Creativity

Being a creative being myself, I had to share this video. Everyone has the ability to do great things, it just depends on how we decide to use our talents. I love this video, made from a talk given by Dieter F. Uchdorf, its so inspiring. (He's also one of my most favorite speakers, he always has a powerful message.)Since I have forgotten how to imbed video on here, click this link- Creativity


"Don't let the voice of critics paralyze you."

I miss warmth...

Dear Snow,

We can be friends on three conditions...

1. Stop being cold. 2. Be an element that people can drive in, 35 is not a speed I enjoy driving on the freeway. 3. Don't make it so the doors on my car and gas tank are frozen shut... it makes life very hard to get home and get gas. Work on those, and then we'll review your improvement.

Warmest Regards,

Megan

Killer In Training.... KIT!

I just realized that I haven't posted anything about the new PUPPY!!! I don't know how I forgot to do such a thing! Well maybe it was more of watching the evil child so that she doesn't have an accident in the house... or bite off my toe! Yes she has a toe fettish. And as all small things are, she's cutest when she's sleeping. And she is a snuggler. Every night she falls asleep on someone's lap. She's a bit spoiled. And well... She's just plain stinking cute. All my good pictures are on my phone.

At the present moment Kit is two days shy of being 8 weeks old... and she is sassy! If you tell her not to do something she often retorts with a sound that is very similar to a little kid talking back. But we LOVE this puppy! This weeks newest thing with her is the laser pen. She chases the red dot all day long. I love it when she tries to bite at it and can't figure out why nothing is there. She's just cute! and I can't say that enough! She sounds like a lot of trouble, but apparently I love trouble then!

Random Fact #2

Well, kids, today's random fact is about how I eat candy... You can thank Dave at work for this one. I knew I did it, but this guy likes to tease me about how I eat. I'm pretty sure he would make fun of this.

Meg's Candy Eating Rule...

Candy that comes in small pieces that are of a variety of colors may not be eaten until it has been sorted. Yes, you heard that correctly. Sorted into colors... After that the rules depend on the mood of the day. Sometimes I eat all of one color (usually the color that has the least amount or if its sweethearts the green ones get eaten first because I don't like them), sometimes I eat them so that there are always equal amounts of each color...

I've pretty much always done this... I think there is a good chance that it was a learned thing from my mom, and also the small amount of OCD that runs in our family. I do slightly blame it on the movie "The Wedding Planner". Steve the doctor, when asked why he only eats the brown m&m's, replies," I figure they have less artificial flavoring because chocolate is already brown." That also helped prompt the sorting, brown m&m's usually get eaten first for that reason...

Happy Birthday Dad!

So I found this cake mold... my dad is a fireman... I thought it fit. So he got a fireman cake. He should be used to such things. I swear for every Birthday and Christmas since I can remember we have given him something that has to do with firefighting. This is mostly the reason that we could probably make a Christmas village with just firehouses. Why buy the rest of the village if the firehouse is different than the ones you already have? We have an extra "fire safe" village. And no, I looked already, Walmart doesn't have a firehouse in their village collection this year. I'll just have to take my business elsewhere for that item. (Shh... don't tell Walmar that.)

Dad got to have a pretty relaxing day after church, he watched tv in his room for a bit, while Mom made us steak and mushrooms. (Well she made it for him, but I love it too...) He got a 3 ton jack and a monetary donation from Grandma. And, another dinner at the restaurant of his choice! What a lucky man!

Random Facts

So I was talking to my friend, Juanita, at work and was telling her how I had an idea to post random facts about me. Then I might actually have something to blog about... so this will be

random fact #1... (picture taken by Brianna Jensen)

I love shoes. Love them. This is an area where I excel at being a girl. I may not always be the most girly girl around, but when it comes to shoes, I'm 100% girly. One of my favorite stores is DSW. I'm so happy that we have one in Layton now, only 45 minutes away from shoe bliss. The best part about shoes? They don't judge you. Seriously, no matter where I am in life, whether I'm having a crappy day or a stupendous day, my shoes accept me just the same. In particular I love high heels. I will be the first to admit that I'm not very talented in walking in them. But I love the sound of them. Walking on cement, tile, wood floors, there is just something about that sound that makes me feel important, like I can conquer the world. I guess you can say that shoes are my form of chocolate.

But on that note, the other half of my random fact involving shoes... I don't particularly like to wear shoes... I know that is a total contradiction to everything I just wrote, but its a bit true. As soon as I walk in the door my shoes are off. And all summer long I'm a flip flop girl. I hardly ever wear shoes in the summer. Its not that shoes aren't comfortable, its just that my feet might suffer from seasonal claustrophobia. It's a hard life balancing the tomboy and the girly girl.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today was my wonderful mom's birthday, and I'm sure that she is going to be so happy that I'm posting pictures... he he he! The ladies that I work with at Walmart did a beautiful job in the cake, and it tasted oh so yummy (for those of you who didn't know, buttercream frosting is one of my favorite foods- and yes it counts as a food). We love you Mom! Happy Birthday!

Jack-o-Lanterns?!

When asked about fall what do you think of? I think of two things, crunching leaves (one of my favorite sounds) and PUMPKINS! I love carving pumpkins. So when I was asked on a date to carve pumpkins, you bet I said yes! While they were all really cute pumpkins, mine and Wylie's was the best. Our redneck pumpkin turned out to look like Sloth from Goonies. I love the ears! And the teeth, Wylie came up with the teeth idea. The one next to it was a cute idea as well, the two people that made that pumpkin called it the "B" pumpkin because their names both started with B. It is cute! and the shapes are all B's. I never would have thought to do that!

And then we have the cute pig made by Darla and Darren, it turned out way cool! I never would have thought to do that one either! Guess I should stick to my photography skills for my creative outlet! It was the perfect way to get me in the fall mood, now I just want to go jump in the leaves!

If I lay here, If I just lay here, would you lay with me and just forget the world?

My most favorite band is hands down Snow Patrol, and I've been kicking myself for not going to their last two concerts here. So even though I had to drive to Provo I bucked up and bought the tickets and went. I have a really good concert buddy in Conly (believe it or not, he's really good to his little sister) and my friend Sarah, from work, and also my friend Callen came with us. I LOVED it! Sadly I knew every song, except for one which is new, its called Just Say Yes. And its so good, Snow Patrol has such a great sound that is uniquely theirs. And the lead singer is hilarious! A. They are from Ireland, so that makes me love them even more. and B. The dude is just random! During one of the slower songs people were waving their cellphones back and forth (because cellphones are the new lighters?), he looked out at the audience and said "You're cell phones look really funny... like little aliens... hello little aliens" and "We're very sorry to inform you that we have desecrated your tennis courts this morning. We are from Ireland, where it rains A LOT. Ever notice that there aren't any famous athletes from Northern Ireland? That is because it rains and we all stay indoors, and become musicians" I just thought it was funny that he said they desecrated the tennis courts with their playing. I have a bit of a crush on him now, so if any of you guys out there that might be reading this want to know how to get me to crush on you: 1. become Irish. 2. become a musician and form a band like Snow Patrol. 3. Make me laugh a lot. ... okay, step number three is the most attainable, I wont hold the rest against you. Normally I just see a band once, but I for sure will be seeing them again!



This one looks blurry, but this is what it really looked like. They were going for the shadow effect I guess. This is now the background on my phone!

Here's the snowflake. How could you have Snow Patrol without the snow flake? The last song they played is actually three songs they penned and combined into one. It has an animated video that goes along with it. Its called The Lightning Strike. I could only find a live version of it, but it was really cool, the perfect encore piece!

New Photo Blog

So it has come to my attention that it may be time to separate my blog from the photography(yes Brianna, I got the idea from you doing it), so I have created a new blog. Please keep checking this one, but it will be mainly the mundane events of my life. If you want to check out the photos click here!

Scarves?!

So the other day, I was talking to a friend and we were talking about scarves... at the time I was thinking that they were a bit silly. Nay! I bought my first non-functional, purely "cute" scarf last night on a whim. I LOVE it!!! So I'm wearing it right now, just because I can! You know what I love about them? You can wear it with anything and it kind of dresses it up. Well maybe not sweats! So that is my post today, my silly silly post. So on that note I must appologize to the scarf community, I now understand the love.

The Burtons!

I live by the CUTEST Family! Well, they are moving this week and I'm going to miss them. We did a family shoot last week and had so much fun, and I still can't believe how blue their little boy's eyes are!

So long...

Today was a sad day for my family. It came time to let our 13 year old dalmatian go. He'd been slowly declining in health and couldn't even really walk today. This is the first dog that we've had this long, most of our dogs end up finding new homes after we finish their championships. Tux was different, though, from day one he was ours. He was my mom's boy. One of her proudest moments was putting a Best in Show on him. He was a gorgeous dog, with so much personality! I don't think I've ever met a dog that was more sassy! It's a strange thing to think about him being gone, he's always been here, he was born in my basement when I was in 4th grade. Sometimes I thought my mom loved him more than she did us! He was a good dog, and its good that he isn't suffering any longer. So long Tuxedo. We'll miss your quirky personality, old man.

FINALLY!!!

Imagine if you will, that a brand new never been done before position gets created at work. And people think that you should put in for it, so you do. All you know about the job is that its a step higher than what you currently are and comes with a two dollar raise. So your managers conduct interviews and select the seven people needed to fill the position. You are one of them. But what di you say when people ask you what your job is?! Even more important what do the managers say when you ask them what your job is? Want to here the response that I got for the last month to the last question? "You're kind of like an assistant manager, but not. It doesn't matter though, you'll do great." Does this tell me anything about what I'll be doing?! Heck no! Well today I went to training, and I finally feel like I know what my job is, and that I can actually accomplish it. But don't ask me to describe it just yet! Give me a week or two to put all those words together!


I finally feel like I've had a breaking point and I'm not having to wander around being totally lost now. Everything is starting to come together, and not just at work either! It's such a good feeling! All I can say is FINALLY!

Dew Tour, Smash up, and Wolverine...

So yesterday was quite the busy day! I'm not sure I've had one quite so busy in a really long time. We started out the day by going to Salt Lake for the Dew Tour to watch the BMX finals. It was pretty sweet, we got lots of free stuff, or "swag" as Conly referred to it. We saw some pretty cool new tricks. I don't really know that much about BMX, but it was really fun to watch. So that got over about 3:30, we had tickets to stay all day and watch the skate boarding finals, but they pushed the time back from 5:00 to 7:30. We did really have anything to do for four hours so Conly, Kyle, and I decided to make the treck home, normally you don't think of the hour drive to SLC as a treck really, but Jean-Claude Grand Am was having a bad day (that is Conly's car). It took more like 1.45 hours or so to get home... driving a good chunk of the way at 30 mph. But luckily we got home in time for me to jump in my car with the movie projector and drive to Logan to watch the demolition derby with some of my friends from the 25th ward. It was primarily a truck derby so we saw some pretty good hits. We even saw a suburban get rolled. It was pretty cool. After that we went to Trevor's house to watch Wolverine (who informed me that everyone has a thing for Hugh Jackman- I have to agree with that). Just as everyone was getting to his house from the derby it started raining. Blah! So we moved inside and played wii for a bit. I didn't beat anyone at tennis, but I did pull from behind and beat Trevor at mario kart- the one game that I actually excell at! So after a while the rain stopped and we set up the projector outside on the side of their cinderblock shed. It worked really well! Such a great movie, the best line is "I think there is a naked man in our barn". Yeah, I can totally appreciate Hugh.


So it wasn't a very exciting post, but I'm tired! lol. No that was not whining, there is no whining in this blog!


So at church today I was released from my calling, but not as me... the councilor read off the names, "Justin Allred, Adam Young, Megan Allred... please show a vote of thanks..." Justin looked at me and gave me the "how you doin'" nod. It was so funny! The bishop let the councilor know that my last name is Allen, and it was fixed, but oh it was funny! He did come appologize to me later. I just laughed and said that it was okay.

Fall is coming!

Even though I don't really like that it's starting to cool off, I'm getting excited to take fall pictures. Here is one that I took while we were camping in Idaho last weekend.

So things have been changing a bit. I spent most of last week in Logan training for my new position at Walmart. I am the Zone Merchandise Manager of homelines and entertainment at the Perry store. It will be a good change and I'm looking forward to the challenge. I will basically be in charge of getting all the merchandise in and making features for the departments under me. Also, I gain a lot of responsibilities that Assistant Managers have without me becoming salary. It's a new position that Walmart just created, so not all of us are quite sure what the job entails.

I also want to say congratulations to my friend Kim Purcell, she just got engaged last weekend to Jared Iverson- a really great guy that treats her so wonderfully! I wish you the best!!!

SUPER... baby?

So we did a fun little shoot of Zeke... This was his mom, Alashandra's, favorite. I think its the only one that Zeke wasn't trying to eat the penguin.

This one is definately my favorite from the day, the black and white made it so stinking cute.

This was really cute, I wish it showed more of the superman emblem, but it still turned out really nice. Zeke sports the superman cape well!

Lights... Camera... (I'm not finishing this cliche!)

So I decided to by some lighting and backdrops. Ebay is a wonderful place. I found a great deal and now I'm the proud owner of a whole lighting set! And let me tell you it is so much fun! My friend Kim came over to help me play with it. She was my test subject, and it was so much fun! Kim recently returned from her mission to Ohio, so she told stories and I snapped the camera, we even got a little penguin that I made in on the deal!

L is for the way you look at me...

My cousin TyAnn got married April 17th, she (and her wonderful photographer) were nice enough to let me play with the camera. It was the perfect day, and Ty was the perfect bride, she was absolutely stunning.

Kidnapped!

So I'm really liking this kidnapping people randomly and taking their pictures. Over conference weekend we actually had some really nice weather (not the usual raining icky stuff) so I texted Nicole during the afternoon session and picked her up soon after it ended, I love that I gave her like five minutes to get ready for a photo shoot! But the pictures turned out great! She is very photogenic and therefore makes my job super easy! She even took a turn with the camera and did a mini shoot of me, (she took my profile picture). I love that my camera is that easy to run and take such great pictures! So here are the results from the day!

This one turned out really cool, its a big pillar at a church house in Garland.


Colored walls make the coolest backgrounds. I can't believe I got her to make a "serious" face.

This one is my favorite.

Oh and PS for anyone wondering, I recently bought lighting and backgrounds, so keep an eye out for some attempts at inside shots!

Picture Day!

So... I'm starting on a little photography business. Hopefully soon I will get a website up. But for now, I will post some of my recent work. If you know of anyone that would like their pictures done, portraits, family, engagements, anything I would love to do it for them! Contact me for a price list and we can get some options going for you!

Here's a recent shoot I did for my friend Stacy...