Morning Routine for a Better Day

Never feel like there's enough time? Find yourself struggling to get up or into work mode? I definitely the one who knows the feeling best. So I woke up at 11 today. I slept at 3am and set my alarm for 9am. And yes I heard it rang and I got up to shut it off (my alarm is placed quite far from where I sleep, hoping that I get up from my couch and never go back), but then I jumped back to my seductive couch. Gosh it's like one of the best feeling. 

These days, in the name of productivity and so that I can experience the glory of sunrise, I decided to quit the snoozathons and wake up early! I'm planning to practice some of these habits below, in hopes that good things will come my way.

1. Don’t press snooze! Get out of the bedroom and get going as soon as you wake up. Don’t let yourself be tempted to jump back under the tempting covers!

2. Spare time to get ready and decide on an outfit that you will feel great in.

3. Take a hot shower, do your beauty routine.

4. Exercise! Make sure to stretch well, get in a short workout.

5. Map out your day and make a plan about how you will get things done.

6. Listen to a playlist that pumps you up.

7. Read or watch something that inspires you (it can be quotes on your phone wallpaper or motivational twits on twitter)

8. Eat a good breakfast, a healthy one!

9. Eat less at night so that you don’t wake up feeling full and lethargic.

10. Try to be five minutes ahead of schedule so that if something disrupts your morning routine, it won’t make you late.

11. Meditate. While doing this, remind yourself what your goals are and how you want your day to go, and make it happen!

12. If you can, swap tea for coffee, or avoid caffeine completely. I prefer infused water though.

13. Check your emails so that you can plan accordingly.

14. Catch up on the news so you don’t face the day entirely clueless about current events.

15. Hydrate! Drink a cup or two of water. A little bit of H20 works wonders for your body.

16. Smile, it will make you feel good :)

17. Stick to your routine through the week, and try not to deviate too far from it on the weekend, it will make Mondays extra hard.

18. Take your dog for a walk if you have one.

Now, you're ready to go outside and appreciate the day.

Wedding Day (Erick Shienny)

It's been 3 months since my last post. I know it seems like I neglect this blog. The fact is I don't have enough time to blog as much as it used to be. My time was mostly spent on travel and thought about what step I'mma take after my almost-perfect-well-prepared plan had to be terminated for a good cause. Don't feel like talking about it here, so let's moving on… I've posted the holy matrimony of my oldest bro earlier, so I have no reason not to share the wedding reception photos. Before we jump to the photos, I'm gonna give a brief description about how Chinese Indonesian wedding reception goes.
Compared to most wedding receptions in modern countries like USA, England, and Singapore, the wedding reception here is extravaganza and uber festive. Wedding invitations are sent out 3-4 weeks before; number of guests may vary depending on the size of the party itself. The most common is 600-1000 guests. Friends, families, friends of families, and colleagues are welcomed and expected to attend. They mainly donate money (red envelope) as their gift to the bride and groom. There is a huge presence of flowers in Indonesian wedding because they believe that the more flowers you have on your wedding day, the richer you will seem LOL.
A long procession leads to where the guests await the newly wedded bride and groom. As the reception begins, the groom or family stands up and thank the guests for attending the wedding. Bride and groom make their way up to their seats near the stage to watch the performers (nowadays, they invite celebrities to perform).  Enough with the small talk, so here are the photos!

   

souvenir for the guests, it says ES 
Photo Booth

Special performance from the Groom and Bride

Chinese Wedding Ceremony

As buddhist, my brother and his fiancé had a wedding ceremony in a Buddhist temple called Vihara. The intention of Buddhist wedding is to build and maintain a harmonious and spiritual family. I can say that Buddhist wedding is a simple wedding ritual. It was started from entering the place (bride, groom, followed by their parents), affirmation (officiant as the leader of the ceremony asked a few questions to the bride and groom if there are any force and threat from other party to marry in Buddha religion), light the candles, yellow ribbon knotting and cover up by yellow cloth, until signing the wedding vow.

I wore a cheongsam with colourful embroidered detail