2011 Best Finds

We're saying goodbye to 2011 in a few days, so many memorable moments, laughter and tears, things that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Here are some of my best finds in 2011.

1. Kramersbooks and Afterwords Cafe
The coolest bookstore ever. It's located in Dupont Circle, Washington, DC, and I was lucky enough to visit the store when I went to DC this past summer. The bookstore has a certain cool vibe,with shelves full of books at the front area and a bar in the back. And thankfully, it's not as pretentious as Aksara! And the books are cheap too =) My perfect kind of place. I wish there's a place like this someday in Indonesia.

2. My birthday is on Thanksgiving day!
I've never celebrated thanksgiving before, but this year, for the first time in my office's history (and my history as well!), we celebrated thanksgiving. Complete with two huge turkeys, so many delicious traditional food, and the best home made pumpkin pie ever, made by my American colleague's girlfriend. And the best part? We had the celebration on my birthday! So it's considered my birthday celebration too! (without me even spending a dime, hee hee!)

3. Book Blogger Indonesia
I bumped into this crowd on the internet when I was in my lowest moment. Suddenly my spirit was lifted again, knowing these people who shared the same passion with me: books! Since I joined the group, I only had chance to meet with two of them, but it felt like I know all of them forever =)

4. Hummingbird
Bandung is still at the top of my list if I want to find a good place to eat. Frankly speaking, so many overpriced restaurants and cafes in Jakarta, making the good culinary experience turn into a not so good financial situation. So I'm so happy everytime I went to Bandung, there are new places, affordable but nice places, ready to be tried. Hummingbird is one of my favorites this year. A cute little restaurant, has a warm ambiance, and quite good food too. Try the roast chicken with rosemary and their peach tea. Yummy! =)

5. Discount time, baby!
One of the best inventions in internet era so far is the promo and discount site! Me and my colleagues are addicted buying the promos from sites like Deal Keren and Ada Diskon. It's so much fun! Not only the feeling that we had been saving money (a mexican buffet lunch for only IDR 40k, or fancy karaoke for IDR 15k per person, hurray!), but also the chance to try something we never did before. I found a good dentist from one of the promos, and I even tried to do a treatment here, for a very very cheap price. I love discount sites! Who doesn't??? =p

6. Meat is still my choice
I'm totally not against vegetarian. I admire them! But from what I experienced this year, vegetarian is not my way (yet). Especially since I found some places serving really nice carnivore-dish =D One of them is Moe's Place, a great place in Kemang, their specialty is ribs (my choice is baby-back pork ribs, it's heaveeeen!!!!). The quality is almost the same as Tony Romas, but with almost half the price. We celebrated our anniversary there (without even planning it), and we had a great surprise, 25% discount! When I asked until when they'll have the promo, the waiter answered "We haven't decided yet". So go there, hurry! =) Ow, and I also had the best steak of the year, in Outback (I tried the one in Ratu Plaza). Their Outback Special is ridiculously delicious, a very juicy sirloin (ask them to serve the medium one). It’s indescribable =)

7. Time.com
My most favorite site of the year! Their articles, especially the ones in "Top 10" category, saved me in the most boring day at the office or even the most stressful ones. I love how the editors write in a witty, smarty-ass way but still delightful to read. I envy their creativity. Read this Top 10 Everything of 2011 and you'll be taken into a great journey of the year =)

8. BCL
What? The singer? Are you kidding me? Certainly not. Luckily, I'm still sane =D And I found an old school amusement park in Bandung, called Bandung Carnival Land (or BCL!), thanks to my sister =)I took Yofel there and it's a great change from an overly expensive playground at the malls. The simple yet terrifying roller coaster, the as bright as carnival lights, and even the ancient haunted house with the "real" ghosts =) Crazy fun!

9. Sriti Hotel
This is a hotel we stayed at when we had Christmas holiday last week in Magelang. The hotel is surprisingly good, with clean and tidy rooms, nice pool, and warm Christmas-y feeling. It's not that expensive too, about IDR 350k per night for standard room (but a bit more expensive during holiday seasons),located in the center of the city. I will definitely recommend it for anyone who wants to crash in Magelang.

10. Bookish Me
2011 had offered me many great moments as a bookworm. I found several very great books this year. One of them is Special Topics in Calamity Physics. This is not a new book, but it's my best book of the year. Been a while since I read a book that can haunt me long after I finish it. Marisha Pessl had written a really nice debut novel about a girl who tries to find her identity, in the middle of a mysterious murder. The other book is Jellicoe Road, a coming-of-age novel by Melina Marchetta, very intense but enjoyable at the same time. Both novels have brilliant slash crazy epilogue, not to be missed for anything. Probably my favorite epilogues ever!!! I do look forward to reading more good books next year. Fingers crossed!!!
Ow, and another great bookish experience is when I was asked by The Urban Mama to represent them as a speaker for Aleph (Paulo Coelho) Book Discussion with Times Bookstore. Crazily nervous, but in the end, I loved the experience! =)

11. Dinosaurs Rule!
Yofel is in love with dinosaurs. Literally =) And the good news is, I found so many great things related to this ancient animal. Cool books, movies, t shirts, birthday cupcakes and even a big T Rex baloon we bought in ELC. And I found so many interesting facts about dinosaurs too, thanks to Yofel and his obsession =) At least he's not into guns and robot (yet!), but if he does reach that stage, I will let his Dad take over the stage =D

Anyway, it's been a great year, of course lots of stumbling too along with the climbs. But I am very grateful for this wonderful 2011, and looking forward to a great 2012 as well. Wishing everybody more adventures to come! Happy new year! =)

The Daily 10

Bukan karena kebanyakan nonton E!Channel, tapi setiap orang pasti punya setidaknya 10 hal yang selalu ditemui sehari-hari, entah itu karena rutinitas yang sifatnya memaksa, atau pilihan yang disukai, atau malah sampai taraf kecanduan alias nggak bisa lepas dari hal tersebut.

Dan inilah kesepuluh highlight dalam hidup gue saat ini, a pregnant woman working from her appartment. One thing for sure, I miss those good old days with lots and lots of adventures!

1. Bangun jam setengah 6 pagi, hanya untuk nyiapin sarapan for my guy, biasanya setangkup roti dengan isi yang bervariasi udah cukup (simply because I'm too sleepy to do anything more complicated than that). Dan kembali tidur setelah melepas dia ke kantor. Fiuh. This is the time when I usually feel very grateful not to have working in office hour.

2. Menyalakan laptop saat jarum pendek jam sudah di atas angka 9. Mengecek email, ketawa-ketawa ngeliat status orang-orang di Facebook, dan blogwalking. (Sometimes, checking the news. But turned out it needs some scary-big-controversial news to make me open those news sites. Like the one with AA and RJ in it. Or Barca vs MU. Or simply some juicy infotainment junks).

3. americanidol.com. Situs yang rasanya nggak pernah absen untuk dibuka di saat show ini memasuki bulan-bulan serunya. Just thinking about Adam Lambert can cheer my days up!

4. Menu-menu restoran delivery yang berada di sekitar kompleks apartemen. Pilihan luar biasa banyak ini malah kadang membuat bingung, dan biasanya gue berakhir dengan perasaan kangen teramat sangat sama masakan rumah. Perkedel kentang dengan sayur asem dan daging sambal balado. Nyam nyam. Home sweet home. (Tapi sayangnya keinginan itu belum cukup kuat untuk membuat gue mulai menyingsingkan lengan baju dan menjajah dapur mungil gue).

5. Ellen DeGeneres show. Hmm...membuat siang-siang lebih menyegarkan dengan segala kegilaan dan kekocakannya. Gue suka sama Oprah, tapi nonton Oprah tiap hari (atau baca majalahnya tiap bulan) selalu bikin gue merasa harus melakukan sesuatu yang heboh, menjadi orang yang lebih baik, dll, seperti habis ikut kursus kepribadian atau seminar motivasi (not that I'm an expert on that). Sedangkan Ellen (dan Jimmy Kimmel...uh I love this guy!) nggak pretensius, hanya menghibur. Sudah.

6. Cermin dan timbangan. Mengira-ngira lagi apa makhluk mungil dalam perut gue, dan seberapa besar dia sekarang. Dan merasa semakin urgent untuk berbelanja baju dan celana baru, mengingat semakin sempitnya semua barang yang ada di lemari gue (well, unless I could be quite satisfied wearing my guy's boxers every single day, hihi).

7. Books, books, books. Nggak ada yang bisa membuat gue betah di rumah seharian selain tumpukan buku yang belum dibaca. Lemari buku kecil di apartemen gue sekarang udah nyaris penuh, dan sepertinya gue harus mulai berpikir mau ditaruh di mana koleksi gue itu...

8. Mal Taman Anggrek. Ini adalah pelipur lara gue, kalau gue bener-bener udah bosen nggak ketulungan. Dari dulu mal ini bukan favorit gue, tapi semenjak tinggal tepat di sebelahnya, ternyata gue menemukan beberapa toko kecil dengan barang murah meriah dan tempat makan yang menarik di sini.

9. Cuci piring, janjian sama tukang laundry, beberes rumah. Ini lebih seperti rutinitas sebenernya, bukan highlight dari hari-hari gue..Dan siapa bilang mencari laundry di apartemen itu gampang?? Memang banyak banget pilihan dengan harga bersaing, tapi selalu aja ada efek samping nggak menyenangkan yang gue alamin. (Kaos kaki yang nggak sama pasangannya, celana pendek yang ketuker sama punya orang lain, baju yang masih berbau nggak kering, atau lamaaa banget nggak selesai-selesai. Jadi, kalo ada yang mau buka laundry di daerah tanjung duren, sepertinya kesempatan masih terbuka lebar tuh, mengingat saingan-saingan yang nggak kompeten itu!)

10. Bales email, chat with my colleagues, calling my producer groups who I couldn't visit for now...Atau singkatnya, mengerjakan pekerjaan gue. Pekerjaan yang tadinya begitu penuh tantangan karena harus banyak bepergian ke tempat-tempat seru dan ketemu banyak orang baru, sekarang menjadi sangaaat membosankan karena hanya gue habiskan dari balik laptop akibat kondisi gue yang nggak mungkin untuk traveling ke pedesaan dan pedalaman. Kalau nggak inget gue masih butuh uangnya, rasanya udah pengen loncat aja ke kerjaan lain yang setidaknya nggak bikin gue bosen setengah mati (meskipun sempat khawatir, hmm kok Euro semakin hari semakin turun yaaaaa).

Dan itulah...hari-hari gue yang tidak terlampau produktif. Kadang ada hari-hari menyenangkan di mana gue ketemuan sama teman-teman lama, having a dinner date with my guy, or simply wandering around Jakarta. Tapi kok ya lama-lama gue mulai takut otak gue jadi berkarat.

I guess I really need something to stimulate my brain..And bring the adrenaline back. At least, if not physically, let it be cerebral-ly =)