the weekenders

Last week was totally a blast. I and some workmates went to Bandung for a short trip. They've been discussed about this plan before i started work there. So, i joined it in the last minute, when the itinerary is ready. Our destination were Ciwidey, for Friday night. On Saturday, we had a city tour, or i may called revisiting some tourism spot around South Bandung then off the main city, Bandung to have some shopping spree on Sumatera and Riau streets. Some of us also planned to go to Trans Studio on Sunday before we come back to Jakarta. Here's some pictures of us :

It was a nice trip with my workmates. See all the jumping girls in the last photo? It was me and my department workmates. Yup, my departments friends are all girls (two others didn't join us in this trip), so you could absolutely guess how i spent my days in office. It is full with gossips and foods. Hahahaha. But they are fun and since i am the youngest, i feel like having big sisters. I still have to learn a lot from them. And for what i have achieved i thank God. :)

5 things I should shout 'Thank God It's Friday'

These things made me so thankful today :

1. Have a red velvet cake by Union as my breakfast. Heaven is surely made by it (minus the nuts). Hehehe.
2. Only spent an hour to finish a psychotest. Wish me luck!
3. Tried out a famous 4Fingers with Inggrid. And also first visit to Epicentrum Walk.

4. My college best friend, Fetri, had her birthday today. Happy birthday to her.
5. We had fun on Ocean Park then took an early dinner together on Nanny's Barn. With the birthday girl of course.

 the birthday girl

In conclusion, today is a well spent Friday. Thanks God :)

sum of 2011 : February

I stayed in Medan for a month and already finished 4 interviewed at the time. I lived with grandma and some relatives there. It wasn't that hard to adjust living with grandma. I eat and sleep regularly hehe. Dad and brother came to visit me. We went to dad's homeland, Balige and mom's homeland, Samosir. We also did some city tour ourselves to some tourism spots in Medan, such as, Istana Maimun, Tjong A Fie mansion, Merdeka Walk and Tip Top Restaurant.

Pardon me, for not posting such an interesting post about the spots i mentioned above. So, let me give you some pictures. I visited them all in one day with brother. Most of the pictures were taken by him. Istana Maimun is a sultan house. It was a huge building in the middle of the city and has a strong Moslem influence. While Tjong A Fie mansion was a Chinese mayor house. It also a big building with many rooms and windows. A nice relative accompany us in Merdeka Walk and we walked along the street and ended the day with a nice ice cream in fancy old restaurant, Tip Top. If you have time to visit Medan, you should visit the spots. At least you know that not only Bataknese people lived there. Hehehe. Enjoy Medan!

Istana Maimun. 

Tjong A Fie Mansion.

Merdeka Walk and Tip Top Restaurant. 

The rest of the month, i was doing my research. It drives me crazy.

Union Bakery

Yesterday, i went out with a lovely friend, Desi. Graduation is coming for several days and we're no longer college girl. So, as a farewell to college life, we decided to have a fancy lunch together. We went to Plaza Senayan, and had lunch in Union Bakery. It was our first visit to that restaurant. I don't really like the ambience, full of smokers (hoek) and it has a glass ceiling. Hot indeed, we did feel uncomfortable with that situation. But, the food came to save us. They are great, and have average prices. I once read on someone's twitter (she's an Indonesian artist), Union Bakery's red velvet is the best in town. So, i'm looking over the menus, but surprisingly it doesn't there. Huff. I straightly chose another menu, Bourbon Pork Ribs, and fortunately its good. When we almost stepped outside the door, i finally saw it. The famous RED VELVET, but it's not a cupcake. I thought that the red velvet will come in cupcake looks, but it's not. It's a red velvet layer cake. So, i'll save it for take away. And now, i've finished it and forget to take its picture, but the taste is really good. Yup, i could say, it was the best red velvet in Jakarta. I want moreeee :)

converse, again

Converse was my shoes in high school.
Basically i am lazy girl who hate to wear sporty shoes. It takes time to bind it. Flats do faster and more cute. But society told me that Converse was on. At least you should have one pair of them to wear at Saturday in school. My high school was kinda strict with the shoes rules. You have to wear black shoes from Monday to Friday then free shoes in Saturday. I also have a college boyfriend in my last grade in high school. He was wearing Converse everytime we met after school. So, i put it in mind, in time you enter college life, you'll wear Converse until you graduate.

Converse was my shoes in college.
I moved to Jakarta and brought along one pair of Converse. But, living in Jakarta, gave you many many option of things. Many restaurants is in here, many malls, many bookstores, and many shoes stores. No doubt my heart goes to flats again. I still bought 3 more Converse these years, but ended up by giving them all to friends and (hiks) throw them. I was thinking not to wear more Converse. It was a symbolize of teen life, a rebel time of our life and now, i'm facing life as an adult. Being a fresh graduate with no recent job gave me more time to rethink about many things, choosing best shoes is one of them. No more sneakers, but high heels.

Converse is my newest sandals.
Sandals should be feminim in my opinion. I collect some sandals and wear it any time i don't have to wear shoes. At least i have to bring one sandal when i go back to hometown. It's easy to wear, comfort, fit in jeans also, and have various type and colors. You have no reason to refuse sandals. And now, Converse sandal came to rescue me. They made a very comfort sandal, with their own touch. It looks like sandal, but it was Converse. See? I love this sandal to bits, my feet loves it too. I hope, Converse will produce new type of sandal more, i'll grab them all :))

first week in Jakarta (through instagram)

Heyhoo. I'm back to the city, to prepare some things in terms of my graduation by the end of this month. I arrived safely exactly a week ago and already tired now. For the first two nights here, i didn't sleep at my crib, i haven't clean it yet cause i have to accompany my sister in hospital. She had an appendix surgery on Monday and had no company, so there i was. Slept over at the hospital for two days in a row, with an unhealthy condition is bad, guys. Huff. But still, the next day, i have to fit my kebaya and make sure mom's is ready too. Mine is not ready yet, i'll pick it up  tomorrow i guess if i have company.

On Saturday i went to campus with a friend to attend jobfair. My faculty held that event and one of the reason why i come back to Jakarta is to find suitable job for me. One big company has already interviewed me, i had pass two others already but still waiting for the best one. Being a jobseeker is not my thing, to be honest i'd like to take master next year. Meanwhile i have to find a job to keep me in this psychological test and stuff. So good luck for me and you.

I also went out with Arlene. We talked about everything, yet the main topic was her recent relationship. I'm so happy to see her smiles all over the talk. We ended that day by watching Smurf and having ramen as our late lunch. It was also a late celebration of her birthday, a month ago. I wasn't in town on the time. One last thing, i'm glad because Arlene also loves Peach Sus that i chose for her. It was my favorite cake in Starbucks by the way. Have i told you that i so miss Green Tea Frappucino back in Manado? Finally i had tasted it again with my girl.

And yesterday, my brother turned 19 years old. Happy birthday to him. We went to Pulau Dua Restaurant for lunch. Too bad it was located nearby MPR - DPR building and there was an demonstration by the time. We couldn't pick taxi easily so we asked the police to help us. Fortunately, we didn't face a long crowd in our way home. I straightly called mom and tell her to watch news, in case me and brother was shown up in that demonstration. Hahaha.

 

his mie ulang tahun / birthday noodle 

So, that was my week.Yes, it's kinda strange to start a week in Wednesday hahaha. I won't use that term of course, it just one of my case in this city. All of the pictures were taken with my ipod and have been edited in instagram application. It was my last addiction lately, to capture pictures, edit it and post it. Too bad i have to find wifi connection everytime i'd like to upload some photos, but no big deal for these days. Hihihi. If you have instagram account, do follow mine (annavaganza), in time i can online, i'll follow you back. Have a great day! xoxo

IKEA stuffs upcoming

No, no, we aren't waiting for the real IKEA stuffs to come, but mom has decided to make some stuffs according to IKEA's. My home has been renovating for the last 3 months. Yep, one of the reason why i came back here is to help mom redecorate home. And thanks God, we've already celebrated it for 3 times with some relatives and neighbours. Our home is bigger than before now, i have my own bedroom (i used to share bedroom with brothers during my years here), new bathroom (to me, of course hihihi), a new garden, and so on.

Today, mom asked me to browse on our pictures in Singapore last year. I wanted to post this for almost a year ago, pardon me. Hehehe. We visited IKEA Singapore and pretty amazed with that store. Yeah, especially for us, me and mom whose interesting on stuffs like that. So, we wont waste time, mom took some pictures there and today i looked it agan and why don't i post it now? I bet you'll love IKEA too.

 one of the dream : walking closet!

 my dream kitchen :))

 one nice children room

 andddd, me! 

red velvet cupcake by minilovebites

This post was left on my draft for a month and it's about delicious cupcakes by minilovebites. I got their address from some accounts in twitter and it led me order 2 kind of cupcakes at the moment, Purple Choco and Red Velvet. With no doubt, my heart goes to the Red Velvets. Not as good as people may expect maybe, like cupcakes from abroad, but at least this cupcake was the best on town (in my opinion, do mind it, people). The color was good, the icing was great. I once posted a post about thing i hate in cupcake which is the icing part. But, minilovebites solved my problem, it wont let you lips full butter from the icing, or whatever it is. Don't forget their packaging too, it is a nice one. Ah ya, minilovebites served non-preservative cupcakes, so you'll have to finish it on 2 days after you got it home. Definitely will order the Red Velvet again. Hihihi.  

Wagyu for Weekend

Just tried another good quality steak on town by Holycow Steak Hotel. Me and brother spent an hour by taxi before we reached it at 12 P.M and have to wait for another 6 guests before we finally entered the restaurant. So full and surprisingly most of them were grandpa and grandma. So cute! Me and brother shared our table with 3 other couples. Most of us ordering the same kind of steak, WAGYU.

choose your own wagyu.

200 gram wagyu rib-eye with mushroom sauce

Honestly, i'm not a fan of steak. I even hate some menus with beef as their main ingredients, like meatballs. But this Holycow Steak was a nice one. A big portion for me, but not for brother. I should ordered burger instead of steak actually, cause i felt goddamn full after eating this huge steak. Ah ya, another happy thing about this restaurant, they're so much into socmed, like twitter and facebook. You just have to follow then mention them on your status. See what i got, classic tiramisu for one mention on my twitter status. Tasted good!

Zangrandi Ice Cream

If you ever tried Ragusa Ice Cream in Jakarta, i bet you'll love Zangrandi Ice Cream too. You can try it if you go to Surabaya first. Hehehe.. I went to Surabaya 2 weeks ago, but unfortunately i couldn't manage time to post about the only place i excited to go in Surabaya, beside Tunjungan Plaza as well. Thank God i went there with my high school friends. Good ice creams, good place, good chat, good friends, that's all you need to have a great weekend :)

meet my ice cream : Copabanana

ps : i wish i could share you more pictures about Surabaya, but unfortunately i didn't bring my camera along with me, neither D SLR or lomo. So, i only took some pictures by blackberry and you knew how bad it was. yeah, like pictures above.

pps : Surabaya was as hot as i recalled. Err, maybe hotter. But i love their new airport. Somewhat similar with Changi, in my opinion :p