Hi Friends!
Another week, another week in recap! I'm so thankful of the simple life that God has given me and my little family, and we unwrap each day as a special gift from the Lord, tied with a sunshine ribbon!
We started last Saturday morning with gathering up our recycleable trash for pick-up day. In Indonesia, recycling is not that common, hence separating our trash is not a common activity either. By no means I try to show off on social media, but I do make a point to capture it with picture and post what we are doing on my personal Facebook for my friends to see. Why? Since the first time I posted our green efforts to lessen our household waste, some friends have shown interest to try that, too! So I thought, why not try to post it out there so if anyone wants to do something for the environment by reducing their waste, they can get inspired from my posts and message me about where to call the nearest recycling facilities! I have to say, though, that I offered a friend who owns a restaurant near my house if she wants the recycling facility to come over to her restaurant to pick up mineral water bottles left by customers, and she didn't respond. Well, everyone has their own thoughts, of course. Still, even I encouraged just one person to start recycling their waste, it's a huge success!
This is our dry trash from the previous week that I collected in an old plastic laundry basket. I wouldn't call it our zero waste effort, because it's waaaaayyyy far from zero waste.
In the evening, our little family went to Mass as usual. It's a family ritual that we all enjoy. Michael used to refuse to go to Church, because he got bored; but after several times, he began to enjoy the time we spend worshipping together as a family, and now he's looking forward to Church time! His favorite hum song is "Our Father", or the Lord's prayer. When we go to Church, I deliberately don't bring any special toy for Michael. Nor do we allow him to play with my cell phone when he gets bored. We want him to know that Church is time for worship, not for toys nor gadgets. We allow him to sing softly to himself, or play or move around - he's not even three years old, let's be realistic here - but we make sure he knows that going to Church is a time for worship.
Wearing proper shoes is a must when we go to Church. We dress up for job interviews and date nights and parties, why don't we dress up for feast held by the Lord?
Hubby was having a crazy time at work, so naturally he was feeling a little bit stretched out and needed a break. We are pretty much homebodies who usually only roam around the neighborhood on the weekend, but on this particular Saturday night, he wanted to go out and "have a good time like free young people". So after Church, we told the childminder that we were going out for a night on the town. I even changed my outfit to something more festive. This dress had not seen the light of day - or night - for several years now, and I was delightfully surprised that it still fits me! I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get into it, since I had gain some weight after having Michael. Afterall, I'm almost 40 and my metabolism has slowed down compared to when I was a twenty-something year old single woman.
We went to a glitzy restaurant/pub downtown, Social House. It was jampacked with young people, not-so-young-people, and what I'd call "glamorous creatures of Jakarta". Since there were only the two of us, we were able to get a table right away. We were seated at a table on the way to the exit, so while we were there we could people watch, which was fun. I love seeing the glamourous women (and girls) all looked so dolled up. All the women wore high heels, and from where I sat, I could see that some women really master the art of walking in heels, but some walked clumsily or military style like a robot! It was entertaining and amusing at the same time. I myself have long ago abandoned trying to twirl in a pair of stilletos, choosing wedges or lower heels instead. Three-inch heels is maximum height for me. Luckily, I'm pretty tall for a woman, so I don't need sky-high heels to stand out in a crowd, literally.
As you can see here, even my evening outfit is not that revealing. Like high heels, I long ago have left any desire to show too much skin even when going clubbing.
We already had a satisfying dinner at home, so Hubby just had some wine, me some iced tea (I don't care for alcoholic drink), and between the two of us, shared a plate of enoki mushroom snack. The food was okay but overpriced. Well, we came to such a place more for the vibe and ambiance, not for the food! And Hubby definitely had a good time. He tried a new wine that he had not tried before, from Chile.
Did I really want to go out? Not really. Still, that sweet Hubby of mine almost never asked for anything, so I wanted to please him and agreed to what he wanted to do.
On Sunday morning, Michael wanted to see "horsey", so went to the nearest mall so he could see, well, Horsey. Actually it's, well, they're colorful wooden carousel horses at a cake shop named Collette and Lola, not real horses! The T-shirt Michael wore in this picture was a gift from my brother, emblazoned with both our - me and my brother's - almamater: Texas A&M University. I'm a proud Aggie momma!
Hubby still had the itch to go out in the late afternoon, so off we went to a nearby coffeeshop. We found it several years ago, and Hubby had wanted to try the place out. He is a coffee lover. I'm not, but I know that any coffee shop will sell hot chocolate, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE hot chocolate and won't mind trying new places, so I was gladly obliged. Well, not gladly. Actually I much prefer to stay home. Afterall, we went out until late the night before.
I'm glad I did, though, because we ended up finding a new favorite place to hang out. The place called Oke Coffeeshop, which also a Chinese restaurant, located in a modest home near our neighborhood. It's located next to one of our favorite noodle shop, so it was odd that we've been going there for years, and not once we thought to give this place a try.
It is a family business, and the proprietor, a man about fifty years old, welcomed us warmly. The daughter of the family gave us the menu for the Chinese food, and we politely declined, explaining that we just wanted some coffee. It was about three in the afternoon, not lunch time anyway.
Apparently, for coffee, there was no menu. We were ushered to the front porch where we could select the type of coffee bean that we wanted. They had plenty, stored in individual containers, and when we opened the containers, the smell of coffee bean was just heavenly.
The shop also had cute traditional coffee pots like these.
The owner prepared the coffee himself. I ordered hot chocolate, that I must say, tasted very very good!
This is how the shop served their coffee to customers.
In the evening, Hubby STILL wanted to go out. So we ended up going to a new noodle shop that we stumbled upon. Michael came with us, and even the little man of mine agreed that the noodle was really good. I didn't take pictures of the noodle shop, but it was called Lake Toba Noodle Shop. You can tell from this post that during hard time, Hubby is the kind who release his stress by going out and about. On the other hand, I am the type who prefer to stay home.
During the week, Hubby came home from work very late every night. He didn't reach home until around 10 pm that he missed seeing Michael before bedtime. Fortunately, he didn't have to arrive at work at eight on the dot, so he could still sneak in some time to play with Michael in the morning before leaving for work.
In the middle of the week I took these two selfies and sent them to him. That's the beauty of technology and chat messaging! It's like, sending smiles to my husband. He said he loved it, that it made his day that I was so attentive and caring. So it's not vanity alone that I often take selfies! Well, not often, just sometimes.
Well, what do you think? Do you think I'm trying to please my husband too much? What do you think about trying to please our husbands when we are able to do so? Is it a yay or a nay?
I'm linking up to these wonderful Ladies:
Monday
- Not Dead Yet Style: Visible Monday
- Mom's The Word: Make Your Home Sing Monday
- Happy Wives Club: Marriage Mondays
- The Better Mom: The Better Mom Mondays
- What Joy Is Mine: Monday Musings
- Color Blind: Thrifer Anonymous
- The Modest Mom
- Create With Joy: Inspire Me Monday
- The Beauty in His Grip: Sharing His Beauty Mondays
- A Pinch Of Joy: Busy Monday
- Tell Me A Story
- Still Being Molly: YOLO Monday
- Very Busy Mama: Real Mom Style
- Momma In Flip Flops: Real Mom Style
- Basic Training – Corporate Style: Fashionably Employed Link Up
- Bon Bon Rose Girls: Monday Mingle
- Mom Trend: Monday Mingle
- More Pieces of Me: Manic Monday
- On the Daily Express: Manic Monday
- Whitney Nic James: Personal Style Monday
- Fizz And Frosting: Mix It Monday
- The Style Record: Monday Must Haves
- A Proverbs 31 Wife: Matrimonial Monday Linkup
- I Should Be Mopping The Floor: Inspiration Monday
- Missional Call: M M and M Monday Linkup
- Chronicles of Grace: Unforced Rhythms
- The Wellspring: Playdates with God
- Rich Faith Rising: Unite
- Finding Heaven: Soli Deo Gloria
- Growing Home: Growing Homemaker
- Teaching What Is God: Women Helping Women
- Join The Gossip: Monday Morning Gossip
- Life of Meg: Mingle Monday
- Little Miss Fashion Queen: Little Miss Monday
- Strangers & Pilgrims On Earth: The Art of Home Making Mondays
- A Delightsome Life: Return to Loveliness
- Bless Her Heart Y'All: Celebrate Southern Link Up
- Darling Downs Diaries: Good Morning Monday Mondays
- A Field of Wild Flowers: Small Wonder
- Style Nudge: Shoe & Tell
Tuesday
- The Fashion Canvas: Trend Spin Linkup
- Corner Stone Confessions: Titus 2 Tuesday
- Time Warp Wife: Titus 2 Tuesday
- Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
- Keeping Life Simple: The Gathering Spot
- Sugar Bee Crafts: Take A Look Tuesday
- Style Elixir: Style Sessions Fashion Link Up
- Growing Home Blog: Teach Me Tuesday
- Greater Than Rubies: Remix, Rewear, Restyle
- Walking In Memphis In High Heels: Trend Spin Link Up
- Myriad Musings: Style Swap Tuesdays
- Mama and More: All About You
- Elegantly Dressed And Stylish: Turning Heads Tuesday
- Cute and Little: On Trend Tuesdays
- Sandy a la Mode: On Trend Tuesdays
Wednesday
- Reason To Dress: Real Mom Real Street Style
- Sydney Fashion Hunter: Wednesday Pants
- Transatlantic Blonde: What I Wore Wednesday
- Because Shanna Said So: Random Wednesday
- My Girlish Whims: My Whims Wednesday
- Kimba Likes: Wardrobe Wednesday
- The Pleated Poppy: What I Wore Wednesday
- Messy Marriage: Wedded Wednesday
- Elizabeth & Co.: Be Inspired
- My Daily Walk In His Grace: Winsome Wednesday
- A Creative Princess
- Get Your Pretty On: I Feel Pretty
- A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
- Redcliffe Style: 30 Plus Style and Beauty Linkup
- Adorned From Above
- Woman to Woman Ministries: Word Filled Wednesday
- Little R & R: Wednesday Link Party
- We Are That Family: Works For Me Wednesday
- Jennifer Dukes Lee: Tell His Story
- Fitness Blondie: The Hump Day Blog Hop
- Shopping My Closet: Style Me Wednesday
Thursday
- CLK Fashions: Fashion Boutique Favorites
- The Tiny Heart: Look What I Got
- Penniless Socialite: Look What I Got
- Rebecca Lately: Look What I Got
- Mix and Match Fashion: What I Wore to Work
- 3-D Lessons For Life: Thought Provoking Thursday
- Katherines Corner: Thursday Favorite Blog Hop
- A Glimpse Inside: Catch A Glimpse Party
- Serving Joyfully: Thriving Thursday
- Glitz And Gold: All Things Thursday
- Maybe I Will: Be.You.Tiful
- Chic California: Be.You.Tiful
- The Happy Gal: Be.You.Tiful
- Fry Sauce And Grits: Be.You.Tiful
- All Things With Purpose: All Things Thursday
- Children Are A Blessing: Growing In Grace Link Up
- Simply Just Lovely: Working Girl With Style
- Treasure Tromp: Treat Yo'Self Thursday
- High Latitude Style: Top of The World Fashion
- Happiness at Midlife: Throwback Thursday Fashion Linkup
Friday
- Mummy's Got Style: Fashion Friday
- Penniless Socialite and Delusions of Grandeur: Favorite Fashion Friday Link Up
- Two Thirty Five Designs: Casual Friday Link Up
- Serenity Now: Weekend Bloggy Reading Link Up
- Simply Lulu Style: What I’m Loving Fridays
- Style Elixir: Friday’s Fab Favorites
- Musings of a Housewife: Fashion Friday
- Rags to Stitches: Coffee Date Friday
- Missional Women: Faith Filled Friday
- Rachel The Hat: Passion For Fashion
- Chantilly Songs: The Totally Awesome Blog Hop
- Christian Mommy Blogger: Fellowship Friday
- The Jenny Evolution: Friday Flash Blog
- Bacon Time With The Hungry Hypo: Anything Goes Linky Party
- Midwest Style Bloggers: Friday Favorites
- Lena B Actually: Passion For Fashion
- Blissful And Domestic: Feature Friday Link Up
- Sabby Style: Friday Frills
Saturday
- How Sweet The Sound: Pink Saturday
- Six Sisters' Stuff: Strut Your Stuff Saturday Linky Party
- Renewed Daily: Recommendation Saturday
- Fashionista Momma: Stylish Saturday
- Sincerely Paula: No Rules Weekend Blog Party
- Amanda's Books And More: Make My Saturday Sweet
- The Baby Shopaholic: Mamanista Friday
Sunday
- Macdonald's Playland: Mommy Moments Blog Hop
- Watch Out For the Woestman: Watch What I'm Wearing
1 comment:
You are so precious, and so is your family! What a beautiful essay on your weekly adventures in love and pleasing your hubby, your precious little boy who loves church now, the fancy restaurant, the coffee shop..all a fun adventure in everyday holiness in family life! Blessings! Visiting from nextdoor at #smallwonder
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