zachary turns 28 :: nashville event photographer

september 9

that date has held importance for the last 11 years of my life. why? you ask? well,  z's birthday! and yes, even when we weren't talking for 4 years, i made a mental note on september 9 that it was z's bday. kinda crazy! i can't believe we've been together for 4 years already! this year, i wanted to do something a little different for his birthday. 

our life in nashville would not be nearly as amazing without a few close friends, so of course my plan had to include them! jason & miranda, david and carey, and jarrod & laura . 

ever since we've been here we have heard about kix brooks' (of brooks & dunn) vineyard out in the country. it's about a 30 min drive from nashville, and incredibly beautiful, or so i'd heard!  they have "music in the vines" on friday nights, free wine tasting, and a bunch of picnic tables where you can bring food to enjoy the atmosphere.

so, unbeknownst to z, i raided trader joe's cheese department, put together a bag of supplies and dropped it off at miranda's a couple days before the big event. i really wanted to pull this off without him knowing!  

we spent the morning lazily, in the early afternoon we went the mall, and z bought himself a few birthday presents (he's far too picky these days for me to try to pick out clothes for him...so he gets his own). then we meandered through the farms bewteen franklin and arrington, as we headed toward the vineyard.

these are just a few iphone photos along the way

         

                                                               

              

 here's the spread, the crew, and the memories! enjoy!

a southern experience

labor day.

all past labor day celebrations have usually consisted of family birthday parties for my grammy & me (and more recently, zach too), since we are the September birthdays of the family. however, this year was different. very, very different. after moving to nashville, our lives have turned upside down, in most ways for the better. but there are still those moments when it feels like it was for the worse. i gotta admit, i was a little nervous about labor day, i was fairly certain we would wind up on our couch, all by ourselves, and i would be a mess. HOWEVER...our amazing friends saved us from that dreadful fate! instead, we spent labor day weekend in jackson, mississippi with 2 of our dearest friends experiencing all things southern! 

we met david & carey in our small group from crosspoint.tv and were instant friends! they have 2 boxer/mix female pups, and we trade dog sitting back and forth (honestly, they watch our boys, far more often than the girls need it). the 8 of us (including the dogs) are fast friends, and i can't imagine life without them! carey is from mississippi, and asked if we wanted to join them for the weekend. it truly was a stereotypical southern weekend, we shot skeet, and had a fish fry, and rummaged through the junk in one of the back pastures, the dogs chased cows, i pet a cow, the dogs swam in the cow pond, and we worked on a bathroom re-do for her mom! it was a fabulous weekend! here are a few images from the weekends adventures!