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