This is going to be a trip of a lifetime for the 5 of us at Tiptoe! We have been planning and prepping for this trip for months! And THIS Friday we are hitting the road, off to NYC! We are visiting B&H photo store to do some major shopping! From the videos and websites I have researched, this is like the ultimate photo store on the East Coast!! And I am going to feel like a kid in a candy store!! Ahhh!! We will keep you all posted on social media this weekend with all our adventures... Well most of them! LOL!! 
Real Life
Crazy busy season is here, sorry we’ve been MIA on the blog!
We love, love, love this time of year! It's getting warmer, the trees are starting to bloom and we are getting sooooo busy. I'm talking like, I may not see my family until mid to late June busy! The weekends are filling all up! So I wanted to show everyone some of my favorite images from everything I have been doing lately, and make a big announcement for the month of May for our past clients!! Da...da. da!!
Yesssss! That is right!! If you are a past client of ours and you are ready for your spring shoot May is the month!! For the month of MAY you will receive your whole session as copyrights with the purchase of one of our packages! It's like having your cake and eating it too!! #bestdealever #soexcited But like I said earlier we are getting so super booked up so please call soon to schedule your session! 
Isn't he the CUTEST... Look at that little rotten face!! LOVE HIM!
Love this precious little girl!
This is one of our Tiptoe families that we've gotten to shoot for their lifetime! We started with the parents engagement to wedding to maternity to newborns of their 3 gorgeous boys! Love this!
Gahhhh, so pretty! We did some headshots for this little model! 
We were so excited to be chosen as the studio for the Harpers Ferry Basketball team photos this year! What a fun and great week we had meeting all the parents and coaches and letting us host you in our studio!! 
This girl was the happiest and most pleasant little girl! Adorable! 
I had the best time shooting with my niece, Lilly and her friend for her sweet 16th birthday! These girls had me cracking up with all their fierce-ness!! LOL!
Spontaneously Combusting!!
It is almost Valentine's Day. One of my FAVORITE holidays, and to keep up with tradition, Tara and I dressed up our little ones and MADE them do a "couples" shoot. Yes... we just pimp our kids out like this every year. We swear one day we will be sitting at their wedding, and these pictures will be the most adorable thing EVER! But until then...
Each year it gets a little harder, the kids get a little older, and the days leading up to the shoot we really have to bribe them to do it for us! I'm really wondering if next year, they will put their foot down and just tell us NO! Even though once the shoot actually starts they have a BLAST with each other. Like seriously, it's a play date! And OH MY GOSH give them a fake flask and a pair of sunglasses and our kids turned into little actors! Pursed lips, rock and roll signs and even the whip and nae name! I love these 2 ... They are such balances of each other, Liv is an ambitious and assertive girl, and Gabe is the laid back, go with the flow boy!
I just love these little humans! And I hope you all love their little shoot! Happy Valentine's Day (a couple days early.... if I would've waited, I seriously might have combusted) 
Who is loving the SNOW?
So to any of our Tiptoe people who are local know that we just got hit with the biggest SNOWMAGGEDON we have seen in quite some time! While many people around here are all upset about being stuck inside, I live for days like today where everything is beautiful and white outside, it's not windy, it's fairly warm, and has just the perfect even lighting there is. So my poor Olivia realllllllyyyyyy didn't want to go outside for pictures but I traded her letting me take some pictures of her for an ice cream sandwich! I WIN!! WOOO HOO!! Enjoy some of our snow day fun!! 
It’s beginning to look a lot like….
Christmas is almost here! And I just want to give a huge,huge shout out and THANK YOU to our loyal clients! We love you guys! We have had another AMAZING year. We have grown leaps and bounds again this year! Thank you all for believing in us and thank you for being so loyal! We cherish YOU all (and all of your babies!!) I know we all say it all the time but it really is the best thing in the world to get to see you all each year! We love to see the babies grow up! We are so happy to say that we now have a big handful of families that started with us as an engagement shoot, to the wedding, to maternity, to newborn, to first birthday, to baby number 2! We also have one family that started with us as high school seniors then all the following!! How amazing is that, we have literally seen them grow and now they are raising babies of their own! There is nothing more we could ask for out of this business! When we started Tiptoe, we said that our ultimate goal was to be LIFE photographers to our loyal families, to be there to capture all the important times in their lives, and now we can say we have done this (and want to continue to do this) for some! Whenever I get to feeling like, man my workload is really getting to be too much (like this very busy holiday season right now, lol) I think about this and it makes me be forever grateful that this is the way I get to spend my life, capturing others most meaningful times in their lives. What is more important than the images of your wedding day or your perfect newborn baby? And for Tiptoe to be the one you trusted for those memories is EVERYTHING to us! Thank you again, and again, 1000 times!
So Merry Merry Christmas to you all! And we can't wait to see you again in 2016!! 🙂
A Family of Besties!
This past Sunday I finally had the pleasure of getting a very special group of people in front of my camera! I actually went to school with Adam and Suzanna (waaaaayyyy back in the day, lol!) but it wasn't until a few years ago, when our sons went to Wee Disciples, together that we really connected. The boys became fast friends and as soon as our daughters met, it was 2 for 2! Needless to say, Suze, Adam and their family soon became some of our closest friends!
Our kids honestly play together just like siblings and it even becomes a little bit difficult to tell all of these blond haired, blue eyed children apart at times! We have gotten to share lots of fun experiences together from rainy, 8am soccer games and two and a half hour long little league baseball games to (crowded!) visits to the pumpkin patch and even an awesome beach vacation. We love the time we get to spend together and since everyone has a companion, it makes it even more enjoyable! (Well, except for Paige, the youngest Brady; I wasn't willing to add a little Showen counterpart for her to become best friends with; Instead I just love on her any chance I get!)
So, after bribing everyone with candy, we set off and got a few shots! Enjoy these few teasers from their session!
An adorable outtake: (I think this is a strong contender for the Christmas card, Adam & Suze!)
And the actual shot I was going for:
Shopping with me at IKEA!
So if you are a close friend of mine... you know what a sucker I am for IKEA. All those IDEAS, all those PROJECTS.... I love it. Although often times I go there stock up on everything I need for 30 different projects and come home and do 2 of them! So this year I tried to pull that back and concentrate on 3 projects TOPS for my trip.
So this post is for any of our followers who have never been to IKEA before, I wanted to give you a couple of our favorite Tiptoe tricks, tips and to do's while you are there! 
1st- Know what you need- I would suggest concentrating on a certain room in your house or 1-2 projects because you will go there and want to try everything! Start with the catalog and make a list! Also a good tip is to have all your "stuff" measured out before you get there, so you don't have to call your husband 50 times to have him measure for you (mine always gets pretty annoyed with me, LOL). Here's my catalog and notebook!! 
2nd- If you have to bring your young kids, it's OK!! They have child care! But keep in mind it is only for 1 hour at a time, and it depends on how busy they are that day! So Olivia and Tre have both accompanied me there, so I always take them through the showroom and to lunch with me and drop them off at childcare during my time in the marketplace (when I need to be able to concentrate, lol )
3rd- Schedule- So if you are a first timer I would allot yourself a good 4 hours to get through it all! Here is the way me and my girlfriends always do it! 1. Bathroom- go ahead, you don't want to get half way through the maze and have to go!! 2. Showroom- where you get to see lots of rooms already put together, and draw inspiration from them. If you see items you like there write down the item name and location in the marketplace, so you can find it! Tip: there is also an app now that helps you locate items in the Marketplace. There are only a few items there that you can actually put in your cart in the showroom. 3. YUMMY lunch at the IKEA cafeteria. I usually add the caprese salad, TRY IT, yummy! 4. Marketplace- where I fill my cart! You wind your way through all the different sections from kitchen, bathroom, office, closet, fabric, lighting and finally the warehouse where you get the larger items and furniture. 5. Checkout- pretty self explanatory, don't forget to get some swedish fish!! LOL! So comical! And go ahead and buy that .99$ bag for your items, you will find so many home uses for it too!! 6. Frozen yogurt - yes there is a little counter where you can buy some before you leave for 1$!!! 
4th- Wear comfy shoes- This is pretty obvious too! But you walk a lot. Also their carts are FUN and take a little getting used to! My biggest tip is to try to keep your body behind the cart when you are walking!
Check out this video on the carts!! LOL!!
5th- Bring a BIG car- LOL... This is always something we do! Because we all say we are going in there for a couple things and come out with 20!! LOL!
Some of our fun pics from our last trip there! I hope you all enjoyed! And let me know if you are planning a trip soon! I may NEED to go with you! LOL!
Rabies Warrior
I'm now one (very huge) step closer to working side by side with wildlife, but this time rabies vectors included. In another month, this girl will be able to take on racoons, skunks, bats, fox, and more! Maybe that sounds more scary than exciting to you, but for me, it's one giant step towards experiencing a lifetime of excitement and adventures with the amazing variety of wild animals the east coast has to offer.
The preventative Rabies vaccination comes in a series of three intramuscular injections. The first and second are one week apart and the last shot is about one month after the second. (I've got two more to go, Lord help me.) I HATE needles. And that's an understatement. I walked into the Public Health Department for my injection last week, nervous smile, heart beating like a little mouse, and boyfriend in tow. No way was I doing this solo...no intense hand holding? No one to make sure I don't hit my head on something when I faint? No one to roll their eyes at me when I start tearing up? That's not how this Ande gets her shots....There's either a hand to hold or it's not happening.
The injection was actually the best (if there is such a thing) needle related experience I've had. Just a little poke and it was over! I was very pleasently surprised, because I've read about how painful the injection can be. About 12 hours later I realized why it was said to be such a painful injection. For a solid 24 hours, it felt like someone had used that one area of my arm as a punching bag. Can't wait for round two this week! lol
One last note...Because I care about you guys...If you see a wild animal that appears as though it may be injured or suffering from a disease or virus like Rabies, first, take a step back and contact your local Wildlife Center (closest to Jefferson County is the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center-they're awesome). Let them guide you in what you should do. Their guidence can be crucial for your safety and the animal's wellbeing. ALWAYS make this your first step, because if you get bitten by a rabid animal, you have to get a series of five shots AFTER the series of three shots. That's a total of eight shots that all make you feel like a muscley, 300 lb. man used your upper arm as a punching bag. Not to mention, the post-exposure injections that will save your life will also cost you almost $20,000. So be smart!!
First preventative injection down! Two to go. Watch out all you little cute rabies vectors, I'm coming to help rehabilitate you!<3
Stitch Fix-ed
Years before Tiptoe was founded, Lisa, Jennifer and I had 1 very specific thing in common...we were shopaholics. And I mean, like 3 shopping trips a week, shopaholic! Of course, this was before we had kids and had a LOT more free time on our hands but that is pretty much how we cemented our friendship...by spending copious amounts of money on shoes, purses, clothes, accessories, jewellery...together!
Years passed and we now have 6 kids between the 3 of us so the shopping trips have pretty much narrowed down to NEVER. I can't even motivate myself to get out of my workout clothes most days so I have turned to shopping on the Internet. I shop the Internet a little too much, my husband would say. I say the happiest days are the days when UPS stops at my door!
When I heard about Stitch Fix, I was absolutely fascinated. I honestly wished I had come up with the idea myself and I knew I had to give it a try! Here is how my experience went:
I created my Stitch Fix account and filled out the style profile. It was super fun and super easy! You give them your sizes as well as clothing preferences and can even request specific types of items for your Fix. (For example, I wrote in that I was looking for a fitted, grey utility jacket for this fall. You'll see...) You can even attach one of your fashion Pinterest boards for them to refer to! So, that Pinterest closet that you have been building and lusting over for the past few years? They can make it happen! You can also choose how often you would like to receive a Fix. Since I was just trying it out, I decided to sign up for a single box. You can even set it up like a subscription and receive a new Fix monthly or on dates that you have pre-selected. They charge you a $20 fee when they ship your fix but that $20 is credited toward whatever you decide to keep from your Fix. They send out 5 items that are chosen by a personal stylist picked for you. They even include style cards that suggest ways to dress up the items chosen which is super-convenient.
In the few days before my box arrived, I had a little bit of anxiety about it! What if I hated everything and wasted $20? What if I loved everything? Was I really prepared to drop a few hundred dollars on clothes for myself right after spending a small fortune on school clothes and supplies for 2 kids? Because when it comes to something shiny and new, my willpower SUCKS...but so does mommy-guilt!
When that box finally arrived I am not at all ashamed to say that I was as giddy as a kid on Christmas morning! I have always said that packaging is a huge component to selling a product and have been known to purchase an item based solely on how attractive that packaging is. When I saw the Stitch Fix box, I got a warm and fuzzy feeling; the box itself was so damn appealing, lol!
It took me all of 5 seconds to tear into that lovely box to get at the goodies inside! So, what did my personal stylist (Allison) choose for me? Check out the first look below...
Ok, the only things in this picture that already belonged to me are the shoes, bracelets and (of course!) the Fitbit. As soon as I pulled the necklace out of the box I knew it wasn't my style. I prefer more delicate jewelry and this was a little costume-y for me. I loved the jeans and they were a perfect fit but since I have several pairs that are similar, I passed on them and their $88 price tag! I neither loved nor hated the shirt. It was a bit on the conservative (boring) side in my opinion and I am not a huge fan of the Dolman fit. However, the more I looked at it, the more it kind of grew on me.
On to look number 2...
The first shot is the dress they sent me without any embellishment...not a winner in my book. However, when I paired it with boots and a jacket that I already owned, I didn't hate it at all! Again, this dress fit pretty perfectly (Allison was on her game in that department!) and I loved the detail and color. You can't see it here, but the back had a zipper in the neckline. The one thing holding me back from loving this simple and versatile dress was the neckline. It was a bit too high for my short-necked self!
On to look 3...
Earlier I mentioned that I had requested a fitted, grey utility jacket for my Fix. This was what they sent me. It was very comfortable and again, fit perfectly, but it was just not fitted enough for my taste! For the right price I would have kept it for a more casual look but at $108 it wasn't worth it if I wasn't totally in love!
Sooooo, what do you think I kept? What do you think I should have kept? I am pretty curious to hear what you think so leave it in the comments for me and I will fill you in after I see what you have to say!
All in all, I loved my Stitch Fix experience and I will absolutely do it again very soon! They say that your boxes get better and better as your stylist starts to become familiar with your style through seeing what you keep and what you send back. The check out process was also very convenient; you go online and tell them which items you are returning and why they didn't work for you. You are simply billed for whatever items you do decide to keep (with your $20 credited toward it!)
So for all of you ladies out there who do not always have the time to head out to the mall, give it a try and let me know what you think!
-T
Hardwood problems!!!
So as lots of you all know, we have been in our house for almost 2 years now. When we decided to build, first thing my husband and I did was search the internet high and low for a house plan, I mean we literally spent hours and hours searching for something that was going to suit us for the rest of our lives. We knew the house that we were going to build was going to be our FOREVER house so it had to have all the "things" we needed from a home. Our main priorities were a first floor master bedroom, so that when we get too old to walk the steps we didn't have to worry how we were going to get to the 2nd floor, seperate closets for him and I, I don't think I need to explain too much there (LOL), a space for the kids outside of our living room, a garage, and an island in the kitchen. Not to much right?? Well it was! LOL... Finally after a long, long time of looking, we found the perfect set of house plans for us! Now a harder part, finding a builder that was going to build a great house and not be over our budget... So after meeting with a few companies we went with Third Day Builders. They are a local company and after viewing several of the beautiful local homes they had built, we decided they would be a great fit for us! And for anyone who has built a home before you know that just when you think you were getting to the easy part, because nothing should be more difficult that deciding on a home and finding the perfect people to build it, you find that you are spending every waking hour deciding on cabinets, knobs, countertops, doors, trim, colors, ahhh the list goes on and on... And me being a terrible on the go decision maker, I would want to go and see all the options and weigh out how each one would "go" with the other, then wait a couple days to see if it still felt "right", until it literally was driving me nuts... But the one thing that I knew I was sure of was dark oak hardwood floors! The decision for that came so easy!! And now 2 years into that decision, well lets just say, it was not one of the "smartest" ones I made. Don't get me wrong these floors are beautiful when they are freshly cleaned, but with our busy, busy lifestyle, mopping honestly only happens once a week! And even when it does happen they only stay sparkling for about 3 seconds, because here comes baby Tre with his sippy cup that leaks, and goldfish crackers, that are way funner to stomp on when he drops them, than to pick them up and eat them. Ahh big sigh, there goes my clean and beautiful hardwood floors... LOL! The best things I can take from my easy decision of the floors is that "we live and we learn" and they won't be babies forever, so enjoy every last goldfish crumb I have to sweep up....
-L