Trayvon Martin

31 Saturday Mar 2012

I know I’m not alone when I say Trayvon’s story has weighed heavily on my heart and my mind. The injustice of it all is breathtaking. Not only that, but those of you that follow this blog know that a few months ago, I saw a person take his life with a gun in less than a second. I can’t even begin to tell you how this has made me feel about guns and Florida’s ridiculous gun laws.

But Little T…

How will I explain to my sweet baby boy, who is especially talented at making everyone in the room stop and smile, that he may be considered suspicious because of the color of his skin? Should I tell him he can’t ever walk alone at night? Should I tell him that hoodies are off limits? Should I tell him if a strange man is following him down the street, he should stop and hang around to see what this strange guy wants? What do I tell my son? Because unfortunately, some people will look at my son and they won’t see the happy, sweet baby boy that makes me smile every day. They’ll only see the color of his skin, and they’ll think he’s a threat.

Big T and I have grown up without having to worry about these things, and we’re not going to pretend we know what it’s like. All I can say, is that my son is my world and I don’t ever want anything like this to happen to him. If it did, my world would stop.

And this. This link breaks my heart. It’s an article in Time Magazine written by Toure, talking about how to explain Trayvon Martin to your black son.

1. It’s unlikely but possible that you could get killed today. Or any day. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth. Black maleness is a potentially fatal condition. I tell you that not to scare you but because knowing that could save your life. There are people who will look at you and see a villain or a criminal or something fearsome. It’s possible they may act on their prejudice and insecurity. Being black could turn an ordinary situation into a life-or-death moment even if you’re doing nothing wrong

If you haven’t read about Trayvon Martin, you need to. It is a tragedy that deserves attention.

The Princess Trip

30 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by Momma J in The Family

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It’s true. Once a year, all (or at least most) of the women in our family gather for an annual princess trip to Disneyland. I’m not sure how this tradition started, but I know that my grandmother is always referred to as “the Queen Mother”, and that the trip always ends with us going down Mainstreet in a vehicle and waving to people like we’re in a parade or something. I’ve always been more of an Indiana Jones type of girl-but nevertheless, once a year I pull out the princess tiara and pink shirt and practice my princess wave.

For reasons unknown, this year started out with a kazoo contest. My team didn’t win. I’m guessing it’s because there were some shady things going on between the winners and our judge, aka=The Queen Mother.

These princesses aren’t the kind of princesses that takes their time in the morning and get to the park around noon. They’re the kind of princesses that get to the park at 7:00 a.m. and don’t leave until 11:00 at night. We didn’t really take a break until mid day when the Queen Mother demanded it.

Here she is, the Queen Mother herself, enjoying an hour of relaxation:

And here’s the whole team, Princess Power!

After this, we got into all sorts of shenanigans. I want to take this moment to apologize to anyone who waited in line with us and had the misfortune of being serenaded by a bunch of princesses with kazoos.

One Princess down!

So that’s what I did last weekend. It’s hard returning to a normal life after spending a weekend with royalty, but this princess has officially packed away her tiara until next year.

Adventures at Wondercon

20 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by Momma J in Photography

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Last Friday I was sitting in my chair editing photos and mentally planning out my weekend, when I got an e-mail asking if I’d be the photographer for Save Our Seeker, a super cool group of people that were going to be hosting a photo session with Craig Horner from “Legend of the Seeker” at Wondercon. They asked if I could take photos for an hour on Saturday and Sunday, while people did a meet and greet with Craig.

Being the neurotic over-planner that I am, I got to Wondercon 2 hours early. Big T came to help me carry the equipment, with the idea was that he’d watch Little T while I took photos. We went to lunch because we had time to spare (!!!mistake!!!), and then made our way to Wondercon. I’d never been at the Anaheim Convention Center before, but the place was jam packed. It took us half an hour just to make a turn to get near the front of the convention center. From our car we could see that the parking garages were full and the nearest parking was 2 miles away. My heart sunk as I realized there was no way we could park, carry equipment, manage a baby, and get there on time. We quickly decided to drop off Big T with the heavy equipment while I parked. The traffic was terrible though, and by the time it took us to get to the front of Wondercon, we only had 30 minutes to get to the location, and I still had to register.

In a moment of recklessness and panic, I had Big T drop ME off with 65 pounds of clunky equipment-I know because we weighed it later. I carefully positioned bags and around my shoulders and started the long walk in the rain to the convention. I’m not kidding when I say long, because what had looked like the front of the convention center turned out to be the opposite side of where Wondercon was. My body was aching and the calories on my body bugg were spiking like crazy! It took me about 15-20 minutes to get to where I needed to go, and then I had to walk down the stairs with everything and go from person to person trying to figure out where I needed to get a pass. One kind man with an awesome tattoo finally took pity on me because of all the things I was lugging around, and gave me a pass and said to come earlier next time. Erg.

My friend Cha met me downstairs, and we split divided the equipment and made our way to the photo shoot. Big T never made it to the parking lot because the traffic was too bad, and decided to wait at Downtown Disney with Little T instead.

Once we got to the booth though, everything turned around. The group from Save Our Seeker was awesome, and Craig Horner was one of the sweetest and most genuine guys I’ve ever met, and kept trying to help me set up the photo equipment. He talked about his new pilot that’s coming out on the CW, and chatted and took pictures. He even listened to me go on about Little T (oh man, I’m one of those parents that goes on and on about their kid). :p After the photos were finished, I took my equipment downstairs and called Big T and asked him to come and pick me up. My friend Jackie texted while I was sitting there, and said she was at the convention center too! I immediately begged for her to help me carry my equipment outside, and she said she’d meet me in the lobby by the bar. I looked around wondering where the bar was at the convention center, and it took us a while to realize that we were in two completely different buildings, heh heh. So I gathered up the equipment, and hobbled outside and down the street to search for Big T. A few moments later he came driving up. The way I remember it-there was a beaming light shining down on him and angels singing in the distance as he drove towards me, because I couldn’t have been happier to see him…and his car.

So, the moral of the story? Get a friggin dolley! Sheesh! Oh…and Craig Horner is really nice.

Portland Part 2

18 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by Momma J in The Adventures of Little T, The Family, The Travels, vegan

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This is soooooo late! But I don’t want to forget the second half of our trip.

By this point, Little T figured out we were going to fun places every day, so he’d spend the morning crawling into his stroller and looking at us impatiently. Big T had to work at the conference, so Little T and I took a trip to the zoo. He was really excited to test out his new animal noises. Whenever we’d see a bear or a lion he’d roar like crazy. I practically ran after him with the stroller the whole time. Kid was on the move!

Little T stared at this fish display for a while. He couldn’t figure out why they weren’t in the water where they were supposed to be:

After the zoo, we met up with Big T and walked over to another vegan food cart for lunch:

This is where I ate the best chocolate peanut butter cup I’ve ever had in my life:

I got a grilled cheese sandwich and Little T had a vegetable sandwich with hummus…well, that was the plan anyway. Little T fell asleep and there was absolutely no way to keep the little guy awake to eat. Talk about running out of steam!

That night we went to a restaurant that was really bad, so I won’t mention it on here except to say that at the end of our meal they wrote a suggested 25% tip? Even this ex-waitress thought that was a little high.

After dinner, we went to the Portland Art Museum.

The next day, Big T didn’t have to work and wanted to see the Children’s Museum himself.

And then we all went to the zoo, where it started….snowing. 0_o Because of this, we stuck to the underground areas.

By this time, we began to realize that Little T was getting pretty sick. He’d had a cough all week but it was getting worse and worse. We decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel to rest.

We ordered some Indian food and spent the rest of the day watching movies.

The next day we had to stay inside again because Little T wasn’t getting any better. It was a sad way to end the vacation, but not much we could do and we had to take care of Little T.

Little T entertained himself by finger painting on steamy windows.

And I think he enjoyed taking a rest, doesn’t he look like a content little guy? Big T and I, on the other hand, were going stir crazy staying in that tiny hotel room!

The next morning we packed up our things and made one more trip to the Sweetpea Baking Company to have lunch and pick things up for the plane trip.

Sandwich:

Bagel with vegan cream cheese:

and some (half eaten-teehee) baked goods:

Little T was great on the plane trip! Isn’t this picture of him sweet?

Overall, a great trip! I can see why so many people adore Portland. We came home and our schedules got crazy, so it was nice to have a week of fun before the storm. 🙂 And that’s it! Hope you’re all having a great weekend! I’ve been working as a photographer at Wondercon, I can’t believe how busy this month has been!

Vegan St. Patty’s Day

14 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by Momma J in The Family

≈ 1 Comment

What are you doing for St. Patrick’s Day? We’re going to a friend’s house, but before that we’re planning on stopping at Native Foods because they’re having a Weekend long Vegan St. Patty’s Day Special where the beer and wine are 1/2 off all day and they’re serving a Vegan version of a Classic Deli Rueben. Last year we all wore green and went to One World Vegetarian. If you wear green on St. Patty’s day, they give you a free vegan cupcake (w00t)!

But, to balance all of this St. Patty’s food out, why not start the day with something healthy? I got an e-mail from Omega Juicers the other day. I don’t usually post these things, but I love green drinks and I thought this was a great idea. Kids (and adults) might be a little more excited to try a green drink on St. Patty’s Day, you never know! :p

Here’s Little T and my own favorite green drink recipe:

lots of kale
Two stems celery
6 large romaine lettuce leaves
1 apple
1 lemon
a little ginger
1 pear
1 cucumber

And here were the recipes from Omega Juicers (www.OmegaJuicers.com):
The Leaping Leprechaun

1/2 cup strawberries
1 banana
1/2 cup of spinach leaves
1 cup water

Lucky Lucy

1 handful parsley
2 apples
1 handful spinach
1 cucumber
1 lemon
1-inch piece ginger

Sparkling Shamrock

fresh pineapple cubes
1/2 cup strawberries
1 banana
1/2 cup of spinach leaves
1 cup water
One to two drops of vanilla essence
One cup of plain soy yogurt and add a teaspoon or two of agave for sweetness (optional)

Irish Twist

3 cups fresh baby Spinach
1 Lime, 1 large Tomato
2-3 Carrots and 1/2 Carrot top bunch
1/2 bunch Parsley
1 stalk Celery

Green Morning

4-6 Carrots
4 stalks of Celery
1 Lemon
1 Macintosh or Yellow Apple
Combine all ingredients into a blender. Blend until really smooth, not still grainy or chunky or with bits of leaves floating about. It can be thick, as you can always thin with water, but it needs to be smooth. This should take only a couple of minutes. Blend until the greens are so pulverized that they are no longer visible other than infusing your smoothie with a beautiful green color.

For more information about juice and smoothie recipes or Omega products please visit www.OmegaJuicers.com

Speaking of green drinks, last night I was talking with a friend about vegetables. We’ve decided to have a healthy party, where we get together and share healthy foods. We thought this would be a good way to get ideas from each other! Who knows? Maybe it will turn into a monthly thing!

I hope you’re all having a good week! I’m heading off to photograph another wedding at Disneyland today. I can’t think of a better way to spend the day than at a wedding. 🙂

transitions….

08 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by Momma J in The Family

≈ 10 Comments

Well, the good news is that my photography business is taking off. The bad news? Little T and I are having the hardest time adjusting to daycare. I feel like my heart is ripped in two when I leave without him. He sobs and cries my name, and every instinct tells me to comfort him, but I have to find a way to walk out of the daycare door without him instead. It’s the worst feeling. Since we’ve started daycare, he’s gotten very clingy. He cries when Big T leaves for work, he cries and won’t sleep alone in his crib at night, and he doesn’t want me out of his sight. Poor baby, I never expected it to be so hard. I knew it was going to be a little hard, but I didn’t expect it to be this hard. If anything, I thought I’d be the one crying and Little T would be fine.

Erg, so that’s what we’re going through now. I’ve been packing Little T’s dinners for daycare, so I’m going to start photographing them and posting in case anyone needs lunch ideas. Also coming up, my second Portland, Oregon post. I currently have a lack of storage and need to move some things around before I can post some fun photos and videos(!).

I also started a new blog that is specifically for my photography, in case anyone wants to check it out.

And that’s all that is going on around here! I hope you all are having a great week. 🙂

We did it!

06 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by Momma J in Photography, The Family

≈ 1 Comment

Tuesday, I photographed Jeff Murray.

Wednesday, I had an all day engagement shoot for Disney’s One More Day:

Friday, I photographed a group of girlfriends for some fun vintage inspired photos in the park:

*side note: they were filming Modern Family on this day and we got to watch for a bit. I love that show!

Saturday, I had a wedding!

And Sunday, I had an editorial shoot:

It has been a _crazy_ week, and my body is physically exhausted. The hardest thing has been finding help with Little T. This is one of those weeks where I really felt how hard it can be to parent. Big T and I scrambled to find sitters for Little T while I worked. It’s hard because there just aren’t a lot of options for us that we can afford. Not to mention, it’s rough having my baby gone from my side. I miss him so much when I’m working, but I’m sure it’s a good break for both of us. But we figured it all out and I’m proud of Big T and our little family. We had a few snags, but we survived!

I’m still hereeeeeee…..

02 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by Momma J in Photography

≈ 1 Comment

I’m still here! I have five photo shoots this week and am busy busy busy! Here’s a few photos from my week so far:

Photos of MMA fighter Jeff Murray:

And an engagement shoot for Disney’s “One More Day of Disney”. This photo was taken at the end of the all day shoot. We were a little tired, can you tell? 😉