14

Now let me tell you a little bit about this year's wedding anniversary present for SiBapa. The present which made me excited, nervous, sweaty & sleepless!!! LOL! As you my dear friends & loyal readers must know by now, I've been together with Hubster for a long time. We've been a couple since 1997 & we got married in March 6th 2004. As far as a I can remember, I always have an anniversary present for Hubster. Too bad I don't keep track of each one of them :)) The "problem" is there has been so many anniversaries I'm already out of ideas! :))) I really didn't know what kind of present I should give him this year. I was quite frustrated. Because to me, surprises mean a big deal. I know, I know :)) Well... Why not? Just because you've been together for a long time doesn't mean you ignore those kind of things. Right? Small things do matter. A simple love message, a warm hug. Anything to keep the excitement going. So there I was busting my brain every day, trying to find "the perfect" anniversary present for Hubster. Then one morning when we were lying around in bed, an idea hit me! I got this sudden rush, an excitement that I hadn't feel for a long time. I immediately googled here & there, contacted this & that. It was quite difficult & I was pretty nervous. Until FINALLY I got all the things that I needed. Then I put everything together & THIS is it:

14th wedding anniversary is traditionally celebrated with a gift of ivory. So I thought... Hey! Wood is pretty close to ivory. Right?!? :)) For your information, Yayang... Every single wooden letter, the wooden spoons & the frame are especially made. Just for Hubster, for SiBapa. Yes. Just for you, Muniku :)

You really can find & buy everything online I tell ya'! I ordered the letters from Bandung, the spoons from Medan & the frame from Ciputat. All I have to do was browse an online marketplace, order, pay & sit tight. The only store I had to visit was Toko Prapatan to buy the board :)) I had to be very certain though that Hubster wouldn't be at home when the packages arrived. Dewi also had to make sure that SiBapa wouldn't be the one who opened the door when the postman came. Everytime the door bell rang or SiBapa was outside, ready to go to work, I was like "Come on! Just go! Why are you still here!?!? The delivery guy could come any minute now!" :)) 

Dewi & Ari had their share of panicking. They tried to find the perfect place to hide the big frame, the board & everything else. Kukka also made sure that everytime SiBapa came to her bedroom he wouldn't see the big frame hidden behind the curtain. Kukka also had to protect the frame so that Moochi won't nudge it by accident. So yes! I thank everybody in this house for the awesome cooperation! When everything was ready to be assembled, I sweat my butt off putting the letters together nicely. I had super glue all over my fingers, on the floor & also a little bit on Moochi's fur :))) It was his fault though. He was really curious about the whole thing. Moochi even played with the dots from the "i"s of "since" & "spooning" LOL! I was scared he would swallowed them accidentally. Anyways... It may doesn't look much but it took a lot of effort to make it. Especially for me!!! LOL LOL LOL! I'm not a handy-crafty-creative person but it turns out that I do like to make things, as long as it has a special meaning to me. So again... 

After 21 years being together & 14 years of being married, I finally understood why ALLAH made your body so warm & my feet always so cold... Because we are made to spoon forever until death do us part.

 Happy 14th wedding anniversary Muniku! 

Ich liebe Dich über alles :*

Escape To Cimaja

It was just another day us being us. The Ica Lawendatus :)) Like always. No plans. Just do it! All of a sudden Hubster said we should go surfing to Cimaja. Even if it's in the middle of the week, on school days! After a lot of arguments & long consideration (SiBubu VS SiBapa & Kukka), I gave up & finally considered the trip as our 14th anniversary getaway. The skipping school part... There was nothing I could do other than say "Okay..." Kukka was very excited. This time SiBubu finally gave up & she "successfully" skipped school! SiBapa even said "Sekolah melulu!" & then they shared laughter together -_- The difference about this anniversary getaway was that SiBapa's friends, Ipul & Hendra were also in Cimaja. They all wanted to go surfing together. Yep. These boys are into surfing lately. Soooo like always I had to search & make last minute hotel reservations. This time we chose Cimaja Beach Club. We left home on March 6th, early in the morning. Ari came along to drive the car. Obviously. Before we left I managed to give Hubster my EPIC anniversary present! I'll tell you all about it in the next blogpost. 

Now back to Cimaja! The road all the way to Cimaja was fine. No traffic jam whatsoever. Perfect day, perfect time. Kukka slept almost all the way. I think we only stopped once to eat at Rumah Makan Dapur Muara Kenari. Afterwards we went straight To Cimaja Beach Club. The cottage we stayed in was nice. It has wooden floors & glass doors. The downside of it was how to reach the cottage. We didn't know that we actually had to walk quite far from the parking lot. It was quite difficult too because we had to walk on round stones & wooden path. If we ever do come back again one day, I have to remember that it's better to use backpacks rather than a suitcase :)) But we enjoyed it nevertheless since the view was beautiful. We passed by a couple of bulls, just munching some grass on the hayfield & having a good time. On our right side was the sea. We could hear the waves rolling in & we saw lots of fishermen boats. What made me sad was the trash... There was quite a lot of plastic bags & many other things. For example I spotted a biscuit tin can & a sandal... It's upsetting how ignorant & careless some people can be... 

Anyways... After we arrived at the cottage, my babies went to the beach to surf right away. Their energies TO PLAY is amazing! I repeat: TO PLAY!! I stayed in because I had a long nap to catch up to. But I did go to the beach with them. I saw Kukka successfully stand on the board & she was very proud. I was very proud too! Kukka has always been a "water" kid. She's never been afraid of being inside a deep swimming pool or got rolled by the waves. I held my breath everytime Kukka was inside the water. I took a very very deep breath whenever I saw her little head emerging out of the water. Meanwhile Kukka jumped around happily & waved at me with a very proud face. Then she immediately went back to the water with her beloved Bapa. For a moment there I was wondering how on earth could she be more afraid learning how to ride a bike than surfing between REAL waves! :))

I've witnessed something cool when we were on the beach & it made me also laugh so loud. I was taking pictures of Hubster & Kukka while they were surfing. I also noticed there were a couple of local kids playing around in the water. At first I thought they were just swimming & surfing. But it turned out they were fishing! And what did they use??? Their bare hands!!!! They were screaming in sundanese, loudly & excitedly. It went more or less like this:

Boy A in the water: WOY! IYEU AYA HIJI!!! (Hey! There's one here!)

Boy B who was sitting close to me: HAYU ATUH KADIEU!!!! (Come here then!)

Boy A ran to Boy B, looked like he was holding something. Boy B made fire near my saung, my cottage. 

Boy B: Yeuh! Di ditu nu loba. Hiji yeuh! Kajeun nya? (Here you go! There's a lot over there. Here's one. Is it okay?)

I saw Boy B gave something to Boy A. I was very curious so I tried to pay attention to what they were doing. It turned out...

Me: Boy! Itu nangkep ikan???? Terus sekarang langsung bakar & dimakan???? (Boy! Did you just catch a fish?? And now you're grilling it & eat it???)

Boy A & B stared at me with a "Duh!" look & answered: Iyah. (Yes.)

After the boys gave me a weird look, they continued enjoying the small fish they just caught. It looked like it was very delicious.

Me: KEREN!!!!! (COOL!!!) LOL LOL LOL

It was the first time I ever saw someone catch a fish, grill it & eat it right away on the spot! Just like Tom Hanks in Cast Away!!!! It was so cool!!! I laughed so loud & gave them my thumbs up. Too bad I didn't record it. :)))))

My favorite part of Cimaja Beach Club are the super cute & friendly dalmatians dogs: Trooper & Vader. They are so friendly & wanted to be around us like all the time! Kukka, the animal lover that she is, obviously wasn't scared at all. Actually I was the one who was a little bit worried since Kukka really like to pet the dalmatians heads. And the dogs looked like they really wanted to lick Kukka's hands :)) It's not the licking that worried me. I mean... Their noses are probably as big as my fist. And those teeth!! :)) I couldn't remember who it was but one of them whimpered cutely, practically begging for some Chacha chocolate from Kukka. They followed Kukka wherever she went. Also whenever we were inside the bedroom, Trooper & Vader sit right in front of the glassdoor & waited for us to come out. Good thing they couldn't knock :)) I totally understand Kukka's excitement because I had fun with the doggies too! Even SiBapa pet the doggies a lot of times! He also let me took a couple of pictures of him riding on Trooper! Or was it Vader? :*

On the evening we had dinner at the restaurant. Finally we went to sleep with bellies full & content hearts. The next day we went home. Our one night get-away was super fun & I thank SiBapa for it. Maybe next time we can stay longer. And I have to remember to put sunblock on Kukka's face. :)) 

14

Time flies. 

Too often too fast. 

So many tears, countless of laughters.

Fourteen. What a fiery ride it has been.

For better or worse, but never for granted. 

If I had to choose again, I'd still choose you in a heartbeat.

The you I've known for 21 years and

Married to for 14 years and ALLAH willing for more to come.

Happy 14th anniversary Muniku!

I love you.

Mother - Daughter Must Watch

Today I spent my weekly me-time by watching Lady Bird. One word. WOW. I’m not trying to be some kind of a snotty movie critic who thinks she’s capable to judge movies, write about it and then share it everywhere. I don’t write reviews often enough to be that kind of blogger. And this is not exactly a movie review either. I do want to share my opinion about Lady Bird though. Why? BECAUSE IT’S AN AWESOME MOVIE!!!

SPOILER ALERT. Lady Bird is a very insightful movie. This is the kind of movie which you can totally relate to. Especially if you are a woman, who naturally used to be a teenager. But in this case more of an “adventurous” one if I must describe it to be more precise. Lady Bird sums up pretty much everything that most of a teenage girl will and has to go through. Struggling with grades at school, having conflicts with mother, fighting with besties, changing BFFs, drinking those first sips of alcohol, smoking, falling in love with jerks, writing the boy’s name on the wall or every space available, breaking boys’ hearts, being heartbroken, partying and... Everything else 😅 

Sadly there are lots of things that I forgot about my teenage years. But thanks to Lady Bird movie I do remember, just like Christine, during teenager years I had my tough times with Mom. I remember we had fights because she didn’t like my highschool boyfriend. Now I know that she must knew whenever I lied to her (God-given special gift to mothers). I get it now why Mom always had a car and a driver ready to take me anywhere I needed to be. I was never allowed to be in the same car with my friends, most of the time driven by a boy who probably didn't have his driving license yet. I totally understand now why Mom never allow me to go out at nights. Almost all of my friends were allowed to go out until whenever they wanted. Meanwhile I had to be at home latest at 6pm! Now that I am a mother of a daughter myself, I totally understand why. I’m very sorry that I hated Mom for everything.

Throughout the movie I wanted to scream at Christine’s mom. I dislike her character sooo much!!! Yup. Laurie Metcalf’s acting is THAT good! While focusing on the big theater screen I keep promising myself not to be that kind of mother to Kukka. I vowed that I will be the kind of cool mom who Kukka would be proud to show off to her friends. But whenever Christine has fights with her mom, I instantly remember my arguments with Kukka. The second Christine asked her mother "But do you like me?" I remember Kukka's expression and the sound of her voice when she said “I know you don’t care...” (This one still cracks me up! 😂) So yeah... I definitely AM a mother and probably NOT that cool after all. 

I don't want to spoil too much about this awesome movie. The point is I totally understand why Lady Bird gets Oscar nominations as Best Picture, Actress in a Leading Role, Actress in a Supporting Role, Directing and Writing. And that's not all! Lady Bird also gets nominations in Screen Actors Guild Award, Critics' Choice Movie Award, Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award and I don't know what else. And while writing this blogpost, I just told Kukka to remind me that when she's 18, I want us to watch Lady Bird together. Why?

Because it's THAT good.