Au's Sweet Sixteen

 Hi guys!

I just got back from (yes, yet another, i know i know-don't be jealous now :p) mini vacation to Batu (Gosh, i have so much travel posts to do now >.< it's just that the almost 1000 pictures need sorting and resizing intimidated me so much i always ended up postponing them!) with my family yesterday, it was really fun but i am-like always, dead tired now T.T. We're also this close to getting another unexpected vacay to Malaysia coz KC's family went to KL today in anticipation of the riot issues that we've got aplenty lately (with the election's result that's going to be announced tomorrow and all). I usually have a very good intuition and somehow i feel like everything's going to be okay (fingers crossed it's going to be the truth) especially in Surabaya. 

Call me cocky, but i really feel so! We're just gonna hide in our house tomorrow and hope for the best, pulling the kids out of school and all *LOL*. Yes, the only reason why i didn't embrace the KL idea immediately (with the fact that i just express my desire to go there a few days ago after reading about the trick art museum, The Red Carpet, etc) is because of the crazy high returning flight price. Don't get me wrong, if the situation is really bad then of course i'd pay for the at least 4x more expensive than normal ticket, but i truly believe everything's going to be okay so...

Anyway... June and July's pretty packed with celebrations for me, one bday after another haha... We should be blogging about #Undecided's bday (1.5 months ago LOL) first, but she's been crazy busy with her work lately on top of being super sick with a bad case of flu so... I hope she's going to be well enough (and have some free time) to finally blog about it. That's why i decided to blog about other events first, and like the title said, this post i all about my niece Au's sweet 16.

Group shot with da family, my parents and eldest brother's family's missing coz they already left zzzz

I think mums with daughters would get obsessed about their daughter's sweet sixteen (or in Indonesian case, sweet seventeen *LOL*), i probably going to be too if i ever be lucky enough to have a daughter (in the meantime i only have a son and planning his birthdays are... less than exciting for me. I mean... Spiderman, Iron Man, Transformer themes? Geez, it's impossible to make me get excited by such topics!)! 

Actually CL's been going on about Au's sweet seventeen for a while now, and i dunno-maybe in preparation for the big, important milestone, she decided to practice a bit this year *LOL*. So she prepared an elegant birthday dinner at the new restaurant in Surabaya called 1903. I'm not sure if i got the info right, but it seems like the area is called Society Complex and next to the restaurant there's also a coffee & pastry place called Historica.

Me and the birthday girl at the entrance, looking significantly ghostly due to the lighting hahaha

CL booked the Batavia Room (actually not like she chose it. She only heard of this place when she asked me for a suggestion of any nice, cosy place to hold the dinner at, and i put the places that i wanted to try at the list *evil grin* hahaha... She ended up choosing 1903 and arrange the whole thing via e-mail/phone calls with 1903 coz she was in Banjarmasin and then Bali beforehand) for the celebration, none of us had been there before and i found out that they have two separate rooms in the restaurant as well as a patio.

CL's also been obsessed with a decorated single table after seeing a girl celebrating something in Zenbu last time we went there so she's been scouting people who accept that kind of request haha. She found one (who ended up being Katherine's uni friends) and we were greeted by a wonderfully decorated table when we arrive!

It's so beautiful i have to post a blown up pic of it!

Equally pretty birthday cake that was made by my other sis-in-law (CLL *LOL* confusing eh? CLL is hunny's elder brother's wife while CL is MY elder brother's wife! And even more confusing, they are BOTH wonderful bakers!)

I truly love every little detail, the girls who did this truly were talented!

There were also pictures of Au from babyhood up until now haha

Me and CL

One more, we clearly was looking at another camera haha. I really love how my makeup turned out that night (you can see a closeup on my previous blog post dedicated to my outfit that night haha)

The long table was for Au's friends and cousins (except my Baby Boy who's too young to join the teenager's table hahaha)

And this is the step sister, a.k.a the family table with less elaborate decor. CL said she almost leave the table undecorated hahaha

The color combo just makes me wanna die in happiness... I want to live in a pastel colored world!!!

A close up look of the uber pretty cupcake (also made by CLL) and macaron (bought from Harvest haha)

Me and the cupcake... I was only posing though, we're going to have MEAT and i don't want to ruin my appetite hahaha

As this is my first time in 1903, i decided to roam around and take pictures.

This is the corridor that welcomes you once you step into the colonial style building, it also separates the two dining rooms

Tuberose flowers that being a Chinese, errrr... reminds me of unpleasant things (*whispers "Funeral home..."*)

Cam whoring with CL again. I love how my crazy Bella Eyes contact lenses with falsies looks hehehe should use them more often!

You can also dine at the patio if you want

Silly KC kept on peeking through the window

Lonesome Mt (the birthday girl's little brother. Well, he's taller than me now, so not so little anymore!)

As you can see the whole place seems very elegant but quite minimalistic. You'll see how the place normally looks without the added pastel colored decoration later (i snuck a pic of the other room). It's classy but i didn't feel like the atmosphere was too intimidating like some other places. Probably helps because we got the whole room to ourselves? I really dislike fine dining places with snooty, unwelcome atmosphere that makes me feel uncomfortable! 

Asked KC to snap a couple shot :D... He's so horrible, the other (close up) pic was totally blurry! Gah!!!

Then soon after, CW (for new readers, that's my older sister) arrived with her family. She saw me taking pictures outside and rushed FTL and demanded to take pictures as well LOLOLOL.

Me, my niece BB (who's 14, FYI. And yes, that's an LV bag she's toting LOL) and my sister CW. People often comments on my youthful looks, and i always told them it's a DNA thing. Look at my (tiny, she's like, 10 cm shorter than me and always in super high heels LOL) sister. She looks even younger when she's makeup-less. I am 30, she's 11 years my senior. Do the math :D

One more with my mum (who didn't get the memo and arrived in a red dress *LOL*. Not sure if she owns a pink dress though!) and CL. Yes, CL is the tallest female in our clan, she's 170cm

The guys... Mt, K (CW's second son), KW (CW's hubby), KC and my hunny who needed a haircut very badly by then

Photo session didn't end there, continue inside *LOL*. The two aunties are my mum's friends

Auntie/little sis-niece/daughter-mother/big sis *LOL*. We got told a lot that we look alike a LOT. I wear a very different makeup style than my sis, but i do agree we kinda look alike makeup less. I found a pic of CW when she was little that i totally thought was me *LOL*

Yes, we're a cam-whoring mania family so expect endless pics...

BB even dragged me to the toilet for some mirror selca *LOLOLOL*. Did i tell you that i am the cool aunt? (maybe more than 100x already haha)

While we were inside the super large toilet i decided to snap one of the toilet itself

Ordered BB to pose and of course she did hehehe

And this is the other dining room that we had to go in to go to the toilet (not bathroom on the other room). Very classy-minimalistic, right?

My rents and their grandkids. Only Cv (CW's eldest son who's studying in Melbourne) and G (KD's daughter who lives in Papua with her mum) were missing :(

That's the only family  pic style pic i have of my parents that night because they had to leave earlier (before the desserts were served) because they had to take one of the aunties to another place to get something. They also didn't stop complaining about the very slow pace of the food being served *LOL*. It WAS very slow, but i don't mind. I mean, it's a birthday celebration! We're supposed to be chatting and having fun and not rushing. Personally i would find it very slow for normal dining time, but for celebrations i think it's not that bad.

Cam-whoring with KC. Can you believe this guy has two teenage kids? LOL. He's only 37 (turning 38 soon) and looks like a lost kid when he's wearing casual clothes+backpack (meaning : everytime he goes on vacay) hahaha

Anyway, i wrote once in one socmed that he is my fave brother (and i only got two brothers) and i am a bit worried that my eldest brother might read that and became offended *LOL*. I must clarify that even though we'd never say anything (coz we're stiff Asian family), i really do love all of my siblings equally. It's just that i get along best with KC (and CL) coz he's the closest in age with me and we share similar style (namely : childish, forever young at heart, fun loving, always joke nonstop) and interests while my other two siblings are... Wayyy older than me (more than a decade WTH), therefore.. don't really understand me and always thinks that i act way too young than my age (it's the baby-of-the-family syndrome. Trust me, i only act like that around my family).

I mean.. i cannot imagine asking my eldest brother to pose like this with me! And i didn't ask KC to do this either hahaha

Camwhoring continues with my Baby Boy (who's always in a sort of bad mood on family functions. I guess they bore him!)

My siblings and sibling-in-laws minus KJ (the one who's in Papua)

The menu

That's hunny's salad

While i chose cream mushroom soup, in case Baby Boy (who cannot eat steaks yet) didn't have enough. It's very creamy and divine!

Hunny nomming my mushroom bruschetta, i never had anything like this before with the loose (and densely) sprinkled mushrooms, it was a bit hard to eat with elegance coz i kept on spilling the mushrooms hahaha

Cute looking butters hahaha

Me with my US Black Angus Striploin Steak (which arrived like, ages after the appetizer. Totally worth the wait though coz it was yummmm)

It's pretty huge (200 grams) but i'm a total carnivore (who enjoys her greens too) so it was no biggie for me *LOL*. I really love my meats (and you can tell WTF, whatever. At least i reduced my carbs intake dramatically in the past month already *yay*)!

Everybody tucking in nom nom nom!

Then it took forever again for the dessert to arrive *so long that the parents and their friends left before they were served like i said before*... And majority of us were so so full already from the meat. I only managed a spoonful of my dessert to know the taste, i couldn't down another one!

I got the molten lava cake which was good, but i was too full so i couldn't enjoy it (and can't remember how good it was)

Hunny's Rum Souffle with a Shot of Espresso

KC's creme brulee

And then.... we camwhore some more! Of course...

Hunny brought his new tongsis (which we haven't really used properly, i dunno why he bought it if he never intended to use it grrrr) and CW went cray hahaha

Family pic minus the parents. It was pretty good and everybody was visible but hunny and BB had to pose like that!

So we attempted a second shot and now Mt and KW's face was covered! Gah!!!

The birthday girl who completely lost her makeup by now (how???) and face (and arms) smeared by chocolate. I missed whatever happened but i guess her friends did that? Sigh.

Bday girl with her friends

At some point hunny asked me to pose, and of course i obliged-didn't know he was going to shoot it like this next to the bday cake like i was the bday girl LOL

My Baby Boy in action

I wanted to camwhore with my handsome nephew K (who somehow turned out to be a complete camwhore as well) but everybody kept on joining

Until BB and i got squished like this!

I wanted to take a pic with the bday girl and the bday cake but she was too busy so... We decided to do take the shot WITHOUT her LOL

Lovey dovey, aren't we?

Cousins pic

And then all hell broke loose, everybody insisting to take a pic with the bday cake LOLOLOL. When CW also wanted to take one, her hubby switched the candle to it became 61, and then later on someone else changed it to 91! LOLOLOL... My family's lunatics

Yea, i never claimed i'm an exception right?

WTH was K doing LOLOLOL, i only told him to hold the feather! Would've been such a sweet shot if he obliged!!!

Me and hunny. I looked extra amused because KC kept on disturbing us by posing with us holding a plastic bag zzzz

Also snapped some pics of the outer decor while waiting for the car

That's Historica on the right

Silly guys. KC always ready to snap crazy pics, now you understand why we get along so well?

Last pic with the bday girl to end this post

It was such a fun night! I can't believe little Au is now 16! She's older than me when she was born now *LOL* (i wasn't even 15 when she was born. I became an aunt when i was 11 haha), i still remember her being a tiny little girl who looked like an adorable duck hahaha. I hope you'll grow up to be one fine lady and most importantly, always happy and blessed. Happy bday again, Au!

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