Kayla’s Blog

For my twenty percent project I decided to learn simple sign language. My goal that I set was to be able to memorize the ABC’s and the numbers one through twenty. Within class I found many videos of people doing the motions slow for me to learn and speeding it up each time. So now I can say that I accomplished one out of two of my goal. Once I got home on Friday I was able to find a different lady to be able to help me learn the numbers one through ten however there was no good video for ten through twenty so I found a picture of each individual hand motion. On week one I had no struggles, but I’m positive that it won’t stay like that for weeks to come. I had to change my entire weekly plan because I realized that my goal was not reasonable and even without spending time on it outside of class it wouldn’t be possible. I’m very glad that I was able to notice it before it was too late because now I will also have time to work on my poster board for the big end project. Next week I will start learning how to sign some simple sentences and I hope I will be able to accomplish my goal.

Throughout my life I have dreamt of many jobs a want to become, from a hair dresser to a teacher, to many others things, right now I want to be either an interior designer or a wedding planner/photographer. Since I have joined yearbook I have developed a knew love for taking photographs what you can do with a camera is so incredible. And in October I was able to go to my fist wedding and had and amazing time. In December I was able to see a sneak peek of the pictures a now I can’t stop thinking about what an incredible job that would be. I would have so much fun and wedding photos are something people remember for a long time. So I think that being a wedding photographer/planer would be a really enjoyable job to do for the rest of my life. The second job that I have alway want to be was an interior designer. Since I was in 2nd grade I have watched design shows on TV and when ever I have free time I love going to stores and looking a home decor. I also love creating designs for me and my little sisters room so much so that my mom has had to take away my electronics because I was so invested. Being and interior designer or staging homes for sale and running my own company has been my goal for so long, but now that I know how much money and time I would have to invest into it I know that it’s a really hard goal to reach. Thank you for reading my bling this week I hope you liked it!!!

In the month of march I read the a book called We Were Liars by e. Lockhart. We were liars is a realistic fiction book about a teenage girl named Cadence and her family. Cadence’s family are as close to a typical rich family as you can get. What I mean by this is that her family is a super wealthy and pretty family that looks like their perfect but really they all struggle more than you could ever imagine. The family owns an island called beach wood with four houses on it. One belongs to Dad and Mom, Harris and Tipper Sinclair. And the other three houses belong to there three daughters Bess, Carrie and Penny. Cadence’s or Cady’s two cousins are Jonny and Mirren, and they are three out of the four liars. One of Cady’s aunts Carrie’s has a boyfriend named Ed. Ed is her second relationship since she is divorced from her first marriage of whom she had Johnny with. Ed’s nephew is named Gat and he has been coming the beechwood since they were little, he is considered the forth liar. They spend every summer together and after summer fifteen Cady finds herself falling for Gat. Once they come back for summer sixteen there grandma Tipper Sinclair has sadly past away and Gat and Cady have fallen love. Slowly but surly over the rest of the summers the plot thickens and the Sinclair family keeps taking their money for granted. All of the aunt’s don’t think there gigantic home is enough and they are always fighting with each other for the “biggest house” the Claremont. Because of this Cadence and the liars come with a plan to burn down the Claremont with oil and old newspapers so that there is no more fitting. Little by little everyone who lives on the Sinclair island starts liking it less and less. Or at least that’s what cadence thinks is happening.

I really liked this book because I loved how big a role love and relationships played in the book. Not only was there Gat and Cadence’s relationship but there was also the terrible relationships between the sister and the there dad, and the love the liars felt for each other. I know that wish I had that relationship with my cousin, or even had cousins my age. We Were Liars shows that nobody’s life is perfect, so it made me not feel as sorry for my self and my family’s relationship. Another relationship that affected the book was Cadence’s and her dads. Cadences dad left them when she was almost eighteen and she claims that she will never trust him again. This makes me feel thankful for my relationship with my dad, because even if we fight sometimes I know that it will never get that bad.

My favorite character in We We’re Liars is Gat. This is because I felt like I could relate with him. What I mean is as he started to get older he began to realize that he didn’t really fit in with the Sinclair’s just like how I don’t feel like I fit in with my family. Gat was always different physically because he wasn’t really related with them, but mentally he was different to. He didn’t have the confident feeling that all the Sinclair’s show, and he doesn’t just expect things to be handed to him. He’s actually grateful for what he has and doesn’t take it for granted. One quote that shows this is on page 114, the text states “A pause. And then: ‘ You don’t know me.’… ‘You’ve never met my mom. You’ve never been to my apartment.’… ‘You feel like you know m, Cady, but you only know the me that comes here.'”

One of my favorite quotes from We Were Liars is one page ,134 the book states “The four of us Liars, we have always been. We always will be. No matter what happens as we go to college, grow old, build lives for ourselves; no matter if Gat and I are together or not. No matter where we go, we will always be able to line up on the roof of Cuddledown and gaze at the sea. This island is ours. Here, in some way, we are young forever.” I can’t even begin to express how beautiful I think this quote is. The way it shows how strong their relationship is with one another and how much they love each other is so touching. And I think that the author E. Lockhart really did an incredible job with the whole book and especially this quote because of how deep it was.

This spring break was the best one I have ever had, and I loved every second of it! On the 18 of march my mom and dad told me that I get to go to New York with my best friend and her family! Most people would just be excited to be in New York, but I was excited about the whole trip. The farthest I had traveled was to Colorado in 2019. And we drove for 2 day straight. I was stuck in the back of our mini van with my little sister and a bunch of bags while it pored with thunder and lightning outside. I also had never been to an airport or even on a plane so this vacation was full of surprises. After my parents told me I could go to New York I was so so so excited, but with this there was also some negative factors. Such as my parents using the money they would spend for my birthday presents and my birthday party plus I had to pay 100 dollars to pay for my ticket. Even though that was a lot to sacrifice I was willing to trade because this was a once in a life time chance for me. Once we had checked our badges in at the airport we were waiting by the food court because our plane didn’t deport until 10:40 pm. This was my first time eating airport food and doing all the stuff that most people think is normal, but for me this was the best thing in my life!

After we boarded I didn’t turn on the tv instead I read every pamphlet and listen to everything the pilot said very carefully. Even though I was so excited there was still a huge part of me that was scared. I watch the plane take off and the group of lights behind me slowly got tinier and tinier, until I could see it at all. Then finally I watched a show. Once we landed four hours later it was almost three am and I still wasn’t even in New York. I had only made it to Atlanta Georgia. After two more hours of exploring the airport with my friends we got Dunkin’ Donuts then boarded our second plane. However taking off still we so exciting for me.

Finally we made it to New York! I was so excited to be there and it was so beautiful. On the first day I walked over thirteen miles, and my legs hurt so badly. But I kept pushing on because it was so fun. That day I saw so many things and went so many places, like the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 memorial, and so much more. On the second day we walk about 10 miles and we saw a time square, a Broadway show, went and had a nice dinner. Over the next three days me, my friend, and her family saw so many more amazing things like Central Park, the Juilliard spring showcase, little Italy, the Brooklyn bridge, and where Home Alone 2 was filmed. Over all I had a really amazing time on my trip and I hope to back one day, however I am happy to be home.

In the month of February I read the book called Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott. Five feet apart is a realistic fiction book about two teenagers, Stella and Will, who have been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects your lungs causing them to fill with huge amounts of mucus. This disease significantly reduces the life span of those affected. It also creates at least a five foot barrier at all time with other affected for fear that their bacteria will be cross infected and kill them. The novel begins with Stella who has just been readmitted to the hospital for decreasing lung function. Stella is a neat freak that needs everything to be perfect and go her way. However Will is someone who knows that he is going to die and thinks that his life is not worth saving. Through out the story Stella and Will learn that life doesn’t need to be perfect but is worth living for. This book is about these two over coming obstacles that this disease throws at them and falling in love.

I really enjoyed this book because even if your life is not going the way you planned it to be this book reminds you that there are always people who have it worse. This book brings people back to realize that there life isn’t so bad after all. It make you look at all the simple things in life that you should be grateful for. Like your health, and your bed, and just simply the fact that you don’t spend most of your day in the hospital. These are all things that people like me take for granted and think that after reading this book I realized how lucky I really was.

My favorite character was Stella. I say this because even if sometimes she executed how she felt wrongly, she always had the right intentions. The character trait that caused Stella to be favorite character is that she always wants what’s best for everyone, even if she doesn’t like that person. One quote from the novel I’m reading that shows her caring and wanting what’s best for everyone is on page 62. The book states, “I book it up the steps to the roof… He has to be crazy. I keep picturing him standing there at the edge of the roof, about to plummet seven stories to his death…” Even though Will makes Stella crazy she still wants him to be happy and enjoy life.

My favorite quote from Five Feet Apart is located on page 33, the text states, “ … “incurable” is only a suggestion to my mother, and she’s determined to find a needle-in-a-haystack treatment.. and if I’m going to die, I’d like to actually live first. And then I’ll die.” This quote from the book honestly make me really sad because a teenager shouldn’t have to worry if today is going to be his last day, or saying goodbye to his loved ones forever. He should enjoy spending time with his friends and family, and most of all life. I think that Will however doesn’t think that he has a lot of worth and that nobody really cares about him because his parents are divorced. I think that everyone deserves the right to feel loved.

The possibility’s are endless when you are invisible. Lucky for me today I get to be invisible for twenty four hours. But what should I do with this power? Well for starters I would sneak on a plane and sit in the back of the first class. And I would take peoples food when they got up to go to the bathroom. Not only would I get to be on a plane for the first time in my life but I would also get to go anywhere ever I want. The place I would chose to go to would be London. London is my dream vacation however it does cost a lot of money to fly there and back. So I would fly there for free but by a tickets back to my home. After my twenty four hours of being invisible are up I would still stay in London so I could take photos of the famous sites that I was seeing. Now that I think about it I want to be invisible more than ever, because going to London sounds so amazing. Thank you for reading my blog!

Once upon a time on a calm Friday night in October of 2023 Kendra D’MINI got a phone call from her manager. They talked for over an hour about how successful she has been for the past two years and about how many downloads her most recent song have gotten until her manager finally let out the big news about why she really called. “Kendra I have been waiting to tell you this for a long time now but I think you should know!” She said really fast. “You are going to preform at the… 2025… Super bowl.” Kendra scream with excitement and jumped up and down with excitement. She started crying her eyes out as tears rolled down her face.

It was now February 8th 2025 and the Super Bowl tomorrow. As Kendra packed the last of her stuff she headed out for her house and into the limo that was going to take her to the airport. Kendra D’MINI was were a fluffy pink feather pantsuit and a white beanie. Her dancers were all in black tight body suits and bright pink high tops. When she arrived at the airport body guards in black tuxedo surrounded her as she walked through the doors. Fans were taking pictures at every moment. She road first class on the plane and got to eat calamari. The flight attendants that were walking up and down the aisle kept asking for photos and autographs with this famous rapper. Which she gave to them out the of the kindness of her heart. When she landed she checked into the hotel suit she booked, and went of to bed. She woke up to banging on her door. She had slept through her alarms. Kendra jumped out of bed and ran over to the door. Hair and makeup people were waiting along with a billion suit cases. Kendra D’MINI get ready and put on her outfit, then headed outside where a limo was waiting for her. What felt like a half hour later Kendra D’MINI was singing at the Super Bowl half time show for everyone to see.

I lived on a abandoned island. Life there was peaceful but also stressful, I guess you could say it wasn’t the worst. Back in 2002 I Paisley Louise was on a Carnival cruise to Mexico. While I was out on the deck by the pool enjoying one of the last days on the boat a very intoxicated lady wobbled out there and pushed me off, hopefully by accident. I screamed and yelled for help but no one heard me. So I swam. I thought that I would never be found, and that I would die out there in the middle of the ocean. However here I am now eleven years later better than ever.

I swam for what felt like days (but really wasn’t) until I came across land. Not land with life on it but a tiny little island with maybe 20 palm trees a lot of rocks some grass, and a few birds. Unlike me these bird could fly away to a better place, but they didn’t. For some reason they stayed there in in the palm trees looking out over the blue ocean water. I was stuck on the island for 4 days. The first day I collected fallen palm tree branches and made a hut out of it. The hut didn’t even cover my entire body, just me upper half. Later that day I found coconuts but they were all rotten and chunky. I thought long and hard about how I was going to get off of that horrible island but the only way I could think of was is a fisherman came out and rescued me, and the odds of that are close to impossible. The next few day I mostly slept built sand towers and looked for coconuts. I ended up trying to climb a tree but, I fell down and cut my foot on a rock. That’s when it hit me. Not literally but i got an idea. So I gathered all the rocks on the island and and spelled out S.O.S so it any plane or helicopter flew by they would read it and help he. Finally on the third y day I was able to reach a coconut, I ate the whole think, all the meat and the juice, I even tried some of the hair, I was that desperate.

Finally on the fifth day living on the island I found another coconut that was perfectly ripe. I ate every single very last drop of my coconut. In five days to Coconuts with all I had ate. It looks like I have lost around five pounds and I had no energy. As the sun was setting I was sitting in the middle of the rock O I had made hoping that my hunger would soon be filled. I spent that night dreaming about the simple things that I had taken for granted. For example food, water, clean clothes, lights, and especially a roof over my head. I woke up bright and early the next morning and besides the feeling of a completely empty stomach I felt good. Deep down inside I could tell that today was going to be a good day. Not even three hours after this as I was fixing the rocks that had rolled out of placed in my S.O.S writing I heard the sound of a helicopter! I immediately jumped up and down when I heard this magnificent sound. The loudspeaker of the copter called out to me and said, We’re coming down to help you, don’t move. I listened to their orders and stayed put. As they landed on the tiny island I ran up and hugged them, i was so thankful that I was able to survive this and that they found me. I kicked over my palm tree branch hut and gave the other guy a hug. They asked me first simple questions like my name and what I was doing all alone. After I told them I was pushed of a cruise ship they called their headquarters and told them they had found me. They loaded me onto the the helicopter the pilot asked me a million other questions and he gave me a chocolate chip granola bar. When I look back at the experience I realized that this had taught me many things, including teaching me not to take things for granted. Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you liked it.

The series of Harry Potter has many inspiring quotes by Albus Dumbledore. He a a very wise person and a main character in the books. One of his quotes is “We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” -Albus Dumbledore. This quote has little words but it means a lot. One example that I have experienced where this quote fits in is when a teacher offers extra credit. Personally I know that it easier not to do it but in the long run it will help you and you will benefit from it. Even if you don’t need the extra points and you already have an A, you should probably take the time and do the extra credit just in case you bomb a test or end up with a missing assignments. Another reason why this quote is relevant and has fit in in my life before is when my little siblings especially my brother ask me to play a game while I’m on my phone. In my head I know that the right thing to do is play with him but it takes less energy and is just easier to say no. The last and final reason that the quote by Albus Dumbledore is meaningful to me is when I have to get ready for dance on Saturday morning. Unlike my brother and sisters I have to get up and get ready at nine am. From there I dance until 1 pm and it kinda jeopardizes my whole day, because I have to come home a take a shower before doing anything else. That’s it for today’s blog and thank you for reading.

During the month of January I read a book called The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider. The Beginning of Everything is a realistic fiction book about a tennis player named Ezra Faulkner. He is the school best athlete and best looking, these two thing help him with homecoming King junior year with his girlfriend Charlotte as homecoming queen. Sadly the night before the dance they are out a party and Ezra found Charlotte cheating on him, as he ran outside and tried to cross the street late at night, and he gets hit by a car, his life changes forever. Some for the better, and some for the worst. But because of this tragedy he can never play sports again, he reconnected with his old best friend (from before he became popular), he gained a new girlfriend, and his old popular best friend is now dating his ex. This book is about Ezra Faulkner over coming his new founded insecurity.

I liked this book because I felt like it was incredibly addicting and always kept me wanting to read more. Most books don’t do this for me, but because there was so many things and events going on at the same time there was never a boring part. Not only was there a love story evolving the whole time, but there was also an enemy plot and a best friend plot. I think that Robyn Schneider is so creative and did an amazing job writing this book, and I can’t wait to read more of her stuff.

Cassidy Thorp was my favorite character because she had such an interesting story and was so unique and different . No one ever really knew what Cassidy was thinking or how she felt. Even Toby pointed it out how she an undefeated debate champion pulled herself out of the last round and completely went missing. One quote form the book that shows how unique Cassidy is is on page 103. The quote says “I’d been expecting another of Cassidy’s antique clothing concoctions, and this seemed out of character somehow. But even dressed normally, Cassidy was still someone you’d look at twice without quite knowing why.”

My favorite quote from the book The Beginning of everything is on page 113 “I leaned over and placed the crown of flowers onto her head, letting my hands linger in her hair just a moment more than was necessary. And I suppose I should have tilted her face up towards mine and kissed her… but I didn’t.” This was my favorite quote because you could really see and feel how Ezra felt because this was the first time he had mentioned liking Cassidy even though we could already tell. Not only just liking her but also kissing her was very surprising when I read it.