Rising Tide Society Styled Shoot Cancer Survivors Louisville-1.JPG

If you haven't heard of the Rising Tide Society, I'd love to introduce you! Their mission is educating and empowering creatives to thrive in the spirit of community over competition. I love being part of a group that seeks to encourage. Being part of the Louisville Tuesdays Together group has helped me immensely as I've started my photography business.

Last week, we got together to collaborate on a styled photoshoot - all to celebrate women who are currently fighting or have won their fight over breast cancer. Interacting with these women and hearing part of their stories left my heart feeling full, with a reminder to be grateful in all circumstances. Here's a peek behind the scenes!

#carbs = ultimate photoshoot fuel. Starbucks was kind enough to donate coffee to support the project - how cool is that?

The makeup artists did a great job bringing out the beauty of all our models!

We shot in a historic Louisville home with so much character! From this chandelier to the curves of the marble fireplace - this place had a personality all its own.

We even had our own little mascot for the day.

I could photograph beautifully arranged goodies like this all day, every day and be happy. It was so inspiring to work with women who volunteered the talents of their craft to make this project possible. The signs, embroidered items and jewelry were all loaned for the shoot from local businesses linked at the end of this post (go check them out!). The models loved getting to pick out jewelry for each outfit. You're never too old to play dress up.

Thank you to all the talented creatives that contributed to celebrating these beautiful, brave women. Here's to a Saturday well spent.

Credits ("@" indicates their Instagram handle): Event Planning/Coordination: VSIEvents; Styling: Creme Brands; Hair: @gg.on.hair; Makeup: marykay.com/mgossom; Photography: Merri Jack Photography, Laura Cook Photography, Chelsey Nelson Photography; Jewelry: Sincerely Quinley; Watercolor Sign: Maizie Clarke; Hand-lettered wood sign: RileyandKo; Handmade Embroidery: Thistle and Thread Design.

We ventured down to Florida and Mississippi last week, so I wanted to share a few highlights of our trip, including adult lunchables and pretty to-go coffee cups, courtesy of Target's clearance section. It's about a 12-hour drive from Louisville to Tallahassee, so we had plenty of what I like to call "talk time". My husband Derrik happens to be my favorite person to chat with, so those 12 hours were well spent :)

Here's what I'm calling an Adult Lunchable - see above. Did you love eating those kids Lunchables with the cracker sticks, delicious fake cheese and turkey squares? As a child, I firmly believed they were the best thing Publix had to offer, which is saying a lot given my love-love relationship with the place.

Part 1: Tallahassee, Florida

We were fortunate to stay with friends during our trip (such an awesome way to catch up, and eat wonderful food when your friends are such good cooks!). This trip was full of good food. Side note - I'm realizing I really like parentheses. It's like letting you into my internal dialogue. Ok, moving on!

Did I mention this trip was full of good food? It's fun to go back to where you used to live and enjoy your favorite foodie spots while you're in town. At least that's how I justify it! ;) That Chai Latte was from RedEye Coffee - a shop Derrik and I frequented when we were dating. Such good memories! That amazing looking pizza was from Blaze Pizza, a chain we'd been wanting to try. We ordered the BBQ Chicken pizza and added roasted garlic and Siracha for a little kick. We went back later that week and ordered it again because it was that good. I'm glad we have a Blaze Pizza in Lousiville because 12 hours would be a little long of a drive to satisfy that craving!

I had to get a picture of these beautiful dogs while we were at RedEye Coffee.

“It’s so FLUFFY!”

— name that movie

Part 2: Mississippi Gulf Coast

The second leg of our trip took us to Mississippi to visit friends and family for Memorial Day weekend. We were able to celebrate Derrik's mom's birthday while we were in town, and continued the trend of amazing food. One of my favorite activities we did was walking down cute streets in Ocean Springs. Fashion boutiques, candy stores and bakeries? I can get behind that!

#carbs for the win.

After going to church and walking through downtown Ocean Springs, we relaxed on the porch where Derrik's mom has a cute area full of healthy plants, including these little succulents, evidence of her green thumb.

A birthday celebration wouldn't be complete without birthday cake! My mother-in-law always goes to a certain bakery in her town called Anderson's for every occasion that requires cake, which I think should be nearly every occasion! Every time I taste something from that bakery, I'm reminded why she's so loyal to it (she ordered our Rehearsal Dinner desserts from Anderson's and they were a hit!).

Part of the birthday festivities involved a legit master-level buffet. We tried to sample foods we wouldn't normally order when we go out to eat, so we took full advantage of the crab legs!

We rounded out the trip with a stop by Derrik's old stomping grounds: the University of Southern Mississippi. It was neat to hear his stories about college there, and feed off his excitement to be back.

I had two photoshoots while we were down south, one which was posted last week (see here), and I'll be posting the second this week, so stay tuned!