1. Jeremiah. Jeremiah took the above picture...I love it. It's super artistic - and I love the angle. He's leaving this afternoon for a week of camp. My dad will be even more outnumbered. ;)

2. butterflies. Yesterday I glanced out my window and saw two small white butterflies. They were flitting around our backyard and were playing what looked like tag. It was the most beautiful thing. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the amazing sight.

3. school. I'm not exactly looking forward to the start of school. There is one thing I love though - the crisp, new pages of books, the new pens and pencils, the neatness of the first few weeks. I always try to make that neatness last longer, but when papers to write and tests to take get caught up with me...well, let's just say that being neat is not my first priority then ;)

4. crepes. My mom made crepes for dinner a few nights ago. I died and went to heaven. It'd been a while since I'd eaten any - and these even better than I remembered them. I had mine with mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes, and basil from our garden, and then filled my dessert crepe with the juiciest strawberries and Nutella. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture. Me, the girl who would take a picture of an ordinary bowl of granola, didn't remember to photograph this amazingly wonderful food. Sigh.

(Now I have an excuse to make crepes again. Hehe.)

5. braces. I recently received the news that I'm getting my braces off in the fall! Woot! While I will be incredibly glad to be released from the clutches of this evil contraption, I know the results will be worth every bit of pain and discomfort.



6. tiny creatures. They fascinate me. I will never tire of photographing insects (in this case, a bee). I'm captivated by how complex their bodies are - there's so much more to them than what meets the eye.

-carlotta

Today I did some rearranging in my room - I moved around my "office" space. How I had it before wasn't working out too well. I loved how it looked, but there simply wasn't enough room. Between my laptop and school things strewn all over the desktop, it got a bit challenging trying to find a clear space.

Above is how it used to be. I loved this arrangement - looks wise. Practicality wise...well, like I said before, it wasn't working out. 

While cleaning my room this morning, I decided to do something about it. So I switched the desk to the other wall...

...and in the space between the desk and the wall, I rolled in a storage cart. When I need more space during my online classes, etc, I can set my laptop on this cart, atop the cooling rack (aka a cookie rack stolen from my mom).

Since I was already moving things around, I figured it would be a good time as any to clean out my desk. Oh boy, was that a task! I discovered these geeky glasses...

It's probably not hard to put two and two together. Geeky glasses + a crazy girl =

Geeky Carlotta! Excuse my face. I'm really not sure why I was compelled to contort my mouth into something that looks strangely like a platypus' mouth. Or why I was compelled to make my eyes freakishly wide. I hope you're not scared to death now. 

(It's okay if you're scared to death, though. To tell you the truth, I kind of scare myself to death.)

And now...my desk drawers are all pretty! Although, this is the only drawer that looks somewhat good. The others are organized, but definitely not pretty. 

I'll stop rambling about drawers now.

So, what do you think of the new arrangements? Do you have any suggestions to make it better?

-carlotta

Just in case you haven't seen enough photos of ice cream...

(homemade chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks)

...here are some more. 

Because I'm nice like that. 

Have you made ice cream at home before? Try it sometime. I guarantee you'll be blown away. 

-carlotta

I consider this my first photo shoot. I mean, I've dragged my siblings outside countless times for a few pictures, but I've never actually styled and planned a photo session. This was the first time that we went somewhere with props for planned picture taking. 

I wanted a vintage feel for these photos. While I admit they're not completely old fashioned - there's only so much you can do with kids! - I love how they turned out. 

MeMe is such a great sport when it comes to me taking pictures of her. In all honesty, if the roles were reversed, I don't think I could put up with someone constantly chasing me around with a camera! 

This picture is so Jeremiah. It captures him perfectly. From his sarcastically lifted eyebrow, to his still sweet smile...I've never gotten his personality to shine through like this before.  

I love these pictures of my mom and Lilly. They melt my heart :)

Our neighbor, Zoe, tagged along on the shoot...I promised her I would put up a photo of her on here. Hehe.

It was so hot and sticky outside during all the picture taking...everyone was dripping sweat and exhausted, so we had to stop earlier than I would have liked to. It showed me what photo shoots with children (although, photo shoots in general) are really like. Kids aren't always cooperative, they don't always listen. They don't always want to go with your idea for a great shot. I actually left feeling very dejected about how everything had gone...I thought for sure I didn't get any good shots. I was very pleasantly surprised to say the least when I discovered it wasn't a complete failure. 

In conclusion, this shoot was so much fun - I can't wait to have another one when the weather is a bit cooler :)

-carlotta