Off to Neverland! :D

pic taken from here.

Group hug!

pic taken by Alyssa Duhe taken from here.

Dear Miss Bunny..

pic taken from here.

...

Let's find some beautiful place to get lost.

Happy Girls are the Prettiest Girls.

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.

— Audrey Hepburn

originally posted on Shamrock.

You Are You.

pic taken from here.

Life is like riding a bicycle.

pic taken from here.

I just wanna..

picture taken from here.

Mommy Vacation

Being a mom is a life-time job, but I believe that every mom deserve a vacation once in a while.

Being a mom is not a one-man-show. There's a dad that can look after the kids when mommy on her well-deserved vacation. Mom & Dad, they're supposed to be partners.

I'm lucky enough to have a hubby whose also my partner in being parents. I heart you hubby. ♡

what matters

I came across this photo & it just made me smile :)

Apology

when you try to speak their language

(originally posted on facebook August 21, 2009)

~from Adam Levine's twitter, posted Aug 19th between 8.14 to 8.58

newsflash: the french HATE when we try & speak french. i just speak plain english. they may not understand me. but damn it they respect me.

spanish is entirely different. they LOVE that s**t. if you try and speak they will help you along enthusiastically

but the italians win. they LOVE when you try. they will bring out a friggin text book and school your a**!

dont misunderstand me i do love the french. its just not their thing. i get it. they are busy...being french. totally understandable.

if you really wanna see a french person cringe, dont say thank you. say, "mercy bucket". i love doing that. they go nuts.

germans will help you if you're trying to speak german. but they have the tendency to smile and/or laugh at you while youre doing it.

insult to injury...when you try and speak french, they interrupt you in english! that s**t BURNS!

and americans? how do we react to people trying to speak english? we just stand there stunned and ask if we can see their spaceship.

and let me close tonights rant by saying that all culture is amazing! and these differences are what makes the world FUN and interesting.

You Are a Marvel

You are a marvel.

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that never be again...

And what do we teach our children? We teach them two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France.

When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique.

In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move.

You may become a Shakespeare, a Michaelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything.

Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is like you, a marvel?

You must work - we must all work - to make the world worthy of its children.

~Pablo Casals

Music and Misery

(originally posted on facebook July 18, 2009)

What came first – the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person? People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands – literally thousands – of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss. The unhappiest people I know, romantically speaking, are the ones who like pop music the most; and I don’t know whether pop music has caused this unhappiness, but I do know that they’ve been listening to the sad songs longer than they’ve been living the unhappy lives.

Nick Hornby in High Fidelity

His Notes on Life, Love and the Universe, pt. 4

~Love Itself is a Choice
March 24th, 2005 by ayahnya-aira

When we meet the right person to love
when we’re at the right place at the right time,
That’s chance.

When you meet someone you’re attracted to,
that’s not a choice.
That’s chance.

Being caught up in a moment (and there’s a lot
of couples who get together because of this)
is not a choice.
That’s also a chance.

The difference is what happens afterwards.
When will you take that infatuation, that crush,
that mind-blowing attraction to the next level?
That’s when all sanity goes back, you sit down
and contemplate whether you want to make this
into a concrete relationship or just a fling.
If you decide to love a person, even with his
faults,
That’s not a chance.
That’s choice.

When you choose to be with a person, no matter what,
That’s choice.

Even if you know there are many people out there
who are more attractive, smarter, and richer
than your mate, and yet, you decide to
love your mate just the same, that’s choice.

Infatuation, crushes, attraction comes to us by
chance. But true love that lasts is truly a choice.
A choice that we make.

Regarding soul mates, there’s a beautiful movie
quote that I believe is so true about this:
"Fate brings you together, but it’s still up to you to make it happen."
I do believe that soul mates do exist.
That there is truly someone made for you.
But it’s still up to you to make the choice if
you’re going to do something about it or not.
We may meet our soul mates by chance,
but loving and staying with our soul mates is still
A Choice we have to make.

We came to the world not by finding someone perfect to love…
BUT to learn how to love an imperfect person
Perfectly…

Conclusion:
It is not the matter how to find someone perfect to love,

but how to love someone imperfect
perfectly …..

Love itself is a choice

(Bunda, I choose to love you, I love the imperfect you, perfectly)

His Notes on Life, Love and the Universe, pt. 3

~Another Obrolan di Telpon Sama si Bun
April 12th, 2005 by ayahnya-aira

Bunnnnn, ngapain aja kamu seharian…

Hehhe mas, aku baru aja pulang makan di Sushi Groove sama Mama Ince… di Setiabudi One

CURANGGGGG, aku kan baru rencana ngajak kamu makan ke sana nanti pas aku pulang

Hheheheh, sori mas, tapi nggak enak kok, enakan di Nobu beneran…

Ahhh tetep aja kamu curang, huh, nggak ngajak-ngajak…

Yeee, Salmon Skinnya keras banget mas, beneran kok enakan yang di Nobu….

Iya dehhh, terus kamu ke mana lagi?

Hmm tadi sih nyari DVD ke Ambassador, tapi tempatnya kayaknya abis dirazia deh, jdi nggak ada yang jualan

Lah terus kemana donk kita beli DVD?

Aku sih tadi ke Menteng, di sana harganya lima ribu doang, tapi nggak bisa dicoba…

Gambarnya bagus nggak? Yah lumayan sih… tapi mungkin lagi hoki aja, kalo pas dapet yang jelek??/ Katanya sih boleh dituker, tapi males aja kan ke Mentengnya lagi. Eh terus tadi malem aku makan seafood di Pangpol…

Wakssss kamu kok curang banget sih… aku kan nggak bisa makan seafood di sini…

Heheheh maap yahhhh ntar deh kalo kamu pulang aku traktir makan di sana…

Nggak usah ah… aku makan di sini aja…. Eh tapi di sini nggak ada seafood yang enak ding…. Ya udah, kamu baik-baik aja kan di sana?

Iya mas, but I miss you so much.

I miss you too darling, be home soon

(buat Cintaku Puan, I would do anything, work anywhere, as long as you and Aira are happy and can enjoy life in Jakarta, cause I love you so much)

His Notes on Life, Love and the Universe, pt. 2

~ A Phone Conversation
March 23rd, 2005 by ayahnya-aira


Hai Bun… lagi ngapain?

Lagi di rumah aja nih Ay… tadi sih abis ke Cipadu trus ke Citos

Anaknya lagi ngapain?

Tuh lagi nonton CD, Iyaaaa mau ngomong sama Ay nggak??

Halo Aira

Ay ay, Iya’ lagi nonton CD barluuu, tadi dibeliin Bun.

CD Apa??

Prinsesss Belle…. bagus deh Ay… kan Iya libur Ay, kalo libur Iya boleh nonton berapa Ay?

Satu

Ay… kan Iya libur, kalo sekolah kan Iya’ cuman nonton satu, kalo libur kan kata Ay iya boleh nonton dua, iya kan Ay. Kan Ay yang dulu bilang…

Iya deh sayang, kamu boleh nonton dua, tapi jangan malem-malem yah boboknya, besok kan kamu sekolah

Iya, Ayahhhh

Yah udah… love you Aira….

Love you Ayahhh

MMMMmmuuuuaaacchhhhh

MMMMuuaacchhhhh

Ya udah, Bunda mana?

Bunnnnnnn, Ay mau ngomong nih

Yah udah deh Bun… nanti telpon aku yah

Iya udah…

Miss you Bun

Miss you tooo

(a phone conversation, me, Puan and my little Princess, gees I miss them so much….)

His Notes on Life, Love and the Universe, pt. 1

My hubby used to write, I mean the one he did by choice, for his own pleasure, not the one he did in the office on a daily basis for work. He called them 'My notes on life, love and the universe'. Most of them he wrote back in 2005, when he was away in Pekanbaru, guess being away from me kinda inspired him. Haha..

So I've decided to post them here on my notes in hope to inspired him, yet again. Because honestly, and I never told him this, I love reading his writing and I kinda miss them.
So this is the first one, one of my favorite. Hope you don't mind, hubby :)


~Stirring a cup of toffee-nut latte
March 24th, 2005 by ayahnya-aira

Early evening, sitting at Starbucks, ordering a limited hot Toffee-nut Latte. Overpriced, that’s what they always say about Starbucks. But I have to admit, their Toffee-nut Latte, does taste so good. Hmm, good enough to accompany me before my next 8 o’clock dinner meeting with my soon to be client.

Here in Citos, people are buzzing, especially on a long weekend like this. They like to see and to be seen, that’s why all the seats in the corridor are full, and those people who are walking in the plaza can’t keep their eyes straight. Trying to see who is watching them, and who can they watch. Here, you can see the latest fashion of Jakarta. What’s in and what’s out. You can also see a parade of gadgets. Everybody in on wi-fi these days. Sending this unnecessary emails to unnecessary recipients, just to see how the technology works. And this new blackberry thing, where you can send and receive email instantly without dialling up, just add to the hype of wireless technology. And it’s a trend. They may not need it, but they use it anyway. Because it’s trendy.

Life just goes so fast in Jakarta. Sometimes you are drowned in it. Meeting with this client, that client, presentation to management, briefing to staff, dinner invitations, clubbing invitations, lunch meetings in restaurants, even weekend events. This big city really turns into a 24 hour a day 7 days a week city. You run everyday, starts at 5am return at midnight. A typical Jakarta worker, struggling to pay for their mortgage, car loan, credit card bills, phone bills. Just everything you need to know people and t be known in the social life of J-Town.

But what do you get after all this? What does it brings to life? Have you ever paused and think? You just for a brief thirty minutes in a busy near to long weekend situation in one of the probably most crowded mall in Jakarta, sipping a cup of hot toffee-nut latte, pause and think? What have it done to you? At the end of the day, what is it do you want in life? Peacefulness.

Sooner or later you die. That’s the ultimate peacefulness, but do you have to die to be peaceful? As I am thinking and wondering about my life. What keeps me in peace? I have a nearly four year old beautiful daughter, whom I rarely spent quality time with. Either I am too busy or too tired to deal with her. I dont want to be this busy as hell dad who hardly know his own daughter as she grows. Every single moment of her growth is precious. And I want to be there all the time. Watch her perform in her first ballet performance, watch her sing in her pre-school talent show, watch her walk in the catwalk, that was her first fashion show, I want to be the first person who took her to the zoo, to the sea world, the safari park, I want to be the person who show her the beauty of this world. Coz I am her dad. I want her to be proud of me because I love her so much, and that she knows that there is nothing that I wouldn’t do for her. I want to show her that I miss every single minute that I am away from her.

I closed my laptop, call my colleague, tell him to do the pitch, call my soon to be client, order another toffee-nut latte, damn it tastes so good. And go home. I miss my Aira.

(I wish Starbucks sell that Toffee-nut Latte all year long)

Sajak Masjid

(originally posted on facebook June 8, 2009)

Ini Masjid, tempat beribadah

Ini jama'ah-nya

Ber-ruku'

I'tidal

Bersujud

Salam ke kanan

Salam ke kiri

Aaamiiin...

*courtesy of bunda-bunda Taman Azhar
*model : kakak Aira :)