For Old Time Sake

It was so lovely,,, last weekend I spent the night at Mbak Dyah's, my beloved sister.. Her husband was staying at the hospital, taking care of his mom who was hospitalized.. and my hubby was on duty to Medan for the weekend. What a coincidence...

(picture was taken at Mbak Dyah's home, but was take almost a year ago)

Sri, our 'life-time' housekeeper was also staying there to accompany us. Mbak Dyah, who just returned from Bangkok last week, got both her ankles injured during her trip to Bangkok (too much shopping I guess.. hahaha...), so she couldn't walk fast and too long. While myself, during my 7th month pregnancy, also couldn't walk too long and fast either. Hehehe..

So, here we were, staying at her house almost the whole weekend. I arrived there at about 5 p.m. saturday afternoon. We had some chit chat, watched the video of her and her husband during their visit to BKK, saw the pictures of my 7th month pregnancy traditional ceremony (mitoni)..

Dinner were prepared by Sri.. since neither of us could walk outside and go to supermarket. No car,, and no fit feet... Hehehe... Sri came a little bit late in the afternoon with some grocery with her.

The rest of the night and the next morning were spent by watching tivi.. and eating. Hehe..

On Sunday, our parents finally decided to visit us. Their first plan was to go to PIM, after visiting Pierre's mom and Eyang Tari (both were sick). They asked us if we wanted to join them at PIM. But we've already prepared for lunch at home... (as usual, they always came up with changing plan in last minutes.. hehe..). So, they finally decided to cancel PIM and went to Mbak Dyah's home. Hehehe.. and they came with some more food... :)

So, we ended up having lunch together.. just the 4 of us.. with Sri assisting us.. just like the old times.. :)

At about 4 p.m. my hubby picked me up and we went home.. We had an early sleep that night. It was raining.. and it felt so good to be in his arms.. Welcome home hunny...

Upacara 7 Bulanan (Mitoni)

Dalam tradisi Jawa, bagi kehamilan pertama yang telah mencapai usia 7 bulan kehamilan, diadakan upacara syukuran atau selamatan atas kehamilan tersebut. Tujuannya adalah untuk mengucap syukur karena telah melalui tahap 7 bulan pertama kehamilan dengan selamat dan mohon keselamatan bagi cabang bayi dan sang ibu dalam menjalani tahap akhir kehamilan dan dalam proses persalinan kelak. Tujuan tambahan bagi kami adalah turut melestarikan adat istiadat yang selama ini ada.

Setelah beberapa kali mengalami perubahan jadwal, akhirnya kami melaksanakan upacara mitoni untuk calon buah hati kami, si Kiddy (panggilan sayang kami kepadanya selama dia dalam kandungan) pada hari Sabtu, 9 Februari 2008. Hari tersebut dipilih dengan pertimbangan bahwa upacara mitoni sebaiknya dilakukan di hari Rabu atau Sabtu.

Saya sebenarnya hanya ingat beberapa hal yang biasa dilakukan dalam upacara mitoni tersebut berdasarkan pengalaman masa kecil, di mana Nini saya almarhumah (nenek) biasa menyelenggarakan upacara tersebut bagi Oom-oom dan Tante-tante saya, serta bagi kerabat lainnya. Sekarang ini sulit mencari buku referensi mengenai bagaimana penyelenggaraan upacara tersebut. Thank you to technology, informasi tersebut bisa saya dapat hanya dengan browsing via internet.

Terima kasih kepada berbagai sumber yang telah memberikan informasi tersebut.Karena itulah, saya dalam kesempatan ini juga ingin membagi sedikit pengetahuan mengenai penyelenggaraan upacara mitoni kepada pembaca blog saya. Mudah-mudahan informasi ini bisa berguna bagi pasangan calon ayah dan ibu lainnya..

Baca juga ulasan lengkapnya pada http://mylittlean9el.blogspot.com/2008/02/7-bulanan-mitoni.html dan ulasan lengkap lainnya pada http://mylittlean9el.blogspot.com

ARYA AND ARIEL: kisah dalam sepotong kaos

On new year’s eve, Mbak Dyah and Pierre gave Arya and Ariel a funny gift, a T-shirt with 2 holes for their heads, but only 2 holes for arms (1 for Arya’s right arm and the other one for Ariel’s left arm). Well, you should see the picture.. Hehe…

So, they wore the T-shirt during the countdown to 2008.. the T-shirt says: KITA INI BUKAN HANYA SEKEDAR SEHIDUP SEMATI, TAPI JUGA SEHIDUP SE-T-SHIRT.
Hahaha…
Happily ever after you love birds…

A LITTLE STORY ABOUT BAYU’S SUNATAN

My cousin, Bayu just being ‘sunat’ on 28 December 2007. He finally decided to do that after seeing the doctor who helped him with the whole process. It took only 20 minutes.

The next day, on Saturday, 29 Dec 2007 we all came to Bayu’s sunatan celebration at his home. We brought some money as a gift to him, so called ‘salam tempel’. He put the money into his piggy bank he just got from Mbak Dyah on Christmas. Every money inserted into that red piggy bank will sound ‘oink oink..’. Hehehe.. funny piggy bank.

We were surprised when Mbak Lia, one of my cousins, asked him to show his penis with the result of the ‘sunat’,, and Bayu, with no doubt showed it to her. It’s just simply because she has ‘paid’ him through the salam tempel. Hahaha…

Mbak Dyah and I didn’t want to miss that once in a lifetime opportunity.. we asked Bayu to show us that ‘thing’ too. Hehe…

But.. having seen ‘that’, we deliberately screamed… ‘yiieks… eeeuugh…’ Oooh, can’t describe it.. we rather not see it in the first place. Bayu laughed at us..

Well, Bayu, hope you’ll get better soon and grow much bigger and taller…I think that was one of his happy day.. not to mention that he got so much money from all of us.. also in different currencies.. hahaa…

A THOUGHT OF 2007

2007 was a year full of so many important things in my life..

It started in the beginning of the 2007, when Nini had the attack and passed away in January 2007. It was a big loss for all of us.. a person who has been a center of our lives, our godmother, our foundation of love..

But that’s life.. and this is the circle of life.. not much later than January, there was a happy news knowing that Intan is pregnant. Banu and Intan were expecting a baby. A new life was about to begin..

I also experience a moment when I had to make a very hard decision in my life. I just hoped that it was for a good cause, although I knew for sure that I had hurt someone I respect and love so much by taking that decision. I just kept asking God to guide me so that was the right thing to do.

By being on our own now, (without Nini at our side), we were more convinced to decide to move out to our new home at Bukit Nirvana. We didn’t have to worry anymore that we might leave Nini alone at Cilandak. We moved in to Bukit Nirvana in May 2007.

Few months later, in August, just about our 2nd wedding anniversary, my hubby and I got this wonderful news. The answer to our prayers… Doctor said that I am also pregnant. It was just like the most precious anniversary gift for us.
Dear God, thank you for all of these big steps in my life. I believe that everything happened for a reason. Hope 2008 will bring us more happiness, health, success, love and joy. Please keep us in Your guide always…

THE NEW YEAR'S EVE

Like last year, we gathered at Bintaro to celebrate new year…it was a year ago when Nini joined the new year eve 2007.. our last gathering with her before the attack.

This time we have more companies, the Olsons were also joining us, Rod, Anna and Ariel. Plus Arya of course,, and another new member in our family, the one-month-old Bana..

We started with BBQ from Ranch Market. Two ranch market’s staffs were there to help us with the barbeque. Fyuuh, so we don’t need to be around the smoky BBQ pan. Hehe..
We had meat, fish, shrimp and chicken. Well, I only ate the fish and chicken. Plus there were also angel hair, fish soup and others. Not to mentioned the snacks all around us. We didn’t stop eating while waiting for the midnight.

Happy New Year 2008…
The sound of the trumpets was all around the house…
Then we started the fireworks party at the backyard. It was great fun. Happy New Year everyone.. wishing all of you health, happiness, success, love, blessing and joy throughout the year and ahead…

… and we all went home at about 1.30 a.m.

Arya-Ariel Wedding Reception

Dharmawangsa Hotel, December 20th, 2007
7.00 p.m. – 9.00 p.m.

Finally.. the big day arrived..

One day before the D day, we gathered at the hotel for the general rehearsal in the afternoon. Some of us already took an office leave, while the others like myself and my hubby took a half day working.

Later on after lunch I first ran for a quick manicure and pedicure… I’ve been planning to have French manicure for the D day and been maintaining my nails to a level they could be ready for the French manicure.. hehe.. although due to my pregnancy I started to scratching my stomach.

The GR went well, with some funny parts, especially because it is the first time for Arya, Ariel and Ariel’s parents (and they haven’t seen this kind of traditions before). Afterward, the adults went to a family dinner, while we are, the younger went home.

On December 20th

We started the day with sholat Eid Ul Adha first. Then we got ready to the hotel. Most of the main members of the wedding committee were gathered there at about 9.00 a.m. The decoration has started its work. It’s fabulous. The flowers were so beautiful!!

At 2 p.m. the rest of the committees have joined us. The ‘penerima tamu, pager ayu, pager bagus’ have arrived and got ready for make ups, hair style and the kebaya/beskap uniform. We also did the same. It was a little bit chaos, but finally resolved.

At 5.00 p.m. (well, it went a little bit late than expected) the traditional ceremony was held. Arya-Ariel were to do the sungkeman process and some other traditional ceremony; and followed by family and committee pictures. It went fine… (and let the main committee keep a little secret story about this.. hehe..).
Most of our families, even from out of town were there to witness the ceremony. Thank you, thank you so much for coming.

After a light dinner for the committee, we prepared for the reception at 7.00 p.m. It was raining the whole afternoon, but at 7 the rain stopped and surprisingly people still came on time. The parade of the bride & groom, their parents and their close family (including my mom and dad) was so long, led by 9 beautiful Javanese dancers. The dance in front of the stage took about 15 minutes, followed by an introduction by the master of ceremony and speech from Oom Palgunadi (which took another 15 minutes). That resulted in a long line of guests queuing to give the bride & the groom best wishes. The line was up to the hotel lobby where people get off from their cars and they were stuck for about 20 minutes (until the speech finished and they could start giving their greetings to the couple).

Mbak Dyah, Wiro and I were the ones standby at the lobby/foyer. So we were the ones who saw the ‘traffic’ of the queuing guests; while the others (Mbak Lucy, my hubby and Pierre) who were at the ballroom couldn’t make any anticipation action (by opening the door from the ballroom to the dining room) to reduce the crowd. Well, finally the chaos was over as they guests started walking slowly toward the happy couple.

I spent most of the time with the ‘pager ayu and pager bagus’, as where I was posted and in charge of, so I didn’t have much time to have chit chat with the other families. Thank you guys for all the help.. :)

But overall, the reception was a blast!! It was great, the food, the decoration, the committee, the guests, everything..!! Congratulations to Arya and Ariel.. hope your new family will always filled with love, happiness and blessing from God. Oom (Arya’s dad), you can take a relief breath now.. hehe… congrats to you too…

The Pacific Place

Pure Restaurant

The brand new mall located at SCBD. It is still on its soft opening, but about 40% of the stores are already open. We had Mbak Dyah birthday lunch at “Pure”, an organic resto but with a very tasty food. I ordered deep fried dory fish with tartar sauce and fresh salad, plus French fries as the side dish. Tasty…!! The fish was so juicy and soft. Papa also had the same thing. My hubby ordered marinara pasta with tomato sauce (its actually dory and salmon fish). Also yummy.. Mbak Dyah had a enoki mushroom covered with sukiyaki beef with rice. Looks delicious too..

We were offered herbal tea, and there was this special tea called “Mom to be”. I had that one, it’s a combination of peppermint and other herbal. Nice also.

Just about when we were leaving Pure, the waiter asked us to go back to our seat. There was actually a surprise prepared for Mbak Dyah.. She got a piece of chocolate cake (also organic one, low cholesterol and low sugar… hehe..) and the waiters were singing ‘happy birthday’ to her.. Nice thing to make her happier in her happy day (and a little ashamed at the same time).. hehe.. Thanks to Pierre, her lovely romantic husband.. :D


The Pacific Place itself
The mall itself is so huge and having this great layouts. My favorite place is the food section with the boat and sea decoration. You see it for yourself. And you should also see the toilet at the food section,, it’s just different from the usual ones.

Well, here’s the picture if you want to see..

Birthday of the Decembers

On the 15th of December is the birthday of Eyang Poer, Bulek Ninik and Mbak Dyah. On the day, we had lunch (Mbak Dyah, Pierre, Mama, Papa, Ipung and myself – plus Kiddy of course) at Pacific Place (see the posting of “the Pacific Place”).

The day after, on Sunday, we gathered at Bintaro for breakfast. The big family went to cemetery earlier, at about 7.30 a.m. to pray for Aki, who passed away 8 years ago (on December 18th to be more precise). After than, all went to Bintaro. Ipung and I went directly to Bintaro.

We had birthday breakfast with the December birthdays.. Eyang Bin and Eyang Tati were also there.

We had Menado porridge and Timlo Solo as the main menu. Beside that, we also had some snacks from Okky & Paul, my mom’s almond pudding, fresh mango and birthday cake.

The gathering were closed with discussion about Arya-Ariel D day and our trip plan for the end/new year.
Happy Birthday Eyang Poer, Bulek Ninik and Mbak Dyah.. many happy returns…

3 Days to Go

3 days before the D day of Arya-Ariel wedding reception.
Emails are coming more frequently.. updating recent progress and news about the wedding preparation. Bulek Ninik, my aunt, who is the chief of the wedding committee has prepared the final versions (its plural, due to the variety of the documents) of the files related to the wedding preparation.. start with the round down of the event, list of committee members and vendors, lay out of the decoration of the reception, lay out of the rooms to be used by the committees, lay out the ‘pager ayu, pager bagus, reception and among tamu’ will be standing, itinerary of the Olsons during their staying in Jakarta..

I just so worry that my kebaya is not finish yet.. hopefully Mbak Titie will make it before the D day (which suppose to be tomorrow).

Update report will be posted after the D day..

2 weeks to go

yesterday was 2 weeks before the big day for Arya and Ariel... (and of course for Oom and Tante)... December 20th, 2007, would be the wedding reception of Arya-Ariel.

We had big technical meeting with all the committee members and vendors of the event yesterday. Many of us took a day or half day leave from office to be able to go to the meeting. We have also been through many meetings 2 months beforehand.. Bulek Ninik, acting as the chief committee, is the best chief ever. She always prepares handouts and power point presentation for the meetings.

Hope everything will be ready for the big day... :)

My biRthDaY

NOVEMBER 21ST, 2007

My birthday has always been one of my favorite days of the year…(I think I’ve mentioned that before somewhere…)
It is the day when I am reminded how blessed and lucky I am being surrounded by so many family and friends who love and care for me so much…
Nothing is more precious in your birthday than greetings through kisses, hugs, phone calls, sms and emails from them…
It started with my husband as the first person to wish me happy birthday, on 00.30 a.m. (well, actually it was because I coincidently woke up because I needed to go to the toilet. He usually wakes up too to see what I’m doing. And at that time, when he looked at the time, it was 00.30, so it’s already my birthday… hahaha…)

I got an IPod, 80GB… one thing I planned to buy him last month… but on the contrary, I am the one who gets the IPod. Hehehe… we’ve been planning to have it for our baby-on-the-way… so we can play him/her many music… thanks honey… :)

I brought some cakes to the office for my friends. Surprisingly, they also know that it is my birthday… *well, thanks to Irma who spread the news to most of them in the morning… hehe.. * I also got many phone calls, sms and emails from my aunties and uncles… and of course friends, especially from Maya, all my bestfriends from college and so many friends from LGS…

Thank you all for your wishes and prays… Amin Amin Amiiiiin….

I ask God, please keep me in Your guard and guide me to become a better person, a wiser one, a more mature one,,, as a wife, as a mother (to-be), as a member of a big family, as a person in her community…

back to work

iya,, back to work.. bukan bike to work.. hehe...

akhirnya hari senin kemarin, 12 Nov 2007 aku masuk lagi ke kantor setelah 3 mingguan gak kerja.. (plus pas libur lebaran).. 10 hari di rumah sakit dan 2 mingguan di rumah karena si pankreatritis. (see = Hospitalized)

secara sekarang jalanan macet banget, ditambah pembangunan busway di ruas jalan pondok indah,, cinere macetnya minta ampyuuun di pagi hari. jam 5.45 aja cinere raya udah macet. akhirnya kita mesti berangkat jam 5.30 dan lewat gandul.. itu baru lancar. sampai kantor jam 7 pagi atau 7 lewat dikit lah. alhasil punya waktu untuk santai2 dan buka blog.

kemarin, di hari ke-3 masuk kantor, udah lembur sampe jam 8 gara-gara conference call ke prancis untuk nego suatu kontrak. huhh... laparr kan.. sama takut kecapean gitu.

wah, rindu temen-temen kantor dan temen-temen LGS. Nanti mau ketemu the Gals from LGS (Irma, Dinar, Tiessa dan Evi yang udah 9 bulan hamil).. hihihi.. minggu depan evi udah perkiraan melahirkan, jadi waktu yang enak cuma minggu ini aja.

Seneng banget banyak sekali saudara dan temen yang telfon & sms nanyain kesehatanku dan si kecil.. terima kasih untuk doa dan perhatiannya yaa semuaa.. terharu deh..

Semoga aku dan si kiddy/kiddo sehat-sehat selalu yaaa.. Amin..

A sweet thought of you..

Aih... kalo inget suami sendiri saat aku di rumah sakit.. makin cinta deh rasanyaa.. :)

SEMPURNA
(Andra and The Backbone)

Kau begitu sempurna
Dimataku kau begitu indah
kau membuat diriku
akan slalu memujimu

Disetiap langkahku
Kukan slalu memikirkan dirimu
Tak bisa kubayangkan hidupku tanpa cintamu


*Janganlah kau tinggalkan diriku
Takkan mampu menghadapi semua
Hanya bersamamu.. ku akan bisa

Reff:
Kau adalah darahku
Kau adalah jantungku
Kau adalah hidupku
Lengkapi diriku
Oh sayangku, kau begitu...
Sempurna..
Sempurna..

Kau genggam tanganku
Saat diriku lemah dan terjatuh
Kau bisikkan kata dan hapus semua sesalku

Back to *

Nini 80th

5 August 1927
80 tahun yang lalu.. Niniku lahir di dunia.. Seseorang yang menjadi sumber cinta kasih dan inspirasi bagi begitu banyak orang lain..

Namun Allah berkehendak lain… Nini tidak sempat merayakan ulang tahunnya yang ke-80 bersama kami. Tapi aku percaya, kehendak Allah adalah yang terbaik. Mungkin saja Nini merayakannya bersama dengan Aki.. Yang jelas, kami sekeluarga besar mengenang hari kelahiran Nini di tanggal 5 Agustus 2007 kemarin. Kami berziarah ke makam Nini. Jam 16.30, saat matahari sudah tidak terlalu panas, kami berdatangan ke tanah kusir. Mendoakan Nini dan Aki.. Ugh, nggak tahan deh untuk nggak nangis.. I miss you so much Ni..

Dari makam kami menuju rumah Bintaro. Setelah magrib kita akan membacakan tahlil untuk Nini dan Aki (Aki juga baru berulang tahun tanggal 22 Juli yang lalu. Waktu itu kita juga ziarah ke makam). Di samping itu, juga kita akan mendoakan Arya dan Ariel yang akan menikah tanggal 19 Agustus 2007 ini.

Keluarga besar Surowidjojo datang juga. Keponakan-keponakan Nini dan Aki, cucu keponakan, dan lain-lain datang. Selepas doa, kita makan bersama dan ngobrol sampai malam. Jam 10.30 baru semua ‘dipaksa’ bubar,, karena udah kemalaman dan besok mesti kerja.

Nini.. walaupun Nini sudah tidak ada, tapi masih juga bisa mengumpulkan saudara-saudara dari mana-mana. Bahkan yang sudah beberapa tahun belakangan ini nggak pernah kumpul bareng, bersedia datang tadi malam. Bahkan sejak peringatan 40 hari-nya Nini, kita punya milis KBSurowidjojo (Keluarga Besar Surowidjojo). Itu semua berkat Nini..

Aku ingat ulang tahun terakhir Nini, 5 Agustus 2006.. di villa Oom di Cisarua, Puncak. Keluarga besar, teman-teman kompleks dan teman-teman dekat di senam PKO Nini hadir. Terharu deh, ngeliat eyang-eyang udah pada tua dan jalannya susah, tapi masih bersedia meluangkan waktunya pergi jauh-jauh ke cisarua untuk ultah Nini. Betul-betul senang waktu melihat mereka juga had a good time waktu itu. Ditambah lagi wajah ceria sebagian teman Nini yang mungkin jarang dapat kesempatan berekreasi keluar kota.

Waktu itu aku ingat betul,, waktu sholat di hari itu,, aku berdoa,, mengucap syukur atas usia dan kesehatan Nini.. atas kita bisa berkumpul bersama dan mensyukurinya.. aku juga mohon pada Allah, supaya Nini diberi kesehatan dan kesempatan untuk dapat merayakan ulang tahunnya di tahun depan dan tahun-tahun mendatang.. dan kami diberi kesempatan untuk mensyukurinya bersama Nini.. Tapi Allah punya rencana lain.. 5 bulan setelahnya, Nini dipanggil Allah..

NI.. I MISS YOU EVERYDAY... SO MUUUCH...
I THINK OF YOU EVERYDAY...
AND PRAY FOR YOU EVERYDAY..
I LOVE YOU NI...

some pics of Nini 79th birthday last year..

OMAH SENDOK WITH THE GIRLS



Akhirnya makan bareng sama cewek-cewek LGS terjadi juga.. setelah 1 bulan ini ditunda-tunda terus… kali ini kolaborasi aku dan Jika yang jadi host-nya. Tanggal 5 Juli 2007, dinner di Omah Sendok, Jl. Mpu Sendok, Senopati.

Rumah yang lucuu,,, dengan gaya rumah kuno yang hangat.. trus bisa juga makan di halaman belakang, outdoor by the pool dengan lampu-lampu kecil yang romantis. Hehe..
Tapi kita dapat duduk di dalam, karena halaman belakang semuanya di-booked sama orang lain.

Participants: aku-ipung, jika, irma-willi, dinar-janter-natasya, tiessa, wulan-michael-nadja-raia. Seru jugaa udah lama nggak ngumpul.. apalagi sama wulan, udah lama gak ketemu.

The food, hmm,, kok kayaknya nggak seenak pertama kali aku ke sana yaa..? agak biasa aja gituu.. although not so bad juga. Appetizer buat rame-rame: tahu pong, sosis solo dan ada satu lagi apa ya..? Aku pesen ‘nasi garang asem’.. hm, nggak seenak bikinan Niniku sendiri.. :) beberapa pesen iga bakar, sate ponorogo, sop tangkar..

Yang paling asik, ngumpul-ngumpulnya itu sendiri.. thanks gals and guys..

HOUSE WARMING THE SECOND

The following week, 9 June 2007, we had the second round of house warming. This time was with my friends from LGS. It was a collaboration of our house warming and Irma-Tiessa-Jamal birthdays.

The food was a blast!!
Ipung and I (with help from Mama, Sri and Mbak Irah) prepared a set of NASI CAMPUR BALI, which turned out to be everybody’s favourite!! Wow, thanks for the compliment.. :)
We also bought some BAKWAN MALANG CAK MAN as the refreshing ‘kuah-kuah’..
Tiessa came with some snacks (potato chips, etc) and STRAWBERRY CHEESE CAKE from CHEESECAKE FACTORY.. what a dessert!!
Irma brought some WATERMELON and delicious CHOCOLATE PUDDING..
Jamal, who arrived quiet late,, hehe,, had the famous KAMBING RICA which everybody was waiting for.
Dini also had some ICE CREAM with her..
Perfect combination guys..!!

The house were really warmed by the attendance of Irma (with Willi n Ferrel), Jika, Tiessa (with Didi n Raska), Jamal, Dini, Rondang, Dinda, Dida, Dian, Icut, Didi, Vanda (and her friend), Nita and Ferry. [did I miss anyone? Hope not..]


Thank you for coming.. although we know it’s very far… :) you guys really warmed our house.. and the next day, on Sunday, Adit and Nila came for dinner. We also cooked some dinner for them. Lovely… lovely…

HOUSE WARMING

Finally Ipung and I moved in to our house at Bukit Nirvana in mid of May 2007… …after we thought we were ready to move in, the house is more or less ready for us and also after we thought that our ‘duty’ to take care of Nini has finally ended.

It’s so cozy being in our own home, especially where most of everything were prepared (although, indeed, took some times) as we wish.

On the first Sunday in June, the schedule of Surowidjojos visited Nini and Aki at Tanah Kusir, I invited them to come and warm our house for brunch after the visit to Tanah Kusir. Most of them in Jakarta came. Oom Tatak, Mbak Lucy and Banu couldn’t make it.

We’ve prepared a set of NASI LIWET SOLO and SOTO KUDUS. Mama surprisingly also made a set of NASI KUNING. There were also serabi and some cakes for the snacks.

We also bought a tent to be placed in our yard. We didn’t think anybody wanted to sit around the tent since it was so hot. But it turned out everybody was sitting there. When Tante Vita came later in the afternoon that day, they started discussing the Arya’s wedding plan there. Hehe…

Also joined us, Mas Djoko and the funny little Ruben.
Thanks all for coming…

Next Gateway: BALI

The following week after the Jogja gateway, I had another gateway,,, to Bali.. this time with my new friends from the new office..

We arrived in the afternoon and went directly had Crab Porridge at LAOTA. A yummy welcome meal with a refreshing vegetable juice. Then went to Kuta Paradiso, which turned out to be a not-as-expected hotel. The air conditioner went off at 2 a.m. in the morning so we had the technician came and fixed the trouble at that time.

Anyway, after unpacked our things, we went to BREEZE, at SAMARA, Seminyak. A great place. We had some drinks and snacks. The crème broulle was awesome!! We went back to the hotel at midnight.

The next day, we started by walking around the shops at Kuta and started shopping. It ended at HardRock Hotel megastore, then we had lunch at BALI NIKMAT. A great seafood restaurant, especially its udang rebus and crab fried with salted eggs.

After that, we took tour to find another hotel. We browse hotels at Seminyak until we found the great ASTON hotel at Seminyak, but already close to Legian. It has its own private pool in each of the bungalow. Just perfect!! We took a cottage with 2 bedrooms, living room and dining room. Enough for the 9 of us (Mbak Ike, Mbak Bina, Mbak Wilse, Mbak Isof, Mbak Vina – who joined us later on, Mbak Shanti, Irma, Monik and me).

Further, we went to DISCOVERY at Kuta to see sunset.. it was almost late to see the sunset. We stopped for some coffee and heading to JIMBARAN for seafood.. yummeh.. seafood all the way..!! ow, well, we stopped for about an hour at Legian on our way to Jimbaran.

We went to Aston ‘early’ this time, at about 10.00 p.m. Mbak Vina, who just joined us from her proceeding in Jogja, has waited for us there. After some chit chats, as planned, we jumped to the private pool. The water was so cold that night. After experiencing that there were too many people in the pool, we decided to go to the hotel’s public pool. What a fun!

We finally finished swimming and ready for bed at about 1.00 or 2.00 a.m. what a day.

The day after, which was our last day in Bali, we started with busy dressing up in whites. After took some pictures, we went to Ubud. The plan was actually to see the gallery around Ubud first, but we then decided to go straight to BEBEK BENGIL to satisfy our hungry stomachs. Hehehe… Good food and great place!

After that, we were heading to PASAR SUKAWATI for some ‘oleh-oleh’. Then went back to Seminyak. Some of them revisited BREEZE for sunset, while Irma and I revisited Legian-Kuta for some more ‘oleh-oleh’. Hehehe.. but we finally made it to BREEZE for the sunset.

At 7.00 p.m. we returned to the hotel, took a bath and got ready to the airport. Mbak Vina and Mbak Shanti stayed for another night in Bali, the rest of us were going back to Jakarta. The flight was late at 11.30 p.m. (and delayed until about 00.10). It was another great weekend gateway..!! So much fun..

Also so happy to see my hubby’s face waited for me in the airport. Hey,, I’m back.. :)

Jogja - Weekend Gateway

Friday night (15 June 2007), after office hour I ran to the airport.. had a plane to catch at 19.40 to go to Jogja.. I’m meeting my hubby there, who has been in Jogja since last Wednesday for work. There will be a family gathering held by my hubby’s office on Sunday.

After succeeding passing through the traffic on Friday night (thank you Pak taxi driver..!!) I finally arrived at the airport. Go straight to the check in counter and almost fainted when the lady in counter said “Ibu, ini tiketnya untuk besok lho, bukan malam ini”. Gleg… it was scheduled for Saturday, though the same time as the flight I’m checking in at that time. Thank God there was a seat for me for the next flight that night.. pheww.. I called my hubby straight away and told him what just happened. His office’s travel agent is terrible…

Well, the flight was delayed for almost an hour. So I ordered KFC for dinner and enjoyed hot soup and tea at airport’s lounge.

Finally, arrived in Jogja at about 9.30 p.m. Mas Ip and his colleagues (Mbak Yeni, Mbak Yuni and Rita) picked me up at the airport. We went straight to GABAH RESTO.. a restaurant and lounge behind Novotel Hotel. A lovely resto.. * too bad I didn’t take any picture there.. still had a funny feeling in my stomach because of the flight.. * We met Mas Tanto and his girlfriend Wita there. One of Ipung’s friends also joined us later..

After we had drinks and snacks, we went to EMBASSY,, it’s a new bar and lounge located in Hotel Garuda at Malioboro. We were entertained by Mas Tanto and his partner, Mas Didi, who are the event organizer of SH. Many ABG of Jogja were there.. there’s also a night life for ABG in Jogja.. hehehe.. There were also live music, which I discover was quiet impressive.. I started a little dizzy after the 3rd or 4th glass of coke mixed with jack daniels.. so really had to stop. I’ve asked Ipung to go to the hotel.. I’m tired already, it was over midnight..

But the entertainer asked us to move to other place, so called STADIUM.. a place on the way to Adisucipto airport. Uuh,, tired… the place was more crowded there. It’s just like in Jakarta.. we stayed there until 3.00 a.m.

Finally arrived at the hotel.. I took a shower (can’t stand the smell of smoke from those places) and got some sleep..

Saturday

We woke up at 9.00 a.m. and got quick breakfast at the coffee shop. By the way, we stayed at Mercure hotel, a very lovely place, designed with Javanese-colonial style. It looks like Kembang Goela restaurant in Plasa Sentral, Sudirman.

We went ‘nyekar’ eyang Surowidjojo and went to Ipung’s house at Banyu Urip. It didn’t look as scary as I first went there 2 years ago.. hehe..
Then we joined Mbak Yeni and her family for lunch at BOYONG KALEGEN.. somewhere near Kaliurang. The restaurant was surrounded by fish pond. We had fresh fish there,,

In the afternoon, we took the trip to KETEP PASS.. a top of a hill where we can see GUNUNG MERAPI.. that volcano mountain was covered by clouds most of the time. Only for several times we had the chance to see the top of the Merapi.. until few moments before we decided to go, the sky was clear and we could see the full picture of the Gunung Merapi.. how beautiful..

At almost 6 p.m. we went down hill.. stopped at SOGAN VILLAGE, for dinner. A lovely place to eat. It was an old Javanese house,, very classic..!! the resto was also accompanied with a gallery.. also a very nice gallery. I bought a batik top there.

At 8.30 we went back to the city. My hubby and I took a city tour by becak for a while. The cold wind at night made us want to sleep in the Becak.. hehehe…

Sunday
The family gathering day.. it was the final round of the celebration of Sari Husada’s birthday. Located in housing and facilities district of the Indonesian air force in Jogya (kompleks AURI gituuh.. haha..).

There was a museum there.. I found Aki's name written twice in the museum as one of the first pilot graduates in 1945-1946. So proud of him..

The gathering was a crowd, full with people in their red and black t-shirt uniform and their families. We didn’t feel like we were part of them, since all the participants were from Jogja office.

So Mbak Yeni and her family asked us to go to lereng merapi, BANYU ADEM. We escaped from the gathering and went there. At Banyu Adem we could see the ruined village and bunker caused by the Merapi explosion last year.

After that, we had lunch at,, mm,, I forget the name. We had shrimp satay and fried fish. Mbak Yeni kids, Reihan and Naira (Rara) went swimming there. Mbak Yeni, Ipung and I went to Malioboro for about an hour, then Ipung and I went to the airport.
Again, I have different flight schedule from Ipung. His flight is an hour earlier than mine. What a travel agent!!
We tried to have the same schedule, but didn’t work. So I had to wait longer at the airport. My flight was the same as Mbak Yeni’s. So, finally arrived in Jakarta at about 7.30 p.m. Except for the flight schedules, it was a great weekend gateway…