amazing stop motion video!

Hello friends!

I hope you all had an amazing weekend! My weekend was mostly spent in bed and on the couch resting and recovering from being sick. But all that downtime has paid off and I'm now feeling soooo much better! :)

Lately I have been fascinated with stop motion videos. A couple of weeks ago, I shared the stop motion Amazon Kindle commercials that I'm so in love with right now. And today I want to share this amazing post-it note stop motion video:

hehe, I love it! I think part of my fascination has to do with the fact that my dad used to make stop motion videos all the time. On many of our home videos you'll find short stop motion segments of our toys moving around and interacting with each other their own, us kids appearing and disappearing out of thin air, and even a Happy Birthday sign drawing itself. He was always so creative when it came to our home videos.

Hope you're having an amazing day!!!

-Tiffany

have a happy weekend!

Hello friends!

I hope you're having an absolutely amazing Friday and that your weekend continues to be just as amazing (if not more so). I don't have any big plans for this weekend, except for trying to rest and get over this sickness that I've acquired over the past couple days.

Being sick isn't very fun. Actually, it's quite boring. But whenever I'm feeling under-the-weather I try to find joy in the simple things.

A couple things I've been enjoying the past couple days while sick are...

Orange Creamsicles. Husband brought some of these home for me the other night, and they have been great for soothing my super sore throat. Mmmm...I love Orange Creamsicles. They remind me of kindergarten.

Gilmore Girls. Ah, I love and miss this show. I've been watching a few Gilmore Girls re-runs over the past couple days. I can't get over the wittiness of the dialogue between those two. Jonathan says it's exhausting...but I love it!

What are some simple things that bring you joy while you're sick? 

Have an amazing weekend!

-Tiffany

favorite things: blogs

I love blogs. And the blogs that I really love are the ones when I read them I feel inspired and the urge to be more creative. I don't always have the time to read them every day, but when I do have a chance there I have a few go-to blogs that are my absolute favorites.

And now I'm going to share a few of them with you! :) Aren't you excited?!

A Beautiful Mess

A Beautiful Mess is written by the super-multi-talented Elsie Flannigan. Her blog is one of the most creative things I have ever discovered. She's a designer, entrepreneur, artist, craft guru, etc. Her posts are filled to the brim with so much crafty eye candy it makes me drool. 

images property of A Beautiful Mess

Rockstar Diaries

Rockstar Diaries chronicles of the life of Naomi (a.k.a. Taza), her husband, and their bulldog Kingsley. When I first stumbled upon this blog I fell in love with the fun optimism that was in each post. Naomi shares photographs and stories of all their fun daily adventures, and you can't help but feel like you know them personally after reading a few pages (and I like to imagine that Kinglsey and Max would be the best of friends if they met in real life).

images by Leo Patrone

The Pioneer Woman

I'm sure most of you have heard of The Pioneer Woman. But in the chance that you haven't, I simply must share this one with you. The Pioneer Woman is the mother of all blogs (in my personal opinion). Ree Drummond is a blogging legend...she started her blog by just sharing stories from her life on the ranch with her  husband and kiddos. Now, her blog has turned into quite the phenomenon. As a result, she has now published her own cookbook (her recipes are AMAZING!), has written her love story which she is turning into a book, and already has movie deal which is rumored to be starring Reese Witherspoon!

I could spend hours scouring the many pages of her blog. She shares everything from daily confessions, recipes, photography tips, homeschooling resources, and more! 

images property of The Pioneer Woman

Promise Tangeman

Promise Tangeman is a designer, crafter, artist, and photographer. Her blog is another one that is just full of beautiful inspiration. I love all of her designs and her DIY and 5 Things I Love posts are some of my favorites. She's so talented in everything she does and her sweet spirit is really evident in all of her posts.

images property of Promise Tangeman

So, there you have it--some of my all-time favorite blogs! I hope you go and check each of them out and leave feeling inspired.

What are your favorite blogs? Feel free to leave links to them in the comments below. I love discovering new fun blogs to visit!

Lots of smiles,

-Tiffany

our vacation (part 2): key west

Our vacation recap continues! Yesterday I shared all about the cruise and the fun that we had on the ship. And today is all about our first port: Key West, FL!

When we first ported in Key West, I wasn't extremely excited about it...because we've been to Florida on numerous occasions. But once we got on shore and started exploring, I absolutely LOVED it! Key West has this charming feel of an old beach town. There were tons of shops, piers, and beaches to explore...and we couldn't get enough of it! We walked around for hours and hours just taking in the sites.

When we first got off the boat, it was extremely humid. So when I pulled out my camera, the photos turned out like this (because the lens was all fogged up). haha!

When you're on vacation, you absolutely must act like a tourist. It's a requirement, really. So of course we had to stop at these head cut-out things and get some pictures.

While exploring, we came across this cute little beach house. I told Jonathan that when we get rich and famous we should buy this beach house as our winter home (and of course we'd get a house in Maine as a summer home...it would only be right). I mean, c'mon...isn't this house adorable! Look at those teal shutters! And the double decker porch! *sigh*

Look at this little lizard! He's so cute!

He was pretty excited to see us as well.

We were thankful that we could almost always see the tail of our ship. It helped us not get lost. :)

After walking through the streets of Key West, we then spent some time at the beach. It was so pretty and calm. There was hardly anyone there!

Right next to the beach was this beautiful wooded area. Doesn't it look like something out of a fairy tale? I think it would be an amazing location for an engagement or bridal session...or for a wedding!

I'm convinced I have the greatest husband ever. He even carries my big teal bag for me when my shoulder gets tired. :)

Farewell, Key West! You are beautiful.

Looking at these pictures makes me want to go back! It was such a good day.

Next I'll be telling you all about our stop at the Bahamas!

Hope you're all having an amazing day! :)

-Tiffany

sneak peek: joy + jeremy's state fair engagement session

Last night husband and I had the amazing opportunity to go and photograph Joy and Jeremy's engagement session at the Tennessee State Fair. This engagement session was F-U-N! We all had such a blast, and the night was full of laughter, smiles, and lots of playing. 

I have many more images of this gorgeous couple to share...but for now, here's a little sneak peek for you...

I mean, seriously?! And Joy told me that they weren't very photogenic. Psh! Hogwash! (Who really says "hogwash" anyways? I just typed it, and it felt right...so I'm gonna go with it.)

Thank you Joy and Jeremy for allowing us to capture this fun night! :)

Lots of smiles,

-Tiffany

our vacation: CRUISE!

As I mentioned last week, our vacation was absolutely amazing! I took lots of pictures and now have them ready to show you! Since there's lots to tell and many photos to share, I'm going to split this up into three posts this week: Cruise, Key West, and Bahamas.

(Disclaimer: I only pulled out my dSLR a couple times during vacation, so many of these photos were taken with my trusty point-and-shoot. Sometimes I find that when I lug around my "real camera" on vacation taking photos seems more like work than fun. And that's where the point-and-shoot comes in handy! :)

Our vacation started out by making the drive to Jacksonville, Florida where our ship was embarking from. Road trips are always fun...especially when shared by a certain Jonathan Zajas. He makes even long drives enjoyable. We passed the time by singing every childhood song we could remember, looking for crocodiles and armadillos beside the road (we only saw one...and it was sadly dead), and drinking McDonald's iced coffee. 

When we arrived at our port, we were amazed by how big the boat was! This was our very first cruise (we used Carnival cruise line), so we didn't really know what to expect. 

Once we went through the long process of checking in, we were very excited to be on the boat at last!

See? Don't our faces just scream excitement? (Jonathan's face, quite literally screaming.)

The first night, it was soooooo windy on the top deck. I really thought I was going to be blown away. 

This was our stateroom on the ship. It may look tiny, but it was actually quite perfectly comfortable and cozy. And it was ALWAYS clean. I felt like every time we left our room, we'd come back and the bed would be re-made and everything straightened up. The staff on the ship did nothing but excellence in all that they did. 

The view from our window. It was so amazing to wake up to this every morning. We even saw dolphins outside our window once!

One of our favorite things about the cruise was the complimentary room service. This cruise was all-inclusive, so we didn't have to pay for any food! We'd place our order for what we wanted for breakfast outside our door each night...and we'd wake up to hot coffee, pastries, and fruit brought to our door. Perfection!

Most days on the ship were spent like this. We would lay out on the deck facing the ocean, read our books, sip on an endless supply of soda, nap, and just relax. 

At night we would freshen up and go eat in the dining hall. You could order as many things on the menu as you wanted, and Jonathan and I got to try things that we normally wouldn't...I tried veal for the first time and Jonathan had his first lobster. Everything was yummy!

After dinner we would walk around the decks of the ship and watch the sunset. It was absolutely beautiful.

When we returned to our room each night, the room would be all clean again and our bed would be turned down...and a little towel creature would be perched at the foot of it. I loved being surprised by which animal they would come up with next! All in all we had a walrus, polar bear, crab, elephant, and scorpion. The elephant was my favorite. :)

They would also place a schedule for the next day and some chocolate mints on our bed each night. They always had so many fun activities going on each day. We only went to a few, but we did get to see the world's fastest juggler! No photos or videos were allowed, or else I totally would have shared it with you guys. He was pretty amazing.

Have I mentioned that the complimentary room service was one of our favorite things? Because it was. Oh yes it was. We would often order hot chocolate and cheesecake for a late night snack. So bad...but oh so good.

We would highly recommend a cruise to anyone who wants a stress-free vacation. It was so nice to have everything all paid for up front and to just be able to go and relax...and not worry about where we were going to go that day, or how much we would spend on dinner. It was perfect.

Next I'll share all about our adventures at each of the ports. First stop: Key West!

Lots of smiles,

-Tiffany