College On Hold

As much as I was really looking forward to going to college this year, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to follow through unfortunately. There are a few obstacles in the way of me being eligible for financial aid. For one, I refuse to get a loan because I can’t afford to pay back, so I’m not going to sign for an unforgivable debt that I have to worry about paying off for the rest of my life. In order for the government to grant me money, I need to be deemed unable to pay for my own college independently and neither one of my parents can pay for me dependently until the age of 24. They want all kinds of tax information that I can’t get from neither one of my parents, so I have to wait until I don’t “need” them to pay for college.

On the bright side, I’m relieved that I won’t have to wonder how I’m going to manage being a full time mom and full time student because I know that being a student is just like a full time job. It takes the same amount of time and dedication that it takes to have a job, including studying for tests and having homework on a regular basis. Another thing is that in the mean time, I can still be a full time mom and continue my daily hobbies that I enjoy doing so much. I’m even considering getting a part time job to help me continue saving more money as I have been. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason and I’m choosing not to be so upset about not going to college this year because, obviously it was not meant to happen right now. Just as I graduated a little late, I will be starting college a little late & that’s okay! There’s people out there who wait until they are 30 to go to college. So I don’t feel so bad about it! Things will happen for me in the right time, but in the mean time I’m just going to enjoy my life day by day and enjoy watching my beautiful daughter grow each day. This will also give me the opportunity to learn a little bit about home schooling since I really want to home school Natalia.

Even though I was anxious and excited to start college, I’m glad I can catch a little longer of a break before I dedicate my mind, effort, and time into a 2-4 year milestone in my life. I will use the free time between now and then to spend time with my daughter, get a job and save money for a beginners homestead as well as continuing my daily activities that keep me sane. (:

FAFSA Filled Out ✓

I finally filled out my FAFSA which has been on my to do list for more than a month now; procrastinator! But it’s all good because it’s finally been submitted and should be hearing back from within the week. (:

I’m very excited about finally starting college this year. I plan to start in June, which is exactly when my baby girl with be 3 months old and I will be able to attend night classes for just a few hours to get a start on my career education. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I aspire to major in graphic design. I was going to go for my cosmetology certification because it was so cheap, easy and I would be done in less than a year. However, I feel that the more practical decision for me to make is to go ahead and get started on what will take the longer time period to complete, which would be 2 years of college for an Associates degree in Graphic Design. I am stoked about my career choice because there are so many different opportunities out there for graphic designers. I also have been practicing by computer design skills and have started a portfolio.

I am very fortunate that I will be able to be a stay at home mom, attend college and still receive income by working from home. (I am conjuring up some future plans for this!) I am even more thankful that I have my mom who will be at home to watch the baby while I go to school. Baby daddy will also be in the picture supporting me in my college attendance and helping out with watching and caring for the baby, even though he will not be living with us. This is the start of my new and improved lifestyle that I have dreamed about.

GRADUATED!

Earlier in the week I picked up one of the most important and meaningful documents of my life so far, my high school diploma. I’ve officially completed High School and earned my credits graduating with a 3.7 GPA. I am so proud of myself I don’t even know how to express it. I am literally lost with words. This is the only thing I have gone all the way through with and accomplished so far in my life and let me just tell you that it is a tremendous feeling to have. I now have the golden ticket into the next step in my life: college. Sometime next week I plan to fill out my FAFSA so I can get a start on applying for different colleges to go to a couple months after Natalia is born. I plan to major in Graphic Design because it’s what I love to do and I will make great money doing it.

I unfortunately dropped out in 10^th grade, dropped back in the following school year, caught up with all my credits to graduate on time, and sadly didn’t even end up graduating. I was 4.5 credits short of my diploma in 2011. I got involved with friends, boys and partying and goofed off when I should have finished school. Aside from those things I was also going through several hardships that did not help motivate me to finish school. But becoming pregnant with my daughter has given me the motivation I needed to be successful in life so I can provide for her the wonderful life she deserves. I will be the best role model I can be for Natalia and teach her to never give up on her dreams. I will never give up on doing anything that makes me happy and will always strive to be the best at anything I do. And I will teach my daughter the same. I have come such a long way and can proudly say that I’ve achieved something BIG that surprisingly not a lot of people have, especially at my age and being pregnant. I have big dreams and even bigger plans for mine and Natalia’s future, including setting up a savings account for her future college fund, so that we can have the best lives imaginable.

The teacher who helped me with my graduation and gave me my diploma also informed me that she ordered my cap & gown so that I could walk in the graduation ceremony this year in June. So I will finally get to be a part of a meaningful ceremony to celebrate my accomplishment. Although I will be walking with a class of graduates that I don’t know, I will be more than happy to be there for the recognition of my success and will take plenty of pictures to show for it! I am very much looking forward to this celebration, and I’m sure my mom will have some kind of mini celebration at the house when I’m done with my walk. (:

High School Days

Unfinished Notebook Art
[Inside Cover]

While going through some of my old files and papers trying to sort everything out, I came across my high school notebooks that I kept so I can do exactly what I’m doing right now. I was reminiscing my old notes and drawings as I thought about my high school days and how much I miss them. And to think it was only two years ago; seems like it’s been 5 years. Time really does fly by when you’re having fun. I really enjoyed those careless days when the only real out-of-home responsibilities I had were easy things like turning in my homework on time and remembering my lunch money.

This project is ironic – Looks like I was
planning for a baby a long time ago, lol! (;

I found an old economics project that I made in less than two hours and turned it in early for extra credit. I got full credit + extra credit for it (A++). The teacher was one of those guys that don’t show emotion of any kind, but through that, I could tell that he really liked my project a lot. I always got compliments from my teachers on how neat and organized my classwork was. My friends also that I was “weirdly” well-organized when it came to my school stuff. My entire school life I have always loved decorating notes to my friends, my assignments, homework, and I always tried to make the best projects; the ones that guaranteed a good grade. I took some pictures of a few of my “doodling’s” to give you guys an example of how I utilized half my class time:

The Inside of My Folder
Now Cut Out & Hung on My Wall Collage

“An investment in knowledge, pays the best interest.” -Benjamin Franklin

“Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” -Will Durant

“He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” -Victor Hugo

“Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves.” -Ernest Dimnet

“Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” -Malcolm Forbes

Quotes from this website.

Hello, Graduate.

I did it, I FINALLY FINISHED; consider this mom-to-be graduated. I’m a year and a half late but hey, graduated is graduated; and it’s a real diploma, NOT a GED as I first intended to get. I finished my most tedious class, Algebra 2 and passed with a 85.75 B, making a 94.93% A on my final exam. I am overly proud of myself, people wouldn’t understand. In my entire “short” life, I have never gone completely through with anything, I’ve never had a sense of accomplishing anything. When I started something, it never got finished. But now, I feel completely different. This accomplishment has made me feel like I can do anything I want. With this diploma, I now have my foot in the door. I can go to any college, any where, to be anything I want. I feel like I am standing in a hallway with a million doors that I can choose from to just walk in. Now that I’ve finished high school, the next step is to apply for a federal grant to help me get into the college I want to go to. I’m not exactly sure which college I want to go to, but I do know that I am not going to live on campus. I need to be at my home, taking care of my baby while I go to school. BTW, I don’t plan on even starting college until 6 months after the baby is born because in those critical months, I need to be available to my little girl at all times. But after 6 months, my butt is going straight to college.

A preview of the horrendous, stressful, tedious math work I had to complete for Algebra 2.

At first, I though I knew what I wanted to do and become as far as career choices, but now I have a completely different outlook about everything. I have always wanted to be some kind of professional artist, ANYTHING to do with art. Although it can be a flaw, I am keen about looks; I love to look my best when going out. So cosmetics, hair, make-up, nails, anything to do with beauty really was my main aspiration. However, now I feel like making a more mature decision by taking full advantage of the grant/loan I will soon receive and go for the big occupation: Graphic Design. I want to design graphics for people because I am very talented in drawing, creating and developing art in advertisement, signs, writing, etc. I think that graphic design will be a better, more professional field for me to get into because one, it’s where the money is, as opposed to cosmetology. Two, the environment is more ideal for the kind of lifestyle I want to live. I don’t think I would like standing over peoples heads for hours and having an unreliable job in a cheap salon at the mall somewhere. I would much rather be working in an office environment where I have my own desk, computer, and cubicle having reliable hours with great benefits versus dealing with all kinds of people (clean and dirty) on a daily basis. In addition, cosmetology is so cheap and it only takes a year to be certified. I could actually pay out of pocket for my cosmetology certificate and just do it on the side as a hobby. I think it would be something that I could continue to do even after I retire. I could go to school to learn business management and run my own salon out of my home! That would be amazing because I’m sure I will love it then just the same as I do now.

I visited the Florida Gateway College last week to speak with a guidance counselor about my next steps to getting into college and to find out what my options are, semester deadlines, financial costs, etc. Unfortunately they had closed early, 30 minutes prior to my getting there, for the holidays. So I just grabbed a bunch of give-away paperwork to bring home with me and read over. I found a list of all the different academic programs and degrees that they offer. They have everything from the cosmetology that I want to do, to Criminal Justice, Nurse Practitioners, Law Enforcement, Childcare Development, Veterinarian, Etc. They have every course imaginable, on top of having a gigantic school campus as I found out last week. After looking at all the opportunities, my interest for school broadened tremendously. All of a sudden I decided that I might want to go learn Early Childhood Education, so that I can have an associates degree in that major and be able to legitimately home-school my little girl, which would be my dream to do. I also grew interest in criminal justice because, I always have been and still am interested in learning about our laws (not necessarily criminal laws, but laws nonetheless). I’m also interested in Business management as I’ve stated previously. I think this is a wonderful thing to be certified in no matter what your occupation is because you will have the ability to manage your own business whatever business that may be. Also, the business management (as well as the cosmetology certificate) is considered an occupational program, a career in one semester. That only means that you will be finished quickly, less than a year to complete, and I’m sure it’s cheap enough to pay out of pocket. So there are many different opportunities for me, and I’m not sure which one I want to take. I thought I had a pretty good idea, until I really started looking into it. Now I feel like I don’t know what I want to do first! But I’m slowly and surely figuring out exactly what I want and once I talk to a school guidance counselor, they will help me with my decision on whats best for my future and what will accommodate the lifestyle I want to have.

Being pregnant is overwhelming enough, so I’m not going to add any more of it to my life by getting overly excited about all this new school stuff. I have plenty of time to figure everything out, and during that time, I will know exactly what I want to do at that point in my life. Then I will have a lead way to my future career that I’ve always dreamed of. I feel so inspired to have so many different options to choose from. I know that once I start college, it will be just another goal that I will eventually accomplish and add to my list. As I’ve been learning from the book I’ve been reading “Ask And It Is Given”, You never get it done. Once you fulfill a desire, a new one sparks in your mind. And that’s perfect, that’s how people, and the world evolve and expand, learning more by developing new thoughts and desires. So that’s what I’m doing, once I accomplish getting something I want, I want something else and then work towards accomplishing that, and so on and so forth. It’s really amazing how everything works out in this universe, and what it brings you when you’re aligned with it. I am so much looking forward to spending the rest of this pregnancy preparing for it, and preparing for college. What a wonderful way for me to start the new year right. I am ready for whatever the future has in store for me and my little one who will be here in March. (:

Halfway There!

FINALLY, I have finally finished half of the classes that I need to graduate! I feel so accomplished and motivated to continue my hard work so I can finish getting this diploma before Christmas (my personal due date). According to my transcript, I just need a half credit of English 3, a half credit of Liberal Arts Math, a half credit of Algebra 2, and a whole credit of Art Appreciation or any other elective. I chose Art appreciation because it sounds easy, I love art, and I’m not trying to make this difficult, I’m just trying to hurry up and graduate. I created a timeline document in Microsoft Excel to help me determine when I could expect to finish based on how many assignments I needed to do and how often I did them. I concluded that if I stay consistent with completing at least 10 assignments each week, I will be finished before Christmas! The feeling I have about getting my diploma is indescribable, especially because of everything that I’ve encountered in my young life and the situation as to why I did not graduate on time, which is very personal and prefer not to publicize. This has to be one of my greatest accomplishments so far in my life, and will continue to have accomplishments likewise to be proud of because I have BIG plans for my future.

Next after my diploma: Get a Federal Student Loan so I can attend college. I’m debating whether I want to do cosmetology right away, which I absolutely love and would have so much fun doing (and it would not take me more than a year to finish), or going ahead and getting a start on my graphic design degree. I have plenty of time between now and then to contemplate what I really want to do and what would be in my and my daughter’s best interest to do at that time. But again, I’m just brainstorming my options. I will get more detailed about it when I finish getting my diploma. I don’t want to overwhelm myself, and I need to focus on one task at a time because it is very easy for me to get side-tracked.

On another note, I was able to revive my garlic plants that (I thought) got demolished under the rocks that were thrown on them a few days ago. I moved the rocks out of the way and was able to find two that were buried; while one was successfully growing through the rocks and one was not growing at all. I talked to the plants that seemed a little withered because I know that plants are living cells that respond to us humans. So I talked to them to nurse them back to health and gave them water, so hopefully they will come back to life.

I’m really enjoying writing about my ideas, goals, and daily activities on a regular basis! This blogging has given me a new hobby and has helped me improve my writing skills as well as my vocabulary, which is helpful to me in many ways. I can apply this to my school, my work, and even in everyday life communicating with other people. I need to develop new writing skills anyways because ever since I have been out of school, I have not been doing so much reading and writing, which is a shame because I think it is very important to read and write, even outside of school. I can’t wait to bring my daughter into the world so I can teach her how to do all the amazing things that I know how to do that will help her in her future.

The next upcoming Holiday of the season is probably everybody’s favorite, Thanksgiving. I don’t really have any plans set in stone other than the traditional Turkey lunch and dinner. However, I might just do something a little different this year. I’m thinking about starting some kind of artsy project because I absolutely LOVE anything that has to do with art, drawing, writing, etc. I’m thinking of either starting a scrapbook for all the millions of pictures I have with no where to put them and the millions more to come, or making hair accessories for me and my little one; and maybe even other girls so I can make a little bit of money on the side. I’m not exactly sure yet, but I’m very excited about starting a project that will keep me occupied on days like this when I have nothing better to do.

I hope everybody has an amazing week and I will conclude this post with an inspirational quote. (:

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. -Lao Tzu

Back To School!

I am not currently graduated yet, but I sure will be!  This past Monday, I went to Columbia High School to enroll as a part-time student. Initially, I was going there to get my GED. Little did I know, they had an available class for me to attend 3 hours a night, 3 nights a week. So by Christmas time this year, I will have an official High School Diploma! I may be a year behind schedule, but at least I finished!

Today I am exactly 17 weeks pregnant and it was my second night of class. I actually worked on a couple assignments before I went to class today to make up for what I didn’t do yesterday. I’m enrolled in only 3 classes temporarily because the school has not received my updated transcript. However, once they do get my transcript, I will only need to complete 2.5 credits in order to be graduated. Even if I have taken a class before, I am totally fine with having to take it over again. I have a passion for learning and would like to take advantage of the opportunity that I have to learn this information now, while I still can. I bring my notebooks, pens and calculator with me so I can take good notes, which will only help me. I can conveniently refer back to my notes during final exams. Additionally, I can use my notes to teach my child the same things I learned in the future, because I plan to home-school him/her. (I still don’t know what I’m having!) I am so motivated to get this diploma it’s not even funny, and I am determined to get it.

I feel so proud of myself for not giving up. I have dreams of being a cosmetologist doing hair and make-up for celebrities, and creating graphic designs for professionals, and writing and drawing. Most girls my age who are pregnant/have kids already, seem to give up on themselves and their lives just because they had/are going to have children.I have taken the position that this is not the end of my life just because I am about to have a kid. In fact, this motivates me even MORE to do the things that I need/want to do for myself and my future. I would love to inspire more women my age to do the same thing, take back control of their life and do whatever it is that they love so that they can be happy and make their children happy.

I’m going to be super busy getting my academics in order. As for my blogging, I am definitely going to make time to share my experiences and my thoughts about everything. I also plan on making a couple video’s so that I can be better acquainted with my “audience”. (:

16 weeks and 5 days pregnant – Photo taken on Oct. 9, 2012.