My first hand-made bag

This is the other reason why I'm so busy lately :).


This is my very first sewing machine. And this is my very first hand made totte bag (NOTE: I NEVER touched a sewing machine before in my life!)



It could be extended





And could be shortened



Tell me what do you think? :p

I gave it to Aki-chan this afternoon (^_^)

HUGE suprise

We were supposed to have dinner with Aki, Nayon, and Yukiko (with the kids, of course) last Tuesday. But I got my jaw dropped when I entered the reserved room at the restaurant. There were almost all my friends from the swimming club sitting around the long table with wide smiles. And two of our swimming instructors were also there. What a HUGE surprise!! I was so touched and couldn't help not to cry.

There were 11 mothers, 1 father (Hiro), 2 sensei, and 10 children coming over: Nao-kun, Rio-kun, Genki-kun, Kenta-kun, Fuuka-chan, Mari-chan, Takahiro-kun, Mitsuki-kun, Hanon-chan, Amin-chan, Kano-chan, Mori Sensei and Enomoto Sensei. Too bad Kenshin-kun (Nayon's son) got fever that he couldn't join us....I've never been eating in such a CROWDED restaurant hahaha



It was an Okonomiyaki restaurant, so here are some of the food we enjoyed. I couldn't take photo of the complete set because I was too busy chatting around, drinking, and laughing :p



Not all the mothers could join the dinner until the end. Some kids were too tired, and some were sleepy already. These were the leftover drunk mommies!!! It was my first time drinking with a lot of mothers. It was really fun, trust me. The topic went smoothly from kids matter, to job matter, until vulgar stuffs hahahaha. Amazingly those drunk mothers still could ride bicycles home!!



Aki-chan and Nayon-chan arranged everything........my two bestfriends. Thank you sooo much. This really meant a lot to me. I definitely will not forget this friendship forever.

I found this note, written by Nayon as I got home and opened the gifts they gave me. Touching.....Thank you!!!!!!!!!!

Farewell at Surabaya

Last Sunday we had farewell lunch with Nova, Kiyo, Benny, and Mbak Maria (no Rui this time...). As Nova's request, I searched for a good Indonesian restaurant and got this "Surabaya Restaurant" recommended by a Japanese friend. There are some of its branches in Tokyo, but I chose the one at Urawa area so that Nova and Benny won't travel too far from their place.

The restaurant was surprisingly big, located inside PARCO department store, and decorated in Indonesian traditional style. It was full of people too, which made us amazed hahaha. We never thought that Indonesian food is popular here :p

As the name of restaurant is "SURABAYA", we expected some Surabaya's food on the menu list and quite dissapointed to see none. Or perhaps Sop Kikil, Nasi Bebek, Pecel Lele, Tahu Tek Tek, Rujak Cingur and Lontong Balap are not representative enough?! :(

This Martabak tasted really good! Too bad one portion only consisted of 4 pieces of martabak (>.<)



We ordered Sate Kambing as requested by Mbak Maria. To my surprise, Iki loved it too and ate two (@_@). I didn't eat any, so I couldn't say anything about it. But looking at Iki eating it greedily, and how Mbak Maria loved it; it must be really good. We should have ordered more!!!



Tumis Kangkung there was specifically recommended menu from my Japanese friend, so I ordered it too. And it satisfied us. The kangkung was crunchy and tasty. Hmmm I can't wait to have full access of Kangkung in Indonesia soon hahaha. I love it, and will definitely cook my favourite Kangkung Rica-rica a.s.a.p ;-)



This pepes Ikan was quite dissapointing. Nobody knew that it was pepes from it's appearance. No banana leaves. I think they should rename it to "Ikan bumbu kuning" instead!!! The taste was not bad though....really....we just missed the banana leaf smell :)



We love this Ayam Goreng Serundeng. The chicken's meat was soft with crunchy skin. It came with enormous amount of Serundeng topping. Iki loved it too :p



We ordered this Mie ayam for the kids actually, but they couldn't finish it because the portion was huge. I only ate a little and for me the taste was standard. I prefer Pak SALAM's mie ayam hahaha



And this is the blast for me. Sambal goreng tongkol. It was really spicy as I requested, but it was really really delicious. I was glad I ordered it at the last minute!!!! It reminded me of Ikan Cakalang Rica from Manado. God, my mouth is watering now (@_@)



I ordered juice Jambu (guava juice) for my drink and glad with the taste. It was not too sweet but not too sour too. Perfect.



For dessert I ordered Tapioka in palm sugar and coconut juice with ice cream and cream as topping. It tasted really really good. Not too sweet that I could finish it till its last drop!



Iki enjoyed playing with Kiyo a lot. Too bad they couldn't meet and play again (_ _).



Poor Benny had to take care of the two naughty kids :p. Thanks a lot, Ben (^_-)



I still got the chance to walk around the department store with Mbak Maria after Nova, Benny and Kiyo went back home. Thanks a lot to accompany me, Mbak! (And thanks for the starbucks hehehe)

I felt so lonely and sad when we ride the train back home. Oh how I hate farewells and goodbyes (_ _o)



Thanks a lot for the gifts too!!!! We love them (^_^)

Papa-chan is here (^_^)

Papa-chan is back here today. We were all very happy to have him around, especially Iki. At first he was shy, surprisingly. Happy but shy, so he kept talking and showed his father some toys but refused to look at him in the eyes :p

His presence is a great help for me. I could have a nap this afternoon, alone, while he took Iki out for a walk. And tonight after two months, we have "complete" Japanese dinner again in our house (^_-)



From now on, we will always be together!

BAH!

My husband is coming in 30 minutes. Been missing him the whole two months....but just found out that I got my period (>.<).

Grrhhhh!

FAT (>.<)

I enjoyed myself a little bit too much lately. I meet my friends everyday, which means I eat good food with high calorie cakes as dessert everyday! I failed to meet my own target, how sad...... :(



I was so shock when I saw this photo this evening. Look at me. How would I meet Hiro TOMORROW MORNING with THOSE big fat hands!?!?!?!?!?!? huuuuuuuuuuu (T_T). So scared..........

Couldn't sleep tonight (@_@)

(and how would I wear bikini next week with all this blubbering stomach?!)

Surprisingly lonely

Iki-chan lately could sleep by himself. I just have to read him story and have little talking of what happened today. After that I just kissed him good night and he would fall asleep.

I should be happy, I thought I was. He's getting independent but he DOES NOT need me anymore!!

Usually after he's asleep, I lay down beside him and hug him. I scrub his stomach, like he always wanted me to since he was a baby. A month ago he still needed my hands on his stomach to put him into sleep!



Somewhat, I feel lonely. Surprisingly :p

Surprise from Aussie

One day our bell rang and we found this postman standing in front of our door hugging a big box. I was not expecting any package so I was a bit puzzled, mostly because there was no sender's information written on the box (it was an internet shopping-like box).

Anyway Iki is always excited to see any package coming, so he asked me to open it in a minute. I found cute small T-shirt (must be for Iki!), and mug. With a small card written that those nice goodies were from Intan and Ameera!!!!!!!! Intan once asked my address but I totally forgot about it so it was really really a nice surprise.

Iki loves the T-shirt. He wore it that night sleeping, and insisted to wear it also again the next day.



He also claimed the cute mug (@_@). He said: "Ameera gave Iki, this cup very very kakkoii!". He uses it every time during his meal time now. If I forgot, he would remind me: "mama, kakkoi cup, please" :p.



Thank you sooooo much. We just know each other from this blogging world, but I know that you are my best friend, Intan!!! We don't have to meet in person (yet), but we FREELY shared our life and thoughts.

Thank you :)

P-Wosh's cafe

P-Wosh is the sport center where we join the baby's swimming class. It has a small cafe downstair where we usually have lunch together with my friends after swimming.

This is my favourite menu there: Yakiniku Pilaf. Pilaf of roasted beef with chopped Kimchi. I fell in love at the first bite, and always order it whenever I have lunch there (been tried other menu too, but this Yakiniku Pilaf was the best!)



And these are my best buddies, Nayoun-chan and Aki-chan. Oh how I actually hate blurring my memory photos like this :(. But Japanese just do not like publicity (>.<)



Last Tuesday we had this big group of kids and mommies having lunch together there: Iki, Sakurako, Kenshin, Hanon, and Takahiro (with the mommies), but we were just too busy handling our wild kids that none of us remembered to take any photos :(

I know in the future it would be quite impossible to have all of us eating together at this cafe again (I'm moving to Indonesia, Aki to Saitama, and Nayoun to Hongkong). But this small cafe will always be a piece of my memory.

A day at Roponggi (again :p)

I went to Roponggi again, with Aki-chan and Nayoun-chan. This time during weekday so I couldn't leave Iki with my grandparents. Nayoun left her son with her parents, but Aki and I put our kids at a day care center for 500 yen (about 5 USD) per hour. It was my first time leaving Iki there!! And it was for a whole day already (8 hours). I had to write Iki's name on all his belongings, and labelled all his clothes using these cute name labels which only needed ironing.



I had to prepare his lunch box too. But because I woke up late that day, all the plan to make cute bear onigiri was ruined :p. Poor Iki (>.<). I was down when Aki-chan told me she prepared "Anpanman shape" obento for her daughter...



We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant at Roponggi Hill, which was a bit dissapointing. But we forgot it as soon as we walked around the whole building, jumped from one shop to another to satisfy our shopping needs hahahaha

Until then we got really tired and decided to sit and have some sweets, which also took like 15 minutes walking around because we didn't want to be dissapointed again :p. And indeed, this chocolate cake was really satisfying. It was so chocolaty yet was not sweet. Perfect with a tall glass of ice cafe au lait.



And this miniature of Tokyo Tower was our snack time view. Never been to the real Tokyo Tower (because Hiro doesn't want to!), but at least I could have a slice of tasty chocolate cake sitting in front of its miniature with my best friends hahaha

Farewell with Misao

We met her early this month. An early farewell actually, but it was the ONLY day I could meet her before I leave next month. A day before she just got back from her holiday in Thailand, and on the next day after we met she left Japan to Brazil for about a month. We knew each other from a friend finder web community, and have been friends for about 5-6 years now. Whenever I got the chance to come to Japan, I would meet her (IF she's not out of the country -she is VERY mobile!).



As promised I brought Iki this time. Which made that farewell a tiring lunch. What else? my boy behaved so badly (_ _!).

We had lunch at a Vietnam restaurant inside Tobu Department Store, Ikebukuro. I had Vietnam Curry lunch set, and was really dissapointed with the Curry. It tasted like water!!!! Yelow water which had curry smell, blah!



But the Pho was a blast. It was really really delicious, and I was sure would even be more delicious if they gave us chilli for taste (^_-). The spring roll was also very nice. That beautifully wrapped fresh vegetables and boiled shrimp surprisingly gave me a unique taste. Especially when it was dipped into the sweet and (a little bit) spicy sauce.
And Iki loved the red rice!! It tasted like normal Japanese red rice for me, though ;-)



It was a nice farewell afterall (^__^). I do hope to meet her again when I come back here!

Our house

Just got this from Hiro yesterday. We are moving in there next month!
Honestly, it's far from my expectation (see this post), but somewhat I just can't wait to live there together. The three of us :p



I'm busy, very very busy now. Couldn't even find any time for cutting my nail (>.<). So little time, so much to do (and so much to tell here too!!!). 2 weeks only left until papa-chan's arrival.....

Please excuse me of not being able to visit all of your blogs :(. I will, I promise. As soon as I'm done with this packing thing.

September

So it's September already!! how time flies away......

The last month living in this apartment. Would really be a busy - and hopefully exciting month :p.

Today I checked my schedule for the coming weeks, and surprised to see that the whole month is almost "fully booked". I seriously must spare some time for an effective packing within three weeks before Hiro's coming on the 22nd. Which according to my calender: "only 5 days are remain free"!!!! (>.<)



I'm crossing my fingers now.

What a photo could say

What do I think about my new Olympus E420?
DIFFICULT!!!! hahaha

I'm an amateur (_ _o). This is my first DSLR camera. I spent these two nights reading the manuals and trying to take pictures. I took like 50 pictures, and only three of them satisfied me :p

Here they are:

What a photo could say

Please take a look and tell me what you think.

I still must continue reading the manual (>.<). I didn't think that taking pictures could be THAT complicated hahaha

New baby :p

I just brought home my new baby:

Olympus E-420 (^____^)



It is the smallest and lightest among its competitors: Nikon D60, and Canon 450 D. Canon 450D looked really gorgeous but heavy, Nikon D60 was nice but big. I found that Olympus E420 fitted my hands the most. I felt so comfortable holding it. So at last my own hands chose the very right one, and I am so satisfied!!

The battery is still being recharged now so I couldn't "play" with it yet. 5 hours is just too much for waiting!! (>.<)

But I just got a huge HUGE shock. This baby is 60 USD cheaper at amazon.jp!!!! (>.<)
I checked last night and was sure it was not that cheap! oh well....what was the matter with my head!

Shocked..........

H.E.L.P

I'm about to buy my very first DSLR camera......ASAP!!!

I am an amateur so I want an entry level and user friendly one.
I "love" something small, so size does matter too. I want the smallest available one :p

My searched narrowed to Nikon D60 and Canon Rebel XSi (450D). Both are entry level DLSR and are the smallest among their brands.

This blog made a good personal comparison between both cameras I am interested in. The comments also gave me better view about them. But reading it made me even more confused. I like both of them and can't decide which one to buy (>.<)

Does anyone know something about those cameras? Any opinion? I want to go to Akihabara this weekend (^_-)

Today

So this morning I called my friends and invited them to come here to help me finishing the cheese cake :p. Lady in Red, if you're my neighbor, you definitely will be invited hahaha

They stayed here until 6 p.m and we had so much fun. Iki also enjoyed playing with his friends: Kenshin, Hanon, and Sakurako.



Besides my cheese cake, my friends also brought here lots of snacks and drinks. One of them is this Japanese sweet (hmm mizu manju?? - i forgot the name!). I usually don't really like Japanese sweets with Anko (sweet red bean paste) filling, but this one was somewhat "different".



Iki was tired so he slept earlier today, at 9:30 p.m. And as wished yesterday, indeed I am feeling much better today (^__^). Off to bed now. I'll also have an early good night sleep today.

Night night...zzzzz....

Angry

I was very very very VERY angry to Iki the whole day today that I couldn't breath (seriously!!!). He drove me nuts. Whatever he did, he blew me out.

I was angry the most when he refused to clean up his toys. He brought ALL his toys from his room, and spread them all over the living room. I couldn't find any space to walk, got lots of accidents stepping on the sharp edges tiny toys. And by the end of the day he just said: "This is too much, I can not clean. I'm too tired and sleepy".

WHAT?!?!?!

And I was angry during eating time too, and bath time, and brushing teeth time, during shopping, while doing my house chores too. I was even mad at him when I put him into sleep. I was literally ANGRY for the whole day that I got my head really hot.

After he slept at 10.15 pm. I sat alone on my kitchen's floor. Tired and sad. Sad when I remembered him saying "gomen ne, mama" (sorry, mama) while kissing my forehead in front of the bathroom (although 10 minutes afterward he drove me nuts again!). I don't want to shout at him like what I did (a lot of times!) today. I don't want to make him cry like I did (also a lot of times) today. But I just couldn't control my anger. Even after he slept, I still had "black aura energy" inside my chest, ready to burst out anytime.

I needed to do something to calm myself down. So I stood up and checked what I had in the refrigerator.

I ended up baking this cheese cake in the middle of the night!!!



And I feel "light" afterwards (^__^).
Hopefully tomorrow will be better :p

Armpits hair (#_#)

Allright, this is an embarassing topic!!

I love wearing tank tops, but I have this irritating problem with my armpits. They were so hairy (in the winter hehehe), so I started to shave them again as I joined Baby Swimming Club by the end of last winter. The thing is, the more I shaved it, the more those disgusting little black hair would appear. Until it came to the point when I had to shave them twice a day!!! Which was really disturbing - I must bring a razor in my bag just in case those hair started to appear again during tea time gathering with my friends!!!! (>.<)

I tried waxing, it was PAINFUL but didn't work for tiny hair. Then now I'm using a tweezer and spend like 15 minutes every morning to pull the hair one by one. OK, it could be cleaned, but now my armpit skin looks like a non-hairy chicken's skin!!!! I guess it is because of this tweezing thing? Even worse, because there are "newborn" hair that still couldn't be pulled out by the tweezer, the skin looks like chicken's skin with black dots (T_T). I am so helpless. I couldn't lift my hands freely now for I worried someone would see my disgusting armpits' skin (which I think they did see...). I lost my self confidence..... (don't give me an idea of wearing clothes that covers my armpits, because I couldn't bear long slevees, and short sleeves still show my armpits! :p)

I am thinking to remove these hair permanently, using laser treatment, for example. I searched for some info on the net just to find out that the treatment will need like 4-8 times treatments over a year. Which is impossible because I'm moving out of Japan early October...... :( Then I found an info about this epilator. It is an electrical device used to remove hair by mechanically grasping multiple hairs simultaneously and pulling them out. The way in which epilators pull out hair is similar to waxing (though unlike waxing, it only pulls out hairs, it doesn't remove dead skin cells too). Source: Wikipedia.



I am interested so I googled more about it. The reviews on the net are promising. They said that that thing really works, even for a super tiny hair. This blog made such a good description about that epilator.



But I just don't know......should I try that thing? I feel like I want to try ANYTHING possible to clean my armpits :(

Weekend with In-laws

My mother in laws said a lot of times that she wanted to see Iki swimming so last Saturday I asked them to go to Toshimaen, an amusement park that also has swimming pools. It was hot, but well, this is Summer, and this is the only season such public swimming pool is opened here. I thought they would enjoy, but she suffered from the heat, complained a lot (_ _;), and didn't even go nearby the pool at all....!



But anyway Iki enjoyed it. He loves swimming, so he showed his grandfather off a bit of his ability (^_^). He enjoyed the human-made waves there too. He screamed excitedly everytime the wave coming towards him. For him it was the first wave he ever experienced, because previously he didn't want to step onto the beach's sand :p.



Everyone ordered Ramen for lunch, which according to my parents in laws didn't taste good. But for a ramen lover like me, it didn't taste bad. I ate two portions to show them that I really enjoyed the ramen hahaha.



The entrance fee was expensive, but I couldn't stand the complaints so we went back early. Which was a good decision because then it was raining. We went to Tobu department store then. My parents in laws don't like my fashion style so they did a bit make over. They said that my clothes are too casual, and my mother in law doesn't like me wearing tank tops that shows my bras hahahaha. hey...!! This is summer, for God's sake! I love tank tops and Hiro said it's OK!!! (>.<). I let them buying me some clothes, anyway. They had to pay like 500 USD for 4 blouses. Well, that's the price of trying to "change" me :p

We spent the whole Sunday at my sister in laws' place. Iki really enjoyed playing with his cousins. I enjoyed spending time with my sister in laws' family. I also had a bit shopping with her, which surprised my mother in laws. Another tank top?!?! :p

Only 6 more weekends only left. I'll try to make them happy playing with Iki for the coming 6 weekends (^_^)