#FidaWrites

Homemade shaksuka

1. Pregnancy Yoga

Previously, I would only look and follow the moves at one or two videos on Youtube that titled ‘Pregnancy Yoga - All Trimester’ with the duration of 20 minutes, tops!

Ternyata semakin tua umur kehamilan, semakin banyak yang perlu diperhatikan terhadap badan dan otak. Terutama setelah masuk week 32, tidak sedikit yang perlu diperhatikan seperti, “Apakah posisi kepala bayi sudah dibawah?”, “Apakah posisi bayi sudah betul dan sudah masuk panggul?”, “Apakah panggul saya sudah cukup besar untuk memberikan jalur lahir yang baik dan nyaman?”. So many questions, so many thoughts and only a few more weeks to go! So I took some actions. I started reading more about the use of birthing (gym) ball, and watch a lot of pregnancy exercises to make my baby’s head go down and in position ready for birth. Most importantly, how to enlarge my hips to have gentle and normal birth, as I wish to experience.


Playlist exercise ini yang saya temukan di Youtube mungkin bisa membantu kamu juga untuk mempersiapkan diri. Ujung-ujungnya saya sampai membuat notes dan gambaran sendiri gerakan-gerakan yoga yang dapat saya nikmati. Dan yang tadinya yoga cuma hanya 20 menit, dengan kombinasi gerakan-gerakan yang sudah saya buat sendiri ini, saya bisa melakukan yoga dan birthing ball exercise sampai dengan 1 jam lebih. Which feels so good honestly!

In total, we just had to go through 2 and a half months of preparation to do a wedding and it was all fun and quarrels in between. A modest homey wedding and intimate reception was all we wanted, and Alhamdulillah it turned out way more than I had ever expected.

So as you may have known and read about our story here, Firzi and I have decided to go serious with each other since the very beginning after we met. My husband (lol omg, this is still very new to me), has always been a committed person and only needed a little push and a few months to finally go to my parents and asked for their blessings.

It was that quick. End of December, Firzi asked for my father's blessing, January our parents meets and told their intention, and finally April 14, 2019 was set to date of our elopement and wedding. MashaAllah.

After that whole meeting, my family and I started to survey a lot of different vendors, decors, catering, location and many others.
Setelah memilah-milah dan mencari berbagai macam opsi, akhirnya pilihan diputuskan pada sanggar Diamond Wedding Services. Dengan bantuan marketing, Ibu Retno, we decided we will use their all-round services. Service tersebut termasuk catering, decor, fotografer, MC, sewa baju akad dan resepsi, sewa baju orang tua, sewa baju among tamu dan keluarga, serta make up keluarga pun sudah termasuk. It was an all-in-one service that's perfect for us that only has less than 3 months to plan a wedding. We were welcome to customize each services, jadi misal kalau kita tidak ingin menggunakan make up artist dari sanggar, atau kita sudah memiliki fotografer pilihan, we can adjust the remaining budget to put it elsewhere. Sebagai contoh, saya memilih untuk menggunakan make up artist dari luar, bukan pilihan dari Diamond, jadi budget yang tidak terpakai untuk make up artist Diamond, saya alokasikan untuk menambah porsi catering.

Here's several detail about Fida and Firzi's wedding:

1. Location

I've always wanted to have my akad nikah at home, because my dad has specifically made our Musholla the way it was, so one day they will be able to have their kids' wedding and send them off there, at home. Beberapa tahun lalu, kakak sayapun mendapatkan kesempatan yang sama untuk dinikahkan di rumah, so I want it to be just as special.
Another thing I always wanted for my wedding was a small intimate gathering in an open space, where guests can enjoy themselves without wary. Setelah menghitung-hitung budget dan pengeluaran, we decided to just have the reception at home as well. Alhamdulillah that our parents own a house with quite large garden, so I never doubt it could turn out to be a beautiful wedding setting. Just a little note, melaksanakan pernikahan di rumah dan di gedung ada plus dan minusnya. Jika dilakukan di rumah, banyak cost yang tentunya tetap perlu dipertimbangkan dibandingkan di gedung/public space. Tenda, listrik, sewa AC & kipas, perbaikan rumah (cat, dll), serta SDM yang mumpuni, yang rela dan dapat membantu setidaknya dari H-2. Mungkin secara cost-wise dan untuk yang tidak mau ribet akan memilih langsung di gedung, but being at home, you can have your own timing where guests can take their time to chill and hang out with the bride and groom and family. And that was the intimacy I ever wanted to have on my wedding day.

2. Decoration

Kudos to Mba Fatimah dari Diamond who have literally translated all my wants and needs for this wedding and made it far more than what I've imagined. It all started by eyeing on the infamous rattan chair yang lagi hits di Instagram. With my obsession of GoT, I feel I kind of want that #ForTheThrone feel in my wedding (lol). I also wanted to have a garden party feel, so picnic chair and table was also on my idea. Saya menunjukkan ke mba Fatimah kursi rotan yang super mewah cantik itu dan bilang "aku mau kursi kyk gini. ada ga?". Yang paling saya sukai dari mba Fatimah adalah kegigihannya dalam memberikan kepuasan pada clientnya. Hampir setiap permintaan yang saya minta sama dia, dia hanya bilang "oke, bisa diatur. Tenang aja mba, aman." My doubts faded. Even though at first she said Diamond doesnt have that chair, but she told me she'll talk to her boss and will make it happen for me. Which she did.
After talking about what I wanted my akad and reception would look like, she provided me with detailed layout of where things are going to be placed and D-1 all her decor crews came to set up. I was so worried in the beginning because Mba Fatimah said her crews will come after Isya prayers which was around 7:30, but they didn't come until after 10pm. My family and the Diamond wedding team assured me that it's all going to be fine and I should get some sleep for the big day the next day. I went to sleep hesitantly and woke up the next morning at 3am, shocked dan terharu. Everything was set up so beautifully and I had to walk all around the house to see it all together. MasyaAllah.

3. Tenda

One of the most "saya pasrah aja deh" moment adalah memilih tenda yang akan dipasang di rumah untuk acara. Kelabilan libra gal ini adalah termasuk tidak bisa memilih satu atau dua warna saja utk dipasang di tenda. So I chose 3. Warnanya pun cuma pakai feeling aja karena tidak ada bayangan akan seperti apa tendanya. Feeling itu, yang kira-kira akan match with the whole decor, which was a bad idea. I added pink to the option, which when it was set up with grey and creme, it looks pretty wrong! Jadi H-2 masih ngambek-ngambek lucu sama ibu dan pak Pepen, mau ganti warna tenda yang pink jadi putih aja. Dan Alhamdulillah, Pak Pepen yang sebelumnya sudah pernah pegang tenda kawinan kakak saya dan udah klop saya ibu saya membolehkan keinginan saya merubah warna tenda tersebut.
Another beautiful part of the house yang di tendain adalah tempat pelaminan. Bagus banget! Pak Pepen memberikan ide untuk dibuat tenda yang gelembung-gelembung dan tambahan daun supaya dapat kesan "rustic" nya. I had no idea what I was getting, but it truly turned out beyond my expectation. Pak Pepen dan tim juga hadir untuk pemasangan tenda dari H-5, dan sigap memantau apabila ada bagian-bagian yang bocor. Amazing team work!

4. Make Up

Even before I had a partner or partner for life, I've always loved looking at different MUAs on Instagram. Mulai dari yang followersnya ratusan ribu, belasan ribu sampe cm beberapa ribu, saya juga suka liatin. Kadang suka menemukannya lewat teman atau orang yang menaruhkan detail weddingnya di Instagram, lalu saya cek. I always wanted a make up that would still look natural but pretty. I don't want my face to change from the make up, just an enhancement. Dan pastinya saya mau make up artist yang affordable and ga berlebihan sampe puluhan juta seperti kebanyak MUA jaman now di Jakarta. Berlebihan. So my final decision was from several options, yang menurut saya make up pengantinnya natural. Sidiyanti, Hepidavid, Jasmine Lishava, Rozana Julani dan Olis Herawati. Literally best of the best and most senior MUAs for weddings I ever found. Tanya dong, pricelist satu-satu. Haha, ketawa aja deh sambil mules-mules mikirin harganya yang lumayan sekali! But then to my great luck, Mba Sissy Sidiyanti has one of the most reasonable pricelist and I booked her straight away! <3 dan alhamdulillah, cocok banget! I still recognize my face in the miror, yet I still look flawless in both photos and real life. Thank you mba Sissy for being a gem and humor disaat saya lagi nervous nungguin momen sakral!

5. Sanggar Baju dan Gaun

Mudah dan enaknya one stop service dari Diamond Wedding adalah baju dan gaun yang diinginkan tinggal dipilih! Ada ratusan, mungkin ribuan gaun, kebaya, kain dan lainnya di sanggar ini, dan disaat sudah deal mau memakai servicenya, saya tinggal memilih gaun yang saya inginkan. I didn't want a dress too lebay for my reception, we are doing it at home anyway, jadi dress panjang putih yang tidak terlalu ada ekor panjang menjadi pilihan saya. It was so majestic with all the embroideries yet simple. The whole choosing a dress and fitting pada saat itu dibantu oleh Mba Tri. MashaAllah, I couldn't find another sweet and patient human being ever. Mba Tri dulu pernah berurusan dengan salah satu sahabat saya yang menikah di Jogja and I was there to make appointments with. This time, dia turut bahagia sama saya karena akhirnya dia bisa pegang saya menikah juga. Hand bouquet juga disiapkan dari sanggar Diamond, dan saya request khusus ingin bunga seperti apa oleh mba Tri. And she totally made it happen! I was extremely satisfied :)

Salah satu teman saya pernah bilang, "kalau lo married, harus banget deh pake baju adat. Sekali seumur hidup aja soalnya. Pasti lo akan merasa cantik!" so I did. I've always loved traditions and culture, and I am so thankful that my roots are from the West Sumatra, yang pilihan baju adatnya, terutama untuk pernikahan adalah salah satu baju adat yang sangat indah dan mewah. Pilihan saya jatuh kepada baju adat Koto Gadang, yang alhamdulillah Diamond sudah memiliki juga partner sanggar khusus baju minang, Sanggar Azzura. Sanggar Azzura memiliki warna baju adat Koto Gadang yang terbatas, setelah berkali-kali galau memilih warna apa, akhirnya saya tetap memilih warna merah sebagai warna umum baju adat khas Minang. Uni Eka dan timnya sangatlah sabar dengan pilihan saya yang berubah-ubah, dan pada saat acara they've done their job so patiently to made me a beautiful Koto Gadang bride <3

6. Wedding Organizer

WO paling krusial lah and I'm so thankful I got the best at it. An old friend of mine, a mutual friend from college has a wedding organizer business for a while. Andrika, dengan Promessa Wedding Organizer nya sudah berperan menjadi WO kakak saya di pernikahannya tahun 2015 lalu. This time, I asked for her new pricelist dan dia men-suggest sister company nya Promessa, yaitu Narabudaya. A more reasonably-priced WO service for intimate weddings. Karena di rumah dengan kawasan parkir yang sulit, saya juga konsultasi dengan Andrika untuk menyiapkan Valet untuk membantu parkir di area komplek. And she continues to perform finding the best valet service sesuai budget in only 10 seconds! Seharusnya, Narabudaya bergerak hanya dengan salah satu owner dan teman-teman yang membantu pada hari H. Tapi alhamdulillah, sis Andrika yang super generous dan baik hati sangat memperhatikan detail dan kelangsungan wedding ini dengan amat sangat baik, jadi diapun menggerakkan dirinya dan 1 co-owner Promessa & Narabudaya khusus terlibat pada #FidaTravelstoFirzi. Jadilah co-captains Andrika dan kak Meta bergerak memberikan ketenangan, instruksi yang baik terhadap seluruh vendor H-30, serta menjalankan tugas-tugasnya with excellency selama hari H dengan teman-temannya.
Tim mereka ada yang stand by di hotel untuk CPP (Firzi) bertugas untuk membangunkan Firzi dan menyiapkan CPP dengan baik. Firzi yang waktu itu baru tidur jam 3 pagi dan harus siap-siap lagi jam 6 sangat diurus dengan baik, bahkan Firzi sampai cerita ke saya kalau "WOnya sampe ngelipet-lipetin celana dalem aku trs di masukin ke koper! Malu banget aku!" Really shows how attention to detail and assertive their team was. And don't get me started on how their team was always 100% ready with tissues after all the crying and make up luntur di baju Bapak saya during Akad Nikah. They were a wonderful team, their energy, detail and put together service, I couldn't ask for a better wedding organizer! <3
For future bride-to-be's, I hope you don't have to go through all the stress in planning a wedding. Do it just as you wish, but stay hopeful with the results. Most importantly, remember what your main purpose is. Afterall, it's the marriage, not the wedding. Good luck!

Untuk meringkas semua vendor yang saya pakai, here are the contacts:

• Sanggar: @diamond_weddings - Ibu Retno (Marketing) - +62 812-8766-7224 (psst, tell her you got her contact from Fida Firzi wedding, and you may get a discount!)
• Koto Gadang: @sanggar_azzura 
• Make Up: @sidiyanti
• Photography: @divo_photo from Diamond Weddings
• Tenda: Pak Pepen - +62 878-8015-6660
• Bridal shoes: @marryme_id
• Tux Boutonniere: @roseforyou_
• Wedding Organizer: @narabudaya

Life is funny. The moment you think you've got it all together, life throws you something completely off of your grid, and lets you hold on to it because you know you can't risk losing it. God gave me the love for my life, not the love of my life.

So I've officially become a #digitalnomad for almost 6 months now. Dengan 'kebebasan' yang bisa saya atur sendiri, pekerjaan dapat mudah saja saya kerjakan dari mana saja. Mau itu di rumah, kafe atau di mobil, selama saya membawa "hidup" (baca: laptop) saya kemana-mana, saya bisa saja melakukan pekerjaan saya.

I am not a person who grew up having pets or close to animals. Unlike many of my friends who are animal lovers, I find it hard to relate how they are able to have such close relationships towards animals. But the older I get, the braver and more experiences I have with animals. I am also more aware of the kind of animals I am more fond of. For example, I prefer dogs better than cats. I am no where happy to be in contact with lizards, but the most random animals I grew to love are those who has huge bodies yet very tender. Yes, I have humongous respect and love for God's creation, the gentle giants.

While we are still fresh in the new year, I would still very much talk about how maybe you can improve yourself this year.

Sometime last year at the drop point of my life, I come across a TedX Talk by Emilie Wapnick. In all honesty, I haven't really googled her before writing this blog. Haha. But her speech in the video made me 100x more better and self-accepting, knowing that "Why some of us don't have one true calling." (That was the title of her talk).



Multipotentialite, she calls it. And what is it? Why do I love that word so much that I even placed it as my Instagram bio for some time? As Emilie mentioned, multipotentialite is for people who doesn't have one specific talent or skills, but they've acquired so much more.

In conjunction to Hari Batik Nasional on the 2nd of October, I was invited to attend a Batik-making Workshop at Aston Marina Ancol, North Jakarta.

The answer to your "Kok lo jalan-jalan mulu sih??" question.

The past years I've been diagnosed with all this crazy illness. From the stupid gastric problems to mutantly skin disease. I'm grateful though that I'm still lucky than most people with worst health conditions.

"Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life" - Conficius

I'm sure you're familiar with that quote. As a millenial I must admit that working day to day in the office is hardly a passion for many. I've worked in a total of four companies. All happened to disappoint. Not because of anything bad, thankfully I always manage to find positivity in everything. So all of my experience in the office is always great. I found networks, ideas, strategies, and obviously got paid enough to live my daily life. 

Suatu hari, satu Instagram Story post seorang teman kantor membuat saya penasaran. Post tersebut tertuliskan satu kalimat, "Ya Tuhan, ijinkan kami untuk berpasang-pasangan. Amin." Simpel. Sebuah kata-kata; doa, I must say, yang dapat relate kepada kami rombongan manusia quarter age life yang mungkin galau akan sebuah hubungan. Tapi kok lucu dan menarik, saya pikir. So I replied my friend's story, "AMIIIINN!! itu apaa?!". "Buku kaak!" she replied back. 

The recently most talked about movie and the one that’s been snatching almost all the Golden Globes Awards, La La Land have been keeping me all gooey jolly inside. Even from the first moment the movie started—you know, where they were all singing and dancing during traffic, yeah, I wanted to be part of it right away! (perfect for Jakarta’s traffic anyway). Basically since the few seconds of the film, it left me smiling ear to ear. 

Looking back at how the end of 2016 pretty much screws me over, the first few weeks of 2017 was still a tad bit disappointing. I wasn't about to bore you with my depressing stories, however. As I found a way to help the process of self-healing (yes, process), I believe these are some ways to celebrate 2017 with a bang!

A reblogged post from 2015 :)

1. Challenge is her middle name.

She lives selfishly and full on ego. She strives for different challenges whenever shes out of the comfort zone of her home or rather take on learning tough dance steps.

What's traveling on a plane if you don't sit by the window? Well, I guess if you're not a fan of heights, you'd pass. But I'm here to tell you how very unlucky of you to be missing out the world's greatest sights! Window seat is always my favorite spot when I travel by plane. Sure, it's difficult to cross over other passengers when you need to go to the toilet, but watching the plane slowly drift off, finally fly, making turns and revealing what's underneath tens of thousands of feet above, it's a whole different kind of breathtaking thing.

Here I want to show a few of the best aerial view (view from the airplane window - Duh!), that I've ever witness. And I do sometime regret that I don't always carry a camera or let my phone on (stays in airplane mode though!) to be able to capture the best aerial moments, but I hope some of these images does justice. One other trick to witness one of the best aerial views? Midnight to early AM flights. Sunrise is such a tease when you're on an airplane.

For the past 5 months of donning the veil, I’ve come across various comments from positive and weird (no negatives — at least I don’t indulge myself on the negative ones).
Positive comments are obviously the best because not only people praised me for my courage and how beautiful I look (ulalaa :p), but they are also building me into a much stronger character as a Muslimah.
Now weird comments are also fascinating. It comes from different views from “so what does your hair look like now?”, “you’re the first hijab friend I have now” to “so you wear it because you’re already skinny and you look better with it?”. Hahaha I love it! And I adore their honesty towards me looking different. I’m not such a good communicator when it comes to comeback answers, but since I’m a people pleaser I usually tackle the comments with a little joke but honesty and truth.
Other comments I got about this is when my friends starts calling me by hillarious names from Kerdus (Kerudung Dusta), Jilbandel (Naughty Hijab-wearer), and Fakeda (From Fida but with “Fake” as they think the covering means nothing).

Not gonna lie I have nothing against those name-calling. I actually love them for creating those names. It actually means that personality-wise, veil has not change me. In their eyes I’m still this actively hyper person who is a tad bit dirty-minded :p. However what they don’t realize is that I started wearing not because I want to change personally, but I am trying to change spiritually. I really don’t care about what others think and how they’re going to judge, because it is not them who I want to please, rather than my God, Allah SWT.

When I think about the things that I had done over the past of living for 22 years, seeing things that I saw, experience things that I did, I noticed that I did everything:

I curled my hair
I wore huge earrings
I have 4 ear piercings
I wore extension wig
I had weirdest yet awesomest birthday pranks
I was a cheerleader
I watched Thomas Cup badminton final live
I watched Australia Football live
I cut my hair for cancer
I rolled down the hills with coconut fibers
I swim
I dive
I got stung by a jellyfish
I fell in love
I lived abroad
I left home when i was 16
I have a video myself driving for the first time
I ran 10km
I worked and have money
I commute in a dodgiest public transportation
I laughed til I cry
I kiss
I eat like i have a rubber stomach
I jumped from high places: rocks, jetty, bridge
I partied
I got typsy
I had braces
I fight with my siblings
I drove alone at midnight
I sing my heart out in the car
I take dance exams
I perform plays and dances
I made and buy things for my ex boyfriends
I wore short skirts
I wore bikini
I learn to ride the bike crying
I make my own dishes at my 20th birthday party for about 20 people
I got locked in my own apartment
I had a freaky neighbour
I had the most friendliest landlords
I fall and bruise my knees
I kicked corals and bleed alot of times
I bought things because i want them, unnecessary whether theyre useful
I watch broadway
I watched concerts
I took tests for overseas scholarships, never got it- it’s okay.
I did bikram yoga
I took pictures with indo celebrities
I organized music events n brought Indonesian artist to Malaysia
I write and received postcards

Overall I probably did many things people has or hasn’t done but I am proud of my self. Sometimes what you need is a reminder that you have done what you had to do to be able to move on. To move on from a relationship, from a job you didn’t like or as for me, to move on to be a better person personally as well as spiritually and be closer to God. Nothing is going to change, veils don’t change a person. They act as a reminder and shield to whatever you do in life matter not only in the world, but also in the hereafter.

So here is to moving on and being constantly grateful every single day.

I am blessed. Truly blessed to even have this experience happen to me for the second time of my life.

I’m never good about describing myself. So, what better ways to have an introduction than a story about my self, my experiences and my desire to see the world written by one of my most talented friend, Samantha Lau. She wrote this story for one of her university assignments and i patted her back when she scored amazing on this piece.

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Cultural Wonderlust

A young Indonesian woman’s journey from Jakarta, to Kuala Lumpur and to Adelaide. 

A young woman brushes away a tendril of her black hair from her smiling face, causing the many Indonesian-carved wooden bangles to clunk together melodically. The sudden DING! of an oven timer snatches her attention and she hurries over to check on the cookies she had baked for Idul Fitri, the Muslim holiday that signals the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. As the delicious smell of nastar (traditional Indonesian pineapple tarts) wafts across the room, the woman, Andita Frida Aisha, resumes her seat. She is wearing a classic white kaftan, a type of traditional clothing worn by Indonesian women during the Muslim festival. The intricate gold embroidery that embellishes the kaftan’s neck, cuffs and hem catches in the sunlight.