Aroha Photography » artistic lifestyle portraiture.

I will let you into a little secret as long as you promise not to tell my kids.

I HATE EATING VEGETABLES – there I said it. And it’s the honest truth, I really don’t like them, They are boring to eat, chomp chomp – I get sick of chewing lol…. they are annoying to prepare, and they are just blah to the taste in my opinion. I don’t believe they make my hair curl, I don’t believe they will put hairs on my chest (cos who wants that) or any of the other lies I was told to force me to eat them as a kid. But I do believe when organically grown – they are good for you , so I eat them. But given the choice – they would stay wilting in the refrigerator before I would be forced to throw their molding form out. Perhaps it’s not so much about the taste and perhaps it is more about preparing them, I’m a hateful, lazy cook.

So..

We are juicers in this house, all of us. Most nights we sit down to a pitcher/jug of green juice on the table and it is loved by all, even the 5 year old downs at least one full glass with the audible sound of yum afterward. And that’s good news to this mama. Of course I usually prepare other vegetables to go with the meal but I don’t worry too much if they are not all eaten because I know we are getting this good stuff in a glass.

I have a couple of favourite recipes I use but this is the standard one.

3 green apples and 1 golden delicious. (sometimes I just use 4 green)

2 stalks of celery (I hate the stuff usually but I’m okay with it in juice and I know how many awesome micro-nutrients it provides)

2 romaine hearts

1 cucumber

2 bunches of spinach

6 or so kale leaves

and half a lemon.

run it through the juicer and voila – it tastes a little like green lemonade. I makes about 4-5 glasses and when I see the ingredients piled up in my sink after I have washed everything – I know for darn sure there would be NO WAY I would sit down and eat all that green. But I crave green juice – I {aroha} the green in a glass.

Every now and again Mike finds AWESOME hotel deals and we find ourselves enjoying a little pampering for a modest price, and I giggle and feel all special inside.

Recently we stayed at the The Clarendon Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona and honestly, in all our travels this is my favourite hotel EVER!! The colours are so fun, and fresh, it definitely has a hip vibe going on. I loved the ambiance cleverly orchestrated by wonderful artworks, divine dining, helpful and friendly staff, and the amenities were great. I totally want to spend many more days soaking it all up and lounging around by the pool and the rooftop bar area.

ah yes … on occasions, I {aroha} pampering – don’t you?!.

I TOTALLY {aroha} street photography, but I’m not ballsy enough to just fire off images of strangers in the way that a true street photographic artist is, so I stick to my pseudo street stylz yo!…I’m a sneaky street tog.

Wikipedia describes street photography as

“Street photography is a type of documentary photography that features subjects in candid situations within public places such as streets, parks, beaches, malls, political conventions and other settings.

Street photography uses the techniques of straight photography in that it shows a pure vision of something, like holding up a mirror to society. Street photography often tends to be ironic and can be distanced from its subject matter, and often concentrates on a single human moment, caught at a decisive or poignant moment. On the other hand, much street photography takes the opposite approach and provides a very literal and extremely personal rendering of the subject matter, giving the audience a more visceral experience of walks of life they might only be passingly familiar with. In the 20th century, street photographers have provided an exemplary and detailed record of street culture in Europe and North America, and elsewhere to a somewhat lesser extent.”