julie weaver’s blog

If you are anything like me you try to keep up as much as possible with politics especially when it gets this close to one of the biggest Presidential Elections in history.   More than ever I find myself siding with both candidates depending on what the topic is.  Some issues are so skewed and confusing I’m afraid to answer either way thinking I might answer wrong.  I’m not going to let the cat out of the bag yet but let’s just say this is the first time I am not voting for the party I am registered for but I’m voting for the candidate I agree with on the important and controversial issues.

I’ve really been trying to study up on the current issues to help me make an educated decision and I stumbled upon one of the coolest sites.  http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html It’s actually a really fun tool even if it doesn’t help in your decision it’s a great conversation starter among friends and family.  There’s lots of these calculators out there and I don’t want to get into any debates about weather it’s biased or not but just take it for what it is.  What I really liked about this site was that if you click on the topic it will give you a good explanation of what it’s all about so you can make a justified decision on issues like “Kyoto Protocol”.  Sounds like the title of the next James Bond movie…..

And to top it off…….I can’t go without posting a link to last Saturday’s SNL skit with Sarah Palin

During one of my late night editing sessions I stumbled across this hilarious youtube video below. This video totally reminded me of the little bit of Spanish I learned from my first semester in high school!!!

Every one of us has “that friend” that tries so hard to speak Spanish on vacation in Mexico……Tim, this video’s for you!

Ok…so my husband and I watched this hilarious skit put on by Saturday Night Live last week…if you haven’t already seen it yet, it’s playing all over tv and the internet!  Thought I’d save you the time searching You Tube!!!

Whatever your political view, nonetheless, it’s pretty funny!!!

Last weekend at our “Get Tha Funk Out” retreat we were fortunate enough to be filmed by Christopher Lee of Onward Films who is a brilliant artist and videographer!  He did a fabulous job with our video and I wanted to post it up.  We had so much fun filming this, and I can’t wait to show you more of the images that we have…..STAY TUNED!!!!

So often I am asked to bring my camera along to outings or events with friends to capture the moments of fun, and i am always happy to. I think it is when I unexpectantly bring it along when I feel that creative freedom to do what I want…

Yesterday my family and our good friends, The Duque’s, headed to our annual beach day to San Clemente to just relax and enjoy the day. Although I worked 14 hours the day before (and was EXHAUSTED), I grabbed my camera at the last minute as I was running out the door.

I didn’t shoot much, but when I did, it was so much fun! It happened to be San Clemente’s Annual Ocean Festival, so we had a blast watching all of the sand creations being built, surf competitions, and walking around.

The pier had a Vintage Woody Car show on it and a really nice man offered his car for me to shoot a few frames of Tristan:

Katie:

11 going on 20….

RJ, Cole, & Katie…fishing on the pier:

I have been so bummed that we are not going on our family vacation this year, so it was really nice to be able to take this time to enjoy the day with my family. It is times like these that I am humbly reminded of how precious these moments are and how lucky we are to have the family and friends that we have!

As most of you may already know, Cole is our only son, and my husband, Aron has been WAITING for the day that he can teach him responsibility in doing chores….AKA yardwork!!! We have always had a gardener to mow our lawn because it literally takes Aron a good 3 hours each week to tackle this chore, but recently he diverted back to tending to the lawn himself….and bringing Cole on as his little helper.

It has always been hard for me to decide whether our kids should receive a monetary allowance for these “chores”. As a kid myself, I had a set list of chores I had to complete every weekend before I could play with my friends. I also got allowance for doing them.

While we are firm believers of learning responsibility and earning a reward for them, we also feel like our children shouldn’t be totally driven by money as their reward…on the flip side of that, it is fun to see our children save their money and finally buy something themselves and feel proud that it was earned entirely by them alone.

We do give our children a small allowance for doing chores, but they put it in their savings accounts, and they love to go online with us to check their accounts to see how much they are saving!!!

Well, I kind of went a little off track here, but I just really wanted to show off my little boy helping out his daddy on Sunday morning!

He is so proud of himself!!! And so are we!!!

It’s getting HOT!!!

Aron and I had such a blast in Vegas at WPPI. We were exhausted from absorbing so much information, but the networking and friends that we made along the way was absolutely priceless. I love this time of year when we get to go. It always brings new inspiration to carry throughout the year as I photograph amazing weddings and fun new children’s shoots!

I kinda blew it with taking pictures along the way….but only have a few to share! More next year!

My darling husband, Aron!

My friends, Lauren Hillary and Sara France. By the way, their Super Swanky Soiree was sooo much fun! Thanks, girls!

One thing to remember in Vegas: don’t get hypnotized! I thought it would be fun at the time, however, when I “woke up” I was exhausted and had to leave the BLU domain party because all I wanted to do was sleep!

I guess I was flexing my muscles in this shot….yes, I am a little embarrassed!!!

At [b]ecker’s par-tay…always so much fun and fun to catch up!

Can’t wait until next year! Good times!

O.K photographers….so if you haven’t checked out becker’s [b] school blog, check it out! He has really been so helpful with his video clips filled with suggestions on everything from shooting… to taxes… to attitude…everything! It was fun to reminisce when I watched his slideshow from his [b] party from last year in Vegas. Every year at WPPI since I can remember he hosts a private party that blows the doors off any party i’ve been to there! Check out the slideshow!

You rock, becker!!! See you in Vegas!!!

Exciting news! My fabulous clients, Tommy and Lisa,  entered a wedding giveaway contest with the wickedly talented and generous  Blue Orchid Design and has just found out they are finalists!  Please check out their story here and cast your vote!!!  They are an awesome couple and I am looking forward to shooting their wedding this July!

Good luck, guys!!!

Friends are so important in my life…sometimes when I am feeling overwhelmed, it is nice to unwind with friends. Luckily, we have very good friends who live in our neighborhood, and it’s very common for us to grab a babysitter to watch our kids (they love it!) and go downtown to our new favorite place, Casa 425 in downtown Claremont. It is such a great little boutique hotel to just hang out and relax!

Aron, me, Kary and Tim

This weekend I am doing some very sexy and fun boudoir shoots there…think Maxim. It’s my Valentine’s Day promotion!  It’s not too late…I am taking appointments for next weekend, too!  Call me!  It’s very classy (yet sexy) and soooo much fun!  I encouraged my clients who were interested to get some friends together to cheer each other on!  Even better, you already know me as your photographer, and this is another chance for us to hang out (NOT literally!!!) and have fun!!!

Think:  Champagne w/ fresh rasberries, chocolate dipped strawberries, brie and crackers, more champagne…itunes…. lots of laughs…I can’t wait to hear how their husbands or fiances LOVE their Valentine’s gifts!!!

Stay tuned, I may be able to blog some!!!