camping essentials in florida

 

Camping is one of the best outdoor activities there are. You get to appreciate nature in all of it glory, you get to sort of unplug for a little while, and you get to relax and disconnect yourself from all of the pressure and stress of the civilized world. It’s like when I go camping everything going on in my life juts gets paused and I get to breathe and enjoy down time without pressures. There are two ways to go camping. The first one is with an RV and then you get commodity, and comfort but you lose most of the nature factor. The second way is by roughing it out with tents, it is not as comfortable and you may get some back pain but it is the best way (in my opinion) to experience nature. My family and I just went camping around the Orlando, Florida area and it was a whole new experience to me. Trust me when I say this, camping in Florida is nothing like camping anywhere, you get humidity, heat, gators, and a bunch of crazy stuff that you probably won’t have to worry about if you are planning on camping anywhere else. But if you happen to be around Florida and want to go camping, which I totally recommend you do, here are a few essentials you will need.

 

A fan or an ac unit. Most camp sites now a day have their own generator so finding a electricity source is not as hard as it seems. But finding an area where air flows is actually pretty hard. Especially if you go camping on spring or summer without a fan or ac you would probably die during the night of heat stroke. Maybe that is a little to exaggerated, but it does get extremely hot inside the tent and the Florida heat/humidity will definitely just make things a lot more uncomfortable.

Another essential is water. Going along with the staying cool so you don’t die out of heat stroke theme water is another necessity. Dehydration is something very common amongst Floridians not only does the heat make the human body burn through its water reserves but humidity make any activity even more tiring and thus more water is needed. If you add camping to the equation (which requires constant movement and the only protection from the environment is a plastic tent that basically becomes a sauna in hot weathers) you get the perfect scenario for dehydration, and dehydration is the number one buzzkill of camping trips. I recommend to bring about 5 liters of water per day per person so if you are planning a camping trip for two arriving Friday afternoon and leaving Sunday afternoon I would bring at least 25 liters of water with you. Remember to constantly drink water, even if you go swimming, you are constantly burning through your water reserves.

 

Comfortable sandals or flip-flops are a must need for camping in Florida. Chances are that even if you are going on a hike you won’t need your tennis shoes as much as a good pair of sandals. Why? Because basically everywhere you go you will find some sort of water mass and there won’t be many hard terrain. Remember Florida is mostly made up of swampy areas and damp tennis shoes are a bad situation anywhere you look. There are many different sandals that are great quality and are cute and comfortable. Chacos are the ultimate dream but very expensive so if you don’t want to cash out $100 on a pair of sandals there are many great dupes. There are Jandals (Jesus sandals), target “Birkenstocks”, and my ultimate favorite are some tek gear sandals that i got at kohl's for $11! They are comfortable, cute, and great for camping. I’ve got them in black/pink and white/grey.

 

A definite must have when camping in Florida is mosquito/bug repellent. Every kind, every way, and every size; repellent is a must have. When it comes to repellent in Florida, the more you have the merrier. I would get an OFF! clip on repellent, some bug repellent spray, and the bugables repellent bands (I love the coil band but they have many different styles). If you go to the camping section on Walmart you’ll find plenty of options for repellent but trust me you want at least three different repellents. Mosquitoes seem to be stronger here, so be sure to be as prepared as you can be.

 

 

My last must have is sunscreen. We have talked about protecting our body from the sun twice now, but it is honestly the biggest issue around campers in Florida. Getting some sun is good for everybody but over exposing your skin to the sun, especially during summer and spring is very dangerous. During a camping trip you are out in the sun constantly and most certainly you are out in the sun at its most harmful time (between 12 and 3 pm). Consider bringing 60 or 70 spf sunblock and apply it at least every 2 hours. Many believe that over explosion to the sun could be a big cause for skin cancer.

 

 

 

 

If you are ever spending some down time in Florida and have nothing to do for a day or two I would highly suggest camping. It is healthy not only for your body but also mind, and an absolutely fun way to spend the time. Remember to make some s’mores and if you go camping and upload some pictures to Instagram tag it under #pitmcamping and I will definitely check that out! Remember to stay healthy and protected.

Until next time, Pam

What are some of your camping essentials? Leave a comment below and if you would like to share these essentials with someone else you should definitely share this post on Pinterest, Facebook, or twitter!

 

tips for back to school

 

With the end of summer nearing and the start of a new school year just around the corner I think we all need all the help we can get to make this year a successful year, or at least more bearable. So I have decided to add my little grain of salt to the massive pile of tips and tricks for school. Now I don’t claim to be an expert at giving tips but I did just get a high school diploma so I guess I’m qualified enough. Right? Let’s just get comfortable and get going with the tips!

Make use of your calendar! I honestly can’t remember how many times I had to turn in late work because I either left my work at home or I forgot it was due that day. A great way to remember to bring things to school or to do something is using the calendar app. Just set an even for the day its due and put two alerts one the day before it is due and one on the morning before you leave home. The great thing about the app is that it lets you add notes, so if there is something you have to bring in just type it on the notes and you are ready to go. As long as you do this you should never forget to bring anything to school.

Listen to music that helps you concentrate! I tend to be someone who gets easily distracted, and it’s also hard for me to go back to something once I have lost my focus. Once I had to restart an essay three times because once I lost my focus I couldn’t get back to the same mind set and decided to write on something else. I found that if I listen to music and then it is easier for me to keep my focus. The thing with me was that I started singing and dancing after a couple minutes, until one day I decided to put on some classical music because I read somewhere it helped with memory. I not only found that I enjoy classical music but it helped me concentrate! I use a playlist from Spotify called “Epic Classical” and there is another great one called “Classical Essentials”. Another great app is Pandora, just search for classical and you’ll find some amazing playlists. Now, on both apps you can either pay to get an ad free version or you are cheap like me and don’t mind the ads then keep the free version.

Prioritize your homework. I don’t know if this was only just me but I used to do homework in the order of my school periods, this ended up being disastrous because half of my homework never got done because by the time I got to it it was so hard and my brain was already “tired” so I ended up taking breaks and never getting homework done. Then I tried doing homework from easy to hard because I thought that if I did what was easy first I wouldn’t get bored and tired (and I was wrong), you can imagine how much that backfired that I don’t even need to go into detail. Finally I decided to tackle what was hard first and go on from that, I found this to be the best way to do homework because once I am done with what is hard everything else feels like a piece of cake. If you want to give this a try, just start by making a list of your homework from hard to easy and go on from that. Then you’ll be able to experience that empowering feeling you get every time you scratch something of a list. (or is that just me?)

My next tip is about note taking, and since everyone has a different style of learning I have two options for you. I feel like I am versatile learner and I found that I can do both, so if you feel like you may be versatile or learn in many different ways I would try both and see which one I like. The first option quality over quantity, that is for those of who can recall detail when reading a summary or list of titles and subtitles. Try writing neatly and organized because it is better to have little detail but being able to read what you have than having all the information but jot being able to study it because you can’t read it. Use highlighters, colored pens, graphics, and cues. Use your margin, write little phrases that teachers repeat and make them stand out. When I was learning sympathetic and parasympathetic in psychology my teacher said “The parasympathetic is like a parachute, it brings you down.” Like twenty times and I wrote it down and you can bet I remembered what parasympathetic and sympathetic did when I took my exam. Now, if you feel like you have a harder time memorizing then try doing simpler notes. Just bring one pen and one highlighter and instead of wasting time on making it pretty make it efficient and full of detail (it still has to be legible though). Try to shorten as many words as you can, instead of writing “without” you could write “w/o” this will save you time to get more details in. If a teacher repeats something several times throughout the class then highlight it that way it will make it stand out. A great way to study if you are doing option number two is that when you get home you can rewrite your notes making them look prettier. Don’t take away any information though because you are going to need it once you study. I used this method when we studied the world wars in European History because it was very fast paced and there were too many details to memorize and it really helped a lot on the quizzes and tests.

My last tip is to relax. Find some down time every day to relax, I know that school can be very stressful, work just seems to pile up, and teachers don’t seem to get that there are more classes that we have to study for besides theirs. But pilling and bottling up stress is harmful for your mind and body and will eventually take its toll on you. I forgot this on my senior year and it did take a toll on me and my health. My defenses went down and I even got the flu (twice!). Not only that but it also tired me mentally to the point of causing unnecessary anxiety, I even had an anxiety attack while studying for ap psych (it wasn’t fun). In the end you just have to remember that while achieving your goals or passing the standard that your parents or you set. All that matters is that you give it your best. Don’t stress because of past situations. The great thing about grades is that once a grading period is done you get a fresh start on the next one. Personally every time I get inside my head and start over stressing or panicking I like to pray. Praying helps because I get to confide on someone that I know is always listening and will always want the best for me. When I pray for school I always like to ask for him to increase my desire to study, and for help with my laziness and my procrastination. I would really recommend giving it a try. It allows you to confide in someone, and to get what you feel and think out without telling those who you feel would not understand or make fun of you. If you’ve never tried, you don’t know if it would help.

 

Good luck in school!! I hope this year is very successful to you! If you need any more tips or you are struggling with something in particular you can leave me a comment or PM me on Instagram (its @paminthemiddle)

Until next time! Pam.

 

 

back to school must haves

If there was one thing I will miss from school during this year is back to school shopping. The truth is that I just love shopping (like who doesn’t?), but there is something about shopping for school supplies that just makes me feel like I am ready to take on the next year and be productive. I do tend to go overboard, like when I first moved to Florida I think I got every binder that I liked, two pencil cases, about three sets of pens, and the list goes on. And while there are some things that I could probably live without there are some things that are necessary for school survival. With school inching closer day by day and summer coming to an end I have decided to tell you guys about my school must haves.




My first essential for school is something to drink, there is just something so weird about the school’s water fountains that gross me out (probably the fact that last year someone got the stomach flu from drinking from the water fountain at my school), but water is still a necessity. So the next option, the one I prefer, is bringing your own cups and drinks. What I usually bring is either my Olaf tumbler cup that I got at Disney world or a little glass cup that I got at target with either water or iced coffee. This cups are great for any cold drink that you could think of, and look super cute! live in Florida so I need to have cold drinks or I would probably die from heat stroke, plus in my opinion cold drinks are more likely to keep you up than hot ones.

My next must have is a planner. Now, if you have read my top 10 things about me post you probably know I am all about planners and planning and when I mentioned it on that post I wrote a whole paragraph on how great they are and they truly are great. My mind is not a very organized place, I tend to have a million things going on up there, and thus tend to forget little details like deadlines and special projects. Like three years ago I had this huge math project that was assigned on the first day of the quarter but it wasn’t due until one week before the quarter ended. As soon as the project was assigned I started getting ideas of how I wanted to do it, I divided the work between the amount of days I had, I kept mental motes on everything I could do to make it great and get extra credit; but I made one terrible mistake, I didn’t write one thing down. Days went by, I got more assignments, I out my mid into other stuff, and when I finally remembered my math project I only had two days before it was due. I tried to scramble the work together and turned that terrible project in, I knew I had all the potential and ideas to get an A but I ended getting a D and it was all because I forgot about it. If there wasone lesson I learned from that class was to always write down what I really want to get done. If you have ever experienced that situation or you feel like you tend to always have too much going on some days and nothing on others it could be because you need more structure or order on your days, a planner is one way to help you do that. The great thing about planners is that there is a variety of options to choose there are cheap $3 planners and there are expensive $100 planners, there are horizontal layouts and vertical layouts, there are some that have morning day night structures and others that are hourly, basically there is one planner out there that will work just for you. Now, if you are willing to spend between $30-$50 on a planner I suggest Plum Paper Designs, PPD is an etsy store that sells totally customizable planners and you truly get what you pay for.

 

Another must have is a little makeup bag to keep all my essentials. On it I usually keep my EOS lip balm, a lip gloss, hand sanitizer, deodorant, some gum, a couple hair bands, some Midol, and my girl products (if you know what I mean). I used to take the bus during high school, and the bus used to pick me up at about 6:30 so I was typically running out of my house to catch the bus so carrying the “essentials” assured that I would always look somewhat presentable while in school.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My next must have is notebooks and wrapping paper. I have never been someone to pay too much for anything (unless it’s worth it) so when It comes to a place for taking notes for school I usually go to the dollar store and get their notebooks. But I am also someone that will want to use something the cuter or nicer it looks so I am more likely to actually take notes if I like the way my notebooks look. I found that an easy way to make you notebooks look better is if you wrap them with cute wrapping paper. Michaels, target, and even Walmart tend to have some cute paper. Trust me on this one, not only will your notebooks look cute, but they will also be unique, because even if other people decide to wrap theirs, they will probably do it with different paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My last school must have are cute pens and pencils. I bet you have noticed by now but I tend to look for what I think as “cute”, so please excuse my overuse of that word, I don’t mean to over use it but when it comes to school supplies I do go for what looks most appealing. Anyways, going back to pens, markers, and pencils. My favorite place to buy pens and pencils is the target dollar spot, they change their styles frequently and always have the cutest colors, but they to tend to brake easily and they are not the best quality. If you are looking for quality I would go towards sharpie pens or papermate flairs, those are the best in the pen business and their color palettes are huge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there you have it, I think I carried all of this during most of my high school and will probably carry those in college too. But now that I’ve told you my must haves why don’t you tell me yours? Let’s talk about it in the comments! Im curious to know. Als stay tuned on Friday for another back to school post, I am so excited about this time of the year. Can you tell? Haha.

Until next time! Pam.

 

 

Top 5: Books

As some of you may know, yesterday was book lover’s day. Personally, I think reading is one of the best hobbies someone could have. Reading stimulates the brain as it works on memory and critical thinking, it exercises the imagination, and is a stress free activity. Another great thing about books is that there are books for everyone. I like fiction, Sci-Fi, and historical novels, my sister likes romantic novels, my aunt likes self-help books, and a friend likes autobiographies. What type of books do you like? Tellme about it in the comments, do you like romances, classics, fiction? There are books for all ages and all tastes, so there truly is no excuse for not reading. I know that there are some of you that want to start reading but don’t know where to start, so I have decided to share with you my top 5 books.

1. Eragon by Christopher Paolini: I may be a little biased towards this novel because it was the first one I ever bought, but I think it is one of the best fantasy novels ever written. Paolini started writing it when he was 15 and not only did he effectively mix our world with fantasy but he also created different languages for the creatures of his book (much like J.R.R. Tolkien). This is the first book in a series called the inheritance cycle that follows the life of a teenager, Eragon, who finds a mysterious egg while hunting. Eragon decides to keep the egg, and it mysteriously hatches and turns out to be a dragon, what he doesn’t know is that the it is being hunted because it is one of the last three dragon eggs remaining. When the novel goes through Eragon’s life and his experiences while becoming the first dragon rider there has been in several centuries.

2. Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling: if there is one book that will go down in history as the book that defined my generation it would be Harry Potter. Not only did they become one of the highest best-selling novels in the world but also some of the best fantasy/fiction movies ever. If you like fantasy, magic, or fiction there is no way to not read this novel. I won’t really describe what this novel is about because the only way to not know who or what Harry Potter is to have lived under a rock for the last 18 years. I will say though the books are 10000 times better than the movies (and the movies are great so…)

3. Their eyes were watching God by Zora Neale Hurston: I bad to read this historical novel almost two years ago for my English class and I immediately fell in love with it, I think I read it in about three days and we had a whole month to read it. This novel takes you through Janie’s life from a kid who finds the feeling of “love” in a tree as she watches some bees all the way to womanhood who understands the true meaning of what she felt in that tree as she becomes independent and takes control of her life instead of letting society take it. Set in central and south Florida (yay Florida!) it defines racism in the 1900’s as it takes the reader a little into the racial uplift program and the Harlem Renaissance (that Hurston herself was part of). If that doesn’t make you want to read it then I should also mention that some of the characters have really cute and funny sounding names like “Tea Cake”.



4. The Face That Demonstrates The Farce Of Evolution by Hank Hanegraaff: as a Christian something that I have struggled with is knowing how to defend my faith, DISCLAIMER: defending my faith does not mean getting into fights with everyone that doesn’t believe into what I believe but it does mean being able to maintain my faith even when people tell me that what I believe is wrong or untrue, sometimes one of my friends would come to me with all this proof of evolution and I wouldn’t have anything to say because even though I know a lot about creation and believe in it I wouldn’t know why what they say is untrue or incorrect. This is where this book has helped me a lot it goes through the most famous claims about evolution and gives actual proof of why it is not accurate. I would strongly recommend this book for every Christian or for anyone interested in the Evolution vs. Creation debate because in today’s society we are constantly bombarded with information on evolutionism but creationism tends to fall behind.

5. Twenty thousand leagues under the sea by Jules Verne: I read this book when I w about eleven or twelve so I probably need to read it again but this classic adventure/Sci-Fi novel made preteen me stay up past her bedtime just reading away trying to get just one more chapter in before going to bed. If there is one thing Verne was a genius at was detail. He could dedicate a whole chapter to describing a scenery and you wouldn’t even notice it was a whole chapter because as you read you can see every detail interlace forming a vivid image of whatever Verne was writing about. This novel is about Captain Nemo and his wonderful submarine the Nautilus from professor Aronnax’s perspective as he along his servant Conseil and Ned the whaler wash into the nautilus and embark on a trip that will take them around the world. The curious thing about this novel is that the way the submarine is described you would think Verne had knowledge about submarines but in 1870 when Verne published the novel submarines where still very primitive compared to what Verne described which would be a submarine like the ones we now have.

There you have it, my top 5 books. This will be the first of a series called “Top 5” where I will write about my favorite things. Don’t worry though they will be published sporadically, I’ll probably post Top 5’ once or twice a month.

Talk to you next time! Pam.

P.S. my next post will be a back to school post, let’s get pumped for school together!

ten things about me!

1. My name is Pamela, which means sweet as honey. I used to hate my name when I was little and would tell everyone that my name was Rachel (I don’t know why I chose that name, I guess I liked it). But now I absolutely love my name feel like it isn’t really a common name for people my age so it makes me feel unique.

2. I was born in Guatemala (a little county in Central America) and then move a couple of years ago to the US. I was a little sad when I first moved because I missed my family and friends but it didn’t take long for me to fall in love of my new home. I have made tons of friends and I love how organized and clean the cities are where I live (that’s Florida if you’re wondering).

3. I Graduated from High School on May 2015 but instead of going straight into college I am taking a year off to gain some working experience and to grow both professionally and personally. I want to get to know myself better and I mean who doesn’t like to earn money? So I’ll be working for a year before e going into college. Making this decision was really hard for me because I had to put everything in perspective and had to choose what was best for me regardless of what everyone is doing. I feel like when you at 18 there are many hard and life altering decisions thrown at us and so we tend to choose what everyone does and we start “going with the flow” (who even says that anymore?). But usually what works for some is not guaranteed to work for everyone so if you are going through a tough decision, the only advice I can give you is put everything in perspective, write it out and

4. Once I’m in college I will study to become a journalist. I LOVE to write, I LOVE telling stories, and I LOVE the world. I want to make a change by shining a light on what is going on around our society but is not really being talked about or is not given the importance it should. My love for writing is also the thing that inspired me to create this blog, I love being able to share my opinions, being able to pour my thoughts, and if in the way I entertain or helps someone it is an added plus. Writing allows me to have a conversation with someone anywhere and anytime as long as I have somewhere to write, it’s kind of therapeutic if you think about it.

5. I am addicted to YouTube. It sounds horrible but it is absolutely true, I would rather watch some videos that have to wait for a good TV show to come up on my TV. I don’t know why but I feel like some days I just don’t have 30-60 minutes to spare to watch one episode of a show. But with you tube I get content 24/7 everywhere as long as I have internet. YouTube has grown so much over the last couple of years that now you can find series with episodes that are 5-10 minutes long that are super entertaining. I totally recommend you that if you ever need to relax for a couple of minutes while studying of while doing something boring just put on a short video, there is great content out there and its free! Just be careful because before you know it’s been 4 hours, you are still on that “little break”, and you have reached that dark place on YouTube where you are stuck watching a loop of a baby’s laugh or a how a dog drinks water in slow motion.

6. I am a Christian, I love God and I love my church. There is not much I can say on this matter, other than what I believe in doesn’t affect how I talk or act toward people. I was raised and I believe that I have been shown so much love by God and my family so in turn I try to show that same love to everyone that surrounds me. Yes, I may not agree or approve of everything that those around me do but that doesn’t mean I won’t talk or I will think less of that person because in the end, if someone as flawed as me gets loved, why wouldn’t those around me deserve to be loved too?

7. I am super indecisive! It is so hard for me to make a decision that I even struggle with saying what my favorite something is. I once spent 25 minutes on a restaurant trying to choose something to eat! (It sounds so sad and pathetic but it’s true :( I need help haha) do you struggle with making decisions or choosing something? How do you deal with decisions? Do you have any tips? Let me know in the comments, I really want to know, and I bet there are other people who need help on this one too!

8. I am shy when I first meet people but once I warm up to someone I become confident and its hard Yu shut me up. It’s really hard because I will meet someone and I’ll be very awkward and shy and they’ll be like “hey why are you not talking? What’s wrong?” when in reality there’s tons I want to say but the words just don’t come out. I guess I want to make a good first impression on people, and also because even though I am really chatty I am also a good listener and I love knowing people on more than just their superficial selves (sounds creepy and nosey but I find that if you know a lot about someone it is easier to help them and make them happy and stuff like that). So by the time I open up and become my talkative self I usually know enough details of that person to know what I can and cannot tell them or what will entertain them and what won’t, this is not always the case but it is most times.

9. This one is kind of weird, I love paper planner and planning. A couple of month ago I found this “subculture” of planner people that is growing on social media, I think I was on Instagram and saw a cute picture of a planner and then I realized it was a whole fan page dedicated to them and it had like 20 thousand followers and that not only blew my mind but it made me think that I had found my long lost family. It sounds really weird but ever since middle school I have liked making lists and filling out those horrible planners they give you at school (even though most of the time I didn’t complete my lists or didn’t do what I planned in my planners). Once I got into high school I kept buying my planner and filling it up but it just became a place where I wrote my homework and that was it, everything else I didn’t plan and my life pretty much was chaos until I found the planner community. I got my Plum Paper Planer form Plum Paper Designs and I started using it this month and so far it has worked pretty well, as it has a monthly view and a daily view for each month it has allowed me to become more organized. I am even using it to track when I post here and to plan future blog post! Its great and I recommend you get a planner if you feel like you’re life is just out of control. (I’ll probably make some posts about my planner and the community in the future).

And last but not least….

10. I like listening to different types of music depending on what I am doing. If I am just chilling in my room with nothing to do I’ll put either pop or gospel/Christian. If I am on the car or I need to be awake for something I’ll go with some rock, and if I have to study or write something I’ll put some classical music. Right now as I write this post I am listening to Brahms’s symphony no.4 in E minor on the Epic Classical playlist in Spotify. Some of my favorite music apps are Spotify, Pandora, and the music app on the iPhone.

i am back again! and here to stay!

I haven't been doing a good job at maintaining this blog have I? When I started this blog I was ready to take on the blogging world and I made the promise that I would post at least 3 times a week. I soon realized I couldn't keep up with my promise and that it probably wasn't the right time for me to blog. One week after starting paminthemiddle I also started my last and by far hardest quarter of high school. With studying for ap exams, trying to get all my assignments in, and trying to keep ahead of all the important deadlines for graduation I honestly had no time for the blog. But now that graduation is far behind and a new cycle is starting in my life I feel like I am finally ready to get back into blogging (and hopefully this time I am here to stay).

So what’s different now? Well, let me tell you. I am finally free of school but since I am taking a year off between high school and college I want to keep practicing my writing abilities. I will have work, but not homework so I will definitely have time for the blog. I won’t promise to publish on a schedule, even though I do plan to create a schedule for myself (I love planning stuff) I won’t share it because it will be less pressure and I won’t feel as bad if I don’t get to posting one day. With the time I took from writing I gained some experience and had time to plan some posts and brainstorm for post ideas.

 

With all those little changes I hope to maintain this blog and make it my own. This is what I love after all. So I hope you stick with me as I embark (again haha) on a blogging journey.