Coffee Chats and Cozy Family Tales: From Margaritaville Memories to Niagara Falls Escapes and Christmas Countdowns

Speaker 1: 0:08

Morning cuties. Welcome back to Five Years Time podcast with me, your host, grace, and welcome back to Podmas. We are in the studio first thing in the morning and Shreve made me a coffee. I have been wanting to do a first thing in the morning episode. They're always one of my favorites. Just like a hangout, I get out of bed literally.

Speaker 1: 0:31

I put on half my half my uniform today, aka my sweater. I still have my pajamas on underneath and I'm wearing my favorite pajamas. I feel like I always wake up in these pajamas on recording the studio days, or good morning, recording the studio days. I did go to bed yesterday with the not expectation, but with the hope. I was like oh, I really hope that I can get one more episode in where I get to, or at least get one episode in where I can record first thing in the morning, and it happened to have been this morning. I'm trying to get my mic even closer to my head so I can really rest and relax, but it doesn't want to. I've got to sit up a bit more. Come on, anyways, I'm wearing my favorite pajamas, if you know.

Speaker 1: 1:15

You know I love my what is it called? Margaritaville T-shirts. I actually have three now. This was my first one and this one's probably my favorite. Ro bought it for me with her dad when we went to Margaritaville for my birthday a few years back, and now Trevor went to Vegas last year and got me one, and then my friends Akbar and Evina went to Palm Springs and got me one. So it's become quite a cute little thing where I didn't even think about Margaritaville and traveling. The first Margaritaville I ever went to was in Jamaica, so I should have put that together but I didn't even think about it as like a souvenir thing. I just love Margaritaville because you can get Margaritavites and I think they're so fun and I just feel like Margaritaville is such a random vibe and we happen to live close to the Margaritaville that is in Ontario, so it's one of my favorite places to go, like for my birthday or if we're having. If we're ever have people over or coming down and we're going to go to the falls, then I will always go to Margaritaville.

Speaker 1: 2:22

Honestly, their food isn't like the best in the whole wide world, but they have this. I don't even know if they have it in our location, but like when you're traveling, like I've definitely had it in. There's a couple of locations in Jamaica, I think, but I've definitely had it there. It's this taco salad that they serve in like a pita, deep fried, like a deep fried tortilla bowl. It's so good. I always just get the nachos. I think they're called volcano nachos. You can never go wrong with nachos. So I always get a margarita flight and the volcano nachos and that's just like my happy place to be, and I think they have two flight options, but they come with like four different flavors of margaritas and it is so good. And this shirt is the comfiest shirt in the world. So, anyways, I'm wearing my Margarita Ville shirt, but I have my Christmas sweater over top, and Trevor made me a coffee.

Speaker 1: 3:08

I went downstairs, so I actually woke up. It's not even that early in the morning. It's 7.30 now, and I woke up closer to 7, which is amazing. Rose been going to bed pretty late, though, so I think that's probably why she's just in like a late mode. Also, I've been giving her naps at home. She doesn't have nap at school anymore, but she always falls asleep in the car ride home. And I always give her naps on the weekends, but she always falls asleep like in the quick car ride home. So I'm like I'm going to keep up the naps because she still likes them, but I do think it's pushing her bedtime a little bit later.

Speaker 1: 3:43

But you know what? I'm not mad. We hang out, we giggle, she goes to sleep. We start getting ready for bed around 7.30 and she usually is asleep by right now by 9, like 8.39. But we laugh, we giggle, we read stories, she pulls out random coloring books from under the bed and then she ends up sleeping in until around 6.30, which I know doesn't seem like a sleep in, but it is for us. So I'm not mad. It's holiday, let's just have a good time, but anyway.

Speaker 1: 4:15

So I actually fell asleep with her and then snuck back into our bed around what time was it? I think it was like I think I woke up with her around 11, so not that bad. I only fell asleep for a short period of time and then I was like oh, I'm going to sneak back into our bed and I wasn't sure if Trevor had already fallen asleep. I find it really hard to fall asleep with Trevor already asleep in our bed because he kind of like will take over the bed, which is me too, like if I fall asleep before Trevor comes to bed, like I will take over the bed too. So I'm not saying it as like a bad thing, but I usually can't find my pillow Like he has two pillows under his head, like whatever.

Speaker 1: 4:50

So I came in and he was like fully on my side of the bed, had his phone plugged into my phone charger, because I was like, if anything, I just want to plug my phone in. So because it was already pretty low at the end of the day and if I start the day I with like a low battery I'll never get it back and I still have to film recipe videos. So it's like I need to have my phone charged. So I just like grabbed the cord and found it when it was plugged into, unplugged his phone and plugged in my phone and then I tried to squeeze in and he kind of moved over a bit, but not really, and we were sharing a pillow for like a while and I was listening to a podcast and I got through to podcast episode so like two hours of content before I actually fell asleep because it was so uncomfy.

Speaker 1: 5:30

But I also just like was uncomfortable in Rose bed because she had moved all the way to my side and I was like I could go to the guest bed, but like I just want to have a good sleep in my bed, and so I eventually I didn't know if he had like the other pillow with somewhere else, like I wasn't sure if he had a pillow or he was just using my pillow, I didn't know, it was dark, I couldn't tell. So like we were sleeping on the same pillow for a while and then eventually he like rolled over and I was like maybe he's like on his own pillow now or he's just sleeping on the mattress. So I like grabbed my pillow and realized that we were sleeping on the same pillow, but like long ways not even the proper way to sleep on a pillow it was not good and I was like why is it so uncomfortable? That makes sense. And so then I turned it and then it was a little bit more comfy and then eventually I fell asleep. I'll have to ask him if we slept the whole night together, because a lot of the time when I come in he'll wake up and then can't get back to sleep, so he'll go sleep in the guest bed. So I'll have to ask him, because when I woke up this morning I heard Ro going down the stairs.

Speaker 1: 6:34

So I figured Trevor was already downstairs. And, yeah, I was like, oh, amazing. And then I was like maybe I should just like lay in and enjoy. And then I was like, oh, yeah, I wanted to record the episode. So I picked up my phone. I looked at what time it was. I was like, oh my gosh, it's almost seven o'clock. So I just ran downstairs and was like, hey, do you mind if I record a quick episode, because before Trevor has to start work? He was like totally. And I was like amazing.

Speaker 1: 6:59

And I brought down my mug to make coffee. And he, trevor, was so excited. He was like, oh, you want a coffee? Like let me make you a coffee. I was like, okay, he's like I want to make you something new. And I was like new, like I don't know if I'm in like a mood for something too fancy, but Trevor always makes great coffee. So he actually made me a at-home nitro cold brew, which like or nitro was it cold brew could have it been. I don't know if it was cold, I don't know if he brewed it last night I actually didn't get the full description from him but somehow he like aerated the coffee. I'm not sure if he used. I don't know what he did, but he made our coffee machine and he kind of made it all at once. I'm gonna ask him and then I will post on my Instagram story about it, because I think he made a video of how he did it. But let's have our first sip together. Cheers, cute, mmm. It has foaminess on it, but I don't know if it has cream in it. I feel like it must have cream in it.

Speaker 1: 7:56

I'm very intrigued as to how he made this, but I couldn't stick around to hear the story. I was like I gotta get this done before you go to work. We're already starting late, but I just wanted to have a quick little episode today where we can just hang out and talk and catch up. I am so, I mean, like such a I'm not a weird mindset. So Ro is on holiday right now and whenever she's on vacation from school, like I always am like oh, I love having her home. I love the way that I am productive with my time or the way that I use my time, and I just feel like it's very much easier.

Speaker 1: 8:38

Our mornings are like less like okay, we gotta get out of the house and then there's not an interruption in the middle of the afternoon where it's like, oh, I gotta go pick up a row. And then it's like a switchover mindset. I don't know there's something so lovely about having her home and I always have to remind myself like it's nice until it's not nice. Not, not, not nice, like I just feel. Like then I feel like I'm like excited for her to get back to school, like after the break or whatever. I'm always like oh yeah, like I can't wait for a little bit of like my own time again, and also like right now I'm not doing any like work, work for like brands at the moment, which means that I don't have deadlines Cause everyone's kind of wrapping up for the holiday season.

Speaker 1: 9:27

So, like I actually find it really lovely to film my podcast. Well, the podcast can be tricky sometimes, but if I use nap times or mornings, then that's okay. But like filming content, like my videos and stuff cooking videos I love cooking when the house is full of people. So if that's easy for me to integrate into my like mom, mom full mom journey or time, so anyways, right now it just feels really good because I know I'm going into a place of like rest and relaxation. But then after Christmas, I actually don't know how long her break is. I'm assuming it's two weeks. I don't think it's, maybe it's only a week and a half, but I assume it's two weeks. I'm not sure. I'll have to look it up, cause if she goes back to school right after New Year's, then I'll feel fine, I'm sure.

Speaker 1: 10:17

And Trevor actually has next week off, which, like he never takes holiday time off because we always just like think it's kind of silly to take, not silly like do what you want with your time off, but like the holiday time and because he works from home is always so chill anyways, that he's super, his schedule is so flexible. He doesn't really have any meetings whatever A lot of the time. His bosses will always be like okay, like let's just like, just like be on, be online, but like don't worry, you don't have to be online, just be accessible if we have anything come up or whatever. So we never like waste the vacation time around the holidays. But this year he's working for a new company where they do like actually a full week. The whole company is like closed for a full week around the holidays. So, yeah, he actually has next week off. So anyways, that'll be so much fun because we'll all be together.

Speaker 1: 11:07

And I do have actual stuff that I do need to film next week because I kind of like pushed it off because it's not due till after the holidays. But anyways, I also need Trevor to help me film it because he's my little companion in those situations. So I was like, oh, that's perfect. But anyways, what I'm trying to say is like I always have this mindset when we switch to row being home, like where I'm like I love this, I love it. I think I like also just love being a mom and love having that kid energy around me, and I love the scheduling of moming. Like it makes me nostalgic.

Speaker 1: 11:42

I think to the time when me and Roe like the first 18 months when it was just me and her all the time before she started school, and I always get this feeling around summertime, like I remember last summer I had this big debate because I had already, I was working for myself, I had the flexibility to I could technically have Roe home all summer if I wanted to, because her program only runs till like the end of the year and then you can sign up for a summer camp as additional. That being said, I'm realizing that I can probably whoa, I just had a mom moment here. There's so much stuff I need to do for next year because she's in preschool right now, so I need to first of all get her signed up for kindergarten. There's like things I need to do in the new year. I need to get her signed up for kindergarten. And then I was also thinking like she'll be old enough to go to like public summer camps, or like private summer camps too, I guess, but like ones that are like more specific. Like right now I just send her to a summer camp that's extended through her preschool, but I think she might be old enough to do, like you know, drama camp or dance camp or wilderness camp or whatever. So I need to look that up, because I know camps like February comes around and it's like they're booked all up. So I need to look at what the age is for that. I'm not sure if it's four or five. Okay, so there's like a bunch of stuff I need to put on my mom list to do. But anyways, I just thought about that.

Speaker 1: 13:03

But I remember last summer was my first summer like fully working for myself and like having no commitments out, like to a greater power of boss. And so I remember having this big debate leading up to it, like, oh, should I put Rowan full time or we could do part time, where she goes just like three days a week or no days a week or whatever. But, like as in my career, like as a content creator, you can't really see what your schedule is like three months in advance. Work wise, like right now I could be like, oh, I don't have any work. Or oh, I have so much work lined up for the next three months, but I don't know what it looks like afterwards or whatever, because it kind of comes up like it flows right, you don't know what's gonna happen. So I was like, oh, if I keep her out three days, then I still. Or put her in three days, then I still have two days if I need to like film stuff, brand it content or have deadlines or anything like that, and then I still have the ability to record the podcast, etc. And then so I was like, oh, maybe that's what I'm gonna do, but then my last minute gonna regret it because I'm gonna be all of a sudden really busy and then there won't be space for me to put her in more.

Speaker 1: 14:13

And I was having it was like stressing me out. I was like I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do, and but I also get like a good chunk of time with her in the summer because they take, I think, two weeks off at the beginning of summer, two weeks off at the end of the summer. So I still get like that time with her. But I was like I don't know what to do.

Speaker 1: 14:29

And then Trevor was like, honestly, it's up to you, like whatever you feel you're comfortable with, because obviously he works full time. And I was like I don't know. And then I was like why don't I just ask bro? So I like had been festering on it and I was like hey, ro, what do you think Like, do you want to be home more this summer? Do you want to be in summer camp full time? And she like literally was like adamant, like no, I want to go to summer camp every day, like she loves it, she loves being with the kids. And I was like, okay, queen, like we'll put you in every day.

Speaker 1: 14:57

So I'm happy that I made that decision ultimately, because I did end up getting busier and also summertime's, the days are longer. So when I pick her up, it's not like the end of the day I always get. We have our beautiful evenings together and we can go swimming and go to the park and everything Like days are longer in the summertime. So, anyways, this is like a whirlwind of a conversation here, but this is what we're here for chatty Good mornings. I'm just gonna take another sip of coffee, but yeah. So I'm just being reminded of all those feelings now that we're on another break from school and I love it.

Speaker 1: 15:33

I always get that feeling. I'm like, oh, I should just take her out of school for it, because this is like, technically, this winter semester going back is like her last optional time of school, right, then she's going to enter the public school system. She's going to have to be in school for the next forever. So I'm always like, oh, we should just take six months off or whatever, however many months school year is, but half the year, and just like a, enjoy it. And like, embrace the freedom and the flexibility and go do all these adventures. And then it's like I shouldn't do that, because, not that I shouldn't do it, but like it wouldn't work. One. It would just mean being her, because Trevor's in school or at school, trevor's at work, but also she loves it and I know how important it is for her socialization and she's learning so much and like she's blossoming and she loves her little girl group and like I know, I know, I know and I do actually know firsthand, because when we went to Italy for like three weeks, the transition back to school it wasn't like the worst thing in the world, but it was a week of like it took.

Speaker 1: 16:40

It was like 30 minute drop offs, like she really wanted me to be there with her, like she she had a hard time leaving me and I get it. Obviously she had literally three weeks undivided attention of me and Trevor Like that hasn't that literally has not happened since she was tiny, like the first, like ba ba, ba, ba ba. Like when Trevor took time off, he took two weeks off at the beginning of me having her. He took those two weeks off when I had her and then he literally went back to work for I think like a week, not even two weeks, and then COVID hit and then he came home but he was still working at home. It wasn't undivided attention and yeah. So it was just one of those things where, like she had never had that really, where it was just three weeks Me, her and Trevor and I'm so glad that she got that out and honestly, it was so impactful for our family and our makeup moving forwards and everything Like it was amazing.

Speaker 1: 17:36

But yeah, the transition back into school after that was like A little difficult and I just know that like it's good for her to be in school. She loves it and I love it too. Like I do love having her there and. But I am so grateful for these times when I get to have like my full mom routine and it always puts into perspective like, hmm, maybe I could have another kid. I didn't say that, but I just feel like I'm getting closer to having more of an open mindset around that.

Speaker 1: 18:08

For so long it was like I could not see our family. I could not even I couldn't see my family being bigger. I just could not see myself going through that. But I also think like I've been working through like all of the trauma that came from the first one not that everyone has a traumatic birth, but then it was just like the whole. I think I just like wasn't prepared for how isolated I would feel because of COVID and everything, and it was just like and then moving. And then I wanted to make I want to make sure that here I feel like I'm part of the community so I don't put myself in that situation again. Well, I didn't put myself in that situation, but so that I can give myself the best chance to be not put in that situation again and it's just this whole thing. But that's a that's a conversation for another day. I need more coffee. But, that being said, me and Ro have been having a great time.

Speaker 1: 19:04

We went to the butterfly conservatory yesterday. Oh wow, I actually was able to say it Is that how you say it? Yesterday I could not pronounce that word. I kept asking Google. I was like hey, when does it open? What time does it open? And I kept saying butterfly. And then I couldn't say the word and. But it understood me every time and I was like thank you, google, you get it. No-transcript. It was actually so much fun.

Speaker 1: 19:26

We went there last year and over Christmas break as well, because it's a good indoor activity. So if you need something to do this Christmas break, that's a great indoor activity. It's in Niagara Falls so you can make a day of it if you want. If you don't live close by, you can continue on your adventure and do all the fun things, but that one's always a good indoor winter activity because it's really warm in there. They keep it so moist I feel like I'm gonna sneeze. They keep it humid, and so then they have coat hooks, coat hangers to hang up your coat. So I dressed in a t-shirt and wear a coat over top to walk from the parking lot. But yeah, it's always a good one and it's a short little loop around but you can spend as much time as you wanted there.

Speaker 1: 20:09

Last year I found that when we went it was sorry, it was hard for Ro to want to stay an hour in there, and so last year she would have been two, almost three, two, almost three, and so I found that age she was a little bit like it was hard for her to want to spend a whole hour in there. I remember thinking like, oh gosh, we walked the whole loop and now she's like, hey, I'm over it and I like had to like coerce her into being there longer and we made it work. We did Because you want to. You don't want to just do one lap, like it does cost money. And so this time I was like kind of prepared for that. I was like okay, like who knows how interested she's going to be. But we actually had coupons to go, because my uncle works for something to do with Niagara Park so he gets like some coupons for those things. So we actually had coupons. So that was amazing.

Speaker 1: 21:01

So anyways, we got there and like I only paid for an hour of parking because I was like okay, like I'm sure we'll only last an hour. She could have stayed in there for so long. Like I had to. Like we actually went 15 minutes late for our parking. Thankfully we didn't get a ticket, but I, I, she would have been happy to stay in there for probably two hours.

Speaker 1: 21:21

She was having such a good time. It also wasn't as busy as the last time we went. But they also have benches and you can sit on the rocks and she had brought a backpack. She wanted to bring all her toys not all her toys, but like a good handful of toys. So she brought a backpack full of them and then she would pull out one at a time and show them to everybody. She recently revound her stuffed owl, which she calls Hootie, and so she was. It brought Hootie out and was flying it around, but anyway, she was having such a good time. And then we got to the gift shop and she loves exploring the gift shop. We never buy anything at the gift shop, she just loves like seeing all the toys, and so that was really fun. So, yeah, I would totally recommend that.

Speaker 1: 21:56

If you are looking for an activity next week with the kiddos, even just for you and your anybody, even just yourself this is a lovely place to go. You could even just bring a book and sit on a bench and read and just have the butterflies land on you. So nice. Another one we did last year. I don't know if we're going to do it this year. We'll see what next year brings, now that Trevor's off. Last year we did everything just me and her, and so Trevor didn't get to do it, so he probably had fun.

Speaker 1: 22:24

Oh, I just thought of another activity that could be fun, depending on what the weather is, but another one that's fun in Niagara Falls is the birds. I feel like I'm going to sneeze again. I haven't like fully woken up yet. You know, done the blow your nose and so I probably have all the crusties moving around and it's just catching my air passage. But another really fun one is the bird aviary. I think it's called I don't think it's called Bird Conservatory, maybe it is Bird Kingdom. I think it's called Bird Kingdom and that one's like right in Niagara Falls, like right by the border, and it.

Speaker 1: 22:58

That one is smelly but it's a fun one because you get to feed the birds if you want to, and I actually bought the picture last year which I like. Never I don't, I don't even normally go look at the picture, but it was so cute. They give you a little cup, so first of all you walk through and they have like the reptiles at the beginning. So you see all the reptiles, the tortoises and then the like talking birds, and then you go out into the big area and you just walk through with all the birds are flying around and walking around, and then there's like a caged area where you can feed. I don't know what they're called. I want to say budgies, but that's probably not right. I think it is budgies. Anyways, they give you a little cup and put like a sugar water or something in it and they come and they feed.

Speaker 1: 23:36

It was kind of row, so brave, like that. I remember the first time I ever did that as a kid, I was like terrified, but we're always like, yeah, I want to do it and we did it and she had so much fun and we got the cutest pictures and honestly, they weren't even that expensive, I think. It was like I feel like it was less than $10. So I was like I'm buying it, it's so cute and I love that picture, so that's another fun one to do. Niagara Falls and then I was just thinking one that we haven't done. This one's expensive though, but row hasn't been yet.

Speaker 1: 24:07

And we drove on the way to the conservatory. We drove the way where you can see Great Wolf Lodge and we took her to Great Wolf Lodge last year for her birthday and she was like obsessed. But you, she saw it and she got so excited it's like she had forgotten about and she was like oh my gosh, great Wolf Lodge. So like. She was like so hyped, she was like I want to do that again. But she also said she really wants a birthday party, because I was not planning to do a little last year. We didn't do a birthday party, we did Great Wolf Lodge, but this year she really wants a birthday party. So and then she was like no, I don't want to go to Great Wolf Lodge. And I was like I think you really want a birthday party. She's been talking about this birthday party for so long, so I don't think that's actually what she wants to do.

Speaker 1: 24:48

But in Niagara Falls they do have the water park at. I think it's at the Sheridan, it's at one of the hotels and it's like basically Great Wolf Lodge but a water park. But I don't have to look at the heights for the slides, because I remember thinking about taking her last year. But the kid zone is really small and I don't know if they have any like it's not really small, but it's just jungle gym. They don't have like any tuby slides for the youngers. But I'm going to look at the heights.

Speaker 1: 25:18

That one is a little bit more spendy, but that could be something really fun and Trevor would really enjoy it that we could do together next week as a family. So yeah, that's another really fun one, but it is. I think it's like. I feel like it's like $100 a person, which seems like really expensive. Maybe it's not that much, but it is spendy. Maybe it's like $100. I wonder how much it is. I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued. But also that could be like maybe part of a Christmas present, because I really only got her that robot dog that cost four dollars. So I guess I could, we could add that in. Okay, I'm gonna talk to Trevor about that, because that was fun and you can spend a whole day there and they have I think they have an outdoor pool that's heated too.

Speaker 1: 26:01

I haven't been there in a while. The last time I was there I took Becca, when she was just a baby not a baby, but like that's the last time I was there. I took Trevor sister, my sister a lot, becca, and it was on. I feel like we went for, like she was on break from something because we went during the week and she was little like. I feel like she was. Maybe she was in middle school. She was definitely not in high school yet. She could have even been in grade five, but anyways, that was the last time I went and we had so much fun. So, anyways, that's a good idea.

Speaker 1: 26:35

So that's my, that's my what to do over the Christmas break Niagara Falls edition, and then, if you go, you could also Stop by Bargaritaville and have a Margarita flight, if you have brought it as a native driver with you, and that's a wonderful thing. I kind of want to do that now. It's like, ooh, maybe we can go to Margaritaville next year, see if they have any Christmas merch. Do I say next year? I meant next week, which is almost next year, but yeah. So we had a lovely time at the bird and then we came home and she fell asleep in the car. It was so funny.

Speaker 1: 27:10

Normally I put her down for nap around 12 and so we had gotten back in the car around 12 and then I was like, okay, we're gonna go home for nap time. And she was like I'm not tired. I was like okay, and then she fell asleep like 10 minutes before we got home, which is like okay. If it's under 10 minutes till we get home, I can always transfer her, like most types can transfer her. So I was like, okay, that's fine, I should be able to transfer her, just fine. And I was. I transferred her and she had a great sleep.

Speaker 1: 27:37

I think she slept until like 233 o'clock and I took a chill. I was like I need to chill. I was like I could record an episode of the podcast or I could make a recipe and I was like I'm so tired. I was either I'm gonna drink a coffee or I'm just gonna chill. So I made food and I just chilled and then I had about I it was about that 30 minute mark where I figured she was gonna wake up, so I made a coffee and I edit it, my Jello video, which is so funny, I just like it was quite an adventure and I feel like that is the truth of Jello salad. So if you haven't watched the Jello salad video, you gotta watch that because it was like a very accurate representation of Jello salad.

Speaker 1: 28:19

But also my aunt then messaged me who gave me that Jello mold which like that's like a traditional, not traditional. I don't know what's considered traditional for Jello mold, but that was her Jello mold from like forever ago. And she messaged me being giving me a really good idea. She said they make orange Jello, which I have orange Jello with vanilla ice cream instead of Liquid at one point. I don't know, maybe use it instead of the cold ice water, maybe you do two cups of hot water and a scoop of ice cream, I'm not sure. And then Mandarin oranges. That one kind of sounds good. Mandarin oranges were popular.

Speaker 1: 28:53

But I just remember when I was a kid I'd walk into we lived close to a loblas and we'd walk in and at the beginning of the loblas, in the area where which is a grocery store, in the area where there was like the potato salads and stuff, there was always this Jello salad and it would just like gross me out. It had green and it had orange and I think it had red in it and it had different chunkies and I was just like, oh, and I did not like chunkies in my yogurt as a kid, like I don't even like it to this day. I will not. I would. If I'm gonna, I would never buy flavored yogurt because 90% of the time there would be that layer, you know, like jam at the bottom that you mixed in, like the peach and strawberry, and it was like, and there was like one brand of yogurt where I knew I was gonna get just strawberry flavored yogurt without Chunkies in it, but anyways, I just didn't like that. So seeing this Jello, I was like that's giving me chunky yogurt vibes. I don't like it. But it's funny because eating that Jello salad yesterday, like I would never go for Jello salad at the table. That's always true. I love Jello salad Surprise, ending to this video.

Speaker 1: 29:57

Didn't love this Jello salad, but I like will not go for Jello salad because I just like the chunkies but I was like I'm gonna make it. I know Trump loves it. It's something fun, it's. I feel like it's so. Every every like Christmas dessert table has a Jello salad on it. Yeah, so anyways, it was just like one of those interesting things that maybe not everybody loves. I actually didn't mind it. I ate it and I was like I'm like look at me, go chewing it. I don't mind it at all. I didn't think it was that bad. I didn't like the lemon yogurt, but I know my mom said you have to make it with lime. We are meeting at nine. I don't know what that means. It's eight o'clock, okay, so I gotta get talking. Also, trevor has to Go to work, but who's meeting at nine? I don't know what that means. Do I have a meeting today at nine? Or maybe that was Trevor texting me saying we're meeting at nine.

Speaker 1: 30:54

Anyways, the thing is my apple. I don't have it. I don't keep my eye cloud on, or whatever it's called air cloud, apple cloud, I don't keep my cloud on on my phone because I don't pay for apple storage. I use our apple cloud, I don't know what it's called. I use google photos for all my storage and so I never keep my cloud on because it will just send me like a message every day being like you're running at a Storage, you're running at a storage and then it also somehow uses up so much storage. There's like a. I learned that it's using up storage of my phone somehow, so I just turn it off. So none of my contacts gets synced between like any of my apple devices, so they just show up as phone numbers. And I have so many people in my life who have the same start to their phone number, like what is it called? What is the thing at the beginning? Like 905, 416? Area code, so I like never know who's talking, so I have to actually click on it to like read up the conversation.

Speaker 1: 31:48

Also funny thing now is I have a new phone and I tried to set it up properly where you sync your phone and the whole phone goes over to your old phone or your new phone. But it was not working for some reason, because at that time was when there was like a big update. I don't even know it was right before we went to Italy and so I gave up. I was like, whatever, I don't care. I don't really need anything for my old phone because I keep everything in my Google photos. But the only thing I didn't remember was my contacts.

Speaker 1: 32:14

So then now on my new phone, I literally don't know anybody's numbers, like, I have a few contacts that synced over that were like newer contacts that I had met within the last six months, but I have so many numbers that I don't even have. So I think to text them one and I'm like, oh no, I don't have their number, I'm gonna have to wait till they text me first if Trevor doesn't have it. Or I have to reach out to them on like Instagram or something and be like I don't have your number. So, or someone will text me and be like wow, I love this or whatever, and I'm like I don't know who you are and I feel weird being like, hey, I don't know who you are. So it's been a little bit of an awkward adventure. So sometimes I'll work the conversation until I realize who they are. I'm like, oh yeah, okay, this is this person, so that's a secret. If you've gotten weird coded messages from me lately, it's cause I don't have your number saved in my phone anymore, but I forgot what I was talking about before before I got that message saying something about nine.

Speaker 1: 33:07

We talked about Jell-O-Salad. We talked about vacation yeah, I don't know. But anyways, my brother's coming into town today and I hope I'm not sure what time he's coming in, but I hope, if he comes in like earlier in the day, like around lunchtime, that maybe we can go to the bouldering gym, cause I'm like so stoked for that. I really I'm excited to go myself, but I'm excited for Ro to see it, cause I just think I want her to like I wanna know if she likes it or not because I think they have kids programs and stuff, so that could be a fun activity that we do in the new year. And maybe they have a summer camp. I can ask about that and ask what their age is for their summer camp, since I need to start thinking about that stuff. But yeah, I'm excited, that'll be fun. I actually have one.

Speaker 1: 33:54

Okay, so I have all my recipes planned out. I have to tell you this cute, because it's so sad and I need to think of a new recipe for our final episode of the year. I know this isn't our final episode, but we made focaccia yesterday. Also, my recipes are all like a day behind now posting because I missed my Jello, salad day, whatever. So, anyways, I'm sorry, I apologize for that, but it means you get a recipe on Christmas day. How exciting is that. So, anyways, we have my seafood pie and then my focaccia, and then today we're making dun-dun-dun-da. Wait, did I tell you guys that we're making focaccia already? Yeah, I did. Okay, because we're a day behind. Today we are making dun-dun-dun-da panna cotta.

Speaker 1: 34:40

This is Rose's favorite dessert. I shared it in our Italian Wednesday night dinner, our last Wednesday night dinner of this year, with Becca, I made the panna cotta. It is so easy, like it is unbelievably easy and it is like a showstopper and so versatile because the actual panna cotta itself it's like a custard, is like so simple and you can top it with whatever you want. Like you can use any type of jam to top it. I have been doing cranberry and Rose been really loving it and the cranberry jam. Like it's like basically a cranberry sauce. It is a cranberry sauce, it is so easy to make and I love the way cranberry sauce just smells up your house. Ooh, it's so good. But when we had it in Italy, they put just like apricot jam on it. It was so good. So it's super, super easy and it's a showstopper, and it literally takes like not even 10 minutes and then you just have to set it in the fridge, like it's something that has to set. So if you could have it in your fridge for at least like four hours, but if you make it the day before, you can even make it a few days before, but if you make it the day before, it's perfect. It's so good.

Speaker 1: 35:47

So, yeah, we're making panna cotta. Rose so freaking stoked. Every day she asks for it. She's like can we have Italian dinner, which means pesto, pasta and panna cotta? But we can't have that every day because Queen can't make pesto every day, fresh pasta and panna cotta, but she would literally eat that every single day. So, anyways, we're making panna cotta today. Yay, I'm so excited. And then we have one more recipe which I'm making with my mom. Well, I think my mom's probably gonna do most of the work, which I'm so excited because she's the person I learned it from. So I'm so excited for that.

Speaker 1: 36:19

And then our finale recipe was gonna be a traditional dessert I don't know if traditional is the right word, but like a dessert that I learned from Trevor's family and the first. I call it Jesus cake because the first time I ever had it was at his Christmas, on one of his sides of the family, and it was shaped as a cross and they had made a little crown out of tin foil for it and then they sang happy birthday for Jesus because Christmas, and so I just always call it Jesus cake and it's not the name of it. I'm not sure I think it's considered like an ice box cake, but they don't. We can't find the wafers for it. I was texting his mom because I went to like three stores and then I couldn't find them. So I texted at Trevor's mom and was like hey, have you been able to find them this year? And she's like I can't find them anywhere. Blah, blah, blah and I was like, oh no, and then she looked it up and it looks like they discontinued them earlier this year. What, why would you do that? But anyways, it's basically a big Oreo. It is so good and I was so excited to make it. I did find a recipe to like make your own wafers. But like that's not the fun of it. I'm not making my own wafers, maybe one year, like if I really want it, then I'll do that. But like I'm so disappointed because it's so easy and so delicious, like it's literally my favorite thing. I love it so much and Trevor's mom will always make it, like at least Christmas or Easter, and it's so good.

Speaker 1: 37:39

So basically, you get these wafers, which they're like Oreo, they're like the cookie of an Oreo, they're chocolate wafers and they're thin, and then you just whip a bunch of cream. You know, whip, whip, whip, whip, whip, whip up your cream into whipped cream and then you just stack them. So you do cookie cream, cookie cream, cookie cream, cookie cream, cookie cream until you have a log. You don't have to make it into a cross Every time. Every other time I've had it as a log. It was just the first time I ever had it I was like, oh, it's Jesus cake.

Speaker 1: 38:08

So you make it into a log and then you cover the log in whipped cream and then you put it in the fridge and let it set I don't know, I think for like an hour, whatever. Like longer is better Make it earlier in the day or the day before. And then you have to slice it on an angle to get the look. So you see all the layers. And then you slice it on an angle and it's just this delicious whipped cream, chocolate, wafer cookie, oreo type of cake. It's so good. It's so good and it's so sad. So that was gonna be our finale dessert.

Speaker 1: 38:39

And now, or a finale recipe, and now it's like oh, I have to think of another recipe. So I have an idea, but it involves getting Trevor involved, and he's always you never know if he wants to be involved or not, because it's a video. Yeah, trevor's not a big video boy. Sometimes he wants to be in the video and it's like awesome. Like if you get a peek of Trevor, you know that you've like hit the jackpot today. But other times it's like he does not want to be anywhere close to the camera. So I'm gonna see if he wants to be involved, because if so, then we're gonna get a Trevor special, which is something he makes for us every Christmas. If not, I'm gonna think of something else. Don't worry, I have lots of recipes up my sleeve, but I really hope we get Trevor involved, especially because my mom's gonna be helping with one of our recipes. Like that's so fun. All the families are involved.

Speaker 1: 39:27

I've made stuff that I've learned from Trevor's mom. I'm making stuff that I've learned from my mom. I'm getting my mom involved. If I could get Trevor involved, that would be so fun family tradition. So, yeah, that's the hope.

Speaker 1: 39:40

But today we're making panna cotta and I cannot wait. Ro is gonna be so, so, so stoked. Me too. I love it, and we end up with like I think it makes eight my recipe that I use, and so we end up with so much and it's like every day I get to have my little panna cotta and it's gonna lead up all the way to Christmas. Perfect. Also, my family's coming over for not New Year's, christmas Eve, my brother have Christmas Eve at our house, so we could also have it then.

Speaker 1: 40:09

Ah, can't wait. Yay, okay, cuties, I know that someone has a meeting at nine. I'm not sure if it's Trevor has a meeting at nine or if I have to be somewhere at nine, but it is almost eight, 30. So I gotta start my day, brush my teeth, get up, have something to eat. All of that stuff, ah, it's been so nice to have our morning coffee together. I love these chats so much, where I literally just dump my brain out on the table. Thank you for being here, besties. They're all amazing. I can't wait to come back tomorrow. There's only two more episodes, which is just wild. What I feel like. My math ain't math in there, but I think that's right. Anyway, I love you all so much. Go check out my Instagram and my podcast, or my podcast, my TikTok at five years time podcast, for our recipes and for any of the recipes that we've already had and shared.

Speaker 1: 41:01

I'm sending you so many good vibes as we head into this weekend Christmas weekend, I can't imagine. I feel like the malls are gonna be so busy. Me and my I actually took my mom to run some errands. She needed to go do some Christmas shopping a couple of days ago and I, in my mind, I'm so thrown off because Ro finished school halfway through the day, or halfway through the day, halfway through the week, so I keep thinking like, oh, it's Friday. Every day is Friday. I keep thinking it's like the weekend, and then I know Christmas is on a Monday, but I keep getting thrown off because I know my family, like mom and brother, are coming on Sunday. So I'm like Sunday's Christmas, but no, that's Christmas Eve.

Speaker 1: 41:35

Anyways, we were at the store and we were checking out and the person's like, oh, do you do some Christmas shopping? We're like, yeah, they're like, how are you doing? I'm like I think this is our, I think this is one of our last stops, and then we're done. And he was like wow, amazing. And we're like, oh, we feel like we're kind of last minute. He's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. If it's not Christmas Eve, you're winning. And then I was just thinking how, like, literally, this weekend is gonna be mayhem and shopping, because one it's a weekend, and it's literally like Christmas Eve is a weekend day. Like most of the time you work on Christmas Eve, but because it's a weekend, you're off, what? It's just gonna be wild. So, anyways, so so random. Okay, love kisses, stop, stop pushing away the start of your day, grace, it's time to go start. Okay, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.