Dear myself

Just my midnight thoughts:

Why do people get affected by common mindset that is created in a society easily? For example, 
A pretty face, a beautiful body, a smart brain are the main traits to be attractive ?

Do you even wonder how many women fall into insecurities because of society's standard? Well, maybe not all of them. But most of women, including me feel insecure easily about how we look. Why am I not skinny enough? Why am I so chubby? The feeling of not being good enough haunts me, everyday.

I am aware that it's not good. But it's not easy to change my mindset, tho I've told myself all over again and even my friends and family (who absolutely have gotten bored with my constant rants about weight) that I don't have to stress so much about appearance.

Dear myself,
There are so much people that are totally happy without having a vs-model like body or kpop-star's beautiful face. There are so much people that are totally happy when they eat soooo much although sometimes they gain weight (even you used to be always happy when you're 4kgs heavier than now), because at the end of the day, we're all humans with imperfections.

And imperfections aren't meant to be stressed over so much. Count the blessings you have, be grateful and explore more on what you can do.

An Afternoon with Paul Andrew

Meeting and having the chance to chit - chat with Paul Andrew, a British-born & US based footwear and accessory designer were truly a memorable experience to me. The short talk I had with this humble designer opened my eyes about creativity, ideas, and the life of a designer.

Paul came to Jakarta to introduce his Hongkong-inspired (a city that captivates the global imagination with its intersections of craft and industry, tradition and technology) Spring/Summer 2016 collection. The collection consists of jaw-dropping shoes with vibrant colors and beautiful ornaments. The glass-heeled shoe above is one of his favorite from the collection. The floral embelishements are sewn on mesh fabric that match the skin when worn, giving a transparent effect.

The vibrant and colorful pumps are the best sellers and many people's favorites. They're not only stylish, but also comfortable when worn. Paul created a comfy cushion as he does pay attention to comfort of a shoe. "To look good, you have to feel good." said Paul when he's asked what's the key to find the perfect shoe for ourselves. Celebrities like Emma Watson and Keira Knightley are fans of his shoes and were spotted wearing them to red carpets.

This is the 'star' of the S/S 2016 collection. The embroidered silk jacquard fabric and metal heel stole the attention of the people that came to the launch of his new collection at On Pedder, Plaza Indonesia.

Paul Andrew never fails to create awesome design through his creativity that he often gets from traveling. Learning the culture and blending in with the locals are where his inspirations come from. That's why, every new collection of his brand has different city / country theme! He told us that he once visited Bali and he's very pleased with the hospitality of Balinese people and as well as the culture there.
Paul, I'll be waiting for an "Indonesia" inspired collection, please ;)

Top: Label8, Skirt: Zara, Heels: Schutz, Bag: Fendi

This was my outfit on that day.

Thank you so much Plaza Indonesia for the opportunity!

2016

Helloooooooooooo 2016~! It's amazing how a change of the last digit in 201X means so much to most people in this world, including me!

Jumping into the same bandwagon that everyone does in every new year, I'd like to flash back to memorable memories in 2015 and my resolutions in 2016!

It's the year of many new things in my life.
- I finally graduated from school and became a college student

- I became Prom Queen during prom and became the leader of yearbook committee

- I arranged and brought my best friends to my parents' hometown, Pontianak for a culinary getaway. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO DIARY !
- I learn to be more independent as I'm apart from my parents. I drive to school, I buy my own meals, I clean my apartment, I shop for groceries, I wash my clothes, even go to the hospital alone, etc.
- I made a new business, @barliepicks_id with my bestie, went for overseas buying trip
- I fell sick 2 times and was admitted to the hospital (before that, the last time I got hospitalized was 10 years ago)
- The first time I got drunk and threw up all over my bro's car (it's his fault anyway - but the next day someone bought my bro's car!!! LOL!!)

- I celebrated my birthday overseas for the first time with my parents and my cousins.

As for the resolutions,

I'll still be myself.. There's no "new" me... Because you're supposed to improve yourself everyday, not only on new year. But if there were some specific things I wish to achieve in 2016:

- To be more independent financially (buy my own stuffs / pay my own expenses without my parents' money)
- To be a better DRIVER remembering how many times I bumped/ scratched my car this year 😭 (maximum 5 times only in 2016, ok??)
- NO JUNK FOOD (I've successfuly avoided Instant Noodles in 2015. I'd like to avoid KFC/McDonalds/any similar stuffs)
- To be less emotional / impatient / selfish toward other people. (How to achieve that? I'd close my eyes, breathe in - breathe out x3 before getting angry/saying harsh words).
- To be healthier without starving myself (which is a bad diet) and not to check my weight every single day (it just makes me even more stressed out).

During New Year's Eve, I went to have dinner with my parents at SATOO, Shangri-la Hotel. The buffet was full of delicious food and desserts! I ate 9 plates of different dishes from salad, sushi, sashimi, chinese food, spaghetti, dimsum, steak, pork knuckles, soup, lots of cakes, etc + 1 ice cream and my mom was really shocked with the amount of food I can put into my tummy! I inherit my dad's appetite, I guess! lol.

She also said that hopefully I'll find a boyfriend this year... HAHAHA T_T.

 

 I hope it's not too late yet to blog this kind of post! Hehehe! Have a good weekend, everyone!

Back in Hometown

(This post was actually written on 26th) . 

Holiday is here, everyone! Finished off the first term of college felt like heaven. I've received my grades and they're all above class' average! I'm so happy. Don't ask me about my GPA because my college doesn't provide that... 

Right after I and my friends finished our last final exam, we went to Shaburi Grand Indonesia to have a bigggggg and satisfying luch. We also went for a karaoke session and released our stress! Hahaha.

The day after that I went to have a haircut because my mom couldn't stop nagging about how she hated my long hair (she said I'm too thin to have long hair, hence my face doesn't look fresh when actually she also got annoyed when I cut my looong hair to short in April and said I looked pretty with long and curled 'badai style' hair. lol), dyed my hair into darker brown, and also got a lash extension (look at my instagram for details!). That weekend I also went to Grand Indonesia to hang out with my high school bestfriends.

On December 21st, we had a Christmas brunch and exchanged gifts. It was so fun because we had to describe and impersonate the person that will get our gift!

As my spendings on December were crazy for my final projects (blame the expensive printing shops), Christmas+Bro's bday+Mother's day gifts, weekend lunches & dinners at malls, andd buying my train ticket to return home... I was so happy when I got back in Tegal on December 22nd. 

Even when I'd just arrived home, my mom had cooked me my favorite mapo tofu, semur ayam (chicken stew) and bought me my favorite Ketoprak. She also made me a very delicious choco avocado ice. My tummy has started to bloat since that day.. What I love about being home is that everything in my hometown is much cheaper than Jakarta and my mom cooks all the time so I don't really spend money on food. 

I've eaten soooo much food (just look at my snapchat. I think I have the potential to be a competitive eater like Kinoshita Yuka) and barely move out of my bed everyday except to catch up & eat out with friends or go to church. So yeah, I can't wait to go back to Jakarta again on Monday with my parents (YAY! I won't spend a penny! lol) because in Jakarta there are many malls to walk around hence it won't be as boring as in Tegal :(. I just can't stand doing nothing everyday....... At first it felt nice to just sleep and eat and repeat all day long, but later on, OMG I feel like a bum.

Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAY, everyone!