The Importance of Long Term Time Management

I love blogging. I love the idea of posting freely whether it's a long rant or posting pictures with captions that are just a sentence long, I love everything about it.

I haven't gotten to write too much on this blog simply because I haven't had the chance to, but I plan to change that within the next few weeks.

I was planning on writing a post a few days ago, but I was too tired.

Naturally, this inspired a blog post for me.

I was on the phone with my boyfriend Wednesday night, I had my headphones and mic set up so that I didn't have to hold the phone up and my laptop was in front of me, I was ready to write a new blog post, but I kept falling asleep.

I felt awful for my boyfriend; I believe it was mainly a one sided conversation because I kept falling asleep every five minutes and I would be out for 10 minutes at the time.

I apologized a few times, but I definitely felt like I should've apologized a lot more because I did feel just awful about it.

This will bring me into my topic of today: time management.

Many people can list off the importance of time management for short term reasons, but I'm starting to be affected from my lack of time management for long term reasons.

You see, I'm a swim teacher that works Saturday and Sunday mornings, but I recently picked up an extra shift at the pool Thursday nights to make more money.

When I thought about the consequences this would have on me, I only thought about a few weeks into the future, maybe two weeks.

I didn't think about how it would affect me during a six week period.

I didn't think to manage my time in the long run and this has already caused me to be overtired, cram a little bit with schoolwork and to generally not have 100% control over the things I would like.

This taught me the importance of managing time within a long term as I will definitely be doing things differently for my next work term.

When you have an abrupt change in your schedule and you know it's going to be for a long period of time, plan ahead that far, look into your schedule that far into the future so that you know you aren't overworking yourself.

In other news, I went to go see the new James Bond movie, Spectre, and for the most part it was great! The other parts I can't remember because I fell asleep.

Yeah, I fell asleep in a movie theatre because I was that exhausted from work and schoolwork.

This just goes to show the importance of long term time management!

Until next time!

Don't Hold Back

As some of you may know, I volunteer at a museum. 

More specifically, an immigration museum.

As a volunteer, I tell the volunteer coordinator when I can go in and she adds me on the schedule accordingly. So far I'm going in every Saturday afternoon until the end of November.

Seeing as today is Canadian Thanksgiving, she asked me if I could go in today and said that she understood if I had family plans. I told her it was no problem and I would be there for the shift she put me for.

I walked in today and it turns out that she forgot to add me to the schedule. Not knowing what to do and not wanting to make my mom drive back already to pick me up, I decided to stay and to just walk around, talk to our visitors and see if I could help them out with anything.

Because I made that decision. I met some wonderful people today.

We have two exhibits at the museum and I met one group of people in an exhibit and they were looking for something in the opposite exhibit, so I told them that and said that I'd be more than happy to escort them over to what they were looking for.

They were pretty thankful for that and I led them over to the exhibit.

I ended up giving them a tiny tour of the exhibit and talking to them a lot about the stories of the immigrants from France, the story of the Deportation of the Acadians and a few other stories that I knew. I told them a few personal stories of my own and they said that they loved that I was sharing my stories with them because it enrichened their experience at the museum.

I was so honored to be able to meet and to talk to these people because they were just wonderful and the sweetest people.

Not too long after that, I ended up chatting with an elderly woman who immigrated to Canada from Scotland. 

She was telling me that for her, her brother and her sister in-law, the experience was long and awful. Her brother and sister in-law got so fed up that they decided to immigrate to New Zealand instead.

I was chatting with her about her whole immigration process and I asked if she had any regrets.

She told me that she packed her bags in Scotland at 18 years old and hasn't regretted it one little bit.

She then proceeded to ask me about myself. At first she thought I was a university student, but she was rather shocked when I told her that I'm still in high school.

She then asked me what I wanted to be when I'm older and I told what I want to be: a travel writer.

She told me that every time I get a paycheck, I should take 10% of it, put it away and never touch it so that I could retire at 55 and live comfortably. 

It was really good advice and I'm going to follow it. She also asked me where I wanted to go, so I told her my top destinations but that I was also hesitant to go.

She looked me in the eyes and gave me advice that I'll never forget.

She told me to go for it.

She told me to do what I want to do and that it's a good thing to be scared. 

She told me that she wasn't sure if she wanted to immigrate to Canada or Israel, but she said that if she didn't like it in 5 years time, she could change her mind. But 30+ years later, her she is, still in Canada.

She packed her bags at 18 to find something better and I'm going to do the same.

I can't say that I'll immigrate to another country, let alone another continent when I'm 18, but I'm not going to let fear hold me back from going to new places and meeting new people.

Great minds must think alike because this lady and my amazing older cousin both gave me the same advice.

Don't hold back.

And I won't.

Until next time.

The Beginning of an Amazing Adventure

I've always been a wanderer at heart.

I remember when I was younger, my mom would be in the living room with her cup of tea in the morning and she would be watching travel shows, and I would be making mental lists of where I wanted to go.

I would watch the show with her, but I was never mentally there because I dreamt about being in the location of the travel episode we were watching.

Growing up. I still am filled with wanderlust, but I can't exactly do anything about it yet.

I can picture these grand and amazing adventures when I can't even afford two packs of gum.

As I grew older, the desire to travel and to have an adventure was put on the backburner while I started to focus more on school and my jobs.

When things in my life started to get too chaotic, I saw adventures as a way to leave everything behind. It's like as soon as I have the greatest adventure of my life, I'll be okay.

I'd be leaving the stress of work, of school and of home life behind me.

It would only be me and an unexplored part of the world to me that was just waiting to be explored.

I've heard travel stories from dozens of people, and every time I hear a story, I feel as though something is missing in my life and and I won't feel while until I have this grand adventure.

I spent the day with my friends today and one that I'm particularly close to kept saying that we were going on an adventure whenever we started to walk to a new destination.

I never realized how right he was until today.

According to Google, the definition of an adventure is "An unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity."

Although it's not always hazardous, spending time with my friends, there's always something unusual and exciting. There's always something to laugh at, you never know what topics are going to come up in conversation; it's always an adventure.

Something else that's unusual and exciting is that from where I live, there's a lunar eclipse tonight.

I've been photographing it and watching in amazement as the moon is slowly becoming dark and then red.

I don't think I've ever watched a lunar eclipse before, so this is something completely new and interesting and amazing to me.

With all of these events going on, I realized that adventures don't have to be as big and as extraordinary as I pictured them when I was younger, they just have to be something new to me.

I am not in the part of my life where I can control anything whenever and however I want to and I know that, but I'm not going to let that stop me from trying to fill that emptiness I have from not being able to have a great adventure right now, but I don't have to go far to have an amazing adventure.

Sometimes the greatest adventures of them all happen where you least expect them to.

Until next time!

Back To School Must Haves

I go back to school tomorrow and I figured that I'd share my back to school must haves!

I realize that I'm probably among the last wave of students going back to school, so if I decide to make a post similar to this next year, I'll remember to do it sooner. Even if you're already back to school, this post might give you ideas as to what to buy or what you could've forgotten; the school year has just started!

I am going to be separating my back to school must haves by items for the classrooms, then beauty products and finally items to have during a break.

Anyway, let's get to it!

Must Haves For: The Classrooms

Starting off with the classics, pens and pencils.

I usually prefer to use pen over pencil (unless it's for a test or math), so I always like having at least two pens on me at all times during the school day.

My go-to pens are the Sharpie pens.I prefer them because there are so many colours available that I can write my notes in different colours, so I can have keywords in one colour, underline the important things in another and have the rest of my notes in another different colour. Of course you can do it with the usual red, black and blue pens, but Sharpie pens have a larger colour variety and it makes writing notes more fun.

When I do use pencils, I'll always go for a pushpen because I wasted a lot of time last year sharpening pencils until they met my standard of perfect, so a pushpen would spare me a lot of time towards the end of the year.
Next, we have notebooks.

Record notebook bought at HMV
Live Every Moment notebook bought at Target

Now, a little fact about me is that I have no problem spending money on journals that I like. I will shamelessly buy three at a time and never write anything in them because I don't want to ruin them.

This year, I'm using some journals to write my notes in for some classes. Yes, they're smaller than notebooks, but I find that that makes them easier to carry around and you can have more on you at once than the full size notebooks.

I use the notebooks where the pages easily rip out for school work. If it;s for proper work like math class, I'll use one whole notebook and leave that notebook for that class alone, but I will also take a notebook like that to all of my classes so if I have a one off in-class assignment to hand in after the class, I can easily rip out the page(s) I worked on.

That way, I don't have to carry around a binder with a ton of loose leaf in it and supply everyone else in the class with paper.


Probably most importantly, a calendar.

Most schools probably give you a calendar/agenda, but if you don't have one, you should get one.

Calendars help you so much to prioritize what work has to be done because you have all the due dates /dates for every assignment, test, quiz and project. 

I personally prefer monthly calendars/agendas because it helps me see a lot more at once and it saves me the trouble of leafing through many pages to find the date I was looking for.

Must Haves For: Beauty Products

I usually do my makeup for school, there were probably a handful of days when I went to school without any makeup on last year, so I'll share with you guys my favourite beauty products at the moment with you guys.

First up, foundation.

Foundation and brush bought at Shoppers Drug Mart (Drug Store)

I recently started using Rimmel's Lasting Finish with Comfort Serum, but I love it everytime I wear it. It's really light, I feel as though my skin can still breathe through the foundation and I love that feeling. I wear the colour 100 Ivory and I feel as though this is the first time that I've found a foundation that almost matches my skin tone completely.


Following, concealer.

Both concealers bought at Shoppers Drug Mart (Drug Store)

I haven't been using too many different types of concealers, but that ones I have been using are Maybelline New York's concealer in 15 Fair for under my eyes (top one) and 10 Light for any blemishes that I have (bottom one).

Just like the foundation, I find them light and they do their job well. They brighten up the area under my eyes and they help cover blemishes better, so I really like them.


Next, eyeliner.

Both eyeliners bought at Shoppers Drug Mart (Drug Store)

I love eyeliner, I love doing it because there are so many different ways that you can style your eyeliner and I really enjoy doing it in my beauty routine.

I've used and love two different types of eyeliner, the first one is Quo liquid liner. I love this liquid liner because I've never had it run under my eyes during the day, it stays put for the most part, but I do find that you might have to reapply it in a few areas during the day; mainly the inner corner.

The second eyeliner is Rimmel's Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer in black. I find it so easy and fast to apply. I've had it run down under my eye a few times, but its nothing that can't be fixed.


Then, mascara.

Mascara was bought at Shoppers Drug Mart (Drug Store)

I haven't experienced much with mascara yet, but I'm currently using Maybelline's Mega Plush Volume Express. I'm enjoying this mascara because not only does it add a lot of volume to my eyelashes, but it's also waterproof and has a dent in the brush to make it more flexible to help you reach every lash in at any angle. 

Although I am enjoying this product, I might look around a bit more before I go back to that one just to see what's out there and what does the best job for me.


Next, lip balm.

I am big on lip balm, my lips get chapped often (especially in the winter) so I love having lip balm on me. In my bag, I will have both an EOS and Burt's Bees lip balm. They're both natural and really hydrating which make them both great. Depending on which Burt's Bees you get, they can tint your lips a little bit which is great, but if you already have lipstick and/or lip gloss on, then EOS is the way to go.


Must Haves For: Breaks

Phone case bought at Target

Music helped me get through last year a lot. I listen to music when I'm stressed to help me relax or when I need to give myself a break from working.

I was aloud to listen to music in classes last year, so whenever we got to work on our own, I would always have both headphones in, listening to music, to help me stay focused on my work and not be distracted by all the sounds around me.

You can listen to music in class (if you're allowed), during lunch, during a free period or even when you're walking to a different class. 

If listening to music helps you in any way, then go for it. If you're looking for new music, you can check out my Road Trip playlist here.


Finally, books.

Books are great for when you're done work or a test before everyone else and you still have to be quiet.

Books for me are also like a little escape so their also nice to help you relax after a day at school.

I'm currently reading the book Everyday by David Levithan. I'm not far into it so I can't tell you much about it, but the plot is that this person walks up in a different body everyday and they have to discover who they are all over again. So while being themselves, this person is also someone else at the same time.

It's a really good plot and I can't wait to read more of it.

Well that's it for my Back To School Must Haves! I hope you this helped some of you guys out as to what to have for school!

Until next time!

Silent Battles

I volunteer at an immigration museum, but I haven't been having steady shifts because my schedule is all over the place at the moment, however I was finally able to go in today.

My shift had a quiet start, I started in two of the hands-on stations; one where you can take a little citizenship quiz and another where you can colour a suitcase.The colouring of the suitcase station is mainly for younger kids while parents look around, but sometimes we have teens and parents that join in!

I met some lovely people while at the citizenship table and I also met this family with three adorable little boys of the ages four, two and a half and a baby that I say might've been six/seven/eight months or so.   

I'm not one to usually go out of my way to talk to a stranger as you all know, but it's different in a work environment. I'm not sure why I find myself more outgoing there, but maybe it's because people are interested in what you're saying and are curious. 

I'm not sure what it is, but I love talking to the people who come through the museum because people are visiting the museum from every corner of the world. 

Seeing as it's an immigration museum, we have visitors that have actually immigrated through, what's now known to be, the museum. They love to stop and chat about their experience and where they came from and it's honestly such an amazing thing to hear their stories.

Anyway, after those stations I was then at the information booth alongside a co worker.

The co worker I was with is actually an immigrant herself (not through the museum, however) and today I got to ask her about her learning experience.

Where she grew up, she would learn things and the teachers would go on about how "This is the Belgian way to say it...This is the French way to say it...This is the Canadian way to say it.." so she ended up learning how to say specific things in many different languages and that blew my mind.

I was amazed by that and she went on to teach me how to say a few numbers the Belgic way when she told me that she was tired.

I asked if she was going home after her shift and it's what she told me next that made me admire her even more.

She told me that she never went home after her shift at the museum because she had to go work at one of her other jobs out of three.

She told me what she did and what her hours were and I was...shocked. 

She's working three jobs to pay off her appartment and to put herself through a university course here.

She told me how she wanted to find a cheaper apartment because her current one was starting to be too much for her alone, and she also told me how her current landlords won't do anything for her.

She explained to me that she had a broken window since this winter and they won't come by to fix it and that she's struggling with a rat problem. She's tried many things to get rid of the rats, but it's not working. 

She told that sometimes it got to be too much.

I know that I said "She told me.." many times, but I wasn't quite sure how else to word it besides "She went on.." and to me, that sounds almost negative, but I wanted to listen to her story.

I wanted to listen to her story because I didn't know it.

I didn't know her story and I probably never would've been able to guess it because she always has a smile on her face.

She told me that she was tired yet she kept smiling, she was happy, she was kind, she was energetic, she was friendly, approachable, caring and overall amazing.

I've only known this woman for a little bit, but she has been smiley, happy, kind, energetic, friendly, approachable and caring since the day I met her. I can't imagine how long she's been that way and will continue to be that way.

I never knew that she was struggling with any of that, but she reminded me of something really important.

Everyday, people everywhere are struggling with their own silent battles. We don't know what position the people around us are in, so we should always be kind and not try to make things worse for other people.

If someone needs a reason to be kind, there it is. 

You honestly have no clue about other people's battles until they tell you it themselves.

Although it was sad to hear her story, I have nothing but respect for her. She's just incredible and amazing. I can only hope that someday I'll be as strong as she is.

Silent battles are the ones that take up the most energy and strength, but no one else is aware. It's almost like struggling to swim while all the people around you are holding on to a flotation device but you can't ask for one; maybe because your mouth is underwater or maybe because you don't know if that person needs that flotation device more than you.

In the end, silent battles are the strongest fought battles. You can never know who fought one or who is currently fighting one.

Either way, being kind to someone might make the battle a little easier for them.

Until next time!

Fashion Friday #2

Here it is, my second Fashion Friday!

Crop Top - Miss Selfridge black bralette top
Pants - Topshop jeans
Blazer - MANGO 3 4 sleeve white blazer
Shoes - Prada high heel sandals
Hat - Monki black floppy hat

Recently I've been seeing a lot of black on black outfits, so I decided to create my own.

Crop tops have been an item of the summer no matter if you wear it with a skirt, high waisted shorts or low rise jeans, so I matched the black crop top with a pair of high waisted black skinny jeans. I paired the outfit with a white blazer to add a colour contrast to it.

I personally don't like wearing heels all that much, but I decided on strappy heels for this outfit because in the summer, you don't want your feet trapped in shoes (let alone heels) all day, so strappy heels seemed like a good alternative which still allows your feet to breath while it dresses up the outfit.

I love hats in the summer because not only are they a great accessory, but it's great protection from the sun which is always a good thing to have. 

Red is known to be a bold colour when it comes to lipstick and/or nail polish, and that's exactly why I chose red for the lipstick and nail polish.

I find that the look is already confident and flirty on it's own, so I thought that I should go all the way and add the red to make the look be confident, flirty and bold. 

If you guys like the look, let me know! You can check out more of my Polyvore outfits that I've created HERE.

Until next time!

Becoming More Responsible

They say that you have more and more responsibilities as you get older and that you become more responsible, but that's not the case for everyone.

I've heard many stories of kids who grow up too fast, and that's another way to say that they received too many responsibilities at once and had to mature faster than they probably should've.

I can't say that I have a case like that, but I've definitely have matured quite a bit in just a little over a week.

Now that I'm a swim teacher, I'm currently trying to balance a total of four jobs. As I mentioned, I'm a swim teacher, I dog walk, I volunteer at a museum and I babysit.

That's a lot to balance alone, but you also have to throw in my softball schedule and gym schedule in there.

This is my first year being a swim teacher and volunteering at the museum, so I'm still trying to figure all of that out.

My schedule is crazy now. My softball team has missed about eleven or so games due to weather, so their constantly being pushed back and that affects everything else in my schedule.

It's becoming complicated to take shifts at the museum and take possible subbing shifts at the pool when I never know when I'm playing anymore.

This has caused me to become more responsible.

I went out the other day to buy a monthly calendar to be able to see my schedule for the whole month and not overbook myself.

Of course there are many phones out there that have calendars, and I do in fact have one on my phone, but it's a lot easier to have everything written down and be able to see everything at the same time.

When school starts up again, I feel like things will be okay.

I will still be working, volunteering and babysitting, but softball would be off the table and that's good because my schedule will be straightforward.

No delays, no cancellations, no makeup games, my schedule will be more regular.

In the end, it's good to be organized.

It might be a bit scary to have all of these responsibilities all of a sudden, but you figure out your own way to manage your schedule and your responsibilities.

My way is to have a calendar while to someone else, it could be having a schedule that doesn't change at all.

Either way, become more responsible is a challenge at first, but you learn.

I thought that I was going to be terrified with having so many responsibilities, but I found a balance that worked for me, so that's good!

In the end, I'm learning balance and how to become responsible and it shouldn't be something to be afraid of. It's an adjustment that we all make.

Until next time!