Date Night: Young House Love Book Signing Adventures

Date Nights, Life in Love  //  29th November 2012

Most people’s idea of a date night would involve heading to a movie or going to a nice dinner. Don’t get us wrong, we definitely love both of these ideas, especially if the movie is the new James Bond movie! Ok, maybe Liz would prefer more of a romantic comedy but who’s to say James Bond isn’t romantic? I mean the ladies always seem to like him in the movies.

In addition to both of the before mentioned fine ideas for a date night, we also like to be creative and think a little bit outside the box when it comes to spending time together away from work. So when we heard that John and Sherry of Young House Love were coming to Georgetown as part of their book signing tour we knew it would be the perfect idea for a date night!  We don’t get to venture down to Georgetown all that often just for fun so this would be the perfect reason.  We ordered our copy of the Young House Love book (get your very own autographed copy here!), reserved our spots online for the Flor Book Signing event, and left early to head down to Georgetown.  And thus began our quest to meet John and Sherry and to get our copy of the Young House Love book signed! :)

We arrived at 6:25 thinking we would be five minutes early and not have any trouble getting in.  Ok, we actually left Baltimore well in advance but as is often the case, traffic was craaaaazy!  We should have realized though that everyone else was also trying to get to the book signing too! :) At least we could catch a glimpse of Sherry and John in the window on the second floor of Flor.

The traffic dashed our hopes of finding a fun spot to grab some food before the signing but fortunately Captain Cookie came to the rescue!  Flor was an AMAZING host and had arranged for Captain Cookie and his sidekick the Milkman to provide everyone standing in line with free cookies and hot beverages.

Mmmmmmm cookies! Cookies might just be my favorite treat! In fact, I actually had a cookie monster cake with a trash can full of cookies as my groomsmen cake for our wedding! Chocolate chunk and Peanut Butter are definitely at the top of my list!

Here is Liz doing her best to stay warm at the end of the line.  You can’t tell from this picture but the line wrapped around the corner of the yellow building with the bicycle, down and around the block and then back up to the Flor building!  I am not gonna lie, it was definitely a little chilly but it was totally fun and definitely worth it!  Plus we met some AMAZING new friends that waited in line with us.  Thanks Meg and Lucy for keeping us company! :)

Three and a half hours later and we could finally see the door.  By this time they had sold out of books!  AMAZING!  It just goes to show you if you love something and work at it passionately, that you can truly succeed at anything you do in life! Congratulations Sherry and John for living big dreams and making it happen!  You pretty much rock our socks off!

We made it inside and the heat was on!  Ok, so I may have just had an 80’s flash back writing that!  You know, “The Heat is On.”

Thanks Lucy and Meg for taking a picture of us while we posed with the Young House Love sign! :)

Now nearly four hours in, we finally made it to the top floor.  Only a few more people before our mission was complete! We definitely were not alone, even Miss Washington DC was there to have her book signed!  Side note, it is amazing how a crowd draws attention.  Throughout the night we had dozens of people walk by and ask us why we were in line. It kind of felt like we were waiting in line for the next iPhone but better!

Finally we had made it.  Thankfully we had purchased a book in advance.

I think Liz is probably asking Sherry where we can find some reclaimed wood for our next DIY project, or maybe she just wanted another cookie! :)

Thanks Sherry and John for being so excited and happy to meet us! Your enthusiasm was AMAZING especially after signing books for four hours!  We hope you are doing something relaxing today, you deserve it!

Wahoo! Mission accomplished, we got our book signed and we met two people that are on our Hollywood Squares list of AMAZING People.  More on that in another post!  Cheers to living your dreams, making things happen, and living an AMAZING life!

Now we just need to work on finishing our guest bedroom!

 

AMAZING Life Chats: Annette Thurmon

Dreaming, Life Chats  //  28th November 2012

“An AMAZING Life for me means living your passion everyday and living for God everyday” – Annette Thurmon

If you have followed along with our blog you may have seen a few of our AMAZING Life Manifesto videos.  We are extremely passionate about the fact that anyone can live their own AMAZING life. One day, while Liz and I were dreaming about life and what we could do to help inspire more people to follow their dreams, we came up with the idea for our “AMAZING Life Chats”.  We thought that if we could also share other people’s stories and thoughts on living an AMAZING life then we would be able to inspire even more people to live their own AMAZING Lives.

So now that we thought of this fun little idea we immediately knew who we wanted to interview first…

We first met Annette in January of 2011 at the Style to the Aisle event in Baltimore.  Check out some of our photos from the event over on our old blog here.  Immediately we could sense Annette’s passion for life, plus she made some super AMAZING wedding gowns!  We later found out that Annette was also an alum of Making Things Happen!  Since then, we have stayed in touch with Annette through social media.  We LOVE seeing her work and all her amazing new designs.

Earlier this year Justin & Mary asked us to be a model bride and groom for their Las Vegas workshop.  Although Liz could have worn her AMAZING wedding gown, the workshop theme was a bit more Vanity Fair then our style was when we got married 5 years ago. :)  So we reached out to Annette to see if she had anything that Liz could wear.  Let me just say that Liz looked stunning in the Chaviano Couture gown that Annette provided!   Don’t take my word for it though, see some of the photos over on our old blog here.

Thanks to Christy Tyler for the photo below.

 

Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago.  As we were making plans to head down to the Southern Weddings Magazine V5 Launch Party, we found out that Annette would also be attending!  So we reached out to her again to see if she would be interested in sitting down to chat with us.  At the time we didn’t exactly mention that we would be video taping it for our blog! :) Fortunately she said yes anyway.

The morning after the party, we snuck into an unused conference room (unfortunately we couldn’t figure out how to turn on the fireplace) and sat down with Annette to chat about life, following big dreams and living your life passionately. I got to practice my cameraman skills while Liz practiced her hosting for the Today Show interviewing skills. :)

We immediately knew we were on the same wavelength when Annette said “An AMAZING life for me means living your passion everyday and living for God”

Enjoy what we hope is the first of many AMAZING Life chats below and be sure to leave Annette some love in the comments. Plus, Annette is also in the process of writing a book for couples with advice on marriage.  Check it out here and pre-order your very own copy December 3rd!

Annette, thank you so much for being our first AMAZING Life Chat interviewee! :)

Our Today Show Dream! …. so close!

Dreaming, Our Dreams  //  27th November 2012

If you have been following along with us from day one of our business, (I know, that is a long time!) you know that we have this dream to be on the Today Show! Over the past few years, every time we write out our goals- there is something to do with being on the Today Show included.  Those goals/dreams have evolved from wanting to be a producer, to shooting the Today Show wedding (which I am pretty sure they don’t do anymore ;( ), to most recently, sharing a super fun and easy Thanksgiving centerpiece idea!

A few weeks ago we saw that The Today Show was in search for Thanksgiving Centerpiece ideas. We figured we could whip something up and send them a photo… so we did just that. At the very last minute when the deadline for submissions was about 10 minutes away, we sent them a photo of our centerpiece. Let me tell you, at the time, my stomach was in knots. I was excited, nervous, doubtful, yet incredibly hopeful! I was thinking, “what are we thinking?!?” and then the next moment I was thinking “this could be our chance to be on The Today Show!” I was dreaming out loud and it was such a crazy feeling.

We really didn’t have anything to lose… but for some reason I delayed actually taking the action to submit the photo. I was so nervous about it for some reason! Honestly, it took me back to the days of starting our business. It was scary.

We hit submit…. And then I held my phone close praying that the Today Show would call immediately. Haha. It didn’t quite happen like that. The timetable was short, so we knew that if we heard from them we would hear within a few days. Every time my phone rang, that knot in my stomach came back. My heart would skip a beat.  Every time I answered the phone… it was not the Today Show!  Haha.  Seriously, I was at the mall with Ryan and saw NY pop up on my phone and I literally screamed. ;) When I answered… it was the wrong number. :( lol.

HOWEVER, a few short days later, at the point that I actually started to come to the realization that it just wasn’t our time to be on The Today Show, we received a call. We were in the car on our way to NC when NY popped up on my phone again. I was driving, so Ryan picked it up. When he said it was NY, once again, my heart started beating faster. He answered and about 10 seconds into the call made it clear that THE TODAY SHOW was on the line!!!  ;)  AHHHH!  ;)  Seriously- how amazing is that?!?!  They told us that we were in the Top 5 Finalists and that they would let us know by the next day if we made it to the Top 3 and would be invited to the show. Ohh my word!!… yes, there was a lot of screaming going on! I probably should not have been driving at that point! ;) I just couldn’t believe that we were so close and there was a chance that our dream could actually become a reality. Very Soon!

Unfortunately, we received an email from a producer the next day stating that they chose “a different direction” for the segment. Yes, a part of me wanted to cry. But, over the next few days a lot became rather clear to us! This was definitely a teachable moment that God had planned for us! ;) Among other realizations, it taught us that, yes, honestly, you can do anything that you put your mind to! We were so so so close- and that little tease just made us more and more confident that one day (if it is meant to be and the timing is right) we will make our way to The Today Show.

 

 

Amazing Life Manifesto: Slow Down and Be Present

Amazing Life Manifesto, Dreaming  //  26th November 2012

Hope you are well rested after a long weekend full of lots of good food and time with family and friends! Whew! I know we are thankful that Thanksgiving is on a Thursday, because we needed every minute of that long weekend! ;) But this morning we are back at it and feeling more energized than ever!

Over the weekend we took some time to really concentrate on slowing down and being present. We worked hard earlier in the week to get all of our work done so that we could concentrate on being present in the moment! However, I must admit, we still struggled. It is so hard for us to take a break. (Yes, that is a good thing because we are incredibly passionate about what we do… but it is also a challenge because letting our bodies and minds rest is SO IMPORTANT! Plus, we owe it to our family and friends that surround us… they deserve 100% of us!)

It is easy to get caught up in that To-Do list that is never ending (especially with the holidays upon us) or lose track of the conversation that is happening right next to you because Facebook is filling you in on the latest (not as important) news. We are guilty too! However, this week we invite you to focus with us on slowing down and being present. Turn off social media when you are surrounded by your loved ones, delete items on your To-Do list that are actually impossible to get done (Note to self: Honestly, if they are that important they will get done at some point- no reason to stress yourself out over it!), and add one really important task to your list that forces you to slow down. Maybe it is “go to the gym,” or “go to yoga,” or “write in your journal”… whatever it may be that will help you slow down, write it on your To-Do list. You owe it to yourself to make it a priority to slow down and be present!

Have an AMAZING week!

*Side Note: This will be our last Amazing Life Manifesto Video for the year! Whoa… that seems crazy to say! lol. But we have a December full of AMAZINGNESS that we are so excited to share with you! Stay Tuned!

 

Friday Favorites: Liz and Ryan’s 2012 Holiday Wish List Edition

Celebrating the Everyday, Friday Favs  //  23rd November 2012

Happy Black Friday! If you are not all shopped out already, be sure to check out our Black Friday Specials here.

Every Friday after Thanksgiving for the past four years we have made it a tradition to get up at 5am and head straight to the mall.  For the most part we go to people watch but every once in a while we find a deal we can’t pass up. One year we ended up with a LoveSac. :) Fitting it in our Honda Civic with four other people was quite the sight to see.

What has become one of our other post Thanksgiving traditions is creating our Holiday Wish List. While we sit feeling stuffed like a Turkey on the couch, we scour the holiday sales ad, and more recently Pinterest, and piece together a Holiday Wish List. This year we have decided to share a portion of our list in a special Holiday Wish List edition of our Friday Favorites.  We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Happy Holidays!

Friday Favorites: 2012 Holiday Wish List Edition

1. Woodwick Candle | 2. Weber One Touch Charcoal Grill in Dark Blue | 3. J. Crew Tonal Oxford Shirt in Golden Beach | 4. Ugg Dakota Slippers in Indigo | 5. MistoBox Coffee Subscription | 6. Breville Programmable Espresso Maker with Integrated Burr Ginder | 7.  Salt & Straw Seasonal Ice Cream Sampler Pack | 8. Apple iPad Mini in White | 9. Antique Rustic Ladder | 10. Sur La Table S’mores Grilling Rack