Marcella Purnama—Home, relationship, and lifestyle blog

Aug 01

I can’t believe it’s already August. Only five months to go till the new year.

I know, I feel like I haven’t updating the blog much (or at all?) apart from these books that I’m reading. I’m currently at that phase in life where writing takes a backseat, choosing to do other things that I love as well instead (cooking, baking, and lots of reading). That being said, I think taking a break from writing does do me good. Hopefully I’ll come back into the groove soon(ish).

In July, I’ve read four more books. That means: I’ve read 47 out of 48 books! I actually can’t believe that I’m cruising through this reading challenge, and I haven’t lost the will to read yet. There are still plenty books on my to-read list, to-borrow list, or just sitting there idly on my bookshelf. 2018 is the year where I read indeed.

Here’s an overview of the books I read: one historical fiction, one Greek mythology, one fiction, and one cooking book. All four are good books, but Circe by Madeline Miller is definitely the highlight. It’s so good that I feel like I’m still living in the story, despite having moved on to reading two other books. If you love Greek stories, this one is a must-read.

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Jul 06

Despite only reading three books last month, I have officially finished 90% of my 2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge.

The total count is 43 out of 48 books. I’m cooling down, but I definitely enjoy doing all these readings.

The three books are all great, and I especially love The Handmaid’s Tale. I know, it’s a classic, and a book that I should have read way back when. I’ve gained a new reading friend (it’s so hard to find friends who do read, you know?), and she recommended this book endlessly. She even let me borrow her book! Needless to say, it’s highly recommended.

I also like Bonk. It’s a scientific book about about sex, and honestly it’s hilarous. I’ve read her book on human cadaver, and I have definitely put her as one of my favourite authors. Recommended as well!

The other book, I am Malala, is highly recommended by a lot of people. Malala’s story is one that we’ve heard a lot in the news these past few years. This may come across as an unpopular opinion, but I really can’t relate with her writing at all. The story is mindblowing, but it all falls flat on her writing. Not sure I’ll recommend this one.

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Jun 08

Well, it’s official: I’m cooling down a bit.

This month, all the books I read are nonfiction: a few about plants, others about homemaking, one about human cadavers—which easily is the book of the month. Granted, it’s not a book for everyone, but the author (a science journalist) is just so, so good. Two thumbs up.

So without further ado, here they are!

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May 17

It’s quite remarkable how humans adapt to a situation.

Merely eight months ago, the only few times I slept with another human being in my bed were either with my sister or my mother during a trip overseas. And another a few handful times when I went on a trip with friends (which could be counted by one hand). Point is: I love sleeping alone. And I couldn’t possibly imagine how I would get used to a permanent human being sleeping by my side, night in, night out.

(I don’t count the times when my toddler-nephew slept with me, because sleeping with him feels a lot different. For one, you don’t really care of moving around when you’re sleeping because once he falls asleep, he will stay asleep no matter what. Getting him to sleep is the hardest part.)

Sleeping on the same bed, no matter if it’s with your sister, mother, or friend during trips, requires you to exercise control even when you’re asleep. You’re scared of moving too much, because it will disturb their sleep. You feel like tossing and turning, but doing so will wake up the other person.

So you stay still, unable to sleep, unwilling to move, probably for hours, until the oblivion comes.

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May 11

I’ve heard it and you’ve heard it too. Maybe you believe it, maybe you don’t. I do believe it though.

We are creatures of habit.

(…I think the opening paragraph is too dramatic for this post’s purpose. Anyway.)

If you’re a friend (or family), you’d know that I absolutely hate waking up in the morning. In fact, I used to wake up late, somewhere between nine-thirty to ten-thirty. On some occasions, I’d still be in bed at eleven, too lazy to kick out the blanket and start the day. Especially when it’s winter.

I know, I do have the privilege to be waking up whenever I want.

But in these past few months, I’ve consistently got up at eight-thirty in the morning. You might think that it’s still late, but it’s actually quite an achievement for me.

I now wake up to make breakfast for the husband before he goes to work—basically taking out the homemade bread from the freezer and popping it in the microwave for thirty seconds. Then I prepare his lunch (shoving fork and spoon into his lunch bag) and bid him goodbye. Then I go onto my routine: checking the plants, watering the plants, making coffee, and having breakfast while reading the Bible myself.

Oh, I’m so proud of myself.

(If you’re a night owl, you’d understand.)

It took me two months of forcing myself to kick the blanket every morning before I automatically, and voluntarily, get up from the bed. I have to remind myself that my coffee machine is waiting, that once I wake up I’d be able to reward myself with a cup of homemade latte. It kinda works, but I find that the biggest motivation to wake up is to take care of the plants. (I’m not even joking.) The later I water them, the stronger the sunlight and the faster the evaporation rate (or so I read), which means the water would just be gone with the wind instead of getting absorbed by the roots.

I’m really super into gardening right now.

Aaaaanddd there’s the husband—who would happily go to work without having any kind of breakfast, as he did in his bachelor days.

My ultimate goal is to wake up at seven every morning. But winter is coming, so probably I’d do just that in a few months…

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May 02

I started the month strong, but read considerably less nearing the end of the month.

Instead, I borrowed heaps of books on gardening (bonsai, indoor plants, propagating, herbs etc) and flipped through the pages. Heh. Yet I still finished nine books in total!

(Btw, you can access the books I read in January, February and March.)

After reading several heavy fictions, I’m in the mood for nonfiction. In fact, I read exclusively nonfiction this month, half of them heavy and half of them very light reading. From the pile, I really, really recommend Evicted by Matthew Desmond (about poverty in the US), The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee (about a North Korean defector), and Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat (about the science of cooking). They are all wonderful!

So without further ado, here they are!

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Apr 20

It seems like I’ve put more thought into turning 26 compared to turning 25.

Being a quarter-of-century old seems like an achievement, but you can still argue that it’s still part of the ‘early 20s’. And being in your early 20s comes with the societal understanding that you’re still young, still have a lot to learn, still able to make a lot of mistakes, and still trying to discover yourself. In your early 20s you’re doing things for the first time: you get your first job, fall in love, make big mistakes. And it’s okay.

Then you hit 26.

Twenty six means it’s the start of heavy adulting, a term that I just coined to explain that play time’s over. It’s time to get serious about money. It’s time to plan ahead on when you want to buy that house. It’s time to think about babies, figuring out whether you want two children, or three, and when’s the time to start having one to minimise the risk.

It’s time to, if I may borrow the words from the Bible, “put away childish things” (see 1 Corinthians 13:11).

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Apr 17

When Tjok and I first decided to try grow some greeneries, we really, really have no idea how to do it.

Growing plants should have been instinctive—after all, our ancestors have done it for hundreds of thousands of years. But we really don’t get the genes, and everything henceforth is trial and error.

In January, Tjok bought a seed planter kit for parsley, basil, and chive. Since it was summer, we decided to only plant the basil and chive. (We read somewhere that it wasn’t the optimal season for parsley to grow from seed.)

Weeks went by, and our seedlings looked so, so sad.

Really sad.

I wasn’t sure whether I’ve watered too much or watered too little. Or was it too much or too little sun?

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Apr 12

When we brought home two medium-sized orchids from the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show last month, our apartment was already full of plants.

In our humble two-bedroom, one-bathroom residence, we have a medium-sized peace lily, two terrariums (one big, one small), a small peperomia, four bonsai plants (all small, thankfully), and two herb pots (basil and chive).

With the exception of the bonsai plants (jade, juniper, buddha belly fig), all the others reside in the living room. So with the arrival of two orchids, we have to make room for them.

“Probably the peace lily should move,” Tjok said. It was situated on the small marble table beside the sofa, and I do agree, it has to move. (I always felt like the peace lily was too big for the table anyway). So we moved it to the floor just beside the door to the bathroom.

Not ideal, but it would do for now.

We placed the bright purple orchid on the marble side table. One down, one more to go.

“What if we put it behind the peperomia?” I asked. The plant was sitting on top the TV cabinet, just next to the window.

“Can’t,” Tjok said. “Too much sunlight.”

He decided that the white orchid would sit in the middle of the coffee table. It would have to share space with the small terrarium.

I was not convinced. But we’ll see whether this arrangement would work.

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Apr 05

Another impressive total of 7 books. I still think I’m on a roll.

(You can read the books I’ve read in January and February too!)

I’d have to say that so far, the books I’m reading are that good. I only had given one book a two-star rating—the others four and five. I really love the first three fiction books I read: Never Let Me Go, Salt to the Sea, and The History of Love. They are too good, and the words stayed with me long after I finished the last page. The other fiction, The Girl Who Drank the Moon, is wonderful as well, although in a different way.

Oh by the way, I read a full book on vagina. And it’s highly recommended.

So without further ado, here they are.

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2018 Reading Challenge: July

2018 Reading Challenge: June

2018 Reading Challenge: May

Being friends with change

Creatures of habit

2018 Reading Challenge: April

Almost 26—thoughts on welcoming the late twenties

To keep a plant alive (or cook a perfect steak), you have to get your hands dirty

The quest of finding the nonexistent green thumb

2018 Reading Challenge: March