Wallpaper 4 U: #1

November wallpaper, enjoy!

Click the wallpaper above to see the real size, save them, and ready to use!

Instax SQ10 Review

Recently joining the hype of Instax SQ10! 

Watch the video above and let me know what you think about the camera. 

Thanks Fujifilm for the Instax SQ10!

Cherry Bomb

A sketch I did for a project that I am still working on.... Cherry! My favorite thing to draw!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

I turned 28 todaaaayy!

Woop!

Even though I think 28 is quite old, but I feel all just the same. I think my soul stopped growing since I turned 24. LOL. Anyway, usually when I have a birthday coming, I have a plan in my mind, like what I want to do, where I want to go, what I want to eat, etc. But since last year, I stopped wanting things just for the sake of birthdays. I stopped wanting things to be uber special just for one day. Of course I love birthday surprises and wishes from my family and friends, but I just feel like I don't want anything, I expect nothing for birthdays. What do we call this feeling, adulthood friends?

This is my first year of spending birthday with my hubby. Last night he surprised me with my favorite hot chocolate from Starbucks. He also had mushroom quiche as the birthday cake for me. He is not a romantic guy, never was (but I hope he will, soon!), he always came up with the most logical birthday presents. When I just started freelancing, he gave me a printer! Last year he gave me a 50mm lens for my Canon and this year he gave me a 24" monitor screen for me to work because my Macbook is just ridiculously too small for designing and digital painting. He doesn't give me butterflies in my stomach, but he solved all my work problems: Bigger screen! Oh I love you, Rudi.

Today I started my day cooking lunch for my hubby, pan seared barbecue chicken with carrots and mushrooms. I also added a sunny side up along with the white rice so the meal is full of protein to keep him feel full longer. Then after that I went to the gym to have a Zumba class. I've been so reckless about my fitness and I realized it but I did nothing until last Thursday I just went to the gym at night (I hate night gym session!) and joined a dance class. Then I somehow found my mood back to be better and healthier and more responsible to my own health. So it's been 7 days until today and I only skipped two days between and I never feel so tired than before. I worked out much more than I did in the past three months. But man I feel so good! I also have been choosing the food that I ate, I carefully chose the ingredients and decided to eat more veggies and fruits. My eating habit was really awful I ended up eating instant noodles a few times a week because I was too lazy to cook for my own meal (I cooked for my hubby but I didn't spare any portion for myself). I also did a lot of skipping meals due to my non stop work and projects. That's bad because I tend to eat once in a day, in a huge portion. Now that I realised this messy circle, I've been trying really hard not to fall to that circle again. Because that circle is very delicious but is not healthy at all, it has no benefit to my body. So I stocked a loooot of fruits, sliced them and put them in the fridge. Whenever I feel hungry, I just scoop some fruits off the fridge and eat them to make me feel full. It's been a good one week so far, I feel happier and more excited about this habit I am trying to live in. Bonus is, I lost 2 kg for the past one week only! It's true that when you start seeing results, you'll get addicted. That's what I am now and I am really excited to continue this healthy circle habit of mine. Fingers crossing!

I went for a late lunch with Mom to Blok S, one of my favorite street food area. Then we headed to Pacific Place for some coffee at one of my favorite coffee shops: Liberica. I had a good laid back day with my Mom and I am sooo happy.

I feel blessed for turning 28 with this new spirit that I am having right now, to be healthier and happier.

Alhamdulillah, I feel soooo blessed.

Featured in: Grazia Magazine

Got featured in Grazia magazine's August 2017 edition. It's a new thing for me to be featured in a beauty section, heheh. I basically shared my fave beauty items, some of them are Etude's eyebrow pencil, Emina's eyeshadow palette (they're so pigmented, stays long and very affordable), and my very first love for matte liquid lipstick, Lime Crime (shade Wicked).

P.S.: That note on the bottom left about our 4th book isn't real guys, I think the magazine mistyped it. LOLz.

My 5 Most Favorite Coffee in Jakarta

Coffee is my most favorite drink and I clearly couldn't start my day without a cup of coffee in the morning. I drink instant coffee at home because it's quick and easy, but when I have some extra time, I try to brew my coffee with the mini french press I have so I can totally cut the sugar off. But I hate washing the french press, so I mostly go with instant coffee. I'm not going to talk about my coffee regime at home, instead I'm going to share my top 5 coffee in Jakarta. Here we go!

Anomali Coffee

This is my absolute favorite coffee shop in Jakarta. I love it because they serve good quality of local coffee. The coffee is strong, sometimes a bit too strong for me that it left me slightly trembling an hour after I finished my coffee. LOL. But I keep on going back because I love them. I'm a cappuccino and latte person so these two are my go to coffee in Anomali. I go for their hot cappuccino, always. When I feel like having iced coffee, I couldn't have their iced cappuccino because the coffee is just too strong, so I go for their iced latte (with two pumps of sugar) - which is just perfect. Not only coffee, they also have pastries and main dishes. I love their croissant and Indonesian fried rice.

One thing I hate about Anomali is that the parking spot is rather small, but they do have valet service. My favorite Anomali is the one in Menteng because somehow I feel that it's brighter and less crowded than the ones in Senopati and Setiabudi One.

Tuku

I'M A BIG FAN OF THIS ONE. So I'm very lucky to have a coffee best friend, Putri. We love coffee and our taste are quite similar. Sometime around last year when Tuku just opened their small shop in Cipete, Putri asked me to drop by while we were heading somewhere. It's just a small joint, no parking lot, nothing fancy. But when I had my first sip of their Kopi Susu Tetangga, man, I couldn't stop. The fact that they're so cheap is also the reason why I always buy at least two cups. I was so happy when they opened a branch in Senopati area (in RUCI, which is closed already), because it was closer to my house. So I used to drive to Senopati on Sunday morning only for a few cups of Tuku. Back then it wasn't a struggle to buy Tuku, because the queue was long but still normal.. Until the president Jokowi dropped by to their Cipete HQ and everything just exploded. LOL.

It's really hard for me to buy Tuku these days because first, I don't feel like queueing for crazy lines, and second, I feel guilty whenever I ask Gofood to buy Tuku for me. The last time I ordered from Gofood, It took freaking 1.5 hours just to buy the coffee (imagine the Gojek driver queued that long.....) and an extra 30 mins to get the coffee to my address. I felt terrible for the Gojek driver so I have decided it was the last time I ordered Tuku via Gofood.

Tip: Go early in the morning to avoid long queue. In their Pasar Santa branch, they separated the queue for regular customers and Gofood, so it's faster. My favorite is Es Kopi Susu Tetangga. I usually buy 5 cups (I drink two cups at once) and ask for less ice because I don't like my coffee to be watery when the ice is melting.

BEAU by Talita Setyadi

It's hard to tell which one isn't good from their menu because everything is so good. LOL. They actually have been in Grand Indonesia for quite sometime, but I didn't notice because it looks just like any other fancy coffee shop/bakery. Again, Putri told me about BEAU in Cikajang, so I went there and tried their cappuccino and totally in love with it. Their coffee is so good, it tastes just perfect for me. I also tried their good looking pastries and everything is just delicious, made to perfection (insert happy tears here). Their cafe in Cikajang is so bright with a lot of greens at the entrance. I usually go there in the morning around 8 AM to avoid noisy crowds. I met a lot of Japanese ladies each time I go there, seems like they have quite a lot of Japanese customers too. BEAU isn't cheap, they are quite above the average cafe that are alike, but BEAU comes with high quality. They are focusing on artisan bread and pastries, which you can see many in their Cikajang HQ. But I love to order their salad, my favorite is Honey Soy Chicken Breast with Asian Slaw. The veggies are so fresh, the chicken is cooked perfectly and everything is just perfect with their soy dressing. Everything that BEAU served is looking super delicious, like an edible art.

Tip: Don't hesitate to talk to the waiter if you feel like the coffee or meal doesn't suit your standard. It happened to me twice actually. I love their cappuccino a lot so when it tasted too milky, I told the waiter and asked whether it was me or the coffee actually tasted differently. The waiter insisted to make a new cup of cappuccino for me and the new one tasted just perfect. Another time when I had their soy chicken salad, the chicken was overcooked, hard to chew and dry - definitely unlike the ones I usually have. I told the waiter, they kindly listen to my feedback, said sorry, and apparently told all the staffs in the kitchen because everyone there just tilted their heads at me instantly. But as I was so hungry so I finished that overcooked chicken anyway. LOL.

Breakfast at Cayenne

This one is a hidden gem in Kemang. Cayenne is basically a home goods & interior shop in Kemang, but they also have a space right beside their store (it's connecting to the store) that serves as a cafe called Breakfast at Cayenne. I actually had my birthday brunch there two years ago. Their food is delicious, my favorites are the mie ayam and breakfast burrito. Of course they made it into my top 5 list because the coffee is good. Breakfast at Cayenne is a typical place that I will go to in the morning to have my first coffee of the day and enjoy a slow morning. They have an outdoor area decorated with tropical greens, totally the highlight of this lovely cafe.

Woodpecker

Woodpecker is a coffee shop in Panglima Polim, they serve good coffee, but I still like Anomali and BEAU better. Woodpecker is in this list because they have a bottled iced coffee that's soooo good  (Rp 25k each) and is comparable to Tuku. I buy their bottled iced coffee quite frequent because as I mentioned above, buying Tuku is a bit of a challenge these days. Woodpecker has a nice interior and is located in a calm area compare to the others I mentioned before. 

Things I Enjoy in My Life at 27

I find it really hard to actually spare time to write in this blog. I do have a lot of things to say, but they ended up mostly in my phone's note app. It's really challenging for me to hold my stories and try to write them out here. In this instant era of 2017, it's so much easier to swipe on Insta story and just write the hell out there.

So let me start this easy.

I'd like to write about the things I enjoy in my life right now.

I love having instant coffee at home, specifically with my green cup that has a cute white graphics printed on it. I just changed my instant coffee to Nescafe green coffee. I personally thought the packaging kind of distract how my brain thinks the taste would be like, but apparently I like how it tasted. I have tried making my own coffee manually, using french press that I bought from IKEA (which was a pretty good deal for Rp 99k). I like it but it took more efforts to make a single cup of coffee in the morning. I am not a fan of washing my french press with some grounded coffee leftovers in it.

I like listening to calming songs I collected in my Spotify account when I drive, paint, or writing, just like what I'm doing right now. One of my favorite songs is Flume by Bon Iver.

I love it when I do pink blush on my makeup. It makes my face fresh and is very easy thing to do. My favorite blush is not actually a blush, but it's a matte liquid lipstick from Make Over (shade 004 - Vanity). My overall makeup is very easy and light. I don't really do heavy makeup as I don't like having many chemicals on my face. I try on having less makeup as possible because I want my skin to breathe. I am much older now and I really think on the products that I use on my face. Before I apply my makeup, I always use SKII FTE, the miracle water, to hydrate my skin. I have been using this product for around 2 years. My skin has never been so friendly like this before I use SKII. More on this later. After SKII, I just recently had an additional skin care to apply before anything else, a sun screen. I was looking for sun screen when I was in Tokyo a few weeks ago and the easiest to find was Biore Aqua Rich (SPF 50). It reacts to my skin just like water and so far I have no problem with it. After I have my skin well hydrated, I use just a tad of concealer under my eyes (I have dark circles) and some dark acne spots. Then I use my blush and fill my eyebrows, followed by using light eyeshadows (if needed). I use a compact powder that matches my skin tone to make my skin looks even and sometimes I finish my makeup routine with some highlight touches (I use eyeshadow for this).

I love seeing people cooking, I love seeing how dishes are made. The more I cook, the more I love doing it. Culinary is my second biggest passion actually. Not many people know, I myself just discover this a few months ago. I don't watch tv, but when I do, it must be some culinary series. Then after I got married and moved to a new house with Rudi, I cook even more, then I realised that I do really love making food. I love the whole process from choosing the fresh ingredients, slicing and chopping the proteins or veggies, sizzling them on the pan, serving them on the plate and actually tasting my own meals. Seeing the minced garlic turning golden and smell it really gives me joy, the simplest form of joy probably. I am still a beginner in cooking, of course, but I am really happy with what I cook and especially my husband loves my cookings! He eats whatever I cook for him and I always seek for reviews from him, what to improve and what meals should I cook for him next. I mostly cook in the morning, so I can wrap some lunch for Rudi. Sometimes I also do special meals on the weekend. My husband's favorite dishes are: Chicken teriyaki, Indonesian spicy hard boiled eggs, spicy fried rice, and my chicken katsu curry rice. While my favorite dishes to make at home are fried rice, chicken teriyaki, and sauteed bok choy. I can keep on writing many things I love about culinary but I think I should stop here for this post.

I love hugging my husband's back until I fall asleep. It calms me and makes me feel safe :)

Next month will mark my career change for exactly two years. I must say that being a full time illustrator has never been easier day by days. The biggest challenge for me is not the projects or creative blocks, but to manage my time wisely. I cry a lot when I have too much pressures from deadlines. Sometimes I think I have pushed myself too hard that it became unhealthy for my mental health because I tend to be more emotional, not happy and not able to spend more time with the people that I love. So now I try to be more strict in my time management. As I mostly work during weekends (for events and teaching workshop), I always sneak up a day or two days off in the weekdays. It's harder that it seems because I kind of steal a day off when other people are in full speed. But I have to do it unless I wouldn't have time to rest or grow my creative side. This is why I always try to spend my Mondays with my mom. It's been great, we went to places on Monday morning, we don't go to the center of the city so the traffic is very friendly. I love spending time with my Mom, I love it even more because we don't argue as much as we used to. When I was still living in the same house with my mom, no matter how much love we are pouring to each other, but we argued a lot, we fought a lot, and we were definitely hurting each other. But as now I am living separately from my mom, so I try to always be the very best version of me when I am seeing my mom. I avoid arguments and I just want to spend the best times with my mom.

I do still have many things to write about that's related to this post, but it's already 2.20 AM so I have to end this post right here.

Don't forget to count your blessings.

Good night.

Lemon Childhood

I don't know what year it was, but I remember those balloons sticking on my Barbie house. Those Barbies were not mine, or were they? I think those are my sisters, she used to model for Barbie in Jakarta back in the 90s. So we had plenty of Barbie dolls, like a huge cupboard full of Barbie dolls, all in their boxes. 

It's funny how I still remember a few pieces of memories just by looking at this picture. I never knew that I still have the memories with me. The white eyelet curtains on the right, I remember they were soft and I liked touching the eyelets and peeking through it. I don't have much memories left about the dolls, but I remember my favorite was that blue dressed Barbie. I remember her dress was so fluffy, it was a ruffle dress. I could remember nothing but her, that lemon umbrella and those balloons glued on the plastic Barbie house.

Mom said I was a huge fan of hats, I won't go out of the house unless wearing a hat.

One day when I have kids, I want to make the best memories for them, 

just how I remember my childhood: being the happiest.

Mood

Last month I felt so ugly and everything seemed wrong. I hated to see my self in pictures, not even a selfie. I don't feel comfortable when someone takes pictures of me. Then an ad agency contacted me asking if I wanted to be involved in a beauty awareness campaign. I said yes and read the content brief. It was pretty much a challenge to take a picture of yourself when you don't even feel pretty. I accepted the challenge and began experimenting in taking pictures using tripod and a remote. Apparently it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and I really love the result. Somehow it also escalated my confidence to be in pictures. Never thought taking pictures of yourself would lift up your mood and increase your confidence. Note taken.

Brunch Life

Brunch is my fave time to have meals, not too early, not too late, just at the perfect timing. To me, brunch usually consists of hot coffee, orange juice, and croissant. When I feel like eating a lot, I would definitely choose something with scrambled egg. Today I had brunch with two old friends, Renee and Mbak Upik, at Antipodean. It's quite near to where I live but I never been there before. There were many expats at Antipodean, felt like I wasn't in Jakarta for a moment hahaha. Brunch was good, coffee was pleasant. We headed across the building to get some gelato. This gelato place called Ziato is a new kid in the block. I've seen many people dining in when I had groceries across Ziato, I thought they were a cafe, but I was wrong. They only serve gelato, some coffee and pastries. Their gelato was reaalllyyy good! I tried three flavors, my favorites would be the strawberry flavor (really fresh and doesn't taste artificial) and the dates/mascarpone. So good! Adding Ziato to my to-go-list around my neighbourhood.

New Home

I'm in the process of starting this new blog as a small space for me to write my thoughts (and my heart) out. I don't know what had happened, but I started to dislike my old blog. Seeing the blog simply removes my mood to write. I had so many things to share to my blog, but whenever I sign in to my blog account, I instantly lost the mood. I think my own absence to the blog is one of the reasons why I lost the mood of writing. I also feel that blog is somehow very editorial these days. It's no longer a place where people share their personal thoughts. The marketing and branding needs are pretty strong in the blogosphere. It's not like it's wrong, but I like blogging because it feels very personal. Like you can really read what people are thinking and dig deeper into their thoughts through their blog. Blogging is very different with Instagram. No matter how much I love sharing pictures and gathering inspirations from Instagram, I honestly still love blog much better than social networking app. I found many inspiring people who are very creative and interesting in expressing themselves through their blog. It's kind of sad that a lot of bloggers that I've known (not in person) since 2009, the year I started my old blog, have stopped blogging. I have a few list of my favorite blog people for years and recently I browsed through their blog and I became really sad. Most of my favorite people are no longer blogging and even some of them couldn't be traced on the internet. Some who stopped blogging, they left goodbye notes on their very last post. Their notes are pretty sad to me. They inspired me a lot back in those days. Even though I didn't know them in person, but I love what they have shared through their blogs. Some who stopped updating their blog also have Instagram. I checked their profiles on Instagram and it sparked me joy a little to see that they a different life compare to the old ones I admired eight years ago. Mostly got married, have kids, working in different fields, they changed. This also makes me think that it's normal to feel like I don't belong in my own blog, my old one. It's like finding yourself all over again, starting from zero. Even though the medium is just the same, but I want this blog to be a diary for me in the future, to look back, to learn from my younger self, to remind me of my journey, my struggles, and learn from my mistakes. Because that's the reason why I started blogging eight years ago. 

Welcoming myself to this new space in the internet I call home :)

Cherry blossom I saw in Yodo, Kyoto, last March during my honeymoon trip with hubby. I love cherry blossom so much. They look so delicate and it makes me so happy each time I see them in my photo archive.