Marriage: Our Silliest Fights

In 2 months, we are gonna have our wedding anniversary, early March. It will be our first wedding anniversary. Before that, since 2015 is just over. I would like to reflects on it and share some wisdoms.

We had a couple fights but since we are still at the honeymoon stage, mostly they were not serious fights, some of it were actually pretty silly. Let me share the stories with you guys;

1. Husband's Smelly Fart

I have talked about this on my previous post about Things I have to get used to after marriage. His silence yet deadly fart was starting to become a treat in our relationship. Fortunately He doesn't fart as often as me, however that occasionally silence yet deadly fart is hazardous. When he caught in the act, he would just grinned and resume to his activity without feeling guilty. I would probably stormed out of the room, not because I was too upset, I just need to breath cleaner air.

2. Toys R Us vs Toys Kingdom

Lately we have been looking for puzzle and other adult board games. We have been going to Kinokuniya, Periplus, etc looking for jigsaw puzzle and board games. So we decided to check Toys store adjacent to Grand Indonesia's Ace Hardware. Husband said the name is Toys R us and I said Toys Kingdom. We were arguing and the signs says Toys Kingdom. Husband still think it was suppose to be Toys R Us but somehow they changed the name. We had to ask the staff about the name and I was right. So, I won a bet of 50k rupiah. I am too cheap. Sigh.

source: Kontan

3. Where to Eat tonight?

We both are a big Zomato fans

This is probably happens to everyone in relationship. This is some of our silly dialogs;
Me: Where do you want to eat?
Husband: Up to you.
Me: Don't say that. You make it sound like it is always up to me and I didn't give you any option to choose. I always bla bla bla bla bla bla bla...
Husband: Okay..okay. What about Hacienda?
Me: Hmmm don't feel like eating Mexican food tonight.
Husband: What about that Italian place in Kuningan? (-_-")
Me: Hmmmm Italian ya? You know I can only it aglio oglio there. Mostly cheesy and I am lactose intolerant.
Husband: Okay where to then? (-_-") (-_-")
Me: I don't know. You tell me. You get to pick option now.
Husband: What about Indonesian food? (This time should be safe!)
Me: What Indonesian food tho? Padang, Manado, Sundanese, Javanese, Madura, Balinese, etc?
Husband: Padang? (Grrrrr...)
Me: We ate Padang food this morning.
Husband: Manado? (slightly pressing his chest)
Me: Another spicy food after Padang?
Husband: You know what, I am doing fasting today!!!
Me: (Grrrrrrr......) Okay okay we will go eat at Korean restaurant in Senopati ya.
Husband: Okay.

4. Changing My Mind

On the Taxi otw to Korean restaurant;
Me: Actually you know what let's go back to our place, I feel like Indian food from the restaurant near our place.
Husband (Face palm)
Fortunately he is well prepared for all the occasion where I changed my mind immediately.

5. Aqua vs Amidis

Have you heard of Coinage?

For example in Indonesia; Naming all brands of noodles as Sarimi, all brands of tooth paste as Odol. It also happens with mineral water, people tend to call it Aqua but really it refers to lots of brand. Like when you go to restaurant or cafe and orderd for Aqua and instead you got Ades or Nestle.
This really grinds my gear at least for the last one. I am a big fan of Aqua like particular brand of Aqua. And husband is in charge of replenish our mineral water stock on the fridge. Once in a while I would remind him to buy Aqua. But couple days ago he came back with Amidis. So we had argument and for 2 days I keep complaining about how it taste funny while making 'yikes it is gross' face. Finally we run out of that Amidis he bought and he said he had enough of me complaining about Amidis. There won't be any Amidis for us in the future. So, Goodbye Amidis.

6. Husband: Where is my Sarung?

source: Idolabolanews

Sarung or sarong made from fabric batik that can be used as blanket too. Husband got his sarung from my dad. And he loves his sarung so much. Because it was from his father in law when my dad finally accepted him as his son prior to the wedding. Usually he put his sarung in the bottom of the closet. Lately I might have re-arrange the position and he flipped out when he could not find his sarung. I had to call my mom in case we left it there, also I had to ask the lady that does our laundry. All of us look for the magically hidden sarung. After a week of searching for the sarung, finally he found it on the bottom closet behind the matt.

7. Grammar Nazi

source; reshareit

Okay here is the thing, I am not a Native English Speaker. I did take English Literature as my major in university. So, I would say my English was not that bad. I am pretty confident about it. But there are things here and there that I am not so good at. For example the used of idioms, proverbs, filler words, complex grammar, etc. Also the biggest flaw is that I have sundanese tongue which means 'f , p , and v' are basically similar 'p' and we don't have 'sh' , 'ee', 'oo' on our character.
I would say things like;
I. 'Honey we should wash the bed sheet' but sounded like 'Honey we should wash the bed shit.' He had the best laugh on this one.
II. 'Aa is this por me?'
III. 'I want to read Panity Pair.'
I have no problem him fixing ( 'pixing' lol ) my grammar, but when he did while I was upset that was like pouring alcohol into a burning fire.

8. Husband's Uniqlo's Shirt

source: Uniqlo

For a week, husband hasn't seen his favorite Uniqlo's Shirt. He asked me for the shirt whereabout. He asssumes the laundry lady might has it.
We live in sort of studio apartment (kosan..ciye gaya bener ngakunya apartemen) and there are at least 4-5 doors on our floor. He saw Uniqlo shirt hanging on someone's door. The laundry lady usually hangs the clothes on our door. He took the shirt. I insisted it was not his. I clearly remembered that I haven't give it to the laundry lady this week. It has to be somewhere in the closet. We had argument whether or not it was his.
Then I met our neighbor who were complaining to the lady about his missing shirt. Turned out my husband might have 'steal' someone else's Uniqlo's Shirt. I found his at the bottom drawer and we immediately returned the original shirt to its rightful owner. Oooops sorry!!!
9. W'Dank vs Wedang

his fav brand

Recently, husband declares himself as 'Sundanese' after finding out that he loves a lot of Sundanese foods like combro, wedang jahe, bajigur, oncom, tahu sumedang/kuningan/sindangkerta, sambel oncom, nasi tutug oncom, etc. On a trip to Bandung which has become his favorite culinary destination, he has been crazy about bajigur, wedang jahe, and sekoteng.
Before going back to Jakarta, afraid of missing out on his favorite beverages, he went out to look for instant version of wedang, bajigur, etc.
When I asked him what did he buy, he said he bought double yu dank. I was like what the h*** is double yu dank? And he showed me the picture. We were arguing on how to read the brand name. Clearly it is wedang, but the brand trying to be more up to date by writing it in a more popular 'Americanize' name. To this day he still call it double yu dank. I gave up.

Traveling Thirst or Wanderlust

source: 99traveltips.com

Have you ever have this urge? What is your life focus and aim? What is it that you want to do and what is it that you want from life?

Is it stable income, a nice properties, nice car, secure job, security, comfort zone? If that's what you want, traveling hobby might not be for you or even if it is, you have to have the time, big income to spend, secure job with flexible time and so on.

For some people or most people, those are not easy to have or get. 

source: Pinterest

Currently I am facing the same dilemma. I have a secure comfortable job with a good income (for Indonesian who lives in Jakarta), currently saving to move to US and get a house there. But somehow, I was unhappy. Despite the fact that I am working in possibly in one of the best company ever. There is that jittery feeling that keeps wanting to be recognized. It was Traveling Thirst or many people called it Wanderlust.

On the other side, I am in super comfort position right now. Job is fun, boss is great (also my friend), teammates are the best (they are my adorable sisters), salary is pretty good, office is great (free food and stuffs), I have friends over here, family too. But again, I want to experience more. I don't want to live in a cocoon. I wanna see more of the world.

What would I do if I quit the job?

source: Pinterest

I might learn or join a language course of the country that we will visit. Also I want to focus learning programming language as I want to shift my career from Linguist to Computational Linguist.

But, Where to go?

source: 99traveltips.com

I would love to travel around Europe. But budget wise, Asia is a better option for now. Since I will have to quit my job. Also, husband will need to be sure of the internet in places where we are going because he has to work remotely. This is one of the advantage of traveling with him because he can work while travel as long as we are sure the internet connection is good.

We have been back and forth on our decision to pick a place to stay or travel (if we are gonna do it). At first we were so firm on our decision to travel to Seoul, Korea. Since I know the language, i have some friends there, and we both love the foods. But these days, my decision has been shaken by the fact that I have been there 3 times already. I want to try to go to other places. I was thinking Europe before finding out the budget was sky rocket price. Recently today, I was thinking Australia or New Zealand, but then again stuck in budget. India? We were too scared to go there despite India has always been in my heart. Plus I heard internet is not great there and we kinda need fast internet for my husband's work.

Just today, I told my boss that I would quit working to travel. I gave the office one month notice starting from today. I haven't told my teammates nor my friends. They might find out if they read my blogpost soon.

Here is my Pinterest Tab on Travel related stuffs: Wanderlust

Up till now, I still haven't reach my decision on where to go. If you have any suggestion please leave a comment bellow. We are planning to rent a room or cheap studio apartment in places that we visit since we are planning to stay 2-3 months there. A place with good internet and great foods.

Married Life: 10 Things Wife Has To Get Used To

I have posted an article about Married Life: 10 Things My Husband Has To Get Used To and now it is time for my turn.

1. Sock Monster

    I just did packing our suitcase for our trip to South Korea. I asked him how many socks he wants me to put on the suitcase. He said one for each day. Who would change socks one or twice a day? That is insane. I would wear the same socks for at least a week (I am not gross, right!?). So, imagine how many socks he has? Yes, a pile of them. He really is the Sock Monster.

Source: earthfaire.com

2. The Farting Guy

    I might be the farting girl. But I always believe (self claimed) that my fart doesn't smell bad. His fart, on the other hand, has the ability to kill weaker living being like plants. lol. Anyway, we are no longer a shy fart-er.

Source: Mandatory

3. Budgeting

    I used to do budgeting for my monthly allowance too, ever since I was in college. But married couple budgeting is a whole lot different. There is electricity, water, maintenance, apartment rent fee, allowance for hobby, green card fee, honeymoon fee, both of our tax, etc. This is not fun.

Source: nationaldebtrelief.com

4. Mysterious Noise at Night

    Once upon a time, I heard weird noise at night. Krrrrr Krrrr groook grooook. It woke me up from my sleep. Turned out it was my peacefully sleeping hubby snoring away. Originally he doesn't snore. However, after I massively force feeding him with love (uugh so cheesy hehehe), he has gained weight. It is probably affecting his breathing problem now that he has belly. Maybe this is not healthy. Should watch our diet from now on (if I can).

Source: Pinterest

5. Smelly Cheese

    I hate dairy products and most of my friends/families know this. I don't like the smell of milk, yoghurt, cheese, cream, etc. It is a curse really. Now that I am married to half 'bule' guy who loves cheese. It is unavoidable to have cheese on our fridge. Baking soda kinda help with the smell on the fridge. But it is different case when the Mister decided to nom on his cheese. Usually, I will sit at least 1 meter away from him (his cheese).

Source: clubpenguin.wikia.com

6. Whereabout Report

     I really don't mind this. It shows that he actually care when he asked me where I was. The part that I love being married to this guy is that I get to have normal social life. I still go out with my girls till late at night (10pm is my curfew, I am a girl next door). I get to join Meetup's hangout, Couchsurfing's gathering, and other fun events with random people over the internet. He doesn't mind me doing all of this as long as I update him on my whereabout or on what kind of event.

7. Weird Bahasa Indonesia

    He has been learning Bahasa Indonesia for quite some time (I would not say diligently tho). There has been several funny cases when he said the wrong things. I always had a good laugh and would posted it on Path or FB. Sharing is caring right!?

Example:
He mistook 'susu kedelai' (soy milk) as 'susu keledai' (donkey milk). Pretty far huh? lol

8. Ugly T-shirt

    I am not talking about t-shirt with famous rock stars or jersey sport outfit. This is like really really old t-shirt that has changed color. I have thrown away some of it. Wonder why he keeps it. He said it was not for emotional value. He was just too lazy to buy new clothes. Now that he has a wife to buy him clothes (whose also has better fashion sense than him), he doesn't mind if I throw away or give away some of his rugged t-shirts.

9. Clumsy Hubby

    He is not so clumsy. But our place is too small for him and he rarely pay attention to smaller things or to things that was not on his range of vision. So many times, he accidentally kicked a water bottle, entangled his feet on cable, dropped something from the small table. Worse case scenario was when he accidentally kicked the pointy side of the bed on his way to the toilet one night.

10. Overly Initiative Husband

      He is super sweet. But sometimes, he would take initiative on things that was not necessary. I found it cute tho. Like one time, I was sick and I asked him to buy some foods and medicine. He thought buying a flower will make me feel better. So he bought a single red rose and bite the stem to make it look like a cheesy filmy move. It looks really silly with plastic full of foods and medicine on both hand and rose on his lips.

Source: Pinterest
He wants to look like this.

His action was well appreciated of course. Hihihi

No More Bullying

I was a survivor of Bullying and I am proud that I survived it.

Unfortunately not a lot of people get a chance of redemption or live long enough to get through it. Unfortunately every day, there is always someone who died because of bullying.

Thus, I would like to share you my story and hopefully you would share me your stories too. We both can help each other and maybe help others (victim or bullies) to stop more bullying.

When I was in 3rd grade of Elementary School, I was bullied by all the girls in school. Some of them were active bullies and some other either passive bullies or passive bystanders. I was bullied for 3 years from 3rd grade to 5th grade.

There were a lot of things they did to me. Snatching my veil (I used to wear veil) and hanging it on the Flag pole) or throwing it to the well. Some other time (when teacher was not around), they would locked me up in a storage room full of cockroaches and rats. Stole my books or pens and broke it. So many other things that wasn't just physically painful but mostly emotionally painful.

Up to this day, my parents doesn't know about the tragedy. I never told them. Which I should. I just don't really see the point why I should right now. Since I am already okay. But I know I should have told my parents about what happened to me at school.

My teachers, either they genuinely didn't know or they intentionally ignored it. I know for a fact that some people thought what they saw was merely a children fight. They didn't realize that what they saw was bullying.

I made this slideshow below to share information about bullying. I used this slideshow in one of Britzone English Community class.



Hopefully this slide will help people to understand better what bullying is and then will be able to stop bullying. Naive? I can't stop hoping that there will be no more Bullying. Stop bullying!

BritZone: Free English Community in Jakarta

Do you ever wish to increase your English language skill?
Would like to join a class but no budget?
Why not join Britzone for Free English Class?

Look no further, because in Jakarta we have Britzone; English Community that gives free class 3 times a week.

Originally organized by British Embasy (or so I heard) but has separate itself and become a community owned organization.

Britzone has class every Tuesday and Wednesday at 6.30pm to 8pm and Saturday at 11am to 1pm.
Make sure to check their Twitter or Facebook page first, they usually put information on the next class's theme or whether there will be class or not especially on holiday.

Facebook Page: Britzone English Club
Twitter: @BritzoneID
Class: Tusday & Wednesday at 6.30pm-8pm
           Saturday at 11am-1pm

Everyone in the class will have a chance to speak up or conduct a class once you are ready to speak in public. Thus it will increase your English speaking skill. Every tuesday, the theme usually involves around English grammar or known as B-Academy. Wednesday and Saturday class are free sharing/conduct session. Anyone with a specific set of skill and willing to share will be given a chance to share on those days.

Last month (Wednesday class), I gave presentation on the class about Bullying. As a survivor of bullying, I wish to share stories and listen to more stories about bullying. Hopefully by sharing this stories and information, we will be able to decrease the rate of bullying in our country. Let there be no more blood or tear shed because of this.

Video of Britzone

Join Us, Britzone English Community where you can learn&practice your English for free. Check out their Fb page: Britzone English Club. There will be class every Tuesday and Wednesday at 6.30pm-8pm and Saturday at 11am-1pm in Kementerian Pendidikan Nasional's library. If you are native English and feel like sharing your thoughts and wisdoms. Do come over. #Britzone #English #Indonesia #Jakarta #FreeClass #volunteer

A video posted by Suci Brooks (@park_suci) on May 24, 2015 at 4:23am PDT

Do come to the class and get to know Britzone awesome people. Expand your horizon and increase your English Language skill. They will welcome you with love.

PS; Follow My Instagram; @park_suci

Review: Anna Sui La Vie de Boheme

Your Life, Your Passion,  Your Way

Anna Sui Indonesia has sent me one of their perfume product to review. Nope, they didn't pay me to review this product. So, I will let you know what I think about the product.

1. Packaging

I like the packaging (tho it is a bit too girly for some people). When you buy Anna Sui's product, you know you like girly feminine designs that has always been their design and decoration on their products. I am a girly girl, I love the color and designs they picked. It somehow shows a more adult feminine side from the choice of color and the pattern drawn on the packaging. They said the design is called Art Nouveau. Fancy!!!

2. Bottle

The bottle design is truly cute and feminine. Purple matte color for a bottle that shaped like Rose and butterfly lid in a bright gold color.

3. Ingredients

Perfumer, Philippe Romano from DRUM created this perfume from Turkish Rose, Sparkling Pear, Burgundy Berries and some warm woods element. Those names are absolutely fancy. I sprayed it a bit on my skin, I thought I only sprayed it a bit. But the smell was pretty strong. So it is the kind of perfume that you only need to spray a tad bit of it and it will goes along way. Kinda save money for the price they are selling it.

4. La Vie de Bohème in words

This perfume is targeted for Romantic yet Free Spirited Women. It carries a playful spring-summer scent. Portraying a fun yet mysterious character. Easy going yet strong and confident. It smells like a warm flower combined with the fruit scents from the Burgundy Berries. Personally I prefer a breeze of spring scent compare to a warm scent. Tho I don't mind the scent of this perfume either. This makes me feel elegantly feminine.

5. Test

I sprayed it on my clothes and the back of my neck. It stays for quite some time, like around 8 hours or so. Even after I took quick rinse because the weather was quite hot yesterday. I still smell like flower. I probably sprayed too much. Because at first the scent was almost too strong. I sprayed it 3 times on the skin. I guess one or twice here and there should be enough next time.

6. Price

It comes on several sizes and different prices.

75ml       =        Rp.887.000

50ml       =        Rp.690.000

30ml       =        Rp.505.000

Overview: 

I still prefer their La Nuit de Bohème EDT but I will go for this one too.

Review for: La Nuit De Bohéme EDT and EDP

Dessert: 10 Best Places for Dessert in Jakarta

Is there any sugar addict here? Not a big fan of dessert? Maybe you will be after all these list of places with yummy desserts. It won't be on this list if it is not outstanding (to my picky standard). Dessert in the Hotel buffet is not on the list. But there are some hotel buffet that has outstanding desserts too. Honorary mentions: Hotel Mulia and Hotel Ritz Carlton Mega Kuningan.

These are the list;

1. Cacaote
Address:  

Jl. Senopati No. 80, Senopati, Jakarta

Recommended:

Dark Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake (45K Rupiah)

Dark Chocolate with enough sweet for those who has sugar rush needs. ;-p

Beautiful decoration on the cake, crunchy popcorn on the side. Yummmmm

Zomato Review 4.1/5

2. Djournal / Collette&Lola
Address: Grand Indonesia, West Mall, Level GF and Level 3A/4

This is one of my husband's favorite coffee place. He actually made friend with the expert Barista from Europe who worked there. Seems like they share huge love for coffee. Djournal also served desserts from Collette&Lola from level 4. I prefer to eat the dessert here as it won't be as crowded as the new Collette&Lola in level 4 Grand Indonesia.

Recommended:

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Sweet cake with crunchy nutty topping.
Zomato Review 4.0/5

3. Popolamama
Address: Grand Indonesia, Food District, Level 3A/4

This is actually a pasta related food restaurants. Their desserts are limited. But I have to put it on the list as their 'Hazelnut Dark Chocolate' taste really really really good.
Recommended: Who am I kidding!? It has to be the Hazelnut Dark Chocolate

Ahhhhhh yummmm... I want some of this again. The smooth chocolate glazed, crumbly chocolate cake inside, and nutty hazelnut creates a heavenly taste on my mouth.

Zomato Review 3.8/5

4. Ganesha Ek Sanskriti
Address: Center Park Building, BRI II, Lantai 9, Jl. Jenderal Sudirman

Not to many people know that Indian has a lot of variety of sweets and desserts. It might not look as fancy as European pastry, but it sure doesn't disappoint my taste bud. Surely different style and different decoration on the desserts too, yet as delicious as the fancy pastry.
Recommended: Try the mix Sweets Combo

I forgot the name of these desserts. I only remember Ladoo, the round one on the right bottom. 
Zomato Review 3.9/5

5. Chureria
Address: Grand Indonesia, West Mall, Level UG

Recommended: Churros Classic with Dark Chocolate dip is my go to menu. But everything with churros won't be a let down. Oh btw, I think they serve the best churros in Indonesia.
Try their Churros Filling, 3 different fillings on 1 plate (coffee, peanut butter, chocolate)

Churros Filling

Churros Fondue

If only they served the hot fondue instead of the cold one. This fondue will be even better.
Zomato Review 3.9/5

6. J-Co Donut
Every where.
I got to say, I prefer J-Co compare to the other 2 competitors. J-Co has more variety for flavors. Their beverages taste great too.
Since Cronut (Croissant Donut) became trend in Indonesia, their cronut has been my all time favorite.

Recommended:

Chocolava

My favorite flavor; Chocolava. Crunchy and not to sweet, also has a salty croissant pastry flavor.

Tira Miss U

Zomato Review 3.7/5

7. Bakerzin
Address: Plaza Senayan Level 2

Recommended:
Ahhh tooo many to mention. Love their Blackforrest Macaroon. Can't find this flavor anywhere else. Trust me, I tried.

Napoleon Cake, husband's all time favorite

Zomato Review 4.0/5

8. Monolog
Address: Plaza Senayan, parking lot

I like this all day breakfast place. They have several awesome breakfast menus and they opened really early too. 

Recommended:

I forgot the name of this menu. But this chewy nutty donut was really yummy. There is also Oreo Chocolate cake. Unfortunately I forgot where did the picture go. I might ate the cake before taking any picture.

Zomato Review 4.0

9. Jittlada
Address: Senayan City, Level LG

There might not be chocolate nor milk involved on their dessert, but Thailand dessert is definitely not any less than other desserts too.

Recommended:

Mango and Sticky Rice with Coconut Milk Topping

Classic yet almost always sold out. Unfortunately this is seasonal dessert. We can only get it during mango season.

Durian Ice Cream

Zomato Review 3.7/5

10. T.W.G Tea Salon&Boutique
Address: Plaza Senayan, Level 1

TWG is a fancy place for high tea. Their place decoration always looks fancy and high class. So did their dessert.

Recommended:
Macaroon Series
No picture yet. Will be uploaded soon.

Zomato Review 4.2/5

Arranging Your Own Wedding

Intimate Wedding attended by family, close friends that won't rob your bank account and leave it dry? It is indeed possible to have that. These were my list of things I did to get my own cheap intimate wedding in Jakarta on March 2015. Hopefully this list will also be useful for your future wedding plan. Beware: Bridezilla moment might appear once in a while during those arrangements.

1. Plan, Plan, Plan
2. Hire Your Bride's Maids
3. Book Venue
4. Catering
5. Invitation
6. Confirmation
7. Print Out
8. Bachelorette Night
9. Rehearsal
10. Happy Wedding!!!!

1. Plan, Plan, Plan
Nothing will work well without the proper planning. Obviously you can't skip this step. Plan where do you wanna get married or whether you only want to have the party there or the ceremony too. Plan your date of the wedding (best to pick holiday or weekend). Plan the theme for your wedding. Plan what kind of food do you want to serve on the wedding party. Plan everything ahead of time.

2. Hire Your Bride's Maids
I know as Indonesian we rarely do this western tradition. However, when you are planning your on wedding and arranging it yourself, you are gonna need a solid group of besties helping you out. I hired 3 of my besties to be my bride's maids. You can have your own unique way on hiring them. For me, I was just inviting them over for dinner and bribing them with the food. So they would have difficult time saying 'no'. hehehe

My solid Bride's Maids Team

3. Book Venue
It is wise to decided what kind of theme do you want for the party first. Then find out what kind of place that will best suite the theme. My theme was Bollywood, so I picked Indian Restaurant (Amaya Resto in Gambir) for the venue. Bear in mind having different venue and catering will cost a lot more. So, try to get a venue that serves food too. If you book your venue in the restaurant, you will only have to pay for the food (at least some awesome and nice restaurant won't let you pay for the place too). Make sure to have back up plan. I checked 3 different venues before deciding on one that able to accommodate my needs and agree on our terms.

4. Catering
Make sure you already know how many people will come to your wedding. If you are going to invite 50 people, at least double up the amount. For me, I invited 70 people and booked catering for 100 people. If the restaurant already has buffet menu, that will be easier to choose. But it could be cheaper to actually break down your own menu and discuss the price with the venue/caterer.

5. Invitation
Online invitation is a lot cheaper (could be free) compare to print out invitation. But, doesn't mean it has to be tacky. Nowadays there are a lot of online invitation available on the internet. Just google one that you like. I got my design from this website. They will let you send invitation for free for a certain amount of invitations. If your guest list is more than that, you can bought the coins (needed to send the invitation) for a cheaper price. What I love about this website is that they let you contact your guest to their email address and once they confirmed their attendance, you are gonna get informed from the guest list information.
You can also post your online invitation on your social media long before the date.

Post on Path

Post on Instagram

6. Confirmation
Urge your guest to answer your invitation. Either talk to them personally, text them or asked your bride's maids to do it for you. The website will let you share the guest list with your co-hosts (bride's maids) and it will be easier for your bride's maid to contact them for confirmation. How awesome right!?
Once you got the number of guest that will come, you can let the venue/caterer knows about it. You can change the amount of the food served if there is major change on your guest list.

7. Print Out
Just because you have your invitation online, doesn't mean you don't have to print out anything.

Print this out on smaller size and hand it over to your guest with your wedding trinkets (could be candy or any accessories)

Asked your guest to take pictures during your party and post it online with your chosen hashtag. It will save money on photographer and some friends will actually come bringing fancy DSLR camera.

Bigger size, put it on the Guest Greeter Table along with the Guest Signed Book

Creative way for your Guest Signed Book, instead of signing it asked them to put their thumb print on it

 Print this papers on a thick paper. It doesn't have to be as thick as invitation card. But at least don't use a thin A4 paper. PaperOne A4 80gr or 100gr is suitable for color printing. If you can print this in the office. It will save money too..hehehe
For a better idea, You can check pinterest on Wedding hashtag. They have lots of cool ideas.
My signed book is a thumbprint pics. My bride's maid would provide the guest with 4 different colors of choice on the table and the guest could put their finger on the paint and planted the thumbprint on the printed out picture (like a balloon).
My other bride's maid would take a picture of the guest and their plus one using polaroid camera. Then they could signed the photo and it would goes to our guest album.

I want all my guests to dance to Bollywood Music

8. Bachelorette Night
Forget about the Wedding and go mad with your bride's maids. Let them plan your awesome bachelorette night.

9. Rehearsal
Let your bride's maids check out the place the night before. Enjoy your last night as a single lady. Let them takes care of it. Unless, you are like (micro managing person).

10. Happy Wedding you!
Prepared yourself for the big event. Get your hair done in hair spa salon. Wear the dress of your choice. Pampered yourself in a classic simple make up. Enjoy your party too. You earn it. Happy Wedding darling ^_^

Other tips:
1. Share your budgeting plan with your partner using Google Drive Doc. It will be easy to open anywhere even when you are not together with your partner or when he is away from you.
2. Write all your plan on Evernote or Google Doc and share it with your bride's maids.
3. Try to use Google Hangout group for a video chat with your bride's maids when you couldn't find a good time to meet to plan things out.
4. Activate your social media to post about your wedding invitation or save the date picture.
5. Don't forget to give tips to those waitress working on the venue that day.
6. Make sure to get an appointment with hairdresser or make up artist long before the D day.
7. Calm yourself because there will be times when you change into bridehulk/bridezilla when things didn't go well as you plan it.
8. Hire your friends as MC for the event. (They will want to do it for free as a gift for your wedding day ;-p )
9. Have a karaoke in the venue. You will be surprised by how many of your friends can actually sing.
10. Don't lose yourself and completely forget about your soon to be husband. Get yourself a date with him.

Review: Moroccan Bath at Spa and Beyond

Groupon's Voucher Pic

My bestie texted me on Whatsapp telling me she found a good deal for spa treatment in Senopati area. She told me their description of Moroccan Bath sounds nice and appealing. So we decided to go there last Sunday.

Here is where you can find the link for the voucher Groupon

The owner of Spa and Beyond used to be a stewardess with a frequent flight to Morocco. She heard a lot about the bath and spa treatment there and after learned and experienced it herself, she decided to open one in here. 

All the ingredients they used here are originally coming from Morocco. I assume the owner's husband, who is a pilot with a frequent flight to Morocco, is the one who bought all the ingredients.

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bathrobe and one-time-only underwear

 They put me and my friend in the same room. So, we were about to elevate our friendship level to a more intimate one..lol

2 Massage beds with personal shower head attached to the bed

I took the red robe and picked the bed right next to the bathtub. I love their decoration. The room is pretty small but decent for 2 persons treatment. They also play nice relaxing musics that helps us concentrating on our spa experience. Obviously, we ignored that and instead started chitchatting about the recent gossip.

Equipments and Ingredients

The first thing they would do is asking you to get on your robe and moved to a steam room. There will be a small (one person only) steam box thingy. We were supposed to be steamed for 15 minutes. I gave up after 10 minutes. It was to hot for me. The lady said I have red mark on my skin because the steam was too hot for my (ehmmm) delicate skin.

2nd, they will put the black moroccan soap on your body and scrub it down. Then they will clean it up with warm water from the shower head.
3rd, they will rub volcanoes mud on your body and leave you to relax for about 10 minutes, so the mud will settled in nicely.
After they clean the mud, they put the expensive Argan oil right before they massage your body. I got tickled easily. The lady jumped with surprise when I almost kicked her when she tickled (massaged) my feet's palm.
The last treatment would be milk bath. The lady throw some milk powder onto a warm water on the bathtub. Wish they would use real milk in a liquid consistency or more generous amount of the powder at least. It was barely milky.

Eventually we even shared a bathtub relaxation, milk bath

I guess it will be a better experience if I was there with my newly wedded husband, instead of my best friend hehehe

I like the result when I get glistening and glowing moisturized skin. It doesn't leave me with any significant scent at all. Was hoping they will lit the flower candle that I saw earlier. Turned out it was just for decoration. I definitely would like some flowery or fruity after scent on my skin. 

The voucher that I bought was Rp.170.000 (originally Rp.560.000). Slightly too expensive for the original price. They did using a lot of imported products tho. Don't worry if you don't have the voucher because they have 50% promotion till June 2015.

Massage bed for other Spa Treatment

Overview;
Place: 8 (small but, clean, cute, and decent)
Service: 9 (polite and very helpful)
Treatment: 8
Price: 7 (slightly too expensive)

Bonus, picture of us after the treatment, sosialita sandal jepit