There is something incredibly magical about sitting on the floor of our living room and looking around at a super full room of AMAZING couples who have filled our hearts with joy! I have shared about the idea of our Liz and Ryan family many times, but it is in moments like Wednesday night at our 2nd Annual Cookies and Ornament Exchange Date Night when everything becomes super real.
We went around the room and shared our favorite holiday traditions. The first one that came to my mind was that tradition right then and there. For the second year in a row, we have squeezed into our living room and found ourselves surrounded by a lot of love during this holiday date night. The second tradition that came to my mind was one that oddly resembles that same moment! It is on Christmas Eve at my MeMe’s house when the whole family plus family friends squeeze into the living room singing Christmas Carols and reading T’was the Night Before Christmas in anticipation for Santa to arrive. And then he does! ;) It is magical. But I think what I love about it most is gathering in the living room full of love where literally every single inch of floor space is completely covered. Sitting on the floor in order to squeeze as many people in is something we would never even think twice about! ;)
It is a room full of love that makes our hearts smile so incredibly big! We are so grateful for our AMAZING couples in our lives who have filled & continue to fill our hearts with so much joy! We are blessed to be surrounded by them!
Huge thanks to everyone who came out to join in the fun! It is such a crazy time of year and we know that you all have ten million other things you could be doing! For all of those near and far who could not make it… we LOVE you all and you definitely added to the love in that room in a special way! Thinking of you always! XOXO!
I remember when I was little going strawberry picking. I would sit on the back seat of my mom’s bicycle as we adventured over to the local strawberry fields. As we approached the field, the sweet smell of strawberries tickled my nose. We picked and we picked until our containers were full. And on one particular trip I can still remember getting home only to have my favorite shirt covered with berry juices. Oh well, at least we had dozens upon dozens of strawberries to enjoy!
Fast forward to earlier this spring as Liz and I we were planning out some of the fun things we wanted to do this summer for our Summer Bucket List. One of us, I am not sure who, said let’s go strawberry picking. The fields we used to pick strawberries in as a kids are no longer around, instead replaced by a Walmart I believe :( , so this would be the perfect way to remember the innocence of our childhood. Plus it would be a super fun excuse for a Date Day on a Monday afternoon! :) So thanks to the suggestion of one our past brides, (Thanks Jami!!), we headed up to Baugher’s Farm.
It has probably been twenty years since we have been strawberry picking so we weren’t sure quite what to expect. Liz put on her best strawberry red dress and I put on my best Farmer Ryan outfit, that of course included one of my favorite pairs of Sperrys. I mean who doesn’t wear Sperrys to go strawberry picking :).
As we arrived we were immediately greeted by one of the happiest old farmers. As we waited for the tractor to start Liz asked how his day was to which he replied with a big smile, “I’m still here [on earth], so its great!!!” A statement we couldn’t agree with more!
Prior to going out to the field we had to choose our containers to fill with strawberries. Ambitious, we took three of the largest baskets. In total, we filled two to the top. We decided as we picked and picked that three might be one too many. Thank goodness we did because the two we did fill ended up weighing over eighteen pounds!!! Enjoy the photos from our Strawberry Picking Date Day Adventure below and be sure to check out our blog on Friday to see some of the fun things we made with all the berries!
Cheers to crossing off another adventure from our Summer Bucket List!
Last week I wrote on our “BIG To Do List” that Saturday was going to be a Day OFF for us. A day off rarely happens. Very rarely! But when we actually write “Day OFF,” that means we have no excuse not to make that happen!
We had a crazy list of activities on our schedule for the week, but we were determined to make sure we took a day for ourselves. In fact, we decided to kick that day off right a night early with a Date Night on Friday night! We are celebrating life, my friends! ;) We got all dressed up and went out for a fun dinner together! We chatted about life and our dreams… and although “work” is heavily intertwined with our lives, we found ourselves smiling and laughing and enjoying every moment of this journey!
Earlier in the week I had an AMAZING conversation with my friend, Jenna, where we referenced one of my favorite quotes: “happiness is a journey, not a destination” – Souza. It was the perfect reminder to soak every single moment in and remember that happiness isn’t somewhere someday… happiness is today, living in this moment and celebrating this special life together!
We continued the weekend with that quote in our minds! ;) As we put the finishing touches on the Date Night Guide and Breakfast in Bed Guide that will be included as a special giveaway to everyone who purchases the AMAZING Life Together Webinar Recordings, we made sure to enjoy the journey! ;) We had a blast creating the Guides and we can’t wait to share them with others!
Learn how to make this AMAZING Banana Nutella Stuffed French Toast in our Breakfast in Bed Guide.
Learn how to make these surprisingly easy but extremely decadent Chocolate-Strawberry Soufflés in our Date Night Guide.
This weekend, mixed with work, fun, a day OFF, date nights, and AMAZING life conversations, was the perfect way for us to prepare for an adventurous couple of weeks ahead! We are getting ready to travel to each Love Inspirer’s home to interview them for the Webinar! As we pack our suitcase, we are so excited and passionate about enjoying this journey! We are so inspired to think that this journey and the messages the Love Inspirers are about to share have the AMAZING opportunity to touch the lives of so many couples!
The best part about it is that you also have the opportunity to touch the lives of special couples in your life just by encouraging them to take some time out of their busy schedule to tune into the webinar! Encourage them to mark Date Night and Breakfast in Bed on their calendar for April 26-27th and make it a priority to spend More Time for Love! We are firm believers that we all have a little something that we can learn from other couples… but at the very least, the webinar is a perfect excuse for couples to take a few hours out of their day to spend together… that is pretty much AMAZING!
We would love for you to help us spread the word about the webinar! It is super easy to sign up at http://www.amazinglifetogether.com. Each week leading up to the Live webinar, we are giving away a recording… complete with the special giveaways of the Date Night Guide, Breakfast in Bed Guide, and the Amazing Life Together eBook… to someone who shares the details of the webinar with their friends! The details for this chance to win will be sent to you directly after signing up for the webinar! The first winner of the recording and all of the goodies is Alison Mish! Wahooo! Thanks Alison for helping us spread the word and for making a difference in the lives of other couples in your life! LOVE THAT!
Have an AMAZING week, friends! And definitely don’t forget that happiness is a journey, not a destination!
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!
As Ryan tied his bowtie and I got all dolled up and put on my sparkly heels for our special date night, we chatted about how excited we were to be right there in that room. We had just had our first glance at the Southern Weddings V5… and it was nothing short of magical!
V5 is extra magical, my friends. Like extra extra magical! The Southern Weddings V5 magazine has one of our photos in it! ;) But not just any one of our photos… it has a photo of MeMe and Brooke! (yes, my MeMe and my cousin Tony’s wife!) I can’t even tell you how exciting that is for us! Yes, it would be amazing if it was any one of our photos because the magazine is GORGEOUS and it is such an honor to be a part of such a beautiful inspiration guide about love! ;) However, looking through the magazine and seeing my grandmother and my cousin’s wife sharing such a special moment together makes us do a happy dance x 1 million! ;) It is better than biscuits and gravy y’all! ;)
Last night we walked into a room of sparkly amazingness ready to celebrate with the fabulous ladies at Southern Weddings and so many other people who passionately believe “Love Never Fails!”! We walked into a room full of about 200 people we have never met… but we immediately felt like family! We were greeted with open arms and warm hugs!… ohh and did I mention, smiles that literally lit up the room?!? ;) We played cornhole, had fun in the photobooth, danced alongside the Blooomsbury Boys (the sweetest Bluegrass Band ever!), ate all kinds of southern treats, met new friends while enjoying time with old friends, and walked away with hearts fuller than ever!
It meant so so so much to us to be able to be there to support Lara Casey and the rest of the Amazing ladies at Southern Weddings! And to celebrate alongside Brooke and Tony was sweeter than a peach!! ;) Ok ya’ll, we are still working on our southern phrases, but lets just say… we had such a perfect date night!
