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Year End Reflection Ritual : 2025 - 2026

I came across Mel Robbins’ year end reflection ritual, six questions she has been answering for the past twenty two years. Six questions sound harmless, almost cute. Like a magazine quiz that ends with “you are a sunflower.” But once I started answering them honestly, I realized this was not a personality test. This was an emotional audit. Let’s start with the hardest one. The low points of the year. There were some. Actually, quite plenty. I can say this without drama now, but 2025 has been my lowest year since 2013. That year taught me survival. This year tested endurance. One of the heaviest moments came quietly, from a place I never expected to reach our home. It felt like standing in the middle of a storm that wasn’t ours to begin with, yet somehow found us anyway. My husband chose to stay when it would have been easier to leave, to keep holding the bridge together so others could cross safely. Opportunities passed by, shiny and tempting, but he remained where he believed responsi...
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2026, Let's Go Easy

It’s 1 a.m. as I write this, tucked inside a hotel room in Blitar , freshly back from a New Year’s Eve celebration at Aloon-Aloon Kota Blitar . Yes, that is the actual name. I didn’t make it up. The photos will prove it. 😀 We left the hotel at 10 p.m. sharp with intentionally empty stomachs. Strategic hunger. Because where else should one welcome a new year if not in the middle of a giant field filled with food stalls selling everything edible, drinkable, and probably regrettable in large quantities. Skipping snacks would have been morally wrong. After circling the bazaar in our best food-hunter mode, we finally docked at a humble tent stall with carpets spread out for lesehan seating . Dinner was rawon rice and chicken soto rice , both at the very comforting price of ten thousand rupiah per portion. The flavor, however, was elevated by a surprise plot twist: salted eggs pulled dramatically out of my mom’s bag. Emotional support telur asin , clearly. We had forgotten to bring UNO...
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Roadtrip With No Deadline and Plenty of Snacks

Road trip day! We hit the road at 8 a.m., thirty minutes later than planned. But honestly, who cares? There was no deadline, no race to win. As long as everyone was accounted for and nothing important was left behind, we were good. Bonus point: I actually slept well the night before, which meant as the navigator of this journey, wasn’t half-asleep behind the wheel feels like small but crucial victory. Our first stop was at 9:30 a.m. at KM 57 rest area . The reason was simple and non-negotiable: coffee. My husband also needed to stop to do some office transfers, because work apparently travels with you now. While he was busy, I took Coffee Kenangan promo : buy two Toffee Nut Lattes , get one Americano free. Perfect timing, because my mom had specifically requested an Americano. Total damage: 50k. Cheap joy is still joy. While my husband was still glued to his phone, I dragged my mom to participate at Jasa Marga survey . The prize? An umbrella. She was ridiculously happy because, surpri...
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Christmas, Cake, and a 45 Year Old Legend

Merry Christmas and happy 45th birthday to my amazing husband! The yin to my yang. The calm app to my permanently open tabs.  Year 2025 really said, “Let’s test you,” didn’t it?   Testing limits, patience, and faith all at once. So here’s my prayer for the new year. More luck. More ease. More people loving you. And above all, God’s blessing wrapped around you like bubble wrap. Amen. The day started exactly how every memorable family day should. With chaos. From BSD , we had to swing by Jagakarsa first. The main mission was innocent enough. Pick up pre ordered bread from my former neighbor. Secondary mission, collect a giant burger from Ken’s Burger for birthday candle blowing purposes. Because nothing says “happy 45th” like a burger pretending to be a cake. But of course, upon arrival, another neighbor was about to leave for mudik . So we talked. And talked. And kept talking while repeatedly saying, “We really have to go,” yet not moving at all. Our Dutch tenant had alrea...
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Full Plates, Full Agendas

Ladies’ day out with Mba Fit usually begins with me doing nothing but being picked up. At around 09:20, she arrived in the lobby carrying not gossip, but food. The best kind of opening. She handed me a Wegogrill package filled with frozen chicken sausages and their signature smoked chicken—no flour, no sugar, no MSG, no eggs, no milk. Healthy and genuinely tasty. Thank you, Mba Fit and Wegogrill! Next stop: Itjeher Salon . The plan was straightforward. I did creambath and blow, Mba Fit did creambath and manicure. Unfortunately, this time my experience was not as good as the usual. The massage lacked soul, the blowout lacked commitment, and the final result lacked longevity. By the time I stepped outside, my hair had already given up on life. Better remember the good therapist's name next time! After that, hunger took over, as it always does. We headed confidently to Ramu Saji by Ashoka , our usual safe space. Only to be greeted by a sign that said Tutup. Closed. So we pivoted, li...
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Broadway & Lo-Deh

We spent the afternoon around Alam Sutera today because my eldest had a hangout date with a friend. While dropping her off, I sneaked in a quick errand to Vintage Vibes Broadway to drop some preloved items. I’ve been consigning there for years now. It’s almost a ritual. End of year equals decluttering season. Sorting through things forces me to ask honest questions. Do I still need this or is it ready to have a new life with someone else. Some items get sold, some get donated, and somehow my head always feels lighter along with the shelves. While waiting, the youngest sat with daddy, wrestling numbers and fractions like a true year end plot twist. Math lessons in public spaces have their own soundtrack. Scribbling, deep sighs, and occasional I think I get it now followed by wait no I don’t. All that while sitting in front of coffee shop, ordered their signature coffee and tea, and our daughter bought iced chocolate from the shop next door.  When the hangout was done, we decided t...
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A Day Off from Motherhood

Happy Mother’s Day ! This year, I asked for nothing. No flowers, no cake with dramatic candles, no surprise gifts. I simply announced to my husband and children, very calmly and very firmly: today, I am on leave from being a mother. Full holiday. Zero duties. Which meant no cooking, no dishwashing, no laundry sorting, no reminding anyone of anything. And to my surprise, they took it seriously. Like…   seriously   seriously. The kitchen was fully taken over. Meals were planned, cooked, and served. The laundry from the service? Sorted and packed for our upcoming road trip. They even tidied up   before   the Ranger Clean Sheet team arrived, so the ranger could handle the things they couldn’t or simply didn’t want to do. Teamwork, delegation, project management . I was impressed. My husband, who once treated dishwashing like a personal enemy, suddenly became the most diligent man in the room. Yes, we have a dishwasher. Yes, he still washed all the big pots and pans by ha...
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Last Sermon & Giant Sponge Bob

I woke up today feeling a bit lowbat . Low energy, low spirit, mildly moody for no clear reason. Maybe the gloomy weather had something to do with it. Or maybe it was just one of those days where your soul hasn’t had coffee yet. Who knows. What I do know is that I took my usual long stay in the bathroom, fully convinced everyone would’ve eaten brunch without me. Turns out, they were waiting. Apparently, I was still part of the plan. We had church at 11:45, so we left the house at 10:30. It was our last service of the year, doubled as a Christmas celebration. The church team deserves a long break too, obviously. God rested on the seventh day, so surely church volunteers can rest at the end of the year. The sermon was titled   Knowing God Through Jesus . And somehow, it landed right where it needed to. That reminder from Colossians about the fullness of God dwelling in Christ, about Jesus being the visible image of the invisible God. It felt grounding. Like someone gently cleaning t...
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Kyochon Chicken & Snow Season's Market

I woke up at 5 a.m. because of a dream and a stubborn stomachache. The kind that sends you straight into deep contemplation on a toilet seat. So there I was, semi-meditating in the bathroom, reading, making content, letting the world spin quietly while everyone else was still asleep. Not the worst way to start a day, honestly. By 7 a.m., I took myself out for a walk around the botanic garden . The air was ridiculously good today. Cool, crisp, not humid, not clingy. The kind of weather that makes you forget Tangsel can be this kind. I walked, I breathed, I stayed longer than planned, while listening to The Underdog podcast . Exercised alone until 8, then continued with indoor weight training until 8.30. A full solo date with my body. When I got back to the apartment, everyone was still sleeping. Of course. I made myself breakfast like a quiet reward. Leftover salmon fish head , warm chamomile tea mixed with collagen. Sounds odd, tastes amazing. Clean, comforting, healthy. After that, I...
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Property, Stand-Up Comedy, McD

Early morning began with an offline meeting in our apartment’s function room with the Two Spaces team . We sat down to coordinate the management of MNV Mono Co-Living and Calma Rivervilla Puncak , and once again I was reminded why meeting in person still matters. Things move faster. Conversations jump tracks in the best way. New findings appear, the kind that never show up in Zoom squares or WhatsApp threads. Acceleration feels real when you can point, scribble, interrupt, laugh, and immediately decide what needs fixing, what deserves upgrading, and what could hopefully bring in more cuan . Amen to that. After the meeting, I returned to our unit to a very sweet surprise. My youngest had prepared a special banh mi for us, complete with yellow sweet potatoes and green beans as side dish. Healthy, delicious, and honestly… beautiful. She really does go the extra mile when she cooks, from flavor to presentation. As if that wasn’t enough, packages arrived too. Hampers of cookies from Skysta...
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A Rainy Day That Refused to Be Quiet

I slept at 2 a.m. and woke up at 8, not because my body was ready, but because my best friend Detha was already in the apartment lobby. She had told me several days before that she might come by. Might, in best-friend language, usually means definitely. The plan was wholesome and optimistic. A morning walk around the botanical garden, chasing sweat and pretending we’re disciplined adults. Reality had other plans. Rain. Endless rain. The kind of rain that makes your bed whisper, come back, don’t be a hero. Honestly, rainy mornings like that are made for sleeping in, not cardio. So since the entire household was still asleep, I went down alone and we talked in the lobby instead. Life updates flowed easily. Surgery stories, health check-ins, holiday plans, and then heavier things, like the bullying her teenager has been facing at school. The kind of conversation that reminds you how friendship isn’t about constant laughter, but about being able to say hard things without rehearsing. At 10...
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