.: Rain, rain don't go away... :.

It rained almost all day yesterday and I was ecstatic. Finally summer is over, and with it goes all my woes (sorry). Finally I can sleep throughout the night without having to wake up every couple of hours drenched in sweat. I went out to my porch and took a deep breath of fresh, cold air. Don't you love the smell of wet ground mixed with cool breeze? I love Fall. Time to make warm milk tea and wear my boots again. Hope it rains again very soon (today, perhaps?) and hope the weatherman is very wrong; it WILL not be 90º next week.

.: The Great Missoni Race :.

I've never owned a Missoni before; aside from their products are ridiculously expensive I also don't think I can pull off wearing colorful chevron pattern all over my shapeless body. There's a possibility that some lines may look über-stretched in several areas and I don't want to risk it. Then Target announced a collaboration project with Missoni. Suddenly I'm crazy about zigzags. Since my sister-in-law and her mother are big fans we decided to go on Missoni hunts, or shall I say Missoni race. It did feel like a crazy race. I woke up at 4AM on Sept 13, went on target.com only to find that the site was down. We went to the store at 8AM and the Pasadena location was practically raid. In another location, women ran from parking lot to the store, knock each other over a pair of shoes. Hoarding of zigzag stuff everywhere. There were some women who form a coalition and only trade stuff between themselves. A woman left her son with a complete stranger while she was trying a cart of clothes, and ended up buying clothes that are 3 sizes too big. We haunt fitting rooms and customer service, digging on stuff that people returned. I went to Target in cities I've never heard before. It was madness. I wasn't planning to get a lot of stuff but in the spirit of the day ended up with tons of Missoni goods. My Missoni fever went on for a couple of days, but thankfully I'm quite recovered now. I'm returning most of the clothes (or eBay...) and will only keep the home goods.

.: Wedding Shtuff! :.

Our wedding video highlight & photos are ready! So happy to be able to see the day from a different perspective. Nick & Wilson from LT3 Productions are amazingly talented, we're so glad we chose them.

.: button cookies :.

I found this posting through my endless blogventure, fell in love with the illustrated recipe and declared that one day I will make them.
An opportunity presented itself: after a super failed attempt to bake strawberry macarons.

{macaron-wannabe turned into almond-flavored cookies} 

I have too much egg yolks waiting to be turned into something edible. And I refuse to make another egg foo young.

Somehow an image of the gorgeous button cookies appeared in my head. I switched the shortbread recipe into Emeril's butter cookies. I don't have food coloring so the cookies stay natural-looking. They tasted pretty good and they're just as cute as buttons (ahaha... sorry, can't help it) Wish I have food coloring so they look prettier.

.: relentless baker :.

The barely edible scones didn't squash my baking spirit (well it did for a few hours...). If anything, I wanted to tackle a slightly more complicated baking project: macarons. A bit ambitious for someone who can't bake without disaster, but what the hell. Never know until you try it, right? This time I made sure I have all ingredients are available. I got the recipe from David Leibovitz' website because he already tried several baking techniques and this one was the no-fail-guaranteed-it-will-look-like-macaron-so-help-me-God recipe. I did switch the cocoa powder with Starbucks' mocha powder. (caffeine+sugar! woohoo!) At first everything fell according to plan...

Then I bang my head on the cabinet door and drop my egg yolks into the bowl of egg whites that I separated earlier. What a coincidence that the egg whites bowl was just right there?! So I redid the egg whites and that was why we ate egg foo young for dinner that night. :p

I used double layers of parchment paper because some people commented that their macarons stick to the parchment paper and cracked when they tried to remove it. My piping job was inconsistent so the sizes sort of varied. After a few minutes in the oven I was so pleased to see the 'little feet'. However this was done closer to 10-12 minutes as opposed to 15-18 minutes as mentioned in the recipe. I tried leaving one batch for 18 minutes and they cracked.

I use the chocolate ganache filling using Ghirardelli's bittersweet 70% chocolate bar, but maybe next time I'll use the 100% cacao unsweetened because it balances out the sweetness of the macarons (5 cups of sugar is too sweet for my taste)

And voila! The rugged, natural-looking macarons.

.: introduction to domestic life :.

(the happy, healthy cactus the day we brought it home)

So I'm not built for domestic life. My baking skill is lacking (a blog post will follow); I prefer Swiffer for cleaning as oppose to manual, down-on-four-knees sweeping (and the dust return in the morning, wth?); and I can't even take care of a freaking mini cactus. It sorta died on me in less than TWO weeks!! A cactus!
That's one thing to add to my series of failures this year. Maybe I'm one of those people who just can't do anything right, so that someone (aka husband) can step in and become a hero. Right?

.: pin it! :.

I thought I'm already in big trouble when I can't stop playing facebook games, then after I reduce my game time, I found pinterest. I can't stop browsing other people's boards, browse for inspiration to pin on my own boards, and admiring my virtual mood boards. I can pin almost anything on the boards, make it a lot easier than collecting images on tumblr. It's addictive! Any of you pinning? Can I follow you around? :p

.: OWLY! :.

 image belongs to Andy Runton

My favorite book character is now animated! Visit Sprite Animation here. He's just as cute in 3D as he is in 2D. And so flufffyyy!

.: wise words :.

Found this through Unstitched blog (another amazing find!)

Excellent advice from John C Jay of Wieden+Kennedy:

1: Be authentic. The most powerful asset you have is your individuality, what makes you unique. It’s time to stop listening to others on what you should do.  2: Work harder than anyone else and you will always benefit from the effort.  3: Get off the computer and connect with real people and culture. Life is visceral.  4: Constantly improve your craft. Make things with your hands. Innovation in thinking is not enough.  5: Travel as much as you can. It is a humbling and inspiring experience to learn just how much you don’t know.  6: Being original is still king, especially in this tech-driven, group-grope world.  7: Try not to work for stupid people or you’ll soon become one of them. 8: Instinct and intuition are all-powerful. Learn to trust them.  9: The Golden Rule actually works. Do good.  10: If all else fails, No. 2 is the greatest competitive advantage of any career.
via Edwin Himself

.: confession :.

6AM in San Francisco

I want all these to stop; thesis and portfolio and the likes.
I want to like graphic design again. I don't want to be a typezilla.
I like hand-written fonts. So sue me.
I still hate Comic Sans and Papyrus. And Brush Script. And those curly fonts they use in boutiques.
I want to sleep less than 7hrs again and still feel the world is okay.
For one day, I just want to create meaningless design–graphic design for design sake. Pure aesthetic, with no purpose at all. No smart concept behind it. Just something nice to look at.
Screw grids and gutters.
Just give me the freakin diploma already.

.: a trip to remember :.

It's been a while since I went on an all-girls trip. I usually shy away from such trips because I fear the drama that usually pop-up between some self-proclaimed divas and there's also the bathroom-sharing dilemma. So when my roomie/maid of honor planned this Vegas trip for 6, I got nervous. However from what I've known, the other 5 are sensible grown-ups who aren't known to create live soap operas. And my roomie found an affordable room with 2.5 bathroom so we should be spared from the bathroom drama. I thought to myself, so far so good. My roomie and my other friend planned everything from spa, dinner, etc beforehand so I felt relaxed & sure that this will be a smooth trip. That was before we missed our flight and my roomie lost her ID along the way. It was president's day weekend so all flights were fully booked. The only way we can go to Vegas was to hop on a much later flight that had one stop in Phoenix. The fun started immediately after we arrived in Vegas 6 hrs after our original plan. We all had amazing experiences at the spa. Then much later I was willingly violated by a hot Colombian by the name of Carla and her Czech friend whose name slipped my mind right now. We drank, ate in bed, share ghost stories and laughed carelessly. We begin with minor drama but left in such a high spirit. It was a perfectly girlie trip; we had lots of fun and we left Vegas feeling much closer to everyone. Now I have to recover from cough and return to my thesis, both are not fun. :p

.: rain :.

warm milk tea. good to the last drop.

As if I haven't said this enough, I love the sounds of rain. The smell of fresh ground. And to be indoor under my blanket with a warm cup of milk tea within a walking distance :)  It has been raining for two straight days and I love it.

.: lucky girl :.

I'm loved.

Happy Valentine's Day

.: an anthro wedding :.

Oh dear, oh dear! If only I haven't got my dress I would totally go with any of this wedding gown from Anthro! They will complete my dream Anthro wedding! (Images from A Million Little Pieces)

.: a house is not a home :.

As my sleeping pattern is still irregular, sometimes I took an hour (or two) nap in the afternoon. It's like a sneak preview to my later years, perhaps? Because since I hit 30 I desperately need that 8hrs sleep. I can't stay awake as long as I used to do when I was, say, 29. Weird huh? Anyway, in one of those naps I dreamt of my childhood home and how happy we all were. My home was a cozy, warm, welcoming kind of home. In the afternoon we opened the double door to let the cool breeze in. We had a small koi pond and a big mango tree along with smaller plants and flower bushes. It was a decent sized house, with decent sized bedrooms. I loved it so much although it looks super dated (1950s). I loved my bedroom and my 31 yrs old soft bed. I woke up feeling so very sad that we don't have that house anymore. My parents want a nicer, bigger and more modern house, a decision that I did not approve even until this day. I know the old house is falling apart, literally. The bricks were moldy and the wooden stairs gave up a while ago. But it is repairable. Now I even refuse to call it 'my' house because I feel like I don't belong there. The new house is modern, luxurious looking and a tad pretentious, I think. With its marble floor that drives people crazy whenever there's spillage, and how Chester always slipped when he run around the house. We need air conditioner all the time now because the house gets super hot & suffocating during the day. My mom built the rooms to resemble hotel rooms with its amenities: private bathroom, a tv in each room. It's just missing a maid services because I made my own bed and clean the room+bathroom myself (unlike other Indonesians with their army of maids, we do things ourselves) It feels exactly like that; a temporary room. Cold, uncomfortable, and impersonal. I tried to put most of what I had in my old bedroom to recreate the feeling but I failed. I really miss my home, and I can never get it back. I guess it is a part of growing up. Now all I can do is move on.

.: Dec 17, 2010 :.

wow.. it's almost the end of the year again. And this year, I'll be spending Christmas at home. Well, technically I'll be spending some of it in Changi terminal 3 and on the flight home... This time it's special because I'll be flying home with beb for the first time :)  For the past 10 years, I've been flying solo on all my US-Indo trips so it'll be nice to have someone to snuggle with :)

merry xmas me!

today... Dec 17th, 2010
outside my window... It's pouring and I love it
i am thankful for... not failing my class
I am wearing... my polkadot pajama bottom & pink long sleeve pajama top. not matching at all
noticing that... my room is a total mess after final
i am re-reading... Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows. I miss Harry Potter's series
i can hear... Ina Garten's voice on tv
on my mind... is a strong signal to shop that I tried to ignore
from the kitchen...warm milk tea
around the house... looks like Amazon cardboard jungle. Piles of Amazon boxes from tiny ones to extra large ones. And I'm tired of cleaning those.

.: utter failure :.

So I had my last studio class today. What a disappointment. I thought I did not do so bad; and my professor seem to lead me to believe I did okay. She approved everything, including the paper choices. But today I was just shut down; the book cover is not appealing. Poster not good. Layout was okay but my paper choice was my downfall (her exact words). Totally fall flat on my face. And there goes my chance to actually accomplish something in this painful 4 years of graduate school. So bummed. Good thing I have a blog; I'll just showcase it here and pretend that I actually accomplish something—for my own mental health.

.: been awhile... :.

Hello there... I didn't have much stories lately. I spent my waking hours doing projects and playing way too much Facebook games :p. I do miss having my daily photo+journaling.

today... Dec 6th, 2010
outside my window... I can see raindrops
i am thankful for... everything that has ever happened in my life
I am wearing... my favorite birdcage pajama bottom, t-shirt and super warm FCUK hoodie
noticing that... I slept more this year
i am reading... the Devil in the White City
i can hear... the rain. so very soothing
on my mind... is total chaos
from the kitchen... tons of good food leftovers, courtesy of my roomie's mom + dinner dates with beb :)
around the house... is full of boxes

.: I hate SF part 2 :.

Honestly everytime I said:"You know what, I kinda like it here", something happened. I was seriously considering staying here and trying to convince beb to moved up north because it is so hard to give up this gorgeous weather (I hate sun+hot weather, fyi) Just last night I told my friends that I certainly don't mind living here; I have a group of friends that I really, really like thanks to my beb+roomies. Then earlier today I walked into my car and found this:

It does not look so bad because I immediately cleaned the broken pieces of glass. But seriously, SF. You don't want me here, I get it. Stop hurting my car!! I went from extremely upset to accepting this as part of life in about 10 minutes. Can't say anything, really. I'm just asking for it. I parked a fairly nice car on a ghetto street leading up to the project. I can't afford living on an apartment with a garage in SF and yet I still want to live here. And the messed up part of this whole thing is, I was calculating the time I have to take care of this and still finishing my homework.

.: HATER! :.

I hate people. I found out about that early enough in my life. I just can't stand a lot of people. If there's a choice to hang out with dogs or human, I'll choose dogs in a heartbeat. My being born as an only child may have something to do with it. An only child with no one around but stuffed animals and books and toys. I've been very lucky to have some amazing friends with good hearts, good sense of humor and have great points of view in life. And then, there are some 'interesting' acquaintances with their quirks that irritate me to the t:

1. Shallow airheads who knows nothing. This world is so interesting and dynamic. How come you're not interested in anything?!
2. Smarty-pants-know-it-all. Come on, you don't know everything. And if you do, why do you think I care? Just save your breath.
3. Bossy spoiled brats. Yo, clean up after your own mess. Or if you can afford it, pay someone to pick them up for you. sheesh. Oh and by the way, street food is good!
4. Jerks. (who are shallow airheads in disguised, really). You have no good qualities in you so you make fun of others. classic.
5. shallow-airheads-spoiled-brats. omg. seriously. they're like, the worst. *giggle* (and yes i was being sarcastic)

I feel that hanging out with these people is really wasting my energy, but sometimes you can't avoid them. Now I can easily ignore these people but I don't want to be one grumpy lady. Solution: suck it up. It's so hard not to be cranky around them but for the sake of being a social human being I should just deal with them. Smile. And drink as much sugary beverage as possible to calm my nerves. Because I can really explode and yell at them for being dumb. But I shouldn't. Right? Right. And be grateful that I still have amazing friends.