WOWZA! ;) Tomorrow!!… tomorrow is the day we are launching http://www.amazinglifetogether.com. Ahh! You have no idea how excited we are to welcome you to the new site!
Just to be clear… http://www.lizandryan.com is not going anywhere! ;) We will still be here sharing our favorite photos with you right here!!!
The new AMAZING Life Together is a site that we have created to help inspire couples to live a more AMAZING life together! It is so full of love… and really, we seriously can’t wait to share it with you!!
Tomorrow… the site will be live at 12:00 p.m. EST. However, you can pop over today and sign up for updates! That way you will definitely not miss anything!!!
Thank you so so so much for all of your support! You all mean the world to us and we can feel your positive vibes coming our way!! We appreciate them so incredibly much!
Ahhhh! Here’s to a crazy day of making sure we are set for launch!! ;) Who am I kidding… ready or not, we can’t wait for you all to see it! See you tomorrow at 12:00 p.m.! ;)
I honestly have no idea even where to begin this post! My emotions are all over the map right now, but most importantly, my heart is filled with Joy! Over the past few months, Ryan and I have been working on a project that we have had to keep silent. Over the last few weeks, we started many mornings off with a conference call with two of our favorite people in the world, we completed a MAGICAL photo shoot that filled an empty old factory with whimsical AMAZINGness, Ryan fully coded his first WordPress website, and we witnessed one of the most AMAZING women in our lives take an incredibly brave step to touch the lives of others! Wow.
On September 10, 2012, our mentor, friend, board of life director, pretty much second mom, inspirer (the list goes on and on), Dean Badal (or Amy Badal… but she will always be Dean Badal to us!) fought and won her battle with Breast Cancer. I remember receiving the call from our friend Jenna telling us that Dean Badal had breast cancer and she was having surgery that day to remove it. That call was one of those calls that you never expect to receive and never could imagine what to say or even do. I remember feeling heart broken and sick to my stomach, yet prayerful knowing that God works in mysterious ways.
Dean Badal has touched our lives in more ways than we could ever describe. In fact, every single student and alum that has been surrounded by her at Bucknell would probably say the same thing. Ok, scratch that… every single person who has been surrounded by her at one time or another would absolutely say she has touched his/her life in a special way!
When we heard the news that Dean Badal was fighting cancer, I knew in my heart that there was a reason. God had a plan and He was going to see her through this journey. Just a few weeks after her surgery, Dean Badal shared that she had already been thinking about what she could do to use this incredibly challenging time to make a difference for someone else. She always has incredible and crazy fun ideas! ;) (Maybe that is where we get our love for crazy ideas from!?! ;) In fact, I have no doubt that is where we get it from! ;)) Over the past year, Dean Badal has shared her idea of More Than October with us many times. However, in the midst of her incredibly busy schedule in her role as a Dean that she puts her whole heart and soul into, she had little time to focus on it. Jenna called us one day and said… ok, we are just going to do this. We are going to get the ball rolling and make this happen!
Weeks later… and an incredibly heart warming journey later, we could not be more excited to share with you, More Than October. The site is designed to share Dean Badal’s story, where early detection saved her life, and inspire women to take action for their own health. She has started a movement to get at least 1,000 women to sign the pledge to do a self-check or schedule a mammogram. This can save your life! Seriously, the statistics are real. 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer over her lifetime. Please don’t hide from it. Take action for your health… your friends and family will appreciate it more than you know! Please go take action, sign the pledge, and send the message to all of the AMAZING women in your life to do the same.
We are beyond proud of Dean Badal (who might be one of the most private people we know) for sharing her story in hopes that it can inspire people to take action. It is not easy to put yourself out there, and she did. This life is so much bigger than ourselves, and Dean Badal has given us another example of just that! I am moved to tears knowing how blessed we are to have Dean Badal in our lives and to have the opportunity to help her make this project happen! Dean Badal… thank you for being YOU, for believing in us, for challenging us, for teaching us life lessons every single day, for using your “gifts” to impact the world around us, for clicking publish on your site! ;), and for always being an inspiring example of how to live this AMAZING life! We LOVE you Dean Badal!
This past weekend was a bit tough… ok, really tough. I woke up with a 102 degree fever on Friday morning and found myself admitted to the hospital by Friday afternoon. After two romantic date night evenings in the hospital (wink, wink), we finally made our way home yesterday! Thank God for that blessing! ;)
I have learned quite a bit over the past few days… many lessons I am still learning for sure through this recovery. However, one thing that has become overly clear is the power of positive thinking and my need to be extra confident throughout the tough times that God is guiding me through this life. He is right by my side and He is doing so many AMAZING things throughout this journey!
After a bit of a low point yesterday that was full of emotion (yes, tears and all!), Ryan reminded me that God is going to take care of me. God IS taking care of me right now. When I took some time to think about the positives in my life, instead of focusing on the challenges, my whole perspective changed! God IS so good and He has blessed us with so many AMAZING blessings to remind us of that daily!!
Instead of focusing on the details of the rough couple of days (one day maybe we can chat about that if you would like- but honestly right now I need to focus on the GREAT things happening! ;) ), I decided to create a Gratitude List today. I am going to share 5 things that are definitely on my list today. It would make my heart smile so big if you all could add to my list. I need to focus on the positives and the more I think about it, I think we all could, right?
Just a few of the things I am incredibly grateful that God has blessed me with today.
1. Ryan. Ok, I know that seems obvious, but I am even more than grateful for him today than ever. Ryan has been by my side- doing EVERYTHING for me! Seriously, everything (including even blow-drying my hair!)!! At any point I started to feel anxious or scared, God gave him every word I needed to hear to give me strength. I am so incredibly grateful!
2. Photographs. Twelve years ago yesterday, Ryan and I started dating. ;) So fun, right?!?! That is magical to even think about. This morning, a photograph of Ryan and I, that is on a box I had made for Ryan which sits in our bedroom, caught the corner of my eye. The photo looked VERY similar to a photo that Ryan and I just took on Saturday when they let us out of the hospital for some fresh air (see below!). As I looked closer at the photo, I realized it was a photo from the location where we started dating! ;) And the memories of our fun picnic adventure 12 years ago came flooding back. I am so grateful for that photo and the memories that come along with it!
3. Fresh Air! Ahhh! Seriously, the weather was absolutely gorgeous this weekend in MD. The skies were bright blue with big white puffy clouds! When I went into the hospital on Friday, the air was still a bit sticky from the 90+ degree days we had last week. Every time the nurses and doctors would come in, they would mention how great the weather was (not in a mean way- just to share their gratitude and excitement for me to get out to enjoy it!). I could not wait to get outside and take a deep breath of the cool crisp air that had moved in! On Saturday, they gave me permission to take a step outside and soak it all in! Since I have been home, the windows have been wide open and those deep breaths have never felt so good! ;) So grateful for the fresh air that surrounds us!
4. Nurses, Doctors, and others who are passionate about their jobs! God definitely had His hands in building a team that was going to take care of me. Dr. Keith, and all of the other nurses, doctors, techs, etc were so caring and so AMAZING. Dr. Keith went out of her way in so many ways to make sure she was there. Staying late on Friday… coming in the morning and afternoon on Saturday… and then again bright and early on Sunday! She was not on call and not suppose to be working, but she made sure she was there! That was incredible to me and definitely an AMAZING example of dedication that is more than appreciated! I am so grateful for every dedicated professional who is using their God-given talents to make a difference in people’s lives.
5. Comfort. The comfort of home is pretty remarkable. However, it is not the stuff… it is the people that surround you. It is the family and friends… those that are physically near and those that are not, but are certainly close to your heart. My immediate family and many of my close friends live out of state, but the past few days have brought everyone even closer to my heart. I am reminded of the incredible gift of friendships we have been given… from years past to very recent. We have family that surrounds us always (near and far) and for that I could not be more grateful.
This girl is well on her way to a speedy recovery! ;) (haha… had to share that!) But really- THANK YOU to everyone who sent their well wishes by text, email, phone, FB, blog comments, sweet treats, flowers, visits, etc. You all have lifted my spirits and have given Ryan an energy boost when he needed it most, too! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
The gratitude in my heart is overflowing and that is so HAPPY! Seriously, that is the best medicine!!! Please please please take a moment today to think about what you are grateful for and say an extra special prayer to God thanking Him for those blessings in your life!! Please leave a few in the comments and I will be sure to thank Him along with you!
It is so incredibly crazy to think that today is September 3rd. WOW! Where in the world did this summer go? We hope you are coming off of an AMAZING weekend full of celebrating the fact that summer really isn’t technically over yet! ;) Our weekend was FULL of just that… we had the most dreamy wedding on Saturday at a BEAUTIFUL vacation home in Annapolis. Seriously- it was full of all kinds of nautical goodness, and a sweet couple that is so full of love! Dreamy! ;) And then we relaxed, had pizzas on the grill (burnt bottoms and all- they were AMAZING! ;) ), listened to the sounds of the Grand Prix right down the street, enjoyed our very first Pumpkin Spice Lattes! ;), and finished the weekend off with a drink at the Tiki Barge! ;) WAHOO! Happy weekend!, right?!? ;)
As you may have noticed from the fewer than normal blog posts recently, we have been quite busy. We have been doing our best to balance work and life and everything in between… and unfortunately that meant that sometimes our blog posts had to get pushed to the next day on our to do list. Believe me, we beat ourselves up over it many times… but we knew you all would understand! ;)
As you can imagine… we have so much we want to share with you! So this week will be full of posts that may seem all over the place! ;) However, we want to make sure we share all of this on our online journal so that we can always remember the crazy days of this AMAZING life!
Throughout the month of August we have been the hosts of an online Live Broadcast called Shoot & Share Live. Showit, the company we use for our online galleries & image delivery, asked us to host the shows in Baltimore. Every Wednesday & Thursday of last month, we put on our very best Oprah & Matt Lauer shoes and interviewed/chatted with some of our favorite photographer (and beyond) friends in the area! We were so excited to be able to share the gifts of so many incredible people through this show!
We even created a “Geek Week”! ;) Haha!… and it turned out to be one of my favorites!! We have an incredibly talked friend, Natalie Franke, who graduated from the University of Penn last year with a degree in Visual Studies. Her talents expand far and beyond photography! Whenever she shares with us what she learned through her studies, her heart explodes with her words and passion to share! She is INCREDIBLE… so we challenged her (literally challenged in the most heartfelt way possible! ;) ) to share her knowledge and passion on Shoot and Share Live. The number of aha moments for me during that 30 minutes show are literally innumerable!
Ryan joined Natalie to round out Geek Week! He put his engineering shoes on and shared a very technical approach to understanding our cameras and lenses! To be completely honest, I was super duper nervous that no one would tune in because it was quite nerdy! ;) But Ryan rocked it! (I am quite biased… but he did!) Ryan has this incredible way of turning his advanced photonics understanding into something that even I understand. (And let me tell you- that is not an easy task! ;) ) During his live show, I was once again reminded of just how lucky I am to have him by my side!
As we wrapped up the month’s shows last week with Caroline Rausch (an absolutely incredible 18 year old who has been in business since the age of 13!), I found myself with grateful tears in my eyes! Having the opportunity to sit down with some of our incredibly talented friends to learn from them and share their incredibly special gifts with the world was such a blessing! As much of a challenge it was for us on some days, in the middle of our crazy busy season, to make these shows a reality, we would do it again in a heartbeat just to share the couch with some of our favorite people!
Huge thanks to Andrew and Kevin from Showit for putting the live kit into our hands and giving us the opportunity to share the many gifts that Baltimore has to offer!! ;) We are so honored to have been a part of this! To Caroline, Natalie, Becka, Ryan, Ashley, Jeremy, Tom, Maureen, Mikey & Samantha… THANK YOU! Thank you so incredibly much for making the time in your busy schedules to bravely share your gifts and talents with the world through this live show! It is not easy to put yourself out there on a LIVE show… but every single one of you rocked it out!! We are so grateful to be surrounded by you!
Here is the link to the re-watch for all of the shows… (http://showitfast.com/live) When you have 30 minutes here and there, please check them out! There is so much goodness that you definitely do not want to miss!!
Caroline Rausch (Carrie Logan) – Have Confidence in Your Photography*
*Even if you are not a photographer… this one is full of life lessons! ;)
Natalie Franke and Becka Nix (Editors of Bayside Bride)– Get Published on Wedding Blogs
Geek Week! ;)
Ryan Bower – Understanding Light, the Lens, and the Camera Natalie Franke – The Psychology of Shooting
Ashley and Jeremy Mitchell – Working with Videographers Tom Barnhill – Financial and Tax Planning for Photographers
Maureen Luther – Photoshop Workflow Tips Samantha and Mikey Smith – Building a Photography Studio
If you follow along our adventures on Instagram (Liz_and_Ryan) then you know we had a lot of fun completing our 21 Random Acts of Kindness last Wednesday. We joined over 500!!! people doing sweet things on July 17th in AMAZING honor of the 21 beautiful people from Montoursville, PA and all of the others who lost their lives on TWA Flight 800. Leading up to Wednesday, we had a list of things we wanted to do in hopes to make that day extra special for people we crossed paths with! We woke up that morning with an extra big smile on our faces knowing the impact we might be able to have! My mom even said this in a blog comment (thanks for reading mom! ;) ) and we couldn’t agree more, “If you wake up with the plan to do 21 acts of kindness the tone for the entire day is positive!”
It is AMAZING how incredible the day can be just by starting it off knowing your goal for the day is to go out of your way to do something special in hopes to make the day brighter for someone else… now multiply that by 21 and the day is pretty much magical! ;) At one point on Wednesday, I was literally skipping down the street with a huge smile on my face. I told Ryan I felt like a little fairy with a wand that was sprinkling joy all over!!! It was so much fun! And actually a really big challenge too.
The challenging part was a little bit disheartening to us… or maybe the better description of it would be eye-opening! There were a few things we did throughout the day with so much excitement… and then we watched from afar to observe how people would act on the receiving end… and for some… they just didn’t act. For some, the reaction was surprise and wow… for others, they were too busy to even notice. We created a hop scotch down the street to encourage people to take time to have fun. We watched about 20 people walk right by the hop scotch and never skip a beat. It was as if they didn’t even see it. They didn’t even take note to the message that said “have fun today.” That was kind of crazy to us… but totally eye-opening! The reality of our busy lives is that we often walk right by acts of kindness that are right in front of us and never take a moment to even recognize it or appreciate it. For those that walked right by the reminder to have fun, they didn’t even take a moment to let the smile appear on their faces!
Ryan and I sat outside on our stoop for about 30 minutes. We were about 18 random acts of kindness in and we were observing people walk right over one of them. We sat in silence and I think our minds were just working in our hearts. We knew this was a lesson for ourselves… a lesson that sometimes we just have to slow down and take it all in. And a lesson that we have a really big responsibility to help spread kindness and happiness around… because honestly, I think we could all use a little more of it in our lives! (Both giving and receiving!)
We got up from our stoop and I decided to go clear some clutter from our closet and give some of our clothing to those who need it more! On the way down to the donation box, I saw a McDonald’s Big Mac Box littered in the middle of the road. I slammed on my breaks and literally stopped the car in the middle of the road. Ryan looked at me like I was crazy and said, “what in the world are you doing?!” Once he saw the trash that I picked up, he knew exactly what I was doing. Saving the Bay, obviously! ;) It was like a no brainer at that point.
21 Random Acts of Kindness in and our hearts have definitely changed! Those beautiful friends, family and neighbors who lost their lives on July 17th, 1996 have touched the lives of so many people. Here on earth or watching down on us as beautiful angels from above, they are making this world a better place! We are so grateful for their hearts and the life lessons they are teaching us along the way!
