30 Years to Finland

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30 Years to Finland

by ERIK ORTON

It’s been 30 years since I’ve been to Finland.  My mother is Finnish.  She moved to NYC at age seventeen to be a nanny.  A few years later she met my dad and they got married.  I’m half Finnish.  I used to spend summers in Finland as a kid.  My last summer there I was fourteen.  My mom worried I would be bored spending all day in my grandmothers two-bedroom/one bath apartment, so she signed me up for a cycling race.  I was big into cycling at the time.

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Podcast & Preorder

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"Seven at Sea," is available for pre-order on Amazon and we're excited to celebrate the occasion by sharing our podcast interview with Kristin & Laura of The Progress Project.  They had great questions for us about how we organize our lives, how we approach big undertakings and what we're doing now.  We learned a lot talking with them and even had fun brainstorming how to help Kristin put in motion her dream of spending summers in the British countryside with her family.  We created a couple hopefully-helpful freebies for them to share with listeners.

Kristin and Laura who generate all the goodness at The Progress Project

Kristin and Laura who generate all the goodness at The Progress Project

Link here for the podcast and show notesLink here to listen on iTunes

Link here for the podcast and show notes

Link here to listen on iTunes

As for the book, we've delivered the final manuscript to our editor.  Advance Reader Copies will be sent to reviewers in September. The book releases March 2019.

In the meantime, we've created sevenatsea.com where we'll be posting more about the book as the launch approaches.  Thanks for your enthusiasm.

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If you know someone who would love this podcast, please consider sharing.

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Erik Orton

Hello, I’m the co-founder of The Awesome Factory. 

Many people want more than a conveyor belt life. At The Awesome Factory, we equip and and encourage individuals to build a creative, adventurous, deliberate life. We envision a world where adults avoid regret, come alive to their own potential and inspire others. 

Meet Our Mentors

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Meet Our Mentors

by EMILY ORTON

A few weeks ago I wrote about drinking the Kool-Aid and how we can leverage our natural inclination to conform by deliberately choosing who we want to follow and then giving them lots of space in our brains. That’s what we did with Totem.
 
In early 2014 our family of seven moved out of our small Manhattan apartment into an even smaller boat where we lived for most of that year.  We did lots of two-steps forward one-step back preparations.  We’ll tell more in our upcoming memoir available March 2019. Nothing beats just starting, but one of the most important steps for facing our fears was finding mentors.

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'Ohana Means...

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'Ohana Means...

by EMILY ORTON

May Day Epilogue:  The 6th-grade king showed us Aloha at the May Day –Lei Day celebration.  Then, his family showed us 'Ohana.  

In the strange way social media works, a May Day attendee posted a video of Lily and the king on Youtube, our friend texted me a link, so I commented on the video with a link to our Facebook page.  Within 24 hours of Lily crashing the court, Erik and I were texting with the king’s mother, Julia.  His grandmother asked, “What are they doing for Mother’s Day?” Whatever we were doing, we changed our plans and arranged to join the king’s local extended family.   

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If Your Friends Jumped Off a Cliff...

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If Your Friends Jumped Off a Cliff...

by EMILY ORTON

If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you follow them?  If you are in Hawaii, the answer is probably, yes.  One of the most popular spots is on the south side of Waimea Bay, on the North Shore of Oahu.  A black monolith rises 30’ up and pushes 20’ into the Pacific.   That’s where our family, including Rob and Maddie – who have become family – decided to go cliff-jumping.

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It's a...Book!

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An author friend says, “Writing a book is like having a baby with a square head.”  

We’re excited to announce the co-conceived, co-written memoir of our family’s year at sea.  It will be available in 9 months. 

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 We’re so grateful for our amazing agent, Emma Parry at Janklow and Nesbit, and thrilled to be partnering with Shadow Mountain Publishing to deliver this baby.  

Click here to stay in the loop with all things Fezywig.

Wendy and the Surface

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Wendy and the Surface

by ERIK ORTON

My favorite part of the class was to lay on the ocean floor and stare up at the surface.  The light shimmered across it, the same way the water sparkled from above, but with a muted, quiet kind of beauty.  I was taking a scuba certification class and I was swimming along thirty feet below the ocean’s surface for the first time in my life.  My body drifted with the surge in unison with the school of yellow fish.  I looked a sea turtle in the eye as it swam toward me.  We stayed below for the better part of an hour.  I was in another world.

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Lily & the King: A Little Kindness Goes a Long Way

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Lily & the King: A Little Kindness Goes a Long Way

by EMILY ORTON

Lily noticed the performers were all barefooted on the grass stage. She slipped her shoes off and asked if she could go on stage too. Points for taking her shoes off but—No. I explained these kids had been practicing for months to perform for their families. Maybe after the show we could ask about going onstage. Big tears formed in her eyes and she buried her face in her hands. I hoped the dance and music would revive her smile soon.

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