stop being so messy!

Organization is something I always have to be working on.

I am a visual person. The only way I remember things is when I write them down. I could be anywhere, and I could never see it again, but I'll never forget once I've written it.

I've been keeping a journal for many years, and you can ask me anything about what happened in my life since I was 12 years old. I'll be able to tell you as if it happened yesterday. I just don't forget.

That's just how visual people work.

When I worked as a secretary, during my training period, I wrote down every single direction my boss gave me. When to check the mail, how to schedule a meeting and send it to all the people who worked there, or what to write in an e-mail for clients. I had to answer a lot of calls and send away messages to those who couldn't answer the phone. I had to remember the caller's name, the person he/she wanted to talk to, what was the subject and their contact information. It was a lot of things to remember, and if I didn't have a pen and paper to write on, I would quickly forget and my work wouldn't be effective.

On Tuesday at Institute, one of our classmates said she says "yes" to a lot of things. I am exactly like that. It's hard for me to say no to anyone, especially to those whom I care. Sometimes I say yes simply because I forget what I have to do. The other day, I had to take my road test, and I almost accidentally set up an appointment at CIBC. Dumb! If I hadn't set up a reminder on my phone, I would've to try to clone myself. Or I would totally forget about my road test and not even take it.

Our generation has the ability of multi-task. That is a fact. But that also brings us a lot of anxiety and stress because it's hard to focus and prioritize. I am speaking, in general. I know a lot of people can prioritize just perfectly. My sister is one example of that. She goes to the gym three times a week religiously. She knows that every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10:30 a.m. she will be at the gym for 1:30 hours. And she doesn't miss one day, except for when she is REALLY sick or when she is out of town. Wish I was like that.

But don't feel hopeless. I am a living proof that we can learn how to prioritize. I am an anxious person, and I usually want to do everything. I even count how many seconds it will take me to do something. I time everything. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

So over the years, I've come up with different organizing methods and the ones that worked best for me are schedules. I am able to see everything I have to do and set up a time for each task.

I was very excited playing around with inDesign that I ended up creating this schedule. It starts at 12 p.m. because I know I can't function in the morning. You have to be realistic when scheduling your day. Plus, I am usually at school in the mornings, and weekends are sacred, if I can, I will not set up an alarm for the next day. I ended it at 10 p.m. because I need to start sleeping 8 hours. I've been having 4:30-5 hours of sleep and this is killing me!

My friend gave me the idea of sharing this schedule with you guys, so here it goes! :) you can even edit it to be suitable for your life! Click here to download the file, and have fun!

I made one for CreCommers and other for real people! haha

I hope this helps you a lot, it's been helping me! And remember, TAKE IT EVERYWHERE YOU GO!

p.s.: always use a pencil to write on it, your priorities may change over the days. ;)

If you'd like to see more organizing tips, click here.

• Tell me how you organize your day and if this schedule was helpful in the comments!

learning = saving money

If there's one thing I really like doing is shopping. Although, I hate spending too much money on food. I think it's just wasting money to make me fatter, which I really don't need!

Like every person that goes living in another country, when you leave your culture, you leave your gastronomic taste behind as well. But there are somethings that we just can't live without. I'm going through that.

In the beginning everything is new, you're discovering new places, tastes, people... Long-story-short, you don't miss anything that you left behind. Believe me, after six months, your heart will just feel out of place. You'll look at your old pictures, old friends, old life, and you will miss it. But don't worry, there's nothing you can't do.

One of my favourite things to do in Brazil was to go out to eat sushi. I love sushi and I could live of it. However, I knew Canadian sushi wouldn't be the same. Sushi is different in every country. Including Brazil. We have strawberry, cream cheese, and guava sushi, can you picture that? It's DELICIOUS!

Sushi is expensive everywhere (though here in Canada is way cheaper than it is in Brazil). I used to pay a lot of money, and I would go out to eat sushi at least 3-4 times a week - that's how much I love sushi hahaha.

I never had the guts to make sushi myself in Brazil. I knew it was too hard to make the rice, it took a long time, and I'm not the type of person who is very patient to cook. But the other day, I went to Safeway with my mom and I found Sushi Rice. That got me very excited. I looked at the back of the package and I read that you only had to cook it with water and add a little bit of vinegar once finished. Then I got seaweed and salmon and went home.

There is one type of sushi I love that I've never seen it here in Winnipeg. It's called Hot Philadelphia. Our Philadelphia sushi is different then the one I ate here. It had yam tempura, cucumber, avocado (i'm still having a little hard time getting used with the avocado in the sushi), cream cheese, and smoked salmon on top of the seaweed. Ours is just salmon and cream cheese, but Hot Philadelphia is deep fried.

So the next day, after I went to Safeway, I made Philadelphia and Hot Philadelphia for lunch. And it worked!

And here's the result:

It was SO GOOD!

If you want to try, it's SUPER easy to make.

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients: 

Sushi Rice:

1 cup Sun Rice Sushi Rice
2 cups water

Directions: Follow package's instructions to cook rice, and once it's done, add 3-4 tbsp vinegar and let it cool.

Frying batter:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup water (sometimes a little bit more, or a little bit less)
1 tbsp baking powder

Directions: mix all ingredients together until homogeneous.

Tare sauce p.s.: it's a lot of sauce, you can keep it in the refrigerator and use it several times.:

500 ml Sake
500 ml Soy sauce
500 g Sugar

Directions: Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium pan on a medium heat. When it starts boiling, turn the heat down and keep mixing it until it's thick. Let it cool.

Sushi filling:

Seaweed
Salmon
Cream cheese

Directions: Once rice is cold, place a seaweed sheet on top of a sushi mat - note that there is two sides: a glossy one and a coarse one. The glossy side should be facing the mat. Moist your hands with water and grab a handful of rice. Press the rice unto 3/4 of the sheet. Cut a string of salmon and place it in the middle of the rice part. Grand a handful of cream cheese and place it besides the salmon. Start rolling on the part that has rice. Cut the roll in half. Dip it in the frying dough and deep fry it.

Enjoy!


Happy last days of reading week! :)

why i am so obsessed with the 70s

Yes, exactly, I am obsessed with the 70's lately!

I've been watching a Brazilian soap opera (love) that takes place in the 70s and wishing I was born during that time. Seriously! Haha

The 70s represented a revolutionary time around the world. To South America, it was the Americanization era; it was the first period where the world was becoming globalized. In Brazil, people started listening to American songs much more than Brazilian songs and everyone wanted to have imported products.

Historically, there was a lot of important happenings. Nixon resigned his presidential post; it was still the second-wave feminism period where women focused on issues like workplace, domestic violence, sexuality, and family. Jacqueline Kennedy became an Onassis.

It was the disco era. The Bee Gees, the Jackson 5, Elton John, Saturday Night Fever, Disco clubs, flares, platform shoes, boho tops, bright colours, were all part of people's daily lives that time. It was also the hippie era. Peace and love.

It was the evolution era for the whole world.


If you have the chance, take a look at one - or several, or all - episode of Boogie Oogie here (i know it's in portuguese, but you don't really need to understand the dialogue). They did a great job showing exactly how the seventies were in Brazil. Pay attention to the small details. The decor, the products they use - they even show the actual packaging from that time), how they communicate - we don't even realize, but communication was so hard without cellphones, or smartphones. By the way, the soundtrack: AMAZING!

I'm a very detail-oriented person, even when sometimes I don't seem to be. I love when people are so careful showing instead of telling.

And of course, just a little song to animate your reading! :)

• What's your favourite past time? The 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s or the present? Let me know in the comments! :)