HANZKY

 Wow.

Last time I wrote something in here was January 2020! 2020 not 2021. So it’s been two years. Pandemic happened, we stayed at home the whole time and I’m in front of my laptop most of the time and not even one post appeared in here?

Ok let’s make it 2022 resolution to write something, at least once a month?

Anyway, I feel like writing about today because I’m still euphoric about it :)

What did I do?

I went for a singing lesson!

Yes, you read it right (as if anyone’s reading this blog). I went for a singing lesson and boy DO I LIKE IT. I kept asking myself  why didn’t I do it sooner? I’ve thought about taking one back in the days but never actually went for it. And then this random thought randomly popped up in my mind when I mindlessly browsed Instagram story and found Jib’s friend sang Bahasa Kalbu beautifully. I’ve been listening to that song lately and then just like that I was reminded of one of my old dreams.

I’ve always wanted to be able to sing decently. Not spectacularly because I know my strengths and weaknesses :D. I just want to confidently sing without being out of tune all the time. And I also learned that taking vocal lesson will help my public speaking skill, something that I need to improve. It will boost my confidence because the lesson will help with my articulation, my posture and how I control my voice and breath. 

So I contacted the school right away knowing that if I put it on hold I will forget about it again. And turned out, I can start the week after, which is today.

Anyway, I love the class today. I love the teacher who made me feel like I entered a safe space, free from judgment. You know, me and my voice, we don’t get along. I always hate the way I sound, let alone sing. And it took courage for me to sing loudly in front of someone.But I did. I didn’t sing my heart out yet because, #babystep, I still hold back a bit but it just got easier and easier and it felt oh soo liberating. OMG I was so happy there, I laughed at myself and I surprised myself too whenever I hit the right pitch. I even shed a tear one time because wow it kinda felt like a huge emotion had been lifted off of me. And since the class involved breathing technique, it taught me about being mindful too, helped me focus and be more in tuned with my body. Unlike pilates where my mind still wandering around, this lesson forced me to put my 100% in class, which is nice because I finally can take my mind off of some stressful things. 

In addition to breathing technique, I learned how to hum and do-re-mi pitch :D. And in the end she asked me to sing a song and since I only know old songs so she picked Kaulah Segalanya by Ruth Sahanaya…haha. I know, what in the world, right? But we started with lower notes obviously. She played the piano and taught me how to sing it. It was super fun!

I don’t have a proper picture from today’s lesson. I have videos but I don’t think the world is ready to see so I’ll keep them to myself for now. But in that picture, which I screencapped from the video, I was smiling widely. I’ve actually been smiling since I left the school because I don’t know..I just feel good. It’s similar to the feeling after a good run or any exercise where you hit your personal best. You feel high on endorphins. Only this time it’s better because you don’t feel tired at all. And not sweaty. I’m proud of myself today for trying something new and keeping the spirit of living and progressing. 

And you know what’s funny. Jehan’s Piano teacher DM me and said even Ibu Sri Mulyani takes singing lesson there too. If it’s useful for her, it will surely be useful for me too. 

I cannot wait until next week. Or maybe should I do it twice a week? :D

Baru inget kalo di blog ini ada kategori Weekly Roundup yang udah lama banget nggak diupdate. So, shall we close August with a weekly roundup? Kebetulan Agustus adalah bulan yang cukup hectic jadi harusnya banyak ceritanya.

On beauty related stuff
Lumayan banyak kegiatan beauty di akhir Agustus ini. Salah satunya adalah kerjasama Female Daily dengan Estee Lauder di mana saya, Nopai dan Riana diminta untuk nyoba produk terbarunya Estee Lauder; Revitalizing Supreme Global Anti-Aging Cream. Dan kami bertiga diminta untuk ajak 4 orang teman untuk ngeteh cantik di TWG Plaza Senayan sambil sharing tentang skincare, produk-produknya Estee bareng Affi juga.  Seru sih, saya berhasil 'mengangkut' Samira dari Tinkerlust, Heera dari Bursa Sajadah, Nia yang sibuk di Gordi dan Nanda sesama ibu Cikal yang skincare enthusiast banget.


Selain dengan Estee Lauder, Female Daily juga ada kerjasama dengan Kiehl's di hari Minggu. Tempatnya di restoran Kembang Kencur dekat kantor. Asli, saya baru tahu ada restoran selucu itu di dekat kantor. Acaranya rame seperti FD Beauty Workshop sebelum-sebelumnya. Kali ini, tema yang diangkat adalah Multi-Masking! Kiehls memang mempunyai beberapa produk masknya yang bisa dipakai secara bersamaan karena produk-produk tersebut menjawab kebutuhan kulit muka yang mungkin berbeda di beberapa area. Senang di acara kemaren Mbak Venny, GM L'Oreal Luxe Indonesia juga datang. Mbak Venny ini salah satu orang brand yang saya kenal sejak zaman FD baru mulai dan percaya sama FD dari waktu masih di The Body Shop tahun 2010an. It's always nice to see the peole who have witnessed us from the beginning :)



On Office Stuff
A lot also happened in the office dan akhir bulan ini adalah hari terakhirnya Risma, Uud dan Han di kantor. Jadi banyak makan-makannya deh, #lho..haha. Iya biasanya kalo perpisahan itu kantor nyediain cemilan dan yang resign juga beli makanan. Sama Han juga sempet lunch di Gourmet Garage. Kalo yang resign sering tampil di FD YouTube Channel kaya Uud pasti pemirsa heboh dan patah hati..haha. Lucu ya, they have created an emotional attachment to the YouTube persona they are watching. Tapi tenang aja...walaupun Uud pulang kampung, sebulan sekali masih ke Jakarta dan katanya mau banget untuk syuting. He is still a part timer with us anyway :)

So, if you have friends who are a good video editor, ios developer or a product manager? Please tell them about this and if they are interested they can send us email at team@femaledaily.com :).

Di kantor lagi sibuk mempersiapkan...Content Creators Day! Siap siap yaa...it's gonna be bigger than our last Blogger Workshop which I missed because I was in London. Tim Bus Dev juga lagi banyak meeting dalam rangka mencari bentuk monetization baru selain advertising. Menarik banget sih, udah ada 2 yang bisa kita explore dan hopefully udah bisa bikin keputusan minggu depan. Ada beberapa offer yang cukup kita consider juga di luar monetization ini. In a way bersyukur lah ya ada beberapa pilihan besar yang bisa menentukan FDN ke depannya. Ada beberapa meeting dan Skype Call dengan beberapa Venture Capitals juga. Padi tadi, jam 7:30 juga sempet mentoring sama Pak Sukan Makmuri dari Kudo bareng Arman, Head of Technya FD.


Lumayan banyak sharing juga bulan ini, interview dengan Youthmanual team tentang masa kecil gue (my favorite), sharing at Maybank, mentoring Telkomsel The Next Dev competition (Hari Kamis kemaren adalah hari paling ribet sedunia), sharing dengan Lyke app. Trus juga jadi klien di sidang Binus karena Sari & Dita mengangkat Female Daily untuk thesisnya mereka.

Oh ya di kantor juga ada intern baru yaitu....Kania! Kania ini dulu lahirnya di Carbondale pas gue lagi...kuliah! So I babysit her a few times when I was in college dan sering banget main ke rumahnya. Sekarang anaknya udah kuliah and she calls me Tante..hahaha.

On Personal Level
I was able to do crossfit 3 times a week for the first 20 days of August but after then it went down hill sih, sama sekali nggak sempet untuk ke sana atau olahraga di rumah. I was happy to steal one day to work from home, lumayan banget bisa sambil beresin hal-hal kecil di rumah. 2 kantong baju udah dikirim ke Tinkerlust (beli yaaa di Tinkerlust.com/hanzky). 5 kantong baju Jehan juga udah dipisahin. Rumah juga akhirnya di cat, yayy! Niatnya bulan ini mau nyempetin masak beberapa kali di rumah, tapi ternyata sama sekali nggak sempet. Must cook this weekend! Bisa nyelesain satu buku  yang judulnya Hunch: Turn your everyday insight into the next big thing juga lumayan accomplishment sih. Apalagi yaa? Well to be honest akhir bulan Agustus ini bukan bulan yang happy sih, it's quite a stressful week..sometimes I even have a hard time breathing that I have to follow some breathing technique in Youtube. Kalo lagi kaya gini, I usually do things that make me feel happy for a little bit such us: getting a white shirt from Cotton Ink x Abenk collaboration, getting a Saint Laurent wallet in the size that I've been looking for. Oh sejak Sabtu lalu juga saya menjalankan Intermittent Fasting di mana saya setiap harinya hanya makan di antara jam 12 siang sampai jam 5 sore.  So far udah turun 2 kilo dan nggak tau masih mau diterusin atau enggak.  Kaya kurang challenge aja yaa sehari-harinya...hahaha. I guess I just needed to have a small win, a sense of accompslihment or something.


Anyway, just finished my Piccolo in St. Ali and now I have to hop on another gojek for my fourth meeting (rute hari ini 1/15 Gandaria City - The Body Shop Office Bintaro - Setiabudi Building - Plaza Mandiri).

Have a nice long weekend, everyone. Here's to a better month ahead for all of us!

In case you're wondering, nope,  my bag is not this neat most of the time. It only happens when I changed bag, or after I clean up the mess on Sunday night.

Anyway, featured here is my Chanel GST that I got 4 years ago. For work bags, I’m always looking for something that fits my daily essential. I don’t want it to be oversized, just enough to fit my laptop to avoid bringing two bags to meetings. Other than the size, leather is a must! Non leather bags can look too casual sometimes, especially when it’s slouchy. Oh speaking of slouchyness, I like my work bag structured to lend a more professional look. It also has to be solid and neutral color so I don’t have to change bag when I wear prints.

So, what’s inside it?

• My Dell Inspiron 11 series 3000 laptop. Thank God for this light and thin laptop I have no problem carrying it in my bag. It weighs in at 1.4 kg. Sometimes, my makeup bag is heavier than this laptop :D. Just like I can be picky with bag, I’m also very particular with my laptop. Specs and features are important but design is ultra important for me. The thinner and the lighter it is, the better! Second requirement is it has to look sleek and modern, techy but feminine. In this Dell laptop, I also like the fact that the body is actually plastic but it’s made to look and feel like aluminium. Plastic doesn’t scratch easily, which is of course a plus especially since I carry it in my bag without a laptop case sometimes. So design wise it’s perfect for me. 
• Louis Vuitton Sarah Wallet. It has more receipt than it has cash..*sigh*
• Michael Kors business card case
• Eyeglasses case that I got from Scoop
• Female Daily Makeup pouch. The makeup pouch and the inside deserves a separate post. 

If you like to see what others carry in their bag, you can see the What's Inside Her Bag column in Female Daily. 

At least it is for me.

Writing has always been a big part of my life. Ya, sejak jaman SD suka nulis-nulis diary gitu deh. Dan waktu SMP sampai SMA, selain nulis diary juga suka surat-suratan sama teman se-gank :D. Ada yang surat-suratan sama satu orang, ada yang satu buku diisi curhatan anak-anak se-gank. Hihi, seru!

Lanjut waktu kuliah sih porsi menulis di kertas memang agak berkurang, kan ceritanya udah kenalan sama email dan blog. Tapi agenda tetep dong pake. I LOVED going to the stationery sections. Pilih-pilih insert, tempel-tempel sticker dan foto box. Foto-foto agenda pernah dipajang di forum Female Daily sini nih...http://femaledaily.com/showpost.php?p=29889&postcount=15

Terakhir-terakhir, memang berusaha untuk mengurangi ketergantungan sama agenda, sih. Setengah tahun terakhir di 2012, agendanya udah nggak dipakai lagi. Bergantung sama iPad dan iPhone, sekalian untuk mengurangi isi tas dan pemakaian kertas. Tapi, kayanya ada yang hilang, yah. There's just something about writing on a pen and paper that can't be replaced. I enjoyed pouring what's inside my head into my own handwriting, no matter how ugly it gets these days. I loved crossing my to-do list or my goal after I have accomplished them. Writing allows me to keep my sanity as I can empty my mind without worrying that I will forget about its content.

So now I have 4 agenda that I write almost on daily basis. The first one is the picture above. It's basically just to-do list notes, for the things I have to do every day. I write all the little things I need to do, things I cannot do at that very moment. Some times it freaks me out knowing that the list is just going to get bigger but at least it keeps me on track.

The blue one below is the Kate Spade small agenda that I've started using since the beginning of 2013. This agenda goes with me everywhere, it's always in my bag. Meetings, appointments, events are all written in there. It's nice to see a month worth calendar all in one page. Also short story about my days and other notes, for examples notes to track down the maids and driver salary, etc. Penting banget, kan? :p.

Trying out this ipad blogging apps, who knows it would help me blog regularly? :D Yea, the same exact wish I blurt out everytime I find a new way of blogging :). Oh well, what else is new?

I came back from my Umrah trip last Monday. Took Tuesday off and went back to work on Wednesday. I havent been back on full speed yet, I'm still trying to recover. Umrah is definetely not a day by the beach. We did a lot of walking and very minimal sleep. I sleep about 4 hours a night in average during our trip. But it was one memorable journey, the one that opens our eyes, heart, mind and soul!. The whole experience was that captivating that Oki insisted we should go back for Hajj in 2 - 3 years time. Amin ya rabbal alamiin :')

Some pictures from the weekend. I *think* I had a productive weekend. I ran! Twice!!. I finished a book. It was Rumah Cokelat by Sitta Karina. I baked. Only a banana bread, but still. I de-cluttered. I reorganized our tale of traveling corner. I also threw many items from the storage. A stroller, a few unused clocks & frames, an old laptop, a monitor and a CPU, lots of cables I had no idea what for and so many other things. I'm not finished with that area, yet. I also sort some of the kids toys and moved the bookshelves from Jehan's room to the play area. As a family, we ate out at Chillis. We grocery shopped. We went to the fish market and adopted a few fishes, a turtle from Papua and a baby lobster. We checked out the progress of the townhouse renovation. We visited the grandparents and went to Informa to get office furniture and had a quality time together. No mall visit, not even a stop at Starbucks (we enjoy our Nespresso so much) and didn't even turn the TV on, except for the MU vs Liverpool match (Indovision just decided to stop working so we used the old school antenna instead). Sweet :)

We're about to enter the third month of the year tomorrow. Crazy how everything seem to move in fast forward mode. Everyone is getting busier each day and it's getting harder to chill back and enjoy the moment.
In this project, I'm trying to take a few minutes off each day, to absorb everything and pay more attention to my surrounding by capturing a moment or a piece of something out of my daily life.
It would be fun..I need to get more mileage from the lumix and/or the 500D. Ohh I'm excited already :))
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Barusan disapa bule di PP, yang nanya kalo Senayan City deket gak dari sini. I told him it's nearby, about 10 minutes by cab. Trus dia kayanya lega gitu, katanya udah nanya ke beberapa orang kok ga ada yang tau Senayan City dimana. (Masa sih?!). Trus ya udah gue cuma tekenin lagi kalo itu deket kok. Trus ya udah dia bilang makasih dan jalan lagi.

Truuss sekarang gue baru nyesel aja. I could've been more helpful, ya gak nganterin kesana sih tapi at least tulisin 'senayan city' gitu so he can just show it to the cab driver. Mungkin aksen inggrisnya susah didenger makanya ga ada yang ngerti dia ngomong apa. Kalo gue sih denger nama mall memang langsung ngerti ajaaaa biar yang ngomong pake aksen apa juga..LOL.

Sekarang jadi ngerasa ga enak dan kasian deh sama tu bulay. Gue kaya gak niat gitu yah tadi nolonginnya. Gak nolong sama sekaliii!!!..huhuhu...

Jujur aja, selama puasa kemaren gue ngerasa kurang produktif. Ya ya, lapar, haus dan ngantuk (serta sedikit keleyengan) memang selalu dijadikan kambing hitam..:D

Makanya sekarang menggebu gebu sekali rasanya. Walaupun tetep aja belom bisa berbuat apa apa sampai si mbak balik. Now I'm just gonna cherish the moment with the family sebelum diterjang kesibukan lagi.

Ada beberapa personal challenge that I'm going to take. First is joining the gym and getting rid of my flabby arms and abs. And tone down my tights. Will work on personal trainer cause I just know myself..:D.

Beauty n other health challenge is to finish of the rest of my teeth work and then getting rid of my freckles, nailing a sleek blowout at home and then applying false lashes effortlessly.

Work wise, will focus and try to take FD, along w/ its PR division and closetquickies to a whole new level. It's doable, we just need to put more effort and heart into it :)

Next week, I will also begin to teach Jibran how to read..:D. I am determined to teach him myself, without the help of Kumon reading center or other institution that offer private lesson. If my mom was able to teach me then there's no reason I can't.

Since nduti went for interview for his current job. Exactly a year cause he started his job in September and received the hiring news during Ramadhan too. Will this Ramadhan bring him another new challenge? We'll see, cause he will have a phone interview tomorrow, for a job he would call a dream job, position and company wise, referred by a headhunter.

I wish you the best of luck nduti..:)

Living in the US is different with living in here. Well, of course, especially with the fact that  my role  and my responsibilities has changed a little. I was a stay at home mom back then, taking care of the house and the three of us. There was nothing else I needed to do outside of my role as a mom and as a wife, and I depended on no one. Just myself. In here, I'm not a 100% full time mom, I have works to do outside and I can do that because I have the support system. My mom, to watch the kids when I'm away, the maid to make sure the house is always clean and we have food to eat, the nanny to take care of the kids, the driver, to take me anywhere I need to go. All of them is interconnected so when one of them is missing that means I have to alter the plan. That's how depended I am on them...:(

The situation in these past few days haven't been on my side. The nanny is sick, I haven't even seen her the last 2 days cause she just sleep helplessy in her room (mom took her to the doctor today though). The house is super messy cause we just moved in, boxes and stuff is everywhere. I have a lot of works to, FD-wise. But I don't have a land internet connection yet, Telkomsel Flash is unbelievably slow. Nduti is sick as a puppy, his temperature is pretty high. And when Jibran went home from school, his temperature skyrocketed too, he said he was dizzy and he felt warm too...:(. Meanwhile, it's the first day of my period and I made a dumb mistake by chewing a gum on the tooth that has untreated cavity and it hurt like hell!! I even cried for a good one minute, not just because of the toothache but by everything that has spiraled down since this morning..:(. I felt like ripping my hairs off.

Thank God I feel much better now (eventhough my throat and my nose is giving  me annoying flu symptomps, hopefully they'll go away tomorrow morning). Let's hope nduti and Jibran feel much better too tomorrow.

I just spend the last hour trying to install wordpress for Blackberry. It won't let me add this blog, instead it gives me the 401 error message.

I'm typing this from the blackberry browser, a little too overwhelming. But I'm lying down due to a sudden nausea so I cannot do anything else anyway, just trying to maximizing the use of GPRS connection that's never been avaliable before in my room since I moved in a week ago.

Iyap, udah bulan Mei aja dan tetep yaa belum bisa rutin nulis..:-(. Bahkan password untuk login ke wordpressnya aja lupa lupa terus..

Anyway, sekarang Minggu sore, lagi di rumah Pondok Indah, nungguin orang-orang balik dari Cilegon. Pengen J-CO froyo, toppingnya seperti biasa, longan sama kacang kenari..hihi, almond itu kacang kenari kan?

I think my monthly guest is about to come, aslii keram keram gini perutnya.

Weekend ini cukup menyenangkan. Jumat treatment di Itje and then a little shopping spree with Ella at PIM, Sabtunya makan di Red Duck FX with my high school friends, Aan, Popi, Mina and Ratih. It feels warm to see the familiar old faces, the ones that you spent your days together, the ones that so close they feel like your family..:). Hari Minggunya cuma belanja di Ranch Market aja. We might go to PIM before going back to Cemput.



Semalem ada Indonesian Movie Award, dan Laskar Pelangi banyak dapet nominasi, which is not surprising at all. Filmnya bagus..dari aktingnya, soundtracknya, sinematografinya dan juga pesan pesan moral yang ada di dalamnya. Film ini juga berperan dalam meningkatkan pariwisata dalam negri. Pasti banyak banget yang langsung pengen jalan jalan ke Belitung setelah nonton film ini. Semalem juga ada pemain-pemain Laskar Pelangi yang anak anak, they looked so cute with their suit on. Just like them, I will dream big and keep my dreams alive. Hope you will too.

I'm not a bitchy person, I think I'm pretty tolerant when it comes to people shortcomings, but today..I couldn't hold it anymore...I.s.n.a.p.p.e.d o.u.t!!. Like really mad for a good 1 minute, I was screaming and feeling like throwing everything on my sight...:(. It's scary, you don't want to see me go crazy like that, even I scared of my self because I don't sound or look like my self. I didn't lost control but I could if I really let it out. Good thing I was carrying Jehan so I had to watch my way around afraid I might hurt her.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you or anything, but I just wanted to make a point, to wake you up from your hopeless days, hoping  you can turn things around and make something worthwhile out of your time because you need to, and you have to, for your own benefits, for your own future.

Udah beli domainnya dari dua minggu yang lalu tapi mana...postingan baru juga belum ada..huh. Susah deh kalo banyak maunya tapi tidak bisa memanage waktu dengan baik. Padahal hari ini nggak ada kerjaan banyak sih, I updated FD, reply some emails, wrote notes on the MOU and some other things. Did monthly grocery shopping at Carrefour this afternoon too. Senangnya grocery shopping siang siang atau pagi pagi dikala weekdays, no one is waiting in line at the checkout counter...blissful.

Tomorrow is the opening of the photo exhibition by Nicoline Patricia at Senayan City, after that is the fashion show from Fashion First. Saturday is Clinique event, but this one should only take about  one hour. Can't wait for next week, or is it the week after that we're gonna have a loong loong weekend?

Anyway, I dreamt about snake two days ago, it's not the first time I dream about snake, always have one every now and then, I don't know why. Maybe because I'm petrified of something? Or maybe because deep down I'm worried about something?...I don't know. But the dream was not so bad, the two snakes were not that long, maybe about 1 meter long, the skins were pretty though, one is bright yellow with black stripes and the other one is black with some shiny jewels. I think I killed the yellow one, shot it by the neck!

Yay, finally I have my own personal space again in the world wide web. I'm determined to maintain this blog but it's gonna take a while for this to look organized and somewhat nice.

The most important thing is to get this going and start writing, like everyday no matter how piece of junk it is. I just have to make it a habit.

This post won't be a long one though since I type it from Oki's Bold and my fingers are getting sore. We're spending the weekend at his parents' so we only have 1 laptop around. I didn't bring my acer aspire because Jibran decided to bring his Nintendo Wii and I thought it's already too much things to bring for 2 nights.

Oh well, nighty night..and have a great weekend.

Btw, as usual thank you pak thomas for registering the domain and installing the wordpress.all done in a mere 30 minutes...:))