This week I’ve taken a new step towards my attempt to eliminate plastic. I actually wrote to a company whose products I see regularly when I grocery shop at New Seasons. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up their products, labeled ‘organic’, only to put them back on the shelf and choose [...]
How often do we make resolutions we quickly abandon? It’s now April. Do you even remember the New Years resolutions you made four months ago? Maybe it’s time to check in. Let me tell you mine. I made two of them. Briena’s 2012 New Year’s Resolutions: 1. Slow down. I have a habit of taking [...]
Here are some things you need to know when planning a trip for Jamaica… 1. English is the primary language, although it’s next to impossible to understand the Jamaican dialect. Jamaicans are, for the most part, very friendly and will speak ‘American’ so that you can understand them. 2. US currency is widely accepted, especially in [...]
Heading to Jamaica? You don’t need much! Passport ATM Card/Credit Card Sunglasses Sun hat Sun screen (I used SPF 15 and was fine) Beach towel Camera Mini size Dr. Bronners (for washing clothes… you can bath in the ocean!) Toothbrush/paste Flip flops Water sandals (if you want to do any outdoor excursions) Beach bag to [...]
My friend Christopher Onstott, the photographer for the Portland Tribune, sent me the link to this video. How appropriate after my last blog post, the letter of concern I sent to Delta Airlines for endorsing a misleading campaign… Diet Coke for women’s heart health. Even if you don’t drink diet soda… or soda at all [...]
Dear Delta airlines, I am writing in response to my recent experience with your airline. My journey with Delta took me to and from Jamaica just last week. I had four flights from Portland to Jamaica and back. Your crew was very friendly, and in Jamaica the woman at the check-in counter, Simone, went out [...]
This advertisement was posted all over the Delta planes that carried me to and from Jamaica. Printed in the Delta Sky Magazine and rotating on the personal tv screens. ‘Diet Coke’ and ‘Heart Health’ should never be in the same advertisement unless it is a campaign to warn people of how un-heart-healthy [...]
Jamaica is known to be an extremely high theft/high crime country. I was warned of this before coming… by tourists and Jamaicans alike. (Just FYI, with a healthy dose of extreme paranoia lugging 10k worth of photo gear around, combined with staying in higher security areas, I haven’t faced any problems whatsoever.) Even tourist beaches are [...]
It was my first day waking up in Jamaican paradise and I was headed to work. ‘Work’. The wedding I was shooting was at an all-inclusive resort called Sandals Grande Riviera. It consisted of 15 restaurants, 7 pools, a gorgeous stretch of white sandy beach, exclusive Martha Stuart wedding themes, and hoards of overdressed western [...]
Mornings in Jamaica are the best. I awoke my first morning, after a gruelingly long red-eye flight from Portland and a 1.45 hour Jamaican time (equivilant to 3.5 hours American time) bus ride to my destination town of Ocho Rios (otherwise known as Ochi), to laughter. Beautiful belly laughter. It was calm and [...]
