Style N Season

Monday, April 21, 2014

A Simple Gal's Journal: Spring N Easter 2014 Resolutions

Happy Easter, Friends!

Can you believe it's April already? Before we realize it, the first quarter of 2014 had already passed. Spring time is here, and everything feels fresh and new. For me, here in Jakarta, the rainy season has ended, and I decided to do some spring cleaning. No, not that kind of spring cleaning. I clean my house everyday, not every season. I'm making Spring 2014 Resolutions! And Friends, I urge you, I invite you, please do join me! Besides, don't you think it's much more manageable to make short list of resolutions every quarter or so, compared to making a loooooong list once a year?

But first, let me give you a little update of how my 2014 Resolutions has been going...

You can read the full post of my 2014 Resolutions here.

Going to Church regularly

I'm sooooo glad to report that this one has been going well. Several weeks we did skip, because either me or my husband felt a little bit under the weather, so that's understandable. I'm so happy to go back to attending Holy Mass!

Reading the Bible every day

I skipped some days, too, but overall I've been reading the Bible on more regular basis since I installed the New American Bible app on my iPhone. I've been reading Peter, and now I'm reading James. I don't always understand it, sometimes I have to read over and over, but I'm learning and enjoying the process of reading the word of God as part of my daily life.

Getting back to exercising

Work in progress, is all I can say about this one! I skipped several weeks, too, because there were some crazy weeks, but I try to stick to it as much as I can. Not too bad, though I haven't been going as regularly as I would like. This week I only went once, and the week before, zero. I have paid for three-month membership at the gym nearby, for goodness sake, I feel like I must, must, must not waste da moneyyy!!

With all the odds and ends, I feel like I'm doing OK with the January resolutions. Now, let's get down to my Spring 2014 Resolutions.

Intentionally praying for my Husband everyday

I receive this book titled "The Wife Who Prays" from a friend. It compiles a list of prayers for husband that you can say quickly because each one is pretty short. The book is light and compact, since the writer intended for a book that a wife can carry everywhere in her purse, so it's not heavy nor bulky. As for me, I just put it on my writing table next to our bed, because I'd like to incorporate reading - or praying - a page of it into my before bedtime ritual every night. The prayers are divided into different topics such as praying for your husband's health, for his mind, for marriage, even for sex life, etc., there are 58 prayers in all, and I just read one every night or so in the order they were written.

Making to do list and actually doing them everyday

I found out that without to do list, I tend to forget things and my days just passed though happily, unproductively, if you know what I mean. I forgot little things like filling up the hand soap dispenser or bringing the book that I promised to lend a coworker. I planned to organize my book collection and never actually doing it because when I do have the time to do it, I forget and lounge on my bed browsing instagram instead. Not necessarlly because I'm lazy, but because I cannot remember what I should be doing!

I received this pretty agenda as a promotional gift from a supplier, and it's just perfect. I color code my to do list in moderation to help me stay organized, but nothing fancy. I'm not the kind of person who treats the agenda or calendar as a personal scrapbook with stickers and cute things. I enjoy seeing people who do that, but I think it's more important for me to actually doing the projects instead of spending a lot of time planning and decorating my planner.

Story Time with My Son Everyday

My son enjoys sitting on Mommy's lap while Mommy is reading him a story. It's not particularly before bedtime, but I do that quite often. Still, there are days when I forget to do that, so I plan to do that more frequently, because he seems to enjoy having someone read to him.

I notice that my son, Michael, is not one who likes toys. He just plays with whatever things he finds around the house: empty boxes, spoons, Christmas balls, tins, Mommy's pantry things, remote, whatever. He doesn't really care for actual toys. He doesn't have a lot of toys, most of his toys he received as gifts or hand me downs from friends whose children have outgrown their toys, but he doesn't really care for them so we haven't got him any new toys lately. Just some blocks and that's pretty much it. We notice though, that he loves books. He love flipping (and tearing out) free magazines that we got, and he loves the two books that we got him. One in Indonesian language, one in English.

Finding Time to Read Books Again

Reading is my all time favorite hobby. However, changing in less than a year from a thirty-something single career woman who lives alone to a wife, then a mother, with all the grocery shopping, taking care of my husband, my baby, working full time outside the house, cleaning, decorating, blogging, watching YouTube videos, exercising, etc., I rarely read real books anymore. I find myself too tired in the evening to read 'heavy' books. So I plan to block an hour or two during weekends and while Baby Michael is napping, to read books.

I plan to read one self-improvement book, and one light book at the same time, so I won't get bored. This is my current ones that I'm reading.

I read this years ago as a college student, and I want to refresh, because I do act as the CFO of the family, so naturally I'm interested in finance! ^__^

And this romance novel that should be an easy and entertaining reading...

Incorporating family journal into Style N Season blog

I have a family blog, but don't have enough time to manage it properly. I really want to document our lives as a family, not just channeling MY thought and recording MY fashion daily, I want to record US and OUR lives as a family instead of just ME ME ME! So I decided to insert some pictures and short diary of sort into my weekly post and share our family highlights of the week. Let's see how it goes, since I usually schedule my posts way in advance just in case life gets busy.

Let's start with this week.

Last Sunday, after Church, we all went to a nearby mall for Sunday brunch. Hubby was craving for dim sum (sort of Chinese appetizer-like delicacies, usually served for brunch) and grilled duck, so we went to a restaurant called Duck King since we consider it to have the best grilled duck in town. Well, can't you tell from the name? Haha!

Hubby had some hainam rice (sort of spiced rice) and I had porridge. Duck King's porridge is really really good, so I wanted to give Michael some, but he refused and chose his Daddy's hainam rice instead. Perhaps he thought porridge was for babies only, and he is a toddler now, not a baby anymore, hehehe... Here he acted so grown up holding the menu, as if he could read and order straight from it. Michael is a relatively easy toddler. Whenever we take him to a restaurant, he just sits happily on a high chair and entertain himself with menu, spoons, and people watch. We are so blessed.

That particular Sunday was also the first time Michael visited Timezone, a game place extremely popular for children. I thought because he likes cars so much, he would like riding on this toy car. Well, he looked confused, unlike when he rides on a real car, but we would like to try again and see if he got the idea of a toy car next time. Other children seem to like Timezone very much. We don't want Michael to become too attached to such a place, of course. I know some children who refuse to eat unless the parents bribe and take them to Timezone. Frankly we believe more in tested and true, old-fashioned, traditional, conventional ways to raise a child. You know, like the way our parents raised us, and we don't turn so bad afterall, haha! That includes traditional toys and play activities, lke running, jumping, blocks, walking around the neighborhood, making a game with everyday things they have around like spoons, leaves, papers, etc. instead of iPad and video games. However, we also want him to experience what was popular among children his age, or at least got a taste of it, if you know what I mean.

Ow, I took a snapshot of this cute phrase over here. It was from jewelry and diamond exhibition or something. Well, neither Hubby nor I wear diamond wedding rings on our fingers, we don't believe in that kind of marketing campaign that diamond ring is a must if two people want to get married, but I thought the phrase was lovely and inspiring! All marriages have "boiling mad" times, and that's when this phrase needs to jump in. Next time you have a fight with your husband, remember to keep calm because both of you are actually still madly in love no matter how annoyed you two at each other sometimes! That's a reminder for me, too! ^__^

Also, sometime last week, in the evening after tucking Michael in for the night, I reorganized his drawer and closet where I kept his things. I threw away his clothes that had become so worn out they are no longer wearable, and kept away things that are still in relatively good condition in a separate dresser drawer. I kept away his good and rarely used receiving blankets, warm blanket (he refuse to use blanket of any sort), towels, shoes, and other baby supplies that can be reused. I let friends borrow some of his things for their children, but I keep his old but still good clothes for our next baby, if God is willing to bless us with another one.

I'm glad to say that now he has empty spaces in his closet! No more too-tight or too-short shirts and worn-out pants stashed helter-skelter in the drawers! On the next day I went shopping at a baby store near my place and got him several new house shirts and pajamas, all in bigger size. Michael wears XL size now. He's not a baby baby anymore. Time flies! Sometimes I looked at him when he was asleep, so big now compared to just several months ago, and thought to myself: "Gosh! Where did my tiny baby go?"

Here are some of the clothes I got. I don't go crazy when I go shopping, either for myself or for my child, I just got what we needed. Baby clothes are so cute with their cheerful tiny prints and happy colors. Adorable! The store have clothes in characters like Angry Birds and Mickey Mouse, but I prefer to buy classic patterns like little animals, choo-choo, and polkadots. They are not trendy and will be "fashionable" far longer than Angry Bird. Also, somehow, they look more innocent and cute to me, and I want to savor every moment seeing Michael as baby, or semi toddler. Soon he will grow up to be a little boy and would want to choose his own grown-up-like outfits and popular character outfits! I wish boy's clothes were just as cute, but of course, as boys got bigger, their outfits will become more and more manly and not as cute as little girls' clothes! Well, I guess that's OK. Let Mommy wear the cute clothes, and Michael wears manly clothes like Daddy. Haha!

See what I mean? Every time I take a picture of him sleeping, I was like "Where did my Baby Michael go? When did he become so tall?" I know, I know, all Mommies say that, that's kind of annoying, isn't it!

And that's about it! I will check back with you in about several months or so with an update of how my Easter resolutions go. What about sharing your resolutions with me? Let's do this together!

I'm linking up to these wonderful Ladies:

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

We Are That Family: Works For Me Wednesday

Jennifer Dukes Lee: Tell His Story

Thursday

Vodka-Infused Lemonade: Tres-Chic Thursday

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

Friday

Saturday

How Sweet The Sound: Pink Saturday

Six Sisters' Stuff: Strut Your Stuff Saturday Linky Party

Sunday

Monday, April 14, 2014

Pink Daisies In The Midst of Grey: Being A Responsible Citizen

stylish maternity wear, frugal maternity wear, office maternity wear

Last Wednesday was election day in my country, so both Hubby and I stayed home from work to vote. Actually I was too lazy to vote, because I lost faith in politicians anyway, but Hubby gently reminded me that we should be a responsible citizen and vote. Also, the Church advised us to vote. Even if we choose not to vote anyone, people had advised me to just vote more than one party. That would result my vote being annuled, but at least it cannot be used by irresponsible parties.

Politics and election is a dirty business. My husband had moved from his older neighborhood to our current one, so he voted here near our house. Yet, his sister found out that in his old neighborhood, someone claimed to be my husband to vote using his name! By some odd God's interference, that man stood right in front of Hubby's sister so she caught him off guard, interogated him, and he just walked away. We shared through social media, and found out that this case is not rare, it happened a lot for those who moved. Their identity got stolen to double vote. That convinced me even more that I should and must and will vote every single time, starting from now! Every vote counts!

Let's talk about happier subject. After voting, we bought this super delicious, super yummy, fluffy, crusty, croissant like picnic roll, filled with thick slices of ham, cheese and egg. Hmmmmmm... Very good breakfast, perfect for a lazy sunny day! (Though it rained in the afternoon) We stopped by at a neighbor's place, a sweet single woman whom we like so much named Lucy, and gave her two slices of the picnic roll. The loaf consisted of ten slices, Hubby ate four slices in one sitting, I ate two, so we still have more than enough to share for afternoon snacks!

Here's a closer look of this heavenly goodness... See the shredded cheese on top and how thick the filling is? It's very satisfying!

And then we spent the rest of the day playing with our son, Michael. See, he's playing with his favorite toy of the day: Mommy's lunch box. I stopped buying him expensive toys a long time ago, since he prefers to play with the most common daily things he finds around the house: spoon, tins, cans, pots, pans, boxes, remotes, Mommy's purses, Daddy's car keys, etc. Frugal Mommy, frugal baby.

I found these pictures of an outfit I wore when I was nineteen weeks pregnant from a long time ago. I thought I would just post them anyway because they're not doing anything good just sitting idle in my laptop. The wrap skirt, of course, had been refashioned so they would fit my belly. A good thing about wrap skirt on pregnant women, you can just adjust the strap every week according to your waistline. Super easy, super frugal maternity wear. Also, it is still a stylish maternity wear.

Also, you cannot do much when you are pregnant and your belly is protruding and you don't want to spend tons of money on clothes that you will only wear for several months, so I played a lot with accessories. Pregnant women can still be fashionable. I cannot stress this enough.