Have you ever seen..

a smile so bright it makes you feel as if it could light up the entire world for eternity?

Well, Abel has that kind of smile. Not only that, her smile also comes with this very loud, happy sound, one that probably never heard of sadness and pain. One of the best sounds in the world, at least that's what I think of it.

I wrote her a love letter a week ago. She can't read very well yet, so she can't understand most of the writings. But one day she will know how much she is loved.

Not many person in this world ever experienced unconditional love, and I feel very lucky that she's around, always ready to give me her biggest smile and the tightest hugs whenever I ask her. 

I've been photographing her since she was very little. I still have archives of her photos from 2007. There are probably thousands of photographs of her. And I plan on keep going, until I get bored of photographing her (not likely) or she gets sick of me and my camera (most likely). By the time I'm done, she will have a massive treasure of almost her entire life moments, freezed and saved forever for her to keep as she grows older.

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P.S. can you see how well aware she is with the camera? Hahaha. That's right, parents. Train your kids to be camera-friendly! It's good training. :P

Cake pops is the new awesome.

Found the tutorial and recipe for cake pops from Pinterest, and I decided to make it as a birthday surprise. The result? Well, not as fancy as the ones from the tutorial, mine was kinda messy, you can tell by the unbalanced placing of the blue icing. After two days of whisking, baking, melting chocolate and getting the house very, very messed up, I decided that I am no baker. Either that or I just don't have the patience for mini cakes. The decorating part was the trickiest part!

But it tasted pretty good, although slightly too sweet for me. Less butter cream next time, maybe. My five-year old cousin Abel joined me and made some cake pops  too. The photos below are the cake pops that she decorated herself.

Yes, it does look like lollipops, isn't it? That's where the term cake pops came from. Unlike lollipops, which is candy inside, cake pops are filled with cake! You can learn more about cake pops on this wonderful cake-site Bakerella.

Abel enjoyed making these cake pops soooooo much. She wants to make more! And I'm like, ugh, maybe one day in the future when I'm completely bored out of my mind. Hahaha. Well, at least someone was happy when we made these. :D

Merah putih

Beberapa minggu yang lalu, seorang teman meminta saya untuk mencarikan beberapa foto untuk digunakan di newsletter perusahaan tempat dia bekerja. Tema yang diberikan adalah hari kemerdekaan Indonesia. Berhubung waktu itu masih bulan Juli, belum tampak persiapan apapun di sekitar kompleks untuk menyambut hari ini. Jika biasanya saya hanya berkeliling keluar rumah untuk mencari foto, maka kali ini saya harus membuat konsep foto sendiri. Dan inilah hasilnya.  

Saya mengajak Abel, saudara sepupu yang berumur lima tahun untuk membantu sesi foto kali ini.

Ternyata cukup sulit mengarahkan anak berumur lima tahun untuk tetap konsentrasi pada kamera. 15 menit kemudian, beginilah ekspresi muka Abel.

"Aku sudah pegel disuruh senyum manis terus!"

Ya sudah, kita main sampan saja.

Nah foto yang terakhir ini memang agak maksa, hehehehe. Bikinnya susah loh, makanya harus ditaruh di blog, biar semua tahu susahnya menyusun meses coklat di piring sehingga membentuk kepulauan Indonesia! hahaha.

Dan foto inilah yang akhirnya digunakan sebagai cover newsletter Kidz Inc. Sebuah newsletter mini milik Miniapolis dan Giggle fX. Senangnya melihat hasil foto sendiri dimuat dan dicetak dalam jumlah banyak. Terima kasih Fanie Maulida! :D

Selamat ulang tahun Indonesia, home sweet home!

Abel turned five!

Some snapshots from Abel's fifth birthday bash (which actually happened last month, hehe).

the birthday girl,

her adorable friends,

Aaand we went straight to unwrapping the gifts as we got home!

Frowning, cake smeared birthday girl!

Afternoon walk with Abel..

The day we went to the car wash!

Automatic car wash is so much fun! We could stay inside the car and watched while it was being washed...

...picking our nose in between that too,

or singing to the songs playing over the car stereo,

but best of all was getting that shocked expression on her face when a hard spray of water hit the car window!

Picking up Abel from school