Take Up Real; A collection

Moon over Belmont. Air is eerily still.

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:47:26 -0400

Moon over Belmont. Air is eerily still.

Today unexpectedly lead me here. To have a conversation with the...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:46:45 -0400

Today unexpectedly lead me here. To have a conversation with the man who ran this book store. As I rummaged the photography section, the owner struck up a conversation from behind a giant stack of books. All I could see was his head peeking up every now and then. We talked street photography. He said I’d be stupid if I didn’t keep working and try to make a photography book of my own. Ok universe. I’m listening. (at Bookman’s Corner)

Shadows of nature. #nature #shadow #iphoneonly #iphoneography

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:29:24 -0400

Shadows of nature. #nature #shadow #iphoneonly #iphoneography

The Best Gift I Ever Got and How to Change the World. Last...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:30:00 -0400

The Best Gift I Ever Got and How to Change the World.

Last summer I turned 30. For my birthday, I received the best gift I could have asked for.

It seems I am now in the stage of life where all of my friends are either wanting to get pregnant, are pregnant or already have a brood to call their own. I thought this would be a fitting blog for all my friends as they embark on motherhood.

Back to the best gift.

My mother had told me when I was younger that she wrote me letters when I was a baby. She said she would give them to me some day. So it was no surprise to me, when on my 30th birthday I opened my gift and there was a bound book full of letters. The first thing I did was burst into tears. I knew exactly what it was.

She had written me a letter from when I was 8 weeks all the way till I was five. There are 70 letters total. The back of the book contains a family tree with descriptions of who my family is.

There is even a letter that my five year old self wrote to my future self. It is a smiley face picture. It says ” I love you.”

As you can imagine, this book is now my most prized possession for many reasons.

1. It chronicles a part of my life I can’t remember.

2. Helps me understand where I come from and see myself in a new way. I better understand pieces of my own development and can see what influenced my beginnings.

3. Overwhelms me with love and compassion.

I can only read one letter at a time. It is taking me a long time to work through the book. Since every letter has so many new details, implications and meaning. It is a lot to digest. I have only read 10 letters since I got them.

I learned that if I were a boy my name would have been Jeremy John. They would have called me J.J. for short.

I learned that my dad wanted to teach me karate, even if I was a girl…but only if I wanted to. I never learned karate…

Most of all I learned about my young parents and their journey. Working multiple jobs, learning to balance family time and work life, enjoying the thrill and challenges of a new chapter. It has been the perfect thing to read right now. I don’t think this would have meant as much to me if I had gotten it earlier in life. I think I am old enough now to understand its true value.

New mom’s out there, I can not tell you what this will mean for your children. It now makes even more sense why I do what I do. I had parents that valued time.

Even deeper then that, I think about all the upset in our world. I know that violence, war, climate change, {insert scary current events} is not a new thing. Some days I feel so overwhelmed and helpless that I just want to scream. I believe that the best way to combat the upset in our world is to do the best that we can with what is in front of us.

I don’t think anyone can be a perfect parent. The best we can hope for is to improve upon what we learned from ours. I don’t think my mother fully understood why she was compelled to write what she did. Fear I think played a big role. Fear of being a first time mother, fear of not being around in the future. Not only was she healing and working out the pain of her past through becoming a mother but as I opened the book today, I thought: “This was how she changed the world.”

As I mature as a woman, I have found myself in a place where I feel more upset at the state of the world. Angry and scared. School closings upset me, violence in my city enrages me, the zombies on the bus every morning that avoid eye contact drive me nuts. The hunger I feel to connect with others is greater then ever, yet the world I live in seems more disconnected every day. Just reading the words, I love you gives me the courage to charge ahead.

Imagine how many more things in our world could be solved if everyone had something to remind them how loved they are. To remind them how precious they were to come into the world. How much they meant to others.

Imagine how many lives might be different if we all understood how important we are. If we felt fully the love that is available to us each day. Imagine the positive impact a letter can have in the darkest times of your life.

That is how these letters change the world.

So today I put this out in the blogosphere. From the baby that my mother wrote to so many years ago. She did not know what I would grow up to be. She could not have known how amazing the simple act of writing a letter could really change the world.

I hope to inspire new mothers and fathers. Write to your children. It matters. Put it on paper. Tell them how much they mean to you. Write about your fears, write about yourself. Write! It doesn’t matter how old they are, it doesn’t have to be perfect.

Someday that baby will grow up. Someday they will hold those letters in their hand and understand why this was so important. Someday they may decide to have children of their own and will pass on the tradition.

It matters. Do it and spread the word. Help my mother change the world.

Please share this blog.

betype: Abraham Mignon/

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:16:57 -0400

betype:

Abraham Mignon/

Color is returning to our landscape! #color #flowers #spring...

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 13:35:42 -0400

Color is returning to our landscape! #color #flowers #spring #nofilter #chicagogram #nature

Rogers Park Beach. (Loyola Park) Ten Thousand Ripples Project....

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:11:00 -0400

flying V

I have an obsession with prairie grass at sunset. It is my happy place.

Rogers Park Beach. (Loyola Park) Ten Thousand Ripples Project. I read about this in Chicago’s Time Out. I was surprised to learn that it was in my backyard. I loved the idea. So my sister and I took a photo walk to check it out. See her photo’s here: Adventures in Photoland.

“Ten Thousand Ripples,” is meant to be a “catalyst” for encouraging conversations about peace in areas of Chicago that need it the most, says Indira Johnson, the Chicago-area artist who designed the heads. They number around 38 now, she says, but that number will grow to 100 by late spring…” (Yahoo News)

Spartacus vs. Dinosaur

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 18:55:03 -0500

Spartacus vs. Dinosaur

Homemade DIY Chocolate Ice Cream: A Photographic Study I am...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 19:57:00 -0500

Homemade DIY Chocolate Ice Cream

Homemade DIY Chocolate Ice Cream: A Photographic Study

I am getting acquainted with a new camera. Since the camera is an extension of me, I find the best way to introduce ourselves is by working on a simple project. Enter ice cream.

I have been working on making almost everything I can by hand. This way I can control what goes in my body. {recipe below}

So my new camera and I experimented with light, composition and process. I was pleased with the result.

What do you think?

Homemade DIY Chocolate Ice Cream : Makes a pint

2 cups cream | six egg yolks| sugar to taste | chocolate to taste

Mix one cup of cream, sugar and egg yolks.

Cook over medium heat stirring constantly.

Do not boil.

When mixture is steaming remove from heat and melt in chocolate.

Pour mixture into remaining cream.

Cool completely before adding to ice cream machine.

You can substitute the cream for half and half, sweetened milk or almond milk to bring down calories.

This is essentially a custard ice cream.

You can also infuse coffee, vanilla bean or cinnamon. Instead of melting, put in desired flavor and steep it for 15 minutes before adding into final cream.

5 upsetting documentaries you have to see on Netflix and why.

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:58:00 -0500

I read the news every morning over coffee. By the time I finish my cup, I can not read any more.

The world is too upsetting.

Sometimes I can’t tell if it’s our media pumping out the worst of the world for ratings or if things really are that bad. This does not stop me from reading.

In fact, I do it because it upsets me. I think if more people paid attention this way, our world might be a better place. Not because I am going to run out and become an activist for every cause that upsets me, because that is imposible. It is because I am open to experiencing the upset of the world that it changes me.

I know there is no way I can solve every problem, but that does not mean I should ignore them. When the times comes, I find that my education on topics such as this help me make compassionate decisions.

When discussing the recent events that lead to our nation’s topic on gun control, a friend of mine was telling me how “shocked” she was at how horrible mass violence has become. I laughed and said, to her dismay, that I was not shocked at all.

When she inquired why I told her this:

“We all have the capability to do horrific acts of violence and unspeakable evil to one another. To deny that part of yourself is to deny our nature. Under the right circumstances, you too could make a choice you currently see as horrific. Whether premeditated or impulsive it does not matter. The evil in our world does not simply go away because you choose to ignore it. It exists, pulsing through your viens. I am not shocked to hear the awful things that happen because I know that I myself am wholly capable of doing the same. It is that awareness of this truth that allows me to make that choice. We have yet to evolve to a place where we can see that some people are not aware of the difference. We treat the body, not the mind. Until we strive to understand ourselves more deeply - these acts will continue.”

So buck up, open your heart and watch one of these. Don’t be shocked the next time something happens. This is also why I love documentary. It has the power to change, educate and open your heart and mind. Netflix is full of amazing documentary work. Brave filmmakers who dare to enter these spaces so that you can learn about them.

They are phenomenally courageous films, and I highly recommend you watch them.

1. Mugabe and the White African.

A farmer and his family fight a corrupt government to save their South African farm in Zimbabwe. This film is beautifully shot and heartbreaking. This documentary got short listed for an Oscar and beat out by Burma VJ (Also on Netflix). Between the two, I think this one is stronger. When the last slide comes up before the credits, I broke into tears. More people need to know this story. It will challenge how you view race, government and the traditional hero.

2. The Cove

I am sure you have heard of this one. You may have even been cautioned to watch it. It documents what happens in a cove in Japan. Illegal fishing of dolphins. You need to see this. Then understand that we do this to animals on our home turf. This is not ok and has to stop.

3. Dark Days

Beautiful black and white fllm about a homeless community that set up camp in the NY subway system. This movie will change the way you see your city and how you treat the man asking you for help in the subway.

4. Cry of the Snow Lion

Forget that our history is littered with instances of people wiping out people. We still live in that world. This documentary follows the people of Tibet in exile. Here is a leadership corageous enough to call for peaceful means a world where others might take up arms. *cough* like us?

5. Radio Bikini

This 1988 documentary literally blew my mind. Releasing declassified military footage of the 1946 atomic bomb tests on Bikini Atoll. You get to see the tests cut to interviews of those that were there. I sat with my mouth open the whole time, wanting to believe that what I saw was fake. I just… you have to see it.

6. The Interrupters.

I saved this one for last. Because it is happening on home turf. Want a bold inside look at what Chicago’s real problems are with youth violence? Then you have to see this. Forget Obama’s speech and gun law regulations. This will help you understand why none of that will work. I have never seen a filmmaker get closer and more raw honesty then this in Chicago. It is DVD only, but so worth it.

Me, Age 5. The Purple Pickle Song.

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 15:26:00 -0500

Me, Age 5. The Purple Pickle Song.

Giant homemade strawberry angel food cupcake for my hunny....

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 20:14:53 -0500

Giant homemade strawberry angel food cupcake for my hunny. #valentine

Photo

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 20:05:34 -0500

Foggy city. #chicago #architecture (at The Magnificent Mile)

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:26:03 -0500

Foggy city. #chicago #architecture (at The Magnificent Mile)

betype: Greatness (by estheticcore)

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 16:09:05 -0500

betype:

Greatness (by estheticcore)

Amaze. (at Mangrove Tunnels Kayak Tour)

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:28:39 -0500

Amaze. (at Mangrove Tunnels Kayak Tour)

It’s my first ever made from scratch cake. Lemon Vanilla...

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 19:36:22 -0500

It’s my first ever made from scratch cake. Lemon Vanilla w/ light whipped. It’s so pretty!

betype: HAPPY NEW YEAR 20123 2012 - Can’t say I’m sorry...

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 17:55:14 -0500

betype:

HAPPY NEW YEAR 20123

2012 - Can’t say I’m sorry to see you go. A challenging year full of equal parts wonderful and equal parts suck.
Here’s hoping for blues skies in 2013.

Ah yes, this will be my sunset view tomorrow. Can’t wait.

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 14:53:04 -0500

Ah yes, this will be my sunset view tomorrow. Can’t wait.

My instagram love affair with the “foot shot”

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 21:49:49 -0400

My instagram love affair with the “foot shot”