Hot Cocho

Enjoy our cloudy Sunday, watching football, made pancake for breakfast, my daughter had long bath in the afternoon and we both had hot cocho...ymmmm!...and her dad enjoyed his lemonade and pumpkin pie...

Job

Dear Lord, if there's job outside there for me, please give me your light...Amen.

Wednesday Activities

Went to Post Office, with Grace and Mrs. Strawberry, so proud of my daughter who waiting on line patiently, ...it's the season of sending package in America, every Post Offices are busy. Then stopped by at Library....the weather was cold, dry about 40F...Sweater, Scarf, Jacket, boots...sometimes took time to go out in the cold weather...Thank you Lord, we're felt warm inside the car..

Advent The Third Week

Spirit of Joy, let your word be in my mind and strengthen my heart. Amen.

Happy Thanksgiving

proud of myself, arranging

our Thanksgiving dinner

by myself, and that lovely

flower's from my mom in-law

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holiday since I live in America, I told you yesterday that today on Thanksgiving Day, it's the 1st time that we didn't go outside town, fight the traffic to eat a 'turkey'..well to be exact a piece of turkey...ha..ha..it's because my hubby's health issue.

I'm working until Wednesday night, making 'cranberry fruit salad' then continued Thursday morning, made pumpkin pie while returning call to my friend in Kentucky, then making stuffing, which I made it with dried cranberry, ...(cranberry agaaaain!!..), and mya old day whole wheat bread, then this was the favorite part, I made 'candid yam' for the 1st time, usually I just enjoyed the yam made by my mother in-law. It's a bit tiring, but it's such a pleasure to me, to keep the tradition going especially for my daugther, Grace.

By the way, my turkey was store bought, roasted by Safeway, the supermarket in the neigborhood,..which surprisingly it's yuum!...and it's only about a quarter of a whole turkey, so I won't have to many leftover.

Thanks to my mom in-law who stopped by, and brought some of her famous 'devil's egg' and two slices of her home-made pumpkin pie....sooo delicious!...Happy Thanksgiving Day, everyone..:)

Grace spells the 'thanksgiving day'..:)

Thanksgiving Prep

This gonna be the 1st time of Thanksgiving celebration where we're not going to our big family outside town, we're just gonna stay at home, avoid the big traffic, rain, wind. So, today I did some do-ahead meal like 'Cranberry Fruit Salad'..while taking care of my daughter, and thanks to kids program that today on PBS there's 'Curious George' the movie, which on and on so that my three year-old stay still enjoyed it. I plan to make thanksgiving dinner but in mini version, I already have cooked turkey, so am gonna make hearthy pumpkin pie, stuffing and sweet potato, I decided not to make mashed potato, which is usualy is kinda meal that always on the table during Thanksgiving.

Pile of maple leaves still growing outside our place, the storm that we had recently, made it hard for the blower guy (my daughter and I called them 'blower guy' to those guys who take care of our apartment complex) to clean those up, beside they might wait until the weather at least calm down to rid off all those leaves.

Grace took a pic of me

after the storm.

Grace with grandma

before their playdate.

First Pigtails

This is the 1st time, Grace was okay when I made two ponytail ha..ha...but only a couple of minutes, then she asked me to take off those hair accessories....

Brazilian Conditioner

Recommended by Cindy, my friend at Walgreens, I tried this 'brazilian keratin therapy' conditioner, which is smells like heaven. I really like the cocoa butter 'fragrance'..last longer than other 'flavor'...am not trying to be like 'commercial' on tivi, but I feel like a million...trust me!!..

Well, one day I didn't get to bed until 11 p.m. ..of course it's because my three year-old had late nap causing going to bed late, and I woke up in the morning with stiff neck!...I decided don't want to get 'stress' that day, so I started the day (after Grace glued on one cartoon on tivi)..washing my hair, and than not bad at all...finished that day with smile and grateful to God.

my shiny and glowing hair..ha..ha..sorry

the picture is a little bit too dark.

Meet Mrs. Strawberry

She's not a fancy car, well compared to what Taylor Lautner's car,..Mercedes Benz..bla...bla...with fancy doors,...but she's one of my best friend. I named it 'Mrs. Strawberry' simply because it's color...and sounds simple to me, and my 3 years old daughter can say it in a funny way..'Mrs..Stlawbellly'...!...ha..ha..!

My Birthday Prayer

Me, on our wonderful cruise to Alaska

Thank you God for wonderful life, with ups and downs. Thank you for great parents who I love so much, they taught me how to face the problems, they taught me how to become a good parents, May my mom and dad have a peaceful place with You in Heaven. And May You always give me lights to understand all Your plans. Ameen.

Count Your Blessings

I try to do that everyday, grateful to whatever I have....I believe that God always have a good reason, when things don't happen like we want.

I feel today it's start become 'cold' day,..it's actually 56F ...(well according to Yahoo Weather..:)),...we walked together (me, my husband and Grace)...as we walk slowly, I prayed in my heart, hope next year at same time and date, we'll walk together again as a family.

Many times, we don't appreciate or we don't treasure our times with our family. Watching news recently about Amanda Knox, she finally touched down back to US soil, after 4 years in Italian prison for something that she never done that,....(I believe that she's innocent)....yesterday on TV, I saw that actually she's a lucky girl, surrounded by families, who love her so much, who did everything until she came back home safely. ...What a story. Thank you God for the times that you give to me and my family, I hope a miracle so that we can always walk together, to worship You together, to do many many things together. Ameen

we're at Glacier Bay, Alaska

one of the beautiful place on earth.

Not Sunny Sunday

Drove to supermarket in our neighborhood today, we saw pile of pumpkins in a variety of sizes, too bad, I didn't bring my camera to capture that. And the temperature was cool. Love to feel the Fall season's coming.
I spent morning by cleaning up some of Grace's toys, and Grace was kind enough to help me, then we thought we did 'Cha Cha' Dance, before we take shower and go to do little grocery shopping with her daddy too.

Cha Cha Dance, Grace n mommy..:)

Welcome Autumn

Hari ini angin kerasa dech, kuenceng banget!...Fall (Autumn) udah resmi dimulai tanggal 22 September, kemaren sich masih uenak, warm, anget, keluar cuma pake shortsleeves shirt, celana pendek,...weleh, lha koq hari ini tgl 25 nich!..dah mulai!..pohon maple depan rumah sich blom gugur gugur amat daun-daunya,...tapi cedar needles, udah kayak rontok semua dech!...

Welcome Fall, I always like it,...all the brown color...the halloween and harvest decorations...Praise the Lord for the beautiful season.

the maple tree close to our place

still has most of green leaves

but a bit starting to yellow.

According To God

..been days not blogging, busy taking care of my hubby and my tot,...Thank you God and so grateful that you gives me strength,..May you give us light, let us walk out from this darkness, I hope miracle everyday...every minutes.
I try never to panic, I'm a relax person ...but how to cope with unexpected..?..that's really need 'skill' and the most important, rely on God, believe in Him...

Monday





bahan-bahan untuk membuat gudeg
dan sambal goreng kerecek..
all ingredients to make 'gudeg and its friend'...

hardware untuk bikin gudeg: slow cooker
dan food proccesor
kitchen aid to make gudeg, slow cooker
and food proccessor

 a couple of hours later
I enjoyed one of my fave
Indonesian dish.

S.O.T.D (Status Of The Day)
Agenda Hari ini..:..bikin gudeg komplet pake sambal goreng kerecek..he..he..lagi craving gudeg nich!

My Monday:...laundry day and making Indonesian cuisine, Gudeg and 'its friend'....

Mary Poppins

S.O.T.D (Status Of The Day)
Watching DVD of Mary Poppins with my daughter as a bribe so that she will have lunch...with noddle....:).
My hubby and I love Mary Poppins, a classic movie that always cheer us up!...
It's raining, nothing we can do, can't go to the park, and Grace woke up at 7:15 this morning, so much energy, then she went to nap ..late...at 2:15...ooh dear!...

watching Mary Poppins

Summer Style

I'm trying to spend quality time with my kid, and my husband too..and I guess I did a good job about it, but I also remind myself of how important to have time for myself, to review me, especially about 'fashion' since I always not a 'girly girl' ...do I always in my sweat peants, sweat shirt..?, or shortpants with worn out ugly t-shirt...LoL...
Recently, I 'discovered' myself, digging out all my collections..well to be exact ...I cleaned up my closet, because I need too, because we're about to go for vacation....and I really have a 'bad attitude' about 'fashion'....always confuse, always think that I don't have 'enough' outfit for certain occasion,......woman...!!:)
But the more I read 'People Style Watch'...the more I know that actually I have plenty enough to travel arround this lovely earth...it's just I need to convince myself to be 'myself'...and keep reminding myself....(too many 'myself'....LoL..!)..that other people in the other world even struggle how to get food, don't know what to eat today, don't know if they can eat today...(..somalia...is on...)...so stop complaining about 'fashion'....be simple...(and elegant...). After all we're in our groove (of summer)...May God Bless our Summer.

College Time

I missed the college reunion in my hometown, Solo, Central Java, Indonesia...it held in March 2011, I wish I was there, chatting and laughing with my college friends, I hope when I visit my hometown, I can meet some of them.

.J'ai manqué la réunion collégiale dans ma ville natale, Solo, Java central, Indonésie ... il a tenu en Mars 2011, je souhaite que j'étais là, à bavarder et à rire avec mes amis de collège, je l'espère, quand je visite ma ville natale, je peux répondre à certains d'entre eux.

Je souhaite que je pouvais revenir en arrière, retour à mon temps de collège, de fixer quelque chose, à dire quelque chose que je dois le dire, à une personne spéciale qui remplis mon cœur joie....

4th Of July

The Long weekend was good, we went to Best Buy on Saturday to buy new 'web-cam',..thanks to my hubby, he was concern that I need to chat with my nieces and it's important that Grace can see their faces too...LoL. I also went on capri sport shopping spree, at TJ Maxx, I got 'Reebok' on gray...love it, only $12 instead of the real price $34. Looking forward to using it, going to the park and jogging with my pair of Nike.
On Sunday, we went to 'Northwest Trek'...a kinda park similar 'Safari' where we go out to see wild animal with 'tram'...Grace called it 'bus'....It was sudden idea of my hubby, when we had pillow talk in the morning, while Grace still sleeping....it's a quiet experience for us, especially for Grace who's more interested with the 'tram' than pay attention to those animals, probably because she get used to encounter wild animals at the zoo and close enough to gase them.
And we spent a gorgeous afternoon at grandma's lovely backyard, sun bathing, eating healthy food (I hope 'hot dog' with wiener without nitrit and nitrat was categorized 'good food'....and only Grace who ate that...!),..the rest of us eating sugar snap peas, potato salad, orange chicken glazed, grandma's brownies, raw carrot, raw broccoli, raw celery, green grapes with some dips for the raw veggies....and the next day was all about left over, I had left over burger with thin bun, hot dogs, ribs...yay...a couple days without cooking....God Bless America!...

watching 'F16 air show'

watching mooses with daddy from the 'tram'

The Tram....

getting new bubble maker

from grandma

..At The End Of June

Time is flying and here we are at the end of June, and tomorrow July 1st, my daughter, Grace will turn to 34 months, it's hard to believe that she will be three years old in just two months, with ups and down as a mom, with more and more challenging....
And yesterday was tough for me, she melted down, crying, screaming tried to create her own rule, I put her in her bed so that she can have 'time out' but then she peed on her pants,...(she already well potty trained during day time)....the previous moment was, she refused 'rice' that I already prepared, which was happend in the ceramic bowl..(my fault)...then she slapped the bowl, the bowl broken and rice spreaded out every where on our hardwood floor....aaaaarghhhh!!...
And communication is challenging with our children because we do not often speak in the same language, I applied the lesson I learned from my daughter to my relationship.

Dream House

June for me is mark of 'one year blogging', I don't know if someday I decide not to continue it, because of some reasons, but it's okay to not put this in stress situation, infact it's a place where I can coordinate my fingers and my brain and just say something and not worry if someone out there will read this or not....'right?

We haven't visit swimming pool at our apartment complex, the weather sometimes not warm enough to do sun bathing. So Grace an I haven't worn our bathing suit since the beginning of summer...(funny thing,..my sweetie pie said 'bathing soup' instead of bathing suit..)

Starting this mid June, we are officially house hunting, after we have Grace, things change, we are looking a house with backyard or backyard and front yard, so that Grace can running arround, planting apple tree or cherry tree, or hiding some rocks....LoL...Thank you for my husband for this 'idea' and May God Bless Us, finding the right house. Ameen.

Today am 'officially' sleep deprive again, after last night my little miss muffet went to bed at 10:15 and woke up at 1:40's and woke up early at 5:03....fhhhh...aaarrrh....and with my hormonal situation.....created light headache....whooo whooo!...I wish I could be in Legian Beach, Bali right now, enjoying the hot sands and not worry become tan!...

Summer Cleaning

Bersih bersih rumah rasanya ga abis abis dech!!..adaa aja!, dari kamar tidur, bathrooms, dapur, waah..penginnya import satu 'Inem' dari kampung halaman-ku, apa daya...si Inem ga bisa di pack,...makanya aku pake akal nich, dalam sehari aku tentuin, bagian mana yang harus dibersihin, kalo ga gitu ya, bisa gempor tangan ama kaki..apalagi kalo lagi bersihin satu ruangan atau tempat, musti nunggu dulu anakku tidur siang, kalo ngga pas dia nonton tivi, jadi ga ada gangguan gitu....
Tapi puas juga kalo liat kamar atau ruangan bersih, ga ada clutter,.rasanya tuch kayak abis bikin PR sekolah dulu...lega ...ga...!...
Spring atau Summer Cleaning emang kayak udah tradisi di Amrik, mungkin karena temperature hangat ya, jadi enak aja, keluar masuk rumah, trus buangin barang barang yang udah ga kepake. Yang namanya Garage Sale bertebaran dech di neighborhood-ku, tinggal telaten apa nggak gitu, nyari barang murah meriah tapi bener bener kepake. Jangan beli yang ga penting dan perlu, ntar bikin clutter baru lagi...nach loe!...
Jadwal ke park juga makin sering aja nich, ...seringnya aku ajak anakku sebelum lunch dan sebelum nap time, kalo nggak ya aku sengaja bawa bekal lunch jadi bisa makan siang di park, ntar tinggal pulang dan nap aja...

visit Library

Udah aku rancang juga some activities yang bisa buat anakku enggak nonton tivi mlulu,...yang nempel nempel stickers di cardboard lhah, nggambar, melukis, main bola, nanam bunga, pergi ke library tiap hari Jumat....and so on. Kita udah punya jadwal Summer Holiday, tapi nanti masih sekitar akhir Agustus, karena anakku blom masuk pre-school jadi kita ga terbentur jadwal masuk sekolah, yang disini nich biasanya pada balik lagi ke sekolah biasanya setelah libur Labor Day awal September yang tahun ini jatuh tanggal 5 September.

Father's Day

It's lovely day, it's not sunny though, but we spent the day by going to church then, the greate world dad...of Grace watching golf on tivi and me and Grace took a nap peacefully.
Happy Father's Day to all dads, ....God Bless

Joy Of Spring

The Spring actually almost over, June 21st will be the official day starts of Summer Season, but it's happy and enjoy to see all the flowers bloom, these pictures taken from my mother in-law's backyard, it's amazing that couple weeks ago all still dry because of winter...now turned to green and colorful...

We enjoy the sun and got some vitamin D...LoL,..it's true we need that, and Grace enjoyed alot watered all the plants...

But, it has been 'sleepy' day for me, recently, because my little girl, woke up at least 2 times at for three days in a row, leaving  me like a zombie in the morning,..she might 'in growing' season too, like all those pretty flowers....but I thank God everyday because she's such a healthy little girl.

helping grandma unfold

the sun chair

Happy June

It's unofficially Summer,...still cold in Western Washington, even yesterday was a windy day, but the forecast calls for a wonderful weekend, yippy!...it will reach 76F, am a bit jealous to my friend who live in Kentucky, she said, they had triple digits the other day, not that I want triple digits too, but wearing shortpants inside home,..not outside..!! ....it's just made me even more and more remembering 'Bali' and its sunny beaches...
Grace has been sleeping through the night lately, that's so nice, I got extra snooze in the morning. Recently when Grace couldn't find one of her stuff, she would say..'Somebody took it!!..LoL....turned out according to my sister that one of her daughters often say the same thing.....oh dear, cousin...cousin!...Happy June everybody..!

My Sweet Little Grace

It's June, and it's hard to believe that 33 months ago I gave birth to my daughter, Grace. She's as sweet as can be, she's a healthy toddler now, playing, learning, watching TV..(thing that I hope she doesn't do much)..and she talk more and more, and I'm blessed that we can enjoy one-on-one time everyday, there's nothing sweeter!... That's the good thing as a stay at home mom, I think, well at least now, until I don't know if I need to go out and get to work. I thought that if I don't have to get busy in the kitchen and if I could just always buy 'take out' meal, I might have more and more quality time with her...!..but I need to cook healthy food for my family....I felt guilty when she called me from the living room while I was doing some errands, all she wants to do is 'playing together with mommy'...sometimes I jealous with my hubby, because when he gets home, he played alot with Grace and it's so fun....but I am happy watching them play alot. Thank you God and bless us with more and more time to spend with our daughter!.

Grace, 6 months old

happy with her 'baby' doll

Our Fave Place To Eat...

Clamps Strip..hhmm!

This Memorial Day weekend, we decided to have 'staycation'...lazy Saturday, long nap on Sunday and Monday...LoL...when I used to work in my country before I got marriage, I like to have my 'me' vacation on Monday, felt sooo relax...
Hari Senin kemaren tanggal 30 Mei, di Amrik sini adalah 'Memorial Day'..itu lho kayak 'Hari Pahlawan' kalo di Indo, jadinya libur nasional...my hubby penginnya ngajak kemana gitu, but for some reasons kita putusin untuk tidak ke luar kota, istirahat, tidur siang, bermain dengan Grace. ..relaks gitu lho!..
One of our favorite place to eat in Tacoma is 'Steamer', is kinda Seafood fastfood, very close to the Bay, and when we got lucky like we had on Sunday, we can have a seat close to the window looking over the Bay and the famous Tacoma Narrow Bridge...
Salah satu tempat favorite kita buat makan tuch resto deket Bay namanya 'Steamer'...kayak Seafood resto gitu, tempatnya ngga besar tapi selalu rame, kalo pas beruntung kita bisa dapet tempat duduk ngadep jendela kaca, bisa liat Bay and jembatan Narrow yang terkenal itu (terkenal disini dech...LoL)

Saturday - Sabtu-ku

Ga tau kenapa kalo hari Sabtu datang itu koq pasti bawaan 'santaaai' banget..!...padahal aku ya ngga kerja, tapi ya jadi ibu rumah tangga itu khan ya profesional job juga, lagian biasanya sich hari Sabtu aku nggak masak jadi ya mungkin itu 'santai' menurut versi-ku. Apalagi kalo di rumah berdua sama my lovely daughter, karena hubby's doing trip...yang 'di urus'  cuma satu...jadi ya itu tadi 'santai' lagi!..:)
It's Saturday again, and I love it..!..eventhough am not a working mom, don't know why every Saturday I feel like the world spinning slowly...LoL...I like when my hubby at home, but he needs to go on one day trip, so here I am with my little girl...:)
Kalo my little girl udah tidur siang gini ya, mulai lhah ibu-nya 'kumat' utak atik internet, melototin...eeeh ya, photo disebelah ini 'gaya tidur' ibu ibu yang kadang bangun tengah malam karena 'dibangunin' anakku..he..he..jadi kalo semakin hari menjelang pagi itu rasanya malah semakin pules...sebelum akhirnya di oprak oprak sama my tot...
And when my tot is taking a nap, her mommy starts doing this and that with internet...by the way, picture in the left is 'me'...it's my 'sleeping style' early morning, especially when I woke up in the middle of the night, I felt morning nap is really 'enjoying'..

My Favorite Day

Mother's Day sudah berlalu,..ini termasuk salah satu favorite day sejak aku tinggal di Amrik sini, rasanya orang orang disini membuat 'hari ibu' ini such a 'big deal'...aku tidak tau ya, mungkin karena disini kebanyakan ibu ibu terutama yang tinggal di rumah kayak aku ini bener bener kerja sendiri, ngurus rumah, ngurus suami dan ngurus anak, ngga ada pembokat bersliweran...bener bener 'Nginem and Ngoshin' (minjem istilah-nya my cousin..he..he..) emang sich bisa juga kalo kita pengin 'date' ama suami kita bisa hire baby sitter buat jaga anak kita, berhubung aku punya mom in-law yang tinggalnya berdekatan jadi ya kadang kita titipin ke beliau kalo aku and hubby ada keperluan berdua.
Photo sebelah ini bunga rose yang aku dapat waktu makan bersama pas hari ibu bareng keluarga suamiku, semua ladies dikasih bunga mawar ini sebagai penghargaan....
Mother's Day is over...It’s my favorite day for many reasons. The obvious is first; being a mother is my greatest life achievement. But it’s also a day when being selfish is allowed and hearing thank you is to be expected. Every mother knows we don’t hear that often enough. I like the yellow rose that I got from the Italian restaurant where me and my husband's family went for mother's day dinner, I felt appreciated by having that rose and the most important was what my husband and daughter did to me, they gave me a special gift, I went to Spa Massage last weekend so that I could be relax and enjoy my 'me' time...my daughter, of course she still have no clue about 'mother's day' but I can feel that she appreciate me because I always play 'tag' with her and let my back as a 'horse back'....playing is important for her right now and I'm making memories that playing with her parents especially her mother will always be a precious time...!

Mother's Day

Mother's day celebrated on second Sunday every May, in America. I was amazed of how people in here really have 'celebration' well of course not always same in every family. To me, this is 'normal' as being a mother in here is really a 'big job'...the terms of 'maid' never available in here except if you are top busy celebrity who works outside home all the time and need amount of times to prepare your appearance, and then you have money to pay someone who can take care of your child at home. I'm just like most stay at home moms out there with one toddler who's not in school yet, so, am full time mom (an wife LoL!..).
I like the tradition in my husband family every mother's day, we celebrate by having brunch or dinner together. The last two years we had it in Seattle and this year, my mother in-law decided to have it in Tacoma continued with walk and have fun together at The Chambers Bay Golf Course which will be the place for 2015 US Open.

me (5 years old) and my beloved mom

Grace, my tot, was really behave, am so proud of her, she had dinner peacefully, eating bacon and some biscuit without gravy and dessert.

And last but not least, I remember my own mother, a woman who taught me a lot to be a 'woman', she had given me unconditional love and taught me how to give it to my own family. I wish you still alive mom, so that you can she your little girl now having 'a little adorable girl'....

The mommies and Grace

@Chambers Bay Golf Course, Washington