jonathan's birthday celebration!

Last Saturday we had a Jonathan-and-Tiffany-day-o-fun in celebration of husband's birthday. Here in the Zajas home, we tend to make a big deal of birthdays (for example: husband's birthday last year)...we like to make a whole day (or weekend) adventure out of it. So that's exactly what we did!

I thought that this special occasion deserved a picture of us together...that didn't involve holding the camera out at arms length. So, I set up the good 'ole tripod and used the timer to snap a few images of us together. (which is harder than it might look...especially when you're a perfectionist.)

Our celebration began by me surprising Jonathan with breakfast in bed. I made biscuits and homemade sausage gravy for the very first time...and not to brag or anything, but it was delicious! And pretty easy too. If you like yummy breakfast food, you should try this recipe by Pioneer Woman for sure. Also, it was Jonathan's first time ever having sausage gravy! I couldn't believe it. And he ended up loving it, so that was a win!

After a morning of taking it easy, watching some cartoons, and playing video games...we went to Jonathan's favorite sub shop, Jersey Mike's, for lunch. I'm getting hungry just thinking about that sandwich. It was GOOD.

When we were finished with lunch, we headed over to Opry Mills to go and see a movie. Jonathan loves going to the movies (well, I definitely do too), so this was a special treat! We love going to the Regal cinema because we get to use our Regal Crown Club Card...and that card earns us free movie tickets, popcorn, and candy! It's not a credit card or anything, just a rewards card that earns you points and gets you discounts and freebies. I'm all about that! :)

Next stop: Dave & Buster's. If you've never heard of Dave & Buster's, it's pretty much like a Chuck-E-Cheese's but for grown ups. We ran around playing skee ball, air hockey, target shooting, racing, and a Jurassic Park game (which was my personal favorite.)

I got us $20 of free game play at Dave & Buster's just by signing us up for their rewards program! We didn't even use all $20 worth of tokens, so we have those for next time we decide to go. :)

I asked Jonathan if this would count as #57 in my 101 in 1001, but he said no. Oh well.

After we were worn out from playing so hard, we walked over to Barnes & Noble to browse through the books (mostly business related books...we're such nerds.) Then, we went and got some steaks for dinner!

It was a pretty fun day together...and I had a great time celebrating Jonathan's existence. :)

And as though that wasn't enough, we also had Jonathan's family over on Monday night (his actual birthday day) for some chili, cornbread, and homemade icecream cake.

We take celebrating very seriously around here.

happy birthday, husband!

Happy Birthday!

...to the most incredible man in the world,

my bestest friend,

my sweet husband.

I'm extremely thankful you were born and that you exist!

I'm so blessed to be the girl who gets to make a big deal out of your birthday

--out of each year of your life.

Happy 25th!

I love you so much, Jonathan!

our valentine's celebration.

Since Jonathan had Monday off from work for President's Day, we decided to celebrate our Valentine's then so we could spend the whole day together! My sweet husband loves to plan these surprise day dates for us...so I had no clue what we were going to do. I love surprises. :)

Our day started out nice and slow...we had coffee, ate breakfast, and played Wii Sports Resort together. :) When it was time for lunch, we headed to my favorite spot, Baja Burrito. We both got their briscuit burritos with street style corn. Yep, probably the best food ever! While we were there, Jonathan commented "How many pictures can we take of us eating burritos at this place?" hehe, is that a challenge my dear?

we documented our day together with our trusty point-and-shoot. :)

After our scrumptious lunch we went to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts! We've been wanting to go there for a while, and it was one of my 101 in 1001 goals (which is now crossed off, yay!) The Frist had a really cool exhibit called "Heroes" which featured ancient artifacts from Greece that had to do with mythology of Greek heroes. We loved it. It was awesome.

Next stop: Sweet CeCe's of course! For Valentine's my parents sent us a thoughtful gift certificate to go to our favorite sweet spot. Our tummies were happy!

We then went to the movies (which is one of our favorite things to do together...we love the whole theater experience!) Jonathan was so sweet and sacrificial and agreed to go see a chick flick with me. We saw When in Rome, which was cute, fun, and light-hearted.

To finish off the night, we got Cheesecake Factory (another one of my favorites) to go! Since our very first Valentine's Day together (which was 5 years ago...wow) we've always dined in for our celebration...and I love it! Makes for a less-crowded more quiet time together.

It was such a fun day spent with my best friend. :)

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day, President's Day, and entire week! I really can't believe that this week is almost over already...time is flying by way to fast these days.

Happy Weekend everyone!

girls getaway 2010.

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the One Heart Ladies Ministry's Girls Getaway. It was a time of fellowship, relaxation, and pursuing God and the dreams He has placed in our hearts.

I got to meet and spend time with so many wonderful women...

Shelayne McDaniel is our Ladies Director for the Assemblies of God here in Tennessee, and she did an fantastic job putting together and hosting this event. I absolutely love her and her heart for God and for ministering to others. Tracee Davidson (our Girls Director for TN) did an amazing job leading us in worship during each of the sessions.

We were so excited to have Debbie Lindell (Lead pastor's wife of James River Assembly of God) and her daughter Savannah with us. Debbie was our main speaker for the getaway, and it was such a blessing having her there to share her heart and to speak into the lives of the women there.

Nancy Alcorn (the founder of Mercy Ministries) also spoke, and it was incredible getting to hear her testimony and see how God has used her to drastically change the lives of many girls. I highly encourage you to go check out their website and to consider donating to their mission.

Just looking at the photographs from those few days gives me goosebumps...it was such life changing, encouraging experience! For me personally, God really renewed and confirmed in my heart some dreams he has given me for ministry. I'm so excited about it! :)

If you missed out on this event, don't you worry...this summer (July 8th - 10th) we're having a girls conference at the Embassy Suites in Murfreesboro, TN featuring Lisa Bevere as our main speaker. If you would like more information on this, please shoot me an email at tiffany [at] zajas [dot] com and I'll keep you posted when we have more information!

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined." - Thoreau

giving our friends the grand tour of Nashvegas.

This past weekend some of our bestest friends from college (Thorne, Laura, and Lauren) came to visit us here in Nashville. It was so great having them here and getting to hang out non-stop for a few days while showing them around our new city.

During the course of their stay we took them to some of our favorite spots to eat (because really...the best part about visiting a new city is discovering new restaurants!) We went to: Urban Flats, Sweet CeCe's, Baja Burrito, and Demos'. Our tummies were happy, yes indeedy!

As we were driving through downtown on Saturday, we noticed a large sign outside the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum that said "FREE ADMISSION today only!" So, we just had to stop in and say hello to all the old country music memorabilia. Even though we aren't the biggest fans of country music, it was still very cool seeing a such big part of American history (and Jonathan enjoyed taking pictures of all the records, hatch show prints, and guitars.) :)

While we were together, of course I had to make sure we got some group photos! We're building memories, people!

It really was so great having them here. We're oh-so-thankful for the wonderful people God has brought into our lives.

I hope you all are having a fantabulous week so far! :)

valentine's mini session special!

It's that time of year again...the time for chocolates, and roses, and greeting cards galore! But goodies and treats aside, it's a moment to stop and appreciate our loved ones and the relationships we share (just like we should be doing every day.)

In an attempt to help make this day less about commercialism and more about the love you share, I'm offering a Valentine's Mini Session Special. What better way to celebrate your love (or friendship!) than to document this time you have together in photographs. Memories like these are priceless.

tiffany zajas photography

Valentine's Mini Session Special

$50 (that's 50% off the normal price!)

• 1/2 hour mini session
• online proofing gallery
• 2 of your favorite web-sized images (for Facebook, emailing to grandma, etc.)

Schedule your mini session by February 14th to receive this price! (Your session time can even be scheduled for a month or so from now...you just have to contact me by February 14th to receive the discount.)

This would be perfect for you and your sweetheart, your adorable child, best friends, or pet! :)

To schedule your mini session now click here!

If you refer a friend who then books a session and they mention your name, you will also receive a free 8x10 from your mini session!

Happy [early] Valentine's Day! :)

-Tiffany

LOST - answers?! [a parody]

As most of you probably know, last night was the season premiere of LOST (the final season!) We normally don't watch LOST until all the episodes have aired and it comes out on dvd...because we just can't handle the suspense and anticipation! But we're making an exception this season since it's the last one and all.

I don't know about the rest of you...but I'm still, um, LOST on what's going on! We have our theories and are very excited to finally (hopefully!) get some answers.

This LOST parody video made me laugh today:

the situation 2010: our snowed in weekend!

Last Thursday the weather guy was telling us that we were going to have a huge snow storm in Nashville over the weekend. We chuckled. While we were grocery shopping that night, Kroger was more crowded than we had ever seen it. We laughed then too. Schools were cancelling before a single flake of snow fell from the sky. We were rolling on the ground laughing.

Well, I guess the weather guy and his snow got the last laugh...because we sure did get a snow storm, folks!

Over the course of the weekend we got between 4-6 inches of snow and an inch of ice. This storm was so huge that Nashvillians started referring to it as "The Situation 2010." Needless to say...we weren't going anywhere anytime soon. I thanked the Lord that we had gone grocery shopping, and we settled in and got cozy for our snowed in weekend.

We made and ate homemade soup, played board games, baked cookies, played old school video games, watched movies and episodes of 30 Rock, played in the snow, and spent some much needed down time together. It was awesome.

We also attempted to go sledding down our driveway utilizing Rubbermaid lids and cardboard boxes...but needless to say, neither method worked very well. haha. But we still had an absolute blast! (as you can see in the point-and-shoot images below...hehe)

We were so thankful for this blessing of a snow storm! Tennessee never sees snow like this, so we were thrilled! Having grown up in Maine, this white fluffy goodness reminded me a lot of childhood...and it was great to reminisce.

What would you do if you were snowed in? (or, for locals...what did you do when you were snowed in this weekend?)

P.S. As you can see, Max doesn't look too thrilled about the snow. I promise he did have fun in it...but when it got to be almost as tall as him, he wasn't as excited about it.