HANZKY

I’ve been working out with 4 different personal trainers, so yes I can definitely share my experience on how to choose the right one.

 “We can choose?” you asked. Oh yes you can. Some women are more comfortable with female personal trainer. And there are a few levels of personal trainer starting from the newer ones to the most advanced ones. Of course, the ones with the longest experience come with a higher fee. But if you can afford the best, why not, right? :D. But I can assure you, the newer ones will be just as good, come with certification and all that. They are worth the investment.



Here’s a few things you can think of when choosing the right personal trainer for you.

No, not the actual rain. That, I don't mind. But it's the pouring rain of sad news that have been happening in my family.

Three weeks ago, my aunt (my dad sister) passed away. She's already old and had been sick on and off for the past year. Two weeks ago, my long-distance cousin, also from my dad's side, passed away. He had an accident at Pondok Indah toll road and didn't make it to the hospital. It was a really heart-breaking story. Yesterday, another of my dad's aunt, the youngest one, passed away. Just like her sister, she had been sick on and off. She also had a down syndrome since she was born so her organs are not functioning properly to begin with.

Three family members gone in a span of 3 weeks. That's kinda hard to digest, you know :(. I pray with all my might to not hear anymore sad news for a long long time.

In addition to that, I've also been receiving unfortunate news from the people around me. Affi was hospitalized for more than a week last month, Ipong's (Travelers Daily Managing Editor) mother has gone through surgery and diagnosed with cancer last week. Andy's parents, he is our developer, had an accident last month and had to stay in the hospital and went through some surgeries. Ningsih (our administrative assistant) lost her new motorcycle. Griss (Fashionese Daily Editor) had chicken pox. My mom's sister fell down and broke her arms. What else? Oh my friend's son, Astrid is also at the hospital right now.

And this reminds me that I really should go see my grandma this weekend. She hasn't been feeling really well either.

Let's hope for a healthier & safer tomorrow for everyone. And hold your loved ones tight, people. I know I wanna go home and hug my kids right now.

Remember this post? I've finally made it to Palo Alto and back to the US with the family :). We visited San Francisco, Palo Alto, Chicago, Carbondale, St. Louis, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. It was a two weeks trip, we left on October 4 and came back on October 20. Mixing business and pleasure judulnya. As a working mom, something to always be thankful for is the ability to integrate family life into your professional life. It was a memorable trip. I would say the business part, the Endeavor experience, was quite life-changing. I've met ultra inspiring individuals and other entrepreneurs from around the world. I received priceless feedback and encouraging supports that I badly need. I was given a light to guide me reach another level in my entrepreneurial journey. I believe I came out of the program a better person, as an individual as well as an entrepreneur.

It's a long story that should be saved for another day. Now the kids are bugging me to make them a batch of chicken wings :).

'Till later.

Last week, I met a good friend of mine whom I've been friends with since high school, Mina and Aan. With Aan, I still communicate regularly although we only meet about twice a year. But Mina is a different story. I've pretty much lost contact with her for the past few years. She now lives in Weh Island, Aceh with her husband and three kids. She is here because her husband has a 7 month long training in Jakarta. It's nearing toward month 7 and the 'let's meet' talk still had not been realized until last week. I admit, part of it was because I kept rescheduling the meet up.

Turned out, Toples, our photographer worked hard last night to have it hung until 3am! A few months ago, I told him about the idea of having the wall of fame in our community center. We made it a secret project. Took picture of everyone and told them it was for the press card. Little did they know we turned it into something like this. And Toples still managed to surprise me because I didn't know he was planning to do it last night.

Recently, Jehan discovered a new technology called WhatsApp....and Blackberry Messenger. Aand she is messaging everyone she knows, from her grandma to her cousin and her mbak. Aaand she always asked me every few minutes if so and so has replied her message. Tsk tsk.  



Well, maybe it's how you hone in your writing skill in this modern days, no? By the way, she can navigate the touch screen effortlessly, but it takes her some adjustment with Blackberry Qwerty. I wonder if everything will be touchscreen in the future.

Here's some of her WhatsApp messages.

I think we're all agree that a big part of managing a business is actually managing people. Go Girl started way earlier than Female Daily Network so Nina has gone through a lot, from happy times to tough times to even tougher times. Just like Female Daily, Go Girl started small. It's still a growing company where they have to learn through trial and error on what's work and what's not. Go Girl back then of course is a lot different than Go Girl today considering it's been more than 10 years since they have been around. And of course, that's a good thing. If they stay the same that means they're not growing, right?

Business-wise, this week has been a really interesting week. Last Wednesday I (along with Affi and Nopai) was engaged in an intense business discussion for 4 hours until close to midnight at Pacific Place, with people I've just met for the first time :D. It was entertaining and enlightening at the same time. Surely put things in perspective. It's always nice to know other people's point of view, especially if they are people who understand the digital landscape here in Indonesia.

Thursday was no less interesting with the email offer we received from someone we've been meeting back and forth with, shared documents and even signed NDA for the last 2 months. Note to self: reply the email.

Just when I thought today would be an uneventful day I heard these words proposed to me in the meeting room; Palo Alto in October. I was stunned for a short second before I cracked a wide grin and said oh yess of course!

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Coca Cola office in GKBI. Not only I got to see the nice office, I also had an hour with Martin Gil, the CEO to share Female Daily story :). The kind of opportunity that doesn't come very often.

By the way, stepping in to the office and seeing all the bottles nicely lined up as the room divider takes me back to 1999 where I visited Coca Cola museum in Atlanta.


One of the interesting things that came out of the one hour meeting was how surprised he was knowing we only have 25 people in the office doing 3 online medias, 1 social network and 1 forum with 70,000 members!

Jib had been craving for popcorns since last night. And he was bummed to know that since he is fasting, he couldn't munch on popcorns while watching Despicable Me. But turned out we got the 5 o'clock session, meaning we would break the fast inside the theater. So Oki went out to buy some popcorns and other snacks right before Maghrib. Jibran was so excited and gobbled the popcorn for the first few minutes, but he didn't finish it.

Before we watched the movie, Jib said he wanted to eat Yoshinoya, so that's what we did. Upon finishing his food, he realized that I buy some for takeaway too for sahur. And he was like blahhh.

Then he asked me that why is it every time he wants some food, that food looks sooo appealing, but when he eats it and especially after he finishes it, the food just doesn't taste as good anymore. :D

I told him some times I feel the same way too. It's called the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility. The more you consume/buy, the less satisfied you will be. The last bite won't taste as good as the first bite. It took me an economic class in college to learn about that :D. Now if only I know how to apply the concept in other parts of life.

Running out of idea for a title, eh?

By the way, this is what happened when you took a shower at the gym and carelessly put make up in a moving car. I guess I forgot to apply powder. Or maybe I applied too much CC cream. I didn't realize the white cast all over my face until after we took picture at the end of the interview. I was totally horrified when I saw it! Oh well, lesson learned :P

Since the Canon 5D is now the office property, I had been on the hunt for a new replacement camera. I'm that kind of someone who needs to have a nice camera and need her family life documented in pretty pictures :D. They definitely deserve more than iphone and instagram pictures :D. My most precious possession is all the pictures I have taken since the first time I owned a digital camera.

Of course, there's no contest with the Canon 5D but that thing is huge that it wasn't very convenient to carry it in my purse everyday. But I did that most of the time and I don't think my shoulders were happy with it. So to replace it, I know I wanted something that produce image as sharp but in a more compact size. So insert here; the Fuji X100s.

I've read all the reviews that made me 100% sure to get this one. The camera has a fix lens but even with Canon I've always liked the fix lens better and this one is equivalent with the 35mm I always use. But the problem is..this camera is hard to get. Even in the US! I've called every single Camera store in town and no one has a stock until I did some more Google and found one in Camera Indo, and off I went to Mangga Dua Square to get my baby :D. The owner, his name is Aries was actually surprised that someone is looking for this particular camera. By the way, if you're looking for any items related to camera, he is a recommended seller.

So here's some straight out of the box pictures. I didn't play around with the setting nor read the manual. As you can tell I'm pleased with the pictures :).

So the public speaking series I have to do this month was wrapped today..(or so I thought because I just received one invitation for May 30th which I'm still contemplating).  I've spoken in front of different kind of audiences, from elementary kids to high school kids, to university students, business owners as well as brand managers. My favorite bunch is always the university students. I don't know why, maybe because I was a student like them not too long ago (Haha!), or maybe because I LOVE school in general and love love love to be back on campus and see the fresh new spirits.

Has it really been 4 months after the new year? Where did the month go? Before I know it, May will be gone and then Ramadhan will arrived, followed by Lebaran. And then *bham*...we already at the second semester of 2013. It's crazy and scary to think how fast time moves. I can only hope I'm filling my days with meaningful activities. I know I should be spending more time with the kids :(.

Anyway, May is going to be hectic. Maybe it will go down as the most hectic month for me. Let see what May has in store for me.

• Public Speaking Activities! I'm not one who enjoys being at the center stage although I have done quite a lot of public speaking activities. I still think I'm not at the level where I want to be when it comes to doing presentation. But I think I see improvement everytime I go on stage. Maybe the public speaking class I took back in October 2011 helps. Maybe I'm getting used to it or maybe I'm just less harsh toward myself :). I used to by my own best critics but now I'm overwhelmed with so many things that I don't have time to scrutinize myself because I have no choice but to forget about it and move on to the next thing.
  
  Let's see what I have this month:
  
  

If I'm not mistaken, I have about 8 kilos of fat I need to get rid of. If that means I have to lose 8 kilos from my current weight, I will weight about 45kg! Scary, right? And even if I lose the 8 kilos, there's no guarantee that it's all fat that I lose, it could be muscle too (even scarier!), unless I eat and exercise according to my goal.

The goal is to lose fat and GAIN muscle, which means my weight will probably stay the same or maybe even heavier. Which is fine because muscle is denser than fat so even if the weight is the same, the size would be different.

Now I don't care at all what the scale tells me. Like the coach said, don't focus on the number of your body going down but focus on the number of weights your dumbbells and barbell going up.

I've written about a glimpse of my Fit N Fab journey in my previous post. Now, let's talk about the progress :). When I started the journey, my weight was within the ideal BMI..but guess what, my body fat percentage is at a staggering 33%. That means according to the table above...I'm on the obese range. That means (I weighted 56 kg), I have 18.5 kg of fat in my body..and that's TOO MUCH!. A higher body fat percentage will link to heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and other illness.

So yes even if your body is within the ideal range, it doesn't mean you are healthy.

A year has passed since I have discovered my body fat percentage. Numerous exercises have been attempted and moderation in eating as well as consuming healthier food has been implemented. But unfortunately, the number didn't move. Not even for a little bit.

I haven't written anything about my quest for living a healthier life in here, except for my birthday blog last year. The reason being is simply because it's hard to squeeze in some time to compose a blog post. I'm writing this at one in the morning cause I had a cup of coffee at 8pm that makes it hard to sleep. And too tired to do anything work related :-).

Anyway, my #FitNFab journey is rather long. Of course it has to be long. In fact, it shouldn't have an expiration date because that's how we should live, right?. It's not always smooth sailing of course. There were times when I failed and gave in to the hot and spicy bowl of Indomie and homemade tahu isi. There were also times when I didn't exercise for two weeks straight. But at least I'm proud to say that since October 2011,  I have somehow living a healthier lifestyle, introducing things bit by bit, trying out new things and making it a part of me. I even worked out during traveling to Bandung, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

So it started with running. I've run a little bit here and there but never enjoyed it. Then I realized I didn't wear proper shoes to at least save my feet from injury. The shoes were a pair of Diesel sneakers I got a few years back :p. So I went to Sports Station and got me Reebok Realflex that made all the difference. I still didn't like running but I knew it was something I had to do as I didn't have choice and didn't understand much about exercise. I would run once or twice a week and when I mean by run is probably 10 minutes on the treadmill. I couldn't run for 1k non stop, maybe not even half of it. In addition to steady run, I also did HIIT run and I thought I liked it better. But I was still intrigued with the steady run cause I felt that it something I've never liked and good at so it was just challenging.

In the beginning of 2012, Wulan started to get serious in #FitNFab and even committed to doing some very intensive home workout that lasted for weeks. And boy did it change her body! Of course I was inspired to take my exercise level up a notch. Coincidentally, not long after that..I got home from eating Mie Yamin Bakmie GM and that night I felt so bloated. I was feeling so full and couldn't stand the after taste that I threw up and swore that I would take better control of what goes on through my mouth. And the next day, I had my first red rice at Warung Tekko for lunch and starting to bring my own lunch, replaced the white rice with complex carbs, eat more vegetables and cut down snacks.

Then in April I decided to join Celebrity Fitness next to my office. I even hired a personal trainer because I knew I would be clueless in the gym. My personal trainer was good as he was the top trainer in the branch. I still maintained my diet although I did have occasional KFC and didn't understand much about nutrition either. Then I started to see a difference, I dropped 3 kilos, my clothes were looser, my energy level soared and I felt stronger. But then Ramadhan came so I stopped workout altogether. Once Ramadhan was over, I went for a family vacation to Melbourne and Sydney and didn't think much about what I ate. So that was like almost 2 months out of the program.

And then the most annoying thing was Celebrity Fitness moved further down the road in Kemang Raya. I couldn't walk there anymore, I couldn't just went there after lunch to do a quick workout then came back to the office. I either had to do it early in the morning before work or after. But my trainer didn't have slot before 10AM so it was impossible to find a time that match both of our schedule.

In October, I decided to switch personal trainer. One that was available in the morning. I trained with him for a few times although I had to admit I liked the first one better as he pushed me more. But well, I didn't have choice. I haven't finished the 12 session but then worked started to get even more crazier so the time between session was getting longer and longer until I didn't bother to contact the trainer anymore.

In January, WRP and Female Daily collaborated on a diet program where we were asked to drink only WRP Nutrition Drink for breakfast and dinner for six weeks. When I learned more about it, I knew it was something I wouldn't follow religiously as it just didn't sound sustainable to me, but it was a quick fix. I also loved the fact that they send us a body combat & Shbam instructor once a week. To top it off, we also collaborated with Master Bootcamp where they trained us twice a week in the office. That is something I couldn't resist :).

So in 6 weeks, I dropped 2 kilos, lost a bit of body fat and gained 2 kilos of muscle. Of course I was happy but I wasn't satisfied! I wanted to gain more muscles and not in the level of 'obese' in terms of body fat percentage. Once the program was over, I was even more strict to my food intake and studied more about clean eating and how to lose body fat. Around that time, I met Tiara, the fittest woman I know, who was about to introduce her Eat, Love, Lift program to the world. Three weeks ago, I decided to become her client and I'm now enjoying the journey so much. I'll continue with the story next time. All I can say is I live waayyy even more healthier now.

Anyway, during the past year, I still run pretty regularly and surprisingly began to like it. Turned out, I hated running on the treadmill as it bores the hell out of me. A morning run in GOR Saparua Bandung changed my perspective. I enjoyed the experience so much that I hit my first 5k with best personal record. Now it still surprises me that I can run 6k non-stop! And this is coming from a girl who couldn't run for 5 minutes straight a year ago. Now I run almost every week in Senayan area with Oki and the kids. But I know running has its negatives too and it won't take me to reach my goal so I won't be too crazy with it.

The past year, I have noticed what exercise and clean eating can do for me. First, I feel more healthy. I rarely get sick, I think I've only had 2 flu last year. I feel more energetic and rarely get tired. Of course, I feel stronger too and pretty proud of my fitness level. The session with the private trainer was really an investment to learn about the basic technique. I began to LOVE exercise that I tried everything from yoga, pilates, zumba, shbam, TRX, masterbootcamp, body combat, body pump, rpm, kick boxing. I enjoyed kick boxing A LOT and will sign up for a regular session next time. I learned a lot of new things too, both in exercise and nutrition department.

So far, it's been an interesting journey and it's time to crank it up to another level. Wish me luck.

At least it is for me.

Writing has always been a big part of my life. Ya, sejak jaman SD suka nulis-nulis diary gitu deh. Dan waktu SMP sampai SMA, selain nulis diary juga suka surat-suratan sama teman se-gank :D. Ada yang surat-suratan sama satu orang, ada yang satu buku diisi curhatan anak-anak se-gank. Hihi, seru!

Lanjut waktu kuliah sih porsi menulis di kertas memang agak berkurang, kan ceritanya udah kenalan sama email dan blog. Tapi agenda tetep dong pake. I LOVED going to the stationery sections. Pilih-pilih insert, tempel-tempel sticker dan foto box. Foto-foto agenda pernah dipajang di forum Female Daily sini nih...http://femaledaily.com/showpost.php?p=29889&postcount=15

Terakhir-terakhir, memang berusaha untuk mengurangi ketergantungan sama agenda, sih. Setengah tahun terakhir di 2012, agendanya udah nggak dipakai lagi. Bergantung sama iPad dan iPhone, sekalian untuk mengurangi isi tas dan pemakaian kertas. Tapi, kayanya ada yang hilang, yah. There's just something about writing on a pen and paper that can't be replaced. I enjoyed pouring what's inside my head into my own handwriting, no matter how ugly it gets these days. I loved crossing my to-do list or my goal after I have accomplished them. Writing allows me to keep my sanity as I can empty my mind without worrying that I will forget about its content.

So now I have 4 agenda that I write almost on daily basis. The first one is the picture above. It's basically just to-do list notes, for the things I have to do every day. I write all the little things I need to do, things I cannot do at that very moment. Some times it freaks me out knowing that the list is just going to get bigger but at least it keeps me on track.

The blue one below is the Kate Spade small agenda that I've started using since the beginning of 2013. This agenda goes with me everywhere, it's always in my bag. Meetings, appointments, events are all written in there. It's nice to see a month worth calendar all in one page. Also short story about my days and other notes, for examples notes to track down the maids and driver salary, etc. Penting banget, kan? :p.

As I have written in Mommies Daily, one of my parenting resolutions is to spend more time in the kitchen. So that what I did last Sunday. I made fruit kabobs in the morning, followed with Banana Bread. Later on in the afternoon, I made Mac N Cheese cup using this recipe , with the help from Jehan. Then, Oki made himself Philly Cheese Steak while I stir-fried some veggies to bring to work for the next following days. 

Jehan is currently into reading. As in learning to read. Well, she has actually shown interest for quite a while but I have never invested my time in showing her how to read :(.



As far as I remember, she always loves book and has huge interest in language. Her Bahasa Indonesia is impressive for her age, "Daripada, Mommy..bukan dari" when I wrongly use the word dari to compare one thing to another. One time I said ban sepeda and then she asked me, "roda sepeda, maksudnya?". She picked up English really well too and always eager to learn more. There's not a day gone by without her asking me a vocab question. Last time, she stunned me with question, "Yang bener goody bag atau goody bags sih, mommy?".

Last night, Oki was telling Jib that Mommy might have to go to KL next week.

And then Jib asked me..
Jib: What for, Mommy?
Me: I'm invited to see a fashion show.
Jib: Do you have to go there?
Me: Yes, it would be good if I come
Jib: Do you NEED to?
Me: Yes....(not a firm OF COURSE as I'm thinking that maybe I can be replaced)
Jib: Do you WANT to?
Me: yes...*I couldn't help but laugh...I really didn't see that coming! My son is trying to help me set my priorities straight :D*
JIb: It's either you need to or you want to
Me: Well Jib, I guess I'm lucky that everything that I need to do is something that I want to do too...:)

Terharu anakku sudah besar. Kalo Jehan komentarnya.."TOLONG ya Mommy nanti di sana beliin aku scooter" :-)

This was what I found yesterday when I reorganized a small book case in my mom's house :)

A newspaper clipping of my dad's writing. Dated all the way back to 1980s.

My dad owned an Intellectual Property law firm. He handled all things related to copyright, patent, trademarks and other things I don't understand :-). Discovering these clippings kind of put a big slap on my face. They remind me again to never touch my hands on the pirated dvds ever again!

At first, I limited myself to buy only foreign movies, but then I was being good and stopped buying altogether when I realized there were so many unopened dvds lying around in the house.Trying to #livewithless.

• Solutions should never come at the expense of your reputation
• Being demanding of yourself is a must. Focusing on the quality, on the speed, on the clarity of whatever tasks you're asked to do. 
• A can do attitude doesn't mean you don't see there's an obstacle. It's about realizing there are obstacles to getting things accomplished but figuring out how to overcome them as opposed to saying "here is a wall I cannot climb over"
• Effective leaders often exhibit high expectations, strong resilience and perseverance and an affirmative attitude.
• You should intentionally spend time with people who are different from you
• The most important perspective in life is to have the long-range view over the short term expediency.
• If you're hiring, you should take your time to recruit. You must get the best possible person for the job, even if it take longer than you'd ideally like.
• You should always question your first choice for the role. Are you taking her on because it is the easy option or because she is the perfect person for the job?
• By making time to purse your interests, you broaden the range of future opportunities. This way you can optimize every opportunity in your current role. 
• Successful leaders envision where they want to go, and map out the process for getting there.