Since kids are in 'summer' break and they have been away a few times, I have the luxury to tuck under the blanket, turn the lights off and enjoy some movies...with the husband next to me. Here are the latest three...
I Don't Know How She Does It
I first read about the review in Mommies Daily, written by Lita. It's the one movie where all working mother can totally relate to! A story on how we're always on a run and how hard it can be to juggle both worlds. We might not always sprinting like Sarah Jessica Parker does on the movie, but we do similar kind of multitask, we feel the same amount of guilt, we experience the same level of exhaustiveness. I love the ending where she refused to fly out of town because she already promised her daughter that she will be there during the next snow and make snowman with her. A brave and liberating decision by her. But that's only confirm my thought that there are no such thing as balanced life between career and family. There are trade-offs, but not balance. In the case of this movie, she can choose between meeting a potential client where it can jump up her career, or take a step back so she can fulfill her promise to the most important people in the world? Or maybe I'm just haven't mastered it, yet. This movie also shows us how being busy can make couple feel disconnected and drift them apart. And when someone decent is very appreciative of them and make them feel a little bit special and relaxed, the marriage can easily be doomed.
Julie & Julia
I've heard about this movie from Affi, about 2-3 years ago where we were invited to speak in front of AFS students. (I wonder why it took me so long to watch it). She used this movie as an example of how doing things you're passionate about can take you to somewhere you have never been. And there are many ways to do what you like. When food is your calling, being a chef is not the only option. You can have a culinary blog, you can be a restaurant/recipe reviewer, you can be a host of a culinary TV show, or you can open a restaurant, you can work in F&B and I'm sure there are more profession out there that are related to food. I love this movie. I love Julia character that portrays a very loving, brave, affectionate, warm and humble lady. I feel like I want to hug her. Meryl Streep is amazing and Nora Ephron movie is never disappointing. My favorite quote from this movie: You are the butter to my bread!
One Day
An absolute tear-jerker. I think I cried for more than 10 minutes toward the end of the movie. It's a story about two people who are graduated from the same college but just really learned about each other in their graduation day. Then they developed a strong friendship, with a little fling in between. There are so many twists and turns until they finally realized they belong together and then marry each other, 18 years post graduation. Unfortunately, happy ending is not in order and that's how I'm reminded again to never ever take anything for granted. Everything can changed in a mere hours, even minutes!. I LOVE this movie. It's based on a novel by David Nicholls, so many who have read the book is a bit disappointed. But I haven't read it and had no expectation when I watched it and turned out, I find it beautiful. Aside from the dramatic story, it offers breathtaking scenery of Paris, London and the other side of both countries. I watched it in Blu-Ray so they are even more sharp. I'm also impressed by the aging process of the characters that have been portrayed perfectly. Oh, and Jim Sturgess is that charming in this movie.
I first read about the review in Mommies Daily, written by Lita. It's the one movie where all working mother can totally relate to! A story on how we're always on a run and how hard it can be to juggle both worlds. We might not always sprinting like Sarah Jessica Parker does on the movie, but we do similar kind of multitask, we feel the same amount of guilt, we experience the same level of exhaustiveness. I love the ending where she refused to fly out of town because she already promised her daughter that she will be there during the next snow and make snowman with her. A brave and liberating decision by her. But that's only confirm my thought that there are no such thing as balanced life between career and family. There are trade-offs, but not balance. In the case of this movie, she can choose between meeting a potential client where it can jump up her career, or take a step back so she can fulfill her promise to the most important people in the world? Or maybe I'm just haven't mastered it, yet. This movie also shows us how being busy can make couple feel disconnected and drift them apart. And when someone decent is very appreciative of them and make them feel a little bit special and relaxed, the marriage can easily be doomed.
I've heard about this movie from Affi, about 2-3 years ago where we were invited to speak in front of AFS students. (I wonder why it took me so long to watch it). She used this movie as an example of how doing things you're passionate about can take you to somewhere you have never been. And there are many ways to do what you like. When food is your calling, being a chef is not the only option. You can have a culinary blog, you can be a restaurant/recipe reviewer, you can be a host of a culinary TV show, or you can open a restaurant, you can work in F&B and I'm sure there are more profession out there that are related to food. I love this movie. I love Julia character that portrays a very loving, brave, affectionate, warm and humble lady. I feel like I want to hug her. Meryl Streep is amazing and Nora Ephron movie is never disappointing. My favorite quote from this movie: You are the butter to my bread!
An absolute tear-jerker. I think I cried for more than 10 minutes toward the end of the movie. It's a story about two people who are graduated from the same college but just really learned about each other in their graduation day. Then they developed a strong friendship, with a little fling in between. There are so many twists and turns until they finally realized they belong together and then marry each other, 18 years post graduation. Unfortunately, happy ending is not in order and that's how I'm reminded again to never ever take anything for granted. Everything can changed in a mere hours, even minutes!. I LOVE this movie. It's based on a novel by David Nicholls, so many who have read the book is a bit disappointed. But I haven't read it and had no expectation when I watched it and turned out, I find it beautiful. Aside from the dramatic story, it offers breathtaking scenery of Paris, London and the other side of both countries. I watched it in Blu-Ray so they are even more sharp. I'm also impressed by the aging process of the characters that have been portrayed perfectly. Oh, and Jim Sturgess is that charming in this movie.
I got this binder to house all of my DVDs. I have one each for Jibran's and Jehan's dvd but don't have one for mine and Oki's. The ones for the kids are in nicer color and built but I couldn't find one like those at the bookstore I went to, so I ended up with this black one. Ugly, right? But worry not because I have another polkadot fabric lying around :D. I cover it front and back and voila, it's looking much prettier :).
I'm loving this unfinished wooden stool I found at Le Souq Kemang a while ago. It gives an outdoorsy vibe to my dining area. Something that it badly needs. It can serve as a chair, or as a landing area for my bag and stuff when I get ready for work or just get home.
One of the things to describe me would be; I'm no couch potato :D. Really, I never find myself sitting lazily on my couch flipping channels. In fact, I haven't watched TV in a long time. I do watch dvds and read books from time to time, but it would be close to midnight where there is nothing I can do anyway. If I happen to have my laptop on my lap when I'm at home, that means I'm producing something, not just consuming what's available on the Internet.
It's rare that I can be home all day on the weekends but when that happens, you can bet I'll be decluttering the house, reorganizing things, moving furniture around, cooking and other domestic things. Case in point was last Sunday when I was home the whole day. In addition to playing with the kids, I gave a makeover to Jibran's plain canvas board, I made a cover for my dvd binder, organized the dvds, created a book of organizing project planning worksheet where I listed down things to do or to buy for every room in the house. What else? Ohh, I sorted the kids' clothes and put them in different bag. One to hands down to family, one to hands down to the drivers kid, and a few to keep in the keepsake box. The other night I went home at 7;30, kids were away in Bali and Oki was still in the office. What did I do? I transferred all the spices into the new clear jars I got at Kedaung :D. Things that I could've just asked mbak to do it but I do it myself.
I remember last Lebaran and when I had no helper at home and didn't have Female Daily related things to do and house was under control, what did I do? I launched the Tootsi Kids clothing line.
Whenever we're arranging a vacation, the thought of sitting by the beach doing nothing just enjoying the scenery never entertained me. I just feel like it's such a waste of time. I cannot not doing anything and knowing the world keeps moving and watch it goes by like that.
Heck I have never ever been to a spa. Not even once. That's kind of weird considering I own an online fashion & beauty media. I've only gone to foot reflexology place once in my life. And I rarely go to a hair salon for treatment. It's always either haircut or a quick blow and dry. A really quick one because most of the time, I shampoo my hair at home to save time. I guess I just can't picture myself lying there for a few hours without actually doing something. Besides, ngerasa percuma juga because even if I don't do anything, my mind will never quit! I have one busy mind.
When it's cooling down time after every session with my personal trainer, he would give me a massage and stretch my muscles. He would always say that my muscle is so tense and he needs them to relax so he can massage them properly. And that's always a problem.
But the good thing is, I don't feel stressed out. I do feel that I need a vacation soon but I'm enjoying everything I'm doing. I might have million things on my to do list but I actually look alright. I don't look like Sarah Jessica Parker in 'I don't know how she does it?'. Even Nopai once commented how she never sees me in panic mode :D.
Maybe I just don't know how to relax? Or maybe I find relaxation in different form than most people do?
Well, whatever it is..I believe that what we do everyday has to be something important, something that will bring us closer towards our goals because we sacrifice a day of our life to do it. The goal can be anything, whether to have a more organized home, to have more money in our piggy bank, to be healthier, etc. And hopefully, that's what I'm doing day in day out.
It's rare that I can be home all day on the weekends but when that happens, you can bet I'll be decluttering the house, reorganizing things, moving furniture around, cooking and other domestic things. Case in point was last Sunday when I was home the whole day. In addition to playing with the kids, I gave a makeover to Jibran's plain canvas board, I made a cover for my dvd binder, organized the dvds, created a book of organizing project planning worksheet where I listed down things to do or to buy for every room in the house. What else? Ohh, I sorted the kids' clothes and put them in different bag. One to hands down to family, one to hands down to the drivers kid, and a few to keep in the keepsake box. The other night I went home at 7;30, kids were away in Bali and Oki was still in the office. What did I do? I transferred all the spices into the new clear jars I got at Kedaung :D. Things that I could've just asked mbak to do it but I do it myself.
I remember last Lebaran and when I had no helper at home and didn't have Female Daily related things to do and house was under control, what did I do? I launched the Tootsi Kids clothing line.
Whenever we're arranging a vacation, the thought of sitting by the beach doing nothing just enjoying the scenery never entertained me. I just feel like it's such a waste of time. I cannot not doing anything and knowing the world keeps moving and watch it goes by like that.
Heck I have never ever been to a spa. Not even once. That's kind of weird considering I own an online fashion & beauty media. I've only gone to foot reflexology place once in my life. And I rarely go to a hair salon for treatment. It's always either haircut or a quick blow and dry. A really quick one because most of the time, I shampoo my hair at home to save time. I guess I just can't picture myself lying there for a few hours without actually doing something. Besides, ngerasa percuma juga because even if I don't do anything, my mind will never quit! I have one busy mind.
When it's cooling down time after every session with my personal trainer, he would give me a massage and stretch my muscles. He would always say that my muscle is so tense and he needs them to relax so he can massage them properly. And that's always a problem.
But the good thing is, I don't feel stressed out. I do feel that I need a vacation soon but I'm enjoying everything I'm doing. I might have million things on my to do list but I actually look alright. I don't look like Sarah Jessica Parker in 'I don't know how she does it?'. Even Nopai once commented how she never sees me in panic mode :D.
Maybe I just don't know how to relax? Or maybe I find relaxation in different form than most people do?
Well, whatever it is..I believe that what we do everyday has to be something important, something that will bring us closer towards our goals because we sacrifice a day of our life to do it. The goal can be anything, whether to have a more organized home, to have more money in our piggy bank, to be healthier, etc. And hopefully, that's what I'm doing day in day out.
Got a new haircut last week. I'm planning to let it grow so I just had it trimmed and layered a little bit. So I went to Sugai at One Piece, he is the only one who has cut my hair for the last 3 times I get it cut. I've never been this loyal to a hairdresser before :D. I like how it turned out. It's really a low maintenance kind of cut and made me look, ehm, a bit fresher. Just a bit :p.
I was in Jibran's room yesterday, took a few paper off the canvas board because they were not relevant anymore, such as last academic year calendar, invitation, etc. Then it just crossed my mind how boring this canvas is and immediately thought of a few things I could do to color it up. Decided to cover it with a polkadot fabric that I have in my fabric basket. I love that the color fits his room perfectly :)
Why you no have my size??
it's B by Brian Atwood, by the way..;(.
it's B by Brian Atwood, by the way..;(.
It's been five days and I am still sick. At least, the head feels lighter now. It's just the cough that is so persistent. But at least it's a productive cough and that means I'm clearing out mucus and hopefully will get better soon. I was ready to leave the house this morning although feeling kinda feverish, Jehan was also ready with her uniform until I found out that my driver was not back yet. There was no way I could drive all the way to her school and my office :(.
Here's what I've tried so far for my cough:
Today my mom is giving me another medicine. My mom is a walking pharmacy. She has every medicine imaginable and even owns DOI (Data Obat Indonesia) book. Tsk tsk. But I'm done taking medicine. Sometimes, we just have to let it runs its course.
I'm just going to try out some home remedy today:
Here's what I've tried so far for my cough:
- A full bottle of Bisolvon Extra
- Aldisa (Dari nyokap, untuk relieve symptomps of common cold, sneezing, nazal congestion, etc). Ini waktu hari kedua aja, sih
- Neuralgin (when the headache becomes unberable)
- Degirol (tablet hisap untuk sakit tenggorokan)
- FG Troches (sama kaya Degirol)
- Imboost Force (to help the immune system)
- Peresan air jeruk panas setiap hari
- Jeruk nipis + kecap
- Eat super spicy food
- As much water as I could handle
Today my mom is giving me another medicine. My mom is a walking pharmacy. She has every medicine imaginable and even owns DOI (Data Obat Indonesia) book. Tsk tsk. But I'm done taking medicine. Sometimes, we just have to let it runs its course.
I'm just going to try out some home remedy today:
- Eat lots of grapes. I remember my mom used to tell me not to eat grapes when I have a cough, ugh that's a myth mom. In fact, grapes act as an expectorant so you want to eat a lot of it.
- Keep taking the lemon drops, replace the soysouce with honey
- Rub my chest, neck, back with Vicks VapoRub or eucalyptus oil.
- Drink hot peppermint tea (no sugar as sugar compromise your immune system)
- Drink more water as it thins out mucus
- Continue to eat spicy food (another natural expectorant)
- Try this breathing technique
- If the cough still persist until later on this afternoon I will add 2 tbs of apple cider vinegar into my lemon + honey mix.
I believe every kids in this world love Goldfish Crackers. It was Jibran's favorite snack when he was little. Too bad, in here we don't always have it. Sometimes, a few of them would pop up at Ranch Market or Kem Chick. But of course, still considered expensive. I found this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. So we decided to make it on a late Saturday afternoon in our backyard. Kids had fun making it. It's one of the easiest snack you can make. Too bad we don't have fish cookie-cutter to make it look like the real thing. But at least it's much healthier too than the store-bought ones :).
Last Friday, Affi and I was invited to speak at Prasetiya Mulya Career Week. It was an honor for us to be in the same flyer with Ligwina Hananto & Alex Sriewijono. Perjuangan sampe ke lokasi itu heboh berat. For a start, it was late Friday afternoon and there was a road construction in Cilandak. It was hellish. So we were already 15 minutes late. We decided to stop at Pondok Indah Mall and ride ojek to the campus. Since Nopai wasn't going to speak, she continued the journey driving Affi's car. So Affi left first with the first ojek we saw, and I was standing under the crossing bridge waiting for another ojek to arrive. After a few minutes, I lost hope and just walked to a nearby gentleman and asked him if the motorcycle parked there was his and if he could take me to Prasetiya Mulya :D. After a few seconds digesting what I said, he finally said yes. What funny was, when I arrived there, the talkshow hasn't even started and only 5 people in class. Nopai arrived 5 minutes later and the talkshow still hasn't started -__-. Tau gitu nggak usah ada yang naik ojek, kan?
Anyway, I don't think I'm that comfortable yet speaking in public. But I believe I'm getting better. This one was especially enjoyable because I was sharing my entrepreneurship journey since college years. There were a lot of memories, a lot of personal stories to be shared. A lot of pictures too!.
I've spoken in front of college students for a few times now (Bakrie University, Bunda Mulia University and Binus International) and the one message that I always want them to remember is; one of the biggest tasks in our life is to find what we like and to know what our strength is and what we're good at. We owe it to ourselves to recognize those.
Anyway, I don't think I'm that comfortable yet speaking in public. But I believe I'm getting better. This one was especially enjoyable because I was sharing my entrepreneurship journey since college years. There were a lot of memories, a lot of personal stories to be shared. A lot of pictures too!.
I've spoken in front of college students for a few times now (Bakrie University, Bunda Mulia University and Binus International) and the one message that I always want them to remember is; one of the biggest tasks in our life is to find what we like and to know what our strength is and what we're good at. We owe it to ourselves to recognize those.
I tell them because in my case. My life was a lot easier after I found out what my calling was and what I meant to be doing. Everything just rolls into place once I figured out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Hopefully, they will find theirs sooner than later :).
Thank you for having us and for coming to our session. Best of luck the rest of the way :)
Salvatore Ferragamo Gancini Wrap Bracelet
Marc by Marc Jacobs Turnlock Katie Bracelet
Tag Heuer Aquaracer in Steel
Yes, that's what I did today :D. I rarely get sick, but when I get one....langsung nggak bisa bangun dari tempat tidur. I remember waking up at 6 to wake up Jibran, but he said he was dizzy (he said that since last night). My head was pounding too so I went back to sleep without asking him another question. And then when Oki woke me up, it was already close to 9. So Jehan missed school, too. What a perfect mom I am, huh? Jehan's mbak has been on leave for more than a week now, so my schedule has been brutal since last week.
I had 4 interviews that morning and an appointment with my trainer at 3. Sad to miss it all. But I really couldn't get out of bed. Forced my self to take a shower but then my head felt heavier each step I took. So I messaged Affi & Nopai to tell them I won't be able to come to the office. I'm so glad to have partners that can fill each partners' shoes anytime we need help.
Anyway, pas kebetulan di rumah lagi ada si mpok urut. Enak juga yah hidup pas-pasan. Pas lagi sakit, pas ada mpok urut. Kemaren pas pengen jam, eh pas dikasih ibu mertua. Pas pengen barang dari US, pas sepupu mau pulang minggu depan, *plaakk*.
Since I'm worthless today, I cannot do anything that requires my brain to work properly. I had sudden urge to clean the house, but I don't have the energy to get up and move around. Cannot sleep too because the carpenters are installing my kitchen cabinet and they are loud. So what did I do? Giving this blog a makeover :D
I changed the background color, as well as the color and format of title and comments. I deleted the ugly button I created not too long ago and just use regular labeling. I even created an ABOUT page. I feel like a professional blogger already.
Playing around with blog design always gives me this nostalgic feeling. I remember sitting in the corner of my room at West College Street, blogging and designing website with my Compaq Presario. I used a software called Adobe Dreamweaver. Little did I know that was exactly what I did. I was weaving my dream :)
I had 4 interviews that morning and an appointment with my trainer at 3. Sad to miss it all. But I really couldn't get out of bed. Forced my self to take a shower but then my head felt heavier each step I took. So I messaged Affi & Nopai to tell them I won't be able to come to the office. I'm so glad to have partners that can fill each partners' shoes anytime we need help.
Anyway, pas kebetulan di rumah lagi ada si mpok urut. Enak juga yah hidup pas-pasan. Pas lagi sakit, pas ada mpok urut. Kemaren pas pengen jam, eh pas dikasih ibu mertua. Pas pengen barang dari US, pas sepupu mau pulang minggu depan, *plaakk*.
Since I'm worthless today, I cannot do anything that requires my brain to work properly. I had sudden urge to clean the house, but I don't have the energy to get up and move around. Cannot sleep too because the carpenters are installing my kitchen cabinet and they are loud. So what did I do? Giving this blog a makeover :D
I changed the background color, as well as the color and format of title and comments. I deleted the ugly button I created not too long ago and just use regular labeling. I even created an ABOUT page. I feel like a professional blogger already.
Playing around with blog design always gives me this nostalgic feeling. I remember sitting in the corner of my room at West College Street, blogging and designing website with my Compaq Presario. I used a software called Adobe Dreamweaver. Little did I know that was exactly what I did. I was weaving my dream :)