School of Midlife

184. Stop Calling It a "Passion Project." How Brooke Amidei Built Babble

• Laurie Reynoldson • Episode 184

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The "anti-influencer" who's been sharing midlife hacks in a weekly newsletter called Babble.

Brooke Amidei didn't set out to build a business. She was on a hike with her dog, post-COVID, trying to figure out what to do with the next chapter of her life, when a podcast question stopped her mid-step: "What would you do if you were Oprah?" Her answer was simple...she wanted to spend all day talking with her girlfriends.

Three years later, that answer is Babble: a free weekly newsletter that's part magazine, part group chat, and fully allergic to being another influencer account.

This conversation goes everywhere a real girlfriend hangout goes. Brooke and Laurie talk about the moment Brooke stopped calling Babble a "passion project" and started calling it her job...and the fear that came with finally saying that out loud. Then it gets into the good stuff: the docuseries that inspired Brooke to rent out a movie theater, the bone density scan she didn't know she needed, and the pelvic floor information that's about to change how every woman in this audience uses the bathroom.

It's a conversation about building something real without pretending to have all the answers, and about why the most useful thing you can hand another woman in midlife is just the truth, curated with love.

What we cover:

  • How a hike, a dog, and one line from a Rachel Hollis podcast turned into a business called Babble
  • Why Brooke calls herself "the anti-influencer" and refuses to fake the polish
  • The real definition of Babble's "top layer" — and why it's not another deep-dive wellness account
  • How a panel of 15 women actually decides what makes it into the newsletter each week
  • The moment Brooke stopped calling Babble a "passion project" and started calling it her job
  • Why she almost didn't want to admit, even to herself, that this was real work worth being paid for
  • The docuseries trailer that led Brooke to rent out a movie theater in Boise — and then do it again in Salt Lake City
  • What she learned putting together a health and wellness resource lounge for a room full of midlife women
  • The perimenopause "cheat sheet" Brooke built after watching the docuseries and interviewing experts — including the one line an expert had the whole room repeat out loud
  • Brooke's own experience going on vaginal estrogen — and what changed for her after almost two decades of a problem she thought she'd just have to live with
  • The book and the Instagram account Brooke says are the two non-negotiable resources for anyone starting to learn about perimenopause
  • Why women aren't supposed to get a bone density scan until 65 — and why that might already be too late
  • What happened when Brooke and her business partner got their own bone density scans and found out about risk factors they never knew they had
  • The colonoscopy prep Babble has covered so many times Brooke jokes she has a "frequent flyer card"
  • The pelvic floor tip about how women are peeing "wrong" — and the small daily habit that might be doing damage without you realizing it
  • How Babble started monetizing without losing the trust that made it work in the first place
  • Brooke's manifestation experiment with the Best Life Planner's "10 Dreams I've Achieved" — and the three unplanned massages that showed up after she almost deleted it from her list
  • Why Brooke and Laurie both push back on being called a "female" doctor, pilot, or scientist — and what that language habit reveals
  • Brooke's current favorite Amazon dupe, and the one product category she says is always worth the search

Quotable moments

  • "I actually call myself the anti-influencer."
  • "Stop calling it a 'passion project'. This is your job."
  • "Every vagina deserves estrogen."
  • "We are peeing incorrectly."
  • "It's the conversation in a newsletter form that you are having with your girlfriends."
  • "Go for it, girl. Just go for it."
  • "It feels kind of like a sisterhood, and I love it."

Resources + links mentioned

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Work with Laurie

What if the top layer, the best of everything worth knowing about in midlife showed up in your inbox every week with no scrolling, no algorithm, nothing that you really need to do, just sit back and relax and read all about the good stuff? This week on The School of Midlife podcast, I am talking with Brooke Amidei, the founder of Babble, the free weekly newsletter that's become the group chat every midlife woman wishes she had.

Brooke calls herself the anti-influencer, and after this conversation, you'll understand why. No filters, no polish, just real information from real women curated by a panel of midlife women who want to share all of the good stuff with you. We get into how a hiking trail and one wildly good question, "What would you do if you were Oprah?" Turned into a business. We talk about the moment Brooke stopped calling Babble a passion project and just started calling it her [00:01:00] job. We go deep on perimenopause from the docuseries that inspired her to rent out a movie theater, to the bone density scan that she didn't know she needed, to the pelvic floor tip that is about to change how you pee.

Yes, really. Plus, her favorite Amazon dupes, the manifestation trick she learned from the Best Life Planner that's landed her three free massages, and the two questions we ask every guest before we let them go.

Grab your coffee, grab your glass of wine, sit down with your girlfriends, because this one is a Babble-worthy conversation.

Please enjoy this conversation with Brooke Amidei 

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Laurie Reynoldson: Brooke, welcome to "The School of Midlife" podcast. I am so excited to have you here to get into this conversation. I have a entire list of things that I wanna talk to you about. But before we dive in, will you just do me a quick favor? Introduce yourself really quickly. Tell us who you are, what it is you do.

Brooke Amidei: Sounds perfect. Great to see you, Laurie, as always. Excited to have a nice midlife lady chat with you today. My name is Brooke Amidei, and I run Babble, which I've been doing for just over three years now. And Babble, I started to do it because I wanted [00:04:00] some way to alleviate the overwhelm in midlife.

You know that feeling, that kind of FOMO feeling when you sit down with girlfriends, whether it's over coffee or happy hour, and the whole rest of the group is talking about some fabulous book, and you're like, "I've never even heard of this book. How am I missing that?" But we're busy. We've got families and careers and busy lives that are exciting, so we don't have the time, energy, or truthfully desire to follow 20 different Instagram accounts, like one on books, one on recipes, one...

all the different things. I wanted to create a place where you could find all of just the biggest hits, the stuff that your girlfriends, you don't wanna miss. And so that's what Babble is. It is a free weekly newsletter, and we just hit the top layer of everything that's worth babbling about, um, anything that you're texting your girlfriends about

Laurie Reynoldson: What do you mean the top layer? What does that mean? I mean, when I think about Babble, I think about it kind of like a virtual [00:05:00] online magazine, I guess. You talked about a weekly newsletter, but it feels very, um, InStyle meets midlife meets your inbox.

Brooke Amidei: I love that description. That's exactly, it feels to me, and I love that you feel that because that's what we try to do is have it feel like kind of the update ver- version of a magazine. Like, you know, when you used to get People Magazine or Better Homes and Gardens, I actually still get both of those, in your, in your mailbox where it's covering all the different topics.

So it's not just, we're not just covering wellness. We're not just covering, you know, books or, or things like that. It is covering all of the topics, but not taking a super deep dive into any of them. It's the stuff where like, again, like if you're sitting down a happy hour or you're texting your girlfriends like, "Oh my gosh, you have to listen to this podcast.

You're gonna love it. It's perfect for you." Or the, the movie that everyone's talking about that you wanna go see. It is all of the stuff that you [00:06:00] really don't want to miss. And I should mention, Babble is not just me. I actually call myself the anti-influencer. I don't love being on social media, even though it's necessary for everything these days.

And I don't have all of the answers. So we have a Babble panel, which is about 15 women. And so every week, uh, sometimes every day, we're sending messages like, "Hey, what's a good simple summer dinner recipe that you're loving?" And not everyone will answer every time, but we collect the very best of the best, and then we curate it and put it together in articles on our website and then highlight those main things on our newsletter each week

Laurie Reynoldson: How, how did this happen, Brooke? How did you start Babble? Was there a moment where you were like, "You know what? We need this," or tell me how it started

Brooke Amidei: It's very School of Midlife coded. I think you'll enjoy this because I know in the work that you do, you help women [00:07:00] really figure out what they really want to do with their lives, with their days. And I was on a hike with my dog, this is post-COVID, and trying to decide, my kids are getting older, do I wanna go back to work?

My background is in sponsorship sales, but it didn't feel exactly right. Um, trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and I was listening to a Rachel Hollis podcast, and she had posed the question, "What would you do if you were Oprah? If you had unlimited resources, money, connections, what would you do?"

And I like paused the podcast and kept hiking and thinking about that, and it was pretty obvious to me what I would do is spend all day talking with my girlfriends. And I know that sounds cheesy, but there is something in me that wants to connect people, wants to connect ideas. I'm- I was already doing Babble in the sense of every day [00:08:00] texting girlfriends, you know, "Oh my gosh, I read this book and I just know you're gonna love it."

Or, um, you know, oh, a grief resource that I know a friend could really use, something like that. So I was already sharing all that information, and this just felt like a good way to curate it into, well, there's probably more people that want this, or multiple friends, and I would like a place to archive it as well.

So that's kinda where it started from.

Laurie Reynoldson: That's amazing. And I've never heard that question, but I like the what would you do if you were Oprah? Have you used that in other parts of your life? You know, you're talking about it in the work setting, but, you know, as it relates to your family or trips that you're taking or anything along those lines, or was this kind of a one and done and you're living your Oprah life right now?

Brooke Amidei: You know what? No, I totally should because it did help really clarify things for me. I'd been kinda going back and forth, like, "Do I want, what would..." It, so it just took away all the noise of like, [00:09:00] what would you really do if you could do anything? And I should take that into other areas of my life. It's a, it's a good thought

Laurie Reynoldson: It's interesting because the foundation of everything we do at The School of Midlife is figuring out what it is that you want. Not what you've been conditioned to want, not what your parents taught you to want, not what some influencer on social media tells you you should want, but what, what you actually want.

And because women,

We have just been so focused on the next thing that we should do, most women have no idea what they want. You ask them, and, like, they go blank. One of the tricks that we have, I'm, I'm... Although I am gonna start with this Oprah question, I'm gonna start using that. One of the tricks that we use or in our coaching is, "What don't you want?"

Because it's really easy to sit there and be like, "I don't wanna work 40 in an office, 40 hours a week. I don't wanna have to take my work home with me. I don't wanna have to take my work on vacation." Well, once we know what you don't want, then it's really easy to [00:10:00] back into what you, what you want. So I, um, I'm gonna couple the Oprah

Brooke Amidei: Gosh, that's a good question too. I'm gonna be pondering that one later today. That's good

Laurie Reynoldson: so started it several years ago. Did it start on social media, or was it always a newsletter? How did you take this from an idea on a hike into making it your business?

Brooke Amidei: it has evolved. It was initially just a newsletter that would have five things worth babbling about each week, and it, that actually hasn't changed too much, um, that framework. I'm-- And I have different categories that I try to hit on, every week, but it was just a newsletter. And then, as you know, you have to be on social media for people to find that newsletter.

I had several girlfriends. I've lived in different places, and girlfriends are a core, essential part of my life. So everybody was like, " Oh, cool," and very supportive and hopped on board. But it-- what went from, like, a passion project [00:11:00] to, like, oh gosh, this takes a lot of time and energy. I want it to grow. I hope that it grows.

And I have a girlfriend that now came on to work with me. Her name's Ericaa, and she's fabulous, and she helps me take the ideas that I tend to have, and she actually helps create them. But so and then I had to get on social media. I literally have had to take Instagram classes, I mean, how midlife is

Laurie Reynoldson: okay. No,

Brooke Amidei: out what to do, how to do it.

Laurie Reynoldson: Yeah

Brooke Amidei: so there, uh, there's definitely a presence, um, for Babble on Instagram, but the actual core for me still, because I'm trying to get off social media myself more, and I know that a lot of my girlfriends are. We don't wanna spend time on our phones scrolling Instagram or Facebook. And so the core is still the newsletter.

I want it to show up in everyone's inbox each week where it's like, "Ah, fun." Like, it's not a bill. It's not the school messaging about something you need to... It's like, "Oh, this is for me, and this is fun." And we've kind of taken that into [00:12:00] a different format. There's a product each week that is shared, something from the Babble panel, so again, these 15-plus women that are like, " You must try this.

Everyone needs this cheese grater," whatever it is. And then we highlight an article where we deep dive into something more each week, and then we have mini Babbles. So a lot of times it's a great show on Netflix you should watch or a podcast or a book. Sometimes it's another product, something like that, or an idea.

And then we've just added in the last, I'd say, six months, we have a no click-through recipe. Like, 'cause we, we're the consumers of this, so we know, like, you don't always wanna click through. Like, I'm kind of interested in that recipe, but I don't wanna click through to see what the ingredients are. I wanna know if I've got it in my pantry.

So that's in every single newsletter as well.

Laurie Reynoldson: And hopefully it doesn't also have, like, the page and a half backstory on why your grandmother made this and I, I mean, I love to cook, and I love getting recipes on the [00:13:00] internet, and also I don't have time to, like, read through the whole preamble of what... Just, just take me to the recipe.

I love that. I love it so much.

Brooke Amidei: I think in general, again, along the lines of the anti-influencer, it's not like professional photographs of food. It is, it's all, all of these women were just real women sharing information like you would with your friends. They're clicking dinner, you know, their husband might be in the background or whatever.

It's not, um, picture perfect because none of us are, and we're not influencers in that way. So it is, yeah, there's no big backstory. It's not a big production. It's like, "Hey, you need something quick to make that you want high protein in your li- here you go."

Laurie Reynoldson: With the website, like if, if you were babbling about a recipe that I remember or an incredible skincare product that I remember reading about, can I go on your website and is that, is that [00:14:00] stuff archived there, or do I need to just save the newsletters? How does that work?

Brooke Amidei: yes, for the most part, usually the newsletter, so as an example, if we're talking about recipes, we may have a no click-through recipe that's in the newsletter, and let's say it's a really great... In fact, I'm making one tonight from Babble that's a Greek yogurt curry marinade. It sounds maybe not so great.

It has become my new favorite thing. So that might be in the newsletter, just the marinade for your chicken. But then it's usually clicks back if you want, like maybe that's not your jam for a marinade, but we have an article of, I think it's 10 or 15 of our most favorite chicken marinades. So you could, "Hey, here's a little piece that you don't have to click through.

This is what I'm making this week and I'm excited about." But on the, website, it's not just each individual thing. Most of our articles, which I enjoy too as far as recipes, 'cause everybody has something different or you have different things in your [00:15:00] pantry or fridge that day, you can scroll through and be like, "Okay, that's the one I'm gonna make today."

Laurie Reynoldson: That, like it's an encyclopedia it feels like of all the, the good life hacks for, hacking midlife. Um, is this a free newsletter? Are you putting out all this content for free?

Brooke Amidei: I am. I am. And 

Laurie Reynoldson: That's amazing 

Brooke Amidei: again, I enjoy doing it and so does Ericaa, so we have a good time collecting this information and just sharing it for free with all the ladies

Laurie Reynoldson: How are we gonna get you paid though? I mean, the... Here's why I ask

Brooke Amidei: well, sponsorship is my background.

Laurie Reynoldson: Oh, okay. Yes. So do you have sponsors that sponsor the newsletter?

Brooke Amidei: Just more recently we've started to have a couple of sponsors that have come on, um, to support Babble. We've-- I mean, we're a pretty small show, so still [00:16:00] it's not like, again, there's like thousands of, um, people subscribing to the newsletter. So we're pretty little. But, um, companies do, I think, recognize the importance of it.

You don't have to have all these numbers and the, and the bots and things on Instagram that are inflating your numbers. It's really, do you have an audience that cares and listens? And, the companies that get it are supporting us now Yes

Laurie Reynoldson: Well, especially with your target demographic, because these are women that have money and spend money, right? So I, I mean, I'm not saying that your business model is, there's anything wrong with it, but also, You're three years in. This is your job. I want you to not get to the point where you resent doing it because you're putting all this work in, and yeah, it's great to get an email back from somebody that says, "Oh, I loved this," or, "Thank you for doing this."

But also, mama needs to get paid, right? 'Cause mama needs to be able to buy the chicken that she can make the [00:17:00] beautiful marinade for to put on the table.

Brooke Amidei: Yeah. Yes. Yeah, and I think at first I was like, "I don't really care if I make money at this." Like, I just enjoy it. It's just, like again, a passion project. It'll be really fun. And then as you know, this takes time. This stuff takes a ton of my time, a ton of my energy, m- you know, mentally and otherwise, and I want it to be successful, and I know that it's helpful to women.

So I think I just in the last year was like, "Stop calling it a passion project. This

is your job. This is what you do. You're, you're good at it, and it's helpful to women. They enjoy it. Let that be its own thing." That's been a new revelation for me.

Laurie Reynoldson: Oh my God, I, I went through exactly that same thing with School of Midlife, where I would be like, "Well, you know, I am an attorney, um, and I've got this little thing I'm doing on the side, or this little passion project, or this little hobby." And it was almost like I was ... [00:18:00] I didn't wanna tell anybody about it because what would they think of me, right?

How, what? And

Brooke Amidei: And what if it isn't successful? You know, who's going like, "What does she think? Who does she think she is? What is she doing over there?"

Laurie Reynoldson: What will they say about me? How will I be judged? Yes. And also, so you can feel that way, but the value that you bring is worth something. And the reason I ask about, you know, is this free for people, I mean, not that I, I wanna change your business model or anything, but I, I would think at some point maybe you start charging for this, because this is a lot of information.

It's good information. So I, I would say to the listeners, you better get in before Brooke starts charging for this thing

Brooke Amidei: Yeah, I think so too. 'Cause it is, especially after doing it for so long, it's becoming more refined and it's curated in a better way. It is more helpful. It's becoming more professional than it was when it [00:19:00] was, you know, just me being like, "I don't know how to put together a website."

And now I'm like, "Oh, I've learned some things."

Laurie Reynoldson: related to the newsletter, and we will put a clickable link for everyone in the show notes so they can get on the newsletter list, um, if they're not already You've got the newsletter, and then last year, I think it was last year.

No, was it this year? When did you first start doing your in-person Balance events? Was that last

Brooke Amidei: in January, and that not... It was just this, like, what was it?

Laurie Reynoldson: It feels like a long time ago, but yeah, it was this year

Brooke Amidei: Yeah, that was really incredible, and I think that's just, um... I have this little thing sitting next to me on my desk. I actually keep this. This is something kind of worth babbling about. This little frame, and I change the different, um, quotes and things in there right now. But I think this

Laurie Reynoldson: What's the quote

Brooke Amidei: so fitting for where I'm personally at in Babble.[00:20:00] 

It is, "If you keep showing up, you'll almost certainly break through, but probably not in the way you expected or intended. You need enough persistence to keep working and enough flexibility to enjoy success when it comes in a different form than you imagined." And that was sitting... I mean, that's been sitting on my desk for kind of a while.

I like that one.

Laurie Reynoldson: That's

Brooke Amidei: Yeah. I mean, and I think you understand that better than, better than most too. Like, if you keep showing up and you keep putting in the work and you keep doing things that you feel are valuable, it's... Success will show up. It may not show up when we want it to, it may not show up how we expected it to, but it will show up, and maybe it's in a completely different way.

Maybe it's not financial success or, or, you know, whatever. But the, Balance Perimenopause events literally, um, I came across the trailer at Christmastime. And for those that don't know, um, there's a docuseries called Balance: A Perimenopause Journey that is absolutely fantastic. It's a four-part series.

You [00:21:00] can watch it on Apple TV or Amazon Prime. And I watched the trailer for it and I was like, "Oh gosh, I really wanna watch that." It describes these two, um, monks who figure out they're going through perimenopause, and it follows their journey of, you know, trying to figure out what's going on with their bodies.

They go and interview, um, monks. Yeah, so I mean, they're doing e- essentially everything right, you know? Like, I'm like, "Oh, did I drink too much wine?" They're not having those

issues. It follows, it follows their journey, and they go and they interview all the experts, and they take us with them to their doctor's appointments.

And this is backed by Alyssa Milano and Jeanie Mai, and these monks at- within their own right, they are incredibly successful filmmakers. So it's really well done. It's a really great docuseries, and I watched the trailer and I was like, "Oh, I'm totally gonna watch that." And then I was like, "I should get a couple girlfriends over and have a, have some wine, and we should watch it together," [00:22:00] 'cause every question they're posing, I'm like, "Yeah, that's exactly the space we're living in right now."

And then I started thinking, "Well, maybe I could, like, rent out a little space and, like, bring in a big screen TV and, like, make it a little bit bigger." And then I thought, "Well, no, I've rented out theaters before." I also did event planning in my, in my real career, in my background. And so I got on their website and saw, yeah, you can purchase the, the rights to have it at a theater, and partnered with my good friend Becca from Boise with Kids, um, who also has a large following here in the Treasure Valley, specifically of women.

And we did. We put it together in three weeks here in Boise and filmed the first two episodes of the docuseries, and then we thought it would be beneficial to have local resources available, so we put together a health and wellness resource lounge and had all sorts of incredible companies. I mean, my eyes were [00:23:00] so opened to how many resources we all have available to us.

I would've thought in Boise, Idaho, like, "Oh, I don't know who's working with HRT or whatever," but there's so many awesome women and businesses, and it was just... Oh, and then we had a, um, expert panel that we had come speak directly following the, um, the screening of the docuseries, and it was just incredible.

I mean, the women supporting women, businesses supporting other businesses, it was just incredible, really incredible. And then we did the event again, um, in Salt Lake just last month

Laurie Reynoldson: given how much you enjoyed doing that, do you see that there might be other opportunities for either showing that docuseries in other cities or doing other projects that are in that same vein?

Brooke Amidei: I think absolutely, because it is at the core what Babble is, which is [00:24:00] taking great information and sharing it with women, and that's what that event was. It, the perimenopause is probably the hottest topic with, um, people that are following and receiving the Babble newsletter. So being able to share with them this incredible information, and of course we have a lot of people that, you know, Babble is worldwide actually, but, um, primarily here in the US, so people that couldn't attend the event.

And so Erica and I sat down after meeting with and talking with so many different experts, watching the docuseries several times. Um, we sat down and put together our cheat sheet, and that's kind of what Babble is. It's like when a girlfriend, 'cause I did have girlfriends say, "Hey, I couldn't make it. I live in Los Angeles," or, "I live in Minnesota.

Like, what am I missing?" I'm like, "First of all, go watch the docuseries." But we put together our cheat sheet of exactly how I would tell my girlfriends, "Here's what you need to know. Here's what I've learned that I am dying to pass along [00:25:00] to you." And the cheat sheet, which is on our, um, website, it has not only just like good resources and like, uh, there's a section that's like here's what blew our mind the very most, like the absolute essential, essential need for vaginal estrogen.

We had one of our experts tell the audience, had the audience repeat that every vagina deserves estrogen. She was like, "If you take away one thing..." And now that I've f- you know, read these books and heard from the experts, I'm fully on that train and, and I believe it, and actually I'm living it because now I am taking vaginal estrogen, and I have stopped peeing my pants when I jump, which was happening for almost two decades.

So anyway, I digress, but the cheat sheet has information like that, like, "This will blow your mind, and I need you to know it." And then we also, instead of being like, "Here's all the resources," 'cause there is a lot about perimenopause, it [00:26:00] was Erica and I saying, "In our opinions, if you purchase one book to read, this is the book we would recommend.

If you follow one Instagram account, this is the Instagram account we recommend. If you watch one show, of course it's Balance, you should watch that show." But it's exactly what we would tell our girlfriends.

Laurie Reynoldson: Will you share the book and the Instagram handle?

Brooke Amidei: Yes. Right now?

Laurie Reynoldson: Yeah. What's the book that we should read?

Brooke Amidei: I can. The book is "The New Perimenopause," and I believe it's Mary, Dr. Mary Claire.

Laurie Reynoldson: Mary Claire Haver.

Brooke Amidei: and then the Instagram account was Dr. Rachel Rubin. We just fell absolutely in love with Dr. Rachel Rubin.

Laurie Reynoldson: Yeah, they're great. Um

Brooke Amidei: so that was our Instagram account choice

Laurie Reynoldson: And for those of you who might be a little deeper into the perimenopausal or might be a little older, um, Dr. Mary- Claire Haver also has The New Menopause book. So that was first [00:27:00] before The New Perimenopause. So thank you for sharing those because I feel like just like

Brooke Amidei: Yes

Laurie Reynoldson: your people, your readers, um, the, the women who listen to this podcast are always looking for excellent resources on what to read, what to

Brooke Amidei: I'll give you a couple other nuggets to... A couple other nuggets from that. I mean, click in and, and check out the article. But another big thing that just I had no idea about, it had never crossed my desk, was the importance of bone density. And you know, you're not, it's not recommended that you get a bone density scan until you're 65.

But your peak, and hopefully I'm getting all these numbers correct. They are correct in the article, but this is just going from perimenopausal brain. Your peak bone mass is in your late 20s to early 30s. That's when we hit, women hit peak bone mass, and then it decreases every year by like a percent or so.

And in perimenopause it can decrease by up to 20%. [00:28:00] So by the time you hit... I know. By the time you hit menopause and by the time you hit age 65 when you're going in for your bone density scan, the damage is done. There's not a lot you can do to, like you can make it so it's not getting worse, but it's, you can't really recoup that.

And so after learning that, both Erika and I went in with one of our sponsors, OsteoInsight, and got bone density scans, and we fully share on Babble our complete experience. We found out both of us had different risk factors that we didn't really know about and found out what we could do to help prevent bone density loss in perimenopause.

So, I mean, incredibly helpful information that we wanna share with the masses because if we haven't heard about it, who's, who's talking about that? It's important information

Laurie Reynoldson: Uh, and I love that you, you're walking the walk, right? That we learn this information, this is how we're putting it [00:29:00] into life and practice, and this is what we learned, and come along with us. That's so amazing. I can't wait to, um, have you done the Babble on the colonoscopy yet? You might, you,

Brooke Amidei: Yes. Yes, we do. We have a colonoscopy teaching because, a- and there's nothing that's TMI to me that, which is probably why I do what I do, but I have had in my lifetime, I think I've had to have over 10 colonoscopies. So I feel like, like I have a, um, you know, what do you call it? The card, the frequent card where I can go in and be like, "Okay, yep, here I am again."

I mean, we've got some

Laurie Reynoldson: I'm sorry about that.

Brooke Amidei: who are maybe going... Thank you. Who are going through it maybe for the first time of things that you can eat and drink that are, that help the prep. I mean, we have all of the, like basically here's your prep for your colonoscopy, and here's what you can expect.

So we have that, and then also just before this, um, recording today, [00:30:00] I was reading, from a pelvic floor doctor that attended our perimenopause event here in Boise, and she penned an article for Babble about pelvic health. And I've just learned, again, brand new information, we're all peeing wrong. We are peeing incorrectly.

Laurie Reynoldson: What? What

Brooke Amidei: peeing. That like, "Okay, I don't have time. I gotta come in, I gotta..." Yeah, we cannot power pee. That is, we are doing damage to our pelvic floor

Laurie Reynoldson: So what, what should we be doing instead? What do you mean we're peeing wrong?

Brooke Amidei: I just read it, so I need to... I don't, I'm not as well-versed on it, but we need to just basically relax when we go to the bathroom, let our body eliminate what it's eliminating, and then stop. Don't try to push out any more. Don't try to push the stream faster because you're busy and you gotta get back to your desk.

And the, the amount of frequency, like the habitual frequency of like, I mean, I'm, I work from home, so [00:31:00] anytime I get up to fill up my coffee, I'm like, "Oh, I might as well go to the bathroom," whatever. And that's doing me a disservice too, because it's teaching my body and my bladder like, "Oh, no, she needs to, uh, to pee all the time.

She needs to eliminate this all the time," instead of like, "No, Listen to your body."

Laurie Reynoldson: Okay. God, I feel like all this stuff we should've learned a long, long time ago, right? It, it's kind of... I always think about it's like when you were in the corporate job and the financial planner would come in and be like, "This is why you should be putting $20 a week into your 401. And if you would've started this at 18, you would have, like, $20 million right now."

And you're like, "Well, that would've been good news to know when I was 18 years old, but what happens now that I'm in my 50s? What am I supposed to do now?" So, um, I guess for those of you out there who, um, try and squeeze in a little pee in between calls, maybe relax that a little bit.

I did read that, speaking of peeing, [00:32:00] um, not where I thought we were gonna go on this conversation today, but I love it, um, that you're not supposed to pee in the shower.

So sometimes, like, if you, um, and not, not that I pee in the shower a lot, but sometimes in the morning, if I have drank all of my water and my smoothie and I feel like I go to the bathroom before I get in the shower, then if it's a, a total shower day where I gotta wash my hair and then I gotta shave my legs and then I gotta moisturize my face and all the

Brooke Amidei: Yeah. You're in there for a while.

Laurie Reynoldson: sometimes you got a little dribble out, right?

Well, you're not supposed to do that. That's not good for your muscles. So there you go.

Brooke Amidei: Yeah. Well, I, I think that is part of it because part of what I was just reading as well is that you're not supposed to hover. So a lot of people hover over especially public restroom toilet seats, and that's not good because your muscles are not relaxed. So This is the kind of information with Babble, I mean, what we've been mainly talking about is wellness, but we cover the, [00:33:00] these main things where we're like, "Okay, I'm not a, I'm not a pelvic floor doctor or a peri- I'm not a doctor of any kind.

But, here is some amazing information I have learned from these experts that I absolutely want to share with women, you know, who also will benefit from it."

Laurie Reynoldson: And I love that it's just stuff that you would talk to your friends about. Like, this is something that if you were having a conversation with this pelvic floor doctor, guaranteed the next time you got together for coffee or a glass of wine, you'd be like, "Uh, listen to what I learned this week. You will not believe this.

We're all peeing

Brooke Amidei: 100%. Yes, 100%. That's exactly what Babble is. It's with, it's the conversation in a newsletter form that you are having with your girlfriends or you're texting your girlfriends. Like, "Uh, did you guys all know that we're peeing wrong?" Like, that's a text I would send to my girlfriends

Laurie Reynoldson: Amazing. I love that. That's so good. Last week I had to have my first breast MRI [00:34:00] because I have extremely dense breasts, and, um, now it's going to be part of the annual... Like, I get a mammogram in six months, and then I get an MRI in six months, and we're gonna keep doing that 'cause I am high, high risk.

Uh, if you want me to write anything about a breast MRI, I will

Brooke Amidei: Yes. Yes. I would love to. And it's funny that you say that. I mean, it's not funny that you say that because I know that that's awful and I'm sorry to hear that you're high risk. But it's funny that... It's funny timing because my girlfriend just... Yes, I got my results from my mammogram yesterday and thankfully everything was negative and I was telling my girlfriend that, and it came back and I think it said I was class D or something for dense breasts.

Like that's like extremely dense breasts. And I was like, I feel like everybody I talk to has extremely dense breasts, so can we just call them breasts? Like who doesn't? I wanna know who, I wanna see a breast that's not dense. Is that not just breast tissue? [00:35:00] I don't know

Laurie Reynoldson: I, I was talking, uh, this is so far field, but whatever. That's what we're doing. We're babbling. I was talking to a guy, um, on my walk, a friend of ours, who was talking about he listens to the air traffic control, like when, when planes are coming in, and I had to pick Mike up at the airport on Sunday, and he was asking me of, "Do, do you listen to this?"

And, and, and he was talking about how, well, you can always tell, you know, is there a woman pilot in the cockpit? 'Cause you can hear her voice. And I'm like, can we stop calling them, like, women pilots or women doctors or women scientists? How about she's a pilot, she's a doctor, sh- she's a scientist? I mean, this whole idea that we somehow have to...

And, you know, I, I know him well enough that I know he didn't mean anything by it, but it is so interesting how we still categorize. I mean, you would never say, "Well, he's a male doctor. He's a male scientist."

Brooke Amidei: No.

Laurie Reynoldson: [00:36:00] Ever.

Brooke Amidei: Right. We, we've got to get over that. Also, that's a really interesting pastime to listen to-- I didn't know you could listen to air traffic control

Laurie Reynoldson: Yeah. Um, I don't remember what the apps were or, uh, I don't know. It- I like to listen, and I like to kind of watch it and listen to it while I'm on a plane, but I would never... I don't know. Maybe he

Brooke Amidei: know you could do that. I don't think I want to know. I like to pretend I'm not on an airplane

Laurie Reynoldson: I, okay, so now we're just gonna go deeper in the weeds on this. For some reason, I'm almost never on Facebook, but my Facebook algorithm right now is, it is showing me all of these, like, near misses in airplanes, or this plane had to turn around and make an emergency landing, or I, I am to the point where I am trying to r- like, does this happen all the time?

Is this, like, every other plane? I

Brooke Amidei: [00:37:00] Yeah.

Laurie Reynoldson: It's too much

Brooke Amidei: I don't know how you do that, but that's terrifying. I'm not into that. I, I don't consider myself someone that's afraid of flying, but the older I get, the less I en- I probably just, uh, you know, you know, the more you know, and you know that there's near misses and you hear those things all the time.

But I kinda blame it

Laurie Reynoldson: awful

Brooke Amidei: just after college... Yeah. Right after college, I backpacked New Zealand for a few months, and of course there's all the cool extreme things to do, and I don't consider myself an extreme sport kinda gal. Um, but it, I was there long enough that I ended up going, um, what do you even call it?

The jump- skydiving. And ever since I did that, which I enjoyed it, I'm glad I did it, but I've been more afraid to fly because I think I know what it feels like to fall from an airplane. That's what I blame it on

Laurie Reynoldson: Yeah. Um, I will never jump out [00:38:00] of an airplane. Um, I, I like flying because it gets me where I need to go quicker, but the entire ... Everything about flying anymore, unless you're going private. I mean, every morning on my Morning 5-10-5 in The Best Life Planner, number seven is, "I only fly first class or private."

I will get to a point in my life where I only do that. Um, but, you know, you have to get to the airport so early, and then you gotta go through security. And even though you've perfectly packed your bag, it's like, I ... We went to Mexico a couple weeks ago, and they pulled my backpack because I had a, like, one of those share packages of peanut M&Ms.

Wha- what?

Brooke Amidei: Oh.

Laurie Reynoldson: It ... I, I don't know if he was outing my, um, the snacks I was going to eat, but I, I, I don't know why that was important. But of course, you've gotta go, through everything that's perfectly packed to find this ... Anyway. But then, then you've got all the people that are, like, [00:39:00] taking off their shoes and, and sticking them between the seats and, ugh, God

Brooke Amidei: Yeah. It's not great. Um, I'm changing subjects because you brought it up, and I don't want to miss an opportunity to say to your face how obsessed I am, mine is sitting here,

Laurie Reynoldson: Aww

Brooke Amidei: with the Best Life Planner. You know I am... This is one of my favorite things to Babble about. Again, finding something great and just wanting to shout it from the rooftops.

But let's share with your audience my specific, um, manifestation from, specifically from the Best Life Planner.

Laurie Reynoldson: Oh, okay. Let's do

Brooke Amidei: so for those of you that, yeah, for those of you that don't know, one of the many awesome things about the Best Life Planner, which is from the School of Midlife, is you write down 10 dreams that you've achieved.

So just like Laurie was saying, one of yours is that you only fly first class or private. And it's kind of a daydream, but [00:40:00] something, and you write it down as if it's already happened. So, um, I have my 10 that I write down every day, and it's kind of this manifestation thing. And one of mine, and I've used this planner for well over a year, probably close to two, I don't know.

Um, but one of the 10 that I always wrote down is that I get a monthly massage, and I just love getting massages, uh, but I always feel like they're kind of frivolous, so I get a handful a year. But one of my dreams is I get a monthly massage. And I was looking at it, this was probably, yeah, this was probably six months or so ago, and I was kind of reevaluating my list, which doesn't happen very often.

And I was like, " Maybe I should take that off." Like, if I wanted to get a monthly massage, I could get a monthly massage. Like, I'm choosing not to spend my funds in those way. You know, like maybe I should take it off. And I didn't. I left it on there, and then within, it was three months in a row, somehow I had a massage, and it [00:41:00] wasn't something I purchased.

Laurie Reynoldson: I love that

Brooke Amidei: w- um, I know. I had a massage gifted to me from a girlfriend as a thank you. I had a spa reach out to me, um, for Babble because we were gonna be in Oregon for a girls trip and they said, "We'd love to treat you and your friends. Come in." So I had that massage, and I forget what the third one was. Oh, I think it was from my husband.

So I was like, manifestation, again, it doesn't always happen in the way you think it will. Like in my mind writing that down, I'm like, "I make enough money so I don't feel guilty getting a massage every month." But now massages are just showing up for me, and I'm not asking for them, they just show up.

There's something to this planner

Laurie Reynoldson: Well, it's just, it ... Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Um, I did not pay Brooke to say that , but I'm delighted that it's working that way. Um, yeah, the, the science, the neuroscience behind the 10 Dreams I [00:42:00] Achieved is you actually figure out what you want. You don't worry about how it's going to happen, but you just putting it out there to God, universe, source, whatever you believe in, actually saying, "This is what I want," and claiming it, and then kinda letting go and sitting back and letting the universe do its thing.

Um, it really works. I mean, it ... Yes, there are, like, you are ... i've had the same 10 for a while now. When I achieve one, I take it off. There are some that I will never take off, like I am an exceptional wife, just because for me, when things are going heavy in my life, the one person that I take it out on is my husband.

That's kind of a remind- minder to me to, you know, be a nice person, and, and, and that's important

Brooke Amidei: Prioritize that as well and

Laurie Reynoldson: Yeah, but then there are other things that I have written, and I don't write them anymore because [00:43:00] that's just not, when I think about the life that I wanna live, it's not an important piece of it, so that just comes off.

But there is something about it. It actually works. and I'm, I'm glad that you are finding value in it. Um, I kinda talk about the Best Life Planner being the morning journal exercise for non-journalers because I don't know about you, but

Brooke Amidei: Oh, that's a great description

Laurie Reynoldson: Well, so often, you know, there's this pressure of, oh, I have to journal in the morning, and then you sit down with this beautiful notebook that you bought just for this, and you're staring at the blank page, and you have no idea what to write.

Well, so if you just take the Best Life Planner and you go to the Morning 5-10-5, and you start with 5 Things I'm Grateful For, you do your 10 Dreams I Achieved, and the fact that you're writing them is connecting from your brain to your head to your subconscious, and you're actually feeling yourself in, like, being somebody who gets a [00:44:00] massage every month, and how does that feel in your life?

And then 5 Things I'm Looking Forward to. So in five or six or 10 minutes, however long it takes you to journal in a non-journaling way, you've actually set yourself up for a pretty good day every day.

Brooke Amidei: I love it. I, I mean, I can't say I've Babbled about it several times. Um, I have been looking for something like this. I also subscribe to the theory, um, and I have it framed somewhere here, it may be just out of frame, of, um, Eat the Frog is another. I a- I Babbled about this too, where you choose what, you know, there's the Mark Twain saying, "If you have to eat a frog, eat it first thing in the morning."

So anyway, it's, it's choosing the thing that's going to... If you only did one thing that day, what is going to move things forward? What are you gonna feel good about? And do that thing first because otherwise you'll fill it in with everything else and that doesn't happen, whatever. And the Best Life Planner helps me [00:45:00] really narrow in on what my frogs are for the day.

Like, here's the top three priorities that I'm really going to hit, and then here's some other stuff that, that's gonna be great if I can get to it too. So I mean, for me, it is the best planner for my life because I love, like you said, a, a grateful practice, which I just know myself, I'm not going to journal.

I'm not going to do that on my own. I, I feel too busy. You know, I wish I would do that on my own, but with the planner, I'm like, "I can spend five minutes here every single day writing down what I'm grateful for, what I'm looking forward to, of course my 10 dreams that I achieved, and then figure out my day."

I usually do that part, um, the day before, like what are my frogs? What am I hitting?

Laurie Reynoldson: That's exactly how it's meant to do it. And, um, a, a big tip on that is on Fridays or Thursdays if you don't work on Fridays, whatever the end of the week is for you, do your top three for Monday so that you don't have to carry it all, all [00:46:00] weekend. You know, you don't have to keep thinking about, "Oh, I need to do this on Monday," or, "I need to do that."

Brooke Amidei: I love that

Laurie Reynoldson: do your top three before you leave the office for

Brooke Amidei: Yeah. Anyway, definitely worth babbling about. I love the Best Life Planner.

Laurie Reynoldson: Excellent. Thank you. Thank you. I'm so

Brooke Amidei: Thank you. I'm glad you put it together.

Laurie Reynoldson: Well, I'm, I'm a total planner junkie. I mean, I've tried them all, and, when I couldn't find something that really worked for the way that I wanted to work, like I just don't want a planner that I'm taking to the office that, you know, has like rainbows and kittens on the front of it.

And i- if that's your style, cool, but it's not mine. And most of the women that I work with, you know, are high achievers and high performers, and, even aesthetically, it, it's ... I couldn't find what I liked. So anyway, I made it. It's great. I'm so thrilled to hear that you, uh, are enjoying u- using it.

I would like to move this [00:47:00] in a different direction. Because of what you do, I have made a list of kind of some lightning round questions

Brooke Amidei: Ooh

Laurie Reynoldson: um, maybe you could like Babble, like kind of real time Babble with our listeners and, and give them kind of the goods on what's new and hip and what we should

Brooke Amidei: Okay, cool.

Laurie Reynoldson: Okay. Um, favorite TV show or series that you're watching?

Brooke Amidei: Oh my gosh, I just, this is so easy because I just finished Off Campus last night. It's on Netflix. Yeah, and it's, it is kinda cheesy, teeny romance show, but it's also kinda steamy. Um, and it, I- once you get past the cheesiness of it, it's just a cute love story and, um, I believe it's from a book series, which we do have a whole list of...

'Cause there's been lately tons of great books that are being made into shows, and so if you wanna [00:48:00] read them before the show comes out, we've got a whole list of, of those as well on Babble.

Laurie Reynoldson: I will add this weekend I watched the Rafa documentary, uh, tennis star professional Rafael Nadal.

Brooke Amidei: Morning light

Laurie Reynoldson: Um, it is an exceptional documentary. Um, just I like watching pro tennis. I was always a Roger Federer fan because Roger is, well, Roger's Roger. He's darling and just all buttoned up.

And then Rafa came up, you know, around that time and had his headband and his muscle shirts and just felt like a little punk to me, but man, it's an incredible documentary. Highly recommend

Brooke Amidei: Ooh, I wrote it down. I love a documentary

Laurie Reynoldson: Yeah, also on Netflix. Okay, the book most recently that you couldn't put down

Brooke Amidei: I have not loved, loved my books lately, and I'm reading ones that have been, like, highly rec- right now I'm reading "The Correspondent", which maybe [00:49:00] I'm not far enough into, but everyone's like, "It's the best book ever." And I'm like, "Eh, I'm kind of bored with it." Um, gosh, I mean, the first one that comes to mind, which is such a boring thing to say 'cause everyone already knows it, but "The Let Them Theory" has changed my world.

I just love it. Mel Robbins. Um, I'm referring to it in conversation still all the time. I've gone back and read different chapters. I just love that book. And I read a, I do, personally, I like a lot of self-help and, um, those types of books. But then I also kinda like smutty books on occasion too. Like, just cheesy, get your mind off everything at night, just turn off the brain.

I, I do enjoy a book like that

Laurie Reynoldson: I almost never read fiction because I just read it too fast, and I, I don't like... I like to actually have the book, so me buying a bunch of books, and I'm not going to the library. I know that sounds real uppity. But, um, I read Theo of [00:50:00] Golden when we were on the beach in

Brooke Amidei: Oh, how is that? That's on my list

Laurie Reynoldson: It was, it was so charming.

I really, really enjoyed it. I think I read it in about,

About a day. It was a quick read. Um, but yes, it's a, it's

Brooke Amidei: And do you know about... You, I know you don't, you're not going to the library, but do you know about the Libby app?

Laurie Reynoldson: No

Brooke Amidei: Okay, so there's an app you can get, and it's called the Libby app, L-I-B-B-Y, and it is your local library app. Um, I, I don't remember. I set it up so long ago. I think you have to put in, like, your local library details. But you can essentially rent books or audiobooks. So a lot of times... I mean, I, I also subscribe to Audible, but I don't really need to, um, unless there's something I want immediately, because it's, it works like a library does.

So say I wanted to listen to that book that you just described, I can put the title in and it might say, " Okay, you're 27th in line." And so [00:51:00] I'll put it like, "Yes, please reserve that book," and then it'll pop up on my phone, which feels very exciting when you get the message that says, "Your book is available to borrow," and you're like, "Yes."

So I use it only for audiobooks 'cause it's free, and so there's a bunch of books that are on my list and I'm like, "Oh, I'll pop them in there," and then when they come about I'm like, "Oh, it's meant to be. I'm gonna listen to that this week." And my husband uses it. Um, you can also read the book as well.

I've never done that on Libby because I don't read very fast and I think that you only have it for, like, two weeks, and I don't like that pressure. I don't like the pressure that I have to finish it in two weeks.

Laurie Reynoldson: And that app works all over the country?

Brooke Amidei: Yes.

Laurie Reynoldson: That's amazing. That's perfect. Thank you for that tip

Brooke Amidei: You're welcome

Laurie Reynoldson: Um, favorite skincare product that you're babbling

Brooke Amidei: Okay, zero question. And I've gotta tell you, my skin has changed immensely since discovering Korean skincare. I am not

Laurie Reynoldson: Oh, okay

Brooke Amidei: expensive items from [00:52:00] different, you know, salons or whatever. I am using Amazon Korean skincare items, and there are two that I... You'd have to rip them out of my hands at this point.

And I have a whole article, of course, reviewing a bunch of different things I've tried. I do try a bunch of stuff, so that's kind of fun, too. If there's something you don't wanna spend the money on or you don't wanna try, I've probably tried it, and I'm giving you my real opinion on it. But the two that I'm absolutely obsessed with, one is the Medicube Collagen Jelly.

It comes in this little pink jar, and I'm using it morning, I'm using it at night, and it has helped my skin's texture, which I didn't even know I had texture issues, but now my skin is softer. And I'm trying desperately to get rid of some sunspots on my skin and melasma from pregnancies, and I'm a sun lover and a tanner and all the things you shouldn't be.

That, and I'm using it on my face, my neck, and my chest. [00:53:00] And then my sister introduced me to, it's called the w- it, the Korean White Stick or Blanc Stick, and it is a, um, a foundation that you put the... It's a stick. You take the white stick and put it on your face. I've used it today. And you blend it in. It goes on white.

You blend it into your skin, and it just... It is absolutely magic. It takes away any, like, discoloration. It just makes your skin look luminous and gorgeous. And it was funny, I just went on a girls trip. Of course, I've been babbling about this 'cause I really am obsessed with it. And we were all getting ready to go out to dinner, and every single person pulled the White Stick out of their makeup bag.

Laurie Reynoldson: I

Brooke Amidei: And we're like, "How did we live without this?" It is that good. It's fantastic

Laurie Reynoldson: And you can get all that on Amazon.

Brooke Amidei: Yes. And it's not expensive. I mean, I really truly think the Medicube jelly stuff is, it's like $15 and it's always on sale on [00:54:00] top of that. And the white stick, I think it's definitely under 20

Laurie Reynoldson: See, this is exactly why you need to get on Brooke's email list so you have access to all of this good

information. 

Brooke Amidei: Yes, And you can see the white stick specifically I did, um, an Instagram of me trying it for the first time 'cause I didn't think I was gonna like it. And I clearly fell in love. So that is on, um, on Babblewithbrookeig on Instagram

Laurie Reynoldson: Excellent. Good. Um, favorite weeknight meal, and what I, what I mean by that is, like, maybe something that is from your pantry, it's not gonna take a ton of time to think about, that kind of meal

Brooke Amidei: Right now with it shifting into summer, I love a hearty salad, like a salad that's a meal. I love that. It, whether it's, you know, has some pasta in it, some protein. Like, I love a hearty salad so much that, and so does Erica that works on Babble [00:55:00] as well. So last summer we were like, "We need to d- deep dive into that."

And so we do have an article that is all... It l- I think it's called Hearty Summer Salads, 'cause we wanted, we were like, "I want a hearty salad every... What are we doing?" Um, and then one of my most favorites, which is also a salad, um, that we've Babbled about, and it was very early on. I tried, my mom had told me about the viral Italian chopped salad sandwich, and it's

Laurie Reynoldson: What is that? That sounds like something I would love

Brooke Amidei: Oh, you would love it.

You would love it. Um, it, it, you take like romaine lettuce and then you toss all the things in it on a board. Like you're not chopping it up yet. You take the lettuce, some pepperonis, some pepperoncinis, some cheese, some ham, throw it all on your counter, and then if you have like one of those big pizza me- what's it?

Mez- starts with an M.

Laurie Reynoldson: Oh, yes. I know what you're talking about

Brooke Amidei: Yeah. You, [00:56:00] the big cut, the big long thing, you just chop it all up, together and then it has this amazing dressing with it that's super easy to make. It's like mayo, um, vinegar, and the oregano is the star of that show. And then you mix it all together and you can either eat it as a salad or it's really incredible on a sandwich as well, like a croissant or something like that.

So that has been... That's one recipe that I go back to and I eat it. There's, I mean, uh, once, once I make the dressing, I will eat it for like three or four days straight, and I do that several times a, a month. Like I love that salad.

Laurie Reynoldson: for those of you like me who mayo gives you the icks, um, you can do a, probably a substitute dressing, which is one part, I do avocado oil, one part, um, red wine vinegar, a just a dollop of Dijon mustard. Whisk that all together with a ton of oregano, some salt and [00:57:00] pepper, and then you've got a vinaigrette that goes beautifully with all sorts of Italian

Brooke Amidei: I'm gonna add that we have a, um, homemade salad dressing article as well because s- there's so many... It's so easy to make your own

Laurie Reynoldson: Can we talk about that? I mean, stop buying salad dressing, people. It's so much better for you. It tastes so good. It is not hard to make. You can make a vinaigrette, one part your favorite type of vinegar, one part your favorite type of oil. ... Yes, please stop making, stop buying

Brooke Amidei: I'm gonna add the one that you just mentioned, um, into our article because we do. We have, again, like it's one of those things that we're like, "Why are we not making our own salad dressing more often?" And once we started putting it together, it's like, "Oh, there's so many good options. Let's put it all in one place."

Laurie Reynoldson: I love to, um, chop up a little shallot and throw it in there too. Okay. Um,

Brooke Amidei: Yeah.

Laurie Reynoldson: we talked about vaginal estrogen. I don't know if that's going to be the answer to this question, [00:58:00] but your favorite right now healthcare tip for midlife women

Brooke Amidei: Oh gosh. It, I mean, it might be, or, or the, you know, the new tips I've learned about peeing. Um, I'm trying to think what else we've been talking about lately in the wellness. It's been very focused on perimenopause, although I will say a lot of what we're talking about, there is great information out there for women who are post-menopausal, um, and that's included in our cheat sheet on line two.

Um, it's not like, oh, too little too late. Yes, it would've been great if they would've had this information sooner, but there's still, um, a lot of things that women can do to, to help them feel better. But I think in general, just, uh, HRT in general, when I'm talking to women who haven't tried that yet, it's definitely been a game changer for me.

It just has

Laurie Reynoldson: Excellent. Excellent. Um, last one, your favorite [00:59:00] Amazon dupe

Brooke Amidei: Ah, no question again. I just discovered a new Vuori dupe, and I wouldn't just say the pants. I purchased the pants and then went down the rabbit hole of it's this entire brand, and it's their fabric. I have-- I've worn it and compared it to my actual Vuori, same color, same everything, and I actually would prefer this dupe fabric, which seems insane.

It's like, how can you get softer than that? Somehow they did. Um, and they've got it all, the shorts, the tank tops, the T-shirts, the pants, the jackets. Like, I'm gonna get it in every single color, in every different style. It is a fraction of the cost. And that's been--

Laurie Reynoldson: well?

Brooke Amidei: It does, it does wash up, and I'm not, b- I think because it's not as expensive, I'm not babying the fabric as much.

Like, usually I'm always hanging my Vuoris, and I've kinda tossed these in the dryer on occasion, and [01:00:00] it's been totally fine. Um, one of our most popular things on Babble's website has been the anthropology dupes of the Maeve pants. Um, that has been-- I mean, that was a couple of years ago, but it is, it still continues to be one of the most, looked at articles that's on our site too, so if we find a good dupe, we're talking about it

Laurie Reynoldson: I love it. I love it so much. Like I said, we will put clickable links to all of your, where they can find you on your website, on Instagram. Get yourself signed up for the newsletter. Yes, all of that.

Brooke, we end the School of Midlife podcast every episode, every guest episode with the same two questions.

So if you are ready, we'll, we'll tie this baby

Brooke Amidei: I should have done my homework. I'm not ready, but I'm ready

Laurie Reynoldson: No, you are. These are not questions that you need to study for. If you could go back knowing everything that you know, having all the [01:01:00] experiences that you've had, everything that you've learned, what advice would you give to your 20-year-old self?

Brooke Amidei: Oh, I would say go for it, girl. Absolutely go for it. Hands down, the biggest leaps that I have taken have paid off the absolute most. I have one of my closest girlfriends, her son is just leaving for college, and he made a big, bold choice. He had some safe choices, and he took the big one, and I couldn't be more excited for him and proud of him.

I just don't think you end up regretting that, even if it doesn't work out and you learn some things along the way. So I would say, yeah, go for it, girl. Just go for it

Laurie Reynoldson: Well, I love that so much, that your 20-year-old self would think that that was incredible advice. And last question, what do you like most about being a midlife woman?

Brooke Amidei: Oh, I like a lot of stuff about it. I do. I mean, we all complain about, [01:02:00] you know, new aches and pains and things like that. But I think just feeling fully in myself and connected so much with other midlife women. Uh, women have always been just a huge part of my life, and I just feel, I don't know, very connected to other women my age going through so many different things together.

It just feels kind of like a sisterhood, and I love it

Laurie Reynoldson: Oh, I love that as well. I mean, I feel like women are just really, we're coming into our own, but we're also understanding the importance of being in community with one another in ways that maybe we haven't during our career or when we were raising up kids or it's, it's a, I think it's a wonderful time of life.

Brooke Amidei: It feels very supportive. I feel like women are just at, at our age in midlife just supporting each other, like just becoming cheerleaders for each other in the best way possible

Laurie Reynoldson: [01:03:00] Yes. I love that. You are so right. It's really, uh, it's good. It's so good. Can't underscore it enough. It's great. Brooke, I have loved this conversation. Thank you so much for being here. I could Babble with you all day long, but I don't wanna take too much more of your time. So thank you.

Thank

Brooke Amidei: I would love it.

Laurie Reynoldson: everything with us

Brooke Amidei: Thanks for having me on. This was so fun.

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Laurie Reynoldson

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