(photo challenge winner announced below)

confession: There are times when I'm hopelessly, completely, totally in love with life. When the sky is piercing shade of azure, when the days are long and full of smile inducing memories, when I'm surrounded by people I adore, it's hard not to become giddy with joy. I feel like I've been writing so much about summer and how beautiful everything is, but it's really true. Everything has been ridiculously beautiful and I'm so thankful.

confession: I'm not generally a big spender, but when summer rolls around, I get the itch to rejuvenate my wardrobe. And when there are unbeatable sales? I can't help myself. That bag up there? Seventy five percent off, making the total come to $8.74. That's what I call a deal. Have you found any good deals lately?

confession: When it comes to announcing giveaway and photo challenge winners, I'm so bad. Sorry y'all.

The winner of the photo challenge is Kendall! Her photograph was so beautiful; it was a favorite from the start.

confession: I've been thinking about blogging lately. So often people, myself included, only focus on the negative aspects. But without blogging, my writing wouldn't have blossomed so, photography wouldn't be nearly as important to me. I wouldn't have met so many amazing people and wouldn't have discovered things I never knew. So yes, while there are some downsides, the good far outweighs the bad.

confession: I have a slight problem when it comes to photographing flowers. Upon spying brilliant bursts of bloom, delicately unfurling in the warm heat, I can't resist capturing their beauty.

confession: One of my favorite things is impromptu sleepovers. Free of scheduling, leaving time to laugh and giggle far into the night at the most inane things. We had some friends over for the night at the last minute a few days ago and it was perfection. We walked to a nearby outdoor mall, while singing Katy Perry at the tops of our lungs, of course, where we nearly spit out our Starbucks in fits of laughter. It's these simple moments that make the best memories.

confession: Anthropologie makes me swoon. That is all.

Do you have any confessions?

Happy Thursday!

-carlotta

(Psst...want to win four 4x6 prints of my photographs? Go here to enter!)

confession: I've been craving homemade doughnuts recently. That can't be healthy, can it?

confession: I'm currently studying the book of Revelation and I'm utterly fascinated. It's a book that I've always been a bit frightened of, but once you understand how to interpret it, it's a whole other story.

confession: until today, I've never been able to capture a butterfly with my camera. But now, I finally, finally have.

confession: procrastination is an ongoing battle. Even when all the tasks I need to complete are all neatly written out in my planner, I still leave things until the last minute. Sigh.

confession: when I find a hair style I love, I'll wear it every single day until I tire of it. Hence, the many sidebraid/fishtail braids and high buns. Actually, this is true with nearly everything, from music to clothing to colors...oh dear.

confession: flying is not exactly my favorite...but seeing this video makes me want to love it more. Stunning.

confession: speaking of flying, one of my biggest irrational fears is the plane I'm on crashing in the middle of the ocean, with me being the only survivor. Shudder. I breathe a sigh of relief every time we've safely flown across the ocean.

confession: I really don't like Lord of the Rings. Or Star Wars. Or Narnia. I know.

confession: dinner out on the patio makes me incredibly happy.

confession: I've been requested a lot recently to put up a tutorial on how I do my makeup. While I appreciate that y'all like how I do it, I struggle with how egocentric it would be. And makeup isn't the only thing...outfit posts are incredibly narcissistic. While I most certainly love fashion and creating outfits, by posting so many  outfit pictures, I'm just drawing attention to myself. Basically, I just don't feel comfortable doing a makeup tutorial and outfit posts will be far less. I hope you understand!

confession: she makes me laugh. The end.

Do you have any confessions?

-carlotta

confession: Sometimes I turn up my music really loudly, open the window, and have a dance party by myself while picking out my outfit for the day. Heck, I have a dance party when I'm cleaning my room, too. And when I'm doing school. Dance parties are essential to life, y'all.

coral love by carlottacisternas 

confession: While I still love the color grey, I've made room for the bright cheeriness that is coral. As evidenced by my new Polyvore collection, it's adds just the spunk I need to get out of winter's earthy palette.

confession: I maybe kind of sort of want to see Justin Bieber's Never Say Never movie. Just a little bit. I'm not his biggest fan, but I don't really mind him either. And it's gotten some pretty good reviews. In other words, I'm such a girl.

office space via cocoa & hearts

confession: If my office space looked like this, I think things like doing homework and studying for tests wouldn't be quite so bad. Love.

confession: I'm pining for summer. School seems to be dragging on eternally and I've hit that slump where all my energy is depleted, making it difficult to keep trudging through the seemingly endless pile of work to be done. Sigh.

confession: Even though I've had my braces off for nearly a week, I'm still smiling at my reflection every time I catch a glimpse of it. While I still had metal on my teeth, I trained myself to smile with my mouth closed for photographs...now? I have to keep telling myself it's okay to show my teeth ;)

confession: Following one more class next week, I'll be done with Latin. Forever. After six, nearly seven, long years of a subject I admit I don't exactly enjoy, I'm pretty darn happy.

confession: I'm unabashedly in love with spring and all the flowers that adorn it. The flowers in the above picture currently grace my coffee table and it makes me smile every time I walk into my room.

Do you have any confessions?

-carlotta

confession: I haven't changed out of my pajamas since Tuesday afternoon, due to being sick. Lovely.

confession: I finally watched Despicable Me (Yes, I know I'm a little late to the party ;)) and pretty much died laughing. If you haven't seen it yet, I strongly encourage you to watch it as soon as possible!

confession: I hate midterms. That is all.

confession: I've been feeling so uncreative lately, especially when it comes to blogging and photography (even though I just got a new lens, which I neglected to tell you about...sorry!). And it's really frustrating.

confession: I owe y'all an apology. When I wrote the note about "confessions" at the end of this post, I was upset because I felt people were stealing my ideas. After reading all your comments on that post, I realized that I was overreacting. While I can assure you that I didn't copy the confessions idea from someone else, I know that others have thought of something similar before.
So, if you were inspired by my blog, I would still love it if you'd link to me, but I'm not going to be so offended anymore.

confession: I hate midterms. Oh wait. I think I already mentioned that.

confession: I find it a bit hilarious that Oklahomans don't really know how to handle snow. We got about two inches of snow yesterday and everyone freaked out. All the schools and many places were closed down for both yesterday and today. (Note: I'm not a native Oklahoman ;))

confession: When I actually take the time to paint my nails, it doesn't last long at all. I can keep the polish on for, at the very most, about a week. I can't resist chipping the paint off! Am I the only one with this affliction?

confession: I'm rather sick of winter at the moment. Sure, it's pretty (at least when it snows), but I'm ready for light skirts, sandals, being able to go outside without a jacket, spring weather...I can't wait.

Do you have any confessions?

-carlotta

PS Don't forget to enter my photo challenge!