Hey everyone! It’s Day 2 of our CRAZY adventure with Justin & Mary for their What’s Next Tour.  Today is the first day workshop day of the tour and then we pack up and head off to Phoenix! (We are finishing this post up will Mary is speaking and let us just say that she is definitely ROCKIN’ IT!)  Since we will be traveling quite a bit over the next few weeks and and we knew we would most likely start missing some of our favorite things from home, we decided to create a fun little travel box to make our adventure just a little bit more AMAZING.  Here a few of the things we’ve included:

Sour patch kids! These are probably Ryan’s all time favorite candy (not consisting of chocolate and peanut butter).

Hairbro Gummy Bears! In addition to sharing the bus with J&M, we are also sharing it with our good friends Ashley and Jeremy.  A while back Jeremy had posted that hairbro gummy bears were his favorite.  Say no more, we included these too!  Ok, I promise, our box of travel amazingess doesn’t just include candy!

Air Freshners! We LOVE to burn candles at home.  The smell of fresh linen, cupcakes, spiced pumpkin, and cinnamon are some of our favorites!  Although burning candles while driving might not technically be illegal (if anyone knows for sure we’d love to know!) it isn’t exactly the safest thing.  Hit one pothole and all of a sudden you have a flaming projectile flying through the air!  So instead, we picked up these AMAZING air freshners from Yankee Candle.  Now the bus will still smell like spiced pumpkin and cinnamon and we won’t have to worry about testing out the smoke detectors.

Vitamin C Energizing Face Spritz! The tour, although a super incredible once in a lifetime AMAZING fun time, is still going to be a lot of hardwork!  Last night already consisted of set design at midnight while using head lamps!  Yes head lamps!  Like the kind you would use while spelunking! So to fight off the urge to curl up in a ball and rest like a baby, we picked up energizing face spritz from The Body Shop!  One quick sprtiz is an instant pick me up of citrus AMAZINGNESS!

To round our the rest of our box we included Ghiradelli Chocolate, Cheez-its, gold stars, and Rolos.

Ok, so this wouldn’t be a “how to” post unless we shared a few tips on how you can create your very own travel box of goodness to make your next road trip more AMAZING. Below are a few ideas to help inspire you!

Find a fun box to store everything in! A boring old plastic bag or cardboard box just won’t do!  The goal is to make your trip more AMAZING and that includes the box.  We picked up a fun little rustic box at Homegoods then stuffed it with all of our goodies.

Include a few of your favorite indulgences!  Traveling and roadtrips are meant to be a break from your everyday lives so spice it up with your favorite chocolates and candies.  As we mentioned above, we included sour patch kids, gummy bears, Ghiradelli chocolate and Rolos.  Before your next road trip, head to the grocery store and spend a few extra minutes in the candy aisle picking out your favorite sweet treat!

Think therapeutic spa! Whether you are going on a road trip or traveling for business, travel can be rough on the body. Help rejuvenate your body and mind with fun things you world normally only find at a spa.  Pack your favorite body lotion, air fresheners, bath soap, and in our case, Vitamin C Spritz.  These little extra touches will make your trip that much more relaxing.

In addition to your box of fun, don’t forget to pack the essentials you simply can’t live without. Yesterday we asked on Facebook “What is the one thing you can’t go without while traveling?”  Thanks so much to everyone that responded!  We received a ton of AMAZING answers and we wanted to share a few of our favorites today.

Brad Slater –  A travel partner! Makes it so much more fun. Otherwise, my rollerboard suitcase. It’s been all over and makes navigating airports so much easier.

Natalie Franke – New music / a playlist for the trip!

Abby Field – fresh socks!

Have an AMAZING week and safe travels on your next trip!

Ryan has a way of saying things that leave me thinking… thinking hard. During the times I need it most, he asks the right questions and says things that stop me in my tracks. I remember one specific situation where I was at a cross roads (a breaking point, if you will! ;) ). I needed to hear exactly what Ryan was going to tell me. He said, “You will never know if you can live your dream or not until you Take a Chance and try. If you fail, you fail. At least you know you gave it all you’ve got.”

AMAZING, right?! Take A Chance. Ahhh! It feels good just to say it! ;)

If there is something that is holding you back, or you have something in your mind that you just can’t wrap your hands around to make happen… please share it with us! We want to encourage you and help you do what you need to do to Take a Chance and make your dreams a reality!!

We are your cheerleaders this week! Go and do!! ;) (Don’t laugh too hard thinking about Ryan in a cheerleading uniform…. I actually might have a picture from Halloween in High School of what that looks like! :) …it is quite funny!)

Have an AMAZING week!

PS, sorry for the late post today! We have a super AMAZING video to go with this post too but have been having wifi issues today :( Once we get it uploaded we will be sure to share it here and on Facebook!

[Updated With the Video!]

To say our January is going to be crazy is probably a little bit of an understatement.  The wildest-most-fun-little-bit-chaotic-time-of-our-lives is probably a better description.  We mentioned on Monday that we would be heading out on the road with Justin and Mary for their What’s Next Tour.  When we try to explain this to our family and friends, we often get asked tons of follow up questions.  So today, we wanted to share a little bit more about some of the preparation and planning we have been doing to get ready for our crazy adventure on a bus.

The thing we have probably been asked the most is where will you be staying and getting around during the trip? 

We will, in fact, actually be staying on a bus for the entire trip! Crazy!  Ok, it won’t be that bad, we do have a pretty sweet ride thanks to the amazing team over at Showit.  It’s equipped with an espresso machine and two Apples TVs just to name a few of the awesome amenities.  ;) See more about the bus at Showit’s website:

http://bus.showitfast.com

After we finish explaining to everyone that we will be living on a bus for three weeks, the next thing everyone usually asks is what will you be doing?  When Justin and Mary asked us to be part of their crew we pretty much said yes without even asking what they would need us to do. (Honestly, we were ready to learn how to drive the bus! ;) lol!)  Maybe it was because we just both finished reading Love Does. One of our favorite lines in the book is:

“You know what it is about someone that makes them a friend? A friend doesn’t just say things; a friend does.”

So we decided to DO.  We said yes and knew we would figure out the rest later.  Since then we have given ourselves the title “Experience Consultants” and have pretty much been working non stop coming up with ideas on how we can make the tour as AMAZING as possible for Justin & Mary and everyone attending.  We feel so blessed to have friends like Justin & Mary that trust our vision.  We can’t give away all the secrets but let me just say that the tour is going to be AMAZING and that if you have a chance to attend you definitely don’t want to miss it!  Below are a few sketches of some of the ideas we came up with for the tour that we created with the Paper App.  Forgive my poor drawing skills, at the time I wasn’t planning to share my sketches with the world, otherwise, I would have at least given the barista in the one sketch some hair! :)

One of our favorite parts has been creating a “What’s Next Café” that will serve drinks as people arrive. Now, if we could just figure out how to get this giant sign we are making in our luggage …

In addition to coming up with ideas on how to make the tour super AMAZING for everyone attending, we have also been hard at work coming up with ideas on how we can make life on a bus super AMAZING.  One of our ideas might just include gold stars.  Yes gold stars! You know, the ones you used to get in 3rd grade when you scored a 100% on your spelling tests.  We will be sharing more of these ideas throughout the tour, so be sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter at the top of the page to stay up to date!

Finally, the last question we get asked is where will be going?

We will be traveling to 10 cities with Justin and Mary for their tour.  The cities are Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas, Orlando, Charlotte, Washington, D.C., New York City, Indianapolis, Nashville, and Kansas City!  If you have any suggestions on fun cafes and places to eat in any of these cities we would LOVE to hear from you!!!

We will also be stopping at a few other places along the way.  We are hoping to have some spontaneous twitter meet-ups during our “off” days too!  Be sure to follow everyone on twitter so you don’t miss a chance to hang out with us.  Below are links to everyone’s twitter pages so you don’t have any excuse not to.

https://twitter.com/marymarantz
https://twitter.com/justinmarantz
https://twitter.com/liz_and_ryan
https://twitter.com/abarnettphoto
http://twitter.com/jeremymitch
https://twitter.com/THEandrewbarlow

If you haven’t gotten your ticket yet be sure to do so today!  LA, Dallas, and DC are almost sold out!  And if you use the code “lizandryan” you will save $50 on your full day ticket!

www.thewhatsnexttour.com

Can’t wait to see many of you out and about!

Ohh friends, we are SO incredibly excited to share a little sneak peek into something we have been working on over the last few months! Since the launch of Liz and Ryan, we have found a true passion in inspiring people to live an AMAZING life. By celebrating our zest for life and sharing what makes our lives AMAZING, we have realized that we truly can make a difference in the lives of others and encourage everyone to live amazingly!!! That, my friends, makes our hearts sing!

With our singing hearts, we are so so so excited to announce the AMAZING Life Experiences portion of the Liz and Ryan brand!!!

Check out the site preview at: http://AMAZING.lizandryan.com

We have so many AMAZING things planned for this year and beyond! ;)…but we can’t give them all away at once! ;) (Truth is, we are still working out the details for many of them! More to come soon! ;) ). However, we can’t leave you hanging (and plus, we are bursting at the seems to share more with you! ;) ), so we are going to let you in on one of our favorite portions of the AMAZING Live Experiences… and that is our AMAZING Life Escapes! It just sounds so fun, doesn’t it?!? We all need an escape now and then! ;)

In a few months (dates to be announced soon!), we will be hosting a 3-night getaway for couples who are excited about escaping the everyday craziness of life to discover what makes their lives AMAZING! The Escape will take place in an incredibly beautiful location meant to provide the best of both worlds… both relaxation and adventure! Through a mix of workshops, hand-on adventures, and quiet time, we plan to provide an opportunity to dream about your AMAZING life, in hopes that every couple walks away with hearts full of unconditional love, joyful happiness, and authentic gratitude! The escape will be limited to a small number of couples to create an intimate experience that is sure to lead to a life full of amazingness! ;)

Ahhh! This is so much fun to get out there! We hope that you are as excited as we are! ;) If you are interested in learning more about the AMAZING Life Escapes or even the AMAZING Life Experiences in general, please check out our initial site and take a moment to sign-up to learn more! Your sign-ups will help us gage how much interest there is and how we can help make your lives more AMAZING! Ohh Happy Day!

With our papers in hand and journals by our sides, we sat in our favorite places and hunkered down to do the “hard work!” Ryan was at Starbucks surrounded by the music and energy of the coffee shop while I was on our couch cozy under a blanket sipping my tea in silence! We have learned that these are our spots that we go to when we really need to crank it out! We set out to complete the same set of papers… a Year-End worksheet we found through our fav, Chris Guillebeau! The 25 page worksheet put together by Susannah Conway (thank you Susannah!) was a little daunting at first glance, but we knew it was everything that we needed to let our hearts wander and see where we end up.

It is amazing what can happen when you take just a few hours in “your spot” to reflect, dream, and explore! The “hard work” quickly became an incredibly enjoyable experience. The answers flowed from our hearts onto the worksheet. At one point the worksheet said:

“Imagine you are sitting in that cafe again [for me, on my cozy couch! ;) ]. Across the table from you- looking utterly fabulous- is your future self from December 2015. She has three years’ worth of wisdom to share with you- what does she say? What does she tell you to let go of? What does she tell you to pay attention to… to believe in… to trust?”

I started (as instructed) with Dear Liz: and everything else just flowed from my heart. At one point while writing, I remember thinking “gees, that is everything that I needed to hear. Thank you God for giving me the chance -in advance- to hear your words through my future self. ;) I am going to share my letter with you, because it might just be God’s way of making sure everyone hears what they need to.

Dear Liz:

You are right where you are supposed to be. God has led you and Ryan down this path because He believes in you and has given you the talents you need to make a difference in the lives of others.

Although you may not feel like your audiance is large enough or you are not reaching as many people as you hoped- you should know that every single person you meet/touch has been impacted by you. Your audiance will grow organically- especially if you have patience. Trust that God will take care of you.

Focus on you and Ryan and don’t let what other people are doing distract you. Stay true to who you are and go where your heart may guide you. Embrace your love that you and Ryan share and know that God is using your relationship as a model/example for others- to give them faith and fill their hearts with love and joy.

Let go if the things that are not important. If it causes stress, it is probably not worth your time and energy. Let someone else take that off your hands. Trust in God and lead with your serving heart.

With love.

<3 You

As you begin this new year, we hope you are taking some time to reflect, dream, and explore! Find your spot and hunker down for some “hard work” that will definitely leave your hearts smiling!

Here are a few of our favorite Year-End guidelines to get you started:

Susannah Conway’s Workbook

Chris Guillebeau’s Annual Review Guidelines

Lara Casey’s Goal Setting Part 1 and Part 2

Emily Ley’s Financial Worksheet