Location: Bittersweet

Bittersweet isn't a feeling. It's not a moment. It's a place. That's where I am right now. I'm at bittersweet.  Yesterday, Firu and I went to see Löwenburg. Firu was very curious about it and I have been there. We took a different route from the one I took before. So we got to see new sights together. I love seeing the little waterfalls and the huge lake with all kinds of aviations and water lilies. I couldn't get enough of all the greeneries there. We got there far easier and faster than I did before so I guess the credit goes to Firu. He was kind of disappointed when we arrived there but, well, what are you going to do? On the way home, we found a huge mushroom -- well, actually, Firu did. It looked kind of like the one we found before, though.

Bittersweet isn't a feeling, it's a person. She's been my best friend since middle school. Bittersweet is those memories you remember and knowing you're going to smile and wince of both the happiness and the pain of it all at the same time. Bittersweet is life, where you meet goodbyes and hellos simultaneously all the time and you don't know whether to be happy or sad. That's Bittersweet. She's my best friend, I know her well. This time she forces me to feel between happy to see my family and best friends in Indonesia again and sad to part from Firu and Germany for several weeks. Such a cruel, cruel best friend Bittersweet is.

Denim coat// Mom's or Sis's; Skirt// flea market; Bag// Gifted; Belt// C&A; Brogues// Primark

On the way to making this trip, I was chatting with my sister about chopping off my hair. Out of everyone, whose opinion I've asked, she tends to be the most upset about this decision of mine. She told me that I'm pretty with long hair and I don't look like a hobo -- despite my belief. I thought, My sister always says nice things like that. But when we arrived -- and my hairstyle totally blew -- Firu told me that my hair was better let down. And, all of a sudden, I realised that maybe more people than I cared to know like my hair the way it is. That day I had a good hair day. I loved my hair all over again. This shakes my decision on chopping it off. On another note, a few days ago, I read Zahra's post about her ex-boyfriend making her a flower crown. I told Firu this on our trip and how I wanted one from him too. He then said thoughtfully, "Poor bees." Which just made me speechless and consider my wish once again, thinking Firu was right. But I couldn't resist putting this one dandelion I already plucked to decorate my hair.

Notice anything new? Yes, why oh yes! These lovely brogues from Primark! In the weekends, Firu and I went to Frankfurt to buy my sister and best friend -- and, apparently, myself -- clothes from Primark. Yes, I went there exclusively to go to Primark. We even ended up not doing ANYTHING aside from going to Primark. We actually stumbled upon our friend, Vita, so I guess that was a plus. Frankfurt was kind of nice but there's not much of anything cultural there so we -- meaning Firu, Edwin, Iva, Wilson and I -- aren't interested at all to go there, aside from going to and from Indonesia. Firu and I were very interested to go to Darmstadt, though. Too bad we didn't have the time. By the way, I'm still at Bittersweet so I'm too down in the dump to write in German. Sorry! Cheerio!

Friendly Feature: Daily Random Word Doodle

The twitter world has been quite interesting these days thanks to Charles Santoso. Since May 2012, he has been starting this really great event, of some sort. Everyday he asks for a random word from his fellow followers to based his drawings on. I have never had a chance to contribute, sad to say. But his end results are always top-notch and deserve rounds of applause. It's really not an exhibition but it should be. Here are some of his works on the matter:

These few are just my most favourites. How did he come up with these pictures from such mundane words is beyond me. Please give your hands up for Mr. Charles Santoso! Other works of his on this theme, you can check out here. You can also contribute to see what other inspiring ideas he can come up with on this theme -- if he's still doing it -- by following his twitter and keep yourself posted. Have fun! Cheerio!

House of Blues

Tank top// Vero Moda; Denim coat// Mom's or Sis's; Skirt// New Yorker

Jetzt dass ich eine ganz hübsche Wohnung habe, finde ich es eine Verschwendung ist keine Fotos hier zu machen. Oh, man, es ist aber Schade, dass ich hier nur ein paar Monaten wohne. Ich nutze diese Chance bestimmt aus! Falls ihr mein Instagram verfolgt, wisst ihr schon diese Kleinigkeiten, die ich ganz Lieb habe von meiner neuen Wohnung. Aber jetzt zeige ich euch noch mal. Die Fenster finde ich ja altmodisch und besonders süß! Ich liebe solche Fenster! Heutzutage lese ich gern The Clothes Horse. Ich bin total verliebt mit Rebeccas Schreiben. Sie ist genauso wie eine Charakter aus einem klassischen Buch, die immer mit schön genähten Wörtern spricht. Es wäre wunderbar, wenn wir uns irgendwie wirklich treffen können. Seht ihr die Schmetterling-Muster auf diesem Rock? Das hat mir angelockt. Also das ist auch eins aus dem Fashion Mixology. Lest mal! Tschüss!

Now that I live in a completely pretty apartment, I find it such a waste to not take photos here. Oh, man, it's such a shame, that I live here for only a couple months. I'm definitely going to take advantage of this chance! If you follow me on Instagram, you'd know already these quirks that I love from my brand new home. But now I'm showing them off to you once again. I find the windows very antique and especially adorable! I love such windows! These days I like reading The Clothes Horse. I am totally in love with Rebecca's writing. She is just like a character out of a classic book who always speaks with beautifully fabricated words. It would be wonderful, if we were to somehow meet in person. Do you see the butterfly pattern on this skirt? That has pulled me in. That's yet another one from the Fashion Mixology. Have a read! Cheerio!


P.S: So good to be writing in German again!

Wedding Fever >< Marriage Fright

I don't know since when or what the cause is but I've been having wedding fever these days. It's not so much a wedding fever as marriage fever -- granted I don't really catch the drift. Since 2010, I think, my life has felt frozen up. Not that it felt uneventful or so but more like I want to preserve the goodness of youth. I still feel like a high school girl -- which isn't good because we have to mature up sometime. In a world where romantic couples act like childish lots, maturity is one huge of an effort, it seems. According to a friend of mine, the way that Firu and I cook for one another is pretty mature and just like a married couple -- well, to be fair, that may only be one of many factors. That got me thinking: sometimes I forget that Firu and I are not yet married. Surrounding myself with older bloggers, whose majority are married, sometimes I feel like I myself have gotten married too.

The first few weeks into our relationship, I got thinking about marriage. From the start, it was quite clear that Firu was going to marry me -- then again, what boyfriend doesn't promise his girlfriend that? -- and I started planning. Not the wedding details but more of the marriage plans. First, something personal, just me, it doesn't even include Firu. I would like to start wearing hijab when someone decides to have my hand in marriage. This is a way of saying "completely sold out." I will not flaunt my vanity toward other people -- men, in particular -- and I will be a more mature and appropriate woman and wife for my husband. This is how I portray the image of hijabi ladies. However, I have forgotten this determination for months...until I started thinking about marriage again. And I've decided to have a bridal shower before I get married -- even though it's not the custom in Indonesia -- where I will probably sell or give away the pieces of clothing that I can no longer wear as a hijabi girl. 

Photos: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7

Has anyone watched the movie 27 Dresses? You haven't? Well, go have a watch. It's a total chick flick. But, inside, one of the characters talk about the difference between wedding and marriage, which I found very interesting. Ladies think about wedding all the time -- or so the movies say because I rarely meet girls who talk about their future weddings -- and (almost) never about the marriage. Is it really just about the wedding? Isn't it stupid to have weddings without the marriage? Is that why there are so many couples getting divorced in the end? Then again, as my sister's once said, "It's not like we want it be over going in." But, if more people consider more of the marriage than of the wedding, maybe there will be less divorces.

Personally, I have almost never thought of my own wedding. I still don't know which venue I'm going to use or which food will be there or what music will be playing or dress code...oh wait! No, I have thought of that last one: NO PINK! Because I hated pink. But now...I'm not saying I love it. But I guess it's acceptable...but not all pink so...I guess, still no. However, I have thought of the marriage so much. Well, in a daydream kind of way. We will be living in Indonesia. Maybe not in Jakarta, though. Firu would go to work at an office, I would stay home in my studio. I would pick up the kids from school and take care of them. Stuff like that. Anyway, if I were to fantasize about my wedding, I would love mine to be like Elsie's, it's just too darling! It is, by far, the most adorable wedding I've seen so far. Go see for yourselves! Cheerio!

P.S: No, I'm not getting married anytime soon. Oh! And today is one my close friends, Cynthia's birthday! 

Between Heaven and Earth...

One of my favourite places in Kassel is the Wilhelmshöhe Schlosspark (Castle Wilhelmshöhe Park) that is located at the outskirts of town. It is huge and filled with many sights to be seen. The park is Roman God-themed and I love seeing many sites there with Roman Gods' names on them. I feel that Kassel is a town very much influenced by the Romans. There are a lot of buildings -- at least in this park alone -- that are designed like that of the Roman Empire's. One of which being this Hercules Building. The first time I was here, I managed to climb up the hill to the very top and reach this building. Afterwards, I discovered a quicker way to get there without even having to sweat. So Firu and I took that shortcut yesterday. The first place we visited, of course, was the Hercules. Apparently, people are allowed to go into the building and get even higher up. There wasn't much up there aside from the cardboard picture of the Hercules statue and a hole to put your face through. Even though we climbed a lot of stairs, it wasn't as bad as the Köln Torture. Then we went down to discover that there are so many people sitting around the stairs. We were so excited to see all the other sites and thought it weird that these people came all the way up here just to sit around. Apparently, they were waiting for water to flow all the way from the small waterfall on the top of the hill to the pool at the bottom of the stairs. It was kind of cool -- and long -- to watch the water go down.

Firu wasn't very impressed, however, saying that there are many waterfalls in Indonesia. Well, even so, I think that Indonesians will still get pretty excited to see them in the first place. I myself hadn't yet seen a waterfall in my life. That was about to change. One of the coolest things I have yet to see in the park is the Aquädukt (aqueduct). Yesterday, we found it. When there wasn't any water going through it, I was pretty disappointed. We sat around the end of the aqueduct for several minutes, getting in the shade. People started crowding the place when we were about to go. We then figured out that the water was about to flow through this part of the park. When it finally did, the air seemed to cool a little bit and from a certain perspective, we could see a rainbow. Afterwards, we just kept going down until we reached the Wilhelmshöhe Castle. We hung out under the shade for a little while and climbed some pretty weird-looking trees. Oh, such a heavenly feel a breezy wind in a hot day is! Then off we went home since I'm a Kasseler now!

Top // New Yorker; Tank top// Vero Moda; Pants// C&A; Belt// Primark; Bag// secondhand; Hat// Thrifted; Shoes// Tracce

I know I said the Fashion Mixology was going to make up for not posting outfit posts but I just couldn't help it. I have yet to introduce this lovely top in the Mixology anyway. I wonder if you've figured out that, by this point, I've gotten so sick of my long hair. It is nearly uncontrollable and has become such a drag in hot summer days. I have no idea how to style it and, more often than not, I don't have the ability or the equipment to actually style it. Now I'm reminded by how much I hate, hate, hate long hair and why. But this is a great achievement for me since my hair had never been this long before. So before I show it off to my friends and family, cutting it is out of the question. Afterwards, however, I would like to cut it like Rebecca's hair -- not the current but maybe her last month or the month before. Yesterday, when the heat was eating me alive, I snuck it inside my hat as a prototype of how it would look later. It's not so bad, right? What do you guys think? That's a hairstyle I've never tried before so I kind of feel excited about it. Well, have a lovely Thursday now! Cheerio!