Food about you - Concours Festival d'Annecy 2010

I bumped into my very old beautiful memories of my childhood and my father. He was a very active businessman, actively in organization.
As far as I remember during my childhood, he always traveling, at least 4 times a month, it means he traveled every week. Besides working on his own companies, he also actively in the organization. He has permanent office there for 15 years as general secretary and executive director of this organization.

Now that I see the address on the webpage and the logo, the memories of my childhood came fresh in my mind, I used to be very excited to pick him up at the office, in this organization and had him in the car together, going home, from tanah abang to menteng, it was not a long drive, but I adored my dad, and I enjoyed every minute riding in the car with him.

He traveled so much, checking the docks around the country, from Aceh till Irian Jaya, conferences in Asia and Europe, I used to be so excited when he travels because he would give us a piece of paper, and we all wrote down what we want, and he would make every effort to fulfill our 'orders'.

Pak Dul, the driver, wow, he worked with us since I was a baby until my father passed away, when I was in the second year dental school. He was a good driver.

How could be, the memories, can be so fresh in my mind after 33 years ?

Now, I realized, life is so fragile, we had lost 2 of our family member, my father and my brother. I love you all.

http://insa.or.id/index.php?lang=en

Sunday morning :: busy day.

It's sunday. Ammar has to work, and he is asking me if I could bring Nadia to sunday school, that means I have to tag Aidan along, waiting for Nadia's school for 3 hours.

I did it for him, that's a great decision because Ammar didn't come home until 7 pm.

Aidan and I went to go to Asian grocery store, and he had great time watching the live crabs, fish, and frogs.

Then we went to McDonalds. Just because Nadia was not with him, he had very little interest to climb on the play structure, he just tag along with me on the table, playing with ipod touch.

Before we left to school, Nadia and Aidan played so well together. Just hearing the giggles from Aidan because Nadia plays with him, and hearing Nadia giggles because Aidan goofed up... just made my day.

We went home at 2 pm, I invited Aidan to go sleep with me, he refused, he would rather sleep in his firetruck bed, so Nadia went to bed with me.

I made asian spring rolls, yummy one while Nadia and Aidan play upstairs at their room. I could hear the giggles so loud and clear from the kitchen downstairs. I wonder what they were doing. Ammar called and as Nadia's wish, he came back with pizza.
The kids went down, completely dressed with pajamas... including Aidan. Nadia for the first time, putting Aidan for potty, changed his pajamas, and changed his underwear with diaper for sleep at night.
I was so impressed and Nadia was so proud to be a big sister.

We spent the night together, laughing, on our very last hour of the weekend. Although Ammar had worked so much on the weekend, and looked so exhausted, he still plays with the kids.... Nadia loves being cuddled with him, also with the back rubs.

Ammar worked overnight again on Friday, and didn't come back home until Saturday afternoon, so I have to go by myself to the kids' School Auction and the kids' performing art day. Instead of going at 1.30 pm for silent auction, we went there at 3 pm. Aidan fell asleep in the car because he skipped nap time. I felt bad that I had to wake him up.
The preparation was so nice, and the performance was so good. It's so funny to see how Nadia, the bigger she is, the shier she is. She was so nervous on the stage, while Aidan was doing so well. It was Aidan's first performance.
We came back home, finding Ammar was home, he took nap, but when we were home, he still got lots of phone calls from the hospital.
The kids are so happy today...
Once we put the kids to bed, Ammar prepared really nice dinner with 'fake wine' on the side (apple juice it is, in the wine glass). It was so delicious and romantic.

I crashed to bed, I think Ammar didn't sleep until late night, finishing up his patients note on the computer. As far as it is convenient to be able to work from home, it's the most annoying thing, too. He ends up working more than he supposed to.

Finally, the photos are up on my webpage.
Check them out. The photos with date printed on them are from Nadia's camera. Her shots were pretty amazing for a beginner photographer, Aidan used my leica camera, so they are really mixed between mine and his. I left my 5d Mark II at home while using my fun to play Nikon camera with all in one lens 18-270.
Aidan's shots were pretty good, too. I am amazed to see how great and interesting their perspective of seeing the world with their little cameras.

WOW!!!! We just got back from our cruise vacation to Mexico, West Carribean.
It was just AWESOME! Nadia found her new best friend, Lauren, she lives not to far from our home, about 1 hour away, and we got in the same airplane back home from Miami, FL.
Aidan really enjoyed to be on the cruise, he was just a bit disappointed because he couldn't get on the little floaty boats.. he kept saying the he wanted the boat to hit the iceberg so he could get on the emergency lifesaver boats. (just like titanic, his favorite movie at this time). Other than that, he really enjoyed to be in the boat.

Loved.. loved... loved our vacation!!!

Hmm... This is the most organized and prepared vacation ever! In between my study and juggling the time between study, packing and the kids' spring break, I managed to study at least 4 hours a day and asked the neighbor sitter to babysit the kids while driving them around to swim, hands on museum, and Extreme bounce. In this way the babysitter can also have fun with kids, and the kids wouldn't get bored at home with the sitter.

By 9 pm, we all packed and put our luggages in the car, ready to go for the most exciting vacation ever! CRUISE!!!! Yay...

Nadia had been counting the days and all the teachers and friends knew that she is going to go cruise to carribean....

This is going to be awesome vacation because Ammar will be forced to be away from work (no internet and no signing patients notes, chemo, lab orders over the computer, hah! :) )

I am still up copying the videos to Nadia and AIdan's handheld device for their movie time.

Other than that, I am all set to watch the video lectures on my iTouch.

PS: We hosted the easter egg hunting on Saturday and it was a hit! We are trying to do it every year and promised to stay and not traveling during this time.
I painted beautiful butterfly faces and all kind of kids' requested pictures on their face and they had wonderful time doing craft and gobble up yummy food before the egg hunt started. The weather was so beautiful that we managed to wear summer clothing last Saturday.

See you in a week!

Today, I deactivate my facebook account. I spent more than I supposed to in it.
My exam is on May 26, less than 2 months if I have to count the cruise trip to mexico we are going to do on the kids' spring break.
Hope this is for good, I know it will.

We had a busy day today. Ammar had his first day of the service until Feb 5th, so he had to work on the weekends, too. While he went to work, Nadia, Aidan, Nina (Nadia's sleep over friend) and I went to go swimming so they could have fun before I returned Nina back home. This is Nadia's second time having Nina sleeps at our house.

When we got home, Ammar had already home, and the house which we left upside down, was sparking neat and clean.... he is sooooo sweet!

I put the kids to bed and we sat in the sunroom together, spending our time chatting and joking around while I studied my GRE prep, and he signed his patients note.

At night, I enjoyed the warm jasmine tea in front of the fire place while watching and really enjoying the view of my husband sitting down, cuddling with the kids watching 'the incredibles'. Those are my favorite people in the world, my hearts, and my whole life. I can't imagine living without one of them.... They are so precious, thank you God for them.

Lots of things happened this year.

It brought me to be wiser and happier.
Mostly, I am so blessed for what I have, especially blessed to have a wonderful family, wonderful husband, wonderful kids, and wonderful life. I have great friends, and I do lots of stuff I really like.

Miss Andrea, our baby sitter and our house keeper, Angie have been really big help in my life. They are so wonderful and I can't ask for more.

I got bad things happened recently, I crushed my car and crushed other people's car, but what a blessing, everything came and resolved so fast. Within 2 hours I got my rent a car, police reports, insurance appraisals, and rent a car. This won't happened that fast if Ammar didn't come right away, instead of keep driving to work, but came after me and drove me out to insurance office, and the auto body shop where my car towed to this store and got my rent a car within 15 minutes. I am sorry that his patients had to wait until he came to work.
It was not my fault so I got everything under control, the insurance was so fast and informed me about the car, now it's being repaired and within couple of weeks I should get my car back.

I also lost my dearest brother. Until now, I still can't overcome my sadness of losing him at the very young age.

Those 2 incidents made me realized how fragile our life is and how much I appreciate what I got, what I have and I can't thank God enough for all the best things happened in my life, especially my family in my country, my children, and mostly Ammar.

Happy New Year 2010.

It's Christmas, and we had a lazy day.

I woke up in the morning with 2 projects on my bedside, from Nadia. She made me a pine tree and a rose from lego. She came to my bed and said : "mommy, I made something for you. It's rose and christmas tree"

It's a nice thing to start my day!

She also played 3 different games while the boys took the nap.
I can't believe how big my girl is.

She grows up to be a very sweet little girl (I really am not making it up. She is really sweet!), especially to me... every time Ammar made fun of me, she would jump and said :"No Daddy, mommy is good, she is the best... I love her so much" and came to give me a big hug and kisses..

I

It's thanksgiving. My friend from my old dental school in Indonesia who lived in Chicago came to visit with his family.
We also had other 3 families over to give thanks with us with the yummiest turkey dinner and the turkey "little daughter" (humongous chicken).
I managed to sit every one on the table and had a formal dinner. The kids are all in the different table and the adults sit on our formal dining room.
Nadia and Aidan had a blast playing with the other kids. I put Aidan to bed at 10 pm and he went down again knowing that Nadia was still playing with Nicholas and Darian downstairs. The kids ended up sleeping at 12 midnight while me and two friends did our first time crazy shopping, leaving at 1 am and came back at 5 am, leaving the husbands with kids at home. On the top of it, I have them all last minute sleep over. It was really fun, the kids had blasts, and we continued the fun for having lunch together at the yummiest dimsum restaurant in town.

My friends from Chicago stayed until Sunday, and we really had a wonderful time together with their little girl, Vivian, who is 1.5 year old. The fun was that she was so happy playing outside in our yard with Nadia's teddy bear cozy and warm costume. She looked so cute in it and she had fun touching the grass and walked on the huge empty space while Nadia and Aidan drove the car around the yard. The last hour before they left, I set up the studio lights and took pictures of them and my kids for Christmas card.

Today is Aidan's babysitter's birthday, Miss Andrea.

She has been having lots of trouble in her life, money-wise.
Her car broke down, and she doesn't have health insurance. In every situation, she is a wonderful baby sitter. She used to work at my kids' old school, now I take her to be Aidan's babysitter. She is a hard worker, never complains, and my kids love her so much.

Sometimes she got in my mind, I wish I have the whole money I could spend to help her up, I could only do so much, ...

Today is her birthday, finally with help from everyone, she could fix her car, and had it back working 3 days ago, slowly things get better for her.

I took her out for nice lunch at Olive Garden, with the kids. Nadia is off school today, so Nadia stayed with Aidan and Miss Andrea in the morning while I ran around going the thanksgiving dinner shopping for our guests tomorrow. We met at the restaurant, and we all had a great time. That's the least I could do to make her happy on her birthday.

Happy birthday, Miss Andrea, we love you so much!

The digital era is a blessing, but it also swamps you. I have never imagine myself having to take pictures endlessly, hundreds of pictures every day, and not to worry to buy anymore rolls of films.

I love taking pictures, but boy, now I realize it is really time consuming to organize all the pictures. I am buried under miles and miles of photos above me, and it drives me nuts, but I can't stop taking pictures especially at this season, it's just simply beautiful. Everywhere you drive, you see winding roads and beautiful colorful scenery around you, beautiful colors, and beautiful people around.

Loved it!

I have a friend who is so sweet. She is a super mom I call her. She home schools her son, a sweet boy named Brendan, and she is an awesome cook.
I haven't seen her so much lately although our houses are quite near, 5 minutes away.

Today, I came to her house, Aidan had fun playing with Brendan, and she taught me how to make bread. I tried making bread myself, and it didn't come even close to what she made. She generously taught me how to make bread from A - Z, she even gave me all the tools I need to make a loaf of bread, on the top of it, she brought me home the bread we cooked today.

I drove home and the first thing I did when we got home was slicing the bread, ate it, and wow! That was the best whole wheat bread I have ever tasted.

Thank you, Sue. I love you!! Thanks so much. You are amazing!

Everything happens for a reason.
If God loves you, things happen for the better.
All you need to do is believe in God and pray.

I believe God gives blesses for individual who gives blesses.
If you are a giver, God will give you more.

Blessed, hope our family is given blessings.
Amin.

It's raining all day long and it's cold. This weather makes me feeling blue. I am not supposed to feel that blue, it happens anyway.
Although today I picked up Indonesian dishes, my favorite, the only one I can't make it my own, satay padang, at my bestfriend's house who just launched he catering business, Lemongrazz, came home, send Aidan for nap, and slowly eating my lunch, enjoying every bite of the delicious meal, I feel so blessed. Even though we don't have Indonesian restaurant around, now I can eat my favorite food of all. Thank you, ibu ibu Lemongrazz!
Your catering business made my homesick gone away, I used to miss living back in New York City, going to the asian friendly grocery, finding lots of Indonesian spices, blue band (my favorite), kaffir lime leaves, etc, and going to the Padang Restaurant, just a subway away. It was heaven!

Now that I have kids, I don't miss living in Manhattan, I love living in a quieter place, little town which still have the high family value, wonderful school, and low crime rate.

Life is busy, reading all my friend fb who has nannies, and during Eid Mubarak they have to live without nanny for 2 weeks, makes me think, yes, I am so busy, but boy, I am so proud to be a mommy who really takes care of my children in every count, cook, clean, out for fun with them, preparing their lunches, and you go to bed exhausted, but it makes me feel that life is so short, it is a bless that you can spend the most of your time, loving them, and all you got back is more loves from them to their own mommy, not their nannies.

The kids are getting big, and I am blessed that I am invited to 2 postgraduate school interviews, hopefully I get accepted and could give more to my family and my kids. Leaving tomorrow night for wednesday all day interview. Wish me best of luck.

It feels like he has never gone.
It feels like he is still alive
It feels like he is around
It feels like he is still in facebook

I left a wall post for him today, and it brought so much tears, realizing he is no longer alive.

Farewell my love, farewell my greatest big brother...

I love you so much, just in case I have never told you how I feel about you.

(picture of my brother and my grandpa)

Summer is almost over, the kids are crazy about water.
I confirmed with Ammar that I would go ahead, joining the club in town, today.
We went and the kids had the fun time in their life, going swimming indoor.
Nadia tried her brand new snorkel sets, and Aidan loved his new goggles and dipped his head in the water all the time and hold his breath.

They ate all the lunch I packed for them, and come home happily.

One great decision I made for our family, on our anniversary day.

Happy anniversary, hope by joining this club, we all are going to exercise, and live healthy dan happily.

My 7th happy Wedding Anniversary, 9/1/02 - 9/1/09

We had gone through the best part of the life, and also the disappointments in life, we went through it together, as a husband and wife, in good, and bad times, in healthy and sickness time.
All those 7 years we hold hands, side by side, supporting each other, reminding each other, and loving each other, sharing our home, sharing our 2 beautiful kids.

I always say that he was the answer of my prayers. Knowing him for the last 9.5 years, I have known every details, I know when something is bothering him, I know what makes him happy, and I know all about his dreams, what will light up his eyes, and what will not.

He is a great daddy, when he works a lot, he tried to make it up at night, he always put the kids to bed every single night, cuddle with them every time he has time. The kids are so fond of him, they run and chase him from the garage door every day he comes back from work... I do that, too.. chasing him with the kids and give him a big warm hug.

Our marriage is not perfect, but we could make certain others jealous just to look at how happy and well balanced our family is. Although we know about it, we are hoping that we are blessed with everything God will give our family, also others.

Our family has grown to be bigger, closer, loving and full of laughter and hugs. If you spend the time with our family, you will see how much we love each other.

This anniversary is something that we cherish, especially at the holy month of fasting, we are going to celebrate it.. celebrate the happiest 7 years in our life.

Thank you God Almighty for your blessings and your gifts to me, especially, thank you for giving me the chance to be part of Ammar's family and his children.

Thank you for your blessings.