Category: Friday Favs

Introducing the Liz and Ryan Book Club

Celebrating the Everyday, Friday Favs  //  

Good morning and happy Friday! We hope you all had an AMAZING week and have some fun plans for the weekend! One of our favorite hobbies is reading.  We LOVE reading a good book while snuggling up close under a cozy warm blanket. One of the reasons we love to read is that it inspires creativity in our minds.  For the most part, we end up reading books about business, entrepreneurship, life, etc.  Ok, Ok, we admit it, Liz does have Fifty Shades of Gray downloaded on the iPad too. :)

The Liz and Ryan Book Club

A few weeks ago, we were chatting with some close friends and were sharing some ideas we learned from reading.   We recommend a few books and and chatted a little while longer about why we loved each one and how it has helped our relationship, lives, or business.  And then we thought, wouldn’t it be fun to create a Liz and Ryan Book Club!! At first the idea sounded stupid, until we started reading Richie Norton‘s new book, “The Power of Starting Something Stupid.”

How many times have you had an idea only to have someone else tell you that it was stupid or wouldn’t work out?  How many times have you thought, if only I could turn this crazy idea into a business and an AMAZING life?  For us this happens all the time!  In fact, starting our business was definitely a stupid idea that we had. More recently, starting our AMAZING Marriage Project was definitely another stupid idea.  But as Richie shares in his book, “stupid is the new smart.”

 

The Liz and Ryan Book Club: The Power of Starting Something Stupid Cover

We are so excited and honored to be able to kick off the Liz and Ryan Book Club with The Power of Starting Something Stupid.  For now, we will just be sharing some of our favorite books and some of the advice we’ve learned from reading them, but who knows, eventually our stupid idea could turn into something as big as Oprah’s Book Club! :)

When we met Richie earlier this month in Punta Cana at the What If Conference, immediately we were inspired.  He shared his heart with us and passion for taking what most people often consider stupid ideas and turning them into thriving businesses.  Richie shared a few pieces of advice from his book, but the one that stuck with me the most was this, “Will I Regret it When I am Eighty?” This thought has definitely been our motto over the last year.  In life, there are so many things we put off because we are afraid.  The fears and excuses can be limitless: We don’t have enough time, We don’t have any money, People will say our idea is stupid….

But when we started applying the question “Will I Regret it When I am Eighty” to our lives, those fears and excuses suddenly don’t make a lot of sense anymore.  Why wouldn’t we start doing more of what we love and less of what we don’t?  Richie calls this The Bezos Test. In The Power of Starting Something Stupid, Richie shares the story of Jeff Bezos.  Jeff’s story is often a familiar one that many of us have. It goes a little something like this:

“Jeff had a secure, well-paying job, a job that made him happy.  By a societal measure, the guy had it all. Everything, including a wickedly stupid idea.”

Jeff’s stupid idea turned out to become Amazon.com.  When he took his stupid idea to his boss at the time, he was told that the idea would be good thing to start for someone that didn’t already have a job, not someone like him.  Instead of listening to the advice of his manager, Jeff asked himself, will I regret not pursuing this dream when I am eighty?  The answer was yes. So he quit his job, took out a loan from his parents and begin working on his idea that would eventually revolutionize e-commerce and how things are sold on the internet.  Can you imagine the internet without Amazon.com?

The next time you have a stupid idea, take the Bezos Test and ask yourself, “Will I regret it when I am eighty?”

This is just one of the many AMAZING pieces of advice that Richie shares in The Power of Starting Something Stupid.

From the moment we picked it up, we were inspired.  The book pushes us to “Crush Fear” and make all of our big dreams a reality. Instead of looking at our ideas as stupid, more often then not, our ideas are actually smart ideas.

Another one of my favorite sections in the book is what Richie calls START, the five actions of the new smart.  START stands for Serve, Thank, Ask, Receive, Trust.  By applying these actions in our lives, jobs, businesses, and ideas, “we create an unyielding foundation for future success.”  How awesome is that?

We are so excited to share Richie’s Book with you all.  It is released March 5th, but don’t wait, head on over to Amazon.com to preorder your copy right now!

So here is the next part of our stupid idea, we want to know who is interested in being part of our Liz and Ryan Book Club?  Have ideas of books we should read? Or have thoughts about how we could make the Book Club more AMAZING? Interested in participating in a live chat to discuss the books in our book club further?  We’d love to hear from you, leave a comment below.  And because we love hearing from you all so much, we will be giving away a copy of Richie’s book to one lucky person that leaves us a message!

 

Friday Favorites: The Liz and Ryan AMAZING Holiday Advent Calendar

Celebrating the Everyday, Friday Favs  //  

It is that time of year! The malls are bustling, the post office has super long lines, and the to-do list is extra long! Yes, we know… However, it is also THAT time of year when the Christmas music makes you sing a little bit louder (even when other people are around! ;) ), the cookies taste better than ever, and being surrounded by family and friends fills your heart with more joy than you could have ever imagined.

You see, the holidays can bring on stress, or they can be a stress reliever! It is all in how you look at it! The long lines may be frustrating… but they could also be a time where you share a smile with a stranger or start a conversation with the one next to you. You have the ability to live the life the way you want to live it- with the attitude that you choose to take! It is so easy to go go go and just do things to get them done. (Believe me- this was me yesterday!) I was writing out the addresses for our Christmas Cards at the table and I kind of felt like my pen had a motor on it- I was not stopping for anything! I was going going going and honestly I just wanted to get it done. And THEN… I realized that I could make the process a whole lot more enjoyable by sharing the process with Ryan. We set up shop on our couch… made ourselves a tasty coffee drink and popped in our favorite Christmas movie! All of a sudden my attitude changed from “I just want to get this done” to “Who else can I send a sweet note to?!?” It is amazing how taking a minute to stop and think about what would make the experience better…. and then actually doing it… can make a memory out of a to-do!

We are so excited because we have a super special treat for all of you over the next 25 days! We have decided to celebrate the little things that we can do to make our holidays more AMAZING by sharing them with you in our very first Liz and Ryan AMAZING Holiday Advent Calendar! Each day, tomorrow through Christmas Day, we will share a little something that you can do to make your holiday season that much more AMAZING! Be sure to check in daily for the reveal!

And don’t forget!  It’s all about the attitude that you take! We hope you choose to smile!… it is contagious!

 

 

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

Celebrating the Everyday, Friday Favs  //  

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

 

 

Friday Favorites: A Few Things that Make our Lives more AMAZING

Celebrating the Everyday, Friday Favs  //  

Happy Friday! Today we are doing things a little differently for our Friday Favorites blog post.  Instead of sharing just one of our favorite things, we wanted to share a few things that have recently made our lives just a little more AMAZING. Without further adieu…

Friday Favorites: A Few Things that Make our Lives more AMAZING

What are some of the things that have helped make your lives a little more AMAZING recently?  We’d love to hear you answers!

 

Friday Favorites: Tech Corner – Paper App and Wacom Bamboo Stylus

Celebrating the Everyday, Friday Favs  //  

Happy Friday everyone.  Before we share this weeks Friday Favorite, we just wanted to leave a quick reminder to head on over to our Brew on the Roof Party post and leave us comment for your chance to win a $25 Williams-Sonoma Gift Card. The winner will be chosen and announced on our Facebook page shortly after 5pm today so don’t forget to like our page! :) And now for today’s regularly scheduled post…

I love technology.  As an electrical engineer, electronics and gadgets have always been in my blood.  Whether its the latest new phone, computer, or TV, it is all exciting to me. Ok, I admit it, I am kind of a nerd.  Or as Liz calls me, an “engi-nerd.”  It is crazy to think about how much technology has changed in just the last few years.  Whatever happened to car phones and cassette tapes?  Soon we will be saying good-bye to DVDs and CDs as well! That’s Crazy!  Have no fear we won’t be getting rid of our Atari 2600 anytime soon! :)

As much as I love technology, one thing that has been hard to replace is the simple joy of doodling, sketching out my thoughts, and writing in a journal.  Although I haven’t quite given up the good old fashioned pen and paper yet, this week’s Friday Favorite may eventually make me do just that.

Friday Favorites: Tech Corner – Paper App and Wacom Bamboo Stylus

As much as I love technology, until now, it was just easier to sketch out a quick idea on a notepad or in my journal.  That is until I found the Paper App and Wacom Bamboo Stylus.  The Paper App and Stylus turns your iPad into a never ending digital journal that is perfect for sketching or writing out a few quick ideas.  We pretty much always carry our iPad along with us, so using the paper app instead of a real journal has freed up some extra space in our Kelly Moore Thirst Relief bag and taken some weight off our shoulders.

Being a photographer with an electrical engineering degree has definitely made me a super visual detail oriented person. So when it came to planning our Brew on the Roof Party, I pulled out our iPad, opened the Paper App and began to sketch out our plans for the evening.  A few of my sample sketches can be found below.

 

Ok, I might not be the next Picasso, but the Paper App has definitely been one of our most used iPad Apps.

So we would love to hear from you.  What piece of technology or App has made your life just a little simpler?

Happy Friday!