Play spot in a small “wishy washy” space

I need to confess..

There is a probability that almost every post in the near future may have something to do with my newest obsession..

Meet Lil’ Spunky, our very first born..

An active, bubbly, loud, big-eyed, chubby-on-the-cheeks-only, drooling, toothless 7 month old baby..

 

Now that she’s starting solids and curious about everything, creating a fun learning and playing atmosphere is essential.

Okay.. Next, allow me to tell you about a wee bit of our apato.

It’s small.

We have a tiny bedroom and …

a living/dining/playing/working/studying/family/storage/closet/mud/sun room, the all-in-one room. The cool term is “multi-functional” room. I call it “me-not-being-able-to-make-up-my-mind-for-the-room’s-true-purpose-because-I-have-a-newborn” or “wishy washy” room.  However, because now Lil’ Spunky is growing, I ought to acknowledge and support her needs.

The least I can do is setting a dedicated spot up for playing and learning, like this:

To anchor the play area, I arrange 2 sets of spongy thingy mat (I don’t know what people call it because I am too lazy to google it. Remember! I have a baby 😀 ). Using 2 nonidentical sets of mat is unintentionally. I already have them and other things before planning anything. That’s why there is small long gaps between them due to the unmatched “teeth”. Then, I saw Lil’ Spunky playing with this tablecloth (it actually a non slip sheet but I use it as tablecloth 🙂 ). She always grab it when she’s eating. I took it and spread the hot pink rubbery tablecloth out underneath the gap. It actually adds little details and textures to the ground.

Lil’ Spunky loves to poke and stare at it as if thinking mmm where have I seen this thing before…

Anyway, the mat also serve other purposes;  to minimize the result of splishing splashing of solids and liquid on the carpet, provide cushy base, and is easy to clean. I choose soft color for the mat because Lil’ Spunky already got colorful toys and books. Therefore, if I lay them on the mat she will not feel too overwhelmed by the busy colors and can focus on the toys only. Besides, soft neutral colors give our eyes a chance to “rest”.

As for furniture, I want to keep it as simple as possible. A lazy boy and a bookcase. Instead of standing the bookcase upright, I lay it on its side. Not only it’s safer, it also provides more surface for soft toys and books.

Notice the potty seat? It hasn’t been used yet. I have it only because it is one of a number of presents we received from the Japanese government. Yup, they really know how to spoil new mamas and babies 🙂  I have heard so many stories about how mamas having dilemma when it’s time to potty train their children. I thought I could slowly introduce the potty to Lil’ Spunky by making it part of  her daily activities along with her toys. I want her to get to know it as something fun long before she has to use it. Don’t we, humans, are more welcome to something that we are familiar with?

For toys, I only put a few within Lil’ Spunky’s reach. She does have more toys and books although not that many and I keep them out of her sight. I don’t want to just spread them all every time she plays because I know she’s easily overstimulated and get bored. I plan to rotate them every other day and maybe got her thinking heyy that’s my Anpanman book I couldn’t find last week..It still got my spit up on it. Awesome!! instead of ..this Anpanman book again.. It already got my mark. Gotta find another..

And most important of all, fewer toys means less flying objects to catch, more writing for mama 😀

Parental Paranoia: First Kick

Hiiiiiiii yyaaaaahh!!!

We found out about this miracle early this year..

Having to deal with this new journey only with the Mr in a country far from home and family is pretty daunting, I must say, but so happy that we are finally expecting our first..

It is going to need a mammoth effort from both of us to get through all the stages especially when we literally have no experience whatsoever..

But so far, not so bad.

I am 21+4 preggers and feeling fabulous..

We are not parents yet. You know, the kind of parents that already hold their children on their arms. Mine is still in my tummy. But I guess the parental paranoia starts from now or in this case, last week.

I was laying on the bed with the Mr beside me. I told him that our Bubba was kicking and I wanted him to put his hand on my tummy to feel the movement. He said, “Nah, no way it’s too early for you to feel the baby kicking”. So I told him to just watch. And there it was, the little Bubba inside of me kicked so hard that we can noticed it from the outside . I was so surprised and started crying like a river with happy tears cause I was only 2o week pregnant but already could see Bubba kicking from the outside. I expected the Mr would gently stroke my hair and calmed me down as usual or at least engaged with this happy and very rare occasion with me.

Instead, the Mr was hysterical and rather screamed at me, “Bubba is trying to bust out of your tummy!! She wants to go out, she wants to go out!” and refused to touch my tummy…

The worst comforting effort everrrr!!

The Mr, oh the Mr just being himself, has something different on his mind.

Maybe this is what he thought he saw…

I was struggling in between of wanting to laugh and trying to reason with him.

I never thought the Mr being hysterical and panicking would stopped me from weeping..

The Mr got his sense back, and with little hesitation had his hand on my tummy and calmly smiled.

Ever since, the Mr pokes my tummy once in a while to provoke Bubba to kick again.

Fiiuuuhhh….

No more scary movies for you, Mr!

(Hopefully Not) The Highlight of My Day

Ok, short story: I flooded my kitchen! And I wanted to share it with the world..

Today, in attempt at being a good stay-at-home wife while the Mr is having another day with his fruit flies at the lab (yup, you heard me just right), I was doing the daily chores including the laundry. Well, we just recently moved to this apato and the rumor has it buildings close to the river are most likely to experience what they call “the insect attack” in the summer or, now, spring. I have this thing with cockroaches.. I hate them.. They are just NASTY.. The smell, whooaaahh… I would definitely never ever ever want to be one of the Fear Factor contestants. I love the show though, too bad it was canceled.

Back to the story,,,

In order to prevent that from happening in my apato I sealed every little hole on the walls and installed stocking type draining net thingy on the sink, bathroom, and laundry holes on the floor. Smart move, huh? Not for long, at least not for my laundry area.. I thought the net would be small enough to prevent cockroaches from going into my apato and big enough to allow the cloth fibers to go through straight into the sewer. Apparently not. The fibers piled up after several washes and today came my prize. Water and other things that should have not been found on my kitchen floor were all over the place. I panicked and realized I did not have a proper mop to clean the mess. I only have those small Japanese mop thingy. A disposable thick tissue on the stick. So it does not really “absorb” the water just “wipe” the floor. Thanks to that, I ran into a pile of dirty laundry, put them all on the floor to soak the water. But it wasn’t enough. I ran into the next room, opened the cupboard, and there they were.. 2 of the Mr’s cottony, thick and fluffy T-shirts. It seemed like they’re calling me, you know.. That, and I just didn’t want to use my clothes.. Nah ahh…

Please forgive me Dear, I know you just bought them. But I want you to know, they’ve served me well..

Mr’s Tees and Other Victims of The Day

So, after wiping, squatting while mopping, cleaning, wiping again, standing & mopping, spraying alcohol (for hands) on the floor (I know, I know, I have lack of cleaning supply), opening and closing the door over and over again to act as fan, resting for a while but was still not happy with the results, I started it all over again. At least now I don’t have to do my workout for a week. I burnt enough calories that even several servings of Baskin-Robbins won’t do harm on my weight.

But I learned my lesson, my friend..

Sometimes when you think you have a clever idea, it’s only your hallucination..

When you have a clogged drain, make sure to fix it right away and NOT AFTER you flooded your room..

Doing all that kind of cleaning is a NO NO for your back sake, especially when you are pregnant..

Do the laundry, BEFORE your husband goes to Uni..

Coffee with Castle and J.K. Rowling

‘Oh my god. This is quite possibly the worst coffee I’ve ever tasted. It’s actually kind of fascinating. It tastes like a… (pauses to sip the coffee) it tastes like a monkey peed in battery acid. Try some?’

—Castle

(Not long after that Castle purchased  a high grade espresso machine for the precinct)

What are the similarities between J.K. Rowling and Richard Castle?  They are single parents. They got custody of their teenage daughters. They both have brilliant minds. They write fictions. Although, only one of them is a “real” writer (You-Know-Who) while the other one is the lead character of a fiction TV show, Castle. On top of that, they both love coffee.

But I do know one thing different though. When Castle is not solving homicide case in the precinct and kicking some murderer’s butt–pardon my language, he is at home writing his novels. On the other hand, waaaaay before Harry Potter happens, J.K. Rowling is known for her fondness of writing in a cafe.

The idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss

–J.K. Rowling

Oh, this reminds me of what happened last week.

I went to this place with a friend of mine. It was an underground cafe located one floor below a traditional market in Kanazawa, Japan. The stair led to the doors was so narrow it was easily missed. Once I entered the cafe, I was surprised. It was different than what I had in mind. The presence of rustic wooden chairs, a hand-me-down-look couch, handwritten menus from torn carton box, small bookshelf, old piano at the corner, acoustic guitars standing on the floor, ceramic figurines on the shelves, hot coffee in the handmade Japanese pottery cup, everything just created a harmonized design.

Anyway, I never went back to the place anymore since my first and last visit. What I love the most is the fact that it is a cafe yet it feels like home.

Coffee.. Cafe.. Home.. Work.. Inspiration..

Mmm.. It got me thinking…

what if J.K. Rowling reverse the concept?

If one day I have a chance to tell her this or maybe just through a letter, here’s what I’m going to say:

Hi Ms. Rowling,

I know how much you love writing in a cafe, why don’t you try to create a cafe-inspired working space in your own house? It saves your time and opens 24/7. On top of that, you don’t have to change your pajamas when you don’t feel like it and no one will care whether you are barefoot or not. Especially nowadays when privacy is a rare thing and so much not your privilege anymore. The concept is not trying to put “the real cafe” design into your home office but only the influence. Like this:

Maybe it reflects more of my taste than yours. To be fair, I have never met you before so I do not know you personally. And if one crazy day you have this bizarre idea of flying this never-heard-before person from out-of-nowhere place to work with you, well I am more than willing to change the concept to meet your satisfaction. Of course, it also means I am going to need more time researching but, that’s okay, I won’t mind to stay a little longer 🙂 I realize renovating a room or having a detached home office built in your yard needs a lot of work and commitment. But hey, who knows, maybe you’ll end up like it.

or something like that.

This is not necessarily only for J.K. Rowling. If you are a young rising writer or blogger, this idea might also suits you. If you are not a cafe person, just find another great influence that will help you with your writing and infused it in your working space.

Hmm..I think I am going to follow my own suggestion. Right now, the only working space I have is my futon. When I am working on my design assignment, books and papers are on the futon and the laptop is on my lap. I hope this won’t stay forever. I’ll figure something out.

Thanks to Castle and J.K. Rowling for being my inspiration today. Maybe in different time and different world I would have a chance to sip a cup of coffee with such brilliant people.

A girl can only dream 😉

 

From Signature Sleeping Gesture to Germany vs Japan

Right now, I am sitting on my futon (japanese-style mattress) looking at the Mr sleeping beside me. The funny thing is he has this “signature sleeping gesture” and he’s doing it at the moment —If you read this dear, and I know you will,  I won’t get too deep because I know you’ll get back at me on your blog 🙂 Well, what I can tell is that sometimes in his sleep, he looks sooo darn cute that I want to pinch his cheek like a baby and sometimes mmm.. not so much that I hope he is wide awake instead.

There are so many things that can happen when he starts closing his eyes. Things that are funny, weird, and beyond my imagination. Yup, even in his sleep, he makes me laugh. He keeps surprising me in this 3 years of marriage, for sure. If “the thing” happens, I always tell him about it first thing in the morning and we will laugh like we never laughed before. Definitely a great way to start a day.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not how the Mr looks like when he’s sleeping. Those hands? Too creepy for a grown up man. Just saying…..

Anyway, I don’t know why today he kind of trigger my memory of what happened several months ago. Maybe because I was sleeping then when it happened. Here’s the story…

One day, I was taking nap when the Mr woke me up and delivered two great news regarding his scholarship applications. He got accepted in two Universities at the same time, in Germany and Japan. Believe me, he is that brilliant. We were very excited and knew that he got to decide where he wanted to continue his PhD study.

Different case with Australia where he got another scholarship for his master degree. I have been there a couple of times before and we have our family there so we pretty much knew our way around. Not too much to think about, we’re pretty much settled.

And now, we’ve never been in those countries and had no clue about living and studying there. So, we decided to make pros and cons charts–we always do this before taking important decision. Give it a try! Everything counts, such as the scholarship schemes, research programs, cultures, languages, natural disasters, family-friendly cities, food, weather, holidays, etc. It was a big decision after all.

I said that I was on board to whatever decision he’d make.

Finally, the Mr chose Kanazawa, Japan over Potsdam, Germany. He turned down the offer in Germany despite the fact that he really wanted to experience living in Europe merely because I might have to wait another year before I could joined him.

He said, and I quote, “the best thing in my life is when I can share my happy moments with you”<—that’s me 🙂 I am so lucky to have him, I know! 

Back to present day, I am really grateful for his decision.

Despite the language difficulties and the lack of spare time to spend together, we maintain to enjoy our time and live our life to the fullest.

So What Inspired You Today?

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.

—Frank Lloyd Wright

It does not matter if you are a poet, writer, designer, artist, or an ordinary man, nature always finds its way to inspire you. Its color, history, beauty, form, ambiance, character, calming effect, or even disastrous event–everything about it is just extraordinary.

I try to create a scheme where the nature-inspired idea meets contemporary influence. I am so much in love with the curtain that I take cue from its colors and transfer it to my design palette. Neutral background with bursts of green and red-orange.

So, that’s me.

What inspired YOU today?

Just another view from my balcony…

I wish!

————–

 The photographs were taken when The Mr and I went to the famous Japanese landscape garden in Kanazawa, Kenrokuen. It is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan (along with Kairaku-en and Koraku-en). Lucky for us, Kenrokuen Garden is only 15 minute bus ride from our apato.

After walking around, we realized we needed an extra hand to take picture of both of us. Because mostly, it was the Mr who took pictures of me alone —but I never complained 🙂 So, we started looking for a stranger with friendly gesture and, of course, a free hand. What a serendipity, we met with ..mmm.. mature couple who are Queenslanders! They shared the same traits with the Queenslanders we knew when we lived in Australia. Big smile, big laugh and very nice. After taking our picture and vice versa, we talked for a while and said goodbye to each other. Then headed to our  favorite spot for little snacks. And as we expected, The Mr had much more than just “little” snacks 🙂

From beautiful landscape design to delicious snacks, we had a blast.

Charity By Design

New Year. New Resolution. New Post.

What is the best way to start a blog if not by something positive, such as charity, right?

I am not talking about giving away big fat checks but more like helping with what you already have. Your heart, time, and skill. I, myself, prefer to do charity by design even though I do not have that much experience in this matter.

But, I saw a chance and grabbed it.

Sikola Mangkasara or School of Makassar, Indonesia. A non-profit institution where young children and teenagers are educated to always believe in what they are capable of, have positive attitudes, honor moral values and be in the best version of themselves. The institution was founded in January 1st, 2008 by a group of bright young women.

 Happy 5th Anniversary !!!

Notice the house below? Yes, they use the humble abandoned house to accommodate their activities. Thumbs up for the staff for being brave and creative!  Planning a renovation finally can be done with the help of others, mostly through donation.

But, I volunteered to help in designing the interior while another bright young girl, Amalia, helped with the architectural features. Different story with Mr. Realist. He had his own way to help and it included with his favorite thing in the world, donuts. Yup, D-O-N-U-T-S. He made sure that all of us, especially the kids, had happy tummies all the time.

–any kind of help counts 🙂

It was such an amazing experience working side by side with a group of people who have great intention —I am proud to call them friends of mine and, of course, my husband.

Anyway, these are the 3D renderings from the ongoing project.

Front View

1F Floorplan

Raised floor, Hall, Kitchen+Storage Room, Indoor Bathroom & Toilet for Girls, Outdoor Bathroom & Toilet for Boys

2F Floorplan

Office, Separate Bedrooms for the Boys & Girls

So, if you are somewhere across the globe laying down on the beach, sipping a delicious drink, and wondering what you are going to do with the extra money in your pocket or you just simply want the same opportunity to do something that is actually great and fulfilling..

maybe..

just maybe..

Sikola Mangkasara is one of the best places for you to start.

Want to know more about this awe-inspiring place? Please click here. Nope, not here. There!

Cheers!