yes, i haven’t shut up about this and words cannot describe how happy I am for him :)

I’m pretty bummed that I didn’t get to watch all the action in Singapore since it turned out to be quite a dramatic tournament. The timing of the live show coincides with an F1 race and ALL of the sports bars, even the golf-affiliated ones, refuses to play anything but that. I even tried to get several of them to change the channel to ESPN, only to be turned down with a “sorry, it’s F1, we can’t do anything”. (What?? You mean watching a group of guys leisurely chasing and strategically hitting white tiny balls into a tiny hole for four-and-a-half hours is not enough excitement for most people?) Sad :(

I ran around the town for four hours trying to catch the live show (from Yishun to CQ to Sentosa to Dhoby Gaut) before I finally gave up and sat down at a random 7/11, frantically refreshing live scoring and bbm-ing my sister, who kept giving me fresh news from the course. I practically drained the batteries on BOTH my iPhone and Blackberry.

I’m just so. very. insanely proud of my little brother. He worked hard for this since he was six years old, and finally, the fruit of his labor is starting to show at 22 years old! <3 <3 No one deserves this more than he does :D!

Video of the final round highlights:

and more videos here! he’s basically in all of the highlights.

In any case, I had a nice birthday. Grateful that I was able to spend it with family back in Jakarta, and for friends who wished me happy birthday through facebook, twitter, sms, bbm… Geez, technology does make things a lot easier doesn’t it? even when I live halfway around the world from most of my friends…

My sister got me a litle pistachio chocolate cake! It was yummy :9 A tiny one because it was just the three of us. My brother and dad were off to Cambodia that week.

Sleeping peacefully

Her tiny little hands

This is a picture of my cousin’s dining room that i just love! Does it not scream perfect lazy sunday afternoon? I especially love the faint blue grey paint against the white window frames and that delicate curtains. Also the glass table, the white leather chairs and the touch of color from the yellow orchid. Ok, fine, i loved everything in this picture!

Unexpected visit from my relatives.
Took them around Singapore, felt like I was a local!
Watched them win $950 at the casino.
Convinced them to cash out and bail.
They did!
At the end of the day, they took ME somewhere I’ve never been to.
So much for feeling like a “local”, right?
Was spoiled silly by them, a rather nice feeling I’m not quite used to.

Dyed my hair to a light coppery brown color last weekend.
It was an impulsive decision.
Was horrified that the color was a lot lighter than expected.
However, a week later I’m loving my new hair color.
They’ve turned to be a warmer brown since then.

Lots of farewells at work this month.
Sometimes I complain, but
I’m convinced I’m very lucky to be a part of this place.

Spent a lot more time on skype ever since we discovered the special effects.
Which never fail to make us laugh and laugh and laugh.

It’s been over a year since I’ve been back in Asia.
While I still miss Los Angeles a lot, every single day
I think I’m slowly accepting this place to be my new home.

The birthday girl in her present. it’s such a cute shirt isn’t it? ^^ I plan to borrow it from here some time. she’s wearing the belt N got me from europe :P goes very well with the outfit I think.

she is a huge italian fan so I took her and my mom to PEPeNERO Cucina Italiana in kuningan, just 10 mins away from our apartment. the restaurant has a nice ambience and very dim romantic lighting complete with candle light.

Immediately after seated, we were served complimentary bread and bruschetta as we look through the menu. the bread plate is pretty good with a lot of variety instead of just the usual white / whole grain bread!

my dish.. Tortelloni. I forgot the exact name because it was super long. all i remember is the word “funghi” (it does have mushroom in it) and “formaggio”. i think.

my sister’s Ravioli. also don’t remember the name. has beef in it. i had a bite and it was probably the best out of the the three dish we ordered that night.

my mom’s pasta. it looks gross because it’s green and the flash makes it even more unappetizing, but was actually pretty good.

over all, i’d say it was a good dining experience… the food was good and the price was affordable. i only skimmed the menu but i think all dishes average around $5-8.

the mandatory photo-whoring session after dinner~

this is my outfit tonight! dancer top from topshop and R&R VB white crystal crown jeans. i love my jeans ^^ it makes my butt look smaller than it actually is. and that’s the necklace i got from F21 yesterday along with the shirt. i LOve it! am currently in a phase where i am obsessing about accessories. they make old outfit look new again ;)

remember how I went to Singapore back in March? it was for this tournament :)

My sister and I went trigger happy and took a bunch of pictures ^^ it was the first time we get to watch our brother on TV!

After the show ended, we went out on a shopping trip. I haven’t shopped in almost a month. We were set out to go to Grand Indonesia since they have Forever 21 there, however my mom was driving and we weren’t familiar enough with the street that we ended up in a completely different mall… on the other side of the city. We didn’t get lost per se, but we didn’t know that certain parts of the streets are closed off during specific time, and we couldn’t get to the mall itself despite being right across the street from it because we didn’t know where to U-turn.

The shopping trip itself was largely unsuccessful. I couldn’t find anything I wanted to buy despite wanting to spend money! ended up eating at the food court instead (I had my fill of junk food – KFC! :9). Then on the way back, we got lost for about an hour or so -_- It was frustrating, but at least we kind of know the places around where we live now.

On Sunday we went to a wedding of my cousin’s wife’s brother. Very distant relative and I didn’t even know the bride or groom! quite a different experience from an american wedding.

Here is me and my sister getting ready to leave for the wedding:

For comparison, us in 1987 ^^ my sister is such a CUTE BABY! everytime i see this picture I have this urge to run to my sister and hug her

Some mangoes that my mom cut up for us after dinner last night. Mangoes here are sOo much better than the states… so sweet and so fragrant! I love it, especially when eaten cold.. yummy.

That’s me when I was maybe 4 years old. and the bump is my brother :) this is another result of my mom’s scan-happy-ness. I’ve never seen this picture before! I love it :) looking through the old album of our family lately, i must say my dad has a knack for photography. there are quite a few shots that caught my eyes due to either the color composition or the subject it captures. and he took these pics with regular old school cameras!

Anyway, I looked at the menu and noticed two rather unusual drinks: Mocha Mudslide and Black Forest so we each ordered one. are these available in the US as well? because i don’t remember seeing ‘em

I got the Mocha Mudslide, no whip cream. They taste good! there is a hint of Bailey’s in there with some coffee (well i guess it *is* mocha + mudslide). the Black Forest one was quite good as well, but we didn’t taste any cherry in it, just chocolate and bits of cake, so it was mostly like cookies and cream.

Got this to snack on from the mini market downstairs. It’s quite tiny (fits in the palm of my hand!) and delicious. it’s called Lemper, which is some sort of sticky rice (ketan) with seasoned chicken inside, wrapped in banana leaves. one of my favorite snacks!

Was casually browsing magazines they have for customers a Coffee Bean, when my sister pointed out that our brother is in one of the pages! pretty cool eh? :D this “news” is so last year though (literally), from back in 2008… late 2008.