Just an Epic Life
Just an Epic Life
Road Trip Reflections: Sedona's Red Rocks and Travel Hacks
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Driving home from Sedona provides the perfect backdrop for a candid conversation about travel hacks, relationship dynamics, and how we approach the end of vacations differently. We explore unexpected money-saving strategies and innovative business techniques while sharing embarrassing personal stories against the stunning red rock landscape.
• Our $27 charcuterie board appetizer became lunch for three days, saving hundreds on dining expenses
• The "mad-at-you key" - Keslie's insurance policy for when Nick inevitably irritates her on vacation
• How vacation ending blues manifest differently - Nick gets grumpy while Keslie sees regular life as an extension of vacation
• Professional insights on using AI to stage listing photos, resulting in immediate market activity for stagnant properties
• Ear fatigue is real - our karaoke night averaged 97 decibels and left lasting effects
• Embarrassing moments - from running into screen doors to pants explosions in the classroom
• The excitement of using AI in real estate without believing it will "take over the world"
If you have topic suggestions or want to be a guest on our podcast, message us! Tell us where you're going to be, and if it's somewhere epic, we might come meet you for a conversation.
Recorded 6/6/25
Welcome to Sedona Road Trip
Speaker 1Well, hello and welcome back to another episode of Just an Epic Life. We thought it would be epic to podcast while driving home from Sedona. So some time management. You're gonna be looking at the back of our heads unless I turn around to talk to you. Otherwise you'll get to see the epic drive which is exiting the Red Rock country and hopefully you can see how gorgeous this is.
Speaker 1Right here we are leaving the Arabella Hotel Motel. We decided it was called Really nice property. Actually I really enjoyed it and they had activities. They had water fill stations, which I know sounds like so dumb, but I drink so much water so I'd rather enjoy that. There is that for an option, and I do believe that we had the very best room in the whole place because we had an epic view of, hopefully, what you can see right here, which is the Smart Rocks. So, yeah, so it's been a long time since we've podcasted and we've been brainstorming all the things that we could, you know, chat about and he hit go. So I didn't have time to do it and I'm still going to do it.
Speaker 2You want to talk briefly about the charcuterie.
Speaker 1Oh my gosh, All right, travel hack. Hold on, we can edit this out later. No, we won't.
Charcuterie Board Travel Hack
Speaker 2Oh, okay, what are you doing? Um, well, I'll talk about the charcuterie while you chat. Gpt Perfect, all right. Uh, so on our first day we did something unplanned, but now it's going to be in our arsenal of travel hacks. We went to a restaurant the first night it was. You know, we don't always eat out, but usually one meal per day we eat out, and we got an appetizer because we knew we were going to go to dinner somewhere else. So we went to Oak Creek Brewery so I could get a pint of beer, and I mean, yes, they had a cocktail as well, but we went for the beer and while we were there, we had the appetizer of a charcuterie board spread. By the way fun fact there's a mobile home park right there.
Speaker 1Oh, we went to it. Yeah, and we can also bring the RV here. Yeah, I guess it isn't that close.
Speaker 2Yeah, totally right there we got the charcuterie. It was like a $20, maybe $27. It was designed probably for a table of eight.
Speaker 1I think it said like four, which I mean keep going with your hack, talk for it.
Speaker 2So we ate some of it because it was our appetizer. And then we boxed it up and our box weighed like over a pound Easy, like with all the meats and cheeses and jams, and it was great. And then for the rest of the trip, for the next three days, that was like our lunch.
Speaker 1Yeah, luckily we had a refrigerator in the room and I will say I said to Nick yesterday, the container in which they gave it to us in made all the difference. So it might be worth traveling with, maybe some disposable Like airtight. Airtight, yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah, just one or two. I mean, we already bring stuff like that.
Speaker 2So so, yeah, that was a fun hack that we're going to continue, because we're always like a meats and cheeses type of lunch anyway, sometimes like peanut butter, because usually we do the light breakfast that the hotel provides sometimes and then we eat out for a dinner so to be able to have the charcuterie for the lunch that's great.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's really good, and I truly think people could easily spend $200 a day eating out and okay. So if you remove any beverages, maybe a little less, but honestly, I think it's so expensive to eat out these days so it kills me. So we did bring some of our own stuff.
Speaker 2Yeah, you grilled up like four chicken breasts and sliced it up before it came here. Yeah, we ate off the chicken breasts we brought protein shakes yeah. Yeah, she always does protein shakes in her coffee. Yeah, in lieu of a coffee creamer yeah, so she was able to do that. All right, so you have a list what's going on.
Speaker 1Well, I just chat to you about what people want to hear about in podcasts, so it gave me many different topics.
Speaker 2I think the top of the list is to see the back of people's heads as they drive down the road. For sure, but if you are listening on your audio things like through your Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Amazon Music, you're not getting to look at the back of their heads, you're just getting to listen to the docile sounds of other voices. Oh my gosh, and you should go watch the YouTube so that you can laugh about it.
Speaker 1So just for funsies, I'm going to read the list Popular true crimes. I'm no good at that.
The Mad-at-You Hotel Key
Speaker 2I'm not telling a story she didn't kill me yet yeah. Although, can we talk about the key? We have a new name for the extra key Kesley doesn't usually keep a hotel key with her. She trusts one of us Isaiah or me, or Liliana. Liliana always has her hotel key in her phone. She always has it, but she trusts other people to have the hotel key.
Speaker 1I just don't see the need. I'm always with somebody.
Speaker 2It's weird that I run back to the hotel or go back to the hotel by myself, but she grabbed it the first day and her exact words were I need this just in case I get mad at you, that way I can come back to the hotel.
Speaker 1So we now call it the mad at you key, it's the mad at you key. So, by the way, I kept it, just in case I still need it. I don't think it will work. Okay, all right. So number two For the record.
Vacation Ending Blues Discussion
Speaker 2She did not get mad at me until this morning, when you know the last 30 minutes of vacation blues when I'm trying to get a few things done and pack through them before 11 o'clock checkout. By the way, 11 o'clock checkout, that's for the birds.
Speaker 1It's for the birds Also. This is a great topic we could cover, check it. Yeah, like vacation ending blues, like it's a serious so I don't have this Like I literally look forward to the end of vacation because I'm going to go back to reality and I, I do something most people don't do and I work almost through the entire vacation. It's. I'll answer the phone. I certainly will take calls from my team. Um, I check email. I negotiate contracts.
Speaker 2Negotiate contracts like I, I most literally work where there are so many of your clients have no idea you're on vacation. Oh, actually, just in operating normal mode. Yeah, well, and so by the way, if you're watching, I hope you can see how seriously this is gorgeous and if you haven't been to sonoma, get your butt up here.
Speaker 1It really is cool, uh, and it looks best when it's cloudy.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, I mean, the sun is nice, we love Arizona sun, but seeing the red rocks in the cloudy, not gloomy, away from the dark sunlight, the red rocks just become even more vibrant without the whitewash of the sun. Yeah, yes, Okaywash of the sun.
Speaker 1Yeah, yes.
Speaker 2Okay, so the blues.
Speaker 1Yeah, so, uh, I really do work, and things I've learned is, um, it's not normal. Uh, there are a few agents that I know who, when they're on vacation, they work or they don't take vacations. Well, that doesn't work for me, so vacations are a necessary evil to my life and, uh, I don't know, I just I work the whole time. Nick, however, is like I'm on vacation. He was conditioned as a teacher that he does not work after june. Yeah, after june, after may, and so he's, he's in june already and he's like I'm not working. And, by the way, he's in June already and he's like I'm not working.
Speaker 2And, by the way, he's working harder than probably ever and he does not love working on vacation and I'm just like Well, I also had a major project finish on Tuesday. The start date of this vacation was the cleaning day before photos for this flip that I just finished, and I don't have an active flip right now, so it's like a little. Let's call it a weekend between. Yeah.
Speaker 1The calm before the storm. That's what it really is. So he and prior to this trip he would get the blues. My mom gets them. I noticed it a couple of years ago when we traveled and she got the blues. By the way, it doesn't mean they get sad, in fact, the exact opposite happens, both with my mother and with my husband. My dear Nick is sitting next to me. They kind of get grumpy and it's like the whole world is against them. And so, do you do this? I don't do this. I'm just like, okay, like my life. I kind of.
Speaker 2I think here's my difference, over 155% of the population would get end of vacation.
Speaker 1Absolutely over 100%. I think you're abnormal. So this is what I'm going to say. I think that I look at my normal life as an extension of vacation, right Like with vacation Sundays, right Like. Those are very important to us and I will say we haven't been protecting them nearly the same, and that's for another podcast and how things have been a little bit different the last couple months, but I don't know. I feel like last, what was it? Two weekends, two weeks ago, the week before the kids' last day of school, and I was like, hey, do we all have time for lunch on a Friday afternoon? And we did. So like I feel like I take advantage of those little moments because those little moments are big moments. So, yes, I absolutely think that more people get the vacation blues and it's because why they don't take vacations like we do.
Speaker 2I take vacations like we do, and I still get the blues.
Speaker 1Okay, you've got to change the way you look at things. Take advantage of the little moments. Okay, let me get back to this chat Number two of always popular Self-improvement and personal development. That's such a wide.
Speaker 2I'm a big fan of that.
Speaker 1That's such a wide variety of things, yeah, and yet, like I'm totally in a space of, I'm sick of listening to say crap, it's not crap, it's all great and instead of everything. Okay, number three health and wellness. You just had a great friend on facebook who went through a journey oh heck yeah, and uh didn't like the way she saw something and changed it and had a huge impact on her.
Speaker 2She had a very high, the highest moment of her career, and an incredibly low personal moment at the same time, because, as people were praising her, she was looking at the images that people had taken and she was not Pleased with them. Yeah, she was not pleased with them and, I feel, was not pleased with them, yeah, and I feel like we have those things that happen.
Speaker 1I get it and it. So I think health and wellness is huge. It's interesting how much stuff there is. There's all the drugs out there right now that can make you skinny, right, they make you stop eating, and I don't know what other side effects they have. I feel like it scares me. We all know what to do, right, eat less calories than what you burn and get to live that life and yet, easier said than done, focus on your intake, focus on your negativity, yeah, and, like I know, when I haven't been eating well, because my whole body feels sluggish. Okay, so, health and wellness. Number three All right. Number four money and finances. It says specifically in here budgeting, investing, side hustles, real estate and crypto. I dig the side hustles and the budgeting. I think, honestly, money and financing the number one thing people could do for themselves to help them get clarity is budgeting. I know that when we did that, it made a huge impact. Okay. Number five entrepreneurship and business All right. Startups, scaling, marketing, leadership stories.
Speaker 2So what's your goal through this list? To inspire us for future topics or talk about them now, because there's no way we can get it.
Speaker 1No, we're never going to talk about all these now. I think it's just curious, right? Okay, so here, highly engaging and relatable this is where I think it gets funny Relationships and dating.
Speaker 2We talked about the mad at you, that's relationships.
Speaker 1Yeah, also, we haven't dated any.
Speaker 2I haven't been on a first date since we.
Speaker 1You're never going on a first date again.
Speaker 2Alright, onwards Since 1998. 1998. That'll be 27 years.
Karaoke Night and Ear Fatigue
Speaker 1Number seven Parenting and family Raising kids, mom, dad life, family dynamics we could definitely spend some time talking on that on another episode. Okay, number eight Pop culture and entertainment. Yeah, we suck at this one, I have no idea. Yeah, we could bring guests on for that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2I'm serious, the song that the whole bar was singing last night and you were singing along. I have no idea what that is.
Speaker 1Oh, my gosh, my god you know, and it's totally from when we were younger. Yeah, I did not, I listened to KZZP. Yeah, we were at karaoke at a bar last night and Nick, by the way, nick hates karaoke, hates it mostly because it's terrible. People sing terribly. The bar did not disappoint us. That's exactly what.
Speaker 2What it was there were people that were okay, but then it just got. So I think if we had our ear plugs with us, it would have been more tolerable. Yeah, yeah, just just the ear plugs. That like dropped everything 10 decibels. The average last night was 97.1 decibels okay, now maxing out around 107.
Speaker 1Okay, but tell people what that is in real person talk, because real person talk doesn't know what that means.
Speaker 2They have to chat GPT that. So if we I mean if, if we could, yeah, we'd google. You know what is the decibel of a lawnmower? What is the decibel of a fighter fighter jet from 100 feet away?
Speaker 1by the way, wait, hold on. If you have your earpods in your, your ear things in right now and you have them turned all the way up, it's too loud turn it down. Oh yeah, okay, but keep going uh.
Speaker 2Yeah. So I mean comfortable listening is in the 80, 80 decibels. Uncomfortable listening starts around 90. I'm not an audiologist, but just from my time with my handy dandy apps and being a choir teacher and helping people avoid, uh, ear fatigue and hearing loss, yeah, if, if you can stay below 92, 93, you'll be fine. Once you're be fine. Once you're at 97, you're just uncomfortable. Anything above 100, you're just. And it's like sunscreen. You can be out in the Sun with no sunscreen for like five hours. If the UV is a 1 or 2 I'm not a doctor, but if the UV is a 9. Yes, my Lexus is saying pay attention, your Lexus. I was going to say my Lexus. Yes, which Ius is saying pay attention, okay, your Lexus.
Speaker 2I was going to say my Lexus, yes, which I get to drive on occasion, yeah so, but if the UV is a 9 or a 10 or an 11, I mean, you're looking at, you know you can be in the sun for like 15, 20 minutes without needing the assistance of sunscreen. Same thing with hearing loss. If you are in an environment that's like in the 80s, you're good to go. At the moment you're like at 94. There's a certain amount of time that you can be there without causing loss and without causing ear fatigue. So Google that, talk to your doctors. Hearing loss is real.
Speaker 1And and ear fatigue is real. Yeah, like when we told Tara and her sisters about NASCAR and how their ear fatigue uh they under they. They said, oh my gosh, that's a real thing. That's how we feel for like a week. After we understand that now I still have ear fatigue from last night, I do too.
Speaker 2Yeah, and like, uh, similar to like, if you're doing elevation changes, like airplanes, where it's just everything is a little dull, yeah, ear fatigue is real, yeah.
Speaker 1Okay, so pop culture? We suck at it. Speed limit got up to 55 now 11.
Speaker 2It's a donut. It's like 35.
Speaker 1Number nine Comedy Casual banter. Funny, takes everyday absurdities light and binge-worthy. So I read that and it made me think of a funny story. So I'm going to ask you about a funny story and I'm going to tell one of my most embarrassing moments right now. So make sure you put in the notes that they have to wait until this point or they're going to even see it, okay.
Speaker 1So you and I were hanging out at your parents house, we were teenagers and joey shows up, joey's next brother with friends, and so we went outside, we were out it must have been summertime. We were outside hanging out and joey must have sassed me at some point and I came flying through the backyard and ran into this room. Do you remember that? Yes, oh my god, I thought I was going to die in that moment. I didn't need Joey's approval I still don't but man, oh man, did I feel like an idiot? So, okay, I felt like I don't know, so small I will say. Your brother was gracious and laughed at me and laughed it off and then asked me if it was okay. But certainly I was like, oh, oh, but his friends they let you was gracious and laughed at me and laughed it off and then asked me if it was okay, but certainly I was like, oh, but his friends, they let you have it oh, rightfully so.
Speaker 1I would have done exactly the same thing. Did he mention that in the wedding speech? I have no idea he might have, I don't remember. Sounds like something. Oh no, he was too busy talking about shooting you.
Speaker 2Yes, not with a real gun, it was a bb gun anyway, but the bb lodged right here in the top of my head yeah and I had to pop it like a pimple, like three days later, because I didn't.
Speaker 2I thought, I thought the bb just like grazed the top of my head. No, it like lodged in my flesh, uh, and I didn't know, I just thought no big deal. Then, a few days later, like I'm touching the scab, I'm like this is really Like it's just raised. And I go in the bathroom where there's like a mirror on the wall and a mirror in front, and I'm using the mirror and I'm like, oh my goodness, I can see the BB. So then I just popped it like a BB. I popped it like a pimple. The BB came out. Yeah, that was great.
Speaker 1Good times, good times, All right.
Speaker 2so I'm ready for One of my most embarrassing moments I don't have, those we don't run into screen doors like that do we?
Speaker 1I mean, I have great moments.
Embarrassing Moments and AI Staging
Speaker 2I can tell you, one fun thing about being a choir teacher is I always had a ridiculous amount of tuxedo pants on hand at any moment. There was one time I believe that was like my third year teaching and I was alone in the classroom. There wasn't anyone around, but I bent over to get something in my classroom and the entire seam of my pants, from crotch to halfway up the back, just like popped, exploded Like there was this gaping hole in my crotch and I'm just like, oh my goodness, what do I do? And I'm like I'm a choir teacher, so I wear tuxedo pants Thursday and in every class period I got to tell them. So I didn't choose this this morning, but my pants exploded.
Speaker 1My pants exploded. Okay, alright, very good. Alright, okay, so niche, but growing, okay. So faith and Very good, all right, uh, okay, so niche, but uh, growing, okay. So faith and spirituality. Career and job strategy, work life balance I dig that, okay.
Speaker 1Technology and AI, travel and adventure, home design and DIY oh my gosh. Okay, talk, talk about the AI with your staging right now. Oh my gosh, we're totally taking our listing photos and dropping them into chat and asking them to stage. Now I will say chat is not perfect and for those of you who think that AI is going to take over the world, god bless you. I don't. I don't truly believe that. I think that AI is going to enhance some of our humanness, which I it excites me. So, anyways, we drop in listing photos, we kind of tell them what kind of price point that the home is in, and then I give a little bit of instruction as far as like color scheme and uh, then it will stage the photos. It is amazing. Now it's also terrible because sometimes it changes the total layout of the room. It moves the doors, it moves the windows, so it is not without error. It is just giving a refresh. Look to some of our listings in a market where days on market matter because they're up.
Speaker 2So and you saw instant success. How's that measure?
Speaker 1uh, so we literally changed on four different listings that were kind of just sitting stagnant. They've been on the market at least a couple of weeks. We changed the photos. Um, we put all the staging, the ai staging photos, in the first five photos and immediately, like within a day or two, they were getting activity.
Speaker 1It's amazing and activity uh, showings and showing your process and uh, we are seeing more success, like on our team, like our team put, I think last week we put six in escrow, which is not what we're typically seeing in this market. I mean, our market is up a little bit and I'm listening to a lot of my peers whining and complaining about the market. So we're just hustling. So, yeah, we're just hustling. So yeah, well, I feel like now we're going to take, now, you know, end our beautiful drive.
Speaker 2So I'll pull off before I get on the 17, which is in a half a mile.
Speaker 1Yeah, and then we can do another one. We can pick one of these topics and if we haven't said anything I mean if we said something that you'd love to hear us talk about or banter about tell us, we'll bring it up. Or if you're an expert in one of these things and you're like, hey, I would totally love to hang out with these guys and talk for 15 to 30 minutes about X, message us, call us, text us, tell us where you're going to be and we'll come meet you, and hopefully it's somewhere. Epic, yeah, tell us where you're gonna be and we'll come meet you, and hopefully it's somewhere epic.
Speaker 2Yeah, if you live somewhere, epic, we oughta come. Yeah, we sure do, and we'll absolutely do a conversation. Let me find an opportune spot to pull over on the other side of this on-ramp.
Speaker 1I'll go ahead and close us out. That sounds good. So until next time, enjoy an epic life. I'm like pausing, like they can see my face. We're ready, mm-hmm, now that you know where the hazard's at.
Speaker 2Now I know where the hazard's at it's okay, it's taking me multiple times. All right, this is the moment when I find out if we actually pressed record.
Speaker 1Okay, let's see Victory Yay.