Refuse to Grow

You start to feel not too excited about your birthdays. And you avoid relationship because you are afraid of the scary and hurtful tolls it may bring. And you start to care about your weight (too much), and grey hair and mortgage and savings. Play-dough can no longer be your stress remedy and when you want to watch cartoon movies in theater you feel like you have to bring an alibi. 
You have to come up with reasons and justifications in most of the decisions you make. Your life falls apart, you went through break-ups, divorce, and being pushed to start dating again. You build your confidence back and hide things from your family because you want them to see you just fine. Perfectly fine. Crawl into your parents bed? Pffft.. you cannot do that.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich? You only devour them at home because you worry people at work will raise their eyebrow, not too sure whether they think you were ridiculous or that they just spotted the most genius pairing of food ever. You are not sure. You always are. Not only about those people and PBJ sandwich, but in most things in life. Not sure if your singing is beautiful, not sure if your boss like you, not sure if you are making the right move, not sure if the guy you met is into you or not. 

You care too much about what people think, in every.single.thing. Even when it comes to what you are wearing, and if you were just like any normal kid back in the day, you would not.

You cannot take naps and you regret the fact that you used to hate them. You start taking more than 1 health plan. 
You have that stinging urge to always be making sense, and to look normal and to always have a purpose (even when you feel like you actually don’t). 
You are afraid to be crazy imaginative... You mean, what would people think?.

Now you know. Why Peter Pan did not want to grow up.

Now you get him.

Piccsy

UP's Love

The quote may seem too romantic for me but I am here to admit that I will always have a special place for Pixar's UP!

Piccsy

Three's a Charm; Best hang and convo

Here's another post for our Three's a Charm feature that seems to be often forgotten. This time, pictures of people (and pet) I always love to hang and to converse with. Of course there are other sweethearts but I will save them for another day.

My sister Benevolent

My baby lab Marilyn. She.gets.me :)

My bestie (esp. when it comes to culinary trip) Ria

Awesome Monday: Awesome Girl on Fire

Just to try on a new twist on my regular Awesome Monday feature, I am posting a video from one talented lady. I am in a serious need of energy booster and this song really helps.

Hope everyone's having a flaming week. Happy Monday!

You are not flawless. And that's perfect.

I asked a few friends this question: What is the one flaw that you would not want to change about yourself?
Here are their brave and witty answers.

Y.A: My full of freckles face. I look like Pippi Longstocking but I do not care. It makes me special, people often stare at me but they will smile at the end realizing that these dots are just making my face looks super friendly. And I really am, a friendly person. I guess all people with freckles are.

P.M: Only my left ear is functioning. Or, yea... I am half-deaf. But because of that, I concentrate more, pay more attention when people talk to me. I really listen...and understand. And people like that. Obviously.

E.R: I have a thin-close to transparent line in between behaving like a lady and acting like a douche because I curse all the f-ing time! But hey, it wakes other people up in a boring meeting! I mean what the f**k are people thinking keeping us for a two-hour meeting on Fridays?!

D.H: Well I have to be really careful with my weight. But now that I am breastfeeding my baby, the fact that I am a bit used to having that 'extra pounds', enables me to not stressing out like other  women as much and it effects my breast milk production and my baby's health.

Me?: My NOT a button nose. It represents where I am from, an inheritance from my ancestors from North Sumatra. Oh, us Bataks have strong jaws too!:))

How about you?

HHGG

Confessions of an old soul

This is not easy for me to admit. You know that one song that has a strange yet uncanny power to sooth your anxiousness and lift your heart up? The one song that can be played for hundredths of time when you feel like you need something to represent your feeling, to mend your almost broken strings?

I have that too.

And tho I am only (*ahem) a whooping 33 years old , I have a deep love for...

The Beach Boys.

There. I said it.

Isn't that obvious?

Inspiration Sunday: See and Hear

The choice is up to me, maybe I am the one who needs to re orchestrate where I am standing, maybe I am the one who needs to adjust the limited decibel or the filters of my hearing... :).

Well... This one is such a simple and beautiful words, yet not an easy one to bring to bear.

Piccsy

Marilyn my baby Lab

Law of attraction works indeed!

My adoration to Marilyn Monroe has become  more obvious ever since my baby Labrador Marilyn arrived as my birthday present :)

I seriously cannot tell which one is the most beautiful. Can you?

What Creativity is Not

Having a hard time at work, I realize that it has been a while since I jump up in an excitement of eureka because of a new idea. Maybe I have to spend a long day at the beach, maybe I have to change my routine?

Questioning this, I am starting to come into a realization about something.

Creativity is something you can shape... through miles and miles of trial and error. But it is not something you can buy.

Creativity can be conveyed by someone who is your inspiration, it can be from your nearest and dearest, or a complete stranger. But if you steal it, it no longer is.

Creativity takes action, of reading, of browsing or stumbling from one page to another, be it in a book, a magazine or the drowning and magnetic world wide web. But it has to brought you to new ideas, new concept, new subjects. It has to embody your original self.

Tweaking, re-phrasing a paragraph or a topic... is not creativity. It is not you.

You have a life. Look for your shady mundane and pierce it. Scatter it into pieces. Paint them shocking pink!

Then you can start thinking about creativity.

Pinterest

Deciding on your destiny

Recently, I encountered a... not so wanted "reunion". It took me only a Nano-second to realize how time really can heal the pain, work its spell and help you understand that... everything is meant to be.

I typed, deleted, re type a few paragraphs on this posting, biting my fingers in uncertainty that I may have written too much.

But this is what I decided to share:

When you hit rock bottom. You have nowhere else to go but... up. I heard that a gazillion times and maybe have experienced it in the count of hundreds, but at that very night... I just realized it with all my heart. 
How could I not?

You may have been deleted, banished from a so-called ring of friendship, but that's only an end result of finding true one(s). You may not be able to connect with them in a way anymore...or , you are struggling through speeches just to break the ice, you do not get their jokes, you are flustered and confused... Trust this; that's simply because you have passed that bar. You are in a different world, another level. And that is where you are meant to be.

Yes, there will always be that little piece of sweet memories about them. Things you once thought will last forever, but apparently not. But let me ask you, if you are being asked to choose, to re-create those little sweetness, or create new one with people who are now proven to be real for you... What would you pick?

Yes you have been hurt. But as you are healed, don’t you realize that the process is taking you to a place way further than where you think you could ever be?

I may have less friends, but who's left with me today are the real one(s). How can I  not be grateful? And I decided to be.

This pair of shoes I am wearing is not a designer labeled, but God has made a solid roof on top of my head. A home of my own. A result of years of hard work that may have never been accomplished if I did not stepped out of my past a few years ago, if I did not make that tough decision that has brought me to where I am today.

Those jokes don’t get me to laugh anymore, we are no longer in the same picture.

You and I particularly... are only a step away from being total strangers.

But if that's what it takes, for me to reach my fate.... I decided to letting it be.

I am here, at this very second...brought by millions of flaws and mishaps... is actually doing nothing but fulfilling my destiny.

And oh how I wish that's where you are too.

Piccsy

Going Russian. Do or Don't?

This will be the most girly post ever but I do not care! I am trying on a new lipstick!

Can you honestly tell me how I look?

Oh, are you wearing a Russian Red lipstick too?

Liar Liar

Here comes the whole truth... about lying to our very self:

You know that extra 5 pounds that seems to stick forever? I have that too! But I have a very good appetite. I mean, real good. So in an attempt to get a stunning look with my skinny jeans; I bought pair of running shoes, planning to eat less carbo, yada...yada...yada, here comes the biggest lie I keep telling myself.

ps: My running shoes remains in the box.

On another column, I for one am an 'In Vino Veritas'. So, there was and there will never be a day when I say this one thing below... when a bottle is being uncorked :)

Check this page for more honest lies :))

Damn Good Advice

Damn Good Advice (for people with talent) by George Lois, has recently become an addition to my collection of Phaidon books. And I love it. Just like how I love all of Phaidon's other collections. So I have been sticking my nose so close to it the past few days.

The practice advices and anecdotes in it are just entertaining, witty and feels like an ignition to my -about to get numb- brain. I want to keep my creative juices flowing!

And, as if the content (and the design) is not enough, on its last page, my favorite poem is written.

Yes, Invictus by William Ernest Henley that I have posted in this blog for a couple of times:)

 Damn Good Advice (for people with talent)

Paperman

How I adore short films! And I have an even softer spot for Pixar's. This one is from Disney tho', a romantic comedy set in New York. It made me smile at the very first minute out of its six. Being one old soul, the 1940's setting makes it even more endearing.

And, it has been nominated for Best Animated Short at the Oscars.

I am suggesting you to watch it. Good background music too! 

ps: Thanking my favorite blogger and wishing all my sweethearts a sweet weekend:)

A Little Nicer

How sweet.

Pinterest

Home is where the heart is (part.1)

Few months have gone by since I share you the dream house story. I remember promising the updates on the development, but in between work, sleepless nights, daily routines and what not (not to mention being hospitalized during the holidays), I have missed doing so.

If you are planning to buy a house or in the middle of building one, always be prepared with:  

Extra budget. Because you know... you just have to have that particular door panel, or that drifted wood window frames, and oh... that granite for your kitchen floor that suddenly looks better if you move it to the backyard to become a semi-outdoor one... :)

Understanding with delays in time. Always allow at least 1 extra month from the readiness scheduled . If it's a ready unit, it should not take that much of time. In my case, it started from an empty land. When I was told it will take no more than 3 months, I know it may take the developer and the contractor longer than that. It's true. But I am not that upset. I can understand.

Another thing, never compromise on what you think is the most important part of the house. For me, it's the backyard and the location. So even expanding the building can be tempting, I stick to my first plan. Small house, huge backyard. 

Same goes to location. Other house may seem cheaper but good location can be priceless.

In general, everything seems to be at its place and I keep thanking God for his endearing blessings.

For without Him, there is no way I would ever be able to post this kind of picture below...

Marilyn Monroe for Chanel No.5

It is pretty obvious. Not only that I collect her memorabilia, I even named my Lab 'Marilyn'. Can I also relate my Chanel fetish as a connection to her? 

All in all, I both personally and professionally think this campaign is genius.