Monday, June 16, 2014

Week In Recap: It's All About Family

Hello, Friends!

First I would like to say thank you to all of you who have taken the time to read my blog and comment on my posts. I sometimes comment back, and occassionally will comment on other people's blogs, but let me assure you that I read and treasure every single comment that you have written. Thank you for all your support!
 
Last week flew by so quickly. Overall, it was a pretty productive week, though a bit stressful especially one day before our visa interview at the Embassy, which I will tell you all about it later.

Last Saturday, we started the day early. I woke up, drank my fruit and veggie smoothie, then did a little bit of yoga. Then we started with our renovation project. Well, the legal side of it. The architect has finished all technical drawings required, and now we are starting the process of obtaining the renovation permit. The renovation itself should start in the middle of August, because very soon we will have the biggest religious holiday in Indonesia: Idul Fitri. During the holiday, pretty much all construction works, big and small alike, will stop for about a month, because all the workers will take leave for their annual return to their respective villages. With that in consideration, we realize it would be useless to start the renovation now to have it stopped for the whole month of July.

Then a friend challenged me to take selfie pictures with no make up. Well, well, well, who's afraid of bare faced look? Not this gal! As much as I love makeup and always try to look as presentable as possible when I go out, I'm pretty much comfortable in my own skin, with all the blemishes and imperfections. I think every woman should.

Here's my no make up look with some filters.



And with no filter whatsoever. You can see that I have some redness on my cheeks. I plan to try this method called "brow embroidery" sometime this year, but I still need to do some research on that. Basically it's like painting the empty spaces between your brows with some 3D look, so you'll never have to pencil your eyebrow ever again. The technology is so advanced now, that a good salon can create a pretty natural look that will last about two or three years. I want to do that not to change my face, but more for practicality. Imagine how much time I could save by not having to use eyebrow pencil in the morning!

A friend even went so far as painting their eyeliner and crystal pink lips, and the result is so natural only women who knows about the technology can tell that she had the procedure. She just looks like a natural beauty the moment she wakes up! Well, come to think of it, she IS a natural beauty. It's just that she has extra money to enhance her look as well as for practicality to use less makeup on daily basis. ^__^

My husband doesn't reject the idea of his wife using technology to beautify herself, as long as it doesn't have anything to do with surgical procedure or changing the way I look. So, no eyelash transplant, no tummy tuck, no face lift, things like that. Well, I like my face just the way it is, so I completely agree with him! If there were one thing I could change about my face, it's just to have a better complexion! I don't care to have permanent lip tint either, like my friend did, I already like the natural color of my lips, thank you!


Last weekend was all about family time: me, Hubby and our son Michael. I'm not a romantic by heart, but a scene like this, when my husband was playing with my son, made my eyes misty! Tears of happiness, of course! I love to see the two men in my life laughing at each other and enjoying each other's company!



Michael is now in the stage where he says all the time: "Where? Where? Where is it? Oooowww... it's not there! It's not there!" I don't know if any other toodler also goes through this stage. He knows the meaning that something is being there or not, but he still cannot differentiate that the phrase doesn't apply to everything. For example, when he listen to music, and the song ends, he will say that the music is "not there". It's so cute to see him looking under the bed looking for missing toys and his cute little voice saying over and over: ":Where is it? Owwww... it's not there!" I used to think that little toddlers saying things over and over again repeatedly is kinda annoying. Well, I guess I will have to take that back now that I'm a mom myself, I think it's cute. I know, I'm a hypocrite! ^_^



In the evening, Michael always goes to bed at eight. So, after tucking him to bed, Hubby and I went to watch Maleficent at the nearby mall five-minute drive away. It's funny now that we're married, we rarely "go glam" anymore. Nowadays, dating nights mean casual dinner or movie at a nearby place. Nice and casual look. This is what I wore. A jacket is a must because the cinema can be chilly once you go inside. Personally, I think Maleficent is a good movie and Angelina Jolie played the role amazingly. Some would say that Maleficent is crooked, that Disney is portraying evil as something good and heroic, but for me, as long as the parents are there to explain and guide the children, it's still OK. In reality, the world that we live in is not always black and white. I believe that parents should children know and be prepared also for the grey areas and people in life, as well as not to judge easily.

Overall, it was a productive and fun Saturday.


Sunday is pretty much a lazy day. We went for a stroll and took Michael to a nearby park to play. Unfortunately I don't have pictures when we were at the park. What caught my attention was, we have taken Michael several times to the park during weekend, and we didn't see any parents there. We saw children with babysitters and childminders, no parents. I guess taking the children to the park is not the norm for parents in the neighborhood. On the other hand, we often see parents taking their children to the mall or restaurants. I guess Hubby and I are a bit old-fashioned in our parenting style. We believe that children should not be cooped up in room with AC and shops and lifestyle places. Instead, we believe they should run and play and be active outdoors, get dirty if neccessary, be like children like when we ourselves were children. 



After a serene weekend, then came the storm. We were supposed to have the visa interview on Wednesday. My bank was supposed to come up with sponsor letter on Monday, but they said that they were waiting for the letter to arrive from another branch and it could be picked up on Tuesday. THEN, on Tuesday morning they said the letter was missing somewhere and could not be found! After some frantic calls to the Embassy, it was decided that I would use a legalized printouts from the internet. Luckily, around 10 am, the bank called again and said the letters had been found! Pheewww!

I was ready to pick up the letter when I realize one thing: where is my husband's sponsor letter from another bank? Hubby had gave me the letter the week before and I completely forgot where I placed it! I was sure I kept it inside my office drawer, but it wasn't there! Could it be that I brought it home? I became panic and decided to drive straight home and looked for it. It was a blessing that home is less than 10-minute drive away. Thank God, it turned out I placed my husband's bank sponsor letter inside my vanity drawer!! What has happened to my brain??? I am usually a very organized person!

I was so relieved I found the letter, I even took five minutes to play with Michael before heading to the bank, then back to the office. I skipped lunch, but who cares!




On the morning of the interview, we woke up at five because the Embassy was located downtown and with Jakarta's notorious traffic jam, we needed to leave the house at six. Then my husband said that he could not find his ID card, and we would need that for the interview! He said he might have left the ID card in his office the previous day, so we rushed out from the house to make a quick stop at his office on the way to the Embassy. Once inside the car, Hubby decided to do a final thorough check inside his wallet, and there it was! His ID card, tucked safely inside! It was there afterall and Hubby didn't see it! So we finally went straight to the Embassy. I already packed some sandwiches and drinks in a bottle the night before, for our breakfast, just in case we needed some breakfast. So glad I did, because we ended up waiting for quite some time before our appointment. The appointment itself went pretty quickly, it was the preparation and the waiting that took so long. If you are an American and US citizen, consider yourself lucky, because you will never need to go through all these procedures to go overseas. A US citizen doesn't need visa to enter any country in the world.

After all the rush and panic attack and anxiety, we decided to treat ourselves and had breakfast downtown. It was a rare occassion indeed! A date in the morning of a weekday in downtown? Will never happen again until our next visa appointment for our next holiday, I guess! It was a perfect way to end the stress and strernuous visa application process. We still need to wait for the result, but it's like the moment you know that exam is over, you know. You do realize you still need to wait for the result, but at least, it's over! Hurray!!


Getting back home, I still had some time to kill before going back to the office, because it was lunch hour anyway, so I went to a nearby baby store and purchased a pair of new shoes for Michael. He will need new shoes for Hubby's cousin's engagement lunch on the coming weekend. At first, I bought these because I thought the style is rather unique and unusual.

But they were too big for Michael so I had to exchange them with these brown suede-like shoes. Nevertheless, they are extremely cute and Michael loves them! I couldn't take pictures with him wearing them because he won't stand still, but he carries the shoes everywhere and whenever I came home, he will carry the shoes to me, saying: "Shoes! Shoes!" I made a video of him trying out his shoes, he was being adorable.  

Despite all the stress, last week was again, a productive week, and I am very happy about it.


Last week to do list:

  • Interview at the Embassy to get our visa. Let's wait and see!
  • Read Chapter 9 of Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle".
  • Start reading the Book of Proverbs of the Bible, start with Chapter 1.
  • Grocery shopping.
  • Upload two new videos of Michael to YouTube.
  • Schedule two blog posts for while I'm on vacation.
  • Purchasing new shoes for Michael.
  • Pick up property papers at the notary office.
  • Decorate new furniture with proper tablecloths.
  • Hubby's cousin's engagement lunch at Angke Family Restaurant.
  • Set up a prayer corner with the statue of Mother Mary in our living room. Still can't find proper flowers for the vase.
Next week's to do list:
  • Read Chapter 9 of Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle".
  • Read and contemplate on the Book of Proverbs Chapter 3 Part 1: Confidence in God Leads to Prosperity.
  • Return original legal papers to the bank's safe deposit box.
  • Renovation permit.
  • Tidy up my writing table.
  • Appointment with my dermatologist.
  • Find suitable flowers for our prayer corner table.
  • Renew my husband's life insurance.
  • Editing my accessory collection.

I'm linking up to these wonderful Ladies:

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5 comments:

Xiao Vee said...

What a happy family ^_^

Don't forget to join our Etude House & Holika Holika Goodies Giveaway ^__^ [INTERNATIONAL]

June 16, 2014 at 8:30 PM
a joyful noise said...

You are lovely even without make up and I would certainly research those eyebrow procedures so you don't look un-natural. Your outings were delightful. Thank you for sharing your lovely post with us here at “Tell Me a Story.” http://letmetelluastory.blogspot.com/

June 18, 2014 at 4:30 AM
Unknown said...

You have a log going on! Hope all comes through with the visa!

June 18, 2014 at 6:52 AM
Liz @ Fitness Blondie said...

I enjoy your fashion so much. You are so classy and I love how you contrast your colors. I am in LOVE with that pink bag. I hope you guys get your Visa ASAP!

June 19, 2014 at 7:42 AM
Meredith said...

I'm completely in love with your Kate Spade bag. Thanks for sharing on the Be.You.Tiful Link Party!

June 26, 2014 at 9:19 PM

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