Hey everyone and welcome back. As you may have noticed, it is just me today. We're getting back to a little bit of how we kind of started the podcast, the beginning of the season, because if you didn't hear, this is. One of the final episodes of season one. I am doing a three episode wrap up for the end of the season. There will be this week's episode, next week's episode, and then the final one at the end of June. Then we will hit pause and play back and just take some time off as we enjoy the summer and set up for season two in August. More details to follow at a later date. But for today's episode, I am really excited because I wanted to do something light and fresh before we get into the last two big episodes of the season. I was thinking about all the things I am loving right now and that I find myself talking about to anyone who will listen or things I'm thinking about. I'm like, why not just talk about the things that I'm really enjoying, because maybe it's something that other people would enjoy. Or it gives people more insight into who I am more than just, a voice over your headphones or speakers, and shows a way how you and I can connect too. Maybe there's more things we have in common that you didn't realize, or maybe there's things you wanna debate me about, like I'm open to that also. Anyway, we're just gonna go over, I came up with a list of 10 favorite things. Kind of like if you think back, for a nostalgic feel, MySpace days when you had your top eight. Do you remember there would be those surveys going around and you'd fill them out? Like your favorite TV show? Your favorite movie, your favorite food. I remember people would post those on Facebook notes when Facebook notes was a thing. And even before then, they would be chain letters, like in email, fill this out and send it to 10 of your friends. It's just a fun way of getting to know people. So think of it as an old school, my favorites kind of thing. Whether you're out on a walk or driving or laying by the pool, it's like a chat with one of your closest friends telling you everything she's loving right now. So we will dive right into it. The first one, and this one has been on my mind for weeks now and could probably be categorized as my, guilty pleasure obsession. But it's like, okay, before we say what it is, a little background. I love reality TV. If I haven't mentioned this before, like Big Brother is my go-to show. I have watched all but two Seasons and only missed one celebrity season I love it. Someday I want to be on Big Brother. Although I realize that like I'm kind of aging out at this point now because they're casting a lot of Instagram models or like Super Fit people under the age of 27. So I realize I am no longer, in what they're casting for, but someday I really would love to be on it, like more the strategic aspects of it and the personal building relationships. There's so much to it anyway. Probably wait for a whole episode on Big Brother sometime. Bye. I realize that not everything I watch on TV is of highbrow entertainment and it's not the most educational. So keep that in mind when I start talking about, this number one thing. These are not in any order. I literally just listed 10 things that I'm really kind of obsessed with right now. This one's the top one, not because it's the one I'm most obsessed with, because I promise these are not ranked in any order. Without further ado. Secret Lives of Mormon wives, you guys, this show, oh my gosh. I loved season one when it came out and I was all in, keep in mind, I didn't know anything about them beforehand. I'm not on the TikTok, so I didn't know what mom talk was. I didn't know who any of these girls were, but I was so enthralled oh my gosh. I wanna be their friends. I wanna be like them to the other side of like, Ooh, they're a little cray cray. Maybe not my scene, not my vibe, but whatever. Anyway, season two came out last month. There's so much going on and now I'm like flipping around. There is so much to break down about it and I'm not gonna get into all the details of it right now because one, if you haven't watched or don't care about it, this will mean nothing to you. And two, if you are all in, then just DM me or message me because Alexis and I have been sending each other stuff back and forth, breaking down all the episodes as we were watching them. I joined a Facebook group. For just the show to see what other people are saying about it and kind of keeping up with all of it. Also, recently found out about the reunion show coming out July 1st. Yes, I will be watching that because how it ended, I did not even realize it was ending. All of a sudden the episode's over and I'm just like, that's it. This is how it's ending. Like what is happening? I have so many thoughts on all of it. I'm not gonna lay out which team I'm on, I see multiple aspects of everything and these girls are just, it's a lot. It's a lot that I love. So, number one on my list, again, not because it's the top, just because it's the first one I talked about is Secret Lives of Mormon wives. It's so good. Okay, so number two is something else I've been watching and if you've heard me mention it before, I have this. This one's not an obsession, but I have this weird interest in trains. I really wanna go on a train. I joke about becoming a hobo and just riding the rails which apparently you can, you can pay, a flat fee and take so many different trips on Amtrak in a year. And I don't know, it's like. 399 or something and people have factored out how to make the most of it and actually cross the country however many times, and it looks like so much fun. Part of my love came from watching different YouTube travel videos and the one that I am most obsessed with, 'cause there's two or three that I follow pretty regularly, but the one that is the best, that if you're only gonna watch one, you have to watch. It's Downey Live. Downey Live is done by Mike Downey, and he is just, he is so personable, he's so fun. He's so good at what he does. I mean, his whole team as they put the videos together, like you feel like you're on the journey with them. His most recent one, I think it was a four episode, they're all out now, so you can watch them. All at once and get the whole feel for it. He wanted to see if he could take a train from the Arctic Circle down to Africa. Spoiler alert he did, but there was so much that went on he didn't do it by himself. He brought his friend Jeff Chang along which Jeff just made the show. The interaction and chemistry with the two of them was so good. I am really hoping he brings Jeff back for more series. It was absolutely so fun. It was good because it's not just train life. They stayed at some places along the way. They had to take a ferry at one point because they had to get to different trains. And then of course, trains aren't the most, prompt way of traveling. So there were delays and missed trains. The intensity, the drama, it was so good. If you like, shows like The Amazing Race you would like this. He's not racing, but just going to different places and trying to find their way. Oh my gosh, so good. So Downey live on YouTube. Another thing I am just obsessed with right now. I promise I do more with my life than just watch stuff. There's usually some time during the weekend where I have some downtime where, my little malty pooch just curls up on my lap and we just watch things it's kind of how I reset for the week. I just sit there zone out and watch things. I usually catch up on the latest episode of 2020. When we're not watching 2020, these are the things we're watching. Secret Lives More Wives and Downey live and wear whatever the F you want. This show for anybody my age, maybe a little bit younger, maybe a little bit older, who used to watch shows on TLC. You'll remember Stacey and Clinton who did what not to wear. And the whole premise of that story is you would be nominated by somebody who thought you dressed like garbage. And you would get nominated and Stacey and Clinton would come in and take you on the shopping spree and give you a makeover and send you home with like $5,000 worth of clothes to make you into what you should be. And it was very big on dressing your body, dressing for who you were, like all these things, rule based, very strict. Maybe strict isn't the right word, but it was just very like. These are the rules. This is what you have to do, so they've come back out now and the show is called Wear Whatever the F You Want. It's on Amazon Prime and it is so good. I think I am three or four episodes in now, and I absolutely love it because the premise now is. Come as you are. Tell us what you're about, what you wanna portray, what you'd like your fashion sense to be. Then they have them try on a whole bunch of different things and really see what works for their personality. Not a bunch of strict rules, but just dressing for the body. They have the personality, they have who they wanna be. And then, another part of the show, somebody from home comes to see their new look to see if it's realistic. Like, is this really gonna work for everyday life? Because a lot of times. The people who are getting the makeover want to be perceived a certain way or they want to be this certain thing, and they kind of focus on it just from themselves. But if you have an outsider who knows you in your everyday life, that can be like, yeah, that is realistic. Or No, you're never actually gonna wear those clothes. You're gonna revert to sweats. It's good to have that perspective and they can kind of see some blind spots like, well, you know, this isn't really practical for your life as a stay at home mom or whatever. Stacey and Clinton will then tweak the look and send you home with clothes. At the end of the episode, there's a QR code where you can scan it and get the stuff they were wearing and a lot of it is very affordable too. The first episode, I really liked a lot of the outfits there, and I've saved a couple. I haven't bought anything yet, but I really enjoyed it, so I am loving that. Plus, it is so fun to have Stacey and Clinton back because they were a staple, I lived by the rules that they gave on whatnot to wear. So it's fun to see how things have become more open, just kind of the shift in culture and mindset and being able to look at clothes differently. Earlier this season I talked about my body issues that I have been dealing with, I think I even said that, it's part of accepting the size you are and sometimes it's just buying. A bigger size or buying clothes that are made for your body, because there's so many styles that are really cute and fun, but they aren't necessarily made for every body. And that's fine because there are styles out there that do fit your body better. Finding what those are, is great. Stacey and Clinton help people focus on what you feel good in? Forget what's trendy or stylish or what you're supposed to wear. What do you feel good in? What exhibits, what's going on inside of you and shows your personality and how you wanna be perceived by everyone. And I just think that's phenomenal. I love that advice and I feel like that's kind of how I look at what I'm wearing too. I'm always buying new clothes, but I'm a thrift shop girl. I buy secondhand and I'm proud of it. I love a good deal. Especially when I get name brand stuff, like I have some super cute Lily Pulitzer clothes. I've got a pair of shoes that I love and I got this new shirt recently that has like little gold chain on the neck. It's gorgeous and I paint so little for it. Anyway, I'm really big about just finding things that look good on me and make me feel good, and that's what it is. So that's why I am loving that show right now. Moving on to things from, not just watching, events I've been doing lately. We are at number four if you're keeping track. So author events and books to friends is what I'm labeling this one. You may or may not know that I have a bookstagram. It's read with Kristen with an E, you see a theme. I started that, almost two years ago now, and I haven't been as active on it since I've been, you know. Having a podcast and trying to build up that one a little bit. But I love my bookstagram and the whole reason that was set up was because I love reading and I really enjoyed sharing what I was reading. Doing it on my personal Instagram or Facebook didn't feel right because not everybody's a reader and not everybody wants to be bothered with that kind of stuff. By setting up a bookstagram, I was able to share that in a different area and build a community I've made a lot of really good friends there. Some local, some not. It's fun to see what other people are reading and get recommendations and just build a community. Bookstores have a bunch of events and I've gone to several of them I kind of see the same girls at them. And I've followed a bunch of them on, Instagram also. And, but I haven't really made that jump into like, you know, I'm friends with them and a lot of them come together as groups and it's a really nice community. Because I'd been to two or three in the past month and had seen several of the same ones, I did this huge thing, huge for me last week. I'm trying to think of how best to tell the story because this also links into stuff with the podcast which is why I am sharing the story so picture it there I am at an event for Annabelle Monagan, one of my favorite writers. Her new book, it's a Love Story, just came out. Highly recommend it. It's such a good book. You will love it. Before the event starts, I am going through my Instagram and watching people's stories just kind of killing time until it starts and I see somebody else at the event has posted a picture and it's like similar angle to where I'm sitting and I'm like, oh, that person must be sitting right near me. And I glance over and I see who it is I've followed her on. Instagram for a while but didn't know who she was in real life. So, because we've talked about how to make friends in real life and just to go up to people and, you know, building confidence and everything. I went over to her and I was like, hi, this may seem really weird, but are you Hannah? And she was like, I am. And I was like, hi, I'm Kristen. I follow you on Instagram. And she was like, oh, wow. And so her and the friends she was with, they actually added me to a chat group with a whole bunch of other. Bookstore grammars too. And so I'm kind of like in now. As I've talked about building community and finding your people and putting yourself out there and inviting people in, it was just a really great kind of everything coming together. And also, I'm probably gonna see them at more events and maybe nothing will happen with it, but at least I'm broadening my network making new friends, new acquaintances, getting new recommendations on books. It's just a fun thing. So I would say that's great. All right, number five. This is such a weird one, but when I was thinking about favorites that I am using a lot or doing a lot, or thinking a lot about, I was like, Ooh, cottage cheese. I never thought this would be on a favorite things list ever. But my husband who cares very deeply about my health, has told me that I should have more protein. So when I looked up foods that have protein, cottage cheese was one of the ones, and I'm not gonna say how much it has because I'm gonna get it wrong and I'm not gonna look it up right now. But cottage cheese has a good amount of protein. There's actually a lot of other good benefits for you also, because some of the health benefits of cottage cheese are bone health. Its excellent source of calcium, which is crucial for maintaining strong bones and teeth and preventing osteoporosis, weight management, muscle building because of its high protein, blood sugar control, gut health, and beyond just the protein and calcium. It also has vitamins like B12 phosphorus and potassium, which play important roles in various bodily functions according to Google. So I started eating cottage cheese. Almost every day. Two months ago maybe. It's become kind of a joke at work that everybody knows I have cottage cheese and I refer to it as cottage cheese time. Because sometimes I'll have people call me, I'll be like, hi, it's cottage cheese time. And I don't just eat it plain. I usually have fruits with it. Blueberries, pineapple strawberries are some of my favorites. I do feel better. I feel like it's working, but I don't know if it's just placebo effect or something. I'm like, oh, I'm eating this and it's good for me, therefore I'm good now. But also I have really started to enjoy the flavor of it. I never ate cottage cheese growing up. And I've never really ate it a whole lot in my adult life. Kind of here or there once in a while, but I really do enjoy it. So it is by no means my favorite food, like that's still gonna be pizza, sushi, and any pastry really. But I will say that cottage cheese is very good, and I highly recommend it because of all the benefits that it has. And it's just a nice thing to eat. So number six on my favorite activities right now, although I have not been able to do it very much because the weather here has been insane lately. It has been raining and toing and I'm just over it. I always tell people that I hate Missouri because of the winter. Turns out I hate it now because of tornado season also, which seems to be like forever. Like every week there's a tornado warning or something and it's a little ridiculous. So this next thing on my list, I don't get to do as much as I would like, but I know it's coming. What I'm loving right now is pool days with my son. We live in a community that has a pool. It's actually a really nice pool, like a salt water pool. It's lovely splash pad. In a very good sunny area if the sun would ever be out. So this is something that my son and I really enjoy doing together. We go to the pool. Sometimes I'll come home early from work and we'll go up and we call it the golden hour because if you can get there between like five or six when people have gone home to eat dinner and it's not that busy and the sun is kind of, you know, not quite setting, but not as hot as it is in the middle of the day. It's the perfect time and he and I will play catch or other games we'll just sit and talk he's 12 and you know, he's growing up and doesn't always just wanna hang out with me anymore or do a lot of stuff like he used to. But the pool is something we both enjoy and he'll talk to me a lot too. So it's a lot of times where we kind of bond and he'll tell me what's going on in his life or what he is thinking about or things like that. And it's a really good bonding moment for us. And on the weekends when we get to go and I can just lay out on the sun, ugh. It's fantastic. And yes, I know the concerns of skin cancer. I wear sunscreen, not necessarily 'cause I'm afraid of skin cancer. I probably should be. I'm more afraid of looking old and I just like to take good care of my skin. And oftentimes on the weekends, a lot of our friends will be there too, and we get to hang out and then he can play in the pool and I can sit and talk with my friends or just lay out and it's just, it's such a nice time. It's my favorite part of the year. I have friends in the neighborhood that I only see during the summer. I call them my summer friends because in the winter, like everybody's kind of. Closed in stays inside. But then when the pool opens and we're all out we get to hang out again. It's one of my favorite things. This goes along with my love for my skin and wanting to, take care of my body and stuff too. The next thing I wanna talk about how much I am loving is my Rebels Refinery lip balm. If you haven't heard of Rebels Refinery, I'm sorry you're missing out. It's a good thing I'm telling you about it now. I was a lip gloss addict for years, like. For real. In high school, I remember there was an article that my mom like clipped on the newspaper or showed me or whatever, about lip gloss addiction it really was like, it's all psychological. It's not, it's what the article said. It was not necessarily a physical addiction, but a psychological one. I swore it was physical though, because if I didn't have my lip gloss on, my lips would start burning. It was a whole thing and back then it was always Bonnie Bell lip smackers. Martian Maow was my absolute favorite. And that's not one of the regular flavors. They had this cosmic line or something and they were kind of shimmery, Martian maow, was white, it had some shimmer and it was marshmallow. It was kind of sweet. I can't really remember it. I just know that I loved it and it was brilliant. That and, the watermelon waterfalls or whatever, which was different than the regular watermelon in a stick because this was in a little jar and you'd smear it all over your lips. Anyway, was obsessed with lip gloss. Finally broke the addiction somewhere in my twenties where I didn't need it as much. And then I wasn't using it at all. Like I can let my lips be naked now, but I prefer not to. But that's what brings us to this current favorite product. This is the only real lip balm I have been using. If you haven't heard of Rebels Refinery let me tell you a quick thing about them. So they are. All natural. They're made from Canada. They get everything and they pour it there and it's so good. It doesn't just come in a tube. All of their lip balms come. In little designs I've had most, I think the first ones I've got were pineapples, but there's also ice cream cones. They've done it. There's a cactus one. Sometimes they're skulls, so it's not like a tube that's just gonna get lost in the bottom of your purse. It's fun. And they're like pastel colors. The little containers, not the lip balm, lip balms, just, you know, regular lip balm. And the reason I like it so much is because it lasts. It's not too goopy or like, it's not thick, it's not, sticky. Like, it's just, it feels good. Like a lotion for your lips. I first got it, randomly. I got it randomly one time and then when I ran out I had to get more and then I was getting it for myself every Christmas to put in my stocking. That sounds silly. I know, but like moms, it's usually the moms that are getting all the stocking stuff and filling everybody's stocking, right? I would buy it and put it in my stocking for me. Usually I could find it at Walmart, but this year my Walmart didn't have it. I had to buy it from Amazon. But anyway, I got it. So it's the kinda lip balm that I put on every morning before I leave the house every night before I go to bed. And that's about all I needed. Sometimes I'll put on other lipsticks during the day but when it comes to lip balms, it's the only one I use and I am loving it. Moving on from the lip balm. We are up to number eight. We're almost done. This one's gonna be fun. This one may seem a little off brand, but stick with me. The number eight thing I'm loving right now is the Oklahoma City Thunder. It is NBA finals time, and we are a basketball family, which I know is. Kind of weird for being in the St. Louis area. People here don't really like basketball. Maybe they do. People around me aren't really into basketball. My husband played basketball, got recruited to go to Arkansas to play, and then unfortunately got hurt. My son's playing basketball. We're just a basketball family and my husband lived in Oklahoma City for a while, so he's been Oklahoma City fan pretty much since the Sonics got there and became the Oklahoma City Thunder. By proxy, my son and I have been Oklahoma City Thunder fans, it's just, it's so exciting. They've had such a good season. They're in the finals playing the Pacers, we're Thunder fans I have my favorite player, Isaiah Hartenstein, love you. But also really love all of them because Jaylen Williams, Jay will, he went to Arkansas, Isaiah, Joe went to Arkansas. So we've got that Arkansas connection, so we love them. And then of course, Shea Gil, just Alexander everybody's favorite. We love SGA and Chat and the other Jalen Williams, J Dub. 'cause they're like the face of the thunder and I love them all. I know I didn't say all the players, but I'm not gonna bore you by going through all of them because we love all of them. Even Adam Flagler, we really love Adam Flagler and Lou Dot, seriously, all of them I really love their coach, mark Agonal. I have watched many interviews with him and the players I love how they are very consistent in what they say. And they will be like, you know, oh, we trust the system. We trust the work we put in. It's always getting back to zero. It's not, you know, getting in with your. Emotions. It's that setting, you know, it's always the next shot. Like we don't think outside too much. Like just everything they say is so good. And the reason I love this so much is because I have a master's in leadership with a focus on organizational leadership. And I think that Mark is a very great leader from what I've seen, what I've read, how I've seen them play too, and what people have said about him and the players, how they talk about it too. And I just feel like how he's built that system there and how they all have that team mentality and they're not just in it for themselves. They're there to help each other, like it's just huge little tidbit. I'm gonna do a huge deep dive into this in season two, because season two I'm going more into. Leadership lessons, corporate stuff. Maybe still fun, still personal, but a little bit more businessy spin I'm very fascinated by how he does it. If somebody knows, this would be great if you could help me. I've even googled ways to get in touch with him because I would love to interview him on my podcast. And I realize the unrealistic part of that because he's such a big deal and you've gotta go through, I don't even know how you do it. In my Googling research, I found different ways that you may be able to get in touch or get in with the team's PR area I would pay to get him on my podcast. Like I just really wanna talk to him about building the team dynamic because I think it goes beyond just sports. I think it goes into the business side of things and real life. Okay, this is supposed to be just my 10 favorite things. We've gotten a little bit deeper into this one, but you can see how passionate I'm about it. So really, if anybody knows Mark Gannott or anybody on the Oklahoma City Thunder that could get me in touch with him, please reach out to me I would appreciate your help and it would be amazing. Okay, number nine. When I'm not listening to my podcast, which yes I do because I wanna make sure it sounds okay for everybody else, I am listening to two main friends in a podcast. Lindsay and Natasha are like the girls that I want to be friends with, but I'm just not yet, but I will be. I've talked to Lindsay a bunch on Instagram and many of the topics they talk about are things that either I have talked about or will talk about or want to talk about I feel like when I listen to them, I'm in a room with two of my closest friends I feel like I'm part of the conversation and I just love what they share, their backgrounds are kind of similar to mine and I feel like they get me even though they don't know me. I hope that's how people feel with my podcast too, that they feel like they're a part of it and that they're connecting. I have also talked about maybe doing some kind of CoLab with two main friends, in the future too, because I would love to do something with that. I just want to get to know them better too. I love them from afar and would love to get to know them better. So if you have not yet listened to two main friends in a podcast. You have to, their episodes come out on Tuesday. I think they're down to every other week now, so it's great. Listen to them on a Tuesday. Listen to me on a Wednesday. Listen to all of their episodes. Get caught up on them, especially in my pause and playback off season time. You'll have all the time to catch up on all of their episodes, so definitely go give them a listen. Say hi to Lindsay and Natasha. Tell them I sent you. They're just good people and I know you won't be disappointed. So number 10. And this one does feel a little silly saying it, but as I've thought about things that I'm loving right now, this is one of them. My own growth on this podcast, and we're gonna go a whole lot more into this next week's episode when I kind of go through what I've learned, what we've learned together, how we've grown over season one, I really am loving right now, just the progress I've made and how much this podcast has grown. When I started, I didn't know it was gonna happen. It was really just that I had some things that I wanted to share. There was things I was working through that I thought maybe other people were, and maybe I could connect with people or at least make a difference in someone's life. Something I shared resonated with at least one person and made a difference in one person's life. That's all. It mattered. And because of, some of the feedback I've gotten, text messages, dms, emails, I can see that there has been stuff that's resonated with people, which has been phenomenal. But even just for me and the growth that I've seen of where I was, you know, almost six months ago when I started this, to where I am now. I don't wanna say it's like I'm two completely different people because I'm still the same person. I'm just an even better version of her. And I really do think a lot of it has come from this. I had the tagline with the podcast, you know, cheaper than therapy, the question was always, was it therapy for me? Is it therapy for my guests? Is it therapy for the listeners? It's kind of a little bit of all of it, it has been very therapeutic for me to talk with you, talk with my guests, talk about different things, and learn and grow together. So I am just loving the podcast and the growth that I've made, and I'm so excited to see where it will go. All right, so those are the top 10 things I am loving right now. Are any of them the same for you, or do you have similar ones that you're loving or totally different ones? I definitely wanna hear from you, so reach out, let me know what you're loving, and seriously, if you wanna talk about any of these things on my list, specifically Sacred Lives of Mormon Wives or Oklahoma City Thunder. For any of the books you're reading events you're going to and what you're doing for the summer. Are you loving the pool or are you stuck in rain, tornado land too? Let me know. I always wanna hear from you, so please reach out. You know how to get me on Instagram, Facebook, email, but just reach out and let's talk it out.