Wayward Sidequester

~Happy Mood Board Monday~

I'm dancing my way into the week. I'm such a sucker for sandbox style genres, so here are some of my current favorites! I slapped in a self-confidence Totodile meme for those positive affirmation vibes.

P.S. The top three images are a rebus hint for an ABBA song.
(It’s not “Mamma Mia”)

Drop your guess below and let's groove!

~Time Travel Tuesday~

Location: Paris, France
Name of Landmark: Basilique du Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart Basilica)
Year: 2016
Tools: iPhone 4s (2011), Adobe Photoshop Elements (2001)
Level of editing: Minor

I'd like to consider myself a pro-amateur in photography. A bit of an oxymoron, but that suits my vibes just fine.

My journey in photography began when I received my very first iPhone for Christmas, just like many others (R.I.P. flip phones with the built in keyboard). Since then, I've spent countless hours on personal photography projects. I've collected many tools over the years keeping affordability and accessibility at the forefront of my mind. Artistry does not require the most advanced, most expensive, most main stream products.

Fast forwarding from Paris 2016 back to present day 2025, my current materials have expanded beautifully. I was gifted a Canon PowerShot SX420 IS, Wi-Fi (2016). I still use Elements, but I also will use whatever top website Google provides when I search "free photo editing application." Aside from the iPhones, I have welcomed an Alienware 17 RS3 (2015) and an Alienware Aurora 16 (2025) into my inventory.

While some of these brands my seem contradictory to my affordability and accessibility constraints, I'd like to mention that the more expensive items were: gifted, bought on sale, or refurbished (either by me or the seller).

I've had over a decade to build up this collection. Rome wasn't built in a day. Patience yields progress. Learning to maintain and fix my tools has allowed me to retain the majority, only retiring a few things here and there. Trust me on this, if you take good care of your supplies, they'll take good care of you.