new year’s finding at milas

 

today was parent’s meeting at milas’s playgroup. it was our first new year’s meeting. suprisingly at the end of the meeting, there are buckets of milas craft being on sale. so all the ibu-ibu went crazy. how could you resist the temptation of old batik handmade at 1000 – 5000 IDR per item. i went mad of course.

so these lovelies above are going to india on febuary for our lucky friends that we would meet there :D

new year and a little package from simalakamma

good morning 2012. wanted to share a little package i got on the last day of 2011. elia, a girl i worked with in the history research project of indian community in jogja, manage a handmade brand name simalakamma. and she made a beautiful package for the end of the year.

cute stuff to start the year ahead, yes?:D

between research and the search of spirituality

work has been marvelous and come with a lot of variety. i feel like i’m back to my old self again, which i’m glad. i felt even much better nowadays. at the end of this year i’m involved with the research: indian community history in jogja. the process can be found in this blog. it is a project involving etnohistori and kunci, the participant comes from diverse background and multi-discipline. it is also part of the parallel events of jogja biennal xi. etnohistori is a continuation of my study group back in my student days, now that all of us already growing up, we start to establish a community concerning on history and ethnography studies.

anyway, the process of the last two months research put myself in the “temple team”, along with my best mates JP, abmi and sandhy (a comic artist). we’re going to present the work later on the 3rd of january 2012.

it was a very interesting experience. founding temples in the most unexpected places. a hare krisna temple in the maguwo of east outer ring road of jogja. a saibaba center on top of a toko besi (hardware store) in bumijo. it is one of the weirdest and exciting experiences.

the top of hare krisna temple

the flower garland offerings

hare krisna altar

saibaba temple

the fire offerings

i believe by knowing other beliefs, experiencing their rituals and being involve with the people, we would gather more understanding about others and about ourselves. it is what we need in this kind of time :)

the boy who love to swim

our days swimming in melia purosani and of course eating a lot after :D bhumy is now 3,5 years and weighing 13.4 kg. although still using his pool tire, he is quiet brave lately jumping to the water without it and i had to catch him all the time.

a suprise from lasem

so one busy morning, where i had to meet antariksa to get some video for a discussion we are preparing. that’s another project i would like to share later. anyway, i met bessy or he like to be called pop, i like to call him becy. he has been a good friend for years. always meeting him in odd places. we’ve been meeting regularly, since he is become the ambassador for batik lasem. he has been working in rembang heritage community and been inviting me to come to visit rembang and lasem. i might go this january after all this end of the year hecticness is over.

anyway, he become a hand in hand batik seller. always carrying a pack of batik lasem in his bag wherever he go. we met in via-via that morning because he had a meeting too with antariksa. the breakfast become a small exhibition of batik lasem. and for my suprise, bessy brought a red dragon batik lasem, just finish being exhibit in solo. i’ve been eyeing to buy a batik for the past years, but have not manage to decide or fallen completely for a piece. i wanted to start to add to my mother’s inherited collection. that morning was the moment.

i had a special discount from bessy and got myself the handmade dragon batik lasem. made by bapak parlan, seen in the photo above. it was such a lovely morning and such a joy i had until now. *grinning everytime i look at the dragon batik*.

it is going to be the dragon year next year and giving myself with such present, i felt next year would be such a lovely, lucky journey. time to rise.

 

indonesian clothing: my favorite brand

“ i want to challenge the notation of a fashion world. no trends. no seasons. no fads.

my clothes have to be able to be worn & last forever.”

~ nina karina nikicio

the above collections are just the reason why MIXTÉ LE PRINTEMPS 2012 from nikicio become so irresistible and the most sought after. i have always fallen in love with their basic collections from the last two years. it  become my daily staple of clothing. it is rare for wanting and being fanatic in wearing one brand all the time. but nikicio is one of our local indonesian brand who could make you do that. i secretly have the obsession of just wearing this brand the rest of my life.

i love how they choose the material, mostly cotton (i just love 100 % cotton, not to mention their organic cotton collection, so damn comfy). something i wear has to be comfortable, it is my basic philosophy when it comes to clothes. i love their basic design with a touch of edge and  how it become so wearable, not to mention unisex as well. i’m proud of indonesian young talent such as nina karina nikicio. i love supporting our local brand. nothing has been so perfect.

and yes, the good news, they ship worldwide. check out their webstore for their latest collection

my current favorite indonesian movie of the year

the hottest end of summer

it might be the weather. it might be the hectic things at work and trying to figure things out. it might the crazy load work that i’ve been handling. were the reasons i have not been blogging. but definitely it was the mood. that i need to travel out of myself to see a bigger picture on things.

anyway, things had been great lately. we manage ourselves to have our little luxuries of becoming a member in the melia purosani sports club. it’s cheap as hell for a year. one of jogjakartans biggest secret to get healthy. i know i need to swim to get my sanity now and then. and the fun part is that my boy are getting familiar with the water.

he’s been given lesson at school and i’ve been spending more quality time after his school. a dip in the water is always good for the body and soul. especially with the weather being hellish crazy lately.

on the crossroad

things has been random. it has been an emotional period too. but i passed it well enough. despite all that, things have been hectic like crazy. job coming, living the deadlines. old good friends and families coming to town. my son growing up and playing by himself while i’m working in front of my laptop. i had this urge to change things somehow. i need to renew myself somewhere. maybe i should took a trip somewhere or going through my wish list on what things i want to do with my living space. i need to chuck out all the things i don’t need anymore and would be lovely to welcome new things in my life.

i’m satisfied with my current wardrobe collections (mostly basic nikicio, cotton ink and oneandhalf) but this means i need a proper closet to put them all. my son need his own room, meaning i need to buy another bed. but dear god, i need to sleep alone sometimes in my own room and not having his feet on my face when i wake up nowadays. i need a proper wooden working table, i was thinking vintage, obviously not the one i’m using that was used back from my student days. i need cabinet in my kitchen to put all the kitchen utensils i inherited from my mother. i need to re-arrange my books again, chucking the cheap cardboard book rack and finding a more permanent ones.

somehow i just need little luxuries that i can enjoy sometimes, means reading a favorite book undisturbed or watching a movie at my own space. i haven’t really done that much luxuries since i have my son. we took him to the cinema to watch the transformers 3 last weekend, he finally last on the seat. so dearest son, we can have movie dates soon.

but out of all this, i don’t mind traveling to a beach somewhere alone. i missed traveling solo and discovering things at my own pace.

my three year old boy going to school

it’s entering his three weeks already. my son going to school the first time. this means i have to change to a morning person in a more discipline manner. his first day was amazing because it only took him 30 minutes to adapt with his surrounding without my help at all. the second day, he is fine without me. the fourth day he have his 3rd birthday at school. i baked spinach and carrot brownies for his schoolmates. everyone took another portion :D (huge success) we were given gift such as children classic song that i haven’t heard for so long. his fifth day, i was not allowed to take him to the gate. i practically drop him off and he say “mom, stay in the motor cycle. i can go myself.” those were those kinda moments that you want to cry as parents. children grow up so fast.

i feel like an eagle, letting their little ones the first time to learn to fly.