Where's Our Focus?

A few days ago, my husband read an excerpt of this blog post by Perry Noble to me and it was very challenging (in a good way!) So often our focus in life can be on the wrong things, which is the cause of so many of our problems.

Image by my husband, Jonathan Zajas

Consider these thoughts...

If I focus on my abilities, I will always feel overwhelmed and inadequate…if I focus on WHO God is and WHAT He has done, I will feel confident and secure. 

If I focus on what others say about me, I will feel either pride or pain…if I focus on what God says about me, I will feel appreciative and thankful. 

If I focus on what the world says about money, I will most likely be broke…if I focus on what God says about money, I will be blessed!

If I focus on what the world says about problems, I will be in a constant state of worry and stress…if I focus on what God says about problems, I will see they are nothing more than opportunities to know and see Him for how great He is.  

(Where Is Our Focus? (10 Gut Check Ideas!) by Perry Noble)

These are just a few of the 10 points that he makes, so please click on over to his blog post to read the rest.

"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." - Matthew 6:33

When we place God first, and focus on him (and not our problems, other people, the world's opinions, etc.)...then we have absolutely nothing to worry about. He will always take care of everything we need.

So, I encourage you (and myself!) today to evaluate where our focus is. And if our focus is on the wrong things, then let's do something to change that!

With Love,
Tiffany

DIY Autumn Wreath

Hey there, friends!

I hope you're all having a lovely Friday so far! It's a gorgeous day here in Franklin, TN and I'm excited that it's starting to feeling like fall outside! Autumn is always the beginning of my favorite time of year. It's so cozy and comforting and is the perfect introduction to the Christmas season (which is the most wonderful time of year!)

There's something about this season that makes me both want to make something crafty and to work to create an inviting environment at home. So, last weekend I thought I would combine both of those desires and make an Autumn Wreath for our front door!

I searched the aisles of Target and browsed online for Autumn wreaths to purchase, but I just couldn't find one that I liked. After looking at lots of Autumn craft ideas on Pinterest, I was inspired by these two wreaths to make one of my own!

Here's the finished product...

I didn't take step-by-step photos of the process, but it's pretty easy to do!

This is what you'll need:

• Wreath form - I used a large straw wreath form, and left the plastic wrapping on it
• Yarn - I used 1.5 skeins of yellow yarn (but my yarn was a little thinner than some, so you might be able to get away with less)
• Felt - I used two large sheets of the stiff felt that was next to the not-so-stiff craft felt. (haha, I'm not sure what the technical terms are...maybe you veteran crafters can correct me?)
• Hot glue gun
• Hot glue sticks
• Scissors

1. Take your yarn, and hot glue the end to the back of your wreath form. 
2. Wrap the yarn around and around and around. (This step can be very time consuming...approx. 2 hours...so I found it helpful to watch something delightful, like Newsies, while I was wrapping away.) Don't worry about being too perfect with this. My perfectionist self was way too precise to start off with, but as I went along I got more lazy and it still looked about the same.
3. Continue to wrap until your entire wreath form is covered! You may have to cut the yarn and re-glue a new piece, and that's okay! Just make sure to always glue on the back of your wreath form.
4. Take your stiff sheets of felt and sketch out a leaf. Cut out that leaf, and then use it as a guide to sketch out a bunch more!
5. Cut out your leaves.
6. Hot glue your leaves onto your wreath.
7. Voila! You have yourself a neato Autumn Wreath.
8. Pat yourself on your back and go hang up your wreath smiling with satisfaction at a job well done!

Here's a glimpse out our doorstep. It looks much more welcoming than when we first moved in, which makes me happy. 

Husband bought me those yellow mums yesterday. I love them! 

Now all we need are some pumpkins...and a welcome mat! One like this, perhaps? Welcome mats are yet another thing that I have a hard time finding ones that I like. They're either blah, not our style, or too pricey. I may just have to make my own!

If you have any questions at all about making your own wreath, please don't hesitate to ask! And if you make your own, I'd love to see! Feel free to post a link in the comment section.

Have you made any Autumn crafts lately? Please do share.

Happy Autumn Day to you!

-Tiffany

How to Turn Impossible into Possible

As I was sitting on the couch sipping my coffee this morning, my mind was bombarded with cares and situations that I (foolishly) felt I needed to figure out on my own. Phone calls I needed to make, details to work out, planning to be done...God, I don't know how this is going to work out!

And then God quieted me...and led me to read Hebrews 11.

I grabbed my Bible and quickly flipped the pages. In the moment forgetting what Hebrews 11 was all about, I read the first verse:

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." - Hebrews 11:1 NIV

Continuing to read the chapter, tears started streaming down my face as I was reminded of all the seemingly impossible things that God has done, simply because his people had faith that he would do it.

"Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." - Hebrews 11:6 NIV

God wants to do the impossible in our lives, but too often our doubt, worry, and lack of faith get in the way.

"'You don't have enough faith,' Jesus told them. 'I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.'" - Matthew 17:20 NLT

"God can do anything, you know--far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!" - Ephesians 3:20 MSG

I know I'm not the only one facing an "impossible" situation. So, what's yours? Remember that God is the ultimate expert of making the impossible, possible. All we need to do is surrender, trust, and have a little faith. :)

With Love,
Tiffany

More thoughts on faith here...

Chattanooga Getaway: part 2

Earlier I shared with you part 1 of our Chattanooga Getaway for our four year wedding anniversary (that my husband so sweetly surprised me with!)

Here is part two!

On the second day of our time in Chattanooga, we woke up and went back to the Bluff View Art District (seriously, one of our favorites places!) for breakfast at Rembrandt's Coffee House.

We absolutely love this place! They have the best mochas!

And their breakfast sandwiches are AMAZING! Looking at these pictures right now is like torture right now, because I now have a major craving for them. So good!

Every time we're at Rembrandt's, it makes us feel like we're at a little coffee shop in Europe somewhere. It's definitely worth a visit (or two, or three.)

After breakfast, we drove over to Cleveland to pay a visit to our Alma Mater, Lee University! It was so fun getting to play tourist and snap lots of photos of this place we love. We even went to the gift shop and bought t-shirts! hehe

We felt so sentimental walking around the campus. So many of our first memories together took place right there (including the first time we met, and Jonathan's proposal to me :) Not to mention many great memories with friends.

Here's the Student Union, where we spent hours upon hours studying and not studying.

This is the Dixon Center, which was my home away from home. This building houses the campus theatre, and is where most of my major classes were held. The majority of my time at Lee was spent in this building.

The Music Building was Jonathan's home away from home, as he spent most of his time here.

Davis Hall was the dorm I lived in my freshman year.

Here Jonathan is in the approximate spot where Hughes Hall (his first dorm at Lee) used to stand. They tore it down recently to make way for the new Science Building.

Speaking of which...here is the new Science Building! We had a chance to go inside for the first time, and it was very impressive!

We then jumped in our car and drove by Carroll Courts, which is where we lived our first 10 months of marriage. The apartments look kinda ghetto, but we made it cozy and nice...and we made lots of wonderful memories there!

We also drove by the house we lived in our 2nd year of marriage. This was also the home that we brought Maxo home to. (Excuse the foggy/blurry picture...we didn't want to be too creepy to the people currently living there, so I just snapped the photo while we were driving by.) :)

After our little trip down memory lane, we went to downtown Cleveland to Cafe Roma, which is a favorite.

Their chicken salad sandwiches are THE BEST I've ever tasted! Also, their sweet potato fries and dipping sauce are THE BEST I've ever tasted!

Their tomato basil soup is also superb. Mmmmm...so good! If you're ever in Cleveland, you'll want to add this place to your list of restaurants to try. Do it!

Once our bellies were full, we walked around downtown Cleveland some more and popped into another one of our favorite spots to get a drink (it was a little toasty outside!)

Gardner's Market is also a favorite of ours. Their sandwiches are great (as are their muffins...and coffee!), but my absolute favorite thing there is their blackberry lemonade. It's the best lemonade I have ever tasted. No lie.

We walked around some more...and oh, and look! There's the church we got married at!

Back in Chattanooga, the next thing on our agenda was to go to the movies! The Rave is our favorite theater...it's HUGE, and clean, and has very comfy seats (not to mention, they give free refills on their large drinks, which is always a plus in my book.)

We arrived to the theater a little (or a lot) early, so we walked around and had fun looking at all the movie posters.

bahaha! :)

At the end of the day, we crashed back at our hotel and got to watch the sunset over the Tennessee mountains. Another perfect day.

The next morning was time to head back home. But we couldn't leave without going to Rembrandt's again for breakfast!

It was an amazing and much needed couple days away together. Thank you, husband, for this wonderful surprise! I'm excited to celebrate decades of anniversaries with you.

Chattanooga Getaway: part 1

Hello strangers!

I think it's about time I posted another blog post. So here you go!

A month ago, Jonathan surprised me by planning a getaway for our 4th wedding anniversary (July 28th). He planned everything and made all of the reservations, and all I had to do was pack my bag and get in the car. I was SO excited, to say the least. :)

The two-night getaway he planned was in Chattanooga, TN...a city that is near and dear to our hearts. Having met at Lee University in Cleveland, TN we spent a lot of our dating and newlywed years in Chattanooga. This was a chance for us to relax and revisit all of our favorite places together.

The drive to Chattanooga from Franklin is absolutely beautiful. Even the drive there brought back many memories of our early years together when we'd travel to Murfreesboro and back to visit with Jonathan's family (or to visit each other during school breaks before we were married).

Upon our arrival, the first stop was to our absolute favorite pizza place, Lupi's Pizza (located on Broad Street in downtown Chatt.)

Everything about Lupi's is amazing. The atmosphere, the service, the locally grown ingredients, and of course, the pizza! I hope this will come true soon!

Every time we go to visit, we ask them when they're coming to Nashville. They always tell us it's in their plans to come our way soon.

One of our favorites to order there is ground beef with feta cheese and fresh basil on the side. Delicious!

Our next stop was to check-in and get settled into our hotel. Husband got an amazing deal on a two night stay at The Chattanoogan. It was wonderful!

After getting ready for the evening, we walked around the Bluff View Art District. 

We spent our first wedding anniversary in Chattanooga as well, so we thought it'd be fun to try and recreate some photos we took from that day. 

2008 - One Year Wedding Anniversary

2011 - Four Year Wedding Anniversary (only I forgot that the '08 photo of husband was taken in front of the brick wall instead of the ivy...oops! But these spots are right next to each other :)

2008 - One Year Wedding Anniversary

2011 - Four Year Wedding Anniversary

Good times!

For dinner, we went to another favorite, Tony's Pasta Shop and Trattoria, located in the Bluff View Art District.

One of my favorite things there is the bread they serve before hand. They bake it with whole garlic cloves right in it. I normally pick out the cloves themselves, but it leaves such a unique garlic taste that most garlic bread seems to lack. And they serve it with olive oil that has fresh parmesan cheese in it! Score!

I normally get the Chicken Tetrazzini, but this time I decided to try something new and go with the Baked Pesto Chicken Ravioli. I was not disappointed! I'm not sure which one is my favorite now, because they are both so good.

Jonathan got the Chicken Parmesan, which he was a huge fan of.

To wrap up our night on the town, we walked around the art district and beyond some more...got some ice cream (at The Icecream Show)...reminisced...and just enjoyed our time together. It was perfect! 

Thank you, Jonathan, for such a wonderful anniversary celebration! I am so thankful and blessed to have you as my husband. I love you so much!

Stay tuned for the rest of our Chattanooga adventure...