Happy National Cat Day!

Happy National Cat Day! In honor of this holiday (if you could even call it that), I decided to post a bunch of cute cat pictures that I have taken over the year. I'm not sure why I have so many cat pictures considering I don't even like cats. I actually think their annoying and mundane animals, but the ones I took pictures of are so cute that I just couldn't even fathom the thought of not sharing them on NATIONAL cat day.

And the best photo for last...

Kendra and her finest imitation of a cat lady. 

Homestead Farm

Click the link below to watch the video I made of my trip to Homestead Farm! Sorry I couldn't upload the video straight to the blog it wouldn't let me because the file was too big!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plV-SfbO8nU&feature=youtu.be

All Photos by Fiona Whittington

Westover Farmers Market

Down the street from my house every Sunday morning a little market is born. The Westover Market is a great opportunity for locals in Arlington to get an opportunity to help support the local farmers. At the Westover Market you can find apples, vegetables, flowers, pastries, roasted nuts and even balloon animals! All of the vendors are super nice and the produce isn't over priced. This is beneficial to the community because otherwise, you have to buy expensive produce from a supermarket. You don't even have to live in Arlington to have the same experience that I had at the Westover Market. Most areas have their own local market, that have all the same things that the Westover Market has and possibly even more!

Best Donuts ever. If your looking for a place to get fat and happy this is the place to go. 

All photos by Fiona Whittington

Old Town and Fall

Yesterday, while my mom was getting her hair done, my dad and I decided to go exploring around Old Town. It was a beautiful day as the sun was shining brightly down on the trees highlighting the reds and oranges on the leaves reminding me that fall has arrived. I feel like fall is such an under-rated season. People are always speaking highly of either Summer or Winter as if you can only love either the cold or warm weather, but this year has made me realize how amazing the weather is in fall. I like how in the fall it is cold enough to be able to wear a jacket and scarf, but also warm enough that your able to stay outside with out your hands turning into popsicles. 

I left my camera in the bathroom while I was taking a shower yesterday morning and it fogged up the lens, so when I went to take a pictures of leaves outside my window all the pictures turned out soft and blurry.

I took the picture below in hopes of educating you on the best place to go chill/read/get good drinks in Old Town, but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the awesome place I went to!

Also, while trying to look up online what the name of the place was (I obviously didn't find it...damn internet, I though it had all answers?!) I stumbled across this hilarious spelling mistake. 

Drunkin Donuts- We don't care if your sober as long as you buy our donuts!

One of the places my Dad and I discovered on our adventure was Book Bank, a cute used book shop. 

This is a picture of the book I picked up at the shop. It is a historical fiction book set in Australia, so I thought it would be perfect for me as it would be a fun way to learn more about Australia before I traveled there in the Spring. 

I found these creepy doll heads that were in the back of this store that was really weird, I wasn't any particular type of store, it was just selling anything that was made before the 21st century. 

For some reason there were a lot of wig stores in Old Town? No comment. 

My Dad <3

All Photos by Fiona Whittington

Throwback to the days when dressing up in costumes on a day that wasn't Halloween was socially acceptable and even cute. 

10 Tips for Improving your SAT Score

The SAT's are one of the stupidest tests you will ever have to take in high school. It is a long test, that tests you on material that is completely irrelative in measuring your mental capabilities. Unfortunately, all that does not matter because you have to take it anyways to apply to college. Therefore, here are ten tips that helped me raise my score 300 points.

1. Practice.

Practicing for the SAT is under rated. Everyone is so focused on memorizing vocabulary or math equations, which is all great but if you don't practice than those concepts and vocabulary words won't stick in your head.

2. Test Day Tips

The first time I took the SAT, I hadn't eaten breakfast and I stayed at the desk I was assigned during breaks. This means I was sitting in the same chair for around 4 hours.
The second time I took the SAT I took it at a school I hadn't ever been to before somewhere out in Maryland. There was four 7th graders taking the SAT in the same room as me, which was extremely intimidating. I again hadn't eaten breakfast,  I again was to afraid to leave the room, and I also didn't bring any pencils or snacks. DO NOT DO THIS; you will regret it.
3 things you need to do before taking the test:
1. Pack a Snack; A good one. One that say's, Hey that section was hard but here are some goldfish to reward myself.
2. Leave the classroom during breaks.
Leaving the classroom during all your breaks allows you to come back to every couple or so sections feeling refreshed. I promise you, sitting in that same chair for 4 hours will one not only make sitting there taking the test more painful but also make your butt hurt so much. So don't do it.
3. Take the Test somewhere familiar.
Everyone I talk to about the SAT says taking the SAT at their own school or a school they used to go to helps them get focused and do better. This is because your used to the environment and your comfortable working there.

3. Tell your loquacious friends to shove it

If your a Junior a question a lot of your friends are going to ask you, "What were your scores?". In which for your sake and their sake just tell them to shut up because unless their your parent its not any of their business to know your scores. The top way to avoid this question is by either politely changing the topic and saying you'd rather not talk about it because it is a stressful topic or just don't ever talk to the SAT with you friends at all. One of the rules I made up with my friends at lunch is that we don't ever talk about SAT or ACT. We do this because often speaking about our scores can discourage or stress each other out further.

Don't let this be you. 

4. Use the Public Library

If I was religious and I needed to choose a God to worship it would definitely be the person who invented the idea of the Public Library because it has saved my life so many times. The public library is a great resource for the SAT's for 3 reasons.
1. Free SAT help books (These books are usually worth around $20-50)
2. A quiet place to study for the test
3. New Street Cred 
When you tell people you went to the library to study on your own will they will become super impressed and you'll gain major SAT street cred.

Even Obama agrees.

5. Don't get a Tutor

Tutors for the SAT I believe are a huge waste of money. I had 3 tutors who didn't help me improve my score one bit. The only way to up your score is by self-motivation. The SAT is all about things you know, it just takes some time to realize what the questions are asking. Tutor's are really expensive and you could gain the same knowledge from them that you do from a free book at the library (That is if you have a library card, which you should because the public library is awesome).

6. Get this book.

This book is really funny and has great tips on acing each section. It also has a version for the ACT, which Kendra used to study and also found it useful. 

7. Get the SAT Blue Book

I used the SAT Blue Book so I could take a bunch of practice tests and what I found was that the vocabulary on the practice tests were also on the actual SAT. This makes sense because the creator of the book is also the creator of the actual test. So if your following my advice and doing a lot of practice tests than I suggest using this test and really focusing on the vocabulary used throughout those. I mean lets be real if your going to memorize a bunch of words you might as well memorize the ones that have a more likely shot at being on the test. 

Also if you go online to college board and register your book they will give you explanations to all the answers on the practice test. No big deal or anything, but I didn't find this out until I studied from this book for 2 years. 

8. PRACTICE AGAIN!!!!

Just in case you ignored tip number 1, I thought I should repeat how important practicing for the test is. There are so many benefits to practicing for the SAT. One benefit that helped me the most was that the more I practiced the less scary the test seemed because I got used to the complicated wording the SAT used. Another big benefit is being able to go over what you got wrong and learning from your mistakes because the truth is once you go back and realize that the question you thought was really hard at the time really wasn't actually all that bad. 

9. Don't let your number define you.

Whatever you get on the SAT doesn't define who you are. What defines you is how hard you worked to improve your score. This is going to sound cliche, but its the effort that counts. 

10. If all else fails and your score doesn't improve no matter how many hours you have studied, move to Canada!

Who doesn't like maple syrup and hockey?

I hope all those tips helped and good luck on your test!! I hope you don't have to move to Canada (but if you do bring me back some syrup and a hot hockey player boyfriend)!

U Street

If your ever looking for a place to watch 20-year-olds make fools of themselves, go to U street where you can find an abundant amount of drama. It's basically like a free entertainment, and I mean who doesn't like free things?!

I went with my friends Melissa and Kendra. On our adventure we saw a girl getting broken up with, a drunk girl trying to walk in heels ( I emphasize the word "try" because lets be real after a few drinks walking in 5 inch heels just isn't possible), and I saw my teacher Mr. Bregman!

So if your looking for entertaining night and a great place to take some pictures, go to U Street and please make sure to comment your own adventures because I'm sure they will be just as funny as ours.

All pictures taken by Fiona Whittington