Gratitude and Hope

Today, I had a Christmas Lunch with my close pals and my favorite lecturer, Ms.Rice! We had amazing waffles at Hello Sunday, Cikini and exchanged gifts.
Other than that, Ms.Rice asked us to write down "10 things you're most thankful for this year", "1 thing I want to improve", and "3 Goals in 2018".

When I was writing down the lists, I realized that it was easier to "complain" than to be thankful.

10 Things I'm most thankful for :

1. Took my parents to witness Sakura in Japan, which was my mom's long time bucket list
2. Finished my diploma degree in 2 years
3. Hired for a fulltime job
4. Gave my parents a staycation as their wedding anniversary gift
5. Got many job offers 
6. Received so much love and care from my family and friends, more than I deserved
7. A healthier body and mind, compared to last year
8. Had an amazing time at my first rave ever with my friends (you all know how much I love dancing)
9. I could forgive someone I used to hate
10. Every good and bad experiences that turned as a lesson to me

1 Thing I want to Improve:

Actually there are LOTS of things... But I was only allowed to write one.. What I wrote at first was to "Be a more diligent & neat person". 

But I realized that there's something more important. What I REALLY should improve is to "Be closer to God". I'm totally not a religious kind of person. I never could see myself as one. I never even expected myself to be one. But I think I really should try to be closer to God, that way... I can handle any obstacles in my life better and be a better person whole heartedly! I can forgive myself, forgive others, love myself better, and love others much more!

3 Goals in 2018:

1. Put more efforts on my job to earn more money! I just want to treat and pay back my parents !
2. More self-love to have healthier body & mind. I shall not be so hard on myself
3. To have a relationship because I'm getting bored with everyone's same question. (It's so HARD to find the one I'm looking for. So please, bear with me. I'm one selfish and picky girl! HAHAHA).

Wish me luck for my goals, guys! Do leave a comment bellow about your version too! Special thanks to my lecturer! I thought I wasn't going to write anything about this New Year resolution thing! ;)

Precious

Ever since I started working, weekend is a precious time to spend it with my loved ones. Having lunch with my best friends is my favorite thing to do. We could talk for hours about everything that happen in our lives recently. Usually, my friends and I met up at a mall. So we can hop on few restaurants / cafes and shopping at ease! Around 3 weeks ago, I had a meet up with my college besties, Vevira & Jesslyn!



After we had lunch and chit-chatted for hours, we went shopping and visited my favorite bookstore! I loveee reading and when I haven't bought / read any book in few months, I feel guilty! This was what I wore on that day. I didn't really feel like wearing fancy outfits, so I only wore a basic top and shorts. But of course, I wouldn't forget to wear my heels as I'm only 5"1'.

When I'm strolling at the mall the whole day, I often feel thirsty... But sometimes, it's so hard to find a healthy and refreshing drink! There are just too many sugary temptations like bubble drinks or other sweet drinks at the mall! As a health conscious person, I always choose mineral water or tea!

But recently I FOUND OUT that Teh Botol Sosro (our famous tea brand in Indonesia!!) now has Teh Botol Sosro Tawar (the unsweetened version!!). I decided to look for this product and to try it out!

This Teh Botol Sosro Tawar is natural and 100% unsweetened. Although it's unsweetened, it tastes fresh especially when you drink it while it's cold!

I'm so happy that our local brands have started to be more health conscious. Too much sugar is bad for our body. It's more fattening than consuming fats ! Thank you, Teh Botol Sosro! Has anyone tried Teh Botol Sosro Tawar? Let me know your opinion!

Find more info about Teh Botol Sosro Tawar on:
Instagram: @tehbotolsosroID
Twitter: @tehbotolsosroID
Facebook: Teh Botol Sosro

Staycation at Four Seasons Jakarta

Hello, everyone! I can't believe I haven't posted anything in 2 months! There are so many things going on lately.. During my spare time, all I want to do is laying on my bed / going out with friends. But today I decided to write this long - overdue post. My apple id was hacked in August, which made me lost all of my data in my phone & laptop. Crazy, right? Thankfully I could still save many datas from my blog, flickr, and instagram. Imagine if I never updated my social media.. I would've lost it all! T.T

Last Eid holiday, I booked a staycation at Four Seasons Jakarta as a gift for my parents' wedding anniversary. The hotel was not just beautiful. The interior is beautifully designed and made! I hardly found any scratch on it. The electronics they provide in room were also the best brands ever. My dad truly enjoyed his time listening to music and watching movies with such high quality audio system.

The interior is dominated with white, gold, and marbles. As a fan of classic interior, this stay was like a dream comes true! I and my mom took so many pics during our stay! HEHE!

The service they gave was also brilliant. We got complimentary fruit and cake as the welcome gifts and they arranged flower petals inside the bath tub when we got back from our dinner. Very thoughtful!

The breakfast place, Palm Court was also amazing. The place isn't really big, in fact we had to wait few minutes before we got our table inside the restaurant. The food selection isn't very wide, but they cover english, asian breakfast, including fruits and lots of breads / pastries. That's already enough for breakfast, isn't it? I was truly addicted to their Bircher Muesli! Super delicious!

My mom enjoyed her Nasi Uduk!

The pool was located on the top. It's not big, but it got beautiful view!

The staycation that I booked also include a 45 minute-long body massage for my parents. When I asked them about their review, they only answered; "I wish it could be longer!". They said the massage was so good that they couldn't believe when it ended. lol.

Overall, I'd never reject any invitation for next visits... Because Four Seasons Hotel Jakarta has won number 1 place on my top hotel list! I'm not paid / sponsored for this review. I booked & paid this staycation on my own, but it'd be a waste if I didn't share such a great place that deserves it!

A Happy Mindset

I believe happiness comes from our mindset. How we see and perceive things. How we handle things that happen in our lives.

My friend asked me, how could you stand the heat, the traffic, and the cramped busway every weekdays?
Well. I used to loathe those a lot. I would nag and build up all the nasty curses on my mind.
But when I try to change my mindset, try not to think about those in a bad way, those things don't affect me anymore.

Every time I sweat at the bus station, every time I wait for the busway to come, I try not to think bad about it. I will stand still, either thinking something else or nothing at all.

My mind is my strongest enemy. I am not perfect. I have insecurities that I hide. As a Leo, I'm actually emotional. Being able to beat my bad mindset makes me proud of myself. Being able to hold my anger is an accomplishment. It's a long and tough process. It feels like I'm stacking those UNO blocks and wishing it won't ever crumble.

If you're easily sad or angry, try to change your mindset. Take a deep and long breath and exhale all the hate out. Do I need to be annoyed by this? Is it worth fighting for?

Create positive mindset everyday. Be happy, even by the smallest things.

Today, I'm happy because:
- I love what I wore to work. I wore my fav color (blue) from top to bottom! (didn't have time to snap a pic at home & no proper mirror in my office T.T)

- I gave my seat to an elder on the busway :)

How about you?

Express August

This year's August might be the fastest one I've ever lived through. The first 2 weeks I was fully occupied with my college's final project. On the other hand, I also spent few days going back and forth to do job interviews. The final project is finally over and the bazaar was quite a success. I am forever grateful to God who answered my prayers, to my family for their supports, and to my friends who helped me through this project. I learned so much things from the bazaar, like for examples:

1. Waiting for customers during weekdays is very boring. I couldn't stop staring at my watch, waiting my shift to end. 

2. There REALLY are many types of customers. The very quiet and shy one. The extremely stingy & hardcore bargainer one. The curious & talkative one, and so on. I learned that you CAN'T judge a customer by her appearance.

3. I'm so grateful that our brand, SABBA has a very wide range of customers. From teenagers, young mothers, until cool GRANNIES ! It's just like what I wanted. I want the brand to be worn by any women!

4. That happiness from counting the day's earnings did erase all the pain away! :)

I can't believe that 2 years of college has ended. I feel glad that I enjoyed most of it. (Thanks to my crazy college babes!!! The classes wouldn't be fun without them, seriously!). I also didn't regret my chance to just get a diploma instead of bachelor because I think all of my courses in college are useful. I have to be honest that I didn't take my bachelor to Indonesia's universities simply because I dislike the mandatory courses like bahasa, religion, etc etc which I had enough in high school!! 

About the job, my good friend recommended me to try applying to this job I'm currently doing now. At first I had very little hope, as I never had any work experiences before. I haven't had any internship yet and the company I applied to is a big one! I only told my parents when I applied and did the interviews. But now here I am, sitting on my work desk and living this 9-5 life! It's a big challenge for me, transiting from a college student to a company worker with no breaks in between. 

The bazaar ended on August 20th, and the work started on August 21st. I was nervous on my first day, thinking about how I should hang with my team mates because I'm surely the youngest one. I'm not only very young by age, but also by appearance (which I still struggle on how to make myself look older.... make up & heels don't help much T.T).

Thankfully my teammates welcomed me well and they're very fun! My parents were in Jakarta on my first days of work, so they also helped me. My mom prepared my lunch box and my dad drove me to office. Lol. I didn't mean to be childish, but you know... the time spent with your family is very precious, so I just want to use it well. Back then when I was in college, I drove by myself most of the time. But now, I take public transports. I'll just tell you frankly the reason behind it. The parking membership fee in my office's building is thrice more expensive than my college's. My expenses on transport will sink to the ground if I drive. Hahaha. So now I either take gojek or busway to commute!

Well, I think that's all about the stories I want to tell you today... See ya! :)

Enterprise Stress + HOW TO HEAL ACNES Video

The girls behind @SABBA.OFFICIAL inside bajaj! En route to Citywalk from Tanah Abang~

There are only few weeks left of my college study. I'm currently busy with my Enterprise (fashion brand start up) projects with my 2 other team-mates. I got the "Business Plan" manager role while the others are the Production & Financial manager. 

What I do is basically writing & concepting about the concepts, analysis, promotional plans, strategies, making press kit mock ups, design mock ups, etc.. I enjoy doing this role as I feel confident in terms of creating ideas and writing, but these days it feels more hectic than before. Especially when the other teams start comparing each other's works, I couldn't help to feel panic if  realized I haven't done something! 

The stress also comes from production and money. Earlier, we picked and bought fabric confidently. My leader had also met with the tailors first to see their previous works and negotiate the cost too. BUUUUTTTT! The road wasn't as smooth as what we expected. Tailors broke their promise to produce the items on time PLUS their work was messy! The template was wrong, sewing was messy, and dirty! OMG! I could've already cried on the spot if I were the production manager (Ginger, let me hug you!). My friend went back and forth to the tailors' workshops to make them right. 

Please help to pray for our production..Hopefully they'll be finished on time, neatly, prettily, so we could confidently sell it to you guys! Our enterprise project will be showed at Kota Kasablanka starting from August 9 - 20 (Food Society) Lobby. Make sure to stop by ! 

Last Saturday, we also had a whole day of photoshoot. Can you believe that 3 of our products were done 2 hours before the shoot? One of the tailors messed up the samples so we had to find a tailor who can finish them within 1 day. I was so stressed about how the shoot would be. Thankfully it was fun and smooth. My Make Up Artist & photographer were super on time. @Marmel.makeup did such awesome job on beautifying the models. She even went thru so much hassle looking for floral stickers that I wanted. @MatiusMico has also been very fast on everything. THANKS TO YOU GUYS! Can't wait for the final result! 

About the money part, we've been told by our seniors and lecturers that this project does cost a LOT. I thought we could press our budgeting tighter by finding cheaper tailors, but then our spending doesn't stop everyday. Costs and miscellaneous costs keep on coming. Tailor fees aren't as cheap as what they promised us at first. I feel so bad for my parents. That's why I have like a hugeee stone on my head, hoping that this project can gain profit so I can fully give back the money to my parents huhu T_T.

So guys, please WISH US LUCK and show us some love! Follow OUR INSTAGRAM @SABBA.OFFICIAL and come to Kota Kasablanka starting from August 9 - 20 (Food Society) Lobby. Thankk youuuu sooo much especially to those who already helped me filling up the online questionnaire I needed for my research. 

Till next post! 

P.S: I posted a new video on youtube about 10 TIPS ON HOW TO CURE ACNES ! I never showed my acnes when I was struggling with it because I was so insecure. But my tips here WILL NOT tell you about what products work best, but they're about YOUR HABITS. I'm sure if you do my routines, your acnes will get better very soon!

Some little updates

1. I feel guilty for not updating the second part of my Japan travel journey (yet). I just haven't gathered my determinations to write the post... But I promise I will do it before this year ends! Hahaha.

2. I'm currently on my last term of diploma degree, but I feel quite unproductive. This term I only got 2 subjects. Business portfolio (practicing a lot of Adobe InDesign skills to make layouts, cv designs, etc.) and Fashion Enterprise (producing our own brand, where the collection will be judged, shown, and sold next August). I got assignments and meetings with my team-mates for our brand, but they're still manageable thus I spend a lot of time at home. My lecturers said you'll get really really busy soon. If what they said really come true, please wish me luck! Hahaha.

3. Due to my unproductivity, I encountered a new interest, which is reading on Quora.com. It's basically a site of question and answers, but the topics are very interesting and vary from serious to non-serious questions. There are many times where I gained new knowledges from the people there too.

4. Eid Holiday is starting really soon! I don't have any plans yet, but I'm thinking for a staycation in a hotel. I'm not going back to my hometown because my parents are going here. I found a quite nice deal from a certain hotel. The package includes free breakfast & spa treatment. I really want to book the deal for my parents (+me! the single intruder! LOL!) as their wedding anniversary gift, but they said the price is too expensive. To me, I don't mind spending that amount as I'm not someone who want to save money as much as possible. I want to enjoy the moment while we still can. I love my parents toooooooo much and I think they deserve it. So, should I??????

5. TO BE CONTINUED !

Shinjuku Gyoen & Gotokuji Temple

Hi, guys! I just got back from my 12 days trip to Japan last Friday and I still feel quite exhausted lol. I don't even have the mood to go to the malls these days. I and my parents walked a lot everyday in Japan!

Lots of you asked me questions about going to Japan without tour. I've answered few questions on my instagram @verenleecious , but surely some of you might missed it. So I'd make a special blogpost / vlog about it (expenses, transport, accommodation in Japan). But through a blogpost like this, you'll be able to see my itinerary (places I went, food I ate, etc.). 

This trip was my 3rd time going to Japan & my parents' 4th time, but this trip was our first time experiencing the Spring season there. My mom loooooves flowers very much, so this trip includes a lot of visits to flower parks, just like this one; Shinjuku Gyoen.

Shinjuku Gyoen is a big park in Shinjuku, Tokyo. From our apartment's station (Gotanda), we took the JR Yamanote Line to Shinjuku Station and from the exit , we walked around 800m to the park. Use google maps, and it will definitely take you there!

During the sakura season, the park is very crowded with locals and tourists doing hanami there (picnic under the sakura trees). We went there on April 18th, which the full bloom was actually over. But luckily there were still quite a lot of sakura trees there! 

I and my mom took lotsss of pics at the park. We spent 2 hours taking pics & 1 hour sitting by the park enjoying ice cream and the ambience there. 

My outfit is from Batik By Annabelle. Such a matching set with the sakura, right? While my watch is Classic Sheffield 36 Rose Gold from Daniel Wellington. I only brought this watch to Japan & it matched all my outfits there. You can GET 15% OFF by entering "VEREN" discount code during check-out if you shop on their webstore. Code is only valid until May 30th, HURRY UP!

When we walked back to Shinjuku Station, we passed by the famous Gyukatsu Motomura and decided to have lunch there. It's a beef katsu, but the meat inside was still raw. The taste was delicious & the beef was very tender! If you like your beef to be well done, you can grill it at the 'mini-grill' that they prepared for you. It costs around 1300 yen for the smallest portion. 

Next, we went to Gotokuji Temple. 1,5 years ago I found a fun story about Gotokuji (Cat) Temple and wanted to visit this place ever since. This temple was originally meant for a minister during Edo period. Monks who lived there were very poor but they raised a cat lovingly. One day, the cat 'waved' into a passing-by samurai who was resting under a tree nearby & invited him inside. 

Not long after he went inside the temple, the tree was struck by lighting! As a gratitude for having its life saved, the samurai became the temple's patron, and the temple soon became prosperous. That's why, they thought the Cat as a lucky charm ! 

Gotokuji temple was reached after 15 minutes walk from Gotokuji Station. It's tucked inside small streets where lots of bikes passed by and numerous cute cafes / shops were spotted. At the temple, there were not many tourists. It was very quiet. After praying there, we also purchased a small manekineko (lucky cat) to bring home :).

See you on my next post!