There is nothing more that we enjoy than having a great time with good, true friends.  A few weeks ago photographer and friend, Ginny Corbett came into town to hang out with us!  We took her to some of the cool things that Franklin has to offer and then had a few other friends over who could make it for a barbecue!

Enjoy some of the images compliments of Ginny and our iPhone…

If you go to Nashville, TN you HAVE to drive 15 minutes south and have the best chicken that you have ever tasted in your life.  We’re not kidding :)  Maniac’s is AMAZING and the most exciting news we heard last time we went – they are starting to franchise!  At lunch and dinner times this place is so packed that you have to wait to get a seat.  So of course, we had to bring Ginny here… YUM!

Another great place that we took Ginny to is Merridee’s Bread Basket.  All their food is homemade and we LOVE their coffee!

Ginny came to church with us Sunday then afterwords we hit up Which Which…. mmmm love that place!  This is Ginny with her self-portrait on her sandwhich bag (thank-you iPhone).

Then we decorated bags to send to the troops!

Saturday evening we had a grill out at our crib (yes for those of you anxious to see photos of our new place you get a little glimpse here :).  Below on the left is Amber Ulmer (spouse of Josh Ulmer, both who make up Ulmer Studios :o) with their adorable daughter Josie, and on the right is Zach cooking steaks like a man!  aw yeah.

In honor of friends Heather & Eugene not being able to make it and bring their special rotel cheese dip, I made it… yum!  And on the bottom right we have great couple and also photogs, Mark & Noelle McCoy – we love these guys!

Zach… well, I honestly don’t know what he’s doing :)

Gotta love it when people get creative in putting their names on their cups…. Can you guess who is whose?

Thanks for coming Ginny and visiting with us and for actually bringing out your camera and taking photos!   :)

We will be joining with Ginny and other fab teacher and instructor Mike Larson up in the hills of Oregon in November for a 5 day photography AND spiritual workshop retreat.  Do NOT miss out!  For more information you can visit the For the Love Workshop Website.

Yesterday we tweeted that there was one household appliance that we have gone without for our entire marriage, and many guesses came in with only TWO people guessing correctly (way to go @RECDDesignz & @Jimmynotjim).

Now we shall share what we survived so long without…

Yes folks, this is an iron.  You may ask “if you went so long without one,  why get one now?”

Well, if you simply take your wrinkly clothes, throw them in the dryer with a damp cloth and let it run for a few minutes your clothes will come out wrinkle free! … this works for the most part…

We FINALLY decided to buy an iron because we bought 100% cotton sheers for some of the windows in our home and it was kind of hard to get them totally wrinkle free and our interior designer would make us feel shamed every time she came in and saw them hanging with wrinkles all over them….  alas, we gave in!

Look at me ironing!!!!!!!  woo hoooo!!!

Want to see the box??  oooooh, ahhhhh…..  Even has a RETRACTABLE cord!!!  Yup, you read that right!  We’re big time now!

Our sheers are 8 feet tall so you can imagine that a lot of the material hung on the ground as I was ironing… well guess who starting running and sliding into my freshly ironed curtains?  Yeah, you guessed it – our cat Star!  She was having a field day but I finally had to put an end to it with a conveniently placed water bottle threatening the tread of kitty paws that may desire to come near…  The little stinker!  I did have to grab a shot because the window light on her was killer.. ha ha… Doesn’t she look guilty??

Ah, it’s amazing the things we can survive without… Would definitely miss our dishwasher if we didn’t have that baby!  So, what is the ONE household appliance that you just can’t live without ?  Oooh tough question!!!! :)

Happy Friday!!!

The latest Friday Fun series that you will see here and there every few Fridays is inspired by our travels.  Every time we get on a flight to go to some beautiful exotic location (like Wisconsin or Indiana) we love to get inspired on our route by picking up the brilliantly designed, and most informative magazine ever created by human hands – Sky Mall.

Are you ready to make your life better?  If so, then read away!

Today we will be featuring an amazing tech gadget that every home should not do without – The Face Trainer by no! no!.  If you are in need of a little toning around the chin section, if you have bags under your eyes, if your forehead is a bit wrinkly, then this might just be the new toy you need! Ever wonder how Jody and I keep our youthful, glorious faces so tight and wrinkle free? Wonder no more. You would never know that we both once had skin hanging down from our faces and had to pin up our cheeks with duct tape. No! No! longer! Let us present to you our little secret!

Do you want to look as happy as the women in the picture above? Then give it a try! Only $149!

What is your favorite gadget from Sky Mall? Let us know about something that changed your life because we all want to share in it!

Don’t you just love things that make you smile?  We do too – hence our Friday Fun blog postings!

The other night when friend & photographer Ginny Corbett was in town we got on a little You Tube video watching kick and we were introduced to this little fella and so we wanted to share the goodness with all of you…

Love the passion….

Love the facial expressions…

Love the lack of correct words…

It’s simply adorable.

Little Awesome Kid covering Jason Maraz’ “I Am Yours”

You know how we are all about sneak peeks of the wedding and engagement shoots we do, well we thought that it’s high time we do a sneak peek of our new home!

To catch some of you up, we started looking at buying a house the beginning of the year and to make a LONG story short, we finally found the perfect fit for us and closed March 1st!  We showed one picture on our moving in blog, but have yet to show the final, moved in, and decorated house!  ….

Sorry, that’s not happening yet, BUT we do want to give you a little sneak peek into what we have been doing for the last 3 months to our home (thanks to our FAB interior designer, Colman Interiors). in the middle of our traveling and running a business and having lives, lol.

We are super pumped with how our home is turning out and we can’t wait for the official blog unveiling! lol.  It HAS been really fun having a place that we can call our own and do whatever we want to it!  Not to mention, actually having SPACE… it’s a beautiful thing and we are so blessed.

Thanks for sharing in our excitement with us :)

Zach and I have been married four and a half years and we still have date nights.  These are really important to us because it is so so SO easy to allow ourselves to get swept away into the busyness of life (especially with owning our own business).  There’s nothing better than making the effort to get out and do something different and have intentional fun with each other!

About a mile away from where we now live a carnival came into town, so we decided to go there the other night with our trusty ‘ol point and shoot camera (who wants to lug around one of our big ones?).

First, we were hungry so we paid $6 for an “Italian sausage” (so they said) but it tasted more like an Italian guy’s foot… we think it had been sitting there for awhile… it wasn’t that great :0/

Then, because it had been YEARS since I had had one, I thought I most definitely needed a CANDY APPLE!!

It was DEE-lish and got all stuck in my teeth and everything :)  I ate that bad boy up like Christmas dinner!

And of course, what’s going to a carnival and watching all the crazy people on the rides (yes, watching… not participating :) without a little popcorn goodness?

Watching everyone on the crazy carnival rides got us talking about making a trip to Cedar Point some time…. Oh my gosh, that would be SO fun!

Cedar Point is “The Roller Coaster Capital Of the World”  in Sandusky, Ohio and my family went there every summer growing up.  Now THAT place has some good (and safe, ha ha…) rides!

Ah, the memories!  I am a HUGE roller coaster lover (used to call them “rolley coasters” :) and I think it is definitely time to leave my stomach behind on some killer rides up North.

Check this video out of one of their roller coasters that have been added to the park since I have been!  Aw snap!!

If any of you want to road trip it there sometime… Oooh, maybe THIS summer! That would be a blast!  Roller coaster lovers and non-roller coaster lovers are welcome.  There is fun for all :)  Ha ha.

Ok, I’m done with my tangent :) Just got me excited there for a bit.  Lol.  Anyone else been to Cedar Point?  What’s your favorite ride?  Wanna go back?  I’m serious!  :)  For those of you who have yet to experience the goodness of Cedar Point, you need to.

I’ll leave you with our parting iPhone carnival photo…

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!

My wonderful mother, Eileen, just came to town to visit the Jodster and I for a few days last Monday! Mothers are awesome because not only do they give you life (you would not exist without them), but they are your mom for your whole life. They help you financially when you need it (even if you are twenty one years old :), they take care of you when you are sick, they teach you awesome things like how to walk, talk and be an all-around cool person, and they do all of this while sometimes working two jobs. That is my mom! She is pretty amazing and I was sooooo excited to have her here this week!!

My mom is also really cool because we like some of the same things. We both have a love for music, we are both people people, and we both love and ride motorcycles! Many of you may not know this, but I have been riding motorcycles since I was about 13 years old and have owned a few bikes in my day. Unfortunately, I sold my street bike about 5 years ago right before Jody and I got married. I did not sell it because I needed to grow up and get married, mind you, but rather because it was a 1980 Honda CB750 custom, and while that sounds really cool and retro, the bike’s days were numbered and she pretty much just fell apart on me. I got tired of working on her and gave up and sold her. Ahhh…. I miss that bike and have not really rode since.

So, on Wednesday, my mom (yes, who also rides and recently bought a new bike) went to the only rental place in town and got us a few two wheeled cycles! My mom got a nice and easy Honda 250 street bike, but I needed something a little more substantial. So, behold, all new for 2010, coolest bike ever made on the planet….. The FURY!

I rented this bad boy, put my super hot wife on the back, and had an absolute ball. I couldn’t help but wonder if everyone who saw us was staring at Jody, or the bike? Either way I felt pretty manly hogging up some sound waves and roadways on this puppy!

This 1300cc powerhouse sounds as mean as it looks too. It drives like a dream and is chopped out to a sick 6 feet in length. Oh, and this is a Honda. Yep, you heard that right! A Honda! Not a custom built chopper, or Harley, but a Honda (the guys that make the Goldwing touring bike for old dudes, you know?).

Check out some more hotness…

This last bike shown here, is the matte metallic silver custom job with red strip rims, and I want it bad!!

We cruised out to Leiper’s Fork and back (with the oh so cool Mark McCoy from McCoy Made and his Harley) and had soooo much fun! I miss being on a bike and can’t wait to get out again. I am thinking long and hard about buying one of these bad mama jammas!

Here we are just before we headed out! You can see the beautiful Fury right behind us!

A nice little action shot that Jody took with our point and shoot while cruising down the road.

Me and my babe!

Ah, good times!

Mom, thanks for the gift of loving motorcycles!

We love the west coast. We love the ocean, the palm trees the excitement of all the cool and different cities that are out there, but most of all, we LOVE IN-N-OUT Burger!

For some really lame-o reason they are no In-N-Out burgers anywhere near Nashville, so every time we are out on the west coast the first and last thing we always do is hit up the best burger joint known to man. Some of our friends out there, namely Jeff & Betsy McCue of La Vida Creations, happen to know how much we love it and miss it, so they sent us the best house warming gift that anyone could ever send! Paraphernalia from IN-N-OUT!

They sent us a hat, pencils, and even a guide to eating IN-N-OUT! It was soooo awesome! Now if they could just get a burger sent by UPS, that would be something! :) I wonder how we can incorporate this into the design of our new place? Hmmm… Maybe lick-able burger-flavored wall paper?

Thanks guys! You the best!

So, what is your absolutely favorite burger place of all time? Let us know and we might have to just check it out and see if it can hold a candle to IN-N-OUT!