.:: c spasi d ::.
here’s a snippet of my recent conversation on fb..
am i being oversensitive? or is this guy really annoying?
i can’t see how this should be funny ~ or even at the slightest bit informational.
should it?
*come to think of it, i rant a lot these last couple of days. weirdly, i’m actually in a very good mood.
.:: i am no gossip girl ::.
pertanyaan yang belakangan paling bikin capek : ada gosip apa?
i don’t mind being asked when it’s only basa-basi, i myself use it all the time for basa-basi purposes. but i do know some people who honestly expect JUICY GOSSIP when they ask me that particular question. what, do you actually think that i don’t have anything better to do than hunt for the latest happenings among our crowds? it is not like i’m a host of an infotainment show! and it is not of my particular interest as well. if i know something that people don’t, that doesn’t mean i am the source of all gossip. it just happens. and i don’t look anywhere for the facts or gossip. i just know.
some people treat me like i should know all the gossip and the happenings in town. a couple of days ago, someone started a conversation with that question. and when i said, i don’t have anything to tell you, she said : eh si X sama si Y putus ya? how should i know? i don’t snoop around other people’s business. if they want to talk about something, they would. if other people want to tell me something, they should. i don’t dig in other people’s life for gossip. i am no gossip girl!
.:: i have had enough ::.
adalah suatu paket berlangganan yang sangat menyusahkan. mau upgrade, bisa diurus lewat telepon. mau downgrade, harus datang langsung ke kantor yang bersangkutan. how ridiculous is that? padahal paket yang gue minta sama harganya kurang lebih sama yang gue pake sebelumnya. oh well, tepatnya sebelum di-upgrade otomatis ke paket dengan harga 3x lipat lebih mahal.
belum lagi urusan bill yang berulang kali bermasalah. i’m giving it one last try tomorrow. if it doesn’t go well, then it’s too bad, i’m ditching it! i am seriously pissed!
duh, rasanya udah pengen gue maki-maki!
.:: city round trip, bandung day 2 ~ part 2 ::.
selanjutnya, pengen lanjut ke sapu lidi, the valley dan sierra tapi perut udah lumayan kenyang. mau lanjut ke susu murni, tapi candri dan odi sepertinya udah kepengen ketemuan sama temen-temennya. akhirnya janjian ketemu di rumah mode. sampe disana, udah ga ada yang liat-liat jadi gue juga ga bisa belanja, ga suka banget belanja ditungguin orang. lagipula mata udah ga fokus dan kepala mulai menunjukkan gejala cenut-cenut akibat kurang tidur (dan mungkin juga kurang makan). untung aja disitu ada coffee shop, java bean. pesen iced cafe latte (21k) barengan feli. setelah segelas kopi diseruput habis (sembari ngegosip sembari minum, sampe feli shock berat pas kopinya udah gue abisin) otak mulai bekerja lebih lancar. dan lanjut deh foto-foto lagi 
abis ngopi-ngopi diajakin dinner di the valley yang membuat kita harus naik lagi ke arah lembang *swt* emang sih arahnya beda, dan lagipula bukan gue juga yang nyetir jadi gue ga complain. toh gue juga seneng bisa makan disana walaupun harus bolak-balik. hahaha.. mampir dulu di brownies kukus amanda di daerah dago, yang notabene baru gue kunjungi sekali itu. wih dah sukses banget tuh si amanda. sebelumnya gue cuma pernah ke toko aslinya yang di jl dr otten. cuma toko kecil sederhana yang laris manis dikerumunin orang, sementara cabangnya yang di daerah dago gede dan bagus banget. diliat-liat juga sekarang udah ada rasa yang aneh-aneh. akhirnya gue beli brownies kukus blueberry karena lucu warnanya ungu hehe..
di the valley, kali ini kita pesen satu porsi buat masing-masing. laper bo! gue pesen chicken cordon bleu (58k), sementara yana pesen zuppa zuppa. jadi saling icip mencicip. apalagi gue juga ga kuat ngabisin pesenan gue yang porsinya festive banget zuppa soup nya enaaaak! biasanya gue ga terlalu doyan cream soup, tapi zuppa nya the valley enak banget, dan ga terlalu kentel. pesenan gue, chicken cordon bleu juga mantep. mozarella nya ga pelit, side dishes nya juga enak-enak semua. sayang porsinya kelewat gede sampe udah kekenyangan pun masih sisa banyak banget. definitely worth the price!
sambil makan, sambil kucing-kucingan sama yana. jadi yana itu kebetulan ultahnya pas keesokan harinya. gue dan feli mau beliin kue dan pengen kasih pas jam 12 malem. pura-pura mau ke toilet, titip sana-sini biar ga ketawan, ngumpet-ngumpet nyari korek api (yang ternyata udah dikasih sama pihak resto!) sampe gue serem yana sensi sama kita karena kabur-kabur dan bisik-bisik ga jelas selesai makan, cabut ke hotel buat ngambil salah satu mobil yang ditinggal di parkiran. lumayan jauh, macet dan terutama ga ada yang tau jalan. nebak-nebak ga jelas, nyasar, nanya-nanya sama orang lewat, sampe yang rencananya jam 11 sampe jakarta, malah jam 11 masih macet-macetan dan muter di bandung! sesampainya di hotel, mobilnya bermasalah pula! untung aja ga kenapa-kenapa dan kita putusin buat konvoy pelan-pelan aja.
jam 11, jam 12.. hp yana udah bolak-balik bunyi.. pura-pura bego aja kaya ga tau apa-apa, pas yana ga liat juga udah mouth-talking sama feli gimana cara ngasih kue nya, sampe akhirnya kepergok dan pura-pura bego lagi. pokoknya sok secretive banget deh! akhirnya kita stop di resting point cikampek, dan sambil lirik-lirik dan memandang penuh makna si feli nyeret yana ke wc sementara gue dan lain-lain nyiapin kue dan lilinnya. abis itu kita cari-cari feli dan yana yang ilang ntah kemana. lilin akhirnya dimatiin dulu daripada keburu pendek intip-intip ke wc ga ada orang.. dan pas belly yang megang kuenya, yana tiba-tiba mulai berjalan ke arah kita dan gue langsung nyamperin dan nanyain (dengan basi) kemana aja kalian… sementara itu belly sama candri langsung merapat nutupin kuenya sambil nyalain lilinnya. begitu lilinnya nyala, langsung deh para cowo-cowo mulai nyanyiin happy birthday. uhuhu to tweeeet… dan asli kocak banget. sambil ditontonin abang-abang pula
.:: eat and eat, bandung day 2 ~ part 1 ::.
hari kedua. i had a restless night. udah pasang weker jam 7, tapi sepertinya gue kurang mengenal hp sendiri, soalnya ga bunyi tuh *kayanya* sebelumnya sih udah kebangun tapi baru jam setengah 7 jadi akhirnya gue tidur lagi. pas berikutnya kebangun eh udah jam setengah 8 aja mau bangunin para pria di kamar sebelah ga tega karena baru nyentuh kasur 3 jam sebelumnya. akhirnya gue mandi dulu, dan abis gue kelar mandi jam 8 kurang 10 baru deh telepon ke sebelah dan dengan sukses dicuekin akhirnya digedor-gedor sama feli, baru deh ada yang bangun.. sarapan nasi goreng sepiring bertiga dan nungguin yang lain kelar baru akhirnya jam setengah 10 berangkat ke arah lembang. rencananya kita mau wiskul ke resto-resto disana.
sebelum ke lembang mampir dulu ke kartika sari di kebon kawung buat belanja oleh-oleh. ada yang sempet ketuker pula antara mayasari dan kartika sari hahah… gue beli brownies tiramisu *my favourite*, cheese stick, cheese roll dan pisang bolen.
tempat pertama yang kita samperin yaitu kampung daun. last time i was there, i had to wait two freakin’ hours to get a table. tapi untungnya karena masih pagi, jadi masih sepi. malah bisa milih tempatnya sesuka kita awalnya sih udah milih tempat yang lumayan gede. tapi ga dibolehin karena orangnya dikit sementara saungnya lumayan gede. jadinya terpaksa pilih tempat lain deh yang lebih sesuai. pilih-pilih menu, gue emang udah rencana buat pesen satu menu buat bertiga bareng feli n yana, karena kan masih mau menyambangi resto-resto lainnya. akhirnya kita pilih fetuccine alfredo (28k). bener-bener ga salah pilih! enak bangeeeet. apalagi gue udah keleyengan sangking lapernya, makin nikmat kekentalan krimnya pas banget. creamy, but not overly creamy. pisa kafe, lewat deh! porsinya sih sebenernya pas kalo buat makan sendiri, tapi berhubung gue makan bertiga, ya sekedar ganjel dikit lah 
selesai makan di kampung daun, kita pun langsung menuju perhentian selanjutnya, yaitu the peak. masih dengan pikiran masih akan ada a series of stops and wiskuling ternyata para lelaki malah udah kekenyangan, dan cuma pesen dessert. cih gue iri liat tiramisunya!! sayangnya cewe-cewe ga ada yang mau paroan, jadi gue pesen. kita para perempuan pesen chicken steak (38k). lagi-lagi buat dibagi bertiga. uhuhu.. saus barbecue nya manis banget! gue sampe minta black pepper dan gue taburin sebanyak-banyaknya, baru deh rasanya sesuai selera
.:: lost in bandung, bandung day 1 ::.
sepertinya banyak banget halangan yang menyerbu pada saat-saat yang tepat waktu trip kita ke bandung kali ini. dari jadwal yang berubah mendadak, mobil yang satu bermasalah tepat sebelum berangkat, meeting point yang ga jelas, mobil yang satu lagi bermasalah tepat sebelum pulang, tempat nginep yang sempet meragukan dan bikin serem, belum lagi hujan, macet, peserta yang ga muncul-muncul dan seribu satu kendala lainnya. dan entah gimana akhirnya kita berhasil ngelewatin itu semua
rencana awalnya kita pergi hari sabtu, nginep semalem dan pulang hari minggu. karena ada beberapa yang berhalangan di hari minggu, akhirnya dimajuin satu hari, pergi jumat malem dan pulang sabtu malem. nah pas banget tuh jakarta yang belakangan terik sangat, malah diguyur hujan jumat sore, yang pastinya berimbas ke macetnya lalu lintas yang biasanya aja udah macet. walau gue udah kabur jam 4.50 dari kantor, akhirnya gue sampe di rumah yana di kelapa gading jam 6 lewat. di perjalanan itu gue juga dikabarin kalo acaranya terancam batal gara-gara salah satu mobil yang akan dipake berangkat ke bandung justru lagi bermasalah dan dibongkar.. untung akhirnya beres. sampe di rumah yana, masih nungguin feli, dan nungguin dijemput sama belly. kira-kira kita jalan jam 7.30 dari rencana awal yang jam 6 dari rumah yana, kita memutuskan buat langsung aja ketemu di resting point karawang, daripada musti bolak-balik bermacet ria ke rumahnya candri di paseban. sampe di resting point, kita cemal-cemil di pizza hut sambil nungguin candri dkk yang ternyata baru jalan dari jakarta *swt* dan sekitar jam 10-an baru deh muncul.. dan ternyata cuma dua orang! kalo ngomong dari tadi si mending dijemput aja, secara mobilnya juga masih muat!! ternyata beberapa orang lain temen-temennya candri malah baru janjian di jakarta jam 12 malem.
pizza hut karawang
akhirnya ya kita duluan aja ke hotel konvoy sama widya, temen belly yang orang bandung asli. disini juga baru dikasih tau lokasi hotelnya yang meragukan. gue sih udah pengen cari hotel lain aja, tapi yang lain bilang liat dulu aja, akhirnya gue nurut aja dah daripada dikira ga menghargai usaha orang yang udah telepon sana-sini buat book hotel. hihi. ternyata sih kamarnya oke-oke aja dan lumayan bersih, walau dari luar menurut gue sedikit meragukan. langsung check in dan abis itu muter keliling kota nyari makan. diantara 7 orang yang ada di mobil, ga ada satupun yang tau jalan. sampe muter-muter nyasar-nyasar iya juga gara-gara muter di daerah yang salah sih.. ketemunya malah pasar dan tempat-tempat ga jelas, kalo pun ada resto, udah tutup semua berhubung udah nyaris jam 3 pagi juga akhirnya balik lagi ke hotel dan jalan kaki ke warung-warung tenda yang ada disekitar situ. ke tempat bubur ayam, tapi gue ga doyan liat penampakannya, akhirnya ga makan walau udah kelaperan 
untung ternyata di seberang jalan ada roti bakar duti yang (katanya) terkenal. walau menu yang ditawarkan beragam, dari yang std kaya keju, srikaya keju, manis keju, sampe wurst, susis, ham dan telor, tetep aja akhirnya yang gue pesen roti bakar coklat keju beda banget euy sama roti bakar jakarta. disini roti nya setangkup tumpuk dua dan isinya ada di dalem. dan isinya dikiiiit banget. gue jauh lebih prefer roti bakar di sunter or gading!
muka-muka jam 4 pagi, mind the poofy eyes!
selesai makan jalan balik ke hotel, berbenah dan cuci muka. sekitar setengah 5 baru tidur, ga kebagian bantal pula
.:: KKG gathering ::.
KKG was having a couple gathering last sunday, but since bf was out of town, i went with my family instead
now i’m going to tempt you with these pictures of the dessert..
after the gathering, i went to gading with my sis to watch cloudy with a chance of meatballs. the 3D effect was so-so, and even more so to my disappointment, the story was so-so. it was enjoyable, yes, and the characters were cute, but the it was just not quite funny.
.:: canton bay, fd event, icy blue ::.
minggu lalu diajakin cinde ikutan kuis di fd yang berhadiah goodie bag produk-produk dari MAC, Clinique, Estee Lauder dan parfum Sean John, sekaligus juga makeover gratis gue dateng lebih awal dan sempet keliling-keliling metro sembari nungguin cinde dateng. lumayan lagi big sale, akhirnya dapet satu floral tops abis itu sempet ke sogo dan kinokuniya juga, sebelum akhirnya cinde telepon dan bilang udah kelaperan. akhirnya kita langsung janjian ketemuan di canton bay. gue inget nih cinde emang pengen banget nyobain canton bay setelah berhasil gue racuni hihi.. jadi gue usulin makan disitu. gue belum bisa beralih dari menu favorit gue disitu, ifu mie seafood (27.5k). sebenernya sih, pernah juga icip-icip menu lainnya kalo pas makan bareng orang lain, tapi tetep aja gue selalu pesen ifu mie kalo kesitu. udah hooked banget deh. cinde pesen chasiu wonton noodle. gue icip sedikit juga pastinya, enak dan gurih.
ifumie seafood
chasiu wonton noodle
selesai makan kita ke atrium mall, dan ngintipin acara session sebelumnya sampe akhirnya giliran session jam 4. dan kita berdua sebenernya udah ngincer makeover di MAC, apa daya nasib gue kurang beruntung. gue dapet makeover di estee lauder, sementara cinde dapet di MAC! huhuhu.. iri sekali… karena di MAC antri, kita ke estee dulu. di estee ini gue cuma ditanya mau dandanan dramatic atau romantic. abis itu makeup artist nya mulai bekerja. sayangnya di depan gue ga ada kaca, jadi ya cuma dipoles-poles dia, sambil pura-pura tertarik sama produknya. sementara itu, di MAC makeup artistnya nolong banget. ga pelit ilmu. jadi sambil nonton cinde dan orang-orang sebelumnya didandanin, gue juga asik nonton karena makeup artist nya share banyak tips. jadi pengen belanja kosmetik! huhuhu.. padahal udah bertekad ga mau terlalu gila lagi sama yang namanya kosmetik, tapi begini deh kalo ada yang menarik selain makeover sebenernya ada booth lukis juga di MAC. jadi kita tinggal duduk dan langsung dilukis dan hasilnya boleh dibawa pulang. udah pengen aja gue.. eh begitu dah ga ada yang antri, pelukisnya pergi istirahat batal deh…
abis itu kebetulan cinde juga udah kelar di makeover, dan udah jam 5, dimana berarti kita udah boleh ambil goodie bag nya. akhirnya ambil goodie bag, dan kita pun langsung ke lantai 5 buat nyobain icy blue gue denger tentang icy blue pertama kali di surabaya. waktu itu gue lagi ke tunjungan plaza dan di depan mall banyak spanduk-spanduk icy blue. sayang di dalem belum ketemu tempatnya udah keburu capek duluan. batal deh nyobain. makanya pas gue denger icy blue juga ada di PS gue jadi pengen nyobain, apalagi gue kan jarang juga ke PS
blueberry-redberry fro-yo topped with pink mochi and longan
post-makeover
awalnya gue pengen nyobain fro-yo rasa lychee. tapi karena ga ada lychee campur rasa lain, akhirnya kita pesen blueberry-redberry mixed ukuran medium seharga 32rb udah termasuk 2 topping. untuk toppingnya gue pilih pink mochi, cinde pilih longan. trus kita duduk deh di bagian belakang resto yang kebetulan masih ada meja kosong. yum-yum.. fro-yo nya ga perlu pake topping juga udah enak. beda sama fro-yo lainnya, disini fro-yo nya udah berasa banget. sayang cepet banget cairnya. baru dipoto bentar juga udah mulai mencair tuh. topping nya so-so sih. lapisan gula mochi nya sih lumayan tebel, dan topping yang dikasih juga cukup banyak, sampe dua kali mochi nya jatuh. menurut gue, lumayan banget buat selingan
anyway, sambil makan sambil ubek-ubek goodie bag yang kita dapet. isinya ternyata makeup pouch dan beberapa jenis sample. yah walaupun cuma sample lumayan juga ya.. karena ada beberapa produk yang emang udah gue pengen, jadi kan bisa cobain sample nya dulu sebelum beli first impression gue..
- estee lauder pure in white. so-so ya.. wangi sih enak dan elegan, but i prefer yang lebih floral atau fresh 
- dkny women ~ belum cobain
- mac prep + prime skin refined zone treatment. LOVE this one. gue pake di daerah hidung di atas mac prep + prime yang gue pake semuka, dan ternyata begitu dipoles bedak lagi, pori-porinya keliatan jauh lebih mulusss. sayang oil control nya so-so sehingga ga terlalu tahan seharian. tapi overall sih sepertinya worth to buy.
- mac studio fix foundation in nc30. dulu gue sempet pengen banget beli foundie ini. tapi karena gue pikir rada berat akhirnya gue urungkan niat gue itu deh. ternyata pas nyobain sample nya ga terlalu berat juga tuh. tapi warnanya waaaaay too dark for me.
- clinique turnaround concentrate. sebelumnya gue pake paula’s choice bha, walau akhir-akhir ini suka males makenya naga-naganya sih gue lebih suka clinique. begitu dioles berasa silky smooth, almost siliconey. dan pas bangun pagi juga ga berminyak dan ga juga bikin kering. and a little goes a long way.
- clinique moisture surge lip gloss in raspberry. the colour doesn’t really show. cuma memberi kesan seger aja. tapi ga bikin kering dan juga not sticky, which is good.
- estee lauder advanced night repair~ belum cobain
- estee lauder perfectionist serum~ belum cobain
- estee lauder anti wrinkle cream~ belum cobain
.:: maru ::.
selesai makan malem, kita langsung menuju maru yang berada satu lantai persis dibawah grand beppu. gue pernah baca tentang merk yoghurt ini di fd, plus ditambah tempatnya menarik jadi tambah penasaran aja deh! maru, yang berarti “lingkaran” dalam bahasa jepang, stays true to its brand, dan restonya dihiasi aneka lingkaran beraneka warna dan ukuran gue suka konsep dekornya.. lucu, fresh dan original.
yoghurt yang ditawarkan ga terlalu beragam, cuma ada original, kiwi dan twist. tapi definitely one of the best fro-yo in town fro-yo nya ga cepet cair, bahkan sampe gue selesai makan ukuran medium, nyaris belum ada yang cair sama sekali. rasa asem nya juga pas. asem-asem seger.. untuk mochi, gue tetep prefer yang di sour sally, but this one isn’t so bad either.
ukuran yang ditawarkan seperti biasa ada small, medium, large. tapi dikasih nama yang cute banget, seperti flirting, so in love dan totally addicted. pilihan topping std seperti merk fro-yo lain, dengan tambahan topping khas jepang seperti misalnya ogura. gue pilih satu jenis aja, karena disini jualnya terpisah antara yoghurt dan topping nya. toppingnya sendiri masing-masing 5rb. total pesenan gue, yoghurt twist (25rb) dengan 1 topping mochi (5rb), jadi 30rb. masih acceptable harganya dan worth it banget sama rasanya..
lucunya lagi, di bon pembelian tertulis jumlah kalori dan fat dari masing-masing pesanan. misalnya yoghurt medium sekitar 199 kalori, 0 fat. sementara satu porsi topping mochi mengandung 1 gr fat.
sedikit gemes juga karena untuk setiap pembelian ukuran medium ternyata ada kuis. gue harus nebak berat yoghurt pesanan gue, dan kalau misalnya tebakan gue dalam range kurang dari 5 gram atau lebih dari 5 gram dari yang sebenernya, gue ga usah bayar.. omg. salah tebak! rasanya pengen balik lagi ke maru, selain karena fro-yo nya enak banget, juga karena pengen coba kuisnya lagi
selain fro-yo maru juga menyediakan mochi ice cream. harga satuannya 12rb, sementara kalo beli 4 pcs jadi 42rb. jauh lebih affordable dibanding di SG yang menjual mochi ice cream seharga SGD 2.4 per mochi sayang kemaren lagi ga ada tuh mochi ice creamnya…
.:: friday night dinner with miss o ::.
hari jumat pergi makan malem sama miss o. tujuan kali ini ke eX. sebenernya gue lebih pengen ke GI karena lebih banyak pilihan makanan dan toko-tokonya juga lebih menarik, tapi miss o ga tau parkiran motor disana jadi ga berani deh. akhirnya diputuskan makan di eX, seperti biasa miss o mau makan japanese food. i don’t know what’s with her and japanese food, i think she craves for japanese food just like i do for italian. karena di eX ga ada sushi groove, resto favorit miss o, akhirnya muter-muter cari yang lain. awalnya dah jalan ke plaza indo karena mau makan di sushi tei, tapi akhirnya miss o ngusulin buat nyoba makanan lain. pengen cobain pizza e bira sih, tapi gue lagi pengen pasta, bukan pengen pizza. kalo liat menu di webnya sih ga ketemu pasta.. ada ga ya *maksa! haha.. terus keliling-keliling, akhirnya tetep jatohnya ke resto jepang lagi, grand beppu. seperti biasa gue pesen chicken katsu curry, atau seperti yang tertulis di menu grand beppu, kare raise (45k). alasan gue : pertama, gue ga makan sushi; kedua, i love love love love chicken katsu curry, ever since i had one at wagamama; ketiga, karena kedua alasan diatas, menu itu buat gue jadi penentu apakah resto tertentu enak atau engga.
dan ternyata chicken katsu curry disini kurang enak dibanding di sushi tei, atau sushi groove. kecewa! potongan chicken katsu nya kecil banget, apalagi kalo dibanding sama nasi putih yang semangkok penuh. bumbu karinya pun lebih enak di kedua resto tadi. mungkin aja masalah selera aja ya.. ah jadi kangen chicken katsu curry di ichiban atau wagamama
berikutnya, musti nyobain sushi tengoku yang di rekomendasiin cinde! ternyata gue sering banget lewatin sushi tengoku yang di kelapa gading, cuma aja selama ini ga pernah bener-bener notice dan pas gue cerita ke my sis tentang resto ini, dia pernah makan disitu dan denger-denger sih emang resto ini cukup terkenal di kalangan penggemar makanan jepang. but i think, for now, i’ve had enough japanese food..
.:: sour sally ::.
sour sally bubblegum fro-yo topped with choco mochi and mixed mochi
i am more an ice cream person than i am a yoghurt one. in fact, i’ve always hated yoghurt. the recent fro-yo hype didn’t make any sense to me. i didn’t jump in the bandwagon. for almost a year, at least. recently, my sis urged me to try sour sally. i did, despite the fact that i’ve tried spoonfuls of some other brands and never really liked it, and to my surprise, i thought it was acceptable. after some time i even grew to like it! needless to say, i am now a hopeless addict
as i am such a newbie when it comes to fro-yo ( i started to like it just a month ago! ) i haven’t explored much of the endless selection of brands available in jakarta, i mostly go to sour sally i love how the sweet mochi complements the acceptably-sour fro-yo ( perfecto! ). and i love the bubblegum flavour, as it is slightly less sour than the other flavours
.:: surabaya, higlights part 1 ::.
the real reason why i went to surabaya was to attend a cousin’s wedding. when i first heard about the wedding i was so psyhced, not only for my cousing, but because i haven’t been there in at least ten years! i took friday and monday off from work to explore the city and meet the relatives. it was a great trip, i so missed the people. some i haven’t seen for years, some i’ve never even met in my entire life
anyway, the wedding took place on a saturday, and i was super busy. first thing in the morning, i had to drive a long way to the juanda airport to pick up my sis who was flying for surabaya that day, drove all the way down to my cousin’s house and changed into my morning outfit ( a little black dress i’ve bought the day before, coz i didn’t bring anything decent! ) and the off we went to the hotel for the tea ceremony. i wasn’t expected to do anything in particular, so i was just chit-chatting with my cousins and other relatives.
soon after that, we all drove to the cathedral to attend the holy matrimony. it was a really nice church, huge and classic. the ceremony was also really touchy. overall a perfect wedding!
later on, after the ceremony and lunch, we were dragged to l’frans salon to get our hair and makeup done. i really love the place, it had a really nice ambience that would make you feel relaxed. it was really homey, and there was even a garden inside the house! and i totally love the service!
it was already past five when they finished, and we were actually required to be at the ballroom at that exact time, since mom and dad had tasks to do so we hurried back to our hotel and changed into my red dress. by the time we reached the place, we actually had time to lounge at the VIP room, so i asked a cousin to take some pictures
sweet lina and i ~ and the mischievous jeffry behind
the ladies in red ( i didn’t know they were going to wear red, it was totally accidental ~ and a really nice one! )
my sis, auntie, niece and another mischievous nephew, who appeared ghostly in the background
posing with my mom and sis
again..
and again…
a niece of mine, lia, performed ave maria ( hardly believe she’d played the violin for only six months. she’s a pro! )
with my parents, after the party
with my mom and sis
.:: WIP : Carousel, Week 3 ::.
doing a lot better than next week, but still a long way to go
especially since i don’t stitch every single day like i used to…
.:: collective book reviews ::.
*spoiler-heavy*
Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer
undoubtedly the best among the four. i don’t think bella was as pathetic as she used to be in the first three books. probably it’s the fact that bella had finally had edward and had been turned into a vampire. moreover, i love the second part of this book, which was told from jacob’s point of view. it’s unique and quite refreshing after all those bella, bella, bella i find the dialogues were sometimes too long and boring, especially during the confrontation with the volturi. it’s like reaching anti-climax without a climax. however, i still find it quite entertaining. 3 out of 5.
Once Upon Stilletos – Shanna Swendson
as witty as the first book, this second book in enchanted series is as entertaining as ever. katie chandler is executive secretary to Merlin, the great wizard. being totally non magical gave her benefits, and it provided her with a job. what if someone tampered into her immunity and she became as blind to magic as the magicians? not to mention she didn’t have any magical abilities at all. however, disasters around katie brought her to one thing : progressing love story between her and owen. her breakup with ethan was much to my disappointment. i love ethan! although he did act kinda off in this second book, especially during the breakup. oh well, she’s meant to be with owen anyway. that, at least, is quite predictable from the very first beginning 4 out of 5.
The Other Queen – Phillipa Gregory
mary, queen of scots, a figure i’ve always been curious of. i love this book. captivating, just like other books written by gregory. what dissapoints me is the fact that this book tells the captive of mary after she had been thrown down from her throne in scotland and turned to elizabeth of england for help. the plotting and conspiracy is interesting to read, but what i wish to read more is her life as a queen in scotland. nonetheless, it’s still worth reading 5 out of 5.
.:: ice forest ::.
not a big fan of manga nowadays, but from time to time, i do occasionally buy some, when i’m really bored. i bought this one, ice forest written by saito chiho, last weekend, when i was looking for something light to read.
and i LOVE it! the story tells about a girl who had once won a skating competition but now had quit because of an injury. her accidental meeting with a general manager of ARC hotel, who happened to own a skating club in tokyo, brought her back to the skating world. unable to single-skate anymore, she turned to ice dancing, where she was paired with a half canadian half japanese skater. the story tells about the struggle of these two to become successful athletes, and the problem surrounding them. what i love about it is the fact that it’s not a typical high-school romance story. i’m tired of that kind of thing! it’s quite refreshing to read something different. hopefully the coming books will still be this interesting.
bad news is, it’s still ongoing (if i’m not mistaken!) so i’ll probably have to wait for quite some time for the second book
.:: meet my new books ::.
another books haul, thanks to my sis who recently went for a short business trip to SG. i’ve asked her to get a couple of books, didn’t expect her to turn out with all four! yippie…
.:: Now Open : Pre Order My Beauty Diary Mask ::.
Kini dibuka pre order MY BEAUTY DIARY MASK mulai tanggal 26 Oktober s/d 2 November 2009 ( 1 minggu saja! ) Limited space!
For full details of product please click the following links
My Beauty Diary Mask
and
My Beauty Diary Mask ~ Luxury Line
What is it?
My Beauty Diary Face Mask is Taiwan’s hottest selling facial mask and its popularity has remarkablely increased within Asian markets, such as China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
To check out the OFFICIAL WEBSITE please click HERE
What is so great about it?
Affordable ( YES ladies, it’s CHEAP! ), suitable for various skin type. The wide range of mask provides you a wonderful selection to match your personal needs.
Really?
For REVIEWS please click on the following links ( or you can always google it! there are ton of wonderful honest reviews! )
http://womenlovebeauty.com/product-review/mask-exfoliant/5084
http://wonderfulwortelworld.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/review-my-beauty-diary-black-pearl-sheet-mask/
http://www.makemeblushhh.com/2009/09/my-beauty-diary-mask-obsession.html
http://aichakubeautification.blogspot.com/2009/09/review-my-beauty-diary-black-pearl-mask.html
http://beautysnap.blogspot.com/2009/10/review-my-beauty-diary-lavender-mask.html
http://prettybeautiful.net/my-beauty-diary-mask-q10-rejuvenating/
http://wonderfulwortelworld.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/review-my-beauty-diary-aloe-sheet-mask/
How?
Untuk syarat dan ketentuan pre order, silahkan klik disini
~ Happy Shopping! ~
.:: pepenero, cucina italiana ::.
jumat malam ada acara project dinner acaranya diselenggarakan di resto italia pepenero di bilangan kuningan, tepatnya di menara karya. selama ini sering banget ngintip suasana restonya dari luar resto kalo kebetulan jemput my sis yang kerja di gedung itu, dan udah cukup sering juga denger rave nya, sampe akhirnya baru kali ini kesampean. gratis pula. hahaha..
love the ambience! temaram, bangku dan meja kayu coklat tua berjejer rapi, vas bunga berhiaskan aneka bunga berwarna pastel, great music on the background.. soal pelayanan, ga bisa dibilang superb walau ga bisa juga dibilang buruk. bahkan chef nya sendiri yang orang italiano pun turun tangan ikut bantuin kita milih menu. kebetulan pas saat itu emang belum terlalu rame sih. menu yang ditawarkan menurut gue lengkap banget, dari antipasti, zuppe, primi dan secondi piatti, pizza sampe dessert, gelati, coffee dan wine. akhirnya pilihan gue jatuh ke pasta, karena udah beberapa minggu ga makan pasta, dan seperti biasa kalo dalam keadaan begini ngidam nya jadi kumat ga inget judul nya tuh pasta, karena namanya ga kurang dari lima atau enam kata. yang gue inget intinya sih tortellini prosciutto, tortellini with ham and creamy sauce (49k). buat tortellini nya, dari segi rasa sih oke, walau jauh lebih oke lagi setelah gue taburin black pepper dan chilli powder banyak-banyak tapi saus nya asli creamy banget akhirnya cuman gue makan separo, menyiapkan perut gue untuk dessert nya..
untuk minumannya gue cobain strawberry juice (38k), aranciata rossa (34k), aranciata amara (34k), dan icip-icip chinotto sumthing ~ ga inget, red wine, dan complimentary chocolate vodka. yang paling gue doyan aranciata rossa, manis dan unik. sementara itu aranciataamara rasanya buat gue ga jauh beda sama fanta orange, cuma sedikit lebih tawar dan lebih berasa soda kalo yang chinotto, walaupun judulnya sejenis citrus, menurut gue rada pahit dan lebih berasa kayumanis.
buat dessert, gue pesen tiramisu (41k). sempet bingung antara tiramisu or gelato tapi akhirnya pesen tiramisu, dan icip-icip gelato vanilla nya deni gelato nya enak.. manis dan seger at the same time. sementara itu tiramisu juga ga kalah mantep. soft, chocolatey, dan creamy.
overall, makanannya cukup enak, tapi masih heran sama all the hype. sedikit overrated, tapi itu menurut gue aja lho..
.:: WIP : Carousel ~ Week 2 ~
can you tell the difference? i almost had no time to stitch last week, what with all the baking, traveling, grocery shopping, etc.. i only had time to add some minor details and i discovered that i did a miscount.. again! luckily it affected only a small part so i only needed little time to fix it
.:: surabaya, foodism ::.
. nasi udang bu rudy
ini makanan yang menurut gue must-try banget kalo ke surabaya. sedihnya cabang yang di jakarta udah ga ada walaupun menu andalan resto ini nasi udang, tapi gue justru kurang suka sama nasi udang nya. malah gue doyaaaan banget ayam penyet nya. dan ternyata ayam penyet yang di surabaya lebih mantep lagi dari yang di jakarta. sambelnya lebih kerasa seger-seger jeruk limo, dan dapet tempe! di jakarta mana ada… my sis yang pesen tempe penyet juga kebagian porsi yang dua kali lipat dari porsi di jakarta. puassss!
. mie tidar & es kentel
mie tidar ini juga salah satu yang selalu disebut-sebut sepupu gue sebagai resto yang wajib dikunjungi di surabaya. pasalnya, ada menu es kentel yang katanya enak banget. bukan berarti mie nya ga enak lho weekend kemaren itu pertama kalinya gue cobain makan disini. gue pesen pangsit mie bakwan, dan es kentel. pangsit mie bakwan – a.k.a mie keriting ayam plus pangsit dan bakso – porsi nya lumayan besar, dengan harga yang menurut gue lumayan juga, apalagi untuk ukuran luar kota, 25rb. tapi mie nya emang enak sih es kentel nya a.k.a es campur ( gue ga tau sebenernya emang judulnya es kentel atau sepupu gue yang nyebutnya begitu ) agak beda dari yang biasa dijual di jakarta. isinya kelapa, cincau, hunkue, cendol putih, nanas, tape, kacang merah, blewah. enak.. sayangnya porsinya ga terlalu besar
. bakwan kapasari
satu lagi makanan wajib di surabaya : bakwan kapasari! cerita punya cerita, resto ini awalnya bernama bakwan gili. tapi di kemudian hari ada orang yang buka resto dengan nama yang sama dan langsung dipatenkan. jadi akhirnya terpaksa resto ini ganti nama. ga tau lho bener atau ngga ini sih cuman denger-denger dari tante gue aja. menurut gue bakwan itu termasuk salah satu barang langka di jakarta. sampe sekarang gue ga tau di mana gue bisa temuin bakwan enak jadi kalo ke surabaya, dijamin gue pasti langsung minta ke bakwan kapasari ini. gue makan di resto nya yang ada di pasar atum. ga berubah dari terakhir gue kesitu 10 tahun lalu bedanya kemaren ga terlalu rame.. mungkin juga karena gue kesitu pas weekday. gue ga pesen bakwan campur karena katanya di menu itu ada usus, dan gue ga makan usus! jadi gue pilih aja isi nya : bakwan halus, siomay rebus, siomay goreng, dan tahu. buat gue sih semuanya enak, kecuali tahu. gue lebih suka tahu di bakwan marina kuahnya juga sedikit lebih asin dibanding bakwan marina. but overall sih sedap seperti biasa, bakwan disajikan dengan cocolan sambel dan saus tomat.
. bakwan marina
hari pertama gue mendarat di surabaya, tante gue pesen bakwan ini, dan gue makan bakwan ini di rumahnya. jadi gue ga tau restonya ada dimana pertama makan, gue kira ini bakwan kapasari maklum dah lama banget ga makan, jadi dah ga terlalu inget. yang gue suka dari bakwan marina ini, kuahnya gurih tapi ga terlalu asin, dan tahu nya pake tahu halus yang ukuran besar. mantep!
. gado-gado arjuna
gado-gado ini katanya sih paling enak di surabaya. restonya kecil dan sederhana, tapi memang di dinding-dindingnya dipampang halaman-halaman majalah yang pernah mengulas gado-gado ini. oh well, menurut gue sih… jauh banget enakan gado-gado boplo gado-gado arjuna ini pake kacang tanah, bukan kacang mede seperti boplo, sayurannya pun kayanya kurang variatif *gue cuman ngicip punya nyokap jadi what i see is what i write
. nasi campur adam
a.k.a nasi babi gue makan nasi campur ini di food courtmall galaxy. emang rada beda sama jakarta. disini ga dikasih kuah kaldu, tapi kelebihannya, dapet saus tauco. porsinya ga berlebih, tapi cukup ngenyangin potongan daging nya juga ga terasa berlebihan gurihnya. menurut gue cukup layak dicoba, walau di mall galaxy ada beberapa resto lain yang gue lebih pengen coba tapi ga ada temen buat nyobain
. maggie yoghurt & pancake
di deket food court mall galaxy, gue liat ada toko yoghurt yang ga pernah gue liat di jakarta. resto ini ga cuma menjual yoghurt tapi ada juga pancake. entah topping pancake nya pake yoghurt atau es krim, yang jelas gue ga liat penampakan es krim disitu, tapi tulisan di menu nya “pancake + 1 scoop ice cream”. untuk yoghurt nya sendiri, rasanya cuma tersedia yang original dan topping nya kurang menarik dibanding beberapa gerai yoghurt di jakarta. mochi yang tersedia ada dua rasa, grape dan melon. sisanya std aja, lychee, strawberry, wafer, dll. gue beli porsi single seharga 18.900 yang sudah termasuk satu macam topping. jadi gue pilih mochi grape. gue liat keliatannya kok yoghurt nya banyak. jadi gue tambah topping mochi melon seharga 4000 yoghurt nya buat gue sedikit terlalu encer dan cepet lumer, ga seperti sour sally. lapisan gula di luar mochi juga ga terlalu manis, sehingga kurang mengimbangi asem nya yoghurt. tapi mochi nya sendiri berasa banget grape dan melonnya. dijamin pake essence, ga cuman pewarna ungu dan hijau.. mungkin supaya lebih berasa ya, ga cuma yoghurt plain aja oiya dekor restonya lucu, sarat warna hijau dan pink pastel, dan sangat mengingatkan gue sama sour sally..
~ there are actually a couple of other restaurants i was dying to try, but haven’t got the time to, like la rucola, bon ami, amore hoping i’d be able to try those on my next visit
.:: i’d rather be ::.
i’m flying for surabaya tomorrow morning, somehow i’d rather be at the office.. the impossible has happened
.:: no-brainer pastry ::.
yesterday, i spent a couple of hours ( or more ) to bake this no-brainer cheese sticks..
and some cheese hearts too!
uber cute! i love how these hearts turned out to be
.:: WIP : Carousel ~ Week 1::.
onto my next project : carousel! mwahaha…
this is my first sodastitch project, which i fell in love with, as soon as i laid eyes upon it. working with all the vivid-colored threads is definitely a refreshing thing to do after all those soft pastel colors of precious moments ~ not that i don’t love PM!
funny thing is the colors kinda jump here and there. i like to work on one color and finish all stitches of that color before moving on to the next, and the colors on this chart are so jumpy that i need to count and recount to make sure i’m not making any mistake. luckily, i haven’t make any up to this point (still a long way to go!)
.:: two weddings in a day ::.
hari minggu kemaren kebetulan ada dua undangan wedding, satu agnes, temen nya deni, satu lagi loby, temen kuliah gue. untung aja waktunya beda, jadi bisa dateng ke dua-duanya. kebetulan wedding agnes itu diadain pagi, jam 10 pemberkatan di kapel st ursula trus langsung dilanjutin resepsi. gue dateng telat pastinya deni nyampe di rumah aja jam 10, abis itu masi sempet leyeh-leyeh dulu sebentar. akhirnya ga dapet tempat di dalem kapel, dan kita cuma duduk di luar aja sama beberapa temen deni lainnya. walaupun di sekeliling kita tuh hijau banget dan banyak tetanaman, tetep aja gerah.. sampe sekitar jam 12 baru deh misa nya selesai, dan kita pun beranjak ke tempat resepsi nya. ga makan terlalu banyak sih, karena gerah dan udah siang juga, akhirnya pamit duluan supaya sempet jalan-jalan
kita pun langsung meluncur ke gading dan keliling-keliling. rencananya sih cuma mau jalan sebentar aja, paling engga sampe jam 5 supaya sempet siap-siap lagi. eh ternyata deni malah sibuk shopping hehe.. trus di salah satu area mall lagi ada games cloudy with a chance of meatball. lucu.. ada donat, burger, french fries dll. maunya sebenernya foto sama donat raksasa, tapi karena donat nya ada di area yang keliatan sama para penjaga stand, akhirnya cuma foto sama french fries aja
gara-gara kelamaan di mall, akhirnya jam 6.15 baru sampe rumah lagi deh. dan gue buru-buru mandi dan dandan lagi buat ke wedding nya loby. untung acaranya di balai sudirman yang cuman selemparan batu dari rumah, jadi ga telat malah lebih dulu dari miss o yang udah telepon dari jam 6 lewat ( dan gue kira udah jalan dari jam 6 itu! ). abis prosesi dan salam-salaman gue ke area lontong cap gomeh dan pas banget ketemu sama miss o, felix, ika, weigang dan beberapa binusian yang ga gue kenal foto-foto sih ga terlalu banyak, karena ga banyak ketemu yang lain juga. sibuk makan kali ya? hehe..
capenya luar biasa, kaki serasa mau patah dan badan serasa mau rontok..
.:: kaastengel ::.
ada keju edam setengah blok sisa bikin kaastengel pas libur lebaran, akhirnya sabtu kemaren gue abisin aja buat bikin.. kaastengel lagi *swt* sebenernya pengen coba buat cheese stick, tapi bahan-bahan di rumah ga lengkap, jadi mending dibuat kaastengel aja lagi daripada kelamaan di kulkas dan keburu basi
.:: spared ::.
it seems my life has been spared.. at least for now
and two weeks of during the holidays it 80% approved.. *dreamy-eyed*
.:: decision-making ::.
haduh sulitnya membuat keputusan.. beberapa bulan lalu gue pernah membuat satu keputusan dan udah gue sampaikan pula ke orang lain.. blah! apakah keputusan itu akhirnya bakal menyusahkan gue atau engga.. bakal gue sesali atau engga.. dah ga bisa ditarik lagi.. bukannya sekarang pengen gue tarik lagi sih, cuma just in case aja
.:: A Kiss To Build A Dream On ::.
precious moments has been one of my favorite for years, so i’m really excited to finally finish a PM stitching project. it took me 6 weeks but i’m really content with the result. it’s so pretty, if i may say so myself. it kinda makes me want to stitch other wedding-themed precious moments!
.:: konad first-timer ::.
i’ve been eyeing konad for so long that i finally took a plunge and bought the necessary tools a couple of weeks ago. but it wasn’t until yesterday that i finally found the white polish! the thing was the white one wasn’t available and i insisted not to buy any other color coz i thought white goes with every color. so i was really happy to finally find the white one. yaay! so this is my first attempt at stamping with konad.. it’s not exactly neat, but i am quite happy with the result.. i think i may have found a new addictive toy!
.:: tony jack’s ::.
penasaran sama peralihan beberapa gerai mcd ke resto baru bernama tony jack’s akhirnya minggu ini gue menyempatkan diri mampir ke salah satu gerai bersangkutan, yang untungnya ga jauh dari rumah ( dimana lagi kalo ga di gading! ). menu burger yang ditawarkan sedikiiit lebih bervariasi *sesuai tagline nya “better than that one” swt! sementara menu ayam sih kurang lebih sama aja, bahkan ada menu fried chicken + scrambled eggs + soft drink persis seperti “that one”.
i’m never a big fan of beef burger, jadi gue pesen cheesy chicken burger, sementara deni pesen cheese burger. well chicken burgernya sih std banget. ga ada bedanya sama chicken burger di resto fast food lain yang ada di indo. gue malah lebih suka yang di kfc sementara cheese burgernya ternyata enak! beef patty nya empuk, menurut paduan beef dan keju nya ringan dan ga terlalu berlebih jadi ga bikin eneg ( again, i’m usually not a fan of beef burger, so my opinion may be subjective ) kenapa gue selalu salah pilih menu ya.. hehe.. akhirnya abis gue makan sepertiga chicken burger, deni dah makan setengah cheese burger, gue tuker aja deh *ga mau rugi dot com
yang sangat disayangkan menurut gue, sepertinya resto ini kurang persiapan. mungkin juga waktunya terbatas yah.. kertas pembungkus burger, gelas soft drink, kantong french fries semuanya putih polos tanpa logo. selain itu ambience resto nya sangat “that one” sekali.. kursi-kursi tetep pake yang lama dengan warna yang menurut gue nabrak sama logo tony jack’s..
overall sih menurut gue tony jack’s bisa jadi alternatif kalo lagi laper dan pengen makan burger yang ga terlalu ngenyangin, dan terutama bersahabat sama kantong
.:: saturday ::.
i was actually planning to attend lancome makeup class in GI with a couple of friends ( i had even arranged the whole registration process ), but apparently said friends weren’t able to make it. sigh.. wasn’t particularly disappointed in that now i had free time to bake, and i got to spend time with my parents. the only thing i was upset about was only the free goody bag ( don’t want to say no to free stuff )
anyway, i spent the whole morning baking oatmeal cookies, and after lunch, i went to TA with my parents. but, we had to make a few stops at our relatives’ homes to drop a cousin’s wedding invitation. the things i do for family it wasn’t until late in the afternoon that we finally reached TA and i didn’t get to visit most of the shops, as we were there for a mission ~ and it wasn’t mine. however, i managed to spot a nice cocktail dress, though i didn’t get to try it. on one hand, i don’t really need a new dress. on the other, it’s like wedding season this year and the next, i would probably need one in the end. am now desperately thinking about it i should’ve tried it on, just so i wouldn’t feel this way if the dress turned out to be not as good as i thought it should be.
during our shopping trip, i received a call from a friend. she’s not currently in indonesia, and we’re not exactly that close, so i was really surprised that she would call me just to ask whether i wanted some wool yarn, coz she had just found really cute ones. i told her just a couple of days ago i’m currently into cross stitch, and though she made an honest mistake to think that i’d need a wool yarn, it was still so sweet of her. come to think of it, i actually love cute wool yarn. i just wouldn’t know what to do with it *lol* sigh ~ i’ve been wanting to take a crocheting and knitting class since forever!
on a more serious side, i’m beginning to realize how fragile life is. we have very little control of our life, everything we own could be taken away in just a blink of an eye. at times like this, i just doesn’t seem to make sense how we love to collect stuff, material stuff that won’t matter when things go wrong. i’m really grateful that i’ve been given a lot in my life; i’ve lived an imperfect but quite a happy life; i’m raised in a loving family by such wonderful parents who would literally do anything for their children; i’ve met really nice people that do make a difference in my life; i’ve been blessed with health, love and friendship. and i do hope that i could make a good use of what i have for the people around me.
.:: WIP : A Kiss To Build A Dream On ~ Week 5 ::.
i usually posted a weekly update every wednesday or thursday. so things kinda get in the way this week, and i know it’s a bit late, so this is how it looked like on tuesday night
i managed to finish the minor details, such as flowers, shoes, etc and left out some of the whites of the gown to finish later. so much easier this way currently, i’ve finished the whites on the gown and have also started the painful backstitching
.:: late night dinner ::.
the girls left my house at 4pm, and as a result, i had just the right amount of time to clean up and get ready for the late dinner arranged and EO-ed by feli *smoochies* she invited some people from junior high to come, and although not too many people showed up ( there were feli, yana, martha, silvia, candri, belly, erik and myself ), it was still a fabulous gathering. i haven’t met some of the guys for 5 to 10 years, but we hit it off instantly, chatting and laughing all night long! i literally almost choked from my food coz i laughed so hard. every a couple of minutes someone throws in silly jokes, gossip or random blabs that set us off in roar of laughter. i can’t, for the life of me, remember what was so funny. everything seemed so funny at that time *gosh, now i sound drunk!*
but really, it was one of that super silly slash super fun dinner. candri brought a friend who was never a student of marsoed, and we girls abused him into doing our dirty work. there were at least four cameras, and all we did was shouting.. pictures.. more pictures.. again.. use that one (camera)! i think he might regret coming to the dinner after all those hard times we gave him it was so easy being with this people. there were zero awkward moments. one second we said hi to each other, the next it was like i’d met these people everyday of my life. i most definitely had lots of fun!
too bad we won’t meet up any time soon ~ not until november, at the least…
.:: september stitching party ::.
i had a blast at our second stitching meet-ups. i do hope this will become a regular thing, as i feel it motivates me to seriously stitch. i’ve been through a couple of ups and downs ( speaking of stitch ) these last couple of weeks, and stitching together helped a lot. i just love the calmness of the situation when we seriously stitched, the occasional jokes, and the gossip we shared a good laugh and we certainly missed a couple of stitchers who couldn’t be there with us last saturday.
our second meet-ups was at my house. there were five participants, cherlee, cinde, ika, aina and myself. as usual, cherlee and cinde were the first to arrive. i didn’t have enough time to prepare the drinks, and i had to let them make their own while waiting for the others, we dwelled and drooled at cherlee’s magazines. how i hope to have 48 hours in a day just so i could stitch all those gorgeous patterns! ika came next, and aina came last. i think aina made such a good progress, since she started stitching just a couple of weeks ago! i, myself had to resort to my precious moments project, as i haven’t finished that one, while i was actually hoping to have moved on to another project ika, on the other hand, had to restart her seven-year-old stitching with her newly purchased aida ( good thing we had cherlee the lovely seller ). at least she got it right this time ~ thanks to the masters haha cherlee was still working on her giant wedding project, while cinde almost finished her cute sodastitch project.
we ordered mie gm for lunch ~ very unfortunate for the others, who were dying to taste mie aloy ( next time we’ll have mie aloy *wink* ). the delivery took quite some time, by the time the food was safely delivered to my house, i think the girls had suffered from hunger after a rather fulfilling lunch, dessert was served. es sarang burung, courtesy of cherlee. we were beginning to think that we’d fall asleep after having so much food! after lunch, we went back to my room to stitch some more, and i was quite happy with my own progress i must say the meeting was abruptly stopped when ika said she was going home to prepare herself before church. how time flies! it was only 4 o’clock. i wished the meeting could be extended for a couple more hours hahaha…
next month’s meeting would be at ika’s. i can’t wait.. i hope a lot more people show up. and i think we need to set the time to 10 am rather than 11 am
last but not least, a must-do : pictures of our progress!
.:: WIP : A Kiss To Build A Dream On ~ Week 4 ::.
week 4, and i did an even less impressive job. i was working on the girl’s dress when i realized that i missed a vertical line on the boy. i had to rework half of the boy’s pants. i did a little miscount on the girl’s dress as well, it was both frustrating and demotivating
in addition, i’m so engrossed in the oh-so-many interesting tv shows.. melrose place, the vampire diaries, gossip girl, kourtney & khloe take miami, not to mention the beautiful life and heroes among other titles, which i haven’t got time to watch!
.:: this holiday… ::.
. it was all about the rediscovery of my passion. i haven’t seriously bake for a little more over a year and i enjoyed every morning (of my holiday) baking, making pudding and even a little cooking. i was having the time of my life. seriously. i hadn’t realized how much i missed doing those activities, but i really love doing those things, even though i’m such novice
. went to watch G-Force 3D with bf. it was funny, but nothing extraordinary. bf liked it a lot more than Up though *roll eyes* prior to the movie, a trailer for Christmas Carols was played. i can’t wait!
. after the movie, i went to Skin Food and bought two bottles of nail polish. they were so gorgeous it was impossible not to! i resisted to buy a third bottle *proud* but now i can’t get it off my mind. should i get it this weekend?
. feli asked my sis to buy her a bottle of cherry red TFS polish during her trip to SG (it’s a lot cheaper down there), and i really wished i could keep that to myself. haha.. maybe i’ll get it for myself next month. my sis bought a bottle for me too, in a reddish brown shade.
. i wanted to get the red and black chequered shoes from CnK, but it wasn’t available at SG. my sis, however, bought me another pair, which was even more gorgeous than the one i wanted
. i love cute tidbits. like these candies. i was actually hoping for a lot more, but my sis only bought me three packs. well, it’s better than nothing
. she also received a free mobile strap for purchasing the candies, which of course she passed on to me
.:: something blue ::.
i’ve had it for a year, yet i never touched it. and how stupid i was! it’s the best barry m (out of the three i currently have). the texture is really creamy, one layer is more than enough. i couldn’t resist to put on two layers though the finish is really glossy, i didn’t even feel the need to coat it. it’s pretty on its own! however, i really hate the fact that barry m takes ages to dry (all the waiting is worth it though).
now, look what matte about you did to the color. it turned the pretty, glossy navy blue into this breathtaking, fabulous shade of blue. i am speechless. it’s really pretty!
.:: WIP : A Kiss To Build A Dream On ~ Week 3 ::.
this week, i didn’t spend that much time on stitching as i was busy with everything else
.:: the dinner ::.
went to syailendra, marriott last night for the company dinner. food was okay, but tiramisu was really good.
didn’t take much pictures though *too busy with our food*, just a couple with the girls on my table
.:: high gloss or gorgeous matte? ::.
been holding myself back for quite a time and i finally jumped into the matte nails bandwagon my essie order arrived yesterday, and of course i couldn’t resist not to try it! i had painted my nails red the day before and those glossy nails looked stupidly cheap compared to the mattes. not that i hate glossy nails! but i am completely in love with matte right now! my only question was : why didn’t they invent this earlier?
anyway, i played around with my red nails and here’s how it looked like. i know, i know. it’s the worst application ever. i haven’t got time to fix it, i was just too excited to post this
and here’s what i used : two layers of skin food polish, one coat of TSF top coat, and one coat of essie matte about you.
.:: high school besties ::.
met up with some of my high school besties, feli and yana *we missed you martha!* oline came along for a while, and joined lunch, courtesy of feli, since she was having a birthday just a while ago. i didn’t know she was going to pay for our lunch til she actually set the bills *swt* anyway, thank you so much dear! after lunch, we had a stroll around the mall, i didn’t realize until now that my friends are polish crazies just like myself! haha.. we went to almost all stores that sell nail polish. i ended up with a Konad plate and scraper and TFS top coat, coz feli claimed it was the best she’d ever had. she had even bought four bottles at once, coz apparently it was a bit hard to find.
time spent with friends is the most precious!
.:: recollection ::.
having some free time at hand, i read my old entries, right from the beginning of this blog. a lot of things have changed through time, and i have come to a realization that my old self sees life a little bit differently. i think i have grown to be a lot more superficial than i used to.
my old posts, though lacking pictures, was something that came from the deepest of my thoughts. i might have only blogged once or twice a month, but most of my writings were about my perspective of life. while my posts lately are a lot poorer in terms of content and my views of things. i write a lot more frequently, and i really enjoy writing, i don’t care if no one reads it. i write coz i want to. i don’t intend to entertain anyone. i don’t expect 10 thousand readers. i write for myself. i really enjoy writing silly things like makeup or books or movies or food, yet i write less and less about what i really think. looking back, i feel like i’ve become ignorant. i feel like things are moving too fast around me and i’m trying to catch up with everything that i do not spend as much time thinking and reflecting as i used to. i care less and less about what i really like, i spend times doing less important things. i postpone a lot of things, i focus less on those things and more on other things that doesn’t seem so important now. i need to re-set my priorities. i need to ponder on what i really want to do, and actually act upon that list.
i like the fact that i can browse through my old writings and reflect. it feels like collecting pieces of myself together, and it almost feels like introducing my current self to someone, my old self. diving in my collective thoughts, i learn a lot and i gain (hopefully) wiser perspective.
.:: the orange bucket ::.
i did a little clean-up yesterday, and apparently i have 32 bottles of nail polish, ranging from like revlon (my least favorite), beautistyle, the face shop, skin food, vov, etude house, nyx, rimmel, barry m to china glaze and opi, excluding the top coat, base coat and vitamins. admittedly most of them are cheapos, i’m not really into buying expensive ones, coz i’ve never managed to finish a full bottle of polish *swt* however, i must admit that opi is far more superior than the cheapos in terms of … everything! *emang harga ga boong*
i put the bottles in one of the orange buckets i got from kumbarsari market, and when my mom entered the room, she made a comment, why don’t you arrange your stuff neatly. put all your nail polish together instead of those mumble jumble of stuff. and i said, mom, those are all nail polish bottles. she innocently thought i was putting other stuff inside the bucket along with my polish collection, and she was, like, staring like i was mad. c’mon mom, i’m trying to stop adding stuff to my collection, so that mumble jumble wasn’t that bad. right? right?
however, all those “i’m not going to buy any more polish(es) until i use up some amount of what i have at home” just don’t seem to work anymore.. first thing i did after i cleaned up my polish collection (and of course polished my nails) was logging in to the internet and ordered a bottle of essie matte about you! it’s not exactly a nail polish, so that doesn’t count. right? however, i can’t help but drooling over other stuff as well. i mean, it must be fun to have more colors to experiment with the mattifier! that makes sense, does it not?
anyhoo, i painted my nails the face shop in red brown.. i think i’ve had it since the 6th semester of college this is definitely one of my favorite muted red color, too bad TFS doesn’t have this anymore ( i think ).
.:: WIP : A Kiss To Build A Dream On ~ Week 2 ::.
i dare say i made quite a progress this week. ha! i’m really pleased with what i’ve done this week, despite the fact that i didn’t get to stitch anything the last couple of days the aida is really a delight to work with, quarter stitches are no longer a problem!
.:: sunday wif de lovelies ::.
not being able to hang out with these ladies for a couple of months, and i’m probably being called snooty sorry peeps, you know what they say, so little time, so much to do. but i finally made it! and it was wonderful to (finally) hang out with them when we haven’t met for what felt like ages! all those silly jokes and laughter, and of course, the endless photo-taking session!
we had lunch at kafe pisa, and by the time of our visit, all the tables were unoccupied. i’d say it was partly because of the fasting month, plus the promo they were having, which wouldn’t be valid until later in the afternoon. the good news was, we had the place for ourselves, and we could sit there as long as we wished to, and we were able to take zillions of pictures to our hearts’ content.
free appetizer!
i ordered fussili al err.. agliana? *can’t seem to remember it* (42k) which was basically pasta topped with smoked beef, beef sausages, green peas, mozzarella cheese and creamy sauce. it was disappointing! never during my previous visits to the cafe have i ever had such tasteless pasta. i have always loved their pasta, but that one was a complete failure. maybe i was being unlucky, maybe i chose the wrong menu *shrug* either way, i think it was a waste of money. even worse, we had to explicitly asked for extra parmesan before they handed us a (seriously) small bowl half-filled with parmesan.
to accompany the food, i ordered my all-time favorite (which i almost always order when visiting the place) lychee iced tea (14k). not only was it delicious, it was also the cheapest on the menu *lol* what’s there not to love?
after lunch, we headed to the cinema to watch final destination 4. definitely not my kind of movie. as i said to my friends (millions of time), i was there only because they wanted to. if it was up to me, i would definitely not watch FD4. c’mon, what else was there to be told? plus, watching people die in the most disgusting way was not exactly entertaining!
*photos to be updated after i finished the upload which seriously takes A LOT of time!
.:: she wolf ::.
i’m starting to feel just a little abused like a coffee machine in an office
~ she wolf ( shakira )
.:: pasta de waraku ::.
went to pim last saturday, and i finally got the chance to try pasta de waraku ( the GI branch is always packed with people that i dare not set foot in it ). i ordered spaghetti al aglio olio (48k), as my sister had suggested. spicy, but it was delicious! the portion looked small at first, but in the end i couldn’t finish it, coz it was too spicy for my taste lucky i wasn’t being a know-it-all and added more chilli pepper (almost did).. i added a lot of parmesan cheese, though. i love the fact that they provide unlimited parmesan and chilli pepper. the lemon squash (18k), however, was just okay.. i personally think it was too sweet for a lemon squash, but that’s probably just me
spaghetti al aglio olio
fried rice
lemon squash & guava juice
.:: enjoy aja ::.
Enjoy your own life without comparing it with that of another.
~Marquis de Condorcet
.:: WIP : A Kiss To Build A Dream On ~ Week 1 ::.
now that i’ve finished the previous project, i’m excited to start a new one. in fact i started two at a time, DMC Rose Fairy and Precious Moments A Kiss To Build A Dream On. however, the last couple of days i’m so engrossed in the second one and didn’t even once lay my hands on the Rose Fairy *oops*
for this project, i’m using Blue Moon iridescent pink aida ( 14 count ) *the color didn’t really show in the picture, huh?* what i really like about this material is that it’s stiff and provides a sturdy base for my stitching. i can easily stitch without fear of ruining the fabric! floss-wise, i’m stitching using DMC embroidery floss ( art 117 ) that i got from lovely cherlee.
