Original:

I wanted the background to be much lighter, so I cranked up the highlights and then washed out the color a little, giving it a somewhat neutral over-all tint. Then I played around with the shadows and gave it a light glow.

And then I was having too much fun playing around with Picasa, and I ended up working with the gradual tint and pulled it all the way to the bottom, and changed the tint color to red. And viola!