Happy Thursday! I'm so glad there's only one more day left this week because I am so tired of working in the office. I keep telling myself every day that I'm going to work out when I get home but I'm always just too tired to do anything other than lie on the couch and watch Netflix (namely: Parks and Recreation). However, starting today, I am determined to start running again and start eating healthier, and I thought I would share what my new regimen is with you guys!
Breakfast:
Peanut butter on whole grain toast
Milk
Green tea
Midmorning Snack:
Granola bar (because that's what they have in the office at work...)
Lunch:
Sandwich on whole grain bread
Carrots
Apple
Water
Dinner:
Whatever my mom since I'll only have a few more months of her cooking dinner for me :)
Dessert:
Small portion of whatever I like.
Workout:
30 minutes of running on the treadmill 5 days a week
Obviously, my menu is subject to change depending on what my mom buys at the grocery store, but this is just a kind of guideline. Hopefully this works out because I've been eating way too much junk food!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Summer Job
Happy Wednesday! Yesterday I began my fourth summer of working as a camp assistant at Pembroke Hill's summer program and I'm already exhausted. I prefer to get work over with early in the day, so I asked for the 7:30-12:45 shift. However, this means that I have to wake up at 6 every morning and I'm already sick of it after two days. Thankfully I'm working from 11:30-3:45 next week, so I'll get a little break from waking up so early. I'm just working in the office this week, which isn't very exciting but it's a nice transition from the school year to the summer.
I do need to work on managing my time; all I've been doing the past few days is writing and addressing thank you notes from everything I got for graduating. I want to start doing everything on my Summer Bucket List like running, going to the pool, and just being more social in general. I'm ready for Summer 2014!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
I do need to work on managing my time; all I've been doing the past few days is writing and addressing thank you notes from everything I got for graduating. I want to start doing everything on my Summer Bucket List like running, going to the pool, and just being more social in general. I'm ready for Summer 2014!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Sunday, May 25, 2014
First Post as an Alumna of Pembroke Hill
Happy Sunday! Last night I graduated from high school and I can't believe how quickly the night past. Yesterday, I woke up, helped my mom decorate the house (so many balloons, red and blue m&ms, and pictures of yours truly), went to brunch with my advisory, had my graduation party at my house with the family (Oklahoma Joe's for dinner was the best), opened up some presents (typing this post on my brand new MacBook Air as we speak!), and went to graduation! I was so worried that it would rain and we would have to have the ceremony in the gym, which doesn't have air conditioning and therefore would have been miserable. Fortunately, it was a beautiful night and everything went smoothly.
After we tossed our caps and took a ton of pictures, my whole class loaded up on some buses and went to Power Play, which I wasn't too excited about when I discovered that's where our after-grad party was, but it was actually so much fun playing laser tag and racing around in go-carts. We stayed there until about 1:30 a.m., the buses drove us back to school, and some friends and I went to my friend Brittany's house. We hung out in the hot tub, listened to music, and reminisced on our high school years. Around 4 I went downstairs to go to sleep but I couldn't fall asleep so I went back upstairs around 5:30, and we just watched the sunrise. It was the perfect start to our first day as rising college freshmen :)
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
After we tossed our caps and took a ton of pictures, my whole class loaded up on some buses and went to Power Play, which I wasn't too excited about when I discovered that's where our after-grad party was, but it was actually so much fun playing laser tag and racing around in go-carts. We stayed there until about 1:30 a.m., the buses drove us back to school, and some friends and I went to my friend Brittany's house. We hung out in the hot tub, listened to music, and reminisced on our high school years. Around 4 I went downstairs to go to sleep but I couldn't fall asleep so I went back upstairs around 5:30, and we just watched the sunrise. It was the perfect start to our first day as rising college freshmen :)
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Friday, May 23, 2014
A Letter to Pembroke Hill
Happy Friday! Last night was our Commencement Dinner which took place at the InterContinental Hotel and it's basically a dinner that celebrates the graduating class and welcomes the juniors as rising seniors. My favorite teacher was one of the speakers elected by the class of 2014, and his speech was perfect. We opened up an envelope that was at our seat at dinner and it was a little questionnaire that we filled out in fifth grade describing what our lives were like, what our favorite things were, etc. Obviously, I was the weirdest and most embarrassing fifth grader ever and for the picture that we drew of doing "something we love in 2014," 2007 Brooke drew a picture of herself modeling. Yeah. So I was basically crying from laughter at how weird I was. Anyway, I'm graduating tomorrow night (oh my god) and I wanted to write a letter to Pembroke Hill (just for my own sentimental purposes, I obviously won't be sending it to anyone), the school I've attended since 1998.
Dear Pembroke Hill School,
Firstly, I want to thank you so much for molding me into the person I've become. Because of your teachers and rigorous schoolwork, I've become a self-disciplined and considerate person who won't let anything or anyone stand in her way.
I would like to address, however, a few flaws in the school which I feel can be fixed. I understand that we're a "college preparatory school," and therefore we must be competitive in academics and extracurricular activities, but the hyper-preparation has, in my opinion, gotten out of hand. Was it really necessary to start having final exams in sixth grade? Just so we could be extra prepared for final exams in high school? Finals may not have had the same effect on everyone that they did on me, but I will always remember crying every night for weeks before any finals week, due to the amount of pressure you put on me to do well.
When students (including myself) become depressed due to their feeling of helplessness and extreme stress, there's something wrong. When students have frequent breakdowns, require therapy and medication, and even attempt suicide because of the emotionally destructive environment at school, there's something wrong. I'm not saying that Pembroke Hill is the only school with this issue, because it's not. However, I strongly recommend that changes need to be made. I've grown up my entire life firmly believing that my grades were significantly more important than my happiness, and there will always be a part of me that resents Pembroke Hill for drilling that idea into my brain for sixteen years.
We need to make it clear to students that their education is more highly valued than their grades, because students will do whatever it takes to pass when they feel like they are incapable of understanding the material. The amount of homework assigned does not determine the ultimate success of the student in a class, rather, how well the teacher teaches and insures a firm grasp on the concept from each of his or her students.
I don't want anyone to think that I don't realize how incredibly lucky I am to have gone to Pembroke Hill, and I will always take pride in saying that I'm a Raider. I'm just trying to say that I wish Pembroke Hill hadn't stolen several years of my childhood in order to prepare me for "the real world." I wasn't in the real world and I wasn't supposed to be treated like I was. When we were given extra math lessons rather than recess and more homework rather than time to enjoy our youth, those were the things that I won't miss about Pembroke Hill.
However, the things I will miss about Pembroke Hill include the first day of school, the BBQ football game, new classes and teachers, Extended Day, Homecoming, the room in the library, choir concerts, May Day, cheering for football games, going to the school where my mom works and brother attends, going out to lunch with my friends, Blue Koi, the bond between the students in a really hard class, all my English classes and teachers, Mr. Laible's jokes, Mr. Young's jokes, Prom, the musical, costumes for the musical, the nervous excitement for the opening show, striking the set, cast parties, Showcase, Friday til 4, advisory, the beautiful campuses, winning the two-lap warmups basically every day in middle school gym, "partners" in younger/older grades, JanTerm, Hawaii, Chicago, New York, birthdays in the Lower School, Ms. Rodes, Mrs. Smith, fellow lifers, my amazing friends, and everything in between. Despite any criticisms I have for Pembroke Hill, I could not have asked for a better school to have spent the first quarter of my life to grow up in. I am so grateful for everything the school has given me, and graduation will definitely be bittersweet. I'll definitely be back to visit and I'll always have my Raider Pride t-shirt. Thank you for these wonderful 16 years which I will always cherish and never forget.
"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Dear Pembroke Hill School,
Firstly, I want to thank you so much for molding me into the person I've become. Because of your teachers and rigorous schoolwork, I've become a self-disciplined and considerate person who won't let anything or anyone stand in her way.
I would like to address, however, a few flaws in the school which I feel can be fixed. I understand that we're a "college preparatory school," and therefore we must be competitive in academics and extracurricular activities, but the hyper-preparation has, in my opinion, gotten out of hand. Was it really necessary to start having final exams in sixth grade? Just so we could be extra prepared for final exams in high school? Finals may not have had the same effect on everyone that they did on me, but I will always remember crying every night for weeks before any finals week, due to the amount of pressure you put on me to do well.
When students (including myself) become depressed due to their feeling of helplessness and extreme stress, there's something wrong. When students have frequent breakdowns, require therapy and medication, and even attempt suicide because of the emotionally destructive environment at school, there's something wrong. I'm not saying that Pembroke Hill is the only school with this issue, because it's not. However, I strongly recommend that changes need to be made. I've grown up my entire life firmly believing that my grades were significantly more important than my happiness, and there will always be a part of me that resents Pembroke Hill for drilling that idea into my brain for sixteen years.
We need to make it clear to students that their education is more highly valued than their grades, because students will do whatever it takes to pass when they feel like they are incapable of understanding the material. The amount of homework assigned does not determine the ultimate success of the student in a class, rather, how well the teacher teaches and insures a firm grasp on the concept from each of his or her students.
I don't want anyone to think that I don't realize how incredibly lucky I am to have gone to Pembroke Hill, and I will always take pride in saying that I'm a Raider. I'm just trying to say that I wish Pembroke Hill hadn't stolen several years of my childhood in order to prepare me for "the real world." I wasn't in the real world and I wasn't supposed to be treated like I was. When we were given extra math lessons rather than recess and more homework rather than time to enjoy our youth, those were the things that I won't miss about Pembroke Hill.
However, the things I will miss about Pembroke Hill include the first day of school, the BBQ football game, new classes and teachers, Extended Day, Homecoming, the room in the library, choir concerts, May Day, cheering for football games, going to the school where my mom works and brother attends, going out to lunch with my friends, Blue Koi, the bond between the students in a really hard class, all my English classes and teachers, Mr. Laible's jokes, Mr. Young's jokes, Prom, the musical, costumes for the musical, the nervous excitement for the opening show, striking the set, cast parties, Showcase, Friday til 4, advisory, the beautiful campuses, winning the two-lap warmups basically every day in middle school gym, "partners" in younger/older grades, JanTerm, Hawaii, Chicago, New York, birthdays in the Lower School, Ms. Rodes, Mrs. Smith, fellow lifers, my amazing friends, and everything in between. Despite any criticisms I have for Pembroke Hill, I could not have asked for a better school to have spent the first quarter of my life to grow up in. I am so grateful for everything the school has given me, and graduation will definitely be bittersweet. I'll definitely be back to visit and I'll always have my Raider Pride t-shirt. Thank you for these wonderful 16 years which I will always cherish and never forget.
"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Books to Read this Summer
Happy Wednesday! With only three days left until graduation, my mom and dad have been giving me a ton of chores to do because we're having a family party for my graduation. We'll have about thirty people at our (tiny) house to eat Oklahoma Joe's, which is famous for its barbeque. It's literally the best and I'm so excited. In between scrubbing every inch of the house, I've been able to get through the first five Harry Potter movies :). Anyway, I'm really looking forward to finally having time to read the books I want to read rather than what I have to read for school (Heart of Darkness was nearly the death of me). Most of the books are classics or just a book that caught my interest, which I feel like I should read before going to college. I hope I can read most of them before the end of the summer!
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling (currently reading for the fifth or sixth time -- don't judge.)
2. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (also a reread, it was my favorite mandatory book in high school)
3. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (read this for my AP paper, another favorite)
4. Agatha Christie novels
5. The Cider House Rules - John Irving (because I loved the movie)
6. Ada, or Ardor - Vladimir Nabokov
7. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (I read it this winter but it made no sense so I'm going to try again)
8. Beloved - Toni Morrisson
9. Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
10. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
11. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
12. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
13. Emma - Jane Austen
14. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
15. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
16. Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
17. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
18. Ernest Hemingway novels
19. Charles Dickens novels
20. Atonement - Ian McEwan
I'm sure I'll be adding to the list, but this is a start. I probably won't be able to read more than 20 novels in just 12 weeks, but I'll try to read as many as possible. Let me know if you have any recommendations!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling (currently reading for the fifth or sixth time -- don't judge.)
2. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (also a reread, it was my favorite mandatory book in high school)
3. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (read this for my AP paper, another favorite)
4. Agatha Christie novels
5. The Cider House Rules - John Irving (because I loved the movie)
6. Ada, or Ardor - Vladimir Nabokov
7. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (I read it this winter but it made no sense so I'm going to try again)
8. Beloved - Toni Morrisson
9. Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
10. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
11. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
12. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
13. Emma - Jane Austen
14. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
15. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
16. Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
17. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
18. Ernest Hemingway novels
19. Charles Dickens novels
20. Atonement - Ian McEwan
I'm sure I'll be adding to the list, but this is a start. I probably won't be able to read more than 20 novels in just 12 weeks, but I'll try to read as many as possible. Let me know if you have any recommendations!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
The In-Between Summer
Happy Tuesday! I had my last day of high school last week and I'm officially graduating this Saturday! It's funny because I think I felt much more sentimental and hesitant about leaving high school in January than I do now. Maybe it just hasn't sunk in yet, but I'm definitely feeling much more excited than I am sad. Thus far, I've watched three episodes of Parks and Rec and I'm on Prisoner of Azkaban of my Harry Potter marathon (which I always do during an important time of my life). However, I plan to do a lot more than watch TV and work for my fourth summer at my school's summer program (yayyyyy). Here's my summer-before-college bucket list:
1. Camp out with friends
2. Go to the pool
3. Run (trying to get in shape for college)
4. Go to a concert (Miley Cyrus here I come!)
5. Picnic
6. Hike
7. Read (Summer reading list to follow!)
8. Camping at Lake Melvern with the family
9. Plan dorm room (tbh I think I'm most excited for this one)
10. Go to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
11. Paint a canvas
12. Go to the farmers market
13. Outdoor musical (Sound of Music at Starlight Theatre?)
14. Outdoor concert
15. Outdoor play (Shakespeare in the Park)
16. Plant a garden
17. Go to a carnival
18. Go fishing
19. Game night with the family
20. Organize everything
21. Road trip
22. Spa Day
23. Orientation at KU (omg can't wait!)
24. Go boating
25. Class at community college (for college credit at a cheaper price)
I'm so excited for my summer after senior year/before freshman year! Wish me luck so that I don't trip as I'm walking across the stage to get my diploma!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
1. Camp out with friends
2. Go to the pool
3. Run (trying to get in shape for college)
4. Go to a concert (Miley Cyrus here I come!)
5. Picnic
6. Hike
7. Read (Summer reading list to follow!)
8. Camping at Lake Melvern with the family
9. Plan dorm room (tbh I think I'm most excited for this one)
10. Go to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
11. Paint a canvas
12. Go to the farmers market
13. Outdoor musical (Sound of Music at Starlight Theatre?)
14. Outdoor concert
15. Outdoor play (Shakespeare in the Park)
16. Plant a garden
17. Go to a carnival
18. Go fishing
19. Game night with the family
20. Organize everything
21. Road trip
22. Spa Day
23. Orientation at KU (omg can't wait!)
24. Go boating
25. Class at community college (for college credit at a cheaper price)
I'm so excited for my summer after senior year/before freshman year! Wish me luck so that I don't trip as I'm walking across the stage to get my diploma!
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Thursday, May 8, 2014
One Day of High School Left
Happy Thursday! Although I have the AP for Modern European History next Wednesday, I technically have only one day of high school classes left because classes for seniors end tomorrow. It's so crazy to think that, after sixteen years at my school, I'm pretty much done. When I was in the lower school, graduation seemed so far away that it almost felt like it would never happen.
Looking back, I feel so incredibly grateful to have gotten to go to my school. I can't believe how soon it's all coming to an end. Although I'm so excited to go to KU in the fall (I visited again with my best friend from school and roommate for next year on Tuesday!), there's almost a part of me that wishes I could go back and re-experience my childhood at the school I get to call home. From picking apples and pumpkins in pre-school, to practicing the May Dance, to all the sports practices and games, to the plays and musicals, it's been a great sixteen years. There have been a couple of times when I've started to tear up, and I just know that I'm going to have a melt-down soon.
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Looking back, I feel so incredibly grateful to have gotten to go to my school. I can't believe how soon it's all coming to an end. Although I'm so excited to go to KU in the fall (I visited again with my best friend from school and roommate for next year on Tuesday!), there's almost a part of me that wishes I could go back and re-experience my childhood at the school I get to call home. From picking apples and pumpkins in pre-school, to practicing the May Dance, to all the sports practices and games, to the plays and musicals, it's been a great sixteen years. There have been a couple of times when I've started to tear up, and I just know that I'm going to have a melt-down soon.
Carpe Diem,
Brooke
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)