Casual Cool Collection By Cotton Ink

Firstly (and proudly), I want to say congratulations to Cotton Ink, one of my most favorite local fashion brand for winning the Cleo Fashion Award as Best Innovative Local Brand. Cotton Ink deserves this award mostly because their designs are always over the top. With beautifully detailed style, fabulous colors and simple – but truly – innovative lines, the designs that Cotton Ink launches periodically would always be admirable and it’s impossible to not fall in love with. I, myself, have some of my own fave Cotton Ink’s items saved in my private closet, and would wear each one of them on everyday basis.

Last October, Cotton Ink once again launched another of their amazing collection, which is called Casual Cool. The main theme of the collection speaks out on comfort.

Each items in the collection shows amazing drapery effects that are totally unique and so much interesting. The simple yet unique collection are all easy to mix and match, either with each other and also with other fashion items in our own closet, such as leggings, opaque tights, waist belts, high-length boots, and so much more. Just play along with your imagination just by browsing through their lookbook and the images of the collection items. So you can either go to casual or elegant with your own mix-matching style.

Lookbook images all courtesy of Cotton Ink

Two of my most fave items of the collection are the cozy and beautiful Dark Purple V-Neck Cardi, and also the elegant and classy Luxe Althea Viscose Lavender Pink Dress.

The Dark Purple V-Neck Cardi makes a beautiful outerwear, possible to wear on both casual and formal events. It also comes in Light Khaki, Dark Grey and Dusty Berry. I love the simple look of the cardi, with a different touch given through the side lines and also the flexible fabric belt that you can play with to give different effects on the cardi itself. The fabulous dark purple color makes the look a lot more classy and also fit to match along with any kind of color, so mix-matching this cardi with other fashion items is totally possible to do.

The beautiful Luxe Althea Viscose Lavender Pink Dress gives a classy feminine look through it’s very delicate fabric and drapery effect that doesn’t go too much. It also comes in Black and Midnight Blue colors. I fell in love at the first sight with this piece, knowing that I can create a lot of different looks from the simple dress by mix-matching it with my other clothing collections and accessories, making it possible for me to wear it everyday and everywhere I go. And the color itself is also unique and beautiful.

Go visit the Cotton Ink Webstore for yourself to see the rest of their available collection, which I’m really sure you don’t wanna miss. I’m sure you’ll love it…well, I do.

Go shop and be fashionable with Cotton Ink.

Ciao,

Dee.

Note: all images in this blog are courtesy of Cotton Ink

Jakarta Tour Part 01 - Nov 14th, 2010

Dalam waktu satu minggu, saya dan calon suami hanya mempunyai waktu “eksklusif” bersama di hari Sabtu-Minggu. Itupun pada hari Sabtu kami terkadang gak akan bisa menikmati secara maksimal karena Dika, calon suami tercinta, masih harus bekerja sekitar setengah hari lebih. Biasanya di akhir minggu kami akan membuat jadwal untuk nge-date dalam bentuk yang berbeda-beda. Salah satu kencan favorit kami adalah duduk berjam-jam di KopiTiam – La Piazza, coffee house kesukaan kami yang rutin kami datangi. Bahkan para pelayan atau barista yang melayani di coffee house tersebut sampai hafal betul jenis kopi yang biasa saya pesan dan di mana kami biasa duduk. Tapi di saat-saat lain kami hanya akan duduk di ruang tamu rumah saya sambil browsing internet atau menonton DVD dan meminum kopi buatan rumah.

Weekend date kali ini telah direncanakan entah sejak berapa lama sebelumnya. Sejak lama saya ingin sekali berjalan-jalan mengunjungi museum-museum di Jakarta bersama Dika, dan hal ini pernah saya sampaikan padanya beberapa kali sebelumnya. Tapi hal itu baru dapat benar-benar kami lakukan di hari Minggu kemarin.

Malam sebelumnya Dika menginap di rumah Mursid, teman satu kampus kami, di daerah Mangga Besar. Maka kami memutuskan untuk bertemu langsung di shelter Transjakarta di Monumen Nasional yang letaknya tepat di seberang Museum Nasional. Kami bertemu di sana sekitar pukul 11 siang dan memulai tur kami mengunjungi museum tak lama kemudian.

Hari itu Museum Nasional sangat ramai pengunjung. Kami banyak menemui rombongan turis asing yang tiba dengan bus-bus pariwisata serta rombongan anak-anak sekolah dari berbagai tingkat, baik yang datang bersama teman-temannya dengan membawa buku-buku catatan maupun mereka yang datang bersama keluarga.

Hari itu adalah kunjungan saya kembali ke Museum Nasional yang pertama setelah entah berapa belas tahun (oh my God, that’s so long ago) dan saya menyadari ternyata di dalam museum itu terdapat banyak sekali koleksi budaya nasional dan benda-benda yang sangat menarik. Selama di dalam museum seperti biasa Dika memegang kamera dan berkali-kali menangkap momen yang menarik, sementara saya sendiri banyak menikmati koleksi-koleksi tersebut sambil sesekali menggunakan kamera Holga saya untuk ikut mengambil gambar. Berikut beberapa koleksi foto hasil jepretan saya dan Dika di dalam museum…

Setelah sekitar 2 jam lebih kami mengelilingi berbagai area museum mas Tyo, salah satu mantan senior kami di kampus, menghubungi Dika. Saat itu dia sedang melakukan survey di Perpustakaan Nasional untuk keperluan sayembara desain yang sedang dia ikuti dan hari itu telah membuat janji bersama Dika untuk bertemu selagi dia berada di Jakarta.

Mas Tyo sampai di museum tepat ketika kami hendak keluar untuk membeli makan siang, maka pertemuan kami pindah kembali ke shelter Transjakarta Monumen Nasional di seberang museum di mana terdapat banyak tukang berjualan makanan kaki lima. Di sana kami membeli makan siang sederhana (Ketoprak + Teh Botol dingin + Tahu Gejrot), duduk berlesehan di bawah pohon sambil mengobrol. Di tengah obrolan mas Tyo bercerita tentang mas Purwo, senior kami yang saat itu sedang berada di kantornya, tak jauh dari Museum Nasional. Dan kedua pria itu pun langsung menghubungi mas Purwo untuk ikut bergabung bersama kami.

Setelah duduk beberapa lama kami berempat memutuskan untuk mencari tempat yang menyenangkan untuk duduk mengobrol sambil minum kopi, seperti yang kami biasa lakukan bersama selama di Solo. Dan akhirnya memutuskan untuk meneruskan pertemuan kami di Starbucks Coffee di Thamrin. Obrolan kami berlangsung cukup lama dan menyenangkan, hingga waktu berlalu hingga malam. Kami juga sempat membicarakan soal rencana kami untuk pindah kembali ke Jawa Tengah. Mas Tyo selama beberapa waktu belakangan bekerja pergi – pulang Jakarta – Solo, sementara mas Purwo bulan depan akan mulai bekerja di Semarang. Semoga tak lama lagi saya dan Dika pun bisa pindah kembali ke Solo dan memulai usaha kami secara mandiri. Semoga.

These photos were taken by myself.

Saya dan Holga saya. Photo by Wahyu Adi Pramardika

Was Coffee. Photo by Wahyu Adi Pramardika

Well, we had fun. Semoga lain waktu bisa berkumpul lagi.

Time Traveling Through Old photos

After a whole week full of hard work and deadlines, the last two days of work right before Idul Adha holiday felt so tiring…and boring. Got no mood whatsoever to do any work, so after I did one of my assignments for the day, I spent the rest of my time at the office by browsing through the internet, either tweeting, blogwalking, or even just passing through every photo albums on each friend I have on Facebook.

Then I went to one of my mother’s Facebook photo album, which was named “foto jadoel”. She collected a lot of old pictures of our big family in that album and mostly I found my late grandparents old pictures. The old photos still look amazing, after she scanned them from the original pieces and edited them a bit to get the image to look so clean and new. The pictures are great, capturing a lot of beautiful moments from the earlier days of my late grandparents’ marriage life. Here are some of them…

My late grandparents on their wedding day

Their younger days. I love this pic, they look so romantic :’)

My Grandpapa, Grandmama and their friends. These beautiful ladies that are in the pic with them are my Grandmama’s good friends and until the day Grandmama passed they would still comeby to meet her at her house in Solo.

Grandpapa and Grandmama in their band, named Suara Astana. Both of my late grandparents were music lovers and great musicians. Their talents run in the family. My mother herself is a good singer, while both my brother and I love to play music sometimes.

I also found this photo. This is the photo of my mother and her older brother when they were still so little. I also love this pic, which she once used as her profile picture on her Facebook Account, because it shows how close she was (and still is) with her older brother, Pakde Bambang. And seeing this pic, reminds me of a picture of myself with my cousin Itha, who is Pakde Bambang’s oldest daughter, which was taken a few years back. In the photo we were standing side by side with the exact position like our parent did, and I also notice that we do look exactly like our parent! Take a look…

Left pic: my mother on the left and her older brother on the right.

Right pic: myself on the left and Itha on the right.

Get my point? :D

After browsing through my mother’s photo album, I went to Itha’s Facebook Account and opened her family photo album. I found some other amazing old photos….of us! The photo was taken when we were still in elementary school. In that photo was my brother and I, along with my cousins Itha and her sister - Dinda, and my other cousins – the daughters of my mother’s younger Brother, Om Ayik – Sazha and Sade. Our age weren’t so far apart and the six of us was the early group of grandchildren in the house, so our Grandpapa requested that we took a photo of us together at the front terrace of the family house in Solo.

Actually, there was another photo which were taken about more than 10 years later, when we were gathering at the same big house on one of the many Idul Fitri holidays we used to celebrate together. We found the old photo of our young self and decided to make another picture of the older version. (we are such a creative family, aren’t we? :D) I still haven't found that photo yet, but I promise to post it here once I finnally do.

Anyway, just take a look at this one while I search for it...

Our younger version (before)

It was fun seeing old photos, looking back at our family’s past and reminiscing many old memories. I miss them, I miss hanging out with my cousins.

Well, before I go...let me leave you with another photo. This is when the big family went for a holiday trip to Prambanan. Again, you can see how creative we are, almost all of us wore sunglasses!! Haha...it was fun.

Wish I Can

Ada seorang anak perempuan berusia 9 tahun yang hidup di dalam diri saya. Pada suatu hari ia berteriak,

"I don't want to grow up!"

Dan saya hanya menjawab dengan singkat,

"Too late, dear."

Kali ini di balik air matanya ia kembali berteriak,

"Growing up is painfull. Make it stop!"

Saya menghela nafas panjang dan menjawab,

"I know, dear. I wish I could."

my birthday wish

Akhirnya tiba juga....the big number

Welcome,

Nama-nama seperti Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison dan Kurt Cobain mencapai puncak kejayaannya dan di saat yang bersamaan meraih akhir hidupnya pada usia 27

I admire these people dan pengen banget seperti mereka

So, my birthday wish is quite simple...

Semoga di usia gue yang ke-27 ini, gue bisa meraih - bukan puncak dan yang jelas bukan juga akhir - melainkan awal dari "kejayaan" hidup gue dan masa depan gue

amin.

well, let's see how it goes, shall we?