After taking off Michael to work, I always start off the day reading at least a chapter of a book, drinking lots and lots of water, a bit of house cleaning then exercising. Let’s call them my morning routines. I’m hoping to successfully fulfil my 2012 resolutions, in which two of them are 1) be more organised as a person, and 2) read all the books I bought then abandoned last year (haha). I have a lot of new books displayed in our mini library at home and I feel guilty every time I want to buy new books (but seriously, we can’t never have too many books, right?!) Wish me luck!

Have a good day!

Hi all! How are you? They are some pictures of our pre wedding photo shoots. All of my clothes were tailor made. I picked all the fabrics and searched for the designs myself, based on the inspiration board given by the photography team. The photo shoot themed “Summer of love” all in vintage 60s vibe (biggie thanks to Lighthouse Photography team for the superb job). I’m so glad they turned out really nice. We had massive fun during the photo shoots. Michael even suggested that we do this kind of thing every year (not the pre wedding but the photo shoots) and he regretted later after seeing me overexcited with this idea, haha. He should have anticipated my reaction. Find more of the pre wedding pictures on our wedding website.

So it’s been almost three weeks since we got married. I really enjoy my new role as a wife, and thank goodness Michael has been really helpful with everything about domestic chores. We are new to many things but we are very excited to do those new things. Needless to  say, we are happy! Note to myself, I need to put extra hard work on organising and keeping the house clean, haha. That Michael is very patient about this matter makes me a bit guilty. So I promise myself to learn and be better.

We are currently considering about creating a blog together. hmm.. we’ll see how it goes later.

I promise this is the last post about the previous trip to Bali. haha. That hat is everywhere in the picture because my hair was having bad days after being given an excessive amount of hair spray and backcombing on the wedding.

We picked Bali as our honeymoon destination only 2 weeks before our wedding and everything was done in last minute. On Sunday night after the reception we went to bed at 2 am and had to wake up 3 hours later to catch our flight! We didn’t make a very good preparation. However, despite the epic moments, we still made the most out of Bali.

I nodded to Michael when he said this holiday had got to be very very laid back. He knows me too well that I can even be busier and fussier during holiday. Wake up way earlier than usual, rush to get dressed, take my big camera and stroll around from 9 am to 9 pm, take picture of everything, go back to hotel and be ready for the next day. I just want to explore and don’t want to miss a single thing. However, this holiday was different. As my husband’s command, it was very, very laid back. So, all we did was only waking up, having breakfast, chilling around, going to the beach, pool, hopping from one eating place to another. No rush. No fuss. I didn’t even bring my DSLR camera (all pictures were snapped by a pocket camera). And it was soooo much relaxing. Another beach escape, please, husband?

It was my first Bali visit after 6 years and Bali has a lot of new cool places. Karma Kandara is my favourite on this visit! It’s so tranquil in there that all the tensions I’ve had these past few months were released all of a sudden. A 3-day trip wasn’t enough (oh yes, a year of holiday isn’t enough for me either, thanks for reminding me haha). However, I’m so happy we still made it.

Holaaaa, I miss this blog. So, to start off, let me tell the world that Michael and I… we’re now married! We’re husband and wife now. It still feels weird (and a bit of magical) to call him my husband but I’m going to get used to it. Haha. We did the Holy Matrimony on 6^th January and the Batak ceremony followed after on the same day. Two days after, 8^th January, we held the reception. All those events were much blast to us and I can’t quite explain how happy and thankful we are about how everything turned out. Thank God for the most, thank our parents from both side (still crying as I remember everything they have done to us. My prayer never changes, God give them happiness, please. And teach us as children to respect and love them. They are just the greatest!) and thank everybody (our big family, wedding organiser team, vendors, and everyone who had come to be part of our big day) for the helping hands. The party would be nothing without them.

We just got back from 3 day sweet escape, I mean honeymoon, in Bali (a post about our honeymoon will arrive later on!). I didn’t feel like leaving that place of tranquillity to be honest. Haha. Hell yeah, the reality of married life starts now. Bring it on! Haha. We have a temporary place to live just the two of us, at least for 1 year ahead because our real home is estimated to finish in 1 year time. And as happy as I am to live only the two of us, I’m also a bit worry about staying alone at home when Michael isn’t home, haha (such a spoiled brat). Mum is the one who keeps encouraging me that the adjustment will take place only one or two months and I’ll get the hang of it very soon. Then she said about being tough. Ok mum, thank you, I love you.

We got a lot of valuable messages on our wedding day. Wedding is only a day (or two days in our case) but marriage is a lifetime. All of our elders told us to put God first in our new family. We must be aware from the first place that marriage isn’t always about sweet things and romance. There are times that things are allowed to just go wrong and sometimes we just keep questioning why this or that happened. However, if we put Him and set aside our ego, we will get strength to go through the marriage storm, they say. I must not say it’s going to be easy. There is a teensy bit of worry, honestly. However, worry not. Trust in and lean on Him as the source of our love so that when rocky periods kick in and love seems to fade away, He the source of love himself will restore the love between us. It’s no easy if not impossible. On the bottom line, we are looking forward to seeing things unfolding in our little family. Hopefully and faithfully, good things will unfold. Amen.

Anyway, Happy New Year people (better late than never, haha)! Good wishes to everyone!

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?!

I have a confession to make. Whilst some might think that my new hobby you’ll know in a bit sounds very mummy-ish, I don’t care (even my boyfriend told me the same thing. ouch, heart break!). Some days earlier I posted on twitter about the impact of fabrics-shopping activity on me. It was really immense joy I feel every time I go to fabric shops, screen through piles of fabrics, ask the details and finally bring home some fabrics. I would go mad and wild, in a good way of course.

I guess it all started several months back that mum and I were regular visitors of fabric shops mainly for my wedding stuff. Honestly, I was not that keen in the first place. I even argued with mum at most time because of her habit that prone to stay all day and night long at a fabric shop. I tell you, it killed me so much that my bored-level often reached the highest limit. By this time, I know I should have been aware that many times things could work weirdly. Just when we hated something too much, it could go the other way round. haha. Be careful, love and hate are only a few inches away. And what happens to me now, I’m obsessed with fabrics. (thanks mum for introducing me to this activity) As the result, recently I’ve been visiting fabric shops e-v-e-r-y-d-a-y (ok, I mean almost everyday)! In another good news, my place is only hop and jump away to the marketplace of fabrics. This close proximity allows me to sneak the least of 1 hour for each visit everyday. Crazy, yes!

I love fabric-shopping and fabric shop is equal to seventh heaven to me. That kind of heaven where you want to stay and get lost at and splash a lot of your cash on. haha. It’s probably because this activity allows my imagination go crazy and lets my inner daydreamer go beyond wild. My very own classic idea of fabric-shopping works this way: I browsed for nice clothes inspiration on magazine, television, blogs, stores etc, I wanted one for me then I went to fabric shops, found quite some nice ones there, bought them and off to the tailor. However, soon as I arrived at the fabric shops things changed. There were often way too many good stuff and a whole bunch of inspiration just suddenly struck in my mind. I want a lot of fabrics. So, instead of the aforementioned, things work this way most of the time: I arrived at the fabric shop, took a thorough look to the fabrics… then “oh this one is nice” or “oh it’s pretty!” or expressions alike blurted out. That was the exact moment when suddenly my mind wandered for inspiration, I dreamed a little and murmured “this would be nice for this kind of dress/skirt/tops/etc”. I would even bargain (mum told me bargaining is a must when shopping at a traditional market!) In the end, I went home with a lot of fabrics! haha. Call me impulsive as you may. Now my room is full of fabrics in which some of them have been taken to the tailor and the rest are still in line.

Knowing that I don’t lead a glamorous life (yet a woman is still a woman, a creature who’s always on the hunt for pleasing things as clothes) and I have to be more thoughtful about expenses, I assumed this could be a wise move in terms of cutting expenses. On the bright side, with the same amount of money I used to spend on 1 dress, now I can get myself about three dresses by buying the fabrics myself and taking them to the tailor. Cost per item is usually cheaper and bank account is safe (or it’s supposed to). But the question is, will it still be the case with this impulsive habit of mine? The answer is an absolute no! I am broke, as fact. Oh yeah, I need to put extra hardwork on financial planning thingy, tell me about that! Shopping on purpose always works better than aimlessly and further end up with a lot of stuff. Easier said than done, I know, haha. But seriously, trying to hold down the impulsive habit could do a good start, no?

Back to fabrics matter. Choosing the fabric then designing the model is so interesting that I might as well learn to sew myself. Hmm, sounds like an idea..

image source flickr.

Now as Michael (my boyfriend) and I are approaching our D-day, perhaps the most frequent questions people throw at us as we bump into them is “how’s the wedding preparation?” Ok there we go. I could actually talk all night long to answer this particular topic. But my answer was usually simple as “Well, everything is pretty well on track” I think they were all on track and I worked quite fast. At least until my lovely detail-oriented papa came to me, fussed around and reminded me about this and that and all which I often ended up with “Oh yeah I miss that one, will do later” to almost all of his questions. haha. Thanks papa for reminding your scatter-brained daughter… I am. But worry not, I think we’ve got several things done at the moment. Big thanks to our dads, mums, and everybody for such kind-hearted and helping-hands.

About this wedding preparation thingy, Michael and I realise right from the beginning that wedding party in our culture involves many people from both sides. It’s our parents and family necessities over a mere ours as a couple. Hence, we don’t want to stress out or become very decisive on every single detail. Even though the control is in our hands, we try in every possible way to listen to what our parents have to say (only our parents though), collect their opinions, combine with ours then decide. I personally don’t feel the need to argue fiercely with them when there are clashes of interests. Thus I really really hope there won’t be such fierce arguments along the way. Amen to that.

We think what’s more important then the wedding is the marriage itself. In fact, it felt so surreal yesterday as we stepped into our very first day of pre-marriage class held by our church. For the first few seconds we only looked at each other and in a bit of teary-eyed (ok, not so teary-eyed, that’s just for a bit dramatic sound) told each other “Wow, here we are.. pre-marriage class? Did you imagine this before?” then we couldn’t help but burst into cracking laughter. The class will discuss everything we need to know about marriage life in all aspects – as a husband and wife, as parents to future children, as a part of big family, as a part of the society, and as God’s children. Marriage might not be as easy and always sweet as we both imagine, problems could surface at times. However, good things never come so easy either. It is a lifetime commitment as well as lifetime learning. I know it’s easier said than done, but a successful one requires more ‘us’ than ‘me’, a lot of ears, a lot of giving, understanding, respecting, compromising, and so the list goes. That’s what I’m said and what I believe. Am I scared, you may ask? Well… yes, a little bit. I’m a human being after all, despite the fact that we’ve been together for as long as I could remember. But we’re in love with each other, we have faith in Him. We’re pretty much ready. Dear God, bless our every path.

p.s. yay! I finally write a long one, even without any pictures!

p.s.s. Am I the only one who gets too excited looking for outfits for prewedding shoots?haha!

As my calendar says, today marks our anniversary. Our sixth anniversary, to be exact. Quite a number, eh? When I come to think of it, I’m always amazed of the magic and power of love. Falling in love with the same person over years? Of course, there are hard times and rocky moments but they’re nothing compared to the joy and happiness we’ve had. I’m no perfect nor is he. Each of us has flaws but we’re just happy with the fact that we’re together, nothing could ever come better than that. I pray pray pray that God’s blessings always stay with us and that He keeps us together until forever.

And to my boyfriend, thank you for your sweet-being, your love and practically for everything. I’m feeling much loved. I love you, my rockstar! p.s. we’re in the middle of preparing our big day. We’re excited and nervous in equal measure. But one for sure, so much looking forward to it! xoxo

Waking up from my long sleep only to wish you have a sweet September! Hopefully, I’ll have mine, too. September is one of my favourite months because it marks our anniversary, a month to my birthday time and 3 months to Christmas time. Wish this September will be just as sweet as last years, or even beyond.