Episode 32: The One Where We Admit We Want More

What does your dream life look like now, and how much of it is really about the house, the pool, the people, and the feeling of peace?

In this episode of Unfiltered-ish, Natali, Carina, and Nicki start with a surprise birthday story after Carina secretly flies back to Phoenix to surprise Nicki at brunch. What begins as a funny, sweet recap of secret plans, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, birthday surprises, and full moon wishes turns into a deeper conversation about friendship, home, and what success feels like in midlife.

They talk about surprise parties, thoughtful gifts, spontaneous friendship, pickleball, spring goals, and the tiny rituals that make life feel meaningful.

Then the conversation shifts into dream homes, snowbird life, pools, luxury, and what it means to build a life that feels peaceful instead of performative. From Phoenix houses and Bear Lake dreams to indoor pools, pickleball courts, libraries, mountain views, and homes that feel like a sanctuary, they unpack why certain things symbolize safety, success, and freedom.

If you’ve ever dreamed about owning a home with a pool, becoming a snowbird, creating a peaceful life in midlife, or redefining what “making it” actually means, this episode will feel funny, honest, and surprisingly reflective.

Unfiltered-ish is a women’s podcast about midlife, friendship, personal growth, dream homes, relationships, and the conversations we don’t always say out loud.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hi, I'm Natalie, and I kept a really good secret.

SPEAKER_07 0:04

Hi, I'm Karina. And the secret was that I bought a plane ticket and the next day got on that plane and met these two girls for lunch in Phoenix. Brunch. Oh yeah, brunch.

SPEAKER_04 0:17

Uh hi, I'm Nikki, and I was the one who was surprised by Karina coming back into town uh on my birthday.

SPEAKER_07 0:27

You were the reason for the secret. It's true. It was so fun. Well, we should preface this by saying that Nikki has been as a long-standing joke for two and a half weeks saying that I was gonna come back to Phoenix and they were gonna just keep picking me up at the airport. Like, oh, we're gonna go do this now. Karina, would you like us to pick you up at the airport?

SPEAKER_04 0:47

And such a long-standing joke that truly I was thinking to myself, um, you have to stop. You're finding it funny, but at a certain point, not everyone is gonna find it funny. You you really have to stop.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

It was to the point that on the day of your birthday, Karina hops on polo to say happy birthday and say she's driving on the on the way to church. And you get on polo and you say, it's very clear you're driving to the airport to come see me. And legit, that is exactly what Karina was doing.

SPEAKER_07 1:16

I was driving to the airport, like that was the best thing about that, and then also you were like, Yeah, you're just gonna show up to brunch, and uh we're really excited, and we're gonna drink some endless mimosa, so you're gonna drive us home. And so it's like she had the whole thing planned, and like you already knew the plan. You knew the plan before that happened.

SPEAKER_04 1:37

Did not indeed, you guys really both did a great so first of all, too. Um, a birthday morning, Natalie had uh brought in a great big balloon, and she got me present, got me some beautiful bracelets, and a card, and like just and donuts. Um, for those of you who have not experienced yet, Boston cream donuts are the best. Um, but then also uh regular donuts with uh with um frosting on top, or like the the second. Um that's what she got. Uh and so like we had a lovely little morning, and then uh she went out to run some errands and I stayed back and did some journaling, and uh then we we drove to brunch. Um but but you you guys were both so good though, because even Natalie was like, Oh, and you know, um would it be I hope you don't mind, but Lindsay said, Oh, maybe I'll I'll pop by for pop by for a drink while you guys are there, and I was like, Oh, that'll be great, great to see Lindsay. And so that when we came in and the lady checked his in and was like, oh, table for three, I was like, Oh yeah, smart because Lindsay is gonna come by. I was like, Oh, okay, that makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_07 2:43

The timing was crazy. It was so perfect because they sat down, I didn't know how long they had been seated, but we had said 11:30, and I pulled up at like 11.32, and I was actually quite nervous that they were going to see me. And I had told my Uber driver, hey, I might have to like put my head down because I don't want anyone to see me. Um, and I had gotten on a flight where I could only bring a backpack, so I just had a backpack, and I go in with the DVD of Chitty Chitty Bing Bing, which I believe we have discussed on this podcast that we were gonna watch. And so I sent with the hostess, I said, Will you videotape and take this DVD to that girl over there? And she was like, sure. I know she seems like she was really game for it. Yeah, like good for her. And I didn't even talk to her that much, and I was like, She has no idea I'm here. This is like I just flew into town. Will you just videotape? And she was like, Yeah. I mean, she like she seemed like whatever. Yeah. I was like, Thank you, Gen Z.

SPEAKER_04 3:39

She's like, totally, obviously I love it.

SPEAKER_07 3:41

She walks over and hands you the chitty chitty bang bang, but what was like going through your head? I don't know. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 3:47

Like I am, I thought, like, I just assumed that somehow it was from you. You even though I saw you you had found chitty chitty bang bang. Like, but I didn't, I still my brain wasn't putting that together because Natalie was with me, and so I assumed it was from Natalie somehow.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Your face was so confused, but it also just reminded me of how sweet of a friend you are because your face was very clearly confused. But then you like really quickly like looked at me and smiled, and you were like, Thank you. Like this thing that makes no sense.

SPEAKER_04 4:18

You were like, I appreciate it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

But you didn't say that, you were just like, Thank you, you know, and I'm like, oh my gosh, she's so confused.

SPEAKER_07 4:24

It was great. And then Natalie, you said, Well, like, why would someone give you two- I was like, who would give you that? Yes, and then then it clicked. You were like, No way, no way. And then you're looking around. And I'm like almost up to the colour. You were like basically at the moment.

SPEAKER_04 4:42

Yeah, yeah, because I was actually, and even the way that we sat down, maybe you did that on purpose too, because I was kind of you were you were facing the front of the restaurant and I was facing you, so kind of to the side. So that Karina coming around, I didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

No, I was really worried that she would be in your line of sight immediately when she walked in. But I didn't want to say, like, hey, turn your back to the whole restaurant and sit here. So I was like, we're just gonna go with it, it's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_07 5:05

Also, it worked out nicely because you were so consumed with this conversation the two of you were having that you didn't notice me walking right up. Plus, I think you were weirded out because the hostess was a videotaping. I didn't notice the videotape.

SPEAKER_04 5:16

I noticed I did actually until you said this, um, I I didn't notice the videotape. I just noticed the that didn't register at all. I think it was so focused on the chitty chitty bang bang.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Did you notice I was videotaping you?

SPEAKER_04 5:29

No, I guess I didn't. No, I guess I really didn't. Well, let's keep this in mind. I know I'm absurd. Seriously. Um, no, I guess I didn't. But were you videotaping me at the same moment that she passed over the chitty?

SPEAKER_02 5:42

Were you? No. So I was like checking my phone, just making sure everything was okay. Yeah. The minute I saw Chitty Chitty Ping Bang hit the table, I was like, no way, like how could it be so soon? We literally just sat down and we hadn't even got drinks yet. Yeah. The guy was coming over to explain how this brunch went. Yeah. And as soon as I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I looked at him. He's like in the middle of a speech and I said, I'm sorry, something really important is happening right now. Yeah. And then I just like took like my video, you know, turned on video and started recording you.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

And I I heard that, but I didn't I was like, I assume it's soon it's that this that this waitress is handing me chitty chitty bang bang. And that's important than that thing.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

But it was so amazing. Like, I just loved it. I loved the whole thing because it was all planned in less than 24 hours. Less than 24 hours. Way less than 24 hours. 12 hours.

SPEAKER_07 6:32

I think I made a phone call. So I was at a charity event on Saturday night, and that was actually the thing holding me back from coming to Phoenix. I had an interview with the president of this um charity event, who was anyway, for our YouTube channel for the university, and it was scheduled for Tuesday. And after talking to her, we needed a couple of things, and she was game to move it back a week. And so, like, that was the big thing that I was like, I can't, I I don't know if I can move this. But since I was at the event with her and she was so like gracious, and like I was like, okay, this thing moved, I can come. And that was at 5 30 p.m. Mountain Standard Time, and I went to the bathroom and I called Natalie in the bathroom for this charity event, and I was like, Hey, what if I show up tomorrow for Nikki's birthday? And she you were like, Yes. And I was like, This is so crazy. I'm just looking at flights right now. I think I can grab something. Okay, yes, I'm just gonna buy this and then go. It was like that.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

It was so hard to keep the secret. But I am curious, do you guys like surprises? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:41

I yeah. I mean, clearly that one was wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

That one was nice, but it's like a really great friend. Like I'm trying to think of have you ever had another big surprise in your life?

SPEAKER_07 7:50

I've had some big surprises, and I think I really love them, but I also love sniffing them out. Josh knows this because he's like, you hate surprises. And I'm like, I don't know that I hate surprises, but maybe I do. I don't know. I love them when they happen, but it's like I also feel like I want to sniff them out. One of the biggest surprises I had was um for my graduation, my parents threw this massive party, and it was like people from all my different parts of life all at one place. And that that is a really interesting thing. Like people from church, friends from far away, people from high school. It was just like a mix of people, and my dad had put together this really incredible video that was like like my whole graduate. It was like really beautiful, like that was a crazy. I they had take like someone had taken me somewhere, and I it was such a surprise because I my parents aren't I would never consider them like people who want to give necessarily, and so like even as a kid, we just didn't have money for it, and it it was such a surprise. It really like it it it meant a lot. It was really kind. Josh is also excellent at surprising me, but also Josh is very spontaneous. So one time I would we just didn't have a lot of money. I was like, don't spend money on a gift, blah blah blah. And I was just like, it was our anniversary, and he surprised me. He spent weeks learning any song by John Denver on the guitar, which is pretty hard on the guitar. It's one of my favorite songs, and uh he played it for me, and I was just in tears.

SPEAKER_04 9:19

I was like, Mo, I love this so much. That's such like a good newlywed gifts. It's got it's like except for gifts of the magi kind of except without switching up.

SPEAKER_07 9:28

When we were like 17 years married or something, like kind of deeper into our marriage, which like I think that felt like such a surprise. Yeah, like that he did something he had never done before in our marriage. Very effortful. Oh, that's good. He had to plan ahead. It wasn't last minute. It was somewhere between the 10 and 20 year. I just don't remember what year it was.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

How did you not know he was practicing this?

SPEAKER_07 9:48

That's the thing. I'm sure I was a big fat grump. Like, where are you going all the time? Like you're hanging out with your friends to play games or going into the basement with playing video games. I think he was sneakily practicing the guitar and I was being a grump. I have to be careful. Shoot.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

Now you have to give them the benefit of the doubt all the time.

unknown 10:08

Dang it!

SPEAKER_04 10:10

What I mean, what about you guys? Yeah, what I don't I think I don't think I've been surprised by many things. I think just I don't know, just the people around me are not like little surprises, certainly like, oh here's you know, like like the uh not that it wasn't a little surprise, but like the the balloon in the car. It's like that's which I love by the way. Um but I think those are the kind of surprises that I'm um I have gotten. Not anything big like this.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 10:35

Wait, this felt like a big surprise for you? Absolutely. Yeah. It was you came into town and it was so unexpected. And part of why it was so unexpected is that I feel like I need to because uh the week before you and I were in a Marco Polo, Natalie was out playing pickleball, and it we was like a volley speaking of pickleball. I'm just using the terms now, um of of back and forth Marco Polo's, and I that week you were real close.

SPEAKER_03 11:00

I had you real close.

SPEAKER_04 11:02

You really you were looking at flights.

SPEAKER_07 11:03

I well, and one of the issues was we were looking towards the end of the week because I was gonna drive with you on Friday, yeah, and I just there was two appointments that I was like, this these would be hard to have to move. Like these would be difficult to move. And so when we m I moved it in my head to Nikki's birthday, because Natalie had sent me a text earlier on Saturday and she was like, Hey, just a reminder, it's Nikki's birthday, which I have it on my calendar, but it was so nice to have that reminder. When she sent me that reminder, I was like, It is her birthday tomorrow, and wouldn't it be cool if I could be there on her birthday versus trying to drive home with her? And that was like the switch. Yeah, and I think if you and I had spent more time on Marco Polo trying to figure it out, yeah, that might have occurred in my head. Yeah. Oh, wait, what about the beginning of the week? I'm so glad it didn't because it was so much better.

SPEAKER_04 11:49

Yeah, so have you had any big surprises?

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Um, I'd say one surprise stands out. Uh, it was in 2019, and I was in Iraq, and I was there with like six other soldiers from my company. The rest were like at another base somewhere else in Iraq. We were in this little one called Taji. And so I'm not like close friends with anybody, uh, anything like that. And where I worked, I I was like in a separate little facility, and nobody has access, supposedly, to my office. I have a little keypad that goes in there, and it's Iraq. There's like nothing there. Like, what are you gonna do? So I I show up in the morning and I uh open my door, and my whole entire inside of my office is wrapped in pink wrapping paper. I don't know where they found it, how they got it, but everything from like my pens to my mouse to my computer to the tissue box to the seat I was sitting on. It was like all of them had broken in and just wrapped everything. And that was like so shocking. You know, it was like, wait, I wasn't it was kind of like a really delightful because like nothing was delightful over there. That was really special. What was unfortunate is that I got there at like seven, whatever time, say 7.50 or something, and at 8 a.m. I had my first appointment. It was with somebody pretty higher up ranked who was going through something difficult. So he's sitting in my chair and he starts to cry, and I have to unwrap the tissue box of pink wrapping paper so that he could get his tissue.

unknown 13:34

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

But I really, really liked that. That was fun.

SPEAKER_06 13:38

That's a great surprise. That's really cool.

SPEAKER_05 13:41

I'm gonna keep that one in my back pocket. That seems like a really good one.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

That's a cool one. Yeah, and it was cool the way they even found out it was my birthday. I'm not sure what why they did it, but they just went or you know, our the little group, um, somebody came over and was like, you know, Captain Edmonds, when's your birthday? And I just kind of looked at her like because I knew my birthday was coming up. She's like, Oh, we're updating all of our records to see if anybody, you know, needs immunizations or I don't know, something, some medical thing. I was like, oh, here it is, and then that's how they got it. Yeah. So that's cute. That is really cute.

SPEAKER_04 14:13

Are there any pictures of you like in your what is it called, fatigues or your Yeah, I not a lot.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

I was mostly the one taking the photos whenever they were allowed.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Um, I kind of regret maybe that a little bit, but I do have some photos of I'd like to see some if you don't mind. I will, I can pull some up.

SPEAKER_07 14:30

So that's really fun. That's cool. Okay, surprises. The other thing we did tonight is we wrote down some of our spring what do we call them? Wishes?

SPEAKER_04 14:42

Goals, wishes, desires. That's kind of fun. Yeah, because it's a full moon tomorrow. And, you know, Natalie and I are kind of witchy curious, and Karina is very open-minded. Yeah, very open-minded, and I I wouldn't say that you know, burning candles and and writing down goals is especially it's not very witchy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 15:06

Feels very actually sacrifice any goats. It feels very goal-oriented, actually. Like, so I wrote down a whole bunch of things, and I was like, oh, well, I'm gonna write a lot of things. So I filled mine up.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

But can we just talk about how lovely it was? So, Nikki, you found this ritual, we lit some candles, we wrote down some spring goals, and then you're supposed to to burn the piece of paper that you wrote your goals on. But while our papers were burning, the other the two were saying all the things they're grateful for toward the one who was burning their goals. And then we all held hands and we just set good intentions, and it's just so cute. I love us so much. Although I do think we have some work to do. And after watching Mama Mia today and seeing that the three daughters and then the three like older ladies, they all had some sort of cheer. Yeah, like a great that they did yeah, a greeting. We got we have to come up with something like that.

SPEAKER_04 16:04

I felt embarrassed for us, frankly. Yeah, that we had. How long have we been friends now?

SPEAKER_07 16:08

Five years, maybe even getting close to six, but I will say this so okay, so yes, we watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bing. It took us two days to do it. Yeah, that's a long movie, and then today we watched Mamma Mia, and the reason we watched Mamma Mia is because there wasn't an evening where I was with Charlie. We won't get into the details, but we were on Marco Polo with Nikki and Natalie, and you two were just freaking out and being hilarious. And Charlie looks at me, he goes, You remind me of Donna and her girlfriends on Mamma Mia. And I was like, What an insightful 13-year-old boy. Right. He is right. And then we realized that Natalie had never seen Mamma Mia, and I was like, Oh snap! Like, when I come, I'm also bringing Mamma Mia. So um my contribution to this group is still owning DVD player uh CDs. And yeah, like we watched it today and I was like, I forgot they had these like what are they called? Even yeah, like little chants, like little welcome. Where they get together and that was cute. So that's something that for sure we have to work on. Yeah, it was cute.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Speaking of what else was cute, you two playing pickleball today, and every time you got a point, you'd say mahjong.

SPEAKER_03 17:29

We did think that was adorable. I think the guys playing with us a little bit later thought that was a little bit less than adorable, but listen, I thought we were delighted.

SPEAKER_07 17:37

We were invited onto our course. Not the other way around. Very true. The two of us were just what is it called? Dinging it? Dinking. Dinking it, which is the weirdest words possible. They're gonna play with a couple of newbies, like they're gonna deal with me singing Whitney Houston and yelling mahjong. Yeah. Every time I got a point. Yes. Which was and it worked because you did win. So you know what? I think I won because that was your very first time playing pickleball. And I've played a few times before.

SPEAKER_04 18:11

I actually, yes, and also um I feel like it fell apart when I had the opportunity to get a point, is when I fell apart. Like when I was serving, that's when I fell apart. If somebody else was serving and I could get it back to our team to serve, I feel like I was better then. But when I had the opportunity to to get points, I fell apart.

SPEAKER_07 18:32

When you come to Utah and we practice some pickleball, I think we just practice serving. To me, the serving is if you can just get that one little piece down, you feel less bad because you're like, at least I got it over to the other side. You know? Yeah. So I think practicing the serving is the that's like the part that I think if you and I practice, then Natalie won't hate us as much when she comes and places.

SPEAKER_04 18:55

Oh my gosh, I didn't know. She would never hate us. But you know, I think we would be a embarrassing ourselves a little bit less in front of her. Why did we join we joined a b bowling league. There was like a bowling league downtown. Um the you know, the ex and I joined a bowling league. Or like, no, we formed a bowling team and then you could join the league. I guess that's maybe that's how it always works. But uh we and we would get there early and we would like bowl a little bit and like just to kind of warm up, and then you could also you know stay and bowl afterwards before the game and after the game, I was fine, like I was decent. As soon as the game actually started and the points counted, I sucked. Like gutter balls left and right. But as soon as like, okay, game's over, and then it was like no problem, I could, but for whatever reason it's a mental thing.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

I feel that way with pickleball sometimes. If I play with somebody new or somebody I know is really good, or I'm just nervous about somebody watching, I can fall apart and look like a total beginner. And then sometimes when it's like, oh, I'm just whatever, I don't think I'm not thinking much. It's all in my head. I'm not thinking much, I'm like, wow, I'm decent actually, you know. Mm-hmm. You're decent, you're excellent. We watched you play.

SPEAKER_04 20:10

We did watch you play.

SPEAKER_07 20:12

We I also felt great about our game. I felt like we were doing great. I think we did okay. We had some decent volleys. According to my aura ring, I even hit zone four and even zone five for a second. Whoa! I think it's because I was chasing balls.

SPEAKER_04 20:26

Yeah, right. It was like, and I was constantly moving back and forth because I couldn't remember where to stand depending on who was uh serving in with like it should not have been that difficult, but I had a conversation with a guy after pickleball today that I hadn't seen in a really long time.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Uh-huh. And he was asking me, Hey, what's new? What's going on in your life? It's probably been a year since I've seen him. And I was like, Oh, uh you know, actually the only big thing is like I'm writing a book. My I'm, you know, getting very near the end of a book. He's like, Oh, what's the title of it? And I was like, uh oh, it's called the Dementia Care Toolkit. I actually forget the subtitle. I should probably memorize that, right? He's like, Oh, he's like, Once I had uh met a couple and they were going to Europe because his wife had a book signing, and he was like, What's the he was asking the husband, oh, what's the name of her book? And he kind of got really quiet and like flushed in the face. And then he was like, um, from whore to housewife. Oh, could you imagine? I was like, well, sorry to disappoint you with my book title. From the whore to a housewife.

SPEAKER_06 21:30

Could you imagine the husband? I mean, what's what's the name of your wife's book? Um the husband of the ex-ho.

SPEAKER_03 21:39

But now I'm gonna read that book, right? We should look it up.

SPEAKER_04 21:42

We should be the first um Three of Cubs book club. Yeah, that'd be fun. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

From Whore to Housewife. Oh, yeah, I want to read that book.

SPEAKER_05 21:52

I mean, it's a great title. Yeah, I don't want to be the author of it, but I really love the title.

SPEAKER_04 22:00

Thing is, like to be the husband, you have to be supportive and be like, this is what the title is. Because I I think immediately I was like, I think maybe I might lie, but like that, you can't bring that into your relationship. You have to be proud of her and be right.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

And who knows? Maybe it was a fiction book. I have no idea. Also, let's I hope it's a I hope it's a memoir.

SPEAKER_07 22:17

Let's face it, I actually think it's kind of on his end, kind of awesome because he's like, I tamed the she became the housewife with me. I don't know. They love it.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

Are you looking it up now? Yeah. Is this on Audible? What's going on? Let's see. I'm just joking. Um, it's on Amazon. Oh, it's also at Walmart. Oh, Reddit has a thread on it. From whore to housewife. Where does it talk about the book? Oh, this book is inspirational for people who let their past life determine their future. You don't have to be the same person you were 20 years ago. There's a path already set out and set up just for you. All you have to do is follow it, believe it, and follow your heart. Just like feline Fifi. It's scary, it's courageous, it's a lot of work, but it's worth it. A whore can become a faithful housewife. A murderer can become a doctor, a thief can become a lawyer, and so on.

SPEAKER_04 23:07

For that matter, a faithful housewife can become a whore if she wants to.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

Where does it say if it's fiction or not?

SPEAKER_04 23:12

At the direction you want to head, sister.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

You do, you know, he looks at me for the I mean, you go from housewife to whore like multiple times on a daily basis. Let's be honest.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

But at least it's just for her one man.

SPEAKER_05 23:27

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_06 23:28

That that sounds pretty amazing, actually.

SPEAKER_04 23:30

It sounds very interesting.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

It could be fiction. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 23:38

I hope Nikki's dreams come true on this.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

That it's a memoir, I really uh well, Reddit has a thread. Is it possible to turn a whore into a housewife? Why or why not?

SPEAKER_04 23:49

Okay, first of all, you cannot turn anybody else if she is a whore and wants to become a housewife, or again, vice versa, you do you, sister. Uh you cannot turn somebody else into something. She has to make that choice for herself. She does not belong to you. I don't like that word.

SPEAKER_07 24:05

Whore no sex worker. I don't like that. I don't like sex worker, and I don't like slut. And I don't like I don't like any of those langu language words.

SPEAKER_06 24:14

Language words? Uh Trollope. Lady of the evening. Oh, Lady of the Evening I actually don't mind. I mean Lady of the Night.

SPEAKER_04 24:22

Unfortunately, Lady of the Evening to Housewife is not as good of a title? Yeah. But it sounds a little lady of the evening to lady of the oven. Oh god, I'm good.

SPEAKER_06 24:33

I just think that those other words from back seats to car seat. That's good too. That's really good.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Um I've got nothing.

SPEAKER_04 24:52

No, I gotta think on this though, because uh there should be something that's you know.

SPEAKER_02 24:57

I feel like we're we're gonna have to make this an x-ray of podcasts. I mean we've done it. We're already explicit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

Oh from handies to handkerchiefs to handy downs, hand me-downs. Okay. Uh nappies. But that doesn't work. Because only if they're British, exactly. From although that's not bad, handies to nappies. Yeah. For the British edition.

SPEAKER_07 25:20

I'm only thinking of being spanked to giving spanks. That's good. I was like, I'm only thinking of like the things on the other end, like diapers. If you can come up with the one in front.

SPEAKER_04 25:32

Well, it depends on what the kink is. You know, like you said, it could be from spanked to spanked, from diapers to diapers. There's some weird stuff out there. From street corners to cul-de-sac. That's not this smells good. This is not good.

SPEAKER_06 25:49

This has been a good brain storming session. This seems like a good place to be a good one.

SPEAKER_07 25:53

Okay, I think something else we should talk about is how um I feel like this birthday uh celebration has inspired us to figure out a way to be together for Natalie's birthday.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_07 26:06

It won't be a surprise, but I think it's just as good because it means we're gonna get together again soon. Mm-hmm. Before we know it. July's gonna be here before we know it.

SPEAKER_02 26:15

I can't believe tomorrow's April. Oh my gosh.

unknown 26:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

April, May, June June. That's three months away. Gotta get on it. That's nice.

SPEAKER_07 26:22

I know. Well, the thing is, I'm gonna already see Nikki because while I am flying out tomorrow morning, Nikki will be at my house. She's driving to my house two days later.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

We can't get enough of each other.

SPEAKER_07 26:31

I know, it's true. That's why I think it was so ridiculous that I got on a flight and came down to Phoenix knowing that Nikki is literally driving to my house on Friday.

SPEAKER_04 26:41

But that's part of what makes the surprise so wonderful. But also too, Natalie, at least at this moment, is not coming. I'm not saying that I'm I'm not saying that I'm manifesting your your nephew not coming, because that's that's m her nephew's coming on Friday and I'm leaving. But like, you know.

SPEAKER_07 26:58

Natalie is the hostess with the most us because now she's is your is your sister coming too, or just oh just I mean your nephew, but my brother will be here for a bit too.

SPEAKER_02 27:06

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 27:08

And so, and then Natalie and I both have like a crazy April. Oh my gosh, it's so crazy. Like a lot of travel. And so even though Nikki, I get to be with Nikki for basically like a week, then I work for a week and then I'm out of town and out of town and out of town. Like three weeks in a row, I'm out of town.

SPEAKER_04 27:27

Yeah. Yeah, you do have a busy April. I have a Bear Lake April. That's what I have. I know. I'm excited for you to be there.

SPEAKER_02 27:34

I'm not sure I have one week in April where I'm either not with a guest in the house or not out of state.

SPEAKER_07 27:41

Oof, that's a lot. I know. I have one, not even one full week.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

Yeah, I think that's my situation.

SPEAKER_07 27:47

I have like four days. You both are gonna have to treat yourselves to like some downtime. Yes. Well, to be totally fair, one of my weeks is Honolulu with my family. True.

SPEAKER_02 27:58

That's nice.

SPEAKER_07 27:59

Yeah, so it is nice, but it's work on either side. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

It's just time away from home.

SPEAKER_07 28:06

Yeah, there is something to be said about that just because it well, especially for I mean, you have this too. The animals, like figuring out where the animals are, how they're gonna get taken care of. In fact, I haven't even gotten that far.

SPEAKER_06 28:19

Oh, Nikki, do you want to move into my house while I'm gone? I suppose that is an option, yeah. I hadn't really considered that. I'll give you two houses for the price of one. Amazing, which is both free.

SPEAKER_07 28:38

I love it. Um, anyway, uh yeah, it's just like a crazy busy time, and then it kind of settles down for me in May, and I'm grateful for that because we have a lot of really big university stuff happening in May. Well, start of summer semester, which we just finished most of today, and uh a lot of background work. So kind of it feels like a lighter May, June, and then I think it'd be awesome to be together in July.

SPEAKER_04 29:09

I agree. It's nice when we get a chance to get together more often. I feel like there have definitely been a couple years where we only see each other once. Maybe once.

SPEAKER_07 29:18

Yeah, like the year we did Amsterdam, I think we only did Amsterdam. Yeah, I think so too. I think last year we did uh Las Vegas in February and we did Bear Lake in October, and that was nice. That was really nice. So that I think that was really good. I think the year before that we did twice, and we were with other ladies. Well, we weren't in Kennebunk, but we did Phoenix again. We were with other ladies with us.

SPEAKER_04 29:44

That's right.

SPEAKER_07 29:46

And that was really fun as well.

SPEAKER_04 29:47

Oh, and then but Phoenix was that was the one oh no, wait, but wait. Money of muffins. That's right. But then we also did the um Virginia or something? No, the event, the the life coach event. Oh yeah. That was in November. And then that was but the the the Money of Muffins one, that was when we went to Sedona, right? After Phoenix. And we got our readings. After Phoenix, we got it. Natalie and I got our readings, yes. And then oh yeah, so then did we come back? Was that that same year again? Yeah, we came back to do that life coaching because it was super cheap, and we're like, all right, why not? Natalie's there, so let's just fly in. Oh, that's right. We came back to Phoenix for that. I love that you guys come back. And I kept making us leave in the middle of it because I'm like, these people are making me crazy.

SPEAKER_07 30:25

Do you think these are little hints from the universe um telling you, Nikki, that you should have a house in Phoenix?

SPEAKER_04 30:32

I believe that I've been hinting that to you multiple times. Part of the joke as we were driving to brunch was like, I know what's really happening. We're gonna go to brunch, and then after brunch, you're gonna start to drive, and I'm gonna be like, what is this? This isn't the you forgot to turn right to get to your house, and then you pull into another house and Karina's gonna be there with the keys to my new house. Do you think you could live in Phoenix? I think I could. I don't know that I I feel like now I'm so like I don't know, but I you know, we've all been talking about like oh, it'd be kind of nice to be a snowbird, and I absolutely think that is the case. Coming from so flipping cold this winter in Wisconsin, and then going to Massachusetts for February, and that was so flipping cold and got so much snow to come down to Phoenix, it's just the sun has like given also you guys, but it's it's it's been very, very nice.

SPEAKER_07 31:28

I I think I didn't really understand the whole snowbird thing until like the last probably five years or so. And I think it is as you get older how much you appreciate uh warm weather or not extreme weather, I should say, because I don't like hot weather, and I d I'm fine with a little bit of snow, but it it is it's so well. We're outside in Phoenix right now, and it's gonna be April tomorrow, and it's just beautiful. Yeah, it's so nice. So um I actually love the idea of snowbirding, and uh I've already put it to Nikki that if she buys a house here, I would buy a house here. I like the idea of all of us a house.

SPEAKER_03 32:10

What if I buy a trick or buy a doll house and just take a picture at the right angle and be like, look, I bought my house.

SPEAKER_07 32:18

We talked about this though, and I love the idea of all of us owning two houses.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

It certainly gives us all a lot more flexibility.

SPEAKER_01 32:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:26

Well, we all have one in the same area here in Phoenix to get away for the winter, and then we all have a second one somewhere that we can all rotate and switch and visit during the appropriate times of year.

SPEAKER_04 32:37

Yeah, like I can have the New England one for that feel. I do feel like we need like a Pacific Northwest kind of, or I guess just Utah would do that as well, right?

SPEAKER_07 32:45

Or I don't know. I think it's up to Natalie. I think I'm pretty set. I think we're gonna always keep that bare lake house. I really love the lake house. And I really don't foresee us moving away from Salt Lake. So I think those are our two um in Utah. But I like the idea of a snowbird one. I hadn't really considered it before though. So I think that was an interesting discussion amongst the three of us. Even though I was kind of joking, oh, you have to buy one. I'm like, well, it just the idea of it as we get older, I just don't see it happening anytime soon, is not a terrible idea. We have another friend, Alita, who comes down here and she does this. She has a house in Minnesota and she has one in Phoenix. And so sometimes when um she c she and I catch each other, we'll go to dinner or lunch. And I love that. Natalie, where would you have a second house on your second house?

SPEAKER_02 33:39

I don't know. I mean, I really love the our cabin in Prescott. I really love it, but not too far away. But I could also see like a you know, a Lake Tahoe, a quarter lane, uh somewhere, maybe freaking Utah. I want a home with a pickleball court and mountain views. It's not that hard to ask for, is it? That's what I want.

SPEAKER_07 33:58

I know I showed these girls a house in Alpine, Utah, and Natalie's like, I want that. Yeah. Whatever I gotta do to have that, that's what I want. It was a pretty great house. Yeah. It had a great pickleball court, had a really uh cute spool, which I'd never seen a pool spa before. It was pretty fun. And it was open. Like we haven't opened our pool for the winter yet. Um, so I like it was such a cool concept.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

But I think I want that in my main home, but like not my getaway home. But my getaway might be more quiet. It's maybe fine depending, but like my primary residence. Like I think here in Phoenix, like I want a home with the pickleball court. I have a question for you guys.

SPEAKER_07 34:39

If you could have the most fabulous, everything you would ever want in a home, but only could have one home, would you rather have that, or would you have two homes in two different places that were pretty amazing? I think you know they both had pools or whatever, but like they didn't have every single thing that you wanted.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

Well, the smart investment strategy would be to do the two. However, if I wasn't thinking about that, I would just choose the one perfectly ideal home and then uh use uh money to rent really cool different places anywhere I wanted to get to, and just experience new things like that. But like in real life, I'm gonna choose the two.

SPEAKER_04 35:22

I think I would need to know what the what the elements were that you know as I'm making this trade-off.

SPEAKER_07 35:30

You get to choose, because I was just thinking about this. Like, what if Natalie, because one of the things Natalie has manifested, which I think is so cool, is a pickleball court outside and a pickleball court inside. If she could have the house that had those two things, plus everything else she wanted in it, but she could only afford to buy that mega fantastic home, would she rather have that? Or would she be cool with having this current house, which is pretty phenomenal, plus a second house in Court d'Alane.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

So what about like okay, maybe that nice, perfect, ideal house is all I could afford, but what about my like hot hunk of a husband?

SPEAKER_04 36:07

That's true. Could could he afford that?

SPEAKER_02 36:10

Yeah. My hot hunk of a husband is very wealthy.

SPEAKER_04 36:14

Hey, listen, I wasn't putting that in the mix, but I like that. She had to stop him from putting in more pickleball courts. She was like, No, no, no, babe. I'm like, I just need two. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:21

You're so sweet, honey, but there's two is always like, don't you want six, baby?

SPEAKER_04 36:24

You deserve six.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

He's like, whatever you want. Yeah. Your wish is my command. I'm like, you're too you're just too much. Yeah. So good. Okay, Nikki, what did you decide?

SPEAKER_04 36:36

I like I said, I feel like I need to know what the specifics are. Because like you said, like the the uh having a pool is the just for whatever reason, the the height of luxury to me. Like I was saying to Natalie, the fact that she has a s my my needs right now are so so little. Um but like a a single family home where you can't hear the neighbors and a pool is like wow. Um even just I mean, honestly, getting back to I mean, I because I've never owned a single family home. I've owned a condo and I've owned a townhouse and both of them I was like, I hear my neighbors and I don't want to hear my neighbors. Um so I guess mm my needs are relatively like are relatively modest. Do I have dream home elements? Certainly. I don't know, I can't.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

But besides a pool, like you could have a pool in your yeah home that maybe isn't your dream home.

SPEAKER_04 37:35

Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_02 37:35

Like, do you have anything outlandish you would want in your home? Like I think an outdoor in pickleball court and an indoor pickleball court, so that I'm always covered depending on the weather, feels a little outlandish to me. I would also like a Zen meditation room that's made out of Himalayan pink salt. Yes. I knew it. I knew it. I would love that. A place for me to journal. It just looks so beautiful, the lights turn on. I want like a cool, like big uh hangout room with an amazing bar with like the most beautiful like lighting behind the I mean I have it, I can I can make a dream home easy. Like I have all kinds of elements that are really would I ever do in a regular home? Probably not.

SPEAKER_04 38:12

Um, yeah, I mean I guess I could do the same thing. Actually, there's a uh a game my dad and I used to play when I was little. Like, okay, well, what about a room that was all it was just bubbles, or what about a room and house that was all just you know, whatever. Um like a personal library. Yeah, yeah, really kind of. Um, yeah, oh definitely I would uh want uh a nice like a library, like a place that is dedicated to like reading and being cozy and um like good reading nooks. The whole room's like a reading nook. Um but also does that doesn't seem wild because you know you could I think when I decorated the townhouse, I think that I was just like, okay, well this is another bedroom and it's got an it's got an ensuite as well, so this is the guest bedroom, and then this spot is the office, and then and I think if I had done things differently, I would have gotten a little bit more creative because the guest bedroom was good to have because I did have guest stay and it had an ensuite, so it made sense that that would be a guest bedroom, but I use the office daily, yeah. So I could have made that the the and then made some kind of like I don't know, pull-up bed or something, or like a sofa with a pull-up bed, or or you know, something a little bit more creative and the office space, which is very open, could have been like a library kind of, you know, I think, you know, kind of like how you're thinking about redoing what rooms are where in your house because you have the freedom to do that because it's just yours. Um I feel like I lost the plot of that question, but um if you would do the single house or something. No, I really am refusing to answer this, aren't I? I guess I have my answer. I think you're probably a two-houser. You are your single houser.

SPEAKER_07 39:56

I I totally believe that if you can make your single one house like the most amazing, phenomenal thing, then that is actually far more important because I'd rather be in one home that feels amazing and lovely and incredible than you would think I'd be the two houser just because I have two houses, but that's why I invested in putting the barn at my house because I knew that I would use it and it would be an incredible piece. Now, do I want to renovate my home and make it phenomenal? Yes, I don't have the bandwidth for it right now, but I know there's going to be a time where I get to sink all my time and energy in it, and I do have the space, so I'll be able to do incredible things with it.

SPEAKER_04 40:44

Okay, let's put it this way. I I get that the single house makes a lot of sense and I would be happy with I'd be happy with a home of my dreams. Okay. Um, but I think I if you know what I think is it's tripping me up is that I would not be unhappy with having two houses that were pretty good. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 41:03

Like, yes, absolutely, house of my dreams, amazing, but I wouldn't be like, oh, well, in the spirit of manifesting in our exercise we did tonight, what if both houses could just be the houses of our wonderful like I do like the idea because when it's different climates, uh you have a different feel. The homes look different, they feel different, how you decorate is different. So I do love that.

SPEAKER_07 41:26

I agree with that because I even think about my current two houses, and I like our regular house to feel homey. It's a little messed up and trashed up because there are kids running through it all the time and crazy stuff. And we actually There are gonna be kids there? I know I need to stay another month. So we my old office we turned into a library and it will eventually become a dining room library when we rip out the certain walls I want to rip out. But um I yeah, I agree. We I think we can have really both. Yeah, I think so too. We don't have to limit our. There's only one little thing that I know I'm not going to get that I've never really actually wanted before, but I just saw it and I was like, oh man, that's pretty freaking cool. And that is so I live in Utah, right? And I have a pool in Utah, which we'll just say already by itself is an amazing thing, right? We have a huge pool with a diving board, it goes nine feet, so it's like we feel really lucky. Um, but um my friend Stephanie, shout out Stephanie, because I know you listen to this podcast. Thanks, Stephanie. Stephanie just bought a cabin in Strawberry and it has an indoor pool that looks like it's the size of my pool. Indoors. Indoors. Wow, it's brilliant because we're in Utah. Yeah, is it like the roof is see-through? Yeah, it's pretty fantastic looking.

SPEAKER_04 42:50

And so I'm excited to go visit this stuff. I was telling Natalie, um, actually, I think on the drive over to m my brunch, my surprise brunch. Well, the brunch wasn't a surprise, you were. Um, that when I was a little kid and we lived in Illinois, um, one of the guys that my dad worked with at the wine company had he they they didn't have any kids, so it was just him and his wife, and they had an indoor pool, but it was like an indoor, it was like attached, almost kind of attached to their living room. So it was like the living room was here, and then there was a glass wall, and then the pool was here, and the pool was like the pool area was all encased in glass, and they had the um they had the so it wasn't like a big pool, it was like a just a hangout kind of pool. And you know, they they would have the the the audiovisual system. I don't know why I felt the need to I couldn't think of the words volume, it's a audiovisual, whatever. Uh so you could hear well here so you could like float around and watch the football game while you're in the pool or watch a movie while you're in the pool. It was just like the coolest thing. It's to this day I'm like, that's pretty cool. That's really cool to have. A pool.

SPEAKER_07 44:01

I will say this, like, I mean, we keep talking about pools, but I think a pool, especially if you're a kid who doesn't grow up with much, and I definitely didn't. I remember saying this in the mastermind we were in, and I remember Stacy kind of laughing at me. I was like, she was like, Well, what do you want in life? And I was like, honestly, uh, a couple years ago we bought a new house and it had a pool, and that pretty much like sealed all the things I ever really wanted in the world. Right? It's like that. That means you've made it. Yes, like as a kid, I was like, the people with pools, and granted, I grew up in Tennessee. If they had a pool, like they had made it. Like I was like, they were pretty well off. And I just bought a ha this house that we're currently in, and it had this pool, and it was just like magic. Like, we couldn't even believe we had gotten this house. It was like uh all these crazy things happened for us to get this house, and um, and then two years later, I go and buy a house at the lake, and I was just like, Who am I? Who is even this girl? I'm even just it totally blew my mind, but um there is something to be said, and it seems so dual dumb about the pool thing, but it just feels like a luxury, right? A pool feels like a luxury.

SPEAKER_04 45:10

Well, I think as you were saying that, like if you don't grow up with a pool, as I think the vast majority of people do not, um, it's getting to go to a pool is special, right? Like it's a it's a rarity. Or maybe like there's a town pool, but even still, like your parents aren't taking you to the town pool every day. And what little kid doesn't like if they have access to pools and they can swim, what little kid doesn't love to swim, and it's like, oh, you can go to the town pool if the town if your parents are able to take you, and maybe you have a friend, and maybe sometimes there's a pool, like you have a birthday party that's a pool party, because I think there was like a a hotel near us that would you could rent out the pool for pool parties. It was something special. So the idea of like you can do that whenever you want to is just amazing.

SPEAKER_07 45:55

I think someone had said to me, the thing about you having a pool, Karina, is that it feels like a way of life. And I was like, they're totally right, because especially there are a lot of years when the kids were teenagers and I broke up my work day so that I would finish work at one o'clock in the afternoon and uh we would go play in the pool. I would get on a tube and go and hang out with them just for like an hour. It was like my break in the day in the middle of summer, but it was that I was like, oh yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 46:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 46:28

So yeah, I mean, there there are some lovely things there, and I will say this, I don't get in it as much, but there's something about just looking at it. I agree.

SPEAKER_02 46:37

I don't really get in mind. If anything, I sit on the Baja shelf on the chair or I'll float on it. I don't really like to splash around in it. I love looking at it. I love just seeing it, you know. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_07 46:48

There must be it, it must be a water thing, don't you think? Yeah. Because like when you go sit in your backyard, it like ours was uh the rest of our yard is grass. And you don't look at the grass, you look at the water in the pool.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

Yeah.

unknown 47:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:01

Well, even my townhouse was on a a like a big pond, and it was just the best to just sit out there and just look. And then also, so the the master bedroom faced the pond as well. So I would wake up in the morning. I never like I never closed the blinds because why or not blinds, but like the window shades, because why would you? So I'd wake up in the morning and well, on mornings when I let myself sleep in a little bit, but like so weekends, but wake up and like you wake up to a view of the water.

SPEAKER_02 47:33

It was just I love having views. That's what I love about the Prescott cabin is pretty much any room you wake up in and you open your eyes and you look out the window, it's just pine trees everywhere. I love it. I love it at night when the moonlight is hitting it and you can see like the outline of the pine trees, and I love it in the morning when you wake up and the sunlight's coming through and you can see them very clearly. Feels very peaceful.

SPEAKER_07 47:57

That feels like a really good place to end this episode.

SPEAKER_04 48:00

Very peaceful. And it is actually evening and time to be peaceful and go to say it's true.

SPEAKER_02 48:06

I feel like this was a long one.

SPEAKER_07 48:09

Yeah, I kind of was.

SPEAKER_02 48:11

What's the guess? I'm gonna say 47 minutes.

SPEAKER_07 48:14

Are you carry kidding me?

SPEAKER_02 48:16

No.

SPEAKER_07 48:16

48 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 48:19

If those prices right, I'd win. You would.

SPEAKER_07 48:22

Alright, we'll see you guys later.