Why did you upload so many pictures of your new born beautiful and charming baby every minute, dear friend? You used to be so hostile to facebook. You never upload any of your pictures before. You said people were too mesmerized by facebook and all its apps. You said, I was too mesmerized by facebook. But look at you now. There is no day when I log in to facebook that I don’t see the photo of your baby. Not that I complain, though. I was just thinking, about some of my friends who are waiting patiently for the gift of baby in their lives, yet never comes. How would they feel when they log in to their facebook? Not that you did something wrong. No. Not at all. I just… we just… envy you.

Why did you check in to those famous stunning places every time you go there, dear friend? You are a type who never touch facebook before. But now, when you are so classy and hip, you checked in whenever you show your nose there. Here and there with photos glimpsing on your wall, so much changes, eh? I bet you are so happy that now you want the whole world know your position and activities. You never do that before. Aren’t other places as cool as those places? You are not wrong. Of course. But, it just crossed my mind that you want to show off. Or I just envy you.

Why did you have to post status like that, dear friend? They are great achievements and I am so happy for you. But knowing that you never post any status before, tickled me to think that you want the universe admit that you are great. And you are. No doubt. You went to one place that I long to be. And in no time, you will be in this one other place that I always dream of. I am happy for you. Truly. But inevitably reading your statuses, I was just hurt as I was not as successful as you. And I envy you.

Why did you…

ah, never mind.

I just envy you. 

And then I remember Katy Perry’s song…

‘Cause baby, you’re a firework…

Come on let your fire burst…

Boom.. boom.. boom…

Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon…

three rings of fire

It’s always been inside of you..

And now it’s time to let it through!

By the way, today is the 16th day of this year, how’s your resolution going?

Happy New Year!

]]> http://vallaura.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/baby-youre-a-firework/feed/ 1 vallaura ignites in action first try Anes Dea sarah three http://vallaura.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/i-will-survive/ http://vallaura.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/i-will-survive/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:15:49 +0000 vallaura http://vallaura.wordpress.com/?p=1626 ]]> Going back to work after four weeks holiday is a very ankle-twisting thing to do. Well, in fact, I did get a twisted ankle during my first week of work. Guess, it is true what they said, starting well is not necessary ending well. And if I look at the in between, boy, how thing never happens as we intend it to be.

This past week…

My dietary program did not run smoothly but it was not a total failure as well. I blamed on my twisted ankle. I argued to myself that I needed more energy to get a fast recovery hence I should set aside my dietary program. After couple of days, I argued back to myself… what a lame excuse. Next week should be better. I should feel hungry.

My fitness program fell into pieces. Geez, Len! My first day back hitting the gym was worse than I thought it would be. Even my favorite instructor classes could not drag my lazy feet there. On Monday, I raised “First Day of Work” excuse. On Tuesday, I pointed “It’s raining”. Finally, I got my ankle twisted on Wednesday. And  of course that gave a solid reason to not going to the gym on Thursday and Friday.

My reading program crashed in a dust bin. I only manage to read one page for this whole week. O-n-e PAGE! Can you believe that. I forgave myself to forget taking the book back from my office to my den. After reading one page, I managed to take it home. But I did not touch it at all. Where have my fond of reading gone?

’nuff said I guess.

Things that were well planned does not guarantee  they will be well executed.

But I’m not giving up. Never. Next week will be another try, another shoot.

It’s an Indonesian book and I borrowed it from my friend. I found the book not really have that wow factor but it was not a disappointment as well. It was about 5 friends who like to hang around until they decided to have 3-month break of seeing each other. And after the 3-month period they set a time to meet and go for Mahameru trip (Mahameru is a name of the tallest mountain in Java, Indonesia). The Mahameru trip was described interestingly vivid. So, it was a good part of the book. But that’s all.

The writer also spiced up with his thoughts through out the pages, as if he was reading with us. Some of the spices, I admit, keep us going for the sake of curiosity. while the 5 cm philosophy, it’s a bout dreaming. In essence, if you have a dream, hang it 5 cm before your forehead, so you will always see it and determine to pursue that dream until you make it happen. A good one.

Here I quote original writing from the book, it’s in Bahasa Indonesia (but have similar meaning with what I’ve told you before).

…Apa pun hambatannya, bilang sama diri kamu sendiri, kalo kamu percaya sama keinginan itu dan kamu nggak bisa menyerah. Bahwa kamu akan berdiri lagi setiap kamu jatuh, bahwa kamu akan mengejarnya sampai dapat, apa pun itu, segala keinginan, mimpi, cita-cita, keyakinan diri… biarkan keyakinan kamu, 5 centimeter menggantung mengambang di depan kening kamu. Dan… sehabis itu yang kamu perlu… cuma… cuma kaki yang akan berjalan lebih jauh dari biasanya, tangan yang akan berbuat lebih banyak dari biasanya, leher yang akan lebihs ering melihat ke atas. Lapisan tekad yang seribu kali lebih keras dari baja… dan hati yang akan bekerja lebih keras dari biasanya… serta mulut yang akan selalu berdoa.

pp. 362-363, 5 cm by Donny Dhirgantoro

Thank you for Ribka for lending me the book.

was it peaceful?

was it joyful?

was it confusing?

awkward?

or worst… disappointing?

did you share with your brother?

did you celebrate with your family?

Was it happy, with cherry on top?

However your Christmas was, make sure you have Christ in it. 

However your Christmas was, make sure Christ is in you throughout your life.

Merry Christmas!

I was starving to death last week on my journey from one of Indonesia’s famous national parks, Cibodas. It was cold, dark and drizzling when we found this diner across the street.

We were not expecting much to be honest. The place was overly decorated to my taste. But the ambience from colors displayed indeed gave warmth in a very cold night like such.

It was a very quiet diner with no servant on spot. We had to wait for 5 min to get a welcome smile and our menu. man who welcomed us was very warm. When I ordered Nasi Bakar Rempah, Grilled Rice with Spices, he pointed out that it is the diner’s specialty. Oh well, isn’t that a good news?

After waiting another 15 to 20 minutes, we finally got our meal. Wow. It looked and smelled surprisingly nice. The rice was mixed with coriander leaves and small anchovies. Then they cover the rice with banana leaves. After that they grilled the rice. So the coriander leaves gave a great smell to the rice and the anchovies a bit of salty taste to the rice. So, when you opened the banana leaves covering the rice, you can tell that a delicious food was served. Yumm!

The platter that accompanied the Nasi Bakar was also a joy to our tongue. For some, including me, the flavors could be too diverse. But it was a great option if you wanted to taste diverse and rich Indonesian flavors.

The soup in the middle definitely the best companion for this Nasi Bakar. It was Indonesian Sour Soup which even though you can find in any Indonesian restaurants, originally came from West Java. Well, actually, the entire dish was West Java cuisine. You can tell from the presence of raw vegetables and Sambal (chili condiment) on the platter. To our please, there were grilled chicken with soya sauce, tempe, tahu (tofu) and anchovy. The grilled chicken was superb! The taste of dark, sweet and thick soya sauce gave another dimension to the salty rice and sour soup. Whenever you felt that you had too much flavors in your mouth, just bite in some tahu or tempe, the side dishes. They had plain flavor to neutralize your mouth. But, if you happen to like more flavors then hop in to the salty anchovy and hot sambal!

We were so delighted that I told my friend that I will write this diner on my blog. I just hope, perhaps, people might read it that whenever they visit Cibodas National Park of Mt. Gede and Mt. Pangrango, they can spend some time to try this diner.

Happy holidays!

Since I am new to this, let’s start with things that I like the most:

Best Book: ….err, I just realized that I haven’t finish any of my books. But I did finished reading Wimpy Kid Series… does it count?

Best Gadget: On January 2011 I bought macbook and on December 2011 I bought EOS 550D. I would like to shout EOS as the best gadget but I realized that it will be because it’s still brand new. And it will be not fair for my macbook who has accompanied me throughout the year and not be nominated. ….after careful thought. Macbook is the winner!

Best Movies: …um, since I really really love movies so, I put them under some categories, just like what The Oscar does. hehehe…

Best Book-Adapted Movie: None other… Breaking Dawn Part I (yeah, sorry Harry Potter, next time, please don’t break The Elder Wand!)

Best Action Movies: Fast Five! No competitors. No hesitation. No doubt! oh, well, Uncle Cruise should be happy that he can still get money from his movie. But don’t expect to overtake FastFive in my soul.

Best Pirate/Adventure Movie: Pirates of The Caribbean! Ok, this might sound unfair, to put pirate genre by itself. My defense? Google it. You can really find that there is, Pirate Genre hence Best Pirate Movie.

Best Comedy: Jack and Jill. Definitely! Especially with a touch of surprise in the middle of the movie. Perfecto! Sorry Tin-Tin, Rio, Kung Fu Panda 2, you are not funny enough to outrun Jack and Jill.

Best Musical: Burlesque! Actually, I cannot put aside NINE, but it was two years ago if I’m not mistaken. So, It’s Burlesque time to shine.

Best Mystery/Thriller: Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows.

Best Drama: The King’s Speech

Okay..enough about movie. Let’s move on to other stuffs.

Best Gift Received: of course, my blue reebok Yoga Mat! Given for my birthday by Ria and Prisca. Thanks girls

Best New-Tasted Food: Ahh… this is difficult. I tried so much food this year. Nasi Bakar Rempah Kedai  Bunda, Asem-asem Koh Liem and Nasi Buketan Bunga Rampai are the top 3. But If I am to mention the best among those three, then it will be Asem-asem Koh Liem, Semarang.

Best Adventure: Jakarta Hitching Race 2011 with Rheden and Jil!! Super WOW. And we got the second place. What a great adventure it was!

Best Place Traveled: Gili Trawangan, Lombok.

How about some abstract things?

Best decision: Actually, this year, I made a lot of-surprisingly-good decisions. Forgave best friend, took a month off from Fitness First, and tried some crazy stuffs. But the best decision of all is joining Young Adult Core Team Group at JICF. Yeah.. that was the best decision of all.

Worst thing happened: Reported to my superintended about what-she-thought-to-be my misconduct at workplace which is not true. I was called by my vice principal to clear things up. Which of course tore my heart into pieces because I am a very melancholy person. Anyway…

Most memorable event: Met Mart De Han. I cried when I saw him. Gosh. How could there be human like him?

Now, let’s move on to some human being… hihihihi…

Most Influential Man: DAN FENNELL.

Most Charming Guy: Ming He. Oops. I hope he is not reading this. But If he does, well, take it as a compliment man, because you are!

Hahaha…

I guess this Award can go on.. and on… and on! So I better keep it down now. And let you guys share your own.

BTW, Happy NEW YEAR!!!

“May the sparkle of hope ignites our deepest soul that we can be the best of ourselves to enjoy the fullness of God gracious gift, Life. Bon Voyage! “

After 2 days of city tour in Semarang, a city in Central Java, Indonesia, we decided to go to Umbul Sidomukti. It is a resort up in a mountain range of Semarang. It was raining and the road was slippery and steep. But the place was worth to visit.

These are the 10 rooms they have. Yup. This resort only has 10 rooms! We got Room A to later find that we were lucky to get that particular room.

We took a walk under the drizzle to ease our car sickness. It was almost 1.5 ride from Semarang to get to this resort. And the mountain breeze really invited us to go around.

It's not raining anymore.

My travel companion

Our room... We got the one that is furthest to the right end.

After we got enough mountain breeze, we headed to our room. The room was small and compact. It was actually family room, all of the rooms in that resort. The capacity of each room is for 2 adults and 2 children. A king bed size was the first view in the room. And practically that’s about it. There were a door to the bathroom and a stair to another room on the second floor which was actually a modified attic. I hate to admit this, but they have a very lousy bathroom, the concept is fine but the execution is terrible.

sliding door, TV cabinet, drawers and complimentary drinks.

bed, side beds, and... and that's about it. the whole room.

a. very. poor. shower.

a good remedy for a lousy bathroom.

the other end. toilet, sink and believe-it-or-not wardrobe!

The only good thing about this room, I mean, the outer look was amazing, but the inside was terrible, right? so the only remedy for this room was the second floor. When I went up to check what’s there, I saw a good nesting place, a bed with 270 degree view angle! Now, this is why I said earlier that we were lucky to get Room A. Because of its position, we got the mountain view!!! While other rooms, in my prediction, will only get… umm… other room’s roof view? hahahahaha… So make sure you book for Room A and not any other room (unless they have expand this resort of course)!

a comfy bed, that is.

take a deep breath and relax...

lay down.. lay low.. and enjoy the view

meditate on the nature. grateful for everything.

And that’s the story of me on the mountain.

Like it?

Go and visit it!

Thank you for your love.
Thank you for your love.
Thank you for your love.

I can never say it enough, can’t I?

Thank you Jesus.

Isaiah 26:3

”You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

It was not a perfect peace but it was nearly as close as peace. Sometimes, small things can give you a sense of peace that you have never expected. And the story goes like this…

We had our train tickets booked when I opened my credit card bill. Not as usual, I read through their advertisement booklet that is always attached with the bill. My eyes caught this name, Susan Spa Resort Semarang. Quickly I browsed through the internet to find that it’s a very very nice place to go. So I asked my friend’s agreement to have a stay in this resort.

It took 1.5 to 2h drive from Semarang to this resort. Before we went there we stayed for a night in another resort nearby, Umbul Sidomukti. From Umbul Sidomukti we ordered a car to take us there. 45 min later, we arrived. On our way, we stopped on a local fruit stall to buy Durians. They were cheap! You can get the big ones for 25 000 IDR and the small ones for 10 000 IDR. My friend told me that it’s the season of Durian in Semarang. Ah! NO wonder…. We were happily imagining eating Semarang Durian in our destination that we completely forgot that we were not allowed to bring Durian to the resort. Doh! Durian has this strong scent that not everybody likes. But we did not get any complaint, luckily! I guessed, there were not many people stayed there that they allowed us to bring the durians along with us.

The resort was big. They had this main entrance for their restaurants, boutique and spa. And they had another entrance to the resort, rooms and other facilities. So, we headed to the main entrance for checking in and then went to the resort. The room was nice with two double beds, a small living room, local TV, complimentary drinks and complementary aromatherapy oil. No AC, exactly like the room we had at Umbul Sidomukti. I guesses it will be cold at night that they did not put AC there. We cleaned ourselves up a bit and planned to eat our durian on the park. As we followed the direction to Eden Park, we were welcomed with a view of lush green with some gazebos around. Hmmm…. such a weather to relax and eat durian. Perfecto!

green view from the terrace

green view from our gazebo

It was drizzling when we sat on the gazebos. We casted our eyes to the lush green soothing-to-the-eyes green view while doing some “autopsy” to our durians. Crazy! The durians were superb! And It was more fun when we have to open the spiky covering to get the fruit.

After we had finished the durians, we went back to the room to prepare ourselves to get our afternoon spa. The therapist was nice and very helpful. She answered all our questions even to the silly ones! Finally, I decided to get Green Tea Detoxifying Body Treatment for 375 000 IDR for 2h 30min while my friend was taking the Grape Glamours Body Treatment for 350 000 IDR also for 2h 30 min. The lady said that if we were only guest at the resort, we will get 10% discount but since we had this Credit Card that had a promotion together with this resort, we will be awarded for 20% discount. Sweet!

Apparently, they had this one special room, Spa on The Sky Room. It was actually a balcony which they redesigned into a small room with glasses as the walls around. So when you enter that room, you can see the entire view of the mountain range, very soothing to the eyes. We were lucky to get this room, because our therapists said that this room was always booked.

It was for me a great 2h 30min… I can feel all my distress and trouble massaged out of my skin. Hmm… I might no be one of the richest person on earth, but that day, I was.

Thank you Lord, for this experience.

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http://susansparesort.com/