Blurbs

I know I haven't been a good blogger.  I'm still getting back in the groove of school (and not being able to sleep in) and so I just haven't had much to say or the time to say it.  Plus, midterms are coming up!  I almost broke my fingers writing out all my theorems for geometry on flashcards yesterday.
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I just realized I'm really bad at cursive.  Really, really bad.  It looks the same as it did in fourth grade when they required you to use it for everything in school.
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My brother has departed.  We're going to miss that fella, but we'll see him next month.  We're going to parents' weekend at his school in February, and I'm also going to get the official tour of Covenant (Will's college) and also look at Belmont University in Nashville.  I can't believe I'm already looking at colleges!

(And I'm pulling for Covenant, by the way.  It's my favorite.  And Will says he wants me to go there so he can "keep an eye on me."  Ok, Will, you just keep thinkin' that.)
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I'm so happy to have gotten a MacBook for Christmas, but there's one (and only one) downside.  One of my favorite free photo editing programs, paint.net, doesn't work on the mac!  I usually use paint.net in conjunction with picnik, and picnik by itself doesn't offer many possibilities.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  I liked paint.net because it was sort of a simple PhotoShop, with cropping, exposure settings, layering, input/output settings, etc.  Help me out, guys!
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By the way, once you go Mac you never go back, and I strongly suggest that you all make the switch if you haven't already.  This laptop is a dream.
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I ate way too much over break, and now I'm trying to get back into good habits.  For me, the breakfast of champions is two boiled eggs.  That probably sounds gross to a lot of you, I know, but I love boiled eggs.  Plus, they have great protein and keep me full pretty well.  I just put a little salt on those babies and it's an instant breakfast.  I always keep some on hand.
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Another healthy snack I like are nutri-grain bars.  Don't get me wrong, I haven't read the nutrition facts on the wrapper.  But they're called NUTRI-grain, so they must be healthy.

Right?  Right?

If they aren't, please don't tell me.
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Now, because I like to contradict myself, I'm going to tell you right now that my favorite candy is strawberry Twizzlers.  My best friend may or may not have mailed me some, and I may or may not have had two yesterday.  But I'm making those puppies last.  These Italians don't know what they're missing.
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I started reading the Twilight series.  Now, now, before anyone stones me, I'm not one of "those" Twilight people.  I'm just genuinely curious about the series and why it's so popular.  After having read the first one, I understand why it's such a hot topic with teen girls.  I'm going to do a post on this eventually, but for now I can go ahead and tell you that here are a few points that I do not like about it:

1. It's not well-written, like everyone says.  In fact, grammatically and stylistically, it's really lacking. 
2. The only scenes that are relatively well-written are the ones that drag in girls.  The ones with romantic, lovey-dovey moments.
3. Bella, Eddie-boy says he wants to KILL you, and he has to try really hard NOT TO.  Honey-child, that's usually a sign you need to run, girl.
4. It sets up this perfect guy, and it makes an idol of Edward.  Guys could never, ever be Edward, but girls are going to spend their lives looking for this suave, perfect, sensitive, Victorian-esque, articulate, Greek-god man.  I mean, minus the fangs, he is literally perfect.  It's actually a little bit annoying, if you ask me. 

More on that later!  Have a lovely weekend, my friends.

Heavy on the pictures, light on the words

A dusting of snow started falling in mid-afternoon...

A few flakes here, a few flakes there...

Melting almost as soon as it landed

Second by second, the sprinkling got stronger

Faster and faster, it really started coming down

Piling on the ground...

Making a home on the flowers

The day it snowed in Bella Roma

It snowed on Friday, and I know I'm late on posting about it!  But Will is finally back and I've been under the weather, so I've just now gotten around to it.  

I was so excited about the snow, and I stood on the balcony for a really long time snapping shots.  I hope it happens again!

Love,

The title "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas" would be too cliche, I think

Hi everyone!  I know I've been a bad blogger lately, but I have good reason.  It's half academic and half me not having anything important to say..... with a dash of me not taking pictures this week.

I figured y'all didn't want play-by-plays of my every day life, so I just held off for a while.  But I have some great, great news.

Tonight and tomorrow morning, it's supposed to SNOW!  The white, cold, frosty stuff that falls on the ground in beautiful, sparkling masses is supposed to grace Rome with its presence tomorrow, and I couldn't be more thrilled.  I don't know how I'll ever sleep... I'll just be running to the window every 4.2 minutes to see if the sky is falling yet.

It's been cold enough here; it might as well snow.  I went to the store today and wore a scarf, a hat, a cozy leather (pleather) jacket, leggings under my jeans, boots, and gloves and I was still really, really cold.

Really.  Do they make nose warmers?  Because nothing covers my nose and it went numb for a little while.  You could have sucker-punched me right in the sniffer and I wouldn't have even noticed.

If it does snow enough tomorrow to be visible on the ground, I'm going to rush outside in the cold just for you and take some pictures.  I'm more excited than the average teen would be about this, but remember, I haven't seen snow since I was five or six.

I know all of you who are buried in snow right now are laughing and shaking your heads, but I'm just to thrilled to notice.  Perhaps you can send me some of your snow?  Thank you kindly.

Prepare yourselves. Caroline is annoyed.

Before I begin this post, I just want to say that on my blog, most things are pretty sunshine-y and happy.  And this is not inaccurate, because I have a great life.  But I want to keep it real, you guys.  Sometimes I can get a little bit frustrated, just like anyone else, and I don't think I should only post about moments where I'm entirely happy, because that's not the entirety of my life.  So, get ready.

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I love snow.  And before you get all excited, no, it's not snowing here, but yesterday I had a conversation about snow.  And I came out of it very, very, very... frustrated.

Every time I tell anyone that I love cold weather and winter clothes and snow, they laugh at me.  They say things like "Give it a few months in Brussels and you'll be hating it.  TRUST ME."

But I don't "TRUST THEM."  I mean, give me some credit!  I grew up in Hawaii, the land where it never snows and it rarely gets below 60 degrees.  I was seven when we moved there and about to turn sixteen when we left, so that's pretty much all I know in regards to the weather.  I have seen snow a few times in other places, and I love getting bundled up in scarves and hats to go outside, because I've never had the ability to do that very often before.

To that, they always say "Eh, it's novel now.  But give it a few months...."

It's like they don't want me to like snow.  It's as if liking snow and cold weather would be an affront to their knowledge and persona, somehow.

I find this all terribly, horribly frustrating.

What I would like is this response:  "Oh, that's great.  You'll have fun!  I personally prefer warm weather, but if you like the cold, you'll definitely enjoy living in Brussels!"

The same goes for rainy weather.  I prefer rainy weather over sunny weather, and when I tell people that, they laugh and say, "Just wait till you go to Brussels, where it rains all the time!  You'll hate it soooo much!"

This really gets my goat.  It's so entirely the opposite of what we should do as Christians. Basically, when people tell me these things, it's as if they're wanting me to be unhappy.  They are not building me up.

How is that even remotely ok?  No matter how much I argue with them (and I sometimes argue too much, I will admit) they just seem to crave for me to be unhappy.   They are basically arguing for my sadness.

I'm not really sure how to handle this.  The appropriate response is probably to just say, "Well, I disagree, but I see how you would feel that way!  I've just gotten tired of wearing shorts and t-shirts at Christmas time."  A nonchalant response like that is probably the best way to go.  But inside, I want to scream about how just because they lived for three years in Alaska and hated it doesn't mean that I would hate it too.

"I can't STAND pistachio ice cream.  Put that cone down right now, you'll hate it!!"

See?  It's just about as silly as that.

And, I apologize for dragging you into my brain for a few minutes.