The first month of 2018 has recently passed and by the time I write this post, the Lunar New Year is exactly just a day away. What a wonderful period to witness. Going a little backward, the year 2017 will be one of the years that I found incredibly remarkable: it is an eternal reminder of when the world around me redefined itself in a whole new shape, like getting a facelift made out of its own bone and flesh. More in a great way, though. Not in a way that I will usually be scared of (Taurean and Their Phobia of The Happening Changes In Life™), but in a surprising little perspective turn that made me feel like I started to ENJOY the changes. I went from being a single person living by herself in Jakarta, into being a wife of a man living in Jogjakarta; and together we try to create a sense of home in both cities. At the same time, my career life has been undergone some shifting too — it affected many sides of the former condition, so I'd like to start sharing it. Besides, I've been asked similar questions too — questions about things related to this bit of my personal life that I have to admit — weren't being shared that much on my Instagram before because I want to be selfish about it. I want to glorify the whole excitement and soaked myself deeply into the ups and downs of experiencing changes. I want to understand first before I start to talk about things. And many times I ended up with an understanding that not everything has to be shared. Some things can wait a little while before being shared, some things are great by themselves without having to be validated by other's opinions, and the rest of those "things" are simply meant to be kept in low circulation between yourself and your very closest friends or family members. I was selfish with my learning, with my happiness and my melancholy, with the kind of noise I decided to throw into the public air. Only then I can be sure: this will be the right time to talk again.

So ANYWAY — what's been happening?

1. THE WEDDING

Last November 2nd-4th, 2017, Gempa and I had our wedding held within a three-day ceremony. The wedding was planned to be simple and intimate, with an original 50-100 guests in our mind —which, obviously impossible to execute because of "who did we think we are", right? I'm the first daughter of a Javanese father and a Chinese mother, with him being the eldest son of a Javanese father and a Manadonese mother. There's no way we can have an intimate wedding without breaking too many hearts. Adjustments were made, here and there, and finally, our "final" wedding was a result of a successful negotiation between ourselves and our two enormous families (AND the entended member of the family, too). I will save the whole stories in the upcoming, dedicated wedding-related posts but for now, I must say, we had the most beautiful version of a wedding we both could ever imagine of —all failed-and-imperfect moments included. The wedding was just beautiful, and I am grateful for everything. So now I'm officially a wife, but still feeling like I'm very much myself. Gempa is making himself the perfect combination of a friend/husband/partner that I have never dared to expect in my life and I'm delighted we embarked in this adulting-slash-fun-slash-challenging-journey-of-marriage-life together.

the wedding needs some dedicated posts on its own, which I promise will come soon!

2. THE MOVING

So Gempa lives in Jogja, which is my hometown before my family moved to Jakarta back in high school, and during the earlier period of our relationship we tried to see where we should build our life together in. Gempa runs some properties here in Jogja, along with a growing design interior company that wouldn't be possible to "move" easily. Then on my side, I've tried to find a possible break from my routines in Jakarta because I've grown tired of it. I've always wanted to pursue my writing career in more serious ways, as well as following back my former path as an entrepreneur. Moving to Jogja will allow my creative process to nourished and cared properly, with long, productive hours and slower living to adapt. After a couple of months of trying, we decided to stay in Jogja, with a regular visit to Jakarta to meet our clients and keeping up with the work we do within both cities. I still make a double or triple round of visit to Jakarta monthly, to work and to see my family, and the balanced schedule worked just fine. Sometimes I took the first-morning flight to Jakarta, then come back by the evening to Jogja. I love the people, the traffic, the food; they washed out the fatigue out of my big-city-polluted soul completely. We're in the middle of building a house at this moment, a place we both carefully planned and designed together... it's far from finish yet, but I'm not worried at all; we're bringing the sense of home between us everywhere, and that will always be enough.

3. THE PUPPIES

You remember him, right? Jonah Hill The Red Toy Poodle, once announced on my Instagram.

Well he has a little brother now! A silver toy poodle that Gempa insisted on calling him "Johni" (it's pronounced Jo-Nee in Indonesian). We got him back in December, and Jonah couldn't be happier since! Jonah came when Gempa and I got engaged, and he helped us to learn the very fundamental requirement to be an adult/future parents. A little bit about feeding a tiny creature. A little bit more about cleaning the tiny creature's body (and its "poop"!). Something about being always-there-for-him physically. Something further about yearly financial budgeting if we want him to get the best food and nutrition, whether we should send him to dog school or when we should get him on a weekend trip somewhere... Then now we have two! Another joy and another wonderful learning period to embrace.

LOOK AT THAT FACE!!!

4. THE NEW HAIR

IT IS THE YEAR OF BANGS. Let's admit it. But if it's not, well, then it is MY year of bangs for sure. I've wanted to cut my bangs shorter since the end of 2016, but I had to hold myself until the wedding ceremony had finished. So after Christmas, just right after December 25th is gone, I asked my hairstylist to chop those long fringes away. Chop chop! I've never felt so fresh than ever. It felt exactly like being 22 years-old again, with added wrinkles under my eyes, something I found appealing. I used to cut my hair every time I had a heartbreak — now I simply cut it because I want to. How liberating is that? It took me years to grant my own self that authority, but I have no regrets.

5. THE JOB

As a self-employed, I need to have a studio for my work production. The "job" I used to do (creating digital content) has evolved into something more independent, which related more to working on producing copy-related content for clients and creating my own product. I used to run a studio at Setiabudi, South Jakarta; but now I've moved the main studio to Jogja, and I called it Lucedale's Studio. It's been almost a year, now, me running this place by myself. In the near future I'd be needing help from more young women in town, so I try to work harder to set this studio ready for more companionship!

6. THE CAFE

This might be one of my favorite progress to share about. I'm going to open my own cafe soon! It's tiny and very personal, filled with stories and properties that I have handpicked by heart. And of course it's located in Jogja — where everything started. I love learning about the community here and hoping to be more involved locally. This cafe is still ongoing, we're still finishing the details here and there, but I really hope that we'll be ready for a soft opening next month. Then maybe one of you might want to drop by and say Hi? Poke me! :")

7. THE [SECRET] PROJECT

I started to enjoy creating handwritten journals and poetry again. It's calming.

I really can't share much yet, but I've been working on a secret project related to my journaling habit and things around that. It kept me busy and my daily life more dynamic, so I might not be too social lately — I have to reduce the number of events to attend because this project is due in April. If things are developing well, I will definitely share more details in the upcoming blog post. This project is something deeply essential for me, and I absolutely need every positive energy in the world to keep going, so I hope you'll lend me your greatest luck. Finger-crossed!

BOTTOM LINE : EVERYTHING IS ON THE MAKING.

AND I AM FOREVER GRATEFUL TO BE ABLE TO SHARE THEM WITH YOU.

There are many different kinds of life stage and the one-of-a-kind experience that friends around me are having right now. One just successfully delivered a beautiful baby, two are waiting for their babies to arrive within months, one is blossoming in a new relationship, one is moving on from a toxic relationship and doing very great. Where are you at this moment? What's on your plate at this very moment?

Alright, Where Were We? (Being A Wife, Building a House, Another Puppy, New Haircut —and More!)