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Love is Love – Thoughts on Marriage Equality…

Kelli & Janet's Wedding

Over the past 5 years, I’ve photographed well over 100 weddings. All of them were special days, full of love and joy. ALL of them. It didn’t matter if the couple was the same race, the same religion, or the same sex. Why should it? LOVE is LOVE.

I can honestly say though that I never cried more happy tears of joy for a couple than when I photographed Kelli & Janet’s wedding. It simply overwhelmed me that two people so in love, coming together to form a family with their children, were denied the legal rights to do so by the government because of the PTSD her husband suffers from. Hopefully however the outcome will change as they hired this legal team to assist with their situation – Veteran Mental Disorders | Veteran’s Disability Lawyers

I understand people’s moral issues with same sex marriage, even though I do not share them myself. The solution to this seems so simple. The government allows for civil unions, which are legal in nature only, and beyond that – get married in a church. If you have a moral issue with it, be a member of a church that shares your beliefs. This beliefs can turn into marriages, but sometime in divorces also, if you need divorce lawyer then click on https://tiffanyfinalaw.com/scottsdale-divorce-lawyer/. Settling a child custody dispute in mediation benefits everyone in the family. But unfortunately, it’s not always possible to reach an agreement in mediation. The case may end up in court if one or both parents are unwilling to cooperate or negotiate. If this happens, the judge will establish a parenting plan on behalf of the parents. If your case winds up in court, you will need an aggressive attorney to fight for a favorable outcome that is in your child’s best interests. If you are a parent who is facing a custody dispute in Tri-Cities, contact the experienced attorneys at Pacific Northwest Family Law as soon as possible. Our child custody lawyers will aggressively pursue a favorable outcome that is in the best interests of your child. We know how much is at stake in a child custody dispute, which is why we are committed to achieving the results you desire. You can see this site for the best Tri-Cities child custody attorney.

If you know a lawyer, ask him/her for a referral to a good divorce lawyer. He or she will probably know someone or several someones who devote a significant portion of the practice of law to separation and divorce and related issues. For example, I have been handling separation and divorce for 30 years and have an excellent reputation among the local legal community. Any divorce attorney worth his/her salt should have established a reputation among other lawyers. Lawyers generally know who is good for a particular type of case; they certainly know who they would see, if they were facing separation and divorce. You can check over here for more about the divorce attorney.

If two people care about each other and want to enter a commitment for life, to share their life together, to effectively enter a contract binding themselves to one another, why would we stop them? If you are involved in an accident whose occurrence was due to failure of another party to take reasonable care, the first step that you should take is to hire a personal injury lawyer. This will help you get compensation for the physical, mental, and emotional injuries you suffer due to the accident. However, for this to be possible, you will need to hire an exceptional attorney with all the relevant skills, experience, and knowledge to take on your case. Unfortunately, you cannot find such lawyers in any other law firm. They are only available in distinguished Manhattan Personal Injury Law Firm ASK4SAM. There are many law firms specializing in personal injury law. Nevertheless, there are those that stand out from the rest because they possess certain qualities, which makes it easy for them to win cases. When you are involved in any type of accident or have an injury, these things are always unplanned by their very nature. In the initial shock and confusion of the situation, you may not always really have time to think about protecting your rights or how you will be able to pay for your medical bills and time away from work. This is why it is so important to get proper legal representation when you are involved in a personal injury case: A personal injury law firm focuses exclusively on helping people in this situation, and they will be taking the burden of worry about compensation and protecting your rights off your shoulders. Why a personal injury law firm? The answer is simple: These attorneys are experts at what they do. They have spent years working with clients, negotiating with insurance companies, and going to court to fight for fair compensation for their clients. The fact is that the insurance companies have one goal in mind when it comes to negotiating settlements: They want to pay as little as possible. An insurance company who is dealing with an individual who has no legal representation at all will generally offer a far smaller settlement than they would offer if they were dealing with a personal injury law firm. The reason that a personal injury lawyer can get so much more in the way of compensation is that the insurance companies want to settle as fast as possible, and they do not want to tie up a lot of time and money in courtroom proceedings. Nearly all cases that are taken on by a personal injury lawyer will end up with a very favorable settlement for the client, because the attorneys know exactly how to leverage every advantage that they have to get the most possible compensation. The personal injury law firm makes it very clear to the insurance companies that they are there to protect the rights of their client and to get fair compensation for medical bills, time off work, and for pain and suffering related to the personal injury. The law firm will be the ones who do all the negotiating. In fact once a client has received their full course of medical treatments and have recovered enough to return to work as normal, the law firm will even compile all the medical bills and paperwork necessary to show time missed from work. The client never has to negotiate or to fight with the other party in the case or with the insurance adjuster: This is where the personal injury attorneys do their best work, and where they truly earn the money that they will get. One of the big advantages to hiring a law firm is that such firms do not generally require any payment at all up front. The law firm will instead agree to wait for payment ( a portion of the settlement) until the settlement is negotiated. Once the case has been settled, the personal injury lawyer will receive their percentage of the settlement as payment for their services, and the client will receive the remainder. Even when taking this percentage for legal services into account, the settlements for clients with an attorney generally are far bigger than clients who try to negotiate on their own.

I believe that you should be free to do whatever YOU want to do with your life. As long as you aren’t forcing your beliefs on me, committing a crime that will injure or kill someone – do whatever you want. A same sex marriage only impacts me in the sense that it gives me hope that we are moving to a world of even greater equality, one where everyone is accepted for who they are. It allows me to witness some fantastic marriages of some amazing couples. It gives me hope that people can live their lives out loud, instead of hiding their love in secret.

A celebrity being married for a month and then getting divorced has a far more negative impact on the perception of marriage than a same-sex couple’s marriage,hiring a divorce lawyer davenport ia or they should just hire Uncontested Divorces to get it done secretly so the whole world does not find out.

I hope that the Supreme Court is able to view the current hearings on same-sex marriage, Prop 8, and DOMA with open eyes. (I couldn’t help but laugh as I read The Onion’s satire piece on this, “Why are we even talking about this?”)

Love is love. Stop the hate. Marriage equality for ALL.

(If you want to see more of my photography, here is the rest of my post of Kelli & Janet’s wedding. It was a magical day!)

Day 4 of 365. Photograph taken with my Canon 5D in Dayton, Texas.

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One Last Freeze Before Summer Hits…

The Birds

I was just complaining last week about how soon summer is going to be here and how hot it is going to be … and now we were under a freeze warning for Houston last night and I’m snuggled in bed under two blankets to stay cozy and warm.

Yes, I am amused.

Day 3 of 365. Photograph taken with my iPhone on October 11, 2012 in Austin, Texas.

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After the Fire…

The Burnt Trees of Bastrop, Texas

My friend Kelli Nicole asked if anyone could help her drive to Austin one day to buy a used car last October. I happened to not have any sessions that day, so I volunteered and we headed west for a quick trip to test drive and purchase a new-to-her Subaru.

I hadn’t been through Bastrop since the year before, when the wildfires of 2011 caused so much damage. It was shocking to see the formerly lush forest as just these blackened, charred remains of the trees that were left behind.

The drought isn’t over yet; while we’ve had some rain, they are still forecasting that it could rival the state’s worst dry years. We’ve had such a mild winter, I’m not looking forward to the summer. It will be here soon, and the mild winter means more mosquitos and other bugs.

It isn’t just the wildfires that are a concern; the parks here in Houston have also had a huge loss of trees. Lost habitat for animals. Lost shade for the people in the parks. Lost pieces of the eco-system that we need.

Day 2 of 365. Photograph taken with my iPhone on October 11, 2012 in Bastrop, Texas.

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In Memory of Mona, 1 Year Later…

In Memory of Mona

A year ago today I had to make the decision to let Mona go. Choosing to have her put to sleep was such a hard, hard thing to do. I know without a doubt that it was the right choice, she was 17 or 18 years old and so frail and ill. In the end, all she wanted to do was sleep on my bed. She was a great cat, and an excellent companion for 12 years. I’m glad she chose me that day that I found her at the adoption event at the local pet store.

When I adopted her, she had large bald patches of fur. They told me it was because she was allergic to the flea medication they had given her, but I learned later that she pulled her fur out when she was stressed. I didn’t care that she had the bald patches, I wanted her anyways. We had a special bond.

When March started, I realized that it had almost been a year. I recently bought a new phone, and as I backed up the photos on the old one last week I had to go back and look at these photos.

I realized as I went through the photos to find this one that I have a lot of photos I’ve never shared here. So many photos, just waiting in the wings.

I think it is time to start sharing them again. No particular order, just sharing the photos that I love and the story behind them if there is one. Something about thinking about Mona made me realize that is important to me. All those little moments in life that are worthy of being captured in a photograph — I want to set them free. Whether they were taken with the iPhone or my “big” camera, it is time to start featuring them here.

Thank you, Mona. Thank you for being my loving cat. There are still moments where I think I see you out of the corner of my eye – not often, but it happens at times. I like to think you’re still looking out for me.

Day 1 of 365. Photograph of Mona taken with my iPhone on March 24, 2012 in Houston, Texas.

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Pretty Custom USB Drives…

Pexagon Tech Review - USB Thumb DrivesAs soon as I purchased my MacBook Air, I realized it was time. Time to give up the DVD drives, because the computer companies have started to give up on them!

Can you imagine how annoying it would be to a client to be given a DVD when they don’t have a computer that uses them? When was the last time you put a DVD in your computer, other than to watch a movie? (If you even do that using a DVD? I’m a Netflix and Amazon Prime user, myself.)

So I gave up DVDs and changed instead to these super cute custom USB thumb drives. I’ve really loved working with Pexagon Tech! They offer a huge selection of USB flash drives, both in thumb drive format and larger drives. (And nice packaging options too!) No minimum order – you can order as few or as many as you want. Custom engraved or printed depending on the style you choose, with no set-up fee. How cool is that?!?

And the best part?!? You can get them for 25% off using this link to Pexagon Tech and the code PHOTOFLASH9 — and if you hurry, you can get them for 40% off between now and December 1, 2012 using the link and the code CSCW54DW7 — hurry!

These are obviously great for me as a photographer, but I can think of so many other options too! Are you a writer that has to share projects with clients? Maybe you do PR and need to give clients proposals and documents on USB drives? Or you’re a mom and you want to order these for your kids? A blogger who wants to put her press kits on them? The ideas are endless!

I chose the square wood drives along with their black luxe fabric box for the wood drives, all from Pexagon Tech.

I’m giving them two thumbs up, 5 out of 5 stars, and a perfect 10 out of 10. I’m so thrilled with them!

(You can read more about my review of these drives, plus see more photos and get more packaging ideas, here: Why I ditched DVDs for USB flash drives and you should too | Business of Boudoir.)

Christine Tremoulet - USB Thumb Drives

What would you use your custom USB thumb drives for? Tell me in the comments below!

Disclosure: The links in this post are affilate links. If you use them to make a purchase, I will receive a small commission on the sale. I use this money to keep my cupboards stocked with nice dark chocolate, preferably from Vosges, with bacon and sea salt.