Easter

HE IS RISEN!

"One day the grave could conceal Him no longer,

One day the stone rolled away from the door.

Then He arose, over death He had conquered

Now He’s ascended, my Lord evermore!

Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him

From rising again!

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming,

One day the skies with His glories will shine.

Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing,

My Savior, Jesus, is mine.

Living, He loved me,

Dying, He saved me,

Buried, He carried my sins far away.

Rising, He justified freely forever,

One day He’s coming

Oh glorious day, oh glorious day!"

"After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you." So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

Matthew 28:1-10

Wishing you and your family a very Happy Easter!

xx

Reading

I've always gotten a lot of questions about how/why I read so much, and better late than never right?

So I've always loved to read and started reading pretty early, and I've just never remembered not reading. As I've gotten older, the books have simply gotten longer. I remember I when I read the The Thorn Birds for the first time, as well as Gone With The Wind and felt incredibly accomplished. I love long books because they tell great stories and I get lost in them so much more easily, but short books can do that too. Fiction is obviously my favorite, but I really like psychological and historical/military non fiction books as well, and of course biographies. My favorite authors include Pat Conroy, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Steve Coll, Mary Kay Andrews, Emily Giffin, Jodi Picoult, Corban Addison and Curtis Sittenfeld.

I always challenge myself to read 150 books a year, and for the past two years I've come up short. I think I might be able to do it this year, and right now I'm 8 books behind on my challenge, but I'm not too worried yet. I try to read for 45 minutes or an hour each day, because it's relaxing to me and I try to not stare at a screen right before I go to sleep. 

If I really don't like a book, I won't finish it. I try to make it at least 50 pages, but there are too many good books in the world to waste time on ones that really don't interest you. 

xx

A Day In The Life

So I've been really wanting to do this post for awhile, but blackberries were never conducive to on the go picture taking, so I now I have no excuse!

7:15 | wake up, dress, makeup, etc

7:40 | eat breakfast

7:51 | get in car :: i literally never manage to get in my car earlier than this time, not kidding

7:52-8:05 | commute to school :: my NPR session in the morning is one of my favorite times of the day

8:15 | chapel

8:30 | first cup of coffee!

8:35-10:10 | Study Hall

My schedule rotates around, and I have two study halls per day. I love having them in the morning together.

10:10 - 12:45 | Class

1:15 | lunch
PICTURE

1:45 - 3:25 | Class

4:00 | gym or spin class

7:00 | dinner 

7:30 - 10:30 | homework

10:30 | finish any other work, check blog post for the next day, pack bags, make snack for the next day

11:00 | in bed, reading or watching netflix

12:00 | sleep!

Do you follow a daily schedule? What is your routine like?

xx

SGG Video!

Welcome to The Smart Girls Group from The Smart Girls Group on Vimeo.

After I told you about SGG a few weeks ago, here it is in video form. Our next issue will be out April 7th!

Be smart, share smarts!

xx

What Royar Read: March

SO GOOD! Highly Recommend

A bunch of editorials in a book. I enjoyed it.

Not that great. Kind of skimmed it.

Not bad, but not life changing

Pretty good. Like the 10,000 hours chapter

Good! I've got one more Nicholas Sparks to read!

Very good. All girls should read this.

Interesting to read after taking psychology

So Quirky. So refreshing. Loved it.

LOVED.

Really really good. I want to know more about finance now.

Nothing I didn't know, but good nonetheless

What did you read in March?

xx

AP Exams

With April almost here, I've started to study for my last AP exams! My school lets us take them, but we don't take AP classes, or classes that teach about the test. My sophomore year I took the European exam and last year I took the US History exam. This year I'll be taking Psychology, US Government, English Language and Comparative Government. I really want to do well on them so I can get credit for when I go to school.

What I've learned from studying the past two years and this year:

1. Start early! I did not give myself enough time to study my sophomore year and I didn't do well as a result. It depends on the subject, but for most class it's a years worth of material on one test, so reviewing has been taking a while for me this year.

2. Get books or study guides. I love the REA Crash Course series and Barron's brand, personally.

3. Practice the essays for the history/english exams, because they can really help you if you do well on them.

4. I use Quizlet for everything, but some people do better just reading or just doing questions, it all depends on you.

Fellow high schoolers, are you taking any AP's this year and if so, how are you preparing??

xx

Boom, Accepted.

So Friday night I got some pretty amazing news, quite unexpectedly. I got home from the gym, super tired and really irritable, and I decided to randomly check my UGA admissions status before I went to dinner. 

As I clicked through everything, I was expecting a denial, or at least a wait-list.

I clicked "view" and immediately saw fireworks.

I got into Georgia!!!!!!

I'm officially 100%, 2/2. 

My high school experience has not been an easy one, and while I haven't always worked as hard as I should have, there were definite roadblocks that led me to thinking I would only get into Alabama. 

My acceptance is more than just a check mark to me. It's my proof and validation that if you work  really really really hard and believe in yourself, anything can and will happen. Good things happen to those who wait patiently and work hard day in and day out. 

But now I'm rethinking everything, and have a very hard decision to make in the next four weeks. I know you're all thinking that I was set on Alabama, and I was, because that's how much I didn't think I would get into UGA, so it was my way of softening the blow. Now I will be thinking everything through and listing lots of pros and cons. Right as I'm writing this, my head tells me UGA, but my heart tells me Alabama. 

When I visited Alabama, I felt like I was home and comfortable. When I visited UGA, I felt awed and challenged (see: that time I awkwardly cried on the tour). My brother and his friend have graciously offered to take me to an accepted students day in a few weeks to visit, just one more time. Maybe we'll even drive over to Tuscaloosa one more time

It's funny how life can completely change in an instant. This is going to be the hardest decision I'll probably make in my life, and I'm going to be sad because I'll be saying no to a great school either way. But then again, I'm extremely thankful that I'm being given the choice to make a decision about my college education. 

So now it's March 25th, and I have until May 1st, and I'm sure I'll change my mind many times over, etc etc, but regardless, I'm just thankful I look really good in red.

xx