Category Archives: Quick Snippets

California……

25 Saturday Feb 2012

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Public Policy Polling just came out with a poll saying the most hated state in the U.S. is California.

Perhaps it’s a political thing, but personally I was shocked when I read that! I can’t tell you how much I adore California. I love the diversity, the scenery, the variety, the food… It will always be my home.

So, here’s one of my favorite songs to send some love to the sunshine state:

In other news, our Oregon trip wore Little T out, who is now sitting in our hotel bed with a cold. Poor little guy, he keeps bringing us his shoes or trying to get into the stroller because he wants to explore some more. He sounds terrible though. Looks like we’ll be spending our last night snuggling and watching movies together. Definitely could be worse than that!

Hope you all have a happy Sunday. ~Jenna

Portland Part 1

24 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by in Photography, Quick Snippets, The Adventures of Little T, The Family, The Travels, vegan

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Pioneer Square:

Portland’s known for their food carts, and we had one we were dying to try:

The Vegan Food Cart: Homegrown Smoker

We got the side plate with Cornbread, baked beans, collards, MacNoCheese, and the STFU puppies:

Their menu brought back some sweet memories of my grandma from Oklahoma. Now, if only I can find some biscuits and gravy…

Later in the afternoon we drove over to the Vegan Mall to pick up a few things for my mom. Before we went shopping, we stopped at The SweetPea Vegan Baking Company and picked up some tasty treats.

Lemon Pastry, chocolate chip cookie, bostom creme pie cake:

I also ordered some vegan chili for Little T, but we didn’t prefer it. I was expecting a beany chili and we don’t usually eat a lot of fake meats, so it wasn’t what we were used to and Little T only had a few bites. I’m going to have to stop here again though, because there were some other things on the menu that I’d really like to try.

There was a beautiful park where I wanted to take Little T, but I couldn’t do it because there was a homeless person sitting on one of the benches and I’m still having a hard time from what happened last month. I usually wouldn’t have walked through the park anyway, but it was too hard right now. I’ve noticed that I’m also really jumpy when I hear police sirens. =/

After the park, we got lost and took an accidental scenic drive around Portland (teehee). Little T took a nap, and then we went to have dinner at Big T’s conference. On the way we stopped and showed Little T a living wall. We’re trying to teach him plants, leaves, flowers, branches, etc. Whenever we give him a flower to smell, he blows his nose at it instead of sniffing in to smell the rose. Ah well, he’s getting there.

Travleing by shoulders=Little T’s favorite way to travel in Portland:

We had a great time at the dinner, and Little T managed to obtain a tiny football from one of the conference vendors. We chatted and played with Little T until they started to take the tables down and we figured that was our cue to leave. 😉

During the day, Little T and I have been going solo while Big T’s been working hard at the conference, so the next day we took the metro to the Children’s museum.

On the way, we stopped in a building with some fountains and I snapped a picture of the other side of the street. I don’t know what it is about the colors in Portland, but the stones and the lights on the building are so beautiful. It’s peaceful, walking through the buildings.

On the metro. This is the only way I get pictures of myself on vacation (I’ve got to get Little T to stop relying so much on his pacifier, if any mommy out there has tips, please let me know):

The Children’s Museum was wonderful. Little T loved exploring the exhibits and stayed for three hours. I was planning on staying for only two, but after lunch I put Little T down to gather up my things for the metro, and he went running/screaming with glee back into the museum. Erm, I guess he had other plans for us. I couldn’t resist his enthusiasm and decided to let him stay.

The digging room:

The Train room:

The Theater room:

And playing with a giant light up peg board:

We didn’t get back until 2:00, and Little T slept until it was time to go meet Big T and some colleagues for dinner. We went to Persian food, and they had a very extensive vegan menu and homemade pita bread and we were in heaven.

After dinner, we walked by Powell’s Bookstore on the way to Voodoo Donuts. The outside of the donut shop was covered with glitter. (!!!)

I asked the lady at the shop which vegan donut she recommended, and she handed me a donut called, “The Old Dirty Bastard”.

It had dark chocolate, oreos, and peanut butter. It was a donut sent from the heavens and it gave my taste buds a ride on the flavor train to yumsville. My tummy was a little upset afterward, so I wondered if I’d been given a donut that wasn’t vegan by accident, but it might have been the sugar overload. Definitely stop there if you’re in Portland.

When we were finished, we walked back and listened to some street artists. One of them came up and hugged us because he said he was adopted like Little T. 🙂 Little T enjoyed the music and I think the artist got a kick out of watching Little T having such a good time.

So that’s what we’ve been up to so far. I bet you’re all looking forward to the weekend, I hope you have a great one.

Happy Sunday

05 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by in Photography, Quick Snippets

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This is the first time since I’ve met Big T that I haven’t done anything special for the Superbowl. But then again, I’m painting my nails a peaceful shade of grey, sipping some chocolate almond-milk with a cinnamon stick, and I have the entire house to myself for a few hours-so maybe it’s a special day after all. Besides, I’m not completely missing out on the fun. Our neighbors to our left, right, and directly behind are watching the game and I can hear a chorus of cheers every time something exciting happens. 😉

I’m recuperating from a family trip to Disneyland. We had a great time, but I’m exhausted! Instead of going to watch the Superbowl with the two T’s, I’m working on a blog post with a few tips on what to do with toddlers at the Park. I’m going to keep developing the list as time goes on, so please let me know if you have anything for me to add.

In the meantime, here are a few quick pictures that I snapped last night! I *hope hope hope* this area is open for an engagement shoot I have at the end of the month. It’s one of my favorite areas of the park, but I think they’re going to do construction there in the near future. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

To my American friends, have a great Superbowl Sunday! To my non-American friends, have a great Sunday, Sunday!

Happenings Via Instagram

03 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by in Photography, Quick Snippets, The Family, vegan

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Helping out backstage for a beautiful Disney Wedding in the Animation Building:

Leaving ransom notes in exchange for my all time favorite vegan cookies from The Last Drop Cafe ;):

The moment where you think, “do I help him out??? Or do I let this play out for a few seconds more while I take a picture?” mwaha

Speaking of Little T, he loves to copy me lately. His favorite mommy thing to do right now is throw on a scarf and pretend to take Miss Piggy on a walk.

He’s also training to be a news reporter, didn’t you know?

Meeting with some beautiful girls about a bridal portrait shoot:

Every once in a while, we drive by Mother’s Market. It’s a good thing this is rare, because vegan junk food is inevitable when we make this stop:

*pictured below* Tofurky Frozen Pizza, Vegan Cookie Dough, Butternut Squash Ravioli, Coconut Yogurt, Oatmeal Cookies for our DL trip this week, and fake mac and cheese (we throw in some green peas and make this for Little T when we’re in a pinch).

To even out the junkiness, we also shared some yummy beet juice. Note to parents: beet juice makes for a very interesting diaper change.

And my *zomgsquee* thing of the week! One of my fancy new camera lenses arrived, with it’s beautiful red ring and everything!

Unfortunately, this moment was short lived, because it was followed by Little T grabbing my 50mm lens and smashing it onto the floor. The good thing is that of all my lenses, he smashed the cheapest. The bad news: it was my favorite lenssssss. Gah!

But what can you do? He didn’t know what he was doing. It was a good lesson to learn that we need to make sure we keep our camera equipment away from sweet Little T. 🙂

And that was my week, I hope you had a great one!

Happenings Via Instagram

11 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by in Quick Snippets, The Family

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First off: I’m doing a lot better. I’ll write more when I have time, but for now:

IPhone pictures of the last week via Instagram:

Little Miss Snuggle Bunny:

Entertaining himself on long car rides with his drums:

Wanting to wear a scarf like momma and grandma:

Meeting the official greeter of Sonoma:

New duds:

Snuggling with his favorite doll:

Playing with my iphone camera:

Laughing at how he looks with his new hat on:

Sitting in his chair and looking way too grown up for mommy:

Getting stuck in Miss Piggy’s crate (mwaha):

Watching Michelle while she’s hard at work:

Making a weird face and taking a picture for my mom. In the bathroom. (teehee):

Witnessing a Tragedy

06 Friday Jan 2012

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Little T and my Mom have been with me in Santa Rosa for my birthday and other reasons I’ll explain when I’m feeling better, but I hope you’ll excuse me if I write for a second about something that happened to us today. I can’t sleep because it’s on my mind. It’s awful and sad, so if you’re sensitive (like me) you may not want to read.

The thing is, we were leaving Santa Rosa and driving in the middle of the afternoon on a seemingly safe street, when we witnessed a man take his life with a gun. We found out later through the news that he had committed a robbery and was walking around the street waving the gun around. When he was confronted by a police officer, he made the decision to end his life. The car in front of us screeched to a stop, so we were sadly there when everything happened. It was something I never wanted to see in my lifetime. Something that no one should have to see. It happened fast, and we were so shaken up that we didn’t know what to do except drive until we were somewhere safe. But where can it possibly feel safe after experiencing something like that? We made it to my mom’s six hours later and we’re all physically okay, but this experience has shaken our world. I am looking forward to being home tomorrow so I can give Big T a hug and feel like everything is going to be okay.

So friends, I have a few scheduled blog posts coming up (which will explain why I may seem cheerful when I’m feeling anything but cheerful), but I’ll probably be taking a week off blogging while I pull myself together. I know you’ll all understand.

I’m sending out extra hugs into the cyber world tonight~Momma J