This section is dedicated to the beautiful people who are not aware of their beauty, talent, intelligence, and their full potential.
You can see all the post in this section below
Huri Larner
For the cost of a cup of coffee you can save thousands over the years!
For the cost of a cup of coffee you can save thousands over the years!
We all know that we need to save money for our future. We never know when we may need some extra money. For example, I am a money saver. I took after my grandmother and I am so grateful to God that it is in my genes. Since I was a little kid, I used to save my chocolates and candies. I never remember eating them on the same day. If my parents gave us 2 pieces of chocolate, I would save the second piece for another day. Sadly, my younger sister would know it and would steal it from where I had hidden it. I would be so upset, but still continue saving everything I had and tried to find better hiding places. I was saving my chocolates and candies because I did not know when I would get more.
I have not changed a bit. I save In the same way today, because I can’t predict the future and we all should. Not to mention the economic unknowns and fluctuations, and the circumstances we may face, we need to save more than ever. It is not only that we may need some money, but also to have a decent life, to feel secure with our finances, it is necessary.
On the other hand, saving by itself is not an answer. Most of us do not know how to spend our money wisely. Many of us, including me, do not have a budget plan. We just spend our money according to our mood. For example, if we do not feel like cooking, we eat out, or when we see something new or trendy, we buy it without thinking. We also have our upbringings that influence our approach to money. Even though I know the value of money, I still sometimes overspend.
Above all, new technological developments, online shopping opportunities and paying with the credit card is not really helping us. For example, we do not carry cash anymore. Most of us use credit cards and we are not aware of the amount we spent. The credit card transaction or payment methods are exactly the same when you spend $1 or $100. We spend little by little and at the end of the month, all our income pays our credit card debts.
In the past, when we used to pay with cash, we would end up counting while paying which would give us some warning and make us think again before we purchase anything. I’m not saying that everyone is spending their money and not saving, but things can get better. We can get better results with some minor changes. So, I decided to use a program called Account Patrol ‘https://www.accountpatrol.com/’ where you get notifications about your spending, the amount of money you have in your account, your out-flow and in-flow, and credit card updates. It has a nice dashboard that can give you a big picture of your financial status. It is really eye-opening and very helpful. You can see the trends, categories, daily, weekly, monthly spending, and utility bill reminders. Furthermore, Account patrol sends you e-mails and text messages periodically. Another benefit of having this program is if there is any suspicious credit card transaction, it warns you and sends an alert.
It motivates to see my spending and savings in a graphical form. It summarizes and categorizes the expenses, and creates more awareness for me about where my money goes.
So far, I love using this website. I heard that its app is coming out in September. I believe that it will improve my financial status and I feel better when I am paying my credit card bills.
I highly recommend this website to anyone who wants to benefit from this amazing tool. The website also gives you a chance to try it for 30 days for free. And later on, it is only $5 a month; the same price as a cup of coffee.
‘Senna’ A truly great documentary, regardless of your interest in racing!
Marriage changes a life: the way you think, the way you live your life, and the interests you have. For example, I would never think that I could enjoy Formula One before I married my husband. Not only did I start to enjoy watching formula one, but also, I listened to an audible book about it and watched a beautiful documentary. The documentary was about a Brazilian formula one racing driver Ayrton Senna. It was worth watching, even if you are not interested in racing sports, because it had so many life lessons you could learn.
Young Senna started his racing career as a go-kart driver. His parents became aware of his talent and supported him. He found his way up to Formula One. This is where his unhappiness and success met. He was very talented, and one of the elusive drivers who could drive very successfully in the rain. He was an extremely ambitious driver, who won the world champion title 3 times. Actually, it would have been 4, but because of the politics of the formula 1, he was not given a championship title in 1989. During the race after his collision between Prost in Japan, he rejoined the race from a wrong route and he was disqualified. If you watch the documentary, you will see the full story about this.
The best part of the documentary was the flow; they truly did a great job documenting his life with his real videos until his tragic accident. I felt like, I was seeing through his life bit by bit and living with him his troubles, his competitions, his dreams and hopes, and the pressure he put on him. He was happy when he won his first world championship. Later on, I did not see real happiness. Even though he won 2 more world championship titles, his life was focused on the politics, competition between his teammates and his ego to become fist.
What I learned is:
Be aware of the politics but do not involve, argue or blame anyone. Do your best and be professional all the time. When you watch the documentary, you will feel the same way I do. So many times, the situations he was in were heartbreaking, how he defended himself, his actions and how he showed his frustrations. I would do the same thing, but arguing with powerful people, showing your anger, talking and thinking about your enemies, will not solve anything other than creating more conflicts.
It also made me question my life. Life passes while we are trying to have better jobs and investments for our future. Most of the time we forget to enjoy the journey while we are trying to reach our goals. Senna loved racing, it was his dream to become a world champion and he succeeded 3 times. He wanted more even though he was tired of the politics, money issues, and the competition.
Finally, if something does not feel right, trust your gut. It is not. The day he had an accident, he did not want to race for many reasons, but he still did. He had a nice conversation with his doctor before the accident, which was very sweet and sad at the same time (see the conversation below). Also, I am adding a Wikipedia page where you can find the reasons that he had more pressure and stress than ever in his last race. He could have backed out of the race, but he did not. Wikipedia explains very well; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayrton_Senna
- the serious crash of his young compatriot, Rubens Barrichello, during Friday practice, whom Senna visited in hospital;
- the death of F1 rookie Roland Ratzenberger during Saturday qualifying;
- being 20 points behind in the Drivers’ Championship;
- suspicion of the rival Benetton B194 car using an illegal traction control system;
- the poor performance of his Williams FW16;
Quotes
His Doctor Sid Watkins: [after the death of Roland Ratzenberger] Ayrton got very, very upset and cried a bit, and that’s when I said to him, you know Ayrton you’ve been three times world champion, you’re the fastest man in the world, and you like fishing. So, I said why don’t you quit, and I’ll quit, and we’ll just go fishing. And he said Sid, I can’t quit.
I loved the movie and definitely recommend it. My husband rated the movie as 8 and I rated it 9 out of 10.
Benim Guzel Ailem
My family is very important to me. Even though I do not talk to them very often, I think of them and want them to be happy. I only call my mom once a week, and she gives me all the latest news about my sisters and relatives. Yesterday, when I called her, she was busy. She answered her phone, said hi, and handed it over to my younger sister. It was nice to talk to her, but I realized again they live their life focused only the present not on the future, and they are concerned with other people’s expectations.
They do not have long-term or short-term goals, saving plans. They still do not know it is their responsibility to make themselves happy. I told her to practice meditation, create a vision board and dream without limits. I can’t remember who said this, but there is a nice saying, ‘The only thing that stands between you and the realization of these dreams is you’.
I hung up the phone after promising her that I would create for them a mini Turkish blog, so they can learn mediation, yoga, how to set goals.
‘Saving Mr. Banks’ is a beautiful movie!
It was a great movie to watch on a Friday night. It was about P.L. Travers’ early life and her struggles, how she agreed with Mr. Disney to make a movie of her special book ‘Mary Poppins’. I was not aware of how Mary Poppins, which had such a long and desperate history, was created.
After I watched the movie, I read IMDb reviews and learned that the movie did not reflect the reality of Mr. Disney and Mrs.Travers relationship over Mary Poppins. Even If I knew this, I would still watch it because it was a unique and beautiful story.
Just to be aware, it was a sad movie. I would consider it a drama more than a comedy. To be honest, it was not our intention to pick a sad movie. The only reason we chose it was because Tom Hanks was the actor.
I definitely will watch Marry Poppins again after realizing how it was filmed and the story behind it.
My husband rated the movie as 7 because of the conflicts between the movie and reality. Since it was not a documentary, I would rate the movie as 9 out of 10.
Quotes
P.L. Travers: [Being driven in a cart to Disney’s office] I am perfectly capable of walking!
P.L. Travers: My point is that, unlike yourself, Mary Poppins is the very enemy of whimsy and sentiment. She’s truthful. She doesn’t sugarcoat the darkness in the world that these children will eventually, inevitably come to know. She prepares them for it. She deals in honesty. One must clean one’s room, it will magically do it by itself! This entire script is flim-flam! Where is its heart? Where is its reality? Where… is the gravitas?
[She throws the script out the window]
Live a Well-Lived Joyful Life by Using Design Thinking
Agile is the new motto for the Automotive World. At first, I did not like how it sounds, and I did not even know what it means. I wanted to avoid it, but it became unavoidable when we started to hear it in our executive management meetings, and from our customers.
You will see this word more than once on any job descriptions if you are looking for a new job, so I decided to learn it.
What does ‘Agile’ mean? It means to able to move quickly and easily. That’s what everyone wants in their work and personal life, right? This is especially true in an automotive environment where we work globally with customers, suppliers, and different manufacturing facilities. On my search for how to learn and apply the Agile mindset and method, I discovered that there is also a Design Thinking methodology. This is where my story begins.
In March, I took my first Design Thinking training, and I found it very helpful. It was not only the training that made it interesting, but also as a part of the training, we had to facilitate our own workshops.
I must admit it was challenging, but it opened my eyes and made me more aware about my work environment. We applied the design thinking methodology to our real work problems. I was so lucky to have a wonderful workshop team which I admired more during the workshop for their contribution, engagement, and ideas. They inspired me more, and I promised myself to learn more and include them in many more workshops.
During the workshop, we applied the 6 steps of the Design Thinking method. The first 3 steps were the problem space, and the last 3 steps were the solution space.
When you google, you will find so many sources, studies and examples. I am adding the Wikipedia link ‘https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design Thinking’, if you want to read more about it. Also, Stanford University has a beautiful introduction about the Design Thinking, and a 45 min YouTube video which can provide you more information.
Here are the Design Thinking steps;
- Empathize (Understand and Observe) – The step where we focus on understanding of our users’ need
- Define (Synthesize) – The step where we find out customers’ pains and gains
- Ideate – The step where we generate ideas to solve the problem
- Prototype – The step where we are designing prototype / solution to the problem
- Test – The step where we review our prototypes with our customers. We will iterate these steps as needed until we find the best solution
To apply the steps, you do not have to have any design thinking knowledge; there are tools that can be applied to each step. I was so lucky to have 3 great mentors and they prepared all the tools and materials for the training I took, and I used the similar tools for my own workshop.
At first, it may take time to connect the dots and understand the process, but once you follow the steps, you get the point. For example, at the beginning I was not quite sure why the design thinking has a long problem space, since we knew what the problem was, and to solve the problem we were using the design thinking method. Let’s face it most of us always assume we know what the problem is, and we always have an initial solution in our mind. Design thinking teaches us that we may not be aware of the real problem. It helps us to focus on our users, to understand and empathize with their needs. At the end, they are the ones who need to be happy with our products and services.
When you follow the steps and reframe your problem, most of the time, you may find out the problem is not really what you were assuming. That’s what happened to me when I used design thinking methodology.
I also found out that we can apply the Design Thinking method to our personal life to create the life we dream. I did not think about applying it to my personal life until I noticed a book called ‘Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life’ at Barnes and Nobles a few weeks ago. I decided to purchase it. I’ve only read the first chapter so far. It already made me so excited to see what I learned at the workshop can be applied to our personal lives. Book is written by the Stanford’s professors which makes it more accountable for me. Once I complete reading it, I will write a review. Also, the next step is to learn the Agile Methodology. Along the way on my search, I feel like I will continue to learn so many other useful tools, and methods.
I believe that it is worth trying and see the impact of this method. It may show us better ways to find how to live a well-lived joyful life as it says in the book.
Wine Lover must have WineNook
Find your perfect Wine Nook at winenook.net. Unique and beautiful gift for wedding.
Traveling and Food
I have traveled quite a lot, and I’ve discovered what I enjoy from the places that I’ve traveled to. Now, I know what I am looking for when I travel. For example, I love places where you can see cultural touches and traditions. This makes me realize there is so much more out there and I have so many things to learn and explore. It is a great feeling to see and learn about new countries and cities just by walking through the streets.
For me food is very important. It is the way to get to know the people and life style. In the USA, you can see long lines in the restaurants for take-out. There are so many fast food restaurants. Even though not all, many people who live in the USA just want to have a quick meal and do not want to cook and clean. You can also see that cooking has a different meaning in the USA. For many people, cooking means microwaving a frozen ready dish.
In contrast, Asian countries the food culture is totally different. I will talk about China since I lived there for almost 2 years. China is a country with traditions, unique language, lifestyle, and a long history. It is a country where food plays a huge role in life. Authentic Chinese food has a unique taste and variety of ingredients. Also eating is a hobby there, at least for so many of them. It is not just having a meal, but it is a family get together, having a conversation with family and friends, and of course drinking happily. Sometimes these dinners may take up to 4-5 hours.
I remember the first lunch I was invited to in China. We went to a Hot Pot lunch. At that time, I did not know what hot pot means. It was a middle-class, small restaurant. They brought a big pan and inside it had spicy soup with a big fish. They placed the pan in the center of the table, where there was a hot surface so that we could experience the cooking. There was an area that you could pick the vegetables that you prefer to cook with the fish. I liked it and it took me 1 hour to enjoy the meal. I tried some vegetables that I knew and tried some new ones. I looked at my watch and I realized that we were there for almost 2 hours. My friends were still eating and bringing more vegetables to the table. I was shocked to see that they could still eat because they look so fit and could eat twice as much. I could not leave the lunch until everyone was done, because we were sharing the bill and I did not mean to be rude. Also, I was so worried about the bill but later on I found out that this would be one of the cheapest meals I had in China.
It was one of the unique experiences I had. Who knew that this lunch would introduce me to one of my favorite meals! At that time, I was not aware, but it did not take me long to try another hot pot meal. This meal is one of the reasons why I always try to experience local cuisine when visiting new places.
How to Make Chinese Hot Pot
The Hot Pot is the most Authentic food I have ever tried and became addicted. I love most of the Asian dishes, but the Hot Pot is a magical food for me. It is a big meal, which you can eat several hours, and chat with close friends and families. Living in China widen my food culture and changed me forever now i cannot imagine life without Hotpot and Sichuan spicy dishes.
I would like to share with you a homemade hotpot recipe.
What we need
An electric oven, and if possible divided pan (especially if you prefer spicy and not spicy soup base)
Hot Pot Spice Soup Base
*2 tablespoon oil
*6 slices ginger
*10 cloves garlic
* 5-star anise
*1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
*Dried red chilies as many as you wish
*1 package spicy hot pot soup base
*Bone or Chicken Broth or just water
*Coconut milk if you like Thai style (we added on one section)
Dipping sauce:
Sesame paste (we sometimes just drink the soup)
Chopped cilantro
Chopped garlic
To eat with your hot pot:
Thinly shaved beef, lamb, shrimp meat and meatballs
Tofu sheets and slices of firm tofu
Soy puffs (fried tofu puffs)
Straw mushrooms
Shiitake mushrooms
Wood ear mushrooms
Noodles
Chinese rice cakes
Bok choy
Any kind of potatoes
Napa cabbage
And my favorite vegetable lotus root
To prepare the soup base; first, we will fry 2 to 5 min the ginger, cloves garlic, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, dried red chilies as many as you wish. The second step is to add these items on our broth with the hot pot spicy sauce and coconut cream. Then place your soup on the oven at the table, and add desired veritable or meat. In China mostly meat is served first but for us, we start with the tofu and mushroom and continue cooking other ingredients we wish.
I’m a Project Manager with a deep passion for both professional and personal growth. Designing and building the next generation of vehicles is incredibly rewarding, but it comes with its challenges—especially for someone as emotionally invested as I am!