Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts

Rainy Day Landscapes & Sunstars

 The weather has been really nasty today. It was dark, rainy and very cold. Then, out of nowhere, it cleared up and the sun started shining. I love nothing more than when the sun shines right after raining, especially in the evening hours. Since I had my Tokina near by, I took it outside to try and capture some decent shots of the yard and the way the sun casted such beautiful shadows. 

The execution wasn't as I expected, but they turned out nicely. I really should have edited them in Lightroom, but that's just too much work, lol.

Here are the pics from early today:

PS: Today is my little brothers 27th birthday! Like excuse me, it seems like he was just 12 last year. :(


This is the yard just before the sun popped out.

Our yard after the rain. I also managed a sunstar.

Smaller sunstar.

I couldn't up the aperture too much for the sunstar because it darkened the foreground too much.

The lighting was still beautiful. I love the Tokina lens.

This would've looked even better in the fall.

This is a great representation of how hilly and uneven our yard it.

Last landscape photo of the yard with a sunstar for the win!

Reasons Why You Should Never Christmas Shop Last Minute

1) Because it's a stupid idea and literally every other person on the planet has the same idea.

2) Everything you're looking for will be out of stock.

3) Traffic and road rage is crazier than usual.

4) People are assholes.

5) You just shouldn't do it... period.


As I'm sure you can tell some last minute shopping took place yesterday. Man... it was insane. From cars nearly crashing on the highway, losing mustard not once, but twice to frantically searching for cream cheese. As one of my least favorite Instagram influencers says: It's been a doozy of a day, ya'll!

So I'll start by saying that the original plan was to go to Poplar Bluff yesterday afternoon to finish up our Christmas shopping. It was mainly because we couldn't find many gifts this year for my uncle, but we also literally had to get everything we needed for Christmas dinner as well. There was one other thing that we were specifically looking for, which I called Tuesday and asked and was told that there were some in stock. Guess what... when I called yesterday they were all magically gone!

Didn't find this out until we were 15 miles in the wrong direction, but we did see a Bald Eagle, which was a bonus. 

This is when the plan changed. We decided to go to Farmington instead and hit up Fredericktown Walmart along the way because said item was in stock there. So we had to drive all the way out 34 and hit 67. This added like 45 minutes to our travel time, which sucked. This is also when the car in the opposing lane lost control and slid all the way out in the median. It did a full 360 at about 70 mph and eventually made it back up on the highway. Surprisingly, there was a cop parked not 1/4 mile down the road who proceeded to turn his lights on and approach the car. We lost sight after that, so I'll never know the full story.

Made it to Fredericktown after that excitement and picked up the item with no issues and then headed to Farmington. Farmington was PACKED! Like every store was packed, which came as no surprise considering Christmas was only 4 days away. I think we got to Farmington around 5:30is. maybe a little later. I'm not going to go into detail as to what happened inside Walmart, but we didn't leave that store until after 9, which was insane.

One of the main items we needed for Christmas dinner was cream cheese. Needed that for the cheesecake, two different pies, pumpkin bar icing and dip. Naturally, they were all sold out - even sold out of the name brand! That's when moods changed and I started to panic. I called around to the nearest Walmart because all the local markets were closed. It said in the app that cream cheese was in stock in Desloge, but it said the same thing about Farmington, so I decided to call. Of course, no one could help, so we just had to pray that the app wasn't lying.

I would like to add that my foot was SO jacked last night and literally felt like glass grinding into my bones. I had to limp around for most of the night because I was in such pain.

After we left there I asked LaVaughn if she would run in Dollar Tree for me, which she did, then we made our was to Desloge Walmart where the shopping commenced. They had 9 out of 10 things that we needed, including cream cheese, thank God! It was a bitch to find, though. I ended up peeking through the cooler and asked some poor kid if they had any cream cheese back there, which he kindly agreed to look for. All they had was Philadelphia, but I wasn't complaining. This was after running around for 10 minutes trying to find it, mind you. When I turned around to find LaVaughn with the cart, another worker had showed her to the Great Value brand cream cheese, which we wanted because it's 10 times cheaper. We needed 8 blocks, which is around $12 for off brand. Paying for name brand would've cost almost $20.

We also planned on just getting bread and lunchmeat to eat on the way home. So at the first Walmart we got some coarse ground mustard. Well when we were trying to put all the food in the backseat of the car, it was nowhere to be found. Then we ended up having to buy more at the second Walmart, but it was just plain yellow mustard. We get out to the car and try to put it in the backseat as well... couldn't find it. Luckily when LaVaughn was making the sandwiches as I was going in the gas station she found both.

It was a little after midnight when we got home, which sucked. We were so tired and exhausted, but thank God we were able to finish shopping. I think I've rambled on enough, until next time!


I leave you with a picture of my delicious birthday cake that my aunt made me.

Weekly iPhone Roundup {11.7 - 11.11}

 This week was fairly uneventful. I mean, we had the Monday ordeal which I posted about Tuesday. Then there was the Midterms and me running around and taking an insane amount of pictures. We've been cleaning a lot in preparation of Thanksgiving week because we start rolling out the decorations that week. I honestly think we're gonna do the Christmas village next week, but I'm not 100% yet.

LaVaughn's birthday is tomorrow, but since we'll be in Perryville working, we celebrated today. It wasn't really even a celebration, but Aunt Sharon made a cake and we took pictures, the usual. I mean, I guess it was a celebration, lol. 

I don't think I've mentioned this, but a lady contacted me last week about doing their family photos next Friday, but I haven't heard from her in a few days with a location. Speaking of, I need to text her. She said there will be 7 or 8 people, two of them being kids. I'm wanting to use my 85, but I'm scared it'll be too tight on my DX camera. I've been looking for a cheap, used FX camera, but it's extremely difficult.

There's a lady in Lesterville that has a D850 with like 5 lenses and extras for $2500. She's had it listed for months, so I doubt she'll sell it at that price around here. I mean, D850s are going for $1500 used, so she should really take her sale to eBay. I messaged her a couple months ago and asked if she would sell her tripod separately, but she said no. So I messaged her earlier this week and lowballed her a price for just the camera body, but naturally she declined. 

I'm shifting my gaze from the out of my price range D850 to the D750. There's a dude on Marketplace in STL that has one for $500, but he's only responded once and I'm sick of messaging him. I'm just super anxious about all of this. I'm anxious about the potential shoot next week, anxious about finding a good used camera and super anxious about spending the money. I don't like spending money, but if I can make it back on like 2-3 shoots, it's justified. 

I hate anxiety.

Okay, I guess I'll stop ranting for now. hopefully I'll know more about everything next week.


View from the drive to Cape Monday. This is highway 55.

A Dollar Tree Plus sign that my mom has been looking for.

Christmas lights on our fence at home.

Tis the season! Check out the Christmas tree!

Here's the World War Z game on PS4. So worth it!

From mine and Max's walk Tuesday.

Max is such a beautiful boy.

He's the prettiest Boxador.

Late night trip to DG Wednesday for cabinet cleaner.

View from my camera Thursday when I was out taking pics.

And lastly, LaVaughn's birthday cake that I decorated... not the best, but not terrible.


My Birthday Incident {December 2021}

 My birthday fell on a Monday last year, so I worked the weekend before and ended up driving home on my actual birthday. Things were going fine, we were just a little later than usual because we had to do some extra shopping for Christmas dinner. I think it was around 7ish when we were on the second part of C highway. 

We live in the country, so we drive on a lot of roads with low-water bridges. A few days before this we had some pretty torrential rain that caused some minor and flash flooding. Not too much came of it, by Monday most of the water had receded. It was dark coming home and the headlights weren't shining as bright as they should, so the upcoming collision wasn't even remotely detected. I noticed a dark spot on the bridge which alerted me, so thank God I was able to swerve a little before the impact.

Talk about a shock to the system... and car!

It literally felt like we hit a brick wall. It was such and intense impact that I just knew the front end of the car wasn't intact anymore. The front passenger tire was destroyed, of course, but I was able to back into a gravel road that led to one of the local sawmills. After we got out and assessed the damage, I walked down to the low-water bridge to see how big the washed out hole was. The pictures I have attached do not do it justice. I'm not kidding when I say it was easily 3ft wide -- you could see entirely under the bridge! 

Naturally we were in a dead zone, so I had to walk down the road to find service. Luckily I was able to reach my aunt and she came to our rescue. Ended up having to get the car towed, of course. Not only did we need a new tire, but we needed a new rim as well. The mechanic was shocked that we were able to drive the car even 15ft to part it, he was just amazed that the only thing that was broken in the car was the rim. It was a miracle to say the least!

It was a sucky way to end my birthday, but it could've been so much worse. If I hadn't swerved as much as I did we would've probably had to replace the entire front end of the car.

Attached are a few pics of the road and car, then a couple pics of the rim that I took after the mechanic showed me. Enjoy!


I know this picture doesn't do the hole justice, but it was ginormous.

It was about half the size of the left lane of the road. I should've had LaVaughn lay down next to it for comparison, lol.

Here's the flat tire. Not even a scratch on the side of the bumper!

Here's the bent and cracked rim.

Everyone that saw it was in disbelief.


Birthday aftermath...

Last year my birthday was so weird. Not that I'm the type of person that needs to be the center of attention on my birthday -- I'm the last person at wants to be the main focus. My aunt and uncle got baptized on my birthday last year, so I got up super early and went to church that morning to experience it. Then LaVaughn and I drove to PB in a haze, went to the creepiest places possible, ate dinner far too early, rushed home so that LaVaughn could go with my aunt and uncle to communion that night, and then I spent the the next few hours alone.

It was creepy and weird and too much was going on.

This year was completely different. LaVaughn and I met up with my mom (Ty) in Farmington, went shopping together at a couple different places and just spent the evening talking and spending time together. After she left LaVaughn and I did some Chritstmas shopping, ate dinner and then came home and watched Suicide Squad. It's a complete 180 from last year.

Anyways, now that I'm done with my sap story, here are some photos from the today...






Who's a birthday girl?!

Today is LaVaughn's birthday, so I thought I needed to say a little something about here. Well, I'm actually not going to say too much, because she NEVER reads my blog, lol. She knows how much I love her and that she's my other half.

We had planned on going out today, but she preferred to stay in. So wanna know what we're up to today? We're playing The Sims baby! Oh brother, aren't we wild cards. But her, we did just get City Living, so take that as you will.

Anyways, I did SO well on gifts this year. I got her an AMAZING pair of Jessica Simpson shoes that are to die for! I also got them at an amazing price instead of their normal $100 price tag. I also got her some Batman gloves that match her Batman jacket to a T. And aside from her amazingly perfect birthday card, I also got her the Rock Nude pallet that she's been wanting for weeks.

Last year I got her stuff that she wanted (including more eye shadow), but they were just like "meh". I was on point this year.

Happy Birthday, my precious sister. I love you more than you'll ever know!

Her cake that my amazing aunt made:





Random Zoe picture:


And the gifts:


Happy Belated Birthday, Milla...

Milla's birthday was quite a few days ago -- 11 to be exact. I don't normally do birthday posts on my blog, those are for Facebook and Instagram, but I thought I would do so today, considering I have nothing else going on.

We did celebrate her birthday on her actual birthday, but today was also spent with her, outside in the gorgeous weather that we had. I took loads of pics of her, some are just to die for! That's mainly all this blog is going to be about, pictures of Milla. There may be a few more random ones thrown in, but that's basically all.

Happy 10th Birthday, Milla. I honestly don't know what I would do without you in my life...

Love & Peace

-Megan





























She's just the most gorgeous thing!



Random Easter Lilies: