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When I was younger, I saw 30 year-old-people really old. They are busy, have plenty of responsibilities, and less fun. Last week I turned 30, surprisingly I do not feel that old. Yes I probably have a lot more responsibilities than 20-year-old-me, I meet friends a lot less, but hopefully I do not enjoy life less. I guess this is a perfect moment to stop and look at my life: what i am grateful for, what i learned, and what i wanted. What I am grateful for Being a wife and a mom is a life changing situation. It is a lie if I said everything about it is happiness. But what is happier than woke up on your birthday with two favorite people smiling at you with a cake and presents and showed you how much important you are for them.

Last Monday was our second anniversary. Unlike last year , we didn't celebrate it in a fancy way. First because it was on Monday, second because I am 9 months pregnant, tired most of the time, and unable to do a lot of things. Bi went home quite late that day. Surprisingly, he bought a bouquet of white roses and strawberry cheesecake. I was so happy. I didn't expect him to do such a sweet act on our anniversary because he is not a romantic guy. We had dinner, shared story about what we did that day and ate the cheesecake. It was a simple celebration, but i enjoyed it. :)

I know it's March already. I am not really good at updating my story soon after it happened. 2014 is special. First because my baby due date is on April and second because I moved to a new home. My mom wants me and my husband to live near her house when my baby arrived. So she can visit us more frequently. We moved just before the new year's eve and started to live in the new house on the first day of 2014. Moving to landed house is not as easy as I thought. I found so many problems with this house. The story about that is way too long and I don't want to remember it any longer. Here is the sneak peak of the house when our nephews came to visit us last week. The house is messy. Bi is so busy at work and I am not allowed to move heavy stuffs, so we basically only have weekend to make the house looks better. I'll update the photo once our house is prettier.  

(My Travel Series) August 2010 Day 3 Tomorrow morning we're going to go back to Jakarta, so today was our last day exploring north Sumatra. In our way back to Medan, we stopped at a vintage coffee shop named Toko Sedap. This place is popular for its custard apple jam or  selai srikaya (in bahasa) . We ordered custard apple jam toasts with a cup of coffee. I didn't drink the coffee but according to people who drank it, the coffee tasted nice and very suitable with the toast.  For me the taste of the toast was not special, but my mom loved it so much. She even brought some custard apple jam home. However, I always love to eat in a place with history. It made me imagine how was this place look like in its era. It wasn't so hard to imagine because I think they are never re-design the facade, interior, the cup or the dish. When we ate the bread, some people around us ate noodles that look very tasty. My sister and I asked my mom's friend where to...

(My Travel Series) August 2010 Day 3 The best thing about visiting a place with local friends is the unique experience we can get. In our third day, my family and I visited a fish farm in the lake Toba. The fish farm is belongs to my mom's friend who accompanies us in this trip.  She told us about types of fishes they breed and the fishery business in lake Toba. Unfortunately, I wasn't remember any of it because I was too busy thinking about what will happen if I fell into the lake. When I was a kid, my mom told me that my grandpa went to the lake Toba and he saw a big mysterious creature like Nessy. She made me believe it might be true because lake Toba is an ancient lake and nobody really know what is inside.  While I was focused on my walk and tried hard not to fall, my sister,  Lala , somehow were able to took many lovely photos. Even though, I am not a big fan of walking in a floating deck, but I think this is a very uniqu...

(My Travel Series) August 2010 Day 2 I have been preoccupied with a lot of things lately and forget to continue my travel stories here. To refresh your memory this is my last post about my North Sumatra Trip and here the beginning of the story if you haven't read it yet.  *** One of the places you have to visit in Samosir island is the old village. My family and I went there by a car. You supposed to pay some money to enter this place, but we didn't have to because my mom's friend is a local people and she had some contribution to this place. Just like the name, this place is an outdoor museum about traditional village from the old days. There were eight different types of architecture from common people's houses to king's graves. In this place, according to the information board, there are Batak traditional dances which performed every day. Sadly, when we were here, we did not see the performance. Here the complete list of what you can see in the old v...

(My Travel Series) August 2010 Day 2 In the middle of toba Lake there is an island named Samosir. An island inside another island, interesting, isn't it. According to some blogs that I read, there are four ways to reach Samosir but the most popular route is the one that I tried. My family and I went to Ajibata Port in Prapat to take a ferry. Along with our car we crossed the lake and arrived in Tomok, Samosir in about 45 minutes. Tomok in local language means fat. I thought it is an odd name for a place.  After we arrived at Samosir we left the car and walked to the tomb of Sidabutar Kings. There was a man here who explained us the legend about this place. I honestly didn't remember any of the story except for it was from a long long time ago before a christian missionary arrived at this island. Now, most of people here are Christian and they no longer had the same belief as Sidabutar Kings.   The ancient stone statues, furniture and ...

(My Travel Series) August 2010 North Sumatra Trip Day 2 Remember my story about the mystical lake Toba ? It is amazing how thing can looks very different. Today, the lake looked gorgeous thanks to the nice weather. The view of the lake took my breath away! I am very grateful we have this amazing lake in Indonesia and I got a chance to see it. Beside the mesmerizing lake Toba, my family and I also visited Sipiso-piso waterfall located near the lake. We had to walk to see the view in its best angle, but it was totally worth it. When I was standing in the pavilion I could see the pretty waterfall on my right and the beautiful lake on the left. I could not ask for more. My sister who took all the previous photos except for this one.  Tips and Conclusion - You can walk to the waterfall but it is quite far. If you are too lazy or not fit, you better walk until the pavilion and enjoy the view. - Go to this link if you want to know how to v...

(My Travel Series) August 2010 North Sumatra Trip Day 2 Today was my second day in North Sumatra. Yesterday, after we saw the lake Toba for the first time, my family and I continued the journey and stayed over in Berastagi. We stayed in a very special house. It was the same house where Soekarno, the first president of Indonesia, stayed when he was in Exile by the Dutch in 1948. He only lived in this house for 12 days before he was moved to Prapat for some safety reason.  Early in the morning, I followed my sister and my dad to go outside. We arrived at night so this was the first time we were able to see the house. My sister took some pictures while I was busy seeing the surrounding area. Here some pictures that she took: It was cold outside because Berastagi is in the mountain, so we went back into the house. I enjoyed the morning by reading a book, my sister played with her camera and took some pictures, while my parents had conversation with...

 (My Travel Series) August 2010 North Sumatra Trip Day 1 After visiting Maimun Palace , my family and I left Medan and continued the trip to the famous Lake Toba. The lake is extremely huge and surrounded by mountains. There are many places to see the lake's beauty from above. One of the best spot, according to my mom's friend, is some place called Taman Simalem Resort . It was a huge resort, about 200 hectares, located near Berastagi. Besides the view to the lake, this place offers wide ranging facilities, like flower nursery, golf court, Buddhist temple and many more. I am not going to write it all because they have too many facilities. Hehe. Our first stop was the flower nursery. My mom loves everything related to gardening and plants. After a quick looked - because nobody else interested to see the glass house - we went to the amphitheater to see the lake. The flower nursery According to this resort website, Simalem in Batak Karo languange (local la...

(My Travel Series) August 2010 North Sumatra Trip Day 1 One of my trips that I haven't write in here is my trip to North Sumatra, Indonesia. I went here after my graduation with my family, but it was not a graduation present. One of my mother's friend recently moved back to Medan  (North Sumatra capital city) and my mom saw it as a perfect excuse to visit North Sumatra. The good thing about traveling with my mom is she had planned everything. So all I need to do is pack my bags and ready to go. I apologize if I could not tell you how to get to these places because I went there by a car with a driver. *** This was my first time visiting Medan. I was surprised when the plane flied very low near the house roof just before it landed. I found out later that Polonia Airport is located near the downtown, but the new airport is being built and will be operating this year in 2013. After my mom's friend picked us up from the airport, she took us to M...

It has been a long time since I wrote about book review here. These are some books that I read recently. I feel like reading something more educational than just a simple novel or children book.  The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman Very good business book for newbie. Well written and easy to understand. The book is as thick as harry potter books with more serious content. I failed to finish read it at the first time, then I decided to re- read the book with only six to eight sub-chapter a day. I finished it in about a month.  The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss I bought it by recommendation from The Personal MBA book. The book is very practical for people live in US but not for people who live in Indonesia like I do. My favorite part is the chapter about work efficiency. Read it if you have a lot of free time.  The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely Honestly, I haven't finished reading it yet, but I think the...

Last November was my grandma's 80th birthday. "No birthday party for me!" she warned her children (my parents, my uncles, and my aunties) as they usually make a (surprise) birthday party for her. In order to replace the annual party, they arranged a weekend trip to Bogor. We stayed at place named Aldepos Salaca . It is located in Tenjolaya, Bogor, near Institut Pertanian Bogor. For someone who needs some quiet environment to relax this place is very suitable. The place is huge (about 60 hectares) with only eight villas inside. The villas are surrounded by many plantations. It was so refreshing to see green everywhere. As a complimentary we can try flying fox. I did not have a gut to try, because it was quite high and I really don't like the sensation of hanging. So I volunteered myself to take pictures. Here are some pictures that I took. Beside flying fox there were some activities that we can try, such as fishing, making pottery...

Couple days before the anniversary I asked Bi what will we do to celebrate it. He said it's up to me. Because I didn't have an idea, I made a list - 50 things we have never done together. I didn't write any specific place because if I had done, I would have written a thousand places we have never been to. Then, I asked him to choose one of 50 things that I wrote. He didn't choose any of it, but he said to me "You said you want to take me to eat in Satoo." I assumed he choose number 10 which is 'Eat in 5-Star Hotel just the two of us' After we spent a whole day in Water Bom (I will tell about this later) we filled our empty stomachs with abundant food in Satoo, Shangri La, Jakarta. (We made a reservation only two hours before, even though we have planned it couple days ago) I like Satoo for its free-flow water and the various desserts which look very beautiful. I also think Satoo is a right place to celebrate our first anniversary because in Baha...