We wish you a very holly jolly Christmas! Merry Christmas!

It’s that time of the year again. Christmas. My absolute favourite season with no exception! Mum has set up Christmas tree in our house since early November (she’s really cute, isn’t she?) plus I have been listening to Christmas songs since that day the tree was set up so it has begun to feel a lot like Christmas since. I loveeee these days prior to Christmas. Everything just feels merry, happy and joyful. Such a good way to start a new year merrily, joyfully and with bunch of optimism. I remember telling Michael on Christmas last year that I wanted to have a gingerbread  house making session for Christmas this year. It turns out this Christmas our both families are all busy preparing for the big day (not that I whine, seriously!) sooo fingers crossed we could make it. My sister is going to be back in town in days-counting and we plan a little Christmas dinner some time in the next two weeks. Ah, can’t wait!

I miss England a lot in this kind of season and I can go all mushy and teary when listening to my playlist of Christmas last year. haha. I didn’t realise until now that songs have some sort of power to bring us back to past memories and leave us feeling nostalgic. haha. Christmas this year, however, I change my playlist. Songs from Michael Buble Christmas, She & Him Christmas and Hey, It’s Christmas 2 are dominating. I’ve been listening to those albums for a while now with the similar hope that next year as I replay this playlist, memories of Christmas this year will come rushing back in my mind. Ah, I already have the feeling this Christmas will be missed too, despite being the most tied up Christmas I’ve ever had. So, what’s on your Christmas playlist? Hope you have some good ones. x

Last Sunday was covered a very exciting and fun (yet tiring) session of photo shoots of Michael and I, themed vintage 60s. It was a really sunny day just as we had expected, though a bit too hot for our liking. In all honesty, we are two shy people at heart so we got to admit that we felt awkward at the beginning of the session (haha). However, everything just got better by time and we eventually got the hang of it with the help of fun, friendly and cooperative photographer team. As a result, I don’t think I would mind one bit doing a bunch of sessions alike. I’m addicted, perhaps, haha. Neither of Michael or I have seen the results because we want to keep it as surprise later on after the editing process has been completed. However, above is a single snap I took with Instax Wide camera. This Saturday is another session of our outdoor photo shoots. Hopeful it would be just as much fun!

P.S That cute pair of shoes I wore was given by my sister! I like it so muchh! x

Two weeks ago, Michael and I travelled by train to get back to Jakarta from our regular visit in Bandung. Well, ever since there has been highway that connects the two cities, travelling by train rarely comes as the first option anymore. First, it takes longer time. Second, why go to the station if we can go to the nearest shuttle that takes us to Jakarta/Bandung? Third, the journey won’t likely put most people at ease: inconvenient station, train, etc. So, it has been a long time since my last travel by train between Bandung and Jakarta. I’m a strong believer that a leading country leads in public transport system. Convenience in public transport system make people happy. That says, our country needs a hell of improvements not only to become a leading country but also (most importantly) to ease the people and make them happy. Seriously.

Really sorry about the continuous rants on country, the people, and public transport. hahaha.

So why we took a train then, you may ask? As a start, these two people, Michael and I, were sooooo sick of routines. Even though going to Bandung every 2 weeks was in account of breaking routines, we still needed refreshments – just something different, and sensed this as a challenge to improvise our routines since we could not escape from them just yet. The idea initially came from him, my knight in shining armour.

I had been commuting by train a few years back before the Cipularang highway (the highway that connects Jakarta and Bandung) was established. This experience reminded me a lot of my first year of college. In fact, it felt and looked exactly the same as those days when I travelled Bandung-Jakarta by train frequently. Well, it’s either I’m too sentimental or no major improvements in the train system. It also quite amazed me that they still applied traditional way of purchasing tickets (filling in a form, standing in line then handing in the form to the official). But never mind. I really loved seeing the old coach, crowds of people in the station and simply the ambience. I also loved the familiar noisy-sounded announcement. Is it weird? Haha. Well, we didn’t really luck out that day. We could only get on the second class coach (with no air condition) because first class tickets were all sold out. Despite having to cope with bad-smelled coach, I think it wasn’t that bad and we still enjoyed every inch of our journey. Train station just had the right amount of vintage vibe, I found myself fall in love over and over again. Truth be told, train is my most favourite means of transport. Well, let’s hope train system develops and gets better here in this country so people can travel by train happily.

P.S. Really thank my boyfriend for such cool idea. This one we just did succeeded making me feel like I’ve just been in or accomplished a super adventure. I’m always happy after completing a journey and adventure. Also thank him for his patience coping with my constant grumble and complaints about how I need a holiday and short getaway, haha (sometimes I’m just that annoying to him) This simplest form of adventure was a proof that we can always have getaway from routines. Love you, boy.

P.S.S The next closest adventure is tomorrow! yay! A very exciting photo shoot will be held and I’m waiting in full anticipation. Hope it’s going to be massive fun! Anyway, HAPPY WEEKEND!!! x

Hi! Finally I come with pictures! I reunited with my college best friends a while ago and we met up at Ketjil Kitchen. I love this place so much that I took boyfriend there some days later for our little date. The place is very homey with a strong vintage ambience. It’s since become my new favourite go-to place like nowhere else. The meeting itself was really good, lots of stories and laughs! A very nice reminiscence to the good old days, a very pleasant way to spend Sunday afternoon, I would say.

As for pictures above, I experimented with the Lomography X-Pro Chrome 100 ASA (yeah, finally I reunited with my lomo lc-a). I really like the more vintage-feel it gives. However, my bad that all pictures were taken indoor. This kind of film won’t work best in a low-light room. Perhaps if we did it outdoor and soaked in brighter and shinier sun, we could get better results?! Fingers crossed. Ah, next time must be better!

I’m leading quite a tense and packed schedule these days that I almost forget that going for a little jaunt and taking pictures are so relaxing, effectively relieving stress and breaking the mundanity of everyday life, in my case. I need a lot of this sort of thing to keep me sane. That says, I need a lot of vacation. Haha. Well, who doesn’t?!