photo avalanche [trees, SOOC, favorite things & flashback!]

I love Fridays simply for the abundance of photo challenges to participate in! I've had a busy work week, but I'm in the process of writing a sort of recap/tidbit post, so that'll be up later this afternoon! I want to welcome all my new followers! thank you all for joining me here in my little corner... I look forward to getting to know all of you. I've been slacking on commenting this week, so I apologize if you haven't heard from me in a while!

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I'm participating in LEM's Friday photo challenge, and the theme for this week is TREES. while these are not trees anymore, they used to be a part of trees, so it totally still counts, right? I took about a million pictures of the fire, but this was one of my favorites.

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this week's challenge for Foto Friday was SOOC (straight out of camera). I love this theme because I think that a lot of people rely on editing to make a good photo. I think in order to show your skills, you need to be able to take a great picture without editing it. this picture was taken a few months ago, before I even learned how to shoot in manual mode... so this was taken in an automatic setting, but I still love the way it came out. this photo has not been edited at all, besides the addition of the watermark.

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I'm participating over at living with the lowrys for the first time today! I knew this photo was perfect for the "few of my favorite things" challenge because we all know how much I love this dish! it's my homemade mac & cheese that I pretty much make for every single gathering. you can find the recipe here if you'd like to try it out! 

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I'm also submitting a photo for Flashback Friday for the first time today over at Christopher and Tia's place! I posted this photo over at my anniversary board on The Nest last night, so I figured I might as well show the blog too! this is me, back in 2004, before my senior prom. high school was such a fun experience for me, and I truly miss it sometimes. if anything, I miss being that skinny and having awesome skin! haha! also, please take note of those strategically placed highlights. and my boyfriend at the time. sheesh.

(sorry, about the quality of this picture... I basically took a picture of a print with my camera!)

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Happy Friday, lovers!