Showing posts with label Autumn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Autumn. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Day 3 in Alabama (Shopping in Bridge Street Mall)

First picture in Bridge Street Mall
Day 3 was not as cold as the first day I was there. But it was still kinda cold and breezy, so I decided to wear a sweater and a tribal pant that I bought online from BerryBenka. 
Outfit of The Day
Not sure what I was doing, pretty sure I was not dancing here.
We decided to go to Bridge Street Mall that day. Bf would like to show me to one of their best mall in town. the concept of the mall is kinda unique. It is an outdoor mall, kinda reminds me of Ciwalk Outdoor Mall in Bandung. 


The view of Bridge Street Mall
Bridge Street has it is own man-made lake with a carrousel for kids. I was really tempted to try the carrousel/ Marry-Go-Round but the mothers waiting for their kids would be staring at me. So, I just took a picture around the lake and the carrousel.
A view of the lake and the carrousel just behind H&M store.
Loving the boots, I left the boots in Madison tho
I was pretty lucky that day because H&M was having a 70% crazy sale. I got 2 dresses each for only $5 or Rp.60.000. It was lucky buy. Usually I would spend around RP.300.000-400.000 for only one dress from H&M. I bought a lot of nail polish for gifts too.
Bought Lipstick that I was using in this picture (purple)

However, I found out that the price in Sephora was not really as cheap as I thought it would be. It is actually pretty close to the one in Singapore. I have never tried the one in Jakarta, So I couldn't compare yet.

The Wishing Fountain
After walking around the mall, Bf showed me a fountain. He said almost in every water fountain in America, people usually make a wish. Oh wow, that is actually a great idea to attract more customers (possibly teen girls). You are, of course, not obligated to throw a coin and make a wish. But I found out that all the coins they got will be given as a charity, so i decided to join the wishing act.


full of coins 
Make a Wish
I went to Candy Store, I forgot the name. Kinda different than Singapore Candy Factory. They only sells American candies here. In Singapore, they also sells other countries candies and snacks like Ovomaltine products (that I loooove so much). But I was very impressed with their Jelly Beans section and those funny remarks on candy case. Unfortunately I was too immersed on all of that, that I forgot to take pictures (sorry guys).
Candies that I bought
The most famous Salt Water Taffy.
That candy case cracked me up. Oh I forgot to bring back one of the lip balm back to Indonesia :-(
Bought this for my 2 college besties.
We went to check out Cinema in Bridge Street, the name is Monaco Pictures. It looks pretty good actually. It has its own bar on the first floor and VIP lounge room on the 2nd floor. Seems like I will have to try the Cinema once I am there again next year.


After Bridge Street, we went to eat Indian food. Unfortunately it was such a let down. Everything was too milky. I know a lot of Indian cuisine use milk as their main ingredients. But usually since they also use a lot of spices, it will overpower the milky taste. It was not the way I expected to be. It was too milky for my taste, I didn't like my meal at all. I am actually thinking not coming back, but I will probably come back to give them a 2nd chance. Hopefully their Biryani taste better next time.


Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Musim Gugur dan Kisah Menyeramkan

Danau Guntersville
Sesungguhnya tidak terpikirkan oleh saya untuk menorehkan kisah ini dalam blog saya. bukan karena penggunaan Bahasa Indonesia, yang berbeda dari biasanya ketika saya menulis untuk blog ini. Bagi pembaca setia saya, teman-teman pasti tahu bahasa pilihan saya untuk blog ini adalah Bahasa Inggris. Tapi ketika saya hendak menuliskan kisah ini, saya pilih penggunaan Bahasa Indonesia karena kekuatan bahasa ini sy anggap dapat merepresentasikan apa yang ingin sy ceritakan.

Minggu malam sy dan pasangan berkendara sekitar pukul 12 malam dari Gulf Shore menuju Guntersville. Perjalanan dimulai dari jam 3 siang dan 12 malam kita sudah hampir sampai ke Guntersville. Rumah di Guntersville adalah rumah yg kemungkinan besar akan kami tinggali selepas kami menikah nanti.

Malam itu, udara musim gugur lebih terasa dari hari-hari biasanya. Ketika jendela mobil sy buka, dinginnya udara malam menusuk kulit sy. Seketika sy tutup lagi jendela mobil dan tak lama kemudian perjalanan kami dihiasi kabut tebal. Hal ini mengingatkan sy akan film "The Mist" yg merupakan karya penulis Horror handal, yakni Stephen King.

Jalanan kosong selain mobil kita. Memang biasanya malam musim gugur jauh lebih sepi dari musim panas dan semi dikarenakan udara semakin mendingin. Kadang kami berpapasan dengan satu atau dua mobil lainnya, tapi tidak banyak.

Perasaan sy sudah tidak enak. Tapi sy tidak utarakan pada pasangan, karena pasangan sy bukan orang asli Indonesia. Dia tidak percaya tahayul maupun kisah mistis. Bulu tengkuk sy berdiri setiap kabut semakin menebal. Sy pun khawatir karena jalanan semakin sulit dilihat.

Jalanan menuju rumah yg akan kami tempati harus melewati banyak pepohonan dan hutan. Rumah tersebut memang dibangung di sekitar Danau Guntersville. Lingkungannya masih asri dan dikelilingi hutan, bahkan rusa pun masih berkeliaran. 
Jalanan kecil menuju Rumah (diambil esok hari-nya)
Kami pun sampai tidak lama kemudian. Rumah yg kami tinggali berukuran sangat mungil dengan dua kamar dan satu kamar mandi. Ruang duduk dan dapur menyatu. Semua dekorasi dalam rumah terlihat sangat menawan dan membuat sy nyaman. Sy merasa lega seketika sy sampai di rumah ini. Tidak ada aura yang tidak mengenakan dalam rumah ini, yg membuat sy tidak nyaman adalah perjalanan menuju rumah ini.

Rumah kecil yang kami tempati di Guntersville
Pemandangan Musim Gugur dalam perjalanan kami.
Esok harinya sekitar pukul 5 sore menjelang maghrib, selepas memasak dan makan malam yg dipercepat, kami memutuskan untuk berjalan-jalan di sekitaran hutan-hutan kecil dan pondok-pondok terpencil di sekitar danau. Sy puas rumah kecil kami terletak di sekeliling banyak rumah lainnya. Tetapi pondok-pondok yg sy lewati nampak seperti pondok sunyi dan terpencil. Walaupun belakang rumah kami dihiasi pohon-pohon dari hutan kecil.

Kami melewati perkemahan atau biasa disebut Girl Scout's Camp Site. Saat itu Camp sangat kosong dan sepi. Mungkin musim gugur yg dingin bukan musim yg tepat untuk berkemah. Saya melihat ada beberapa ayunan kecil dan perosotan yang nampak sudah lama tak digunakan. Angin sepoy mengayunkan satu atau dua ayunan tersebut. Sy segera merapatkan diri ke pasangan sy. Angin dingin seakan meniup tengkuk sy. Sy pun menyegerakan pasangan untuk berjalan lebih cepat agar kami tidak terlalu lama di lokasi tersebut. Perasaan sy dihiasi banyak bayangan aneh dan mungkin ini hanya paranoia sy semata. Karena sudah terbukti teman-teman sy yg katanya dapat melihat dan merasa, bahwa sy ini cukup tumpul. Sy sih cukup berbahagia dianggap tumpul dalam hal Indera keenam. Tidak terima kasih, sy tak mau melihat atau merasakan hal-hal tersebut.
Rumah burung di Camp Site, bahkan burung pun tak ada.
Tempat bermain yang telah ditinggalkan. Lihat ayunannya tengah berayun..mungkin angin, pemandangan danau dapat dilihat sedikit dari arah pepohonan.
Suara anjing menyalak kencang ketika kami melewati rumah kecil di dekat danau. Sy ketakutan dan pasangan mencoba menutupi badan sy dari anjing yang hendak mendekati kami. Kemudian pemilik si anjing keluar dari pondok dan memanggil si anjing. Kami meneriakan ucapan terima kasih, si orang tua tersebut hanya melihat kami dan melambaikan tangan menyuruh kami meninggalkan propertinya. Dia terlihat seperti pria tua kesepian tapi galak dan tidak ramah.
Pondok kecil milik Pria tua dan anjing galaknya

Kami pun menyegerakan langkah kami menuju hutan-hutan kecil agar memotong jalan kembali ke rumah.



Semakin dekat menuju rumah kami, sy meminta pasangan untuk mengambil beberapa photo sy untuk menunjukan hutan-hutan kecil di atas bukit yang menuju rumah kami.
Sy agak ketakutan ketika mendengar suara-suara, mungkin hanya pine jatuh dr pohon atau rusa dan kelinci bergerak.


Rasanya, mungkin photo ini cukup menggambarkan ketakutan-ketakutan yg kerap sy rasakan.


Pohon sudah mulai berganti warna


Pasangan sy menyemangati untuk berjalan lebih cepat bila kami ingin sampai rumah sebelum malam menyeruak.
Perjalanan kami yang hanya sekitar satu jam itu, memberi sy banyak cerita dan inspirasi film Horror. Sy banyak teringat lokasi-lokasi pembuatan film Horror seperti pada film The Conjuring, Amtyville Horror, dan lain-lain. Sy pikir, sy ingin berbagi ketakutan sy dengan pembaca. Semoga foto-foto yg sy upload ini dapat memperkaya imaginasi teman-teman. Hati-hati tidur nanti malam, jangan sampai memimpikan mahluk yg hidup di dalam hutan sana.

Selamat menikmati.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Trip to Alabama; Day 1


After 30 hours of flight from Jakarta to Narita to Houston (Texas) and arrived in Huntsville (Alabama), I got to meet my LDR boyfriend and his family. I arrived there around midnight time, so I didn't get to chat a lot with his family that first night. I went to sleep immediately eventho thanks to Jetlag, I can only sleep till around 3a.m and stay awake the rest of the night.


the room I slept in
On my first day there, his mom invited a lot of people to come to the house on lunch time. She wanted to introduce me to everyone, so I won't feel lonely next time I move there for good. I think they really wanted me to move there. They tried so hard to make me feel comfortable there. it was very nice of them.

Right before lunch time, I took several pictures outside of the house because it was a very bright day, despite the cold weather.


Happy face

First Selfie in America

The shy selfie mode

Windy Morning
I met with their nice neighbor, super friendly. He said he was also invited to the lunch gathering later on the afternoon with his partner. 

They both came to the house for lunch with a lot of other people from the neighborhood, and mom's friend from the Fitness Center.
They were all nice and so kind. They all welcomed me. Some of them were actually bringing gifts specially for me. An Ethiopian lady brought me a red rose bouquet, she is so lovely. The neighbor guy's partner brought me 2 travel size pouches with travel size make up stuffs from American Eagle brand, his place of work.

There were plenty of foods in the house that day, from American foods to Indonesian foods. The most popular one that day was the gado-gado (salad with peanut sauce, Indonesian style) and emping (Indonesian Melinjo cracker). Glad a lot of people here also appreciate Indonesian food.

I was surprised to actually find Indonesian foods all the way there in US. His mom, being Indonesian, might be the ultimate cause of that..lol

The only think that I was somehow suddenly craving for is bakso (Indonesian Meatball soup), since it was pretty cold that day. I could totally imagine hot spicy bakso. I am still craving bakso up till now. There is no way babang/mamang bakso will pass through the neighborhood with his food cart. 

Conclusion:
1. I love taking pictures
2. Everyone is super nice
3. We have Indonesian foods in America
4. I got jetlag
5. I miss bakso
6. Autumn is pretty cold for my equator skin.
Helping out with the Gado-Gado

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Anna Sui Perfume Launching Event


16th October, a day before I had to go to the States, I went to Anna Sui Perfume Launching Event. It was a very fancy looking perfume and EDT. They launched 2 types of perfume, the black one and the gold one. They both looking gorgeous.

Who would have thought that a carefree Bohemian could also look stunningly gorgeous, luxurious, and classy. They nailed it. I was actually wasn't convince that Bohemian carefree spirit can come out as classy style too. But I am glad I was proven wrong.

1. Anna Sui La Nuit De Bohème EDT (Eau De Toilette) Gold
La Nuit de Bohème Eau de Toilette – A wonderful, magical miracle of the night.
Contains:

It smells like a fresh start. A smell that will remind you of fresh scented flower and morning dews. The flowery scented morning buds of summer fading away and welcoming the autumn. Cold and warm in the same time. Very girly and definitely suit my taste. I love this kind of romantic scented perfume or EDT. It suits my character very well. And for your information, I am not even a Bohemian. My character is a girly, sweet, ambitious girl. To think that I have high ambition, the black one might suited me better. But, I came from countryside, the smell of this EDT just reminds me a lot of my hometown. It brings back a lot of good memories when I was a kid and playing in rice fields, waterfall, flower gardens, etc.

2. Anna Sui La Nuit De Bohème EDP (Eau De Parfum) Black
La Nuit de Bohème Eau de Parfum – Dep, mysterious, and magnetic.
Contains:

Like I told you before, this perfume also suits the ambitious side of me. Still have a little hint of subtle carefree and mysterious sexiness too. It is suitable for night out with girls, a flirtatious adventure with a very good looking stranger, a sexy weekend after a long hard week, a naughty role playing side of you, and many more enchanting events.

This black series also contains a little bit of the rare 'black rose'. I was impressed. I know how rare is black rose and I have never ever laid eyes on it too. The smell of strong sexiness was come out as the result of all these ingredients. 

If you are interested in these 2 perfume, you can get it available in Metro Department Store for these prices:

Prices :

Ana Sui La Nuit De Boheme 75ml :Rp. 975.00,- 
Ana Sui La Nuit De Boheme 50ml :Rp. 760.00,- 
Ana Sui La Nuit De Boheme 30ml :Rp. 55.00,- 

Some pictures from the launching event.
In the process of creating Flower Head

Had a big flower head made with the help of the flower arrangement guy.

The big flower head

smelling sample

samples

Gold and Black Beauty

A man getting a card reading.