Sep 10 - Family Feast

Both of us woke up to heavy fatigue from hours sitting down in the car almost all day yesterday, too bad we couldn't afford to sleep some more since the agenda for today was cray-cray! (In the future I'll be rereading this post and try to kill myself for using the word cray-cray, I just know it.) At 8 I had an appointment with my hair stylist, then we needed to pick up a few items from the drugstore next to the salon for his friend Jeremy, then to have breakfast. At 10 I already had to go to the first out of two government offices I needed to follow up my ID card renewal at. After lunch, we would look for a Batik shirt for his older brother Fransje in a mall, have dinner with my family at 6.30 in another mall, and get Real Madrid jerseys for his younger brother Antonio. Later at night, it was surprising for me that the ambitious plan actually didn't pan out too terribly. In fact, there were only a few slight changes here and there.

Starting from the hair appointment. Apart from how weird it was to see how much makeup my hair stylist put on her face (her co-workers told me later on that she did it because she knew Luis would tag along like last year, hahahaha), it was a dreadful morning for Luis that my hair a.k.a. his pride and joy was about to be shortened. I told him a million times it was just going to be a few inches, it wasn't like I was about to go all short or anything, but he wouldn't listen. To make him happy, I let him sit next to me with his chair turned to me, so he could watch every single action my hair stylist took. Right after she had the scissors in her hand, Luis asked me to tell my hair stylist to show him first how long she'd be cutting. She couldn't contain her laughter! During the whole process, she kept on giggling cause it was so funny that we needed his permission for it. At the end of it, he admitted that it wasn't too bad. He's too cute for his own good. I'm pinching his cheeks the next time I see him.

The drugstore had everything we needed but a couple of items so we made a mental note to find those on his last day here (it broke my heart having to say that). Next to it is my favorite nasi goreng place in the entire world, Bakmi Siantar, which has become Luis' favorite too. Side note: the last time we went here, the owner told me she'd memorized Luis' order. Hahaha, he did go there a few times whenever we couldn't eat together. The portion was hugeeee as always, which was great remembering the full day we had ahead of us. 

While I let Luis rest in his apartment as I took care of the documents for my ID card renewal (he suffered so much more than me since he was taller) until lunch time. I texted him asking if he'd like to have lunch before leaving to Central, but he told me he was just as full as I was, therefore we agreed on just having a late lunch at the Batik place instead and I asked him to pick me up at home. He came over in my favorite white shirt of his and a pair of light brown chino pants I got him, looking dandy as always. This might sound silly but I almost didn't want him to leave my living room (Sorry, Mortified Future Self.). Even when we finally did leave, I just had to steal a few glances every now and then at him. Yes, please.

The journey to get Fransje a Batik shirt was long and full of effort but it was worth it! We definitely enjoyed looking around, comparing things, and imagining how he would look like in each one and if it would fit (he's on the bigger size side). While shopping, we even took time to check with his wife Nancy (I love her). Finally Luis chose a classic Batik shirt and I gotta admit, dude's got some class. Hihihihihihi, but then again he always has a great taste, I'm a proud girlfriend. As discussed, we had late lunch although just a little, merely to survive the crazy traffic we were about to face after this. :D

But just as we were about to head to the dinner place (in the same mall where we'd also pick up the jerseys for Antonio), I remembered I wanted to visit Pinky booth in Plaza Indonesia, I'd been wanting to give their Hokkaido snow ice a go, so we swung by. I ordered the flavor of the month, raspberry, and he went for chocolate.

Upon seeing how huge it was, we thought it would be boring and that we would get obnoxious trying to finish it. We were dead wrong! It was different than your usual snow ice and we absolutely love how they put little flavored-water balls in the raspberry mount and chocolate chips in the chocolate one. It was a cute and lovely surprise! I initially planned on sharing both, but of course I ended up giving my full attention to the chocolate ice. Obviously. :P I wished we still had time to go here again and try out the other flavors (I want the mango one so bad!!), but the chance was really small.

Magically, traffic on the way to Plaza Senayan was not too heavy. We even had enough time to go to Sports Station and get the two jerseys for Antonio which was great so we could go home directly after dinner. We did that and checked out a few other stores while waiting for my family to arrive, the restaurant, Genki Sushi, was in the basement anyway.

With the fancy and futuristic food delivery system in the background. We had to record it! :D

Ummmm, yeah, we kind of went bananas. The menu on the iPad was too tempting!

His first ever trial of digesting a raw salmon. Prior to this, he was a raw-food virgin.

Satisfied tummy, satisfied heart. Apparently I cannot get any more dangdut while writing this post.

How the dinner could turn out to be as lovely as that is beyond me (Notice how I still use present tense?). Food was unbelievably scrumptious, yes, but how great the non-food element was still leaves me in a disbelief (Yup, another present tense.). I'll keep my mouth shut for the most part cause I don't want to jinx anything. One thing I'm brave enough to say, tons and tons of weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

Day rate: 10/10. In Luis' words, 3 starts and bonus level unlocked.

Sep 09 - Hail Mother Nature!

Last year, before Luis came to Indonesia, Mariana's family took Adek and I to White Crater national park 2-3 hours away from Bandung. I remember wishing it weren't that far from Jakarta cause I really wanted to take him there. I told Uty and Ega about that after he went back to NL and they couldn't believe I didn't say anything to them cause they would've taken us! Well...... How would I know they wouldn't mind? :') They then made sure this year I had penciled this into Luis' schedule, I did it right away. After consulting with Thomy and Dimas, we chose today as the road trip day!

We woke up early to meet up with Ega and Dimas at her second apartment, before all of us would be picked up by Uty and Thomy. Thomy was my only good friend in FEUI that he hadn't met, cause during the time Luis was here last year, Thomy actually was in NL and Germany for a month! :D But Thomy's just as chill as most of my guy friends, so I knew both of them would be just fine. I was right, we were talking all the time on the road. It's always a great feeling being around people you like, even when you are stuck in traffic for hours. :D :D :D

I looove the last photo a lot! It was taken at the foggiest state. With the smoke, the stones, and the random tree branch, it almost looks like Luis was on Mars or something, hahaha.. But not only the crater that was breath-taking, but also the surrounding, we just had to take photos everywhere!

After a little over an hour of exploring, we had to come back up to where the car was parked cause Bandung was still on the list, but as we were heading towards the exit, Luis wanted to take a photo in the rainforest, hihihihi, so we all came out and did a photoshoot.

Looove this one! Ega did a wonderful job!

They also suggested to do this "Follow Me" photo, hihi!

This has just got to be the new blog background. Bomb.com! :D Credit: Thomy!

On the way to Bandung, we passed the beautiful rice paddies like the ones we saw on the way up which got Luis so excited, unfortunately we couldn't make a stop. But this time we could! So he jumped at the opportunity and, for the very first time in the history, was eager to take a selfie. Hihihihihihihi, so cute!!! To make up for being teasy by videotaping him doing so, I offered to take a proper picture of him in the rice field. Needless to say, he was a very happy camper! The panorama we'd seen all day today was nothing less than incredible.

The road to Bandung was even longer and unpredictable than Jakarta to Ciwidey, the name of the area where the national park is located in. We were getting more and more starving each minute since we were so focused on reaching White Crater as soon as possible that we had to skip lunch. Luckily Luis and I brought bread and jams, so we didn't die of hunger, hehe. Uty was being a total hero(ine) by guiding Thomy with the minimal phone navigation! So lucky we had her in the car.

First thing we did when we reached Bandung: eat! Thomy took us to his favorite Sundanese restaurant in Bandung. The food was great and we ordered so much, so we were ready to pay a lot. We agreed on just dividing the total by 3, so per couple. But when the bill came, it wasn't even 150k per couple, hahahahahaha, this could also be my favorite restaurant in Bandung.

Before we went back to Jakarta, we made a quick stop at a few other restaurants to take out food for the house, I did pick up a couple also for Luis to try in the morning, he was about as full as I was, hehe. It was such a great relief that the road back was super clear which I think swayed Luis into my arms, a few seconds before he lost consciousness, fast asleep. :) I just loved everything about today. It meant so much to me that not only my best friends would lend a hand without me asking, but also went the extra mile to create a wonderful memory that's long-lasting.

Sep 08 - The Lunch Affair

Too many errands to run for the day! I spent all morning filing for the renewal of my ID card (if you've lived here, you know how long and tedious the process is), then Bapa asked me to help him take care of a few matters at his insurance company. It was already lunch time when we were done and I was starving! I texted Luis if he could have lunch by himself cause I needed to eat directly with Bapa, my PMS was sky high at that moment. I told him I could meet him after lunch and we could hang out for the day, but he said he'd rather just wait some more until I was done with Bapa and we would just eat in the mall.

During lunch, Bapa told me that he had actually been wanting to pay Aunt Elizabeth a visit since she had been hospitalized for a few days now. He technically didn't ask for anything from me, but I knew he wanted to go with me, and I, as always, didn't have the heart to let him go that far alone, so I told him I'd just be with Luis for a couple of hours and he could pick me up and we'd go there.

So, a couple of hours it was. </3

Luis was already there when I arrived, looking all cute and homey. I swear sometimes this guy's face just needs to be showered with kisses. He chose to eat in a restaurant he had gone to once the last time I couldn't join him for a meal, I didn't object since I wasn't going to eat anyway.

Since we basically had to erase all plans for the day, we ended up staying in the mall for a bit which was lovely. We even had time to shop for chinos (we finally purchased a great pair in beige that goes so awesomely with his complexion), but then I remembered I'd wanted to get a haircut for so long. I sure needed it after a year of not getting any, the last time was when he was here in Jakarta! Apparently my hair stylist was out with her client (for the past years I've only let her cut my hair, also for styling when I'm attending special events), which was upsetting for me but making Luis a happy man! As I've mentioned a lot of times, the man's overly obsessed with long, black hair. He'd have my hair reach my butt if I ever let him to. :(

With only half an hour before I had to leave again, we ordered two drinks from the joint bubble tea shop near home. He got lemon yoghurt smoothie thingy (I know, so healthy) with regular pearl and I got the recommended Taiwan plum iced tea with rainbow jelly. His drink turned out the best choice for him but mine was UTTERLY DISGUSTING. It could be the horrible mix of the jelly and the flavored iced tea, but it was downright inedible. Ew, ew, ew! I'm never ordering it again! I was so jealous of how much he enjoyed his while I barely could swallow mine, haha.

My phone's alarm went off, the time was up. </3 It was the quickest day for us throughout his stay here, but of course it was still so much better than not meeting him at all......... like the day this post is written. *sobs* HOWEVER! Something else happened later that day. On the way to see my aunt, I couldn't get my mind off the information Pak Candha gave us during the tour last Sunday, that they had this promo for a destination of your choice for only 70k per ride, including to Cirebon, a city Aunt Zippora had recommended us to go to (on a day trip, of course) since last year! As I was browsing the site while we waited for Mama to get in the car (she decided to join us), I found there were still some days left that we could do that, so I was just mumbling to Bapa about how great this opportunity was. I had zero hope of going since we all know how 'supportive' Bapa is about our relationship......................................... but I was never more wrong. Not only he approved (this part already made my heart skip a bit, quite literally), but he was also excited to inform me the places we would need to check out and other activities we would need to do! Un-freaking-believable. The best part was, the view on the train would be to die for, the enormous rice field and all. I almost was sick to my stomach, I couldn't wait to tell Luis about this amazing news.

Later than night, Bapa and Abang helped me finalize the ticket booking for next Tuesday. Everything was perfect and I was over the moon happy!

Sep 07 - Pure Horror

Following an energy-draining and skin-burning cultural day (that we absolutely enjoyed), we decided on a laid-back, indoor date for today. Translation: a classic movie-and-dinner date. But first, I love me some Beard Papa.

I have absolutely no idea what it is about Beard Papa that got me so hooked since I was little. I remember every time we went on a holiday to Singapore and had to pick up something at Takashimaya/Ngee Ann City, I must make a stop at their booth for this classic deliciousness. Back then, we didn't have Beard Papa in Indonesia! First I ordered for myself and just like last year, Luis said he only wanted a bite. But this time after the bite he claimed the bun his and gave me a 20k bill to order another one for me, hahahaha.. It's so good, happy he finally surrendered to temptation. :P

We were contemplating which movie to see for the afternoon, finally we chose No Escape without any idea what to expect. It seemed like one of the better options since Owen Wilson and Pierce Brosnan are on it. While I'm not a huge fan of either one of them, I was positive it couldn't be horrible. I never like looking up for the synopsis and/or the trailer of the movie I'm about to watch, and this one was no different.

The whole time I was on the edge of my seat, hugging his arm for the life of me. Horror doesn't scare me and thriller disgusts me, but suspense drives me off the roof. When we got out, Luis told me he was also a little bit terrified since the scenario could happen to us if we chose to live in a similar country. My goodness we needed food. Spicy ramen sounded great. Ramen is always safe and the spiciness should offer an interesting twist. Learning Shabu Tei has the spiciness level of 1-10, he ordered a 3 and I ordered a 4 (for some reason they ended up bringing me a 5). We were so ready to move past the horrifying scenes the movie had been haunting us with. And this is what happened.

BEFORE:

DINNER:

AFTER:

It was the most painful experience we've ever had to go thru (now it's the most hilarious). His mouth instantly was burning while I just started tearing up upon consuming my third or fourth spoon, hahaha! Without a single care in the world, I asked for a glass of hot water and poured it into my bowl, at that point I'd rather lose the flavor than my consciousness, which didn't succeed too well as the food was still making my lips on fire. We digested our ogura ice creams within seconds but we still needed to head over to A&W to have some more milky ice creams; we were so desperate, hahahahaha.. Just an absolute madness, we are never eating there again. :D

Sep 06 - Tribute to His Ancestors

"Hi, hi, hi, beautiful Sunday! This is my, my, my beautiful day!"

I cannot think of any Sunday spent with him that didn't create a lasting memory. Well, to be fair, I cannot think of any day spent with him that didn't create a lasting memory either, hihi.. Shut up, long distance relationship couples' problem. :P

For today, we booked a walking tour with a guy from Jakarta Good Guide. The package chosen was centered around Old Town, so even before we got there, I already knew today was going to be thick on Dutch influence, hehehe. We met up with the tour guide named Pak Candha at the entrance of the Museum of Bank of Indonesia. This is what Wikipedia says about the site: 

"The museum is designated to introduce the public Bank Indonesia's role on the Indonesian history, such as monetary policies and payment system that changes over time. The museum also provide visitors with audio and visual experience on the history of currencies and trade in Indonesia from pre-colonial era to the present state. It include eras such as the early spice-trading history, VOC spice monopoly in the Indonesian archipelago, banking system of the Dutch east indies, currencies under Japanese occupation and finally ended on the economic crisis of 1997."

So here's the thing. I'd been there once but I couldn't remember much; it was naturally a great idea already to hire a professional guide. But! I certainly didn't expect Pak Candha to be soooo good! He speaks fluent English, is knowledgeable, funny, easy going, a good story teller. Overall, the best kind of tour guide. We liked him right away. Also the tour itself, for literally everything was related to the Dutch, hahaha.. Luis is also great at history, so the discussions were exciting for all of us! Speaking of history, I just found out that in the Netherlands, some tales are told differently than here. Pak Candha then introduced us to the term 'his-story', for history is very subjective to the person telling it. OMG, that's brilliant! I never realized how biased the stories we were taught in school. Anyway, I believe we weren't supposed to stay in the building for that long, but there are just so many interesting things to check out and new learnings to pick up. If it wasn't for the other spots in the itinerary, probably we would be there all day. :D

Next destination was the city center of the Old Town which is called Fatahillah Square. Just before we headed over the open air meeting point, Pak Candha took us to a grand canal originally designed to transform Batavia into the next Amsterdam. He proceeded to pass on more information about the area, almost sounding like a true historian. So awesome. Especially here, Pak Candha mentioned a lot of Dutch words and sentences, it was really cool to see the both of them fill each other in, since he knows more about the history and Luis obviously speaks the language. Oh and we also witnessed Satpol PP in action!

We expected Fatahillah Square to be super crowded, but we didn't expect Luis to be such a hit! Hahahahahahaha.. I think he went through a few different types of shock. People just started surrounding him, treating him like a famous celebrity or something. We could see other foreigners being approached by locals too, but not as crazy as to Luis. Purposely I maintained a safe distance from him and the crowd. I kinda felt bad for him because he's not comfortable in a crowded place, especially when he has the attention all to himself, but, after seeing how genuine the kids were, I could see he got less tense and began enjoying it little by little..... until suddenly I heard he called my name in a panic, "Baby? Why are they asking for my signature?" Hahahahaha, he was so helpless! I shouted back from where I was standing saying it's okay to sign their notebooks but just don't write his last name if he wasn't comfortable with it. Something else happened earlier! I was videotaping the whole situation and suddenly someone asked him what was the purpose of his visit. Casually, Luis pointed at me all smiley and answered, "To visit my girlfriend." I wish I could say I felt awkward receiving the judgmental eyes that turned to me, but lately I've just been laughing it off. Pak Candha basically had to stop the never-ending questions after a while cause it was taking too long and we hadn't even learned about the city center yet.

The tour was concluded by the final insightful historical lesson at Kota Train Station. Our tour guide was 100% in making our trip memorable. Right before we parted ways, Pak Candha told us that next week, there would be a huge gathering for Jakarta Good Guide and another community. The route would be different than this one and so far there had been more than 75 people signing up. We wanted to join so bad; however, we would be meeting Galuh in Bogor next Sunday! But we quickly decided that we would ask Pak Candha to meet us for coffee sometime later in the week, hope he could make it.

For lunch, while we were a few blocks away from Chinatown, I took him to my favorite noodle originally from Medan, although in Medan they go by the name Tiongsim and this one in Jakarta is Pasar Rame. The picture depicts the actual dish which is basically special noodle with chicken meat, three kinds of pork meat, wontons with shrimp and pork fillings, and onions. Climax.

One last story of the day: When walking back to his apartment after taking me home, his landlord called to invite him in. I thought they only would talk for a few minutes and maybe another few minutes for a mini house tour (he's an architect), but he ended up staying there for hours! Apparently Pak Bagus, the owner of his building, just had a few relatives coming over to their house, so they had many food from cakes to cookies to actual meal. Pak Bagus, his wife, his kids, and his aging father was so happy that he came and hang out there that they just kept on feeding him, hihi, so sweet. Luis also loved the random visit and how nice the family is (and how beautiful the home is). It's always the best kind of people who attract the best kind of people.

Sep 05 - Historic Triple Date

This was such a long-awaited day. I'd been missing Galih so much and wanted to celebrate my birthday with her, so when she proposed tonight as our little get-together as I was making Luis' itinerary last month, I jumped on the opportunity and saved the date.

Fun fact: Did I tell you his schedule was already full before he even stepped on Indonesian soil? Hahahahaha, for real!

Venessa was supposed to collect us before lunchtime, right after she finished her morning French class. However, she got held up at work last night till 3 am --which was INSANE!-- and had to skip her class, so Luis and I went to have lunch first and she'd pick us up afterwards. While waiting for her to arrive, we went to the mall to check on a few things, then I randomly asked Luis to accompany me to the newly open Body Shop booth in the department store cause Aunt Elizabeth gave me one of the perfumes in the most recent season and I enjoyed it a lot, so I was thinking of getting another one. However, they sold out on it and I wasn't interested in buying anything else from them; dessert time it is then.

She arrived on time. Although the appointment was for dinner, the location was far away from our areas, hence the early start of the road trip. But apparently the road was clear so it gave us more than enough time to check out IKEA as suggested by Venessa. I liked a lot of things, it's been an awfully long time since the last time I pursued my home interior design hobby, I should take up on the books that have been sitting in the corner of my bedroom. It was a necessary trip to start putting into consideration on which kind of style and vibe we'll want our house to have, hehehehe.. Luis and I specifically loved one showroom they set up. It was not big at all, 31m2 if I'm not mistaken. We just absolutely adored the way the rooms were divided and the furnitures were placed that the unit didn't seem cluttered at all. A perfect start, we'd figure. Look at us playing adults and all! :P But it was such an interesting experience I would recommend to my friends and family (if they haven't been there, hehe, since I was so late to the game). Venessa's presence was just the cherry on top, I loved having her around as I was debating on a thing or two.

By the way, not only did we do the full round, we also managed to eat again, hahaha. Venessa and Luis had the famous Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes with gravy and lingonberry jam and I had fat slice of very yummy chilled apple pie. Good thing we still wanted to drive around, check out Venessa's parents' new house, and wait for Galih, so we had time to feel hungry again, hehe.

It wasn't until I reviewed the photos that I realized we three dressed matchy-matchy, hihihi.. Navy blue combined with heather grey is just perfection. Especially when the background is also within the theme: 

Galih and Mas Yogi, her serious boyfriend, apparently arrived at the dinner place earlier than we did, thankfully they didn't mind cause they needed to work on something anyway. Upon greeting me, Galih was already ready with my birthday present which I barely could wait to open. It was from Body Shop. It was the fragrance set I was looking for in the mall earlier today but sold out.................... Hahahahahaha, now you know why we have been best friends for more than 10 years! They know me almost too well.

Leaving the coffee shop, we had no idea which restaurant we should pick for dinner as there were quite a lot. The place itself was new and super scenic, of course I had to take photos every 5 centimeters, haha, joking! But we did take tons of pictures indeed. :D Beautiful open area, great weather, lovely companion. Dinner hadn't even started and I loved the get-together already.

I finally decided on Chakra, a restaurant with the best outdoor view within the complex in my opinion. It didn't hurt that Venessa said her friends also recommended this place a few times to her. I found the name deceiving, as Chakra led me to think it was an Indian restaurant, not Western that it is, but it's okay, food was good and the ambiance was romantic so I couldn't really complain. Halfway through dinner, a guy Venessa had been seeing came to join us, his name is Timothy, a Chinese-Canadian badminton athlete currently training in Indonesia. He wasn't our favorite person (hahahaha, even Venessa agreed to this!) but he was the reason why this night was historic to us: it was the very first time in our friendship history that all three of us were in a relationship! We always felt it was strange too that we had never been taken at the same time, but tonight we broke the record. :D

What also made me happy was how normal Mas Yogi reacted around Luis. English is not his strongest suit but unlike other people, he really did make such a huge effort in communicating and getting to know Luis. I highly, highly appreciated that. It just made me like him even more! I can totally see us hanging out for a really long time.

After desserts and a grocery trip, the day came to an end as Luis and I had to go home since my parents, magically, still had a curfew for us. But it wasn't that annoying, considering how happy I was that I got to hang out with literally my two best girlfriends......... whom after the years have never grown tired of taking bathroom selfies with me, hahahahahaha! Love them!

Sep 04 - Netflix and Chill

So we got the house to ourselves................

HAHAHA, JUST KIDDING! Of course we were literally staying in with the TV on, unlike the real urban meaning of the idiom. :D :D :D :D Sorry, I couldn't help it!

We started by watching Crazy, Stupid, Love, another one of my have-seen-so-many-times movie list. I believe by this time, he would have been questioning if I got any life, learning how many movies I've watched for multiple times. Oh well! :P When the movie finished, it was almost noon, the perfect time to start cooking. My turn by the way! I quickly threw fettuccini into the boiling water and prepared the sauce with him while waiting for the pasta to cook. We also made grilled chicken using the fillet I'd marinated and stored in the fridge since early morning, this would go on top of the pasta drenched in the alfredo sauce, yum! There was still a little bit left in the pan, but that was merely because Mama had asked me to leave some for her, if not.... the pan would be as clean as before we even started cooking, hihihihi..

Between lunch and dinner, we did a few quizzes on BlogThings (as I've written and mentioned a few times before in this blog, we just absolutely love doing this), took stupid selfies, looked at family photos on the wall, exchanged stories, opened packages, read football updates, and snacked. A lot. Hahaha.. The photo above was my favorite: I was online shopping and he was watching the news. We two are just total homebodies! Easily one of the top five dates I had with him all summer. <3

Sep 03 - The Fourth Grand Parent

Last year I took him to visit Bapa's mom and then Mama's dad and mom. Only one more grand parent I hadn't taken him to. My late grandpa who died when Bapa was 17.

I don't rush things. I reconsider big steps so many times till I give in. This is a big deal to me, so certainly, I would not have taken him to my grandpa's graveyard if I wasn't sure about him.

It's been almost 40 years since he was gone but his memories still live among people he had blessed during his lifetime. I still have people coming up to me, telling me stories of how he lived and what a wonderful person he was, and how we two would get along the best since people can see the resemblances of him and I. I may not have met him, but it was enough to know that he would protect me and be proud of me and encourage me to be a better person, half of the person he was. Crazy as it might sound, I also believe he would be the first one to welcome Luis' presence in our lives. Too bad he's not around anymore. But I'm happy knowing he's in the best place he could ever be. :)

Luis didn't say much, but I know he understood what I was thinking and feeling that moment. Ever so gently, the rub my back, caressed my arms, and held my hands. He proved to me to be the only one who deserved this chance. I couldn't feel more relieved that I took him there.

The emotional, bittersweet moment, commenced by the long and exhaustive ride from home, sure worked up our appetite. Luckily there's a mall nearby so we took the first taxi we saw. What a luck, Shabu Slim was having 50% off for their all-you-can-eat! You bet we made a great use out of it. ;)

Hahahaha yeah, things got a little bit out of hand. We deserved it though! :P Feeling so, very full and bloated, we forced ourselves to get out to the park and do an afternoon stroll. If it wasn't this far from home, I would be going here every single day, the park is just beautiful with the huge trees and colorful flowers and even koi ponds. 

We found a hilarious signage in front of one of the ponds:

Since when can fish be this sassy!!!!! Haha, awesome!

It was another lovely day spent with him. I don't think I will ever run out of reasons to thank God for bringing him to me.