200 - 200th Episode
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Resources from this episode:
All resource for this episode can be found in the show notes below!
Show Notes:
Today is the 200th episode of Work and Play with Nancy Ray. I am so excited to celebrate with you. I can't believe it. I can't believe I've done 200 of these episodes. That's crazy. I'm so grateful that you have been listening. I hope today's episode is just fun. I thought of 200 of my favorite things, which is kind of wild, and it also took me a really long time to come up with 200 of my favorite things.
But the hope was that maybe there are some things that I'm enjoying in my life that you don't know about. Maybe there's things I'm loving that you already know and love as well. Either way, I hope it's fun, lighthearted, playful, and something to celebrate.
I've brought a few helpers along. If you were here for the hundredth episode, you remember my kids helped me out with that, and that was when I just had three kids and Beaufort was a baby, and now I have four, and Benji’s the baby, and it has been so fun to incorporate them into this episode. Makes me a little teary, really happy and I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks for listening to the 200th episode of Work and Play with Nancy Ray.
For the full episode, hit play above or read through below.
This is so fun. Okay, when I told my husband Will what I was doing, he was like, “Nance, you have got to like stay on track. You can't give an explanation about every single thing that's on your list because this episode's gonna be like four hours long if you do.”
This is gonna take some major self-control, guys, but I'm really gonna try to just read through my list with maybe an exception here and there if I need, if I really feel like I need to explain it. But the whole point of this is just to have some fun and celebrate.
Okay, couple housekeeping things before I jump in. Number one, I'm gonna take off the whole month of July, so I'll see you back here in August. Most of you know that I take off January and July just to kinda take a deep breath, plan a little, be with my family, enjoy, and just plan in those kind of sabbatical times along with my work and life.
And second of all, there are gonna be some really fun, cool announcements, things that I've got going on behind the scenes. If you want to make sure you don't miss anything, the best way to stay in touch with me, especially when I'm on these breaks and whatnot, is to be on my email list. So if you're not and you'd like to be, just go to nancyray.com/email and you can join at any time and really stay in the loop on anything that I am creating, doing, all of that. You'd be part of the fam if you're on that list.
Okay, let's jump into my 200 favorite things. It's gonna be all over the place. I have them divided into some subcategories, but I'm gonna start off with just 30 of like my favorite things, just generally my favorite things in life. Let's go.
Starting with my favorite people:
1. Will
2. Milly
3. Lyndon
4. Beaufort
5. Benji
Some of my favorite things:
6. My Bible
7. My journal
8. .38 pens
9. Mildliners
11. Apple Watch
12. Beach body workouts
13. Marco Polo
15. Barefoot Dreams robe
16. Double Bob Stroller
17. Stanley Cup
18. Magnesium gummies (I take every night)
19. AirPods
20. My new back porch
21. Warby Parker glasses
22. Chi flat iron
23. Soft blankets from Home Goods
24. Sweet cream coffee creamer
25. My mug collection
26. Laughing with my mom and sister and constantly giving each other pep talks via text message
27. My annual Minki trips
28. Grammy days, which is my one day a week when Grammy takes the kids so I can catch up on work and life (happens to be today!)
29. And quiet time with the Lord before the kids wake up.
Here are our favorite books to read:
30. Going on a Bear Hunt
31. Twinkle Twinkle Little Car
32. Little Blue Truck
33. Boxcar Children Series
34. You are Special by Max Lucado
35. Berenstein Bears
36. All the Things I Love About You
37. Green Eggs & Ham
Nancy: Okay, Lyndon, what is your favorite book we've read as a family?
Lyndon: Narnia.
Nancy: Beaufort, what about you?
Beaufort: Little Pilgrim’s Progress
Here are our top 10 favorite movies we love to watch as a family:
38. Sing 1 and 2
39. Robin Hood
40. Aladdin
41. Frozen 1 and 2
42. Super Mario Brothers
43. Cinderella 1, 2, 3
44. Despicable Me, 1, 2, 3
45. Lion King
46. Prince of Egypt
47. Encanto
48. Chronicles of Narnia
Nancy: And we haven't actually seen The Chronicles of Narnia yet.
Millie: But, but Mommy and Daddy say, we're really gonna like it.
Nancy: I think you’ll love it.
Millie: And we read the whole series Chronicles and Narnia, and we finished it like two days ago, so we really wanna watch the movies.
Nancy: I know. We'll see if you're old enough, we gotta watch it first and preview it first. Thank you, Millie, for your help.
My personal list of top 10 movies ever:
This was a hard one, but a really good one to think about.
49. About Time
50. Father of the Bride 1
51. Father of the Bride 2
52. Prince of Egypt (I know that made their list and mine, but it is one of my favorite movies of all time)
53. Braveheart
54. The Holiday
55. The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe (of course, again)
56. The Titanic
57. It's a Wonderful Life
58. Breakfast at Tiffany's (Was my favorite in high school. It’s so weird but I loved it.)
10 songs you need to listen to:
Nancy: These are 10 songs I, I don't know if they're my favorite songs. A lot of them are, but really they're just 10 songs I feel like you need to listen to if you've never listened to them.
59. Remember When by Alan Jackson (Please grab a box of tissues before you listen to that)
60. Buy Dirt by Jordan Davis
61. Meanwhile Back at Mama's by Tim McGraw.
62. Better by Jess Ray
63. Belovedness by Sarah Kreuger
64. Behold The Lamb of God by Andrew Peterson
65. Psalm 46 by Jenny and Tyler
66. Called Me Higher by All Sons and Daughters
67. Open Spaces by Housefires
68. Eden (Isn’t it Just Like You) by Benjamin William Hastings
These are songs pulled from all different eras of my life that have meaning to me in some way. They're, this is so random, but they're all really good. Highly recommend them all.
Our favorite family show:
Nancy: Okay, before jumping into my favorite TV shows, I thought it would be fun for each kid to share about our favorite show. What's our favorite family show that everybody loves?
69. Bluey!
Nancy: Okay, now each of you shared your favorite episode of Bluey, Beaufort you start. What's your favorite episode?
Beaufort: Unicorse.
Nancy: Unicorse. Okay. Lyndon?
Lyndon: Squash.
Nancy: Squash. Millie, what's your favorite Episode?
Millie: Family Meeting.
Nancy: Family Meeting. That's such a funny one. All right, here are the rest of my favorite TV shows.
My favorite shows:
70. Friday Night Lights
71. The Office
72. 24
73. Parenthood
74. Gilmore Girls
75. Friends
76. Alone
77. Shark Tank
78. Fixer Upper
My favorite beauty products:
79. Aquaphor
80. The Little Tinkle Razor. Is that, what is that how you call it?
84. Maybelline Mascara (Lash Sensational is my favorite mascara)
85.A’del Bashful Eyeshadow or The Dusk. (I can't choose between those. But A’del eyeshadow is so good)
86. Billie Razor
87. Ursa Major Golden Hour Face Recovery Cream
88. Ursa Major Forest Alchemy Eye Cream
89. Kenra Hairspray (which is the one hair product I would, I could never live without. That's so great.)
My favorite kitchen items:
Mom, what are your favorite things to use in the kitchen daily?
Nancy: Great question.
90. My Caraway pots and pans.( I love them. There's four of them. They're beautiful and they cook great.)
91. Lemon & lime squeezer
92. My Vitamix
93. Crock Pot
94. Pure Komachi knife (The one knife I love to cut with)
95. Silicone straws
96. Wooden cutting boards for snacks for the kids.
97. My cookie sheet (of course)
98. Magic bullet for quick smoothies
99. My coffee maker.
My clothing favorites:
100. True & Co Bra (True and co? Truco? It’s so comfortable.)
101. Altra shoes (I just discovered them, love them.
102. Barefoot Dreams robe (I already mentioned that)
103. Ondo socks
104. My sweatshirts in general (I have like 10 sweatshirts in my drawer that I'm obsessed with. All of them.)
105. Cross body bag (I love to wear that)
106. Colorfulkoala joggers (So comfortable, wear them probably four out of seven days a week.)
107. RDU hat
108. Walmart shorts (they're like comfy shorts with biker liner underneath, $13)
109. Fuzzy old Navy zip-up jacket
Favorite Bible verses:
I was gonna just read the, the scripture references and then I was like, y'all aren't gonna take the time to look 'em up. So I'm just gonna read you quick snippets from each one. Okay, here are 10 Bible verses that I love.
110. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Proverbs 18:21
111. I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1
112. In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:3
113. Rejoice in the Lord always. I'll say it again. Rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Philippians 4:4–8
114. Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 1 Timothy 6:17–19
115. If any of you lacks wisdom, let them ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given to him. James 1:5
116. So now there's no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1–2
117. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is perfected in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
118. Flee from youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 2 Timothy 2:22. (That was like my life verse when I was a teenager.)
119. And last but not least, that's my favorite verse. But as for me, your nearness is my good. Psalm 73:28.
These are 10 things that I love and use daily:
120. Cross body bag
121. Wind Blown Jewelry (I live in that jewelry. It's so beautiful and complimentary to everything. No matter what I'm going to or what I'm wearing.)
122. Olive & June Nail polish
123. Coffee pot
124. King-sized bed
125. Taking a bath every night is one of my absolute favorite things.
126. Quip toothbrush
127. My minivan (Hello)
128. My MacBook Pro, which allows me to work
129. My stretchy hair ties that I'm obsessed with
30 of my favorite books:
Mom, tell me 30 books that you love.
All right here is gonna just be a very quick rundown. I tried 10. That was impossible. There's so many different categories. 30 books including self-help, parenting novels, inspirational, you name it. These are some book recommendations. And I know I've left off some of my favorites, there's just no way to get them all. But here we go.
130. Traction
131. How to Win Friends and Influence People.
132. The Advantage
133. 4-Hour Work Week
134. Tribes
135. 168 Hours
136. The Compound Effect
137. The 12-week Year
138. The Self-Driven Child
139. The Psychology of Money
140. The Tech-Wise Family
141. The Road Back to You
142. Mere Christianity
143. Create Anyway
144. Anonymous
145. God and Money
146. The Power of a Praying Husband or Wife
147. Switch on Your Brain
148. Strengthsfinder
149. Good to Great
150. Screwtape Letters
151. Deep Work
152. Thou Shall Prosper
153. The E-Myth
154. The Harry Potter series
155. The Nightingale
156. The Maid
157. Redeeming Love
158. The Mark of the Lion trilogy
159. All My Knotted Up Life
My favorite places to eat:
Mom, what are your favorite places to eat?
Nancy: All right, these are restaurants and coffee shops that I love and frequent. Some are really cheap, some are really expensive. It's just the 10 ones that I love most in Raleigh.
160. Jubala
161. Sola
162. Summer Moon
163. Angus Barn
164. Winston's
165. Chick-fil-A
166. Happy and Hale
167. Bartaco
168. Alpaca
169. Taza Grill
My favorite meals I make:
And here are 10 meals that I make. We're gonna just keep continuing on with the food theme. I asked my kids too to contribute to this.So they're the ones who actually talked about which ones were their favorites as well.
170. Lemon pork bites and green beans
171. Homemade pizza
172. Mac and cheese with ranch chicken
173. Taco Tuesdays
174. White chicken chili
175. Cobb salad and sweet potatoes
176. Buffalo dip snack night
177. Caesar salad with spaghetti, cheesy bread
178. Hot dogs and burgers (cookout night)
179. Honey butter chicken with rice, corn, and green beans
My favorite things in the car:
What are the 10 things you love in the car?
Nancy: This was an interesting category I came up with, but I spent so much time in the car, I felt like this, this feels right.
180. My CD and DVD case are full of CDs and DVDs that the kids love. Keeps them very entertained.
181. My first aid kit, keep it in the glove compartment.
182. My prescription sunglasses by Warby Parker. Never thought I would buy them. I love them.
183. My trunk organizer from Sam's Club
184. The sticky trash bags that the kids use, they stick it on their window and put all their trash inside of it.
185. Handheld vacuum for cleaning it out easily and vacuuming out all of the goldfish and crumbs that accumulate
186. My Avryn Co leather key chain wristlet—customized, it says work and play on it and I love it.
187. My emergency diaper and wipe stash
188. My phone charger
189. Bonus, my USBC car adapted charger for my computer that I, I keep in my glove compartment that I love to use on road trips.
My favorite memory makers:
Okay, and these are the last 10. These are like five travel spots that we go to almost every year and five other spots that we have loved to prioritize in making memories with our kids. So I didn't really know what to call this other than our 10 favorite places or memory makers that we do with our children every year.
190. Boone, North Carolina is beautiful and it's the mountains of Boone and we love to go there in the summer or in the fall.
191. Beaufort, North Carolina's what our third child, our first son's name is Beaufort and it's after the small town in North Carolina that we have a big family, heritage on Will's side of the family there. Really cute, quaint little coastal town.
192. Lake Gaston is so much fun for just family time, out on the lake with our kids skiing tubing. It's a blast.
193. Myrtle Beach is also a family spot I grew up going to when I was a little girl and now we go back and visit grandparents down there and stay at the beach for a little bit. It's really fun.
194. Nashville, Tennessee because it's my kids' favorite place on earth because it's where their cousins live and my mom and my sister live there and it's just such a good spot to travel to.
And the last five are a little bit different.
195. New Life Camp made the list because it's a spot here in Raleigh that has such a special place in our heartsm in mine and Will's heart and his whole family grew up going there and now our kids are going there and it has such a great camp life culture. And it's right here in our backyard, which is so fun.
196. The 4th of July parade is something we try to make every single year in Beaufort and it's really fun to be with family and watch this little parade.
197. Going to the mountains for Thanksgiving is a really fun place to be. And just make those memories as well.
198. Camping at Blue Bear, that's our favorite spot where we go camping with friends. We've been several times in Boone and it is just lovely. It's like on the top of this mountain and the weather is so beautiful
199. Being home on Christmas morning, cuz there's nothing greater than just being with your favorite people in your favorite place on Christmas morning. And those are kind of the spots and traditions that I thought of and want to hold to as my kids continue to grow.
200. Last but not least, my favorite space is our new screened-in porch I spend every morning out there. I love it so much. I'm basically living out there this summer and fall and it's so, so beautiful.
Guys, that was it. That was not as long as I thought it was gonna be. Thankfully. I'm just really proud of myself for not talking too much about every single one.
But listen, if there's something that caught your attention as you were listening that you wanted to go back and listen to that song or go look up that recipe or try something in your car, please do that. This is, I just am grateful that I got to share a little bit more of like a personal glimpse into my life. What it looks like day to day, the things that I love, the places that I, I love the meals I make. I hope that you feel like you got to know me a little bit better, and I feel like I gotta share some of my favorite things with you to hopefully make your life a little bit better as well.
So thank you so much for listening to episode 200 of Work and Play with Nancy Ray. Everything I've said today, well, I don't know about everything, 200 links is a lot of links, but a lot of what I said to take can be found in the show notes at nancyray.com/podcast/200. And you can always find me over on Instagram, or like I said earlier in the podcast, you can always connect with me through my emails, nancyray.com/emails if you want to get more specific personal updates from me.
Winston Churchill said “Listing your personal milestones is like storing a pocket full of sunshine for a rainy day.” I know this is probably a small thing to you listening to another podcast episode, but to me it's a big thing. I'm so grateful that you've stuck with me for 200 episodes and I'm so grateful for celebrating this milestone with you today.
It is like having a pocket full of sunshine to store away for a rainy day. Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you have a wonderful summer.
