Hey daydreamers! You guys love my routine/day in the life type of posts and I always have a TON of fun making them, so I decided to do an after-school routine now that school’s back! Also, thank y’all so much for all of your amazing post suggestions on last week’s post, I have sooo many ideas now and I’m really grateful for your help!
Normally I do routine posts as sort of a “vlog” where I take pictures and write down what I did throughout the day, but I decided it’d be easier to write what I typically do after school and add some pictures (and Bitmojis) with it. Let’s get right into it!
Hey daydreamers! I’m BACK, and in full swing, thanks to a random burst of inspiration and motivation to blog. 😂 I have been SO BUSY the past couple of weeks, because I just started school! And let me just tell you…adjusting from having absolutely zero obligations or due dates, 80% free time, and being so insanely bored that I was way too excited for school to start than the average 7th grader should be, to 30 hours of homeschool/homework a week, a full school day 3x a week, cheer twice a week, dance four times a week, chores, AND keeping up with friends has been HARD. On top of that, I had a *lovely* sty that only just went away and some serious writer’s block, so I definitely needed the 2/3-week break I took! However, I’m SO grateful to be back at school, in a routine, and seeing my friends. I definitely prefer being busy to being bored, even if it’ll take a bit of adjusting at first!
Anyway, I’m back and I have a super fun post this week! I’ve seen a couple of “Dear Future Self” letter posts lately, and I really wanted to write one too! I decided to write this to myself on the last day of 8th grade, meaning I just completed junior high. If I (hopefully!) still have this blog in 2 years, I’ll revisit this letter and respond to myself! Here’s the letter I wrote [anything un-italicized and in brackets like this is stuff I added to the letter to make more sense to you!]
Dear future self,
Hey! It’s the 12-year-old (almost 13) version of you, from September 4, 2020. My first day of 7th grade was Monday, August 24th, and you just had your last day of 8th grade today! Woohoo, you MADE IT! I hope finals went well and that this summer will be totally awesome.
Junior high so far is EASY – it’s just like riding a bike! Except the bike is on fire and you’re on fire and everything’s on fire and you’re drowning in a pile of homework. In all seriousness, even though it can be super stressful and is a huge jump from 6th, I’ve been really enjoying 7th, even with the new building and the limited seats and masks and all that, it’s been SO good to be busy, even if that means a few math tests!
I hope that you’re still blogging, even if it’s not every week, and you’re still best friends with Taylor, Riley, Barkley, Lulu, & Arrow [codenames, lol]. PLEASE tell me that everything is back to normal, or at least almost normal, and that 2021 and 2022 have been *way* better years than 2020. 2020 stinks even more than Chewy’s butt when he needs a bath, and that’s saying something, [especially considering I don’t normally say butt on my blog lol]. What is the world even like now? Do you have social media? Are masks still a thing? Can you hug random people if you felt so inclined? Is the world + life in general getting better?
What’s been the best and worst things about junior high? Have you made more new friends? Have you done homework or blogged in a coffee shop yet? 🙂 Did you ever write that novel you keep putting off? Are you still dancing? Did you make company? Are you still in cheer? Have you done an extension or full-up yet? Are you on track to playing Clara in the Nutcracker someday? What does your room look like now? What is your little sister like? What are YOU like? Did you like your teachers, your classes, your schedule this year?
Your 12-year-old self is doing pretty good and is definitely enjoying life and having fun but is definitely a little stressed. XD I want to be a journalist/reporter or an endocrinologist when I grow up, and I listen to Taylor Swift, Kenzie, the Jonas Brothers, and Surfaces – ooh, and the Hamilton soundtrack, which just came out on DIsney+! I’m terrified and excited about the school year ahead, and it also freaks me out to think I’ll be 14 when I’m reading this (and 13 way too soon)! Right now I’m trying to read my Bible every night, trying to memorize more verses, and I hope you still are! How was Camp *insert name* last summer? What session did you go to? Was it as fun as last year? Do you still talk with the Driftwood girls? Have you made it past a shoe size 4 yet?
And now for the mushy part: Remember that yourself at the beginning of 7th grade would totally look up to you, and this letter is a reminder of how far you’ve come! YOU DID IT – you made it past 7th AND 8th grade, you survived a global pandemic and the worst year ever, you only have 2 years left to get your driver’s license. You have family and friends that love you and serve a God who loves you even more. DON’T STRESS (hahahahahahahaha) and really enjoy this summer and make it the best one yet before high school (!!!). Don’t forget to laugh at yourself and love your imperfections.
I can’t wait to meet you – and I can’t wait to BE you!
Lots of love from yourself on Sept. 4, 2020, age 12 years, 10 months, and 25 days ❤
Then I put it in an envelope along with $1 in cash, just because it’s fun to find money randomly, wrote “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL THE LAST DAY OF 8TH GRADE” on it, and hid it at the bottom of my sock drawer. I also set a phone reminder for May 2022 to open the letter in case I forget!
And that’s my letter to my future self! I can’t wait to read it in two years and respond back to myself. I hope it inspired you to make your own letter to your future self, whether it be for the end of the school year, at your next birthday, a milestone, your future husband or kids, or the end of the pandemic! I definitely missed you guys and I’ll see you next week!
Are you going to write a letter to your future self? Any tips for starting junior high? Do you like these types of posts?
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Hey guys! Before we get onto the post, I just wanted to let you know that you can now use my code EMMIE20 at checkout to get 20% of your purchase from TwoFifty Scrunchiesthrough August!And if you haven’t already, enter our giveaway here!
Hey daydreamers! For me, back-to-school shopping is a serious end-of-summer ritual. I love finding cute new notebooks and feeling a fresh new start! Actually, when we got back from school shopping, we found out that our school pushed back the first day from August 10 to August 24. I still decided to go ahead and do this post!
I’m honestly soooo ready to go back to school. This has, quite literally, been the longest summer of my entire life, and there’s not a ton you can do (things are opening up now for me, but at the beginning we couldn’t go anywhere!) I’m looking forward to an actual routine, being busy, studying and doing homework (honestly, who am I? 😂) and, of course, cute new school supplies, which is what this post is about!
Hey daydreamers! A long time ago at the start of the school year (haha remember when there wasn’t a global pandemic) I did a What’s in my Backpack post for back to school. I thought it would be fun to show what my backpack looks like at the end of the year versus the beginning so you guys could see what worked, what didn’t, and all the things about my backpack that have changed!
School just got out for me on May 8th, and I’m so excited about summer! I have a ton of fun, summer-y posts lined up for the next couple weeks to celebrate school ending and I’m super pumped about them. Oh, and we also upgraded to the WordPress Premium plan, which means a brand-new theme and no more ads! Make sure to head on over to the site if you aren’t there to check out the new changes! And if you haven’t yet, check out my first what’s in my backpack post before you read this one.
Okay, without further introduction, let’s start digging through my backpack! 😂
Hey daydreamers! I honestly can’t believe that school is starting in a few days. I’m half completely freaking out and half really, really excited! My favorite part of Back-To-School is always school supplies shopping! We recently went a few weeks ago, and I spent the following days decorating binders, notebooks, and getting all my stuff together.
There’s this big event my school has every year the Thursday before the first day of school called Back-To-School Bash, where you meet your teachers, sign up for clubs, meet the new kids, buy yearbooks and spirit wear, and there’s always food trucks and a big presentation. Every year, the day after the Bash, we put our backpacks and supplies together!
Today I’m going to be showing you guys what’s in my backpack for the first day of school, plus how I decorated my binders and how I organize my things!
First, let’s start with the backpack itself. I got a new backpack for sixth grade because I needed a bigger one, since this year I’m trying to just use one backpack instead of lugging around two giant heavy bags. I got it from Academy for around $45, and I love it!
It says Adidas on the front and has a line of black strap thingies (what do I even call that 😂) to hook things like your lunchbox on, and it’s this pretty striped gray/white pattern. There’s five different zipper pockets, a mesh pocket towards the front, and a laptop pocket in the back, along with mesh pockets on the sides for your waterbottle.
Here’s a back view of the backpack – the gray/white pattern is on part of the straps, along with the Adidas logo. Apparently the straps have some sort of “Loadspring Technology” to make wearing it more comfortable, and somehow that helps (even though I have no idea how that works). The straps are also padded, which is sooo nice, since my last backpack didn’t have padded straps and they rubbed and hurt sometimes. Overall, I rate this backpack 5/5 stars, because of the amount of space, comfy straps, endless pockets, and cute athletic design!
Alright, now that the boring backpack review part is over, let’s move on to what’s actually inside the backpack! (This is a What’s In My Backpack post, after all. 😉)
Let’s start by opening up the front pocket! Inside, you’ll find…another backpack? Instead of having another large minibackpack in addition to the other two backpacks I had to wear/roll around, this year I’m using my smaller blush pink minibackpack to hold my diabetes supplies for school and volleyball.
(By the way, if you didn’t know that I had Type One Diabetes and/or have no idea what that is or how it works, check out this page to learn more!)
This minibackpack has a small zipper pocket in the back (where I stash my Skittles for when my blood sugar is low), the main area in the middle zipper, and a phone/wallet pocket in the front. I got this awhile ago, so I can’t remember how much it was, but it’s from the Art Class line at Target.
Since at school I can keep my insulin and Glucagon (this special emergency medicine that’s kind of like an Epi-Pen) with the nurse, I only need to have my phone (not shown), an extra insulin pump site (the baggie in the top left corner), some applesauce to take when I’m low, an extra blood glucose meter (in the black bag), some fruit leather and a granola bar for when I’m hungry, and Starburst, skittles, and fruit snacks to take when my blood sugar is low.
In the next mesh pocket, I have my pencil bag, a hole puncher, mini stapler, and a whiteboard eraser. (Ignore the blurred blobs on the eraser, that’s just to cover up my full name, which was written on there.)
Let’s take a look inside my pencil case! I got it from Walmart, and it has this pretty holographic marble pattern that I love. It’s surprisingly roomy and really cute! I think it was around $8, but I’m not super sure.
And here’s everything that’s inside! I have a Sharpie highlighter, pencils, a pink eraser, map pencils, black and blue pens, red gel pens, Expo markers, washable Crayola markers, a pencil sharpener, tons and tons of crayons, scissors (once again, the blurs are covering up my name), a bunch of scented erasers that I’ve had forever and never used, some sticky note tabs, and finally a gluestick and blue gel pens.
Tip: To keep your different supplies together, use clear hair elastics! When you have a lot of one item, like a boxful of crayons, then you can use a medium-sized rubber band and wrap it around twice. This trick really helps and it keeps you from digging through your pencil case to find all your markers! For extra credit, heh heh see what i did there you can also put different supplies in small Ziploc bags. (E.G. All your pencils in one bag, all your map pencils in another, etc.)
Moving on to the zipper behind it, you can find my science binder, a book of my choice for reading time in English class, and my English book, The Secret Garden. Wishtree is an amazing book from the point of view of a tree that I really love, and The Secret Garden seems interesting, but so. Many. Words. 😳 I am pretty excited to read it, though!
And now for my Science binder! It’s just a white three-ring binder from Walmart that came with tabs and a clear pocket in the back. I drew and hand lettered the cover design myself, and I’m happy with how it turned out! I was going for a kind of desktop look, (a literal top of a desk, not a computer) and I drew pens, pencils, and a paintbrush, two differently shaped succulents, a notebook, and a phone. I’m really proud of the shading on the succulents for some reason, but I think the overall look of this cover is pretty cute!
Inside my binder, you’ll find my tabs with the clear pocket and notebook paper in the back, this cheap green calculator I’ve had since fourth grade, and a ruler that’s facing the other way and looks like a white strip of paper, but oh well. There’s also a book called The Case for a Creator tucked in that pocket, and I’m actually really excited to read it. It’s a journalist showing how science proves that God exists, and it seems pretty cool.
My five tabs read Assignment Sheets, Homework, Reference, Labs, and Graded Work. By the way, thankfully we get to leave our giant, heavy hardcover science textbooks at home, so I don’t have to carry it in in my backpack.
In the next and last pocket, you’ll find my English and Math binders, along with the textbooks and workbooks for each of the subjects. First, we’ll start with my math stuff.
(my textbook)
Here’s my math textbook – we’re actually using a different textbook at my school this year, and I’m really happy with the change, since our last textbook was heavy, very boring, and we never used it anyways. In our old textbook, the foreword literally said “no colors or pictures to distract from learning”. How boring is that? This new textbook actually is colorful with illustrations and it’s consumable, so you can write directly in it.
And here’s my math binder! It’s just a teal two-inch three-ring from Walmart. I printed out some pretty aesthetic gold-and-blue marble from a website called Free Pretty Things For You, and then hand-lettered the word Math with my brush pen! I messed up really bad on my name at the bottom, so I covered it up with a black box and wrote my name over it with a white paint pen. Unfortunately you guys can’t see how I lettered it since it’s blurred, but I used a tall, all-caps font to contrast with the cursive. I think it turned out really cute, and it’s definitely my favorite design I did!
Inside, I basically just have a bunch of tabs (numbered 1-33 for each week of the school year) and some notebook paper and graph paper in the back. The table of contents shows 1-52 since we ordered that many tabs, and then took out the ones we didn’t need. Also, behind the table of contents is my login stuff for the math websites we use for class.
This is my English binder! Again, it’s a purple/pink one-and-a-half inch binder from Walmart. I painted the watercolor part myself to match the color of the binder, and then handlettered the world English in big, tall letters. I also wrote my name underneath in a long, wide cursive, but again it’s blurred. This design isn’t my favorite, but I’m still happy with it.
Inside the binder, I have a bunch of papers I had to pick up at the Back-To-School Blast, and tabs that say Assignments, Warm-Up, Grammar, Vocab, and Reading/Novels. I ran out of tabs that came with the binder, so there’s also two lonely tabs in the back that say Writing and Research.
Next, for the rest of my English stuff! I have two textbooks, a notebook, and a binder.
First, I have my Grammar textbook, which has the most boring illustration ever. In past years there’s been rocket ships, undersea scenes, even one that was Australia-themed. But they really couldn’t think of anything more interesting than a guy waiting at the airport? Seriously? 😂
I also have a Vocabulary textbook, which I’ve flipped through and is pretty boring, but oh well. The cover also isn’t the most interesting in the world, either. I do think vocabulary and English in general is pretty fun, though, so hopefully this textbook won’t be too bad!
And last but not least, I have a plain purple/pink spiral that matches my binder. It has 100 pages, it’s college-ruled, and blank right now. Also, not sure why I needed to show you what the inside of a notebook looks like, but here ya go.
And that’s it for this super long backpack tour! I really hope you guys liked this post – I had an awesome time making it, and hopefully me showing you my textbooks and pencils was somewhat interesting.
By the way, if you’re wondering where my History/Social Studies stuff are, that’s because I don’t take History at school! Instead, I take a homeschool class with Riley’s mom and a bunch of my friends.
Also, if you’re wondering if I’m public schooled or private schooled, I’m actually neither! I go to a type of school called University Model, where I actually am at school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the rest of the days I have assignments and homework. It’s also structured a lot like college, where you have 16-week semesters, pick your classes, and this year we even all have different schedules instead of all going from class to class together. It’s also a K-12 school, so I’m not starting a new school or anything for middle school. My classes are just upstairs. 😉
Now, it’s your turn! What’s in YOUR backpack? What type of school do you go to? Should I do a room tour or dance bag/volleyball bag tour? Should I show you guys what my backpack looks at the end of the year vs. the beginning? Are you excited for Back-To-School?
P.S. – If you share this post by reblogging, pinning on Pinterest, sharing on social media, or sending the link to a friend, you’ll get three FREE desktop wallpapers sent straight to your inbox! Just leave a comment telling me how you shared this post!
Diary of a Daydreamer 