This was my second time going to St. Cyprien in South of France. This time we experienced a lot more: beautiful foods and places, freshly picked fruits sold right at the farms, boating, etc.
This was my second time going to St. Cyprien in South of France. This time we experienced a lot more: beautiful foods and places, freshly picked fruits sold right at the farms, boating, etc.
The 5 French phrases I love the most are:
1. C'est mignon
2. C'est pas Versailles ici
3. Je ne parle pas francais
4. J'ai faim
5. Je t'aime
instagram @carlachanliau
Spending weekends in France while not exactly on holiday could consist of:
- going to dog school with Beca, Oscar & Naomi,
- eating the super yummy Jamboneau
- going to Alsace to meet other family and friends
- getting invited to BBQ
Follow our instagram at @leschanliaudebali
Spending weekends in France while not exactly on holiday could consist of:
- going to dog school with Beca, Oscar & Naomi,
- eating the super yummy Jamboneau
- going to Alsace to meet other family and friends
- getting invited to BBQ
Follow our instagram at @leschanliaudebali
Back in Bali since I've been with Bibou, we used to celebrate Bastille Day when the French Consulate had an open house. We came mainly for the French food (or maybe I came mainly for the food lol). Now that we happen to be in France during Bastille day, I am sharing with you what we did.
Camera: Sony a5100
Editing software: Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018
Camera: Sony a5100
Editing software: Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018
Okay it is not really a garden. More like a space to hang laundry that has never been used forever.
With the AC dispensing water every night, this small space actually grows more plants during the dry season than my again-not-really main garden in front. We have had problem with the air conditioner upstairs mainly because of the climbing plants reached the AC engine.
There is this teenage boy who doesn't speak much and very shy. He is the son of my masseuse. Iluh, my masseuse, told me if I had a garden job for his son to do, he'd be happy to make extra money from it. I hired him once to move the pots from the top of my gate wall. Now I hired him to clean up this space.
I felt happy with the clean solution; something I will never find myself have time to do, or would be willing to do. He felt happy for the extra pocket money. Iluh told me he also gives some to his younger brother and sister from what he earns.
There is nothing better than giving opportunity for a young person to get a taste of having a job and his own money for the first time. I remember how happy I was to get money other than from the allowance money my parents gave me when I was young.
He is a good boy and he will succeed if he keeps up being hardworking.
I am rarely sick. But when I do get sick, it's usually the bad kind of sickness.
I have been feeling pain on my side and my back in the past 4 days. I tried to give it time for my body to heal itself before I let chemicals in. This time it got even worse.
I didn't recognise this type of pain. It is not the menstrual pain, not the overtiredness pain, earlier on I thought it was muscle pain due to too much dancing but counterpain didn't fix it this time. In the last 2 nights my stomach started hurting too. It was almost unbearable that I had to order Uber last night to go to BIMC hospital.
The doctor thought it could be kidney stone. I've got to have few tests to make sure of that. My urine test came out negative so he told me to do the ultra sound test this afternoon.
I feel so tired and drained. I hope it is nothing serious and can be fixed with oral medication only....
It finally started raining after quite a long drought. I think I could hear my plants dance joyfully as I often didn't water them enough. I generally love sun and brightness. But yesterday's rain really soothed me.
If only I didn't have this excruciating side and back pain!
I don't remember I have ever felt this sort of pain before. Not sure if it was from too much dancing as it first appeared when I was riding my scooter. Could be from wrong sleeping position or something. I tried to put counterpain creme, had a massage, applying heating bandage I got from Fumi, etc. Every morning I felt better but by midday it killed me again. Today is the third day, so I am going to see if it comes back at noon and I'll definitely go to a doctor to consult if it does.
For now, I will just enjoy the grey sky, the muddy smell of the rain, sip my lemon tea, while working on some marketing for the villa I manage.
Cheers!
Last week has been a non-stop belly dancing week. As soon as I came back from Jakarta for Miss Belly Dance Indonesia on Monday, Hadi held his first class after abstaining for 2 months while he was in Holland, so of course I had to go. Then Wednesday I also had his class PLUS a private class with Hilde Canoodt, a super lovely bellydancer based in London. I died that day. Thursday was another class with Hilde, and Friday and Saturday I had to perform at The Breezes Resort and Shisha Cafe back to back.
Vincent's comment: "So are you gonna be bellydancing every day now?"
It was just the special week where everybody was available in Bali that I had to take my opportunity in learning more about belly dance while I could. I am happy that this week it will be slower though. Hadi is gone to Bandung for a week and Hilde had left Bali.
Now to motivate myself to practise at home. ;-)
I am enjoying the down time. Need to focus on work and family more this week. Maybe bake the cheesecake Vincent has been requesting and take more photos.
Guess who is the first ever Miss Belly Dance Indonesia 2015 - Tribal fusion category?
Yes. ME!!!
Yay! Yay! Yay!
All of my hard had paid off and all the dancing in different places helped a lot too! I was so over the moon last weekend when they announced it was me winning the title. Pam took the first runner up, which made both of us the top winners of the prestigious competition! Hadi and Ika must have been proud teachers!
I am so grateful that I took part in this event. Not only did I get to learn from the amazing Hilde Canoodt, Darren Ho and Christine Yaven, I also got to get crowned as 2015 Miss Tribal Belly Dance Indonesia.
Life is good!!!
What makes a girl's day?
When she found a great new restaurant 2 minutes from her workplace that serves the BEST salad she's ever tasted.
This restaurant is called Braga Garden. As its name suggests, it looks like a garden or a forest from the outside. I've been wanting to come there ever since before it was opened. I LOVE the greens and vintage feelings inside with all the antiques they have. I'd go there just for the ambiance. So when I tasted the food, OH. MY. GOD. I fell in love with this place!
I'm not a big salad buyer.
I'll correct that: I am a PICKY salad buyer. I don't like dressing that is too sour, too sweet, too mayonnaise-y, and the list can go on. If I want to eat salad, I'll make the salad on my own to match my taste bud.
However, I wasn't that hungry at the time. I was with a friend who was much less adventurous in trying new restaurants, and she was in only for coffee. So, when she saw me going to the 7th sky for my salad, she gave it a try and immediately ordered another plate of salad of different variant.
You're welcome, Huri!
To top it off, they allowed me to dance my latest choreography in this vintage setting so that I could make a nice video clip of it. Here is a snippet of the dance!
To visit:
Braga Garden Restaurant & Lounge
Address: Jalan Kunti II No.99X, Denpasar, Bali 80361, Indonesia
Phone:+62 361 4741717
Open today · 12:00 pm – 12:00 am
Time flew by. The day Jun and Ron had waited had finally come and it was nothing but a huge success! It was one of the most wonderful weddings I have ever attended; partly thanks to the Chinese fun wedding traditions and the hillarious salsa-minded invitees!
It was a small wedding by Chinese Indonesian standard, only 150 guests. But it was beautiful and touching. Most of all, I was so happy to be there, next to my best friend as her maid of honour, witnessing the happiest time of her life.
I wish you a happy marriage life, my Jun. I am positive Ron will take a good care of you until you grow wrinkles together.
What is it with my friends lately? They are all getting married within one month and all having us wear pink dresses. Pink must be the new black!
We had an awesome bachelorette party for my friend, Eleonore, a few weeks back. The dress code was pink. So a lot of us had to go shopping beforehand for pink dresses! Here was what I picked for that party.
I will be the maid of honour at my BFF's wedding this coming Saturday. She had her sister send me this hot pink fabric. I got the design consulted with Jun a few weeks before. She said her husband-to-be's family is rather conservative so nothing transparent or open. So I sent it to my tailor and here goes the result:
And then few days ago I saw the other bridesmaid's dress and it was pretty open. Hahahaha...
It's been a really LONG while since I last blogged. Obviously my 365 grateful days project didn't work when life actually happens. I've been busy with many things, work and play both. But here I am back blogging. Trying to put good 15 minutes or so to write or upload something.
If you wish to know what I have been up to the past couple of years, you can check out my Instagram account. I actually found it easier to just post photos and write short captions there.
The photo above is of Nicola, my neighbour kid who constantly calls me as her second mom. I've been making photos for her real mom's fashion brand, Anila Tails. Check my photography facebook page for more photos.
Adios for now!
Day 87 of 365 grateful days project:
"I'm grateful for the rain that poured today."
After 2 months drought, the rain felt wonderful! Of course we had to get that while in Gili when we were supposed to have sun all day long. But it was all good. I loved this first rain, how the water splashed my face while I was paddling my bike to get to the nearest restaurant for shade, how the wind frantically moved the hanging cygogne-lookalike decoration, how the island boys got super happy and just jumped to the sea to have fun with the rain, and how my husband got really sleepy due to the breezy moment. I felt sleepy too but I decided to treasure this moment and kept it in my memory for the next months and maybe years to come.
I am so lucky. We are so lucky.
Day 86 of 365 grateful days project.
"I am grateful to have spent the most amazing first year of marriage with the most wonderful man in my life."
I can't say enough how blessed I am and how perfectly content I have been in the past 12 months. After 6 years relationship one must think that nothing changes when you decide to seal it in a marriage. In a way it feels like that, but in a way we also know that it doesn't exactly feel like that. There are many little things that I treasure in the life post-wedding. Little things that make everything matter.
I really enjoy marriage life. And there is no righter guy to spend it with than my hubby bibou.
Day 85 of the 365 grateful days project:
"I'm grateful to have an amazing breezy clean air in Gili Air all alone with hubby."
It just feels different.
When you live in Bali, you don't even dare to think of it as a holiday place. Every morning I anticipate the traffic jam, the people shouting at each other on the street, the road blocks, etc. Of course if I were a tourist, I wouldn't see Bali that way. Compared to many cities in and out of Indonesia, Bali is still a cool destination to go to with a lot of interesting places to discover. However, when you feel that you have discovered everything... it's time to see other islands.
And Gili Air was such a perfect place to cool off. No motor-anything, just dirt roads, bicycles, (almost) virgin beaches, and the smell of the sea mixed with fresh grass mixed with horsepoo (whaaat...). :)
But it's nature. And nature is a lot better than carbondioxided air.
I've been dozing off on a bale of Warung Santay while hubby is busy with his book (HE IS REALLY READING A BOOK! How vacation makes you do abnormal things).
The holiday starts out great. And it will be better tomorrow.
Day 84 of 365 grateful days:
"I am grateful to be going to Gili Air tomorrow for our first wedding anniversary weekend."
We need holiday, period. Both of us worked hard and I spent most of my time working and belly dancing, which lately felt like keeping us apart in a way.
After such an amazing 1920's wedding last year, this cannot happen! We need to bond even stronger than before! So I'm glad we decided to go for this short weekend getaway.
We are so looking forward to Saturday morning!
Day 83 of 365 grateful days:
"I am grateful to have a cute little kitten named Boulette."
After losing Nene, our gorgeous white cat, when we were away in France, we decided to wait for her to come back home. But 2 months have passed and we are quite sure someone stole her. We are just left hoping that whoever adopted Nene has a loving heart and takes a good care of her.
"I am grateful to have a cute little kitten named Boulette."
After losing Nene, our gorgeous white cat, when we were away in France, we decided to wait for her to come back home. But 2 months have passed and we are quite sure someone stole her. We are just left hoping that whoever adopted Nene has a loving heart and takes a good care of her.
Moving on, my friend's cat just delivered cute baby kittens one month ago. I was supposed to wait until it's 2 months old, but the mother cat didn't want to feed them anymore. We had to take one of the cats now.
It's a little baby ball. So we call it(her/him) Boulette. Such a joy!
Day 82 of 365 grateful days:
"I'm grateful to be back in France for yet another wedding."
Okay another wedding is a little too much. But this time I didn't have to take care of anything; for the obvious reasons that I do not live here and my French sucks. Still looking forward to meeting his extended family and friends though. We've been staying Paris until today and we'll take a TGV train to Strasbourg in a couple of hours.
Yay!
