Failure

I used to be too ambitious a few years backward. I used to have a very huge desire to be the best in every single moment of my life. No, I had never wanted to be the best student but I wanted to be the best in something I wanted to. I would do everything in order to achieve my desire but I did not cheat. I was even willing to have extra lessons, to extend my studying hours, and to do every given papers. I had ever studied until 4a.m. I knew it was bad for my health but I needed it.

Failure, a word that I was afraid of. I used to be so pessimistic and I was really scared failing. I was afraid all of the efforts I had put to achieve my desire would end up as a failure. I sought lots of encouraging words from people around me but still the negative thoughts could not get rid off my mind.

Once I faced a very big failure and all of my fears were like finally happened, my efforts ended up as a failure. I did hate my life, my useless effort, and even my God. I hated everything. I was really messed up. Why did I have to face this? I could not stop wondering why. I cried all night long because I really lost in anger, guilty, and sadness. Tears could not stop tearing down on my cheeks. My life was so miserable. My closest people tried to cheer me up but I ignored them because my sadness was too deep.

I tried to get up from my past failure. I hung on a quote that life went on no matter what. I tried to be strong but I could not get rid off my failure. I kept thinking of it but I used to hide it by smiling. None knew the real feeling of mine when I still lost in mixed feeling although the failure had happened in few weeks ago.

Days, weeks, and months had finally passed. I did better and I could forget the failure although some times I remembered it. I also realised that my effort would never end up as a failure but it would be a new beginning of another great moment in life to be more successful. I was also really thankful to my God that He let me face a failure. I could learn lots of things through my failure because failure is the beginning of success. I also learnt that failure was not the end of everything because it was said that you must hurt in order to know, fall in order to grow, and lose in order to gain.

Homemade Cooking is Never Wrong!

Have you tried a McD chicken nuggets? It's so tasty and also cheap, right?
But, have you ever wonder we can make those tasty nuggets at home?
Frankly, the taste of homemade nuggets is different from McD, but surely it's also delicious and healthy!

I watched Kokiku.tv in YouTube, and this is the recipe: (it works!)

Ingredients:
- one minced chicken breast
- one carrot (finely grated, or you can replace it with another chopped/grated vegetables)
- two loaves of bread, without the skin
- spices (finely crushed) : one clove of garlic, half teaspoon of pepper, and salt
- two eggs
- bread crumbs

step by step:
1. Chop the bread, then soak it into chicken broth or water
2. Put chicken into a medium large bowl, and then stir with vegetables and egg
3. Stir the spices into the chicken batter until it mixed well
4. Take the bread out of the chicken broth, and mix it with the chicken batter until it smooth
5. Put the mixture into square tray or pan, not too big
6. Steam for 30 minutes
7. Cool the mixture (room temperature) and put it into the refrigerator for 10 minutes
8. Cut the mixture in square (or whatever you want..)
9. Coat the nuggets with egg, and then coat it with bread crumbs
10. If you want a thick nugget skin, you can coat it again with egg and then with bread crumbs
11. Fry it in  hot vegetable oil
12. Enjoy!

Tea Time!

Hey hola hi hai guys! I'm still having exam tomorrow and fortunately tomorrow is language exams, Bahasa and English. When I took a break during studying, I went downstairs and I made a cup of ice chocolate. I also opened oreo and suddenly an idea popped up in my mind. Can you guess what's my idea? Haha. Ya, I thought of taking flat lay. Honestly instead of studying, I'll choose another activity to do. Who's like studying except the genius ones? Like now, instead of studying, I'm writing this blog! But the fact is I have done studying so I can write here hehe.
Oh ya so back to the flat lay. I took it in the afternoon and the light was quite fine. I also used vscocam to make my flat lay a bit better. Enjoy take a look at my flat layyy

“Sometimes you have to take a break and breathe
before you can keep moving forward.”
—Kayla Panchisin

I think that flat lay is the best so far, isn't it? Hahaha. So ya once again, good luck for mid term test!

“Just believe in yourself. Even if you don't, pretend that you do and, at some point, you will.”
—Venus Williams

Cerita-Kita Batch 3 Casting Call

Hiiii guys!! It's so sad that this week I'm having a mid term exam T_T And good luck for all of my friends both 10th and 11th graders for mid term and for the 12th grader students who are facing oral test this week! All of the hard works will always pay off :) I want to tell you something hahaha maybe it's like telling a story hahaha

Yesterday while I was doing my revision for today's test, I received a call from Jakarta. I was listening into a radio on my phone when it rang so I was a bit shocked hahaha. It was like who was calling at this time(it was around 8pm) from Jakarta and I picked up the call. The person over the phone said "Are you Grace?". Wow hahaha she knew my name! Then it must be a real call for me. She continued talking and OMGGGG! It was such a good news in the middle of studying.

"I'm from GoGirl! Magazine and I wanna inform you that you are chosen as one of the 100 best participants in Bandung to join our workshop this Saturday." I WAS REALLY SHOCKED! How I could be chosen because some days ago I had looked at their website and there wasn't my name. She said that it was a technical problem. WOWOWOWOW! SERIOUSLY, I'M SO HAPPY!!! Who doesn't know about GoGirl! Magz and Clean&Clear? Most of young girls in Indonesia definitely know those. So here's the competition advertisement:

I knew this competition from Instagram because it has new features. Nowadays, Instagram shows advertisements on our timeline so thanks to Instagram! And the reason why I registered is because of my interest in writing. I also want to deepen my skill and yay, I'm chosen! Thanks to God, Gogirl! Magz, and Clear&Clear.

It will be a wonderful experience to join the workshop because especially it's focused on writing, photography(especially for Instagram), fashion, and beauty. As a young girl myself, those workshop's topics will be very useful for me :D Those classes will be taught by professional coaches from Gogirl! Magz.

Writing Workshop will be taught by Nina Moran, CEO of Gogirl! Magazine & Writer.

Fashion Workshop will be taught by Githa Moran, Fashion Editor of Gogirl! Magazine.

Beauty workshop will be taught by Agnez Oryza, Beauty Blogger.

And last but not least is Photography Workshop, Pramudia, Instagram Specialist and Influencer.

Don't you think it will be an amazing experience to have??? I can't really wait to join the workshop this Saturday. I'm way too happpppyyyyyyy!! I also hope I will be one of the 12 winners to contribute my articles :D Please pray for me, guys! Haha it'll mean a lot ♥

Ok, for all of you who want to experience the workshop and who live around Jakarta and Surabaya, you can join that! Click the image bellow to go to the web. Good luck! 

I'll update the workshop between this Saturday or Monday :D Cheers! Good luck for mid term test! ♥

Walking Down at Riau Sreet!

Holaaa guysss! Since this week is holiday, my best friends, Velicia and Sherlin, and I went to Riau Street last Thursday. Actually we had planned to go to Lembang but my father hand't allowed me to go since we would have gone there by taxi. Although we didn't go to Lembang, we still went to Riau Street that had lots of cafes and factory outlets around.

Velicia and I recorded the journey for our youtube as well :D So, before you continue reading this, please watch our video first!

First place to visit was The Secret Factory outlet which is located at Riau St. no 47. I had never gone there before although I have been passing it for around 11 years HAHA how sad. When we entered it, it was decorated so nicely! And yeah, you know what I did there, taking photos HAHAHA.

US :D
Sorry for low quality photo ><

I looked thinner HAHAHA
Thanks to Sherlin ;p 

It had been cloudy since we went there and it began to drizzle so we walked fast to our next destination. We hadn't planned where to go so we just searched the nearest and nicest cafe haha. Finally, we went to Hummingbird which was far from the outlets. It is located at Progo St. no 14. The cafe was designed like a bird cage. The interior and the good are good. And yes! We always took photos because our first intention to go wasn't for eating but for taking photos.

Sherlin said there was a cute cafe nearby and thanked God the rain had stopped so we could continue our journey. Before going to that cafe, we searched for the cafe on google but there was no result about that cafe. Still we walked down Progo Street until we reached Cimanuk Street and there we went, Pocci Cafe. Actually Sherlin had told me a wrong name so there was no result. But yes, IT AS SUCH A NICE CAFE! I really enjoyed being there XD Oh, it was located at Cimanuk St. no 12. The place was so cozy and the interior was good as well! I couldn't help myself not to take photos there because it was super cute :')

Another photo of us :D 

Sherlin! ^^

Total Solar Eclipse

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon gets between Earth and the sun, and the moon casts a shadow over Earth. A solar eclipse can only take place at the phase of new moon, when the moon passes directly between the sun and Earth and its shadows fall upon Earth’s surface. (source : http://www.space.com)

Total Solar Eclipse is such an amazing rare natural phenomenon that occurs once in a hundred years. This year is the first total solar eclipse in the 21st century and it only crosses above the 11 provinces in Indonesia. Lots of domestic and international tourists visited those 11 provinces just only to watch it. Although I don't live in those 11 provinces, I could still enjoy the solar eclipse. The eclipse was only 88.3% in Bandung but it was such an amazing view! I could see that the sun wasn't round anymore although the sky didn't become darker. Here is a photo of the eclipse, hope you can see it! :)

Women Run The World

 picture's source: here

Gender equality was not enforced long time ago because women were considered having a lower status than men. Women were often blamed, insulted and suppressed. It was such a pity to see women often got persecution in the past. Women sought for the gender quality because they were tired of being thought as a weak person. Fortunately, there were some women who were really meritorious in struggling for the gender equality.

We could see in the past that only men could get a good education because it was said that women would stay at home and be housewives. However, nowadays there are more business women than business men. Women can have a good education even until their Master Degree. Beside that, gender quality has not been really enforced because this year International Women's Day theme is "Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality".

As written above, gender equality has not been really succeeded although some women had struggled for it in the past. It is targeted to achieve the "real"gender quality by 2030 which means it is still 14 years from now on. So as the young generation, we need to succeed this year's theme to step up for gender equality. Women are not weak, women should have the same status as men.

As today is International Women's day, I would like to tell you that as a woman, we need to be proud of our selves and to be strong. Don't let anyone drag we down because we are beautiful and special in our ways. Don't compare each of us or compete with others because we need inspire one another. 

"A successful woman is the one who build a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at her." - unknown.

Happy International Women's Day! ♥

Good Luck!

Holaaa! I'm having holiday this week so I can post a lot! Oh, good luck for my seniors who are facing exams this week :D But don't study so hard today because tomorrow is a holiday! Take a rest tonight ;D So this is a quote for you to boost up your spirit in studying

I wish all the seniors the best of luck!! Study hard, seniors :D Your hard work will always pay off. 

Btw, the quote above doesn't mean that you don't need to do your best, you should do your best! It is true that sometimes to be successful in life, you don't need amazing grades. But it has never been wrong to give your best in everything, hasn't it? So, do your best!

May the odds be ever in your favor! ;D

Flat Lay!

Hii guys! What's up?? Nowadays, people like taking photos so much especially selfie. Not all people are fans of selfie but you can still share your story to your friends! There's a famous new way of capturing every single story of your life, it's the flat lay. Flat lay photo is a photo of objects on a flat surface that you take it from above. By doing so, the visual effect is one of “flattening” the photo. It has gone viral on Instagram lately, you can search #flatlays on Instagram. Oh ya recently, I like to take flatlays and here are 4 of my flatlays and yes, of course I posted them on my Instagram muehehe.

First flatlay I took. It's so bad, isn't it?

This is a gift for Jasmine as her sweet 17th's present XD

Oh, I don't only show you my flatlays but I'm gonna give you some tips how to take a good-looking flatlay as well! Although I know I'm still a beginner in taking flatlay. Hope it helps! :D

1. Choose the visual story you’re going to tell with your photo
Everything can be told in a flat lay. So think about what elements could best tell the story you choose.

2. Use a neutral background
You can use your white bed sheet as the background hahaha anything white will do for the background! :D The purpose of using neutral background is to avoid adding unnecessary noise to the photo.

3. Daylight is perfect!
Try to take your flatlay during the daylight because it will make your flat lay natural. Fyi, my first flatlay was taken in the afternoon and although I used an editor it couldn't make my flat lay better.

4. Contrast color is amazing!
To add visual interest, introduce a contrasting color to your flat lay.

5. Placing your objects on the floor
It would be easier for you to take the flat lay photo since you can get the height you need to shoot from above.

6.  Shoot the image in square
Although nowadays Instagram allows us to post not a square photo, it is always better to post your flat lay in 1:1 aspect.

7. Experiment and have fun.
Don't be afraid to try different placing of your objects, etc because it's just for social media. It’s not serious but it is a fantastic way to explore your creative side!

You can check flatlays on Instagram for more flat lays! :D Enjoy and happy taking flat lay!