Behind the dates

First scenario:

Our wedding date was planned to be held on 8-8-10, right on our 3 years (of dating) anniversary. Unfortunately, next year Ramadhan will commence on early of August. We can’t bear the risk to postpone our honeymoon. It’s the best part of all!!! ^.^

Second scenario:

We tried to look for alternatives and we found another perfect date, 2-5-10. Why is it perfect? Simply b’coz 2 times 5 equals to 10 (2 x 5 = 10) ^.~

The Coincidence:

Our lamaran day will be held on 25th July 2009 on my 25th birthday and the wedding day is (insyaAllah) 2-5-2010.
Notice any similarity? Our happiest moments are all around the 2 and the 5.

And we didn’t notice any of it until tonight, on our way home by train hehehe…

Important things to consider for an outdoor wedding venue (me and Mr.D version):

1. The location must be strategic;
2. Easily accessed;
3. Fits your invitees perfectly, you need a large area for 1000 invitations…but a large area for only 250 invitations like ours would look…empty.
   Better have an intimate wedding (but not too crowded) rather than a spacious wedding.
4. Lots of tree and plant so you’ll save a lot on the florist;
5. Includes an indoor so if it's raining on the day, you don’t have to rent tents which will definitely cost you a lot!;
6. Have a sufficient parking space for your designated invitees;
7. Most importantly, it must be at a reasonable price and within your budget.

Cheers...

Me and Mr.D

First thing first: the Venue!

Everyone keeps telling me, the first and most important thing to do is to book a venue for your big day. Favourite venues such as Balai Sudirman and Gedung Arsip Nasional are usually fully booked even a year before the day (gosh..)
So we’ve done our home work and, since we don’t like indoor wedding, we had our eyes and heart and mind on this one, our dream wedding venue…tadaaaaaa…..

The Roemah 7a Lebak Bulus

The backyard terrace

The main pendopo

The small but perfect for picture pendopo

"Bangunan yang berdiri diatas tanah seluas 3000 m² dan mengusung interior nuansa Jawa kuno ini memiliki keindahan tersendiri. Konsep indoor dan outdoor yang ditawarkan Roemah 7A yang berlokasi di Jl. Lebak Bulus I No.7A, Jakarta Selatan, menambah lagi nilai keistimewaan venue ini. Dari sekian banyak tempat yang di claim sebagai venue, yang notabene menawarkan atmosfer yang berbeda dari hanya sekedar sebuah gedung pertemuan, Roemah 7A mengusung sejumlah keunikan yang tak mudah ditemukan ditempat lainnya. Selain memiliki halaman rumput luas dilengkapi kolam renang apik, venue berkapasitas tamu 600 orang ini, selain sangat ideal untuk pesta resepsi pernikahan ini juga sangat nyaman bagi berbagai acara seperti gathering, arisan, ulang tahun dan lain sebagainya."
(taken from http://roemah7a.com/index.html, http://theroemah7a.multiply.com/)

It’s only (approximately) half an hour from our home at Bintaro
Its capacity is for 600 people (while we will only invite 250 people)
It’s an outdoor venue
It’s antique
It has Becak and Andong inside the garden area
It has large space for parking
It’s purrrfeecttt!!!

Buuuuuuttttt…..that’s why we called it our DREAM wedding venue coz it’s never gonna happen.
The price speaks otherwise…17 mill for 2 hours only and 1,5 mill for every additional hour? Naaaahhhh…we don’t like limitation (on time and especially on the budget hehehe)…we love freeedddoooommm!!! ;p ;p

So there goes our dream wedding venue…(hicks…bye bye becak and andong)

And after weeks of searching around kemang and lebak bulus, we thought of Senayan area…why not? It's strategic for everyone…you can reach it from everywhere…and we thought of Masjid Al Bina Senayan coz one of Mr.D’s friend once had a pretty nice wedding there.

(mind the pictures, I've tried to google better pictures for reference, but failed in the attempt cause it seems that Masjid Al Bina Senayan is mostly associated with BCL's wedding *sigh*)

It may not be exactly an outdoor wedding like we’ve planned to be, but yeah..we're sure that we can work it out.

After an adequate survey on the location, building, price and also after having an intense discussion, we finally decided to have our big day at Masjid Al Bina Senayan.

And yesterday…We have officially booked the venue and put our names on the list.

Happyyyyyy…happpyyyyy…yeayyyy!!!

One down and more to go on the list *sigh*

Me and Matoa

Today, my boss gave me this not-easy-to-be-found fruit called Matoa, origin from Papua.

Matoa more or less is the size of Lychee, smells like Durian and taste like 'kelengkeng'.

The Matoa


Matoa from the inside

Tasting the Matoa

Matoa the "Biji"

About Matoa:

"Matoa adalah jenis buah tropis yang berasal dari tanaman kehutanan yang umumnya tumbuh liar di hutan-hutan dataran rendah di daerah Papua dan Kalimantan. Kayu dari batang pohon matoa bernilai ekonomis tinggi, termasuk golongan kayu kelas 2, sehingga tidak jarang menjadi obyek illegal logging oleh orang-orang Jakarta.
Musim buah matoa terjadi sekali setahun, biasanya pada akhir tahun. Jadi kalau mau ambil cuti, pada bulan November saja ke Jayapura.
Buah matoa bentuknya lonjong, sedangkan bagian buah yang dimakan adalah daging buah berwarna putih seperti rambutan, letaknya menyelimuti biji berwarna coklat kehitaman, ditutup oleh lapisan kulit luar yang agak keras. Buah matoa rasanya manis dengan aroma seperti durian, kadangkala ada dijual di shopping center dengan harga yang lumayan mahal. Bagi yang belum pernah merasakan buah matoa maka cukup membayangkan saja, bahwa matoa adalah kelengkengnya orang Papua, sedangkan kelengkeng adalah matoanya orang Jawa…….."

(taken from http://yiskandar.wordpress.com/2008/03/23/matoa-2/)

Untuk Dewasa!!!

Sekedar intermezzo, posting yang satu ini gada hubungannya sama topik Me and Mr.D.

Save by the Pilpres, ceritanya hari Selasa malam akhirnya gue dan 2 rekan kerja pulang kampung ke Jakarta setelah 3 minggu dinas di luar kota.

Tergerak oleh panggilan di pengeras suara, kita pun mengantri untuk pemeriksaan tiket oleh petugas sebelum masuk ke pesawat, lalu terjadilah dialog ini...

Petugas : Bisa lihat tiketnya?
Me : untuk 3 orang Pak *menyerahkan tiket*
Petugas : Bisa lihat ID nya?
Me : *buru-buru merogoh dompet di dalam tas untuk cari KTP*
Petugas : ohh...buat yang dewasa aja *sambil melirik ke 2 orang rekan kerja gue*
Me : *urrrggghhh...*
2 rekan kerja : *ketawa ngakak*

Well, either tampang gue yang awet muda atau temen-temen gue yang boros umur hihihihi...

Surprise??

It all started with a curiousity.

Sometimes I still can't believe what we have been through up till now. Everyone was also surprised with the news of us getting together. Even, most of our friends came up with the same question when they knew that we are dating: "How come??"

Here's the thing: I have been friends with Icut since high school (we even were classmate in our senior year). Then we went to the same collage and have also been co-workers in the same office for several months, during which I honestly did not pay much attention to her, nor have interest to have a date with her. For me, she's just a friend called Icut, nothing much. Ever since she became single, we started texting to each other and share stories over phone calls, I'm curious about her, there's something about her that I want to know more. Unconsciously, we started going out together and I started to have feeling for her. In a relationship, sometimes everything went on so naturally, unplanned and spontaneously, next thing you know you are getting married with someone you love. And now, here I am surprised with myself that we are going to get together forever.

This blog is all about our journey until the D-day, where you may find us sharing just about anything to get ourselves not going crazy. Mind my writing as this is the first time I am writing in a blog. It surprises me that I actually write in a blog.

We all tend to like surprise, or at least be surprised. As for me, there are lots of surprises going on after I'm with Icut. She's full of surprises. I may not be very good of making surprises, but I will keep trying to surprise my beib to make her happy or at least surprise myself.

Kencan Pertama (agak males ga seh baca judulnya??? hehehehe)

Do you remember when and where was your first date

Ours were sometimes in May 2007 *flash back*

It was during the PPAKH* festive…

That day, my firm and Mr.D’s was competing on the volleyball match

(huhuhu masa-masa sulit neh, kalo dukung kantor baru ditimpuk…dukung kantor lama ditimpuk juga…dalam rangka berusaha netral , duduk manis aja di deket tiang net…eh malah kena bola ihicks…)

The night before, we agreed to have our first date and arranged an appointment to go somewhere just the two of us after the match.

It was sooooo easssssyyyyy to hide our’affair’ since we were best friend all along. No one ever believe that me and Mr. D could happen, not even after we’re officially together *sigh*

As planned, we met after the match and ready to go……until…….

A friend of ours: “Didi, kamu mau ke PIM yaaaa? Aku ikut yaaaaa”

*well, mungkin kata-katanya ga persis kaya gitu…tapi ya kira-kira sih begitu yahhh hehehe*

And then we look at each other dan pasrah….huhuhu…(btw, pasrah itu bahasa inggrisnya apa sih? Masa surrender? Jelek amatt…)

Waktu mau jalan ke mobil (lagi seru, udah males mikir Bahasa Inggrisnya ^.^), tiba-tiba this friend of ours ambil posisi depan…haiyaaaahhhhh…so much for a first date, awal yang romantis gagal sudah. Alhasil malah jadi kambing congek di kursi belakang…

After arriving at PIM, a friend of ours was separating from us cause her dad was going to pick her up. And then it took us an hour or so just to decide where to go..

Well, we finally went to S*s** T*I (dalam rangka menghindari penyebutan merek). Me and Mr.D used to love conversation…we can’t keep ourself being quiet next to each other, most of it is ‘celaan’.

That day…that afternoon…mendadak kita jadi pendiem…

Cuma liat-liatan trus senyum malu-malu…kalaupun ngomong, volumenya minim, kalaupun nyela…basi. Benar-benar bak kencan pertama anak SMA…

But it was nice…and lucky for us, the first date continued to the second date…and then the third date and so on…and so on…

Our first date wasn’t a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant or movie time in theater like everyone else. It was just an ordinary afternoon, with t-shirt, jeans and sendal jepit and a natural odor of sweats after the match.

Remember that one fine day beib???

(Simprug – PIM, May 2007)

*) Buat yang belum tau, PPAKH adalah singkatan dari Pertandingan Persahabatan Antar Kantor Hukum. PPAKH (tentunya) diikuti oleh kurang lebih 16 kantor hukum di Jakarta. Selain jadi wahana untuk bertemu dan reunian buat para lawyer, PPAKH juga merupakan ajang cari jodoh. Serius lho, ada contoh pasangan yang married gara-gara curi-curi pandang waktu lagi main bowling pas PPAKH and (hopefully) live happily ever after hehehe…

The attempts of Surprises

Me luuuvvvv surprises…and Mr.D knows it perfectly.

But what Mr.D didn’t know was, I prefer making one than having one…

Inspired by a birthday party bash that I set up for Mr.D on his 25^th birthday party this year, he made several attempts to set up episodes of surprise for me.

And this was how it turned out to be…

1^st episode – the event

On the 17^th day of May, Mr.D gathered all my brothers and sisters for asking permission to ‘take me’ as his partner in life.

On that occasion, he planned something evil (but very sweet indeed) for me…a surprise ‘lamaran’ ceremony on my birthday. (To date, I didn’t get the idea on how you can make a ‘lamaran’ ceremony into a surprise, especially for a girl. Girl needs preparation, lots of it…and we do love details).

Unfortunately for him, my auntie has a tight schedule on that day so it should be rescheduled the next week.

Buuutttt…on that rescheduled day, I already planned my annual getaway that could not be ‘diganggu gugat’ (maap lupa bahasa Inggrisnya ;p) for whatever reason there is. And as predicted, me..the stone head (baca: keras kepala) girl was too reluctant to change the date of my getaway.

So Mr.D went panic and blew up his episode 1 of the attempt for a surprise by begging me not to go on that day because it’s suppose to be our ‘lamaran’ day.

2^nd episode – the dress

For the purpose of preparing my dream wedding day (sekalian bahan buat ngayal di siang bolong…FYI: souvenir paling murah yang diusulkan di majalah Dewi adalah gantungan kunci Perlinis), I bought a Dewi magazine, the special edition of wedding inspiration (Rp75,000 and its really worth it!!! Tentunya buat dicontek…).

I found all my wedding dress design in that magazine and I ‘post-it’ it (no protest allowed, its just my unordinary way of saying things).

Mr.D and his mom and my sister planned this sweet surprise of preparing a ‘lamaran’ dress for me. So, his mom and my sister tried all efforts to borrow that magazine from me.

That one fine day, his mom text me and said that she need to borrow that magazine for Mr.D’s cousin. AT THE SAME TIME, my sister text me and said that she need to borrow that magazine because her friend was looking for a ‘kebaya’ design. Wadda coincidence!!!

At that instance, I suspected that something was going on under my nose.

And AHA!!!

I successfully made my sister confess that they are preparing the surprise ‘lamaran’ dress.

last episode – the auntie (and Mr D learnt his lessons)

According to the cultures of Aceh and Makassar, on the ‘lamaran’ day the bride-to-be will be given a symbol by the groom-to-be family, namely ‘tanda ikat’ (apa pulalah Bahasa Inggrisnya ini).

For days, I’ve been trying to find out what would Mr. D give me as ‘tanda ikat’ but everybody keep shutting their mouth. The attempt to seduce my sister-in-law who’s not really a secret keeper was a total failure. I finally gave up and ‘pasrah’ with anything that will be the ‘tanda ikat’ (I have a very high level of curiosity, so things like this can turn me into an insomniac at night!!!).

Once upon a day in the 28^th June of 2009, again..according to the cultures of Aceh and Makassar (I had no idea before that Aceh and Makassar have a lot in common), Mr.D and his mom, and his cousin and his dearest auntie came to my house to deliver the pre-proposal.

The idea was to confirm that my families will very much welcome Mr.D’s family and their proposal. His auntie was acting as the spoke-person…

The pre-proposal went well…and thennnnn…

His auntie suddenly, clearly, and even loudly…spilled out what the ‘tanda ikat’ would be (ups…sorry, I wont tell you what the ‘tanda ikat’ would be…it’s a surpriseeeee *wink wink*).

Mr. D and his mom and his cousin turned their face to his auntie. It turned that they have forgotten to tell auntie to not say anything about the ‘tanda ikat’.

Spontaneously, me and my brothers and sisters laugh out loud (especially me!!! huehehehehee).

After three episodes, Mr.D finally learnt his lessons:

1. He’s soooo not good in making surprises;
   
2. You need to make sure that those on your team are secret keepers and not over-anxiety persons; and
   
3. Tukang tipu ga gampang ditipuuuu…jadi bawaannya curigaaaannn terusss, well…either curigaan atau kegeeran sih kalo gue hihihihi…
   

Mr. D episodes of surprise may not have a happy ending…but I surely am happy for his attempts.

Maaciyyyy beib… ^.^ luph

The Accidental Proposal

It was all started on that cozy evening on the 4^th day of April.

We spent our usual Saturday evening having dinner in one of that so-called my-never-been-there place, Loca Kemang.  We were all dressed up (well, at least I did) coz we were going to attend a birthday party invitation from a friend of Mr.D.

After dinner, we had our conversation-dessert thingy. 

That night, the topic was “Mr.D and that girl I don’t like so much”.  Well, the topic well said and explain enough…we had a fight and everything…and there were definitely me and my drama. 

Words are said…and among the words he pop up something, accidentally, un planned, something that I would love to hear that night, even today and tomorrow still….

It’s the P word!!! He said it!!!

Okay hold your thoughts there, not the P words that refers to a guy thingy.

It was P for the Proposal…

Yup, he was planning to propose me…it was in his head all this time

Just not that way, and not that night…

That’s why it’s called “the Accidental Proposal”.

But still, planned or unplanned…he succeeded to put that big smile of mine framed in my face every time I recall that moment.

Hehehe *big smile*

(4 April 2009 sometimes around 10 pm, a table for two in the corner of Loca Kemang).