miscellaneous ramblings

1. so many ideas. I'm in the process of giving my room a mini-makeover, mainly switching out the artwork, rearranging a bit, and putting new bedding on my bed. There's only one problem. I have so many ideas swirling around in my head, it's hard to put together a coherent plan. I know I want to do a series of small collages through out my room, mainly black and white photos. Since our house is over seventy five years old, we have plaster walls. Which makes it difficult to hang up artwork, as the plaster tends to crack. Do you have suggestions on hanging photos without using nails?

2. i love desserts. Who doesn't? I've deemed Thursday afternoons my dessert baking day. My classes are done for the week then and I'm usually craving something sweet after the stress of the previous days. What were the fruits of my labor this past Thursday? Salted Carmel Brownies and, of course, chocolate chip cookies.

salted caramel brownie2
salted caramel brownie3
salted caramel brownie

The brownies were out of this world. It was my first time making my own caramel; I was a bit nervous, but it turned out fabulously. I used this recipe for the decedent dessert - so amazing. My mom can't stop talking about them. And she used the extra caramel sauce to cover sliced apples...yum.
What's your favorite dessert?

3. sponsors. Want to advertise on my blog? I now have the option of sponsorship! Head over here for more information.

4. it felt freeing. I didn't blog on Thursday - the first time I skipping putting up a post in over five months. It felt so freeing. And I felt kind of rebellious too. I told my mom, "Mom, I didn't blog today. I'm such a rebel." What is my life coming to? ;)

5. addicted. To Lightroom, that is. I downloaded the free trial a few days ago and I'm ridiculously obsessed. I can't stop talking about it...I'm sure my family is so tired of my gushing. I planned on getting it sometime in the near future, but wanted to try it out, just to make sure I would like it. I didn't need to have that fear - I'm hooked. And all the free presets I've found are amazing. I'm especially loving the vintage-looking ones...they allow me to make rather ordinary photos of leaves pretty :)

leaves

Anyone else with Lightroom love?

6. standard time is overrated. It's true. I could live without standard time. Sure, come March I'll be happy about having an extra hour of daylight in the evenings, but now? No thanks. I'd much rather have more light in the evening than in the morning. I should move to Arizona - they don't observe the time changes. ;)

7. could you vote? I know I've asked this before a few weeks ago, but I'm asking again. If you haven't yet, could you vote for my photo in the PBTeen/Facebook photo challenge? Thank you so much!

rain drops

8. rain. I love it. Let me rephrase that - I love rain, but not when it rains for two weeks straight, like it did when we were in Germany. And I don't love it when it interrupts exploring Paris. Ahem. But there's nothing better than curling up on my couch with a blanket, Lightroom 3, and Taylor Swift with the stead patter of rain on the window. Or maybe that's just me.

clouds

9. like mountains. As we were driving home from piano a few days ago, I looked out the side mirror and saw giant, puffy clouds seemingly from nowhere. At first glance, I thought they were mountains. So gorgeous.

-carlotta