hello October!! ft. recent reads, latest obsessions, and goals!

Published on October 1, 2019October 1, 2019 by 💫Ava💫15 Comments

I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers!

Welcome to my itsy-bitsy corner of the web! Today’s post is all about what I did in September and my goals for October! Let’s get started!!

✰recent reads!!

I was able to read quite a few books last month that I had wanted to read for a while!! Here are some of my favorites!!

Caraval: this book is so STUNNING!! I had it on my TBR list for a long time and once I got it I kind of procrastinated reading it, but then I opened it and just read it. I fell in love with the characters and the world-building and I couldn’t put the book down! I really recommend this for anyone looking for a fresh and exciting read!

Pumpkin Heads: This book is so so adorable!! the art is so gorgeous and the plot is ridiculously cute!! It really got me into the fall mood. I love the POC rec and the cute characters and everything! I really recommend this! like just read it while sipping apple cider!

#Famous: I loved this book! The plot was cutely unique and the characters were really funny! I recommend this for anyone whos looking for a sweet romance!!

How We Roll: This book was really cute and tackled a lesser-known illness in an amazing way! I really enjoyed this book.

Verify: This book was an awesome retelling of 1984 and Fahrenheit 451! It was page-turning and hard to put down and I really enjoyed it!!

some other books I read that I enjoyed were: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the universe, Vow of Thieves and The tea dragon festival!!

✰latest obsessions!!

warning: these are mostly going to be musicals because im obsessed with them.

hadestown:

Hadestown is an amazing retelling of the Greek Myths of Persephone and Hades and the Myth of Orpheus and Euridice. Its set in Americas 1920s/30s and has great songs and awesome costumes! I love it so much!!

six the musical:

Six is a fun and unique musical about Henry the 8ths wives! The songs are catchy and the whole musical is really cute and screams girl power! I love it so much!!

anastasia:

Anastasia is based on an animated movie about a historical Russian princess. Anastasia has always been one of my favorite movies, so I adore the musical version of it, the songs bring back so much nostalgia and its playing at my local theatre and I really hope I can see it!!

marvel:

I recently have gotten a little obsessed with marvel (thanks to tom holland) There movies are pretty cool and their characters have complex personalities and cool powers.

playing the ukelele:

I’ve had a ukelele for a while but a few months ago I finally learned how to actually play it. Now I have been writing my own songs and using it to do worship with my Youth Group. After I fully master it, I hope to learn how to play guitar!

✰october goals!!

✰ blog more consistently

✰ practice singing

✰prep for NaNoWriMo

✰ stay positive

✰ exercise more

✰ volunteer at the library

✰ go apple picking

✰ read in a forest

✰read more nonfiction

✰recap!!

September was a great season! I hope October is even better, I can’t wait for my birthday which is on the twenty-seventh!

What did you read/ do in September? Do you like musicals? What is something you like to do to get ready for fall?

✰ keep smiling, ava!!

how to read more during the summer

Published on June 11, 2019 by 💫Ava💫11 Comments

Welcome back to my itsy-bitsy corner of the web! Today’s post is going to be all about how to read more during the summer without missing out on the exciting and warm summer days.

Let’s get started!

☆Read Outside:

A great way to spend some time outdoors is to read outside. Reading outside is really relaxing because you can enjoy nature and enjoy a good book.

☆Bring books with you everywhere:

The wonderful thing about putting a small paperback book into your bag is that you always have a chance to read. Waiting in line? Pull out your book. On a car ride? Pull out your book. Eating Lunch? Pull out your book. The possibilities are endless.

☆Audio Books:

Audiobooks are great for when you’re on the go during the summer. Whether your hanging outside, at the beach or adventuring in a new found city, you can always pop in your earbuds and listen to a great story.

☆Read graphic novels:

Graphic novels are fun and can be easily read in under an hour. Plus, lots of graphic novels have cute summer themes.

I hope you guys all enjoyed today’s little post! what do you read in the summer? how do you read more in the summer? what are you doing this summer?

summer bucket list 2019

Published on May 31, 2019 by 💫Ava💫18 Comments

Welcome back to my itsy-bitsy corner of the web! Summer is coming! And I am so excited! In today’s post, I am going to be sharing my Summer Bucket list!

Let’s get started!

☆ grow my audience: I want to grow my audience more and stay more consistent on my blog and my socials

☆Make summer themed lifestyle posts: I want to make more summer lifestyle posts. If you have any ideas, comment down below!

☆ Host blogging activity: I have always wanted to do this! Hopefully this summer I can 😀

☆ Start my blog design business! (I’m starting it sometime in June)

☆ Start Youtube Channel: I have always wanted to do this, Hopefully, it will be live sometime in August!

☆ Post three times a week: I want to make my blog exciting and have new posts more frequently

☆ Post more photography: A lot of people like my photography, so I am going to try to post more of it.

☆ Read Less: I actually want to read less this summer. Last summer I read 50 books, but this summer I only want to read 25. I want to spend more time outside and with my friends and family, instead of chilling in my room and spending the whole day reading.

☆Read more nonfiction: I read way too much fiction. Fiction is amazing, but I also want to develop more skills this summer and learn more. So I am going to try to read at least 10 nonfiction books.

☆Get ahead of my TBR list: There are so many books that I haven’t read that I really want to read. This summer I want to read some of those books.

☆ Draft the rest of my novel: I wrote a bit of my novel during Camp Nano and I really want to finish it. I love the story so much and I hope that it can become published. I plan to work on it a little bit this summer.

☆ Write every day: I started a diary a while back and I want to finish it and start writing every day again.

☆ Write more poetry: I love writing poetry, but I haven’t really had a lot of time for it. I want to work on it this summer.

☆ Study More: In the fall I am going into high school and I want to make sure that I study during the summer so I won’t forget everything I learned before.

☆ Practice Math: Math is not my best friend, so I want to do some math warm-ups every day.

☆Sign up for college classes: I got accepted into two colleges’ College Credit Plus program, so I want to spend some time picking out the classes I want to take in fall.

☆ Get my nails painted: I got a nail salon certificate for Christmas and thought it would be perfect to use in the summer. I’m thinking about painting them yellow, or white.

☆ Take some morning runs: I want to start running every morning, and exercising a bit more.

☆ Make some money: I am saving up for a Mac, and new camera and an Ipad Pro. I want to start some buisness and make some money during the summer to go towards my savings and so I can have some extra cash.

☆ Volunteer: I really want to volunteer at the library or the animal shelter. I think it will be a fun way to help support organizations I love.

☆ Spend more time with friends: I have a lot of great friends, but sometimes I don’t always get to spend time with them, because of everyone’s schedules. I hope to spend more time with them and develop deeper friendships with them

☆ Go thrifting: I have found some really cute clothes and local thrift shops and I hope to go there again with one of my friends that are obsessed with vintage clothing.

☆ Learn More French: I love french, and I want to really take some time to learn it.

☆Practice more piano: I love the piano, and now that I am a worship leader in my youth group, I want to be the best pianist I can be.

☆Practice Clarinet: I love clarinet and I want to practice it so I can do well when I go into the intermediate group.

☆ Write songs: I love singing and songwriting and I really want to write a song.

☆ Use my uke: I don’t always use my ukelele and I want to use it more this summer.

☆ Learn some French songs: I think this will be a fun way to practice French.

☆ Go to the movies: A lot of great movies are coming out and it would be really fun to go to the movie theatre to see them.

☆ See a musical: I love musicals and I would love to see one!

☆Go to the beach or swimming: I would really love to go to the pool or the beach.

☆ Go to the funfest: Our city has a fun festival every summer and I would love to go with one of my friends.

☆ Get boba tea: I love Boba and I really would love to get some.

I hope you all enjoyed my Summer Bucket List! I hope this post inspires you to have a fun summer!

What’s on your summer bucket list?

What movies are you excited about?

Do you want to have a retro summer like me?

how to learn a language faster

Published on April 26, 2019April 26, 2019 by 💫Ava💫29 Comments

Welcome back to my itsy-bitsy corner of the web! So if you didn’t know, I LOVE LANGUAGES. I am trying to learn French, Japanese, Korean and Swahili. I have only gotten far in French so far. So in today’s post, I wanted to share some tips on how to learn a language faster.

One of my favorite ways to learn new languages is to use duolingo! Duolingo is a free app and website that helps you learn languages. I use this a lot and It really helps!

Duolingo is fun and engaging and I really recommend it for anyone who wants to learn a new language Let’s move on to the tips!

Study the language every day. Find little ways to use the words of your chosen language each day
- Language learning is based on repetition — repeating something into your brain over and over again until you remember it. If you break too long between study sessions, you are much more prone to forget what you learned last time and you will waste valuable study time going back over what you’ve already learned.
- You can cut down on this wasted time by studying every day. There are no miraculous short cuts when it comes to language learning — you just need to commit.
Watch, listen, read and write in your chosen language. Immersing yourself in a language means doing all of the activities you would normally do in your native tongue, through your new language — whether that’s reading, writing or listening.

This is one of my favorite ways to learn languages because you don’t really have to do much work, you just listen or read.

Possibly the easiest thing you can do is watch television shows or movies in the language you are trying to learn. Try to avoid subtitles, as you will tend to rely on them. To make things easier, try to watch shows or movies whose plots you are already familiar with — like kids’ cartoons or dubbed versions of English movies — knowing the context will help you to decipher the meanings of words and phrases.
You should also attempt to read and write in your new language. Get a newspaper or magazine and attempt to read one article a day — looking up any words you don’t understand in your dictionary. You should also try to write a few simple things in your new language –whether it’s a pretend postcard or a shopping list.
Download podcasts or tune in to radio stations in your new language. This is a great way to immerse yourself in the language while you’re on the go. Not only does this help with your listening comprehension, but it also allows you to hear the correct pronunciation of common words and phrases.
Listening to songs in different languages is fun too!

3. Learn the alphabet of the language you are learning, if necessary. It will make it significantly easier for you and you will be able to read and pronounce words, which will help you memorize them with greater ease. Plus, it is better for you to be sounding the words out rather than looking at the romanization for the words.

4. Have fun! The most important part about learning a language is having fun and enjoying it! Try to use your skills to communicate with others online or have a penpal that speaks the language your learning!

I hope these tips helped you! thanks for reading!

Are you learning any languages? What languages do you speak?

my top five favorite female book characters

Published on March 8, 2019March 8, 2019 by 💫Ava💫10 Comments

Happy international women’s day! If you are a girl then YOU GO! Welcome to my itsy-bitsy corner of the web!

In honor of international women’s day, I am going to be sharing some of my favorite female book characters! It was quite hard to narrow them all down to five, but i am happy with my choices!

1. Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is the intelligent and witty heroine featured in Charlotte Bronte’s; Jane Eyre.

I love Jane so much! She is such an incredible character and this is why. She was tough, smart and quite independent, but what shocked me was how she held her tongue. Jane Eyre is set in an era where women were considered less than men. Women were not allowed to do many things that we women can do now. What I loved about Jane was how she knew how to be bold and still respectful. She could tell any man off with class, which is really cool.

Here are some examples of her witty remarks.

“I would always rather be happy than dignified.”

“’I am not an angel,’ I asserted; ‘and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself.”

“I am no bird, and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.”

2. Anne Shirley

Anne Shirly is the bright and spunky kindred spirit from Anne of Green Gables.

Anne has always been one of my favorite characters! She is clever, fun and so imaginative. I can relate to her so much. Here are some of my favorite quotes from her books.

“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”

she is so adorable and just a sweet smol character.

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”

“People laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas, you have to use big words to express them, haven’t you?”

YES ANNE THAT IS SO TRUE haha

3.Scout Finch

Scout ( Jean Lousie) Is the amazing narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird. She is such a bright young girl and its really cool seeing the setting and era through her eyes. Scout is bold and such an interesting character. She is intelligent and, by the standards of her time and place, a tomboy. Scout has a combative streak and a basic faith in the goodness of the people in her community. As the novel progresses, this faith is tested by the hatred and prejudice that emerge during Tom Robinson’s trial. Scout eventually develops a more grown-up perspective that enables her to appreciate human goodness without ignoring human evil. Here are some of scouts best quotes:

Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.

4. Cress

Cress is the adorable damsel in distress from the lunar chronicles who is waiting for her prince in shining armor to save her. CRESS IS SO PRECIOUS. I love cress, because sometimes in really good books it is hard to see girly girls represented fairly. In many books, I read the heroine is usually a tomboyish, bold girl who doesn’t want love. But cress is the opposite. Cress is a coding genius that loves opera and romance. AND SHE IS SUCH A CUTE CHARACTER! I really love her sooo much! Later in the book, Cress learns the truth about love and she lives happily ever after with her dashing hero until the next book comes and there’s a whole war. 😉

quotes:

“Maybe there isn’t such a thing as fate. Maybe it’s just the opportunities we’re given, and what we do with them. I’m beginning to think that may be great, epic romances don’t just happen. We have to make them ourselves.”

5. Jo March

Jo is the bright, aspiring writer in Little Women. is based on Louisa May Alcott herself, which makes the story semi-autobiographical. Jo has a temper and a quick tongue, although she works hard to control both. She is a tomboy and reacts with impatience to the many limitations placed on women and girls. She hates romance in her real life and wants nothing more than to hold her family together.

Quotes:

“I like good strong words that mean something…”

“I’ll try and be what he loves to call me, ‘a little woman,’ and not be rough and wild, but do my duty here instead of wanting to be somewhere else,”

“I want to do something splendid before I go into my castle, something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead. I don’t know what, but I’m on the watch for it, and mean to astonish you all someday. I think I shall write books, and get rich and famous, that would suit me, so that is my favorite dream.”

I love books, and I love these amazing and inspiring female characters! I hope you all enjoyed this post!

What are your favorite female book characters? What women inspire you?