Kids Fashion Week

I never thought that I would do a fashion show, last time I did it when I was at elementary school for graduation day. It's like around 25 years ago.

It began with an interview for Parenting November edition with @imeshimesh - the chief editor who featured me in 'Working Mom' section. She then offered the kids to join fashion show on Femina's annual event #JktKidsFashionShow, following the famous Jakarta Fashion Week. I thought it would be cancelled while it was not.

Vala definitely refused to do it as she'd prefer to perform hip hop and breakdance, stating that fashion show is 'too girly'. Halahhhh. Well, in order to earn her trust, I respect her decision, though. When I turned this offer to Varen, this 4 years old gentleman did not say anything, so I translated his clueless respond with "Yes mommy, let's do that".

On the d day, it's a beautiful coincidence that both Vala and Varen were on holiday due to teachers conference before mid term test. I brought them to Plaza Indonesia in the morning for rehearsal. It took place at Lamoda Cafe. The plan was set. Mommy and Varen will walk on the runaway, Vala to take pictures of our showtime.

The nightmare came into reality. All of sudden Varen refused to go to the stage. I must say, Varen has a strong personality, when he refused, that means he refused. Mommy got to think quick, so mommy shared the nightmare to .... the little innocent girl: Vala.

Having no time to convince 'dede' during rehearsal, then I hold Vala's hand to the stage, "Vala, come on, walk with me." While I smiled widely, Vala looked at me, "loh kok jadi aku mam?????".
I'm so lucky to have Vala who's showing her cooperative spirit. Plan changed. Mommy walking down the runaway with Vala, not Varen.

But the next question was, what to wear for Vala? The committee was only preparing clothes for mister V. Mister V was being persistence, until the rehearsal was over, he still refused to join.

I got down on my knees and hailed my mother for coming. Eyang Uti emang kagak ada matinye dah. I shared with her the problem, left her talking with Varen, and voila! "Ver, Varen udah mau tuh ikut fashion show. Aku janjiin beli kura-kura tiga.". Yiiipeeeeee!!!!! Yangti emang top markotop!!!

What relieved me was also Varen found a new friend, Arka, 5 years old, who shared the same high energy as his. Eventually the committee found a cloth for Vala. At least, if Varen changed his mind again, we had Vala on the show. Until..... "Bu Vera, you must decide who will walk with you on the runaway." I said, "Well, if not Varen, then Vala would".

She said, "Can not. Our multimedia team needs a confirmation. Can you guarantee that both of them will go with you? If yes, then you must guarantee that they will." O.. owwww..... Dengan PD nya gua bilang, "Guaranteed!". "Yakin bu?". "Yakin!".

The show was planned to start at 2pm. At 1.30PM all the kids must change their clothes. Here we go again the drama: Varen did not want to change the clothes, "I don't like the clothes.". Gubrak gubrak gubrak. All people surrounded him try to beg him, including Arka, "keren tau bajunya, ayo ganti!". Varen tetap geleng-geleng kepala. Eaaaaa .....

While he's acting up out there, Vala was hiding under the main table near the runaway, closing her eyes with both of her palm showing her dislike over something. I came over her, "ada apa sayang? kok sedih? Heyyy, you look beautiful with the clothes and hairdo!."

"I don't like the hairdo mommy!!!!". Aku ga suka dikuncir. Aku maunya dilepas. Aku ga suka pake rok, aku maunya kayak dede pake celana panjang. Aku kan mau jungkir balikkkkk." Aaahhh... chaos! hehehe..

With calm and confidence, I asked her to get out from under the table. Glad that the stylist would like to release her hair so I could bring back Vala's smile on her face.

The time was getting closer to the opening. Varen still did not want to wear the clothes. I was chewing my gum and here we go with a brilliant idea! I approached Varen and showing my chewing gum on my mouth. "Do you want this?". Varen looked at me with sparkling eyes, "Mauuuuu". "Ok, I'll give it to you after we walk together and after you change your clothes."

Yessss, it worked! The show went well. We walked holding hands and made some turns. In fact after the show, Varen did not want to change his trouser I almost bought it on spot. Varen got his chewing gum. They went home with eyang Ti and eyang Kung. I went back to the office.

I must thank @imeshimesh and mbak @tenikhartono for this rare occassion.

What an experience!

Get Up and Move!

It was a nice Monday morning with close friends from PR world. At first I thought to skip this get together since my workload was amazing. However I managed to come to the office early and actually had finished some stuffs in the car around 6ish AM.

Around 10AM we met up at Anomali Senopati for a 'press conference' by @mayangschreiber @dian_noeh, and @Rezasetiawan. It's also lovely to see @unspun, @LitaPS, and @Evamuchtar. Ogilvy alumni united! :)

With all those stories both personal and professional, what I can say is I'm happy for Mayang and Dian, wishing them all the best in 2012. Also for Chacha, although I'm confident that he actually can build his own company (and be successful), but he decided to wait for the right time. Good for you, too.

It's always super excited to build a new firm or initiative. The challenge remains how to keep the excitement alive. I'm a marathon believer, not a sprint one. For that, I admired Ong and mbak Lita for owning Maverick, and how they keep this company sexy all the time.

IPPG is one thing that needs to be alive so I tried to keep everyone enthusiastic, without being down due to a minor glitch. Tetap semangat!

On the picture: (left to right) Eva, Mayang, me, Dian. Well, the picture hanging on the wall was meant to be included. It reflected our conversation, to always dig in and explore new possibilities. (Uhuy! - karangan gue doang aja sih, haha).

Growing Up

Yesterday I just realized that Vala is getting bigger. She's so beautiful with her longer hair and slim body. At the moment I was thinking she's a teenager, and hope by that time we shared beautiful moment together.

Some people say that we must talk a lot with our daughter before it's too late. I do believe in that. A mother should be a person who can be trusted at home. Trust itself is earned over a period of time- can't be asked instantly.Vala loves to share so many things and stories. Although sometimes I'm a bit bored with her story about this little Erico, her classmate. And I almost fell when she hated upon her teacher saying, "Vala kamu pacarnya Erico ya?". What the **** .

A teacher shouldn't said that to an 8 years old students. And Vala should've not playing too often with the same guy everyday. Sigh!

After talking about how funny Erico in the class almost everyday, I relieved that at one dinner Vala did not mention about him at all. She finished her meal, and left me and daddy on the table. Yeay!

Usually when kids finished their meals and started doing other things, it's a moment for me and my husband to have an adult conversation: office, plan, etc. Until Vala was back, laughed, and you know what she told us, "Mama mama, tadi siang Erico lucu deh...". Eh gubrak! Kirain udah ga diomongin lagi tuh anak, ha³....I felt like I was going to say, " Valaaaa... ga ada temenmu yg lain ya yang bisa diceritain? Bosen mama, ceritanya Erico terus!".

But again, I would never say that, otherwise, rather than stop talking about him, she will surely stop talking about him to me, and start talking about him to others. No way hose! You know what, that would be a start of losing your daughter's trust.

Like any other days, I gave my curious exciting face, "really, really? Oooh, he's so funny Vala!"
I would say I was not faking it, but trying to feel what she feel, called "showing emphaty."
Finally during a field trip, I met this little boy Erico. Yes, he was funny. I saw the two of them were giggling together. I saw it in front of my face that they were clicked.

Hey little boy, I'm watching you :D

Dream Library

Reaching Out

LiniMasa pada Semangkuk Spaghetti #Galau

(The name of Spaghetti #Galau was invented by @miafitri)

Breakfast club kali ini berganti shift menjadi berbuka puasa bersama, namun tetap mengambil lokasi di wilayah jajahan kita, Kuningan. Suasana @DecanterJakarta sungguh hangat dan jauh dari keriuhan orang berbuka. Pas banget untuk acara dinner bareng @petz09, @dian_noeh, @iimfahima, @TenikHartono, @inggita, @MiaFitri @astridYogini dan pengantin baru kita @nendennf.

Ada satu misi dalam pertemuan kita kali ini: menangkap si pengantin baru yang minggu depan sudah akan ‘kabur’ ke Athens, Ohio, US untuk mengambil beasiswa S2 Communication Development Studies. Perempuan supermanis ini harus cerita tentang beasiswanya dan BAGAIMANA secara tiba-tiba dirinya melepas masa lajang. SIAPAKAH pria yang berhasil meluluhkan hatinya? *dua kalimat terakhir ini, bacanya a la Fenny Rose ya temans. Penekanan pada kata yang digarisbawahi. Setajam silet, begitu*

Beberapa kali breakfast club bareng, baru kali ini @nendennf bercerita tentang kisah asmaranya yang ternyata wow wow to the bang bang!. Dibutuhkan konsentrasi tingkat tinggi dan kecerdasan di atas rata-rata untuk dapat memahami rajutan cinta kasih a la Nenden. Anda harus paham jargon-jargon seperti ‘mantan istrinya mantan pacar gue’ atau ‘yang mengawinkan kita di Yogya itu bapak angkat gue yang sebenarnya bapaknya mantan tunangan gue’.

Dalam keadaan sehabis puasa dan tanpa glossary, kami-kami ini dipaksa untuk memahami dengan cepat drama kehidupan Nenden yang selama ini tertuang rapi di linimasa twitternya. Iim terlihat lebih pintar dan cepat paham. Aah...curang... lha wong selama ini dia sudah curi start. Selama ini rajin kali bu Iim membaca drama seri @nendennf . Sementara saya yang duduk pas di sebelah Nenden, sudah tidak dapat dipungkiri lagi, sungguh terlihat amat bodoh, I’m lost in translation! Belum pernah saya mendengar kompleksitas cerita yang begitu dahsyat. Ruwet. Kusyut. At the same time, amazing! Butuh kebesaran hati untuk bersahabat dengan ‘mantan istrinya mantan pacar gue’ atau diadopsi sebagai anak ke-4 oleh ‘bapaknya mantan tunangan gue’.

Benar adanya bahwa dibutuhkan skill yang harus terus diasah agar dapat memahami jejaring drama percintaan seperti milik Nenden, “Elo aja yang denger mumet, gimana gue yang ngejalanin...” cerita Nenden dengan penuh gelak tawa. Malam itu, memang penuh keceriaan dan tawa. Perempuan-perempuan pintar, berprestasi, dan super cerdas ini ditantang untuk paham konten, layaknya ujian komprehensif. "Peer ku memecahkan misteri family tree :D" kata @petz09. @TenikHartono pun memilih lagu yang cocok untuk cerita Nenden, ‘Nothing Compares to You’ #np. Gak ada yang ngalahin kisah nyata lo deh Nden!

My life is sooo boring compared to her roller coaster. Mine is flat :D Jauh dari galaksi #Galau. Pun tidak terbiasa mendengar kompleksitas drama yang menurut @dian_noeh sudah melewati batas kompleksitas Six Degree Separation. @inggita berusaha menyatukan puzzle yang berceceran di twitter Nenden dengan berbagai hashtag: #tegel #kunci #tebet, ditambah #arem-arem dari @iimfahima dan #ubin dari @tenikhartono. Silakan merangkai cerita ....

Well, the good news is, sejak menikah, Nenden terlihat lebih ‘tertib’ di Twitter. Drama sudah jarang muncul di setiap 140 karakter nya. She’s a happy housewife now, in which I’m happy for her, too! Though it’s not really a good news for Iim who really enjoys reading her expressive timeline. Hahaha...( just kidding, hey, we are all happy for her.)

Enjoy your marriage life, enjoy your study ya neng geulis.... surely will miss you in our breakfast...

PS. Psssttt....#Galau babak pertama usai sudah. Akankah ada #Galau babak kedua? Tunggu sampai ia mendarat di ranah @BarackObama. Doa saya, semoga semua aman-aman saja... *dan biarkan Iim mencari perhelatan drama dari akun Twitter yang lain :p*

Have a great day, everyone!

*written by Vera Makki http://cafemother.blogspot.com/