The Gorgeous Winda

Yesterday was a small reunion for me with Ruli and Winda after a year. It was such a perfect accidental time for three of us to share our time together. We agreed to eat out and watched movie Monday next week but our plan had changed immediately yesterday. I’ll upload our eat-out pictures on different post later, this post will tell you more about Winda.

Winda lives in Jakarta where she works for multi-national company. Winda is a smart young lady who loves food, traveling, manga and sketching as well. She was graduated from the same school with me and Ruli, Sepuluh November Institute of Technology but she took Chemical Engineering, we were started at the same year. I met Winda two years ago at Grand Indonesia in Jakarta when Ruli asked me to eat out there. It was our first time went out together and Winda was so humble at the first impression. After then we went together for a quick trip to Bandung, hiking to Ranukumbolo last year with Maya and Ayos, and yeah Maya and Winda came to meet me twice to the airport at my last night in Jakarta before I went to Africa. The first time they came that night was raining (at 10 pm!!!) and it was so touchy :P. I will always remember that moment.

Lets get back to Winda yesterday. She looked so gorgeous on her genuine style (Ayos, you are so lucky for having her! :P). She wore a simply vintagish knitwear on top, English flowery skirt, and her coffee brown flat shoes were so perfect on her. I requested personally to Winda to look a bit different like what was we discussed before, and tarra! Look at her, I was so lucky could find a match set for Winda inside the mall where we spent almost five ‘quality’ hours. Thank you Winda for being indulgent to me!

Now, Keep your eyes on Winda (!!!) :)

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I had no idea I could get this rustic set before :P Here I attached some details of the set last night

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I will be so HAPPY if we have time to hang out together again, seriously lets orchestrated! :))

SeeyaWinda

Fly Home

Oh I had no clue why I was too lazy like a cat and just posted this post today, my sixth day here, at my hometown, Surabaya. Yeah I’m home! :D

Anyway before I REALLY wake up from my laziness and back to this blog for some posts (or STORIES? anyway) while I’m in Indonesia, I’d like to share what I did when I came back home. Just a little creative way to remind me how I felt that day when I had to fly almost 23 hours from Lagos until I stepped at Surabaya. Phew it was an exhausting journey.

Honestly the idea to write my journey on post-it came when I sat down on my seat at office just an hour before I went to the airport. I saw my post-it on my table and found my marker then I wrote something on it. Then I thought “Alright, It’s not a bad idea for my blog, first post when I arrive in Indonesia”. So, I brought that post-it and tried as much as I can to write anything along my journey, an indescribable journey (second times like I felt for my first journey last year, damn, It was so beautiful for me).

So, here, my first post from my home, my journey on post-it;

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Dubai-Jakarta

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Jakarta-Surabaya

Lagos-Dubai-Jakarta-Surabaya was an exhausting journey really. But I had to thank to God cause this year I could back home in August so that yeah!!! I could spend Ied Mubarak (TODAY!!!!) here, in my home with family :)) Damn I’m so lucky!. Let me say “Happy Ied Mubarak for those who celebrate today! Enjoy our quality time with all our beloved ones :), Forgive all mistakes I’ve done!”.

Oh yeah, while I was waiting my last flight at Soetta Airport I read one of my friend’s contribution on Garuda magazine, she’s talented one, meet Putri here.

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P.S I’ll try to do so many things while I’m here and try to share on this blog, please bear with my laziness :P.

Kamera

KameraImpian

Belakangan ini saya kembali labil dari kelabilan kecil yang sudah berhasil saya redam sedikit demi sedikit. Kelabilan akan keinginan memiliki sebuah benda idaman, benda yang bisa membekukan waktu beberapa detik, mengubahnya menjadi sebuah momen, kemudian berakhir menjadi sebuah kenangan. Benda idaman itu sebuah kamera profesional.

Well, kenapa saya labil pada sebuah kamera? Bagi saya, kamera itu salah satu alat cerdas yang bisa diandalkan untuk menghasilkan banyak kenangan yang kadang memori kita seringkali lupa. Lupa karena tertumpuk kenangan-kenangan baru. Benda yang mungkin wajib dimiliki siapa saja selagi hidup.

Ijinkan saya mengingat sedikit tentang kamera pertama pemberian kakak saya. Sebuah kamera Sony mungil yang ia beli untuk membantu meringankan tugas kuliah adik bungsunya ini. Enam tahun yang lalu, kamera itu membuat saya takjub karena mampu menghasilkan foto-foto yang jauh lebih jernih dari Nokia 7610 yang saya punya. Saat kuliah pun, saya memiliki kamera SLR manual yang entah bagaimana keadaannya sekarang. Kamera yang berhasil saya punya dari hasil mengemis pada orang tua. Kamera yang membutuhkan setidaknya tiga rol film untuk menghasilkan jepretan tugas fotografi yang naasnya, jepretan saya banyak yang meleset alias terbakar. Entah kenapa dulu saya benar-benar bodoh di kelas fotografi.

Dari Sony mungil itu kemudian saya beralih ke Sony mirrorless yang ringan namun mampu menghasilkan gambar setara DSLR. Kamera hitam perak inilah yang bertugas merekam beberapa kenangan di blog ini. Setahun yang lalu, ada rasa bangga tersemat saat pertama kali memegangnya. Ia kamera kelas menengah yang saya beli dari hasil keringat sendiri. Sejauh ini saya puas dengan kemampuannya. Namun seiring waktu, semakin kesini, saya menyadari bahwa saya seperti tipikal manusia pada umumnya, tak akan pernah puas dan selalu ada hasrat ingin naik kelas.

Sahabat saya selalu memberikan jawaban yang sama kala saya mengutarakan kamera impian. Katanya saya bukan ‘butuh’ kamera impian melainkan ‘nafsu’. Well, mungkin ada benarnya meski saya kira ia salah. Benar karena harga kamera yang saya impikan itu selangit. Salah karena saya benar-benar menginginkan kamera itu untuk mengasah lagi kemampuan fotografi yang masih sangat awam. Sekarang benar-benar terdengar nafsu ya?. Bukan begitu juga sih, seperti yang saya tulis di paragraf sebelum ini, saya juga manusia biasa yang ingin naik kelas. Hasrat kenaikan kelas ini sering menggebu sendiri apalagi saat saya mengunjungi blog-blog dengan konten fotografi yang ciamik. Sungguh kenaikan kelas ini (baca : kemampuan fotografi) yang ingin saya tempuh dengan mimpi memiliki alat yang lebih profesional.

Sejak dulu saya mengagumi bagaimana kamera bekerja. Bagaimana ajaibnya ia menghasllkan gambar yang bisa dihargai sebagai sebuah kenangan. Seperti yang anda lihat, banyak makanan-makanan atau momen atau apalah yang berhasil saya abadikan yang kadang membuat saya tersenyum sendiri saat menelusuri kembali kontennya. Saya kemudian merasakan sedikit demi sedikit blog ini is moving. Ada proses yang memacu saya untuk membuat konten yang semakin deliberate, entah itu konten makanan, perjalanan, fotografi atau konten personal seperti ini. Sesekali ada perasaan kurang jika saya memposting konten tanpa mencantumkan sebuah foto yang mewakili core value-nya. Sadar tidak, konten di blog ini sedikit sekali yang tidak mencantumkan sebuah foto?. Nah itu dia, saya merasa foto jauh lebih mudah menyampaikan isi sebuah tulisan, kalau kata orang a picture speaks louder than words, saya amini.

Rasa-rasanya saya masih saja bermimpi memiliki kamera impian dalam waktu dekat. Namun saya lebih memilih untuk meredamnya kembali demi sebuah niatan akan hal besar yang lebih baik. Apa itu? Biar saya simpan sendiri :).

Baiklah, rupanya saya masih harus bekerja lebih keras lagi. Lebih disiplin mengatur pengeluaran, straight forward demi kamera impian. Mungkin saya harus mengenal lebih seluk beluk mirrorless dan kamera super easy dari iPhone kala menunggu kamera impian ada di tangan. Saya bersyukur memiliki keduanya,  namun kamera profesional masih memiliki tempat di daftar things-MUST-have saya.

Ah, dasar manusia.

Gerbera

Gerbera, that I found yesterday at my office, accidentally looked perfect when I laid it on two different papers inside coffee table book. Captured with iPhone.

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I let myself to find perfect time to gather my thought about what I’ve been thinking recently. I want to post them on this blog but sadly I’m too slow (and lazy) to gather those thought. 

Mickey

Don’t mind me for this post, just for fun with what I’m wearing today. I’m a Mickey’s fan yet do not have many Mickeys for collection. I just love this TOPMAN jumper because so comfy and see the writeup ; NEW YORK (!!!) someday :P.

I got this jumper from my flatmate as a gift last year when he travelled to Indonesia and I’ve been wearing the Mickey three times only until today, ridiculous. That’s me, just need Lee Cooper and Converse to fit in, my flatmate said that I’m too boring on style but hmm, I think fashion or style is what you are comfort and confidence with, agree? :P

I’m not branded person but truly branded items are different and so comfy, I think :))

Mickey

Iftar, Day 6

I just checked my calendar to make sure how many fasting days I’ve been through until this day and ouch day 7! :) I would like to share what was my meals yesterday, Iftar day 6. I decided to stay at home after two Sundays I went out to find souvenirs at Lekki.

I bought ingredients a day before to cook meals that I wanted to enjoy for Iftar but I didn’t have ideas what should I cook. So, yesterday noon by 2pm I started to think based on my ingredients (and timing!) after I cleaned my chamber, ironing my shirts that was quite exhausting.

Easy meals were my choice ; Vegy soup because I had remain carrots, small cabbage, enough potatoes and chicken. I usually cook vegy soup from boneless chicken breast but what I bought was chicken thighs (cut into pieces). I separated the thighs into two. I chose thighs that had thick meat for the soup instead of boneless chicken and thighs that had more bones I boiled them into spices. By the time I want to fry the spiced chicken for complementary meals or for suhoor I just take them from fridge, that is easy way to serve chicken. O yeah I cooked stir fried carrots with eggs on top also (nyum!) :P.

And for the ‘Takjil’ or sweet starter meal for break my fast was simply jelly in syrup. I added canned fruits and slices of fresh kiwi. Oh yeah the syrup, I couldn’t find syrup when I went to the market two days before so I decided to make it from sugar and citric acid. I thought that was a simply way to enjoy healthier syrup (??? sugar? healthy :P), nope I mean it was made just only from sugar, citric acid and food coloring without preservatives. Just remember that we are the one who can control how much sugar do we need to be enjoyed, so eat wisely ya! :). Apart of jelly in syrup I had sugar-free cookies also :)) for sweet starter.

Anyway I thought I’ve talked too much right, I’m going to work again :P (<— so you knew that I uploaded this post from my office wi-fi :P nope, we haven’t started our monday meeting so I’m not cheating right? Agree please :P). O yup, I posted my first video in my instagram for the first time from these foods :) I should learn more to record food video, that was just for fun :)

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Instagram

Instagram has become an apps that I just love it so much since I had an account and finding great people with wow deliberate pictures everyday just another side of how Instagram works. I can see how people record their daily life with pictures. I think its so amazing how an apps makes you see the borderless world what is happening.

Recently I just love playing instant editing on my iPhone after I capture thing. Like these pics, a small flower I found at floristy, found lovely natural light and captured on different backgrounds ;

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Because of Instagram, I could find so many inspirations from amazing people everyday I wake up. If you are in instagram, you can find amazing people that I followed along and sure they’ll give you inspiration to capture beauties everyday.

Takjil, Day 2

By the time I reached house yesterday by 6.56 pm I ran to find my chocolate jelly inside fridge that I cooked before went to work. I took a glass, put choco jelly (dice cutted) and ice cubes then I poured soya milk, slices of buttery avocado plus Milo on top. It was my ‘Takjil’, sweet starter before my heavy meal, breaking fasting is always joyful!

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Lekki Market

I’ve been postponed this post for a week due to the pictures I took from my first visit to Lekki wasn’t interesting enough (+ it was raining!!!). So, I went there again last Sunday to pick MORE souvenirs for friends (and pictures for sure). Oh I’m too sweet ya! :P

Lekki Market is one of the best traditional market where I could find unique Nigerian art pieces for souvenirs in affordable price :P. I spent hours to find something unique (and African!!!) after I struggled to get there. The road is so fuckin’ bad just such an off-road adventure for me (uh). 

It was really exciting for me to do this kind of SHOPPING :))) At Lekki I could bargain the things I want, speaking in broken english + local language (+accent) is the key to get affordable price, and I’m good on it. Many things could find easily at Lekki, from wooden African crafts, African clothes, paintings, until jewelries made from bull bones and Ivory (:O don’t buy those Ivory please!!!). African souvenirs are so vibrant, here some snaps from my first and last visit ;

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I would like to say SORRY for friends whose name aren’t in my list for these souvenirs, believe me I would happily get more for everyone if I could. Its sad but at least I’ve tried to give some of souvenirs for my new friends that I’ll meet soon in Indonesia. I can’t wait (!!!).

P.S. I will post the souvenirs that I bought from Lekki separately, I haven’t captured them well :)

Suhoor

Just a quick post, first Suhoor today (!!!). Ramadhan is coming, first day of fasting month :) . Here I just want to share quick meal for Suhoor that I cooked one hour ago, this ;

Sahur Perdana

Believe it or not, I just found ‘Kangkung’ or water spinach you called in English two days ago in Lagos, sounds ridiculous huh? Finally I could find and cooked Kangkung, a bit spicy but that was okay. Normally, first suhoor wasn’t easy for me, such a poor night (four hours only for sleeping :(..) and had to cook also after I woke up.

Hmm, I have to say my Mommy is SUPER WOMAN who always cook well, waking up everyone in my house, and after, has to wash dish for suhoor, O boy that isn’t easy at all. I miss Mom! :( anyway, this short post isn’t short anymore if I keep writing.

Bon Ramadhan everyone! Thanks to God for Ramadhan this year!