After a while at Uni, I found out the Indonesian Students Association in Canberra called PPIA (Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia di Australia). I became a PPIA junkie, hung out with Indonesian students all the time, we held a lot of discussions, helped organise some conferences, we had books published with the help of AII (Australia Indonesia Institute) & just had a ball academically. At that time , study & PPIA were my life and I started to enjoy living in Canberra.

After finishing my degree, I lived in Sydney for a while then moved back to Canberra to live & work.

This time, I started to fall in love with Canberra. It is a very easy city to live in. I hung out with a girl friend everywhere & trying a lot of restaurants together. Then, I met the Husband & that’s it. I’m sold on Canberra

I was then joined the AIFA (Australia Indonesia Families Association). It is an Indonesian community organisation who main purpose (I think) to organised party & BBQs for Indonesians in here. Don’t quote me here coz surely the AIFA’s older members can give you more purposes than that. Anyway, whathever the purpose are, it did successfully introduced me to some girl friends who have now become my best girl friends in here. They made me love Canberra more.

So today, AIFA held a ‘tusuk sate’ (where we put meat on satays skewers) function in preparation to the multicultural festival in February. This is what I wore to the ‘tusuk sate’ function :

Notes:
- Top from Melbourne designer , Scanlan & Theodore. I didn’t know what I thought when I bought this $150ish top!
- Skirt is Indonesian batik. Really cheap around $10.
- Bag from Tod’s, Italy.
- Sandals from Charles & Keith.
- Necklace from Six in Row
- Bracelet from Pandora, Canberra.

In the evening when I wrote this entry, we are at the Shaw Vineyard for dinner at The Flint and to watch an outdoor movie, “Sideways”.

This is what I am wearing:

Notes:
- Hat from Blake, David Jones, Canberra.
- Dress from Uluwatu in Ubud, Bali. I always think that I look really fat every time I wear this dress but it is so comfortable! The materials is so light & perfect for summer. It wasn’t cheap & cost me around $200 for this dress.
- Bag from Miu Miu, Italy.
- Shoes from Charles & Keith.

Well, in my opinion, she misses out because she doesn’t have a mobile phone & isn’t on Facebook.

Whether we like it or not, more events are Facebook than email nowadays & more people tend to text instead of making phone calls.

Some people I know have abandoned Facebook & some even delete their profile altogether. Then some of those people have to get back in because they missed out on events organised by their friends via Facebook.

As for me, Facebook is a very important tool to keep in touch with my family in Indonesia. I like to know what my dad, my brothers & my nieces up to. I love reading stories posted by my dad or his new blog post. I enjoy seeing the photos of my nieces fishing, playing or just hang out with the family. I like reading my brothers & sister in-laws status to see what’s going on in their life. Well… the point is Facebook makes me feel closer with the people whom I love.

What bothers me sometimes is the forever changing Facebook interface. How annoying to find that suddenly things have changed again. Sometime is for the better (like the friendship classification ) & other times is just there to annoy the users I guess..

If my dad is not on Facebook, surely he’ll feel like he is missing out of what’s going on with me & my brother who lives in Bali.

Anyway, enough about Facebook for now. It’s Friday again and it is casual day at the office. This is what I wore to work today:

Notes:
- Top bought in Far East Plaza, Singapore.
- Jeans from Gap, San Fransisco.
- Bag from Tod’s, Italy.
- Shoes from Charles & Keith, Singapore.

In the evening I went to a black & white birthday theme dinner & this is what I wore there:

Notes:
- Dress from ASOS.
- Shoes from Charles & Keith, Singapore.
- Belt from Alannah Hill, Canberra.
- Clutch from Nine West, Canberra.
- Earrings from Diva, Canberra.

I had the ultimate lazy day of all! We watched American tv series, drank Italian spumante, and had a 3 hour nap.

In the evening we went for a picnic at the lake with some close friends while waiting for the fireworks to start.

This is what I am wearing to the park to celebrate Australia day:

Notes:
- Dress from minimal, Jakarta
- Bag from BCBG Max Azria, Pasadena, USA.
- Flipflop Australia flag

There are massive crowds here (around 30K)! Everyone is enjoying the music by INXS, Spiderbait and many other Aussie bands.

I have been an Australian for 4 years now and I love it! An Australian passport is so good to have. It took me only 10 min to get a US visa online compared with a more than 2 hour interview & long queue and process when I was an Indonesian passport holder. I didn’t need to apply for a visa to many countries that I have visited like Japan, EU Countries, Malaysia & Singapore. And I heard that Australian consulate services are among the best in the world!

Being Australian doesn’t make me not love Indonesia anymore. I love my heritage and I have my family there. I still know more about Indonesian politics more than I know about Australian politics, I still enjoy watching badminton or soccer more than watching Rugby and Cricket, I still prefer terasi (shrimp paste) over vegemite, and of course I still prefer chili over cheese. And put chili on most food!

Being Australian for me means travel, second chance and great hmm I mean AWESOME lifestyle! Aussies are hard working people, light hearted, respect balance between work & family, easy going, love beaches, love animals & know how to have fun. I want to be part of this lifestyle and if I ever one day have children, Australia will be the best place to raise them. I want to travel the world using my Australian passport. And I thank Australia for accepting me, giving me a great life & a very loving Aussie husband .

Thank you Australia! I love you Australia & Happy Australia Day 2012!!

Oi Oi Oi this is what I am wearing at the park today:

A lot of things that I wore in the above photo, I had put them in my entry so it didn’t really count.

This is what I wore to work today:

Notes:
- hairpin & belt from Alannah Hill, Canberra.
- dress from Max Azria, LA.
- earrings from Mimco, Canberra.
- shoes from ASOS.
- necklace is a gift from a girlfriend.
- bag from Cole Haan shop in Pasadena, USA.
- watch from Cartier.
-

This is my 24th blog post this year about what ever that I am wearing and I found it is hard to even think what should I write here.

I will try my best to keep going until I can check how many clothes that I own and I have to start wearing the same ones again.

Today I had too many highlights to write here. After work I caught up with a girlfriend and we just laughed about a lot of stuff. I took her to the best Thai restaurant in Canberra, Thip’s Thai at the Churches centre next to Belconnen mall and we watched a movie together.

In the evening, some friends came over for pizza, karaoke, watching tennis, talking about PhDs, Masters courses & rubbish on gossip mags, dance in Kinect & even watched a few minutes of Justin Bieber’s documentary (I know!!!). It was fun & always great to catch up again.

This is what I have been wearing the whole day today:

Note:
- Dress from a shop in Rome, Italy.
- Belt from Friends of Couture, Melbourne.
- Shoes from Charles & Keith, Singapore.
- Sunglasses from Prada outlet near Florence, Italy.
- Bag from LV shop in Beverly Hills, USA.
- Bracelet from Pandora shop, Canberra.
- Watch from Cartier.
- Necklace is a white gold with Ruby stone, a gift from my dad when he visited Germany.
- Earrings & ring from Venice, Italy.

I am not of a Chinese background but I am fascinated by the culture as I have lovely friends who celebrate the event wholeheartedly.

In Chinese new year, people tend to wear red, decorate the house with red colour elements and even give away money in red envelopes.

Today it was work as usual for me. It was always nice to see my student on Monday morning because there are always new things happening over the weekend.

One thing that I did today which was out of the ordinary was that a girl friend and I went to see a psychic!! It was my first time & for a very skeptical person like me, it didn’t go very well indeed.

At least, I have tried it and next time I’ll better spend my money on a nice top or dress from ASOS rather than spending my money on something wasteful like this.

The point is I did something new on the first day of the dragon year.

This is what I wore today:

Note:

- Gold earrings, necklace and bracelets are all gifts. Most of them from my mum.
- Dress was designed by me but got it tailored in Jakarta for about $10. The materials is Indonesian Batik and I bought it for about $15.
- Belt from Minimal shop in Jakarta. Not very good quality but okay for the price I guess.
- Shoes from Charles & Keith.
- Bag from Louis Vuitton.
- Watch from Cartier.

I then crossed check the information with some girlfriends who have just recently returned from their holiday in Jakarta and they agreed to that statement. A girlfriend even told me that it cost almost $150 for a brunch for four!! How appalling!

Well, they do eat out in a fancy area and eating western food instead of local. As for me, since my dad lives in the suburb we eat out somewhere near his place and a meal normally costs about $2-$2.50 per person.

The point is almost everything can be affordable as long as we know when and where to get it. And if it is too expensive, surely we can live without it as long as it does not effect our health.

I love shopping but to be fair, most of the time I only shop when there is a deal on.

Today we went for a walk&jog around Lake Ginnindera and I wore a short that after discount costs me $5. I also wore a top from Forever 21 shop which I paid less than $10 after discount.

Note:
- Bag from BCBG Max Azria.
- Belt from Charles & Keith.
- Pin from Elk.
- Hat, a gift from my brother in law when we went to see the Dodgers game.
- Shoes from Brooks.
- Socks from Mango.
- Earrings are a gift.

In the afternoon I went to the CMS Radio station, 91.1 FM Canberra to broadcast Indonesian program.

This is what I wore:

Note:
- Dress from Jigsaw & I bought this for $19 at their shop in Pasadena, LA. I felt so lucky when they told me they had a deal on this dress!!
- Belt from FCUK.
- Sunnies from Charles & Keith.
- Necklace from Indonesia but I bought it from a friend in Canberra for around $40.
- Vest from Review.
- pin from Elk.
- Sandals from Prada. I got them for €100 from The Space outlet in Italy.
- Bag from Louis Vuitton. (as far as I know they never be on sale but I heard that the Paris shop is 20-25% cheaper than anywhere else).

This is what I wear in the morning:

Notes:
- Jacket from Melbourne, I forgot the name of the shop.
- Top from SES.
- Pants from ASOS.
- Belt from Friends of couture.
- Bag from Gucci. This is a vintage bag, I got it from my late mum. I remembered that this is my first expensive bag. My mum bought it in Plaza Indonesia shop in Jakarta because I had a terrible broke up with a boy friend. He gave me a bag that I always wore at that time. After the broke up, my mum bought me this bag so I didn’t have to wear the old bag anymore. The only thing that I wished I didn’t do was altering the strap of the bag. It was much longer before but then I got it altered to suit my petite size. Ah well.. it is still a vintage Gucci bag and still looking gorgeous anyway
- Sandal from Charles & Keith.
- Necklace from Elk.

Initially I declared today as relaxing by the pool, video catch up day and messy day in. This is where I just hang out with myself watching any chick flick movies that I missed and where I don’t care about the housework for a day.

But one of my besties texted and invited me over for dinner which I gladly accepted.

This is what I wore to the dinner.

Note:
- Dress from a shop in Ubud, Bali.
- Earrings & ring from Pagani, Venice, Italy.
- Bag from Louis Vuitton.
- Necklace from six in row.
- Wedges from Charles & Keith
- Bracelet from Pandora.
- Watch from Cartier.

It is almost a week now that I had my hair extension. My comments on this:

Pro:
1. I feel more feminine.
2. Hmm let me think…
3. ….

Cons:
1. It is hot in summer to have additional hair on.
2. Not very comfortable for sleeping.
3. Heavier in my head.
4. I miss scratching my head!
5. It took me 40 min to dry this hair today!!! (and it is not very thick!).
6. I didn’t know how can I style this yet (hmm maybe it’ll take me about one hour to do hair!!)
7. Nuisance to go for swimming.
8. Not boot camp friendly. I just feel extra hot with sweat in my head & made the hair looking greasy and smelly afterwards.

I feel lucky because my girlfriend who put this on is very experience so it is more comfortable to wear this.

I’ll be surprise if I have this on more than 4 weeks though.

A few months ago, I would never have thought that boot camp is my kind of thing because it sounds so hard! Then I saw my student looked better after a few sessions & decided to give it a go. I joined G-Train boot camp (www.g-train.com.au) in mid September and highly recommend it. If you’re thinking about it, go for it. They always vary their training, very reasonable price ($100 for 4 weeks training at 3 times per week and flexible classes- you can do mornings or afternoons or change days as your schedule fits).

The good thing about it is I can adjust the exercise according to my fitness level. The trainers were really good in giving alternative exercises for anyone who needs it.

Most of the time I do my exercise as it suits me. If I can’t lift 4 kg weights yet then I do 1.5 kg ones. The point is I am exercising and it is so good to see my exercise mates do their best effort as well.

I really didn’t feel like dressing up for work today so here I am thinking “whatever” and this is what I wore.

Note:
- Top from Review.
- Skirt from Alannah Hill.
- Belt from Alannah Hill.
- Shoes from Charles & Keith.
- Bag from Prada (too lazy to change bag these days!).
- Earrings from Lovisa.
- Necklace from Mimco.
- Watch from Guess (a gift from my brother).
- Teaching bag from Furla.

It’s amazing to see how these two men give all their effort in their games. They make me wonder how they train to be that good and how much commitment they (& their parents) had to put in to tennis since the young age.

Great game, great sport in a great place called Melbourne, Australia

Today I’m wearing a dress from Asos. I only taught for a half day today then hung out with a dear friend before going for a date with the Husband.

Note:
- Dress from Asos.
- Belt from DFO Canberra.
- Shoes from Tods.
- Teaching bag from Furla.
- Earrings from Mimco.
- Bracelet from Pandora.

Btw this is what my girlfriend cooked for us for lunch! So yummy!