable. It’s so fun to see all the adventures they explore together as they only get to see each other for one week! Next, the Fox family’s assassin game is so fun to picture with the whole family and wedding party using water guns to tag each other out. It makes me wish I was playing too! Also, if you’re a Swiftie there are some Taylor Swift references in the book because Meredith and her sister Claire would love to listen to her together! So, if you’re a Swiftie, love rom-coms, or enjoy watching exciting family games, you should definitely read The Summer of Broken Rules!

My favorite character was Meredith Fox from this novel. I love her character because she is so involved in her family and follows her heart. Meredith is so involved in her family as she takes full participation in their family game of assassin and doesn’t mind spending her time to hang out with her whole family or parts of it. I love that she follows her heart as she takes a risk to spend time with Wit and at then of the book, SPOILER ALERT, she leaves with him to travel and will take a year off of college to explore the world with him. Meredith is a joyous character who lives in the moment. A quote to describe this is, “And I did smile—a smile so filled with happiness, happiness I hadn’t been sure I’d ever be able to feel again.” This describes that she lives in the moment because she catches on to the little things and cherishes these things while they last. After her older sister, Claire died, she feels like she needs to hold onto everything else when they’re still there. I love that Meredith focuses on the now instead of the past or future. As you can see, Meredith Fox is my favorite character.

My favorite quote from the novel was, “ It’s one of those special places where you feel like time doesn’t exist. Where it will always be summer, where I’ll always wake up with you.” This quote was meaningful to me because it showed how depending on who you are with it could feel like time is passing so slowly or you could breeze through it. This quote also made me think how you should always put yourself around good people so you can feel like the moment Meredith is describing.

The possibilities are endless when you are invisible for twenty-four hours! If I was invisible I would steal as many credit cards as I can, trick everyone I know, and visit the world. Firstly, I would steal as many credit cards as I can because then I could spend all of them after that day to have loads of money to shop, provide for my family and friends, and donate to organizations of my choice. I would only steal one of their credit cards if they had multiple though to not steal all of their money. Next, I would trick everyone I knew to surprise them with my “appearance” because it would be fun to see their reactions. I would love to see what they would think if I started to talk to my friends and family as I would stroll into school for a couple of hours jumping through classrooms. Lastly, I would travel the world. I would ride a flight with many seats left to go for free as I would only have to pay for the way back! I want to travel to Paris, France so if there is an open fight I would love to jump on with no price. It would be even more enjoyable if I got to bring a friend too! As you can see, it would be very fun to be invisible for twenty-four hours!

Imagine being stuck on an abandoned island. That’s my life! I ended up here as I made too many bad decisions in my life with the people around me. My friends and family influenced me to make many mistakes so I was sent to an island by myself to change my mistakes without other people’s opinions on me. Now that I am here, I will tell you my daily routine. Firstly, when I wake up, I rise from my hut on the warm, soft, sand. I drink my coconut water as my morning drink to cool myself from the hot sun. Then, I fish for fish in the sea and cook it while I cross off my days of being here. As I count, I find out, today… is my four-hundredth and fifteenth day! Crazy, right? Next, I eat my hard earned fish in the hut. Since, I haven’t learned to not be influenced by others yet, I can’t leave until I do. So, I spend my days, on this dreadful deserted island even though it’s the prettiest island I’ve ever seen. I love watching the ocean’s crystal clear waves slap the sand as I watch from inside my hut. Next, I find a coconut tree I like, that is sturdy and strong. I’ve been learning to climb to the top to keep my strength up. I climb, do push-ups, and sit-ups everyday. Then, I eat a small lunch full of the sweetness of the inside of the coconuts I drink from. I save every last bit! After, I work on my drawings in the safe, soft, golden sand. I draw of the waves and people I miss. Lastly, I cook crabs I found today on the sand in a fire I make from the coconut tree leaves. When I finish my food, I gaze at the stars in the sky as I slowly drift to sleep to the dead of cold night in my hut.

This month, I read Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon. This story is about two enemy seniors who have always been at each other’s throats for the last four years and on the last day of high school want to try to beat each other one last time. When Rowan Roth receives salutatorian to Neil McNair (“McNightmare”) , Rowan knows she has to win her school’s senior game of Howl to beat Neil fair and square, that makes the high school graduates travel all over their city of Seattle. As others are teaming up to kill Neil and Rowan, the two seniors decide to team up and soon Rowan finds she maybe doesn’t hate Neil anymore. As the two become closer friends, Rowan might of fallen head over heels for him instead of wanting to rip his guts out of his chest….

I love this book because I love the aspect of enemies to lovers that Neil and Rowan share and their senior game of Howl. I feel the way Rowan and Neil absolutely despise each other to then the way they find to love each other is so cute. I love how their relationship grows and Rowan trying to figure out her feelings for him. Also, the game of Howl sounds so fun. It sounds like a great way to end senior year, trying to hunt each other down around the city with your friends still trying to hang out with everyone one final time with also having fun trying to win the grand prize of 10,000.

My favorite character in Today Tonight Tomorrow was Rowan Roth. I liked her character because she is attentive, dreamy, confident, and determined personality. Rowan was determined because she had grit to do whatever it took to win the senior game of Howl including shutting her friends out to team with Neil because she knew she would have a better chance of winning with him. Also, she is confident because she went up to her favorite author, Delilah Park, to talk to her all by herself and signed up to speak about the story she was writing at the open mic they were at. Rowan is dreamy because she loves to pretend she’s living in her romance books and makes up fake scenarios in her mind. This quote shows she is attentive, ““He’s waiting on a bricked street with a rickety staircase that leads to the museum. His hair mussed, his posture slightly hunched. Why did I ever tease him about those freckles? I love them. I love every single one of them. I love his freckles and and his red hair and the too-short legs of his suit pants and the too-long sleeves, the way he laughs, the way he pushes up his glasses to rub his eyes.” This shows Rowan is attentive because she notices the small things about Neil that she likes. She noticed picky things that only someone who truly knew or loved a person would know. I love that Rowan Roth is attentive enough to be able to describe those details about Neil.

My favorite quote from Today Tonight Tomorrow was, “The love that I wanted so desperately: this isn’t what I thought it would feel like. It’s made me dizzy and it’s grounded me. It’s made me laugh when nothing is funny. It shimmers and it sparks, but it can be comfortable, too, a sleepy smile and a soft touch and a quiet, steady breath. Of course this boy—my rival, my alarm clock, my unexpected ally—is at the center of it. 
And somehow, it’s even better than I imagined.” I love this quote because it describes Rowan’s love for Neil that I feel is adorable. Rachel Lynn Solomon’s words shape their relationship perfectly in so many ways. I enjoyed this quote because it’s descriptive words also describe the hidden meanings of the book of like how Neil is her alarm clock. At the beginning of the book, it told that Neil would send Rowan texts every morning, taunting each other, waking Rowan up to a jolting start. As you can see, this is why I love this quote from Today Tonight Tomorrow.

For my dance competition season this year, I got a custom made costume from my solo that I’m competing with. One of the moms at my dance studio is a costume designer and makes some of the older girls costumes for competition and our Nutcracker ballet. This year, I asked her to make my costume and she agreed to design and create one for me. It turned out to match my solo perfectly that is choreographed to the song “Cry to Me” where I dance a jazz-contemporary solo with a tissue box as my prop. I love working with my new solo coach this year named Ms. Brandi. She helped Ms. Natasha create my perfect costume. The costume is a cutesy lavender dress, with bows connecting the open back of the costume and a bow at my waist on left in the front of it. It stops at my knees and has adorable short sleeves that flow right over my shoulders. I feel so special to have a custom costume made perfectly for me!

The quote, “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light.” spoken by Albus Dumbledore relates and can be interpreted by me. I can interpret this quote by if I am really depressed or sad I can decide if I want to change my frown upside down. It shows me that I am in charge of my emotions and no body can make the final decision of my emotions. I resonate with this quote by Albus Dumbledore because I need to learn that I should decide when I want to be happy and I can let in hope when I want to. I can learn from this that I should not be influenced fully by others and the people around me shouldn’t decide who I should be now or grow up to be. The feel of this quote is very uplifting and I can understand how this could have gave Harry Potter hope through the books and movies. When Harry could have been at his worst, Albus could have uplifted others with this like he has inspired me.