All-In Design
"All-In Design" is IIDA Alabama's podcast that invites you into the dynamic world of commercial interior design. Immerse yourself in the artistry, innovation, and inspiration that shape the spaces where we work, collaborate, and create. Discover the latest trends, cutting-edge technologies, and timeless design principles that define the ever-evolving landscape of commercial interiors.
All-In Design
Episode #65 - Interview with Tracey Creek
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Join us on this episode of All-In Design, as we speak with Tracey Creek of SS&A Design Collective. Tracey shares her somewhat unexpected path from digital media to interior design and takes us behind the scenes of SS&A’s healthcare work, including projects that have taken her from Alabama to Japan and some pretty remote corners of the Pacific. We also talk technology, sustainability, designing spaces that actually work—and, as usual, wander well beyond design into cookies, kids’ birthday parties, and why Tracey is completely over Pokémon.
Five, four. Hello and welcome to All In Design. Goodness. I can't even get the things started. Yeah, our guest is laughing at me because I started the intro. Hello and welcome to All in Design. Thank you for listening. My name's Chad Moore here with my co-host Mark Griffo. Hey everybody. And I think I think that's probably the best intro we've had. It was that was pretty clean. That was clean. Yeah. So we're off to a smooth start. That's the second guest that has started laughing as I started the intro, too. I think Liz Hunsinger was the first.
SPEAKER_04Liz, yeah, because I don't think Liz expected us to be serious at anything.
SPEAKER_03We were laughing and joking throughout the entire like pre-podcast, just you know, talking before we start started recording. And then I started into it and it was super serious, and she just died laughing. I couldn't help it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not sure what happened on this one.
SPEAKER_04What's great is that the guest, the mystery guest so far, is still laughing. Yeah. She's probably like, I knew that you guys have done 60 plus of these shows, but now sitting here, it's like real, and we're talking to each other, and there's mics, and we we did a lot of prep work, but here we are.
SPEAKER_03And we also covered that I I got zero sleep last night. Yeah. And then um our guest had just a really great start to the morning, uh, first day of school back with the kids. She came in, she's like, uh, several mom fails this morning. So uh we're gonna dig it all into that um as we get going. So, Mark, if you'd like to introduce who we have.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I will I will I also want to mention we're back in Montgomery. We we are back. We are back in Montgomery. We came all the way back. We came all the way back. We were here, we were here a couple weeks ago, and we came back again for a second visit.
SPEAKER_03Funny enough, uh, the last time we were here, I got no sleep that night either.
SPEAKER_04Right. Yeah, it's weird.
SPEAKER_03I think you're just I think you just have very you get nervous before coming to Montgomery.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. All right, that said, so we can get her out of her misery in terms of laughing or not, or we can just get her get her rolling. I am happy to introduce Tracy Creek. She is an interior designer at SSNA Design Collective here in Montgomery. So welcome, Tracy. We we're glad you're already enjoying yourself. So the floor is yours if you want to just say hello to everyone, give them a little potted bio, like where are you from, where'd you go to school, how'd you end up in design, and we'll go from there and then we'll just tell jokes and crazy stories. Right.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Um, from Tuscalisa.
SPEAKER_01Rowtid!
SPEAKER_00RowTad. Yep, born, raised, um, went to school at UA, started in graphic design, changed kind of on a whim to interior design. So I was on the six-year program with that change, and yeah, I graduated in 2014. Got married like two weeks later. Enrolled in full-time at furnishings um at UA. At UA two weeks after that. And yeah.
SPEAKER_03So married two weeks, honeymoon, right back from honeymoon, straight into yep.
SPEAKER_00Within a month started full-time. I was a student there before, so for three years student intern. But yeah.
SPEAKER_04Solid. Solid. You said from Tuscaloosa. Yep. Yep. Is that why you went to UA?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, my mom worked at UA and um we got half price tuition. Oh, yeah. That's kind of a hard one to you can't say no to that. You can't.
SPEAKER_03My wife's from Auburn, went to Auburn, same example. Yeah, mom worked at Auburn. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Well, Aaron, my wife, Tuscaloosa, also went to UA. Yeah. Didn't get half price tuition though. So fail. Yeah. Yeah, bummer. Sorry, Aaron.
SPEAKER_03So that's not real relevant? No, it's not. I just wanted to mention Aaron. Hi, honey.
SPEAKER_04Carry on, Chad. If you guys want to keep the interview going, it'd be great.
SPEAKER_00Well, actually, my husband got half price tuition when I was working there, so that was good. So he was able to graduate from there because he went back to school, you know. To get a graphic design degree? What does he do? He is in quality at Neptune technology. They do water meters. Okay. Um, so he's in quality control. He does like he did do production supervisor, but kind of wanted to get into quality, and yeah. So he graduated in operations management. Um, but yeah.
SPEAKER_03Cool. So you were initially thinking about going to graphic graphic design.
SPEAKER_04And you have that's what, yeah, I went to Auburn for graphic design. I stuck it out though, Tracy. Uh yeah, yeah. So didn't quit.
SPEAKER_03So, Mark, what did you like about it? And Tracy, what did you not like about it?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I wasn't gonna change majors, so that may be a better, better thing. I didn't have any. We actually joked about this on our last podcast about like why applying to different schools. And I just was like, well, like I've I applied to UA and UAB and Auburn. It's like, well, I'm not gonna stay in Birmingham, and I don't want to go to Alabama, so I'll go to Auburn. And Chad's like, well, that was worth you still applying to all three, I guess. Yeah, um, since you already knew. And then I was there a year, and then I decided craft design. I mean, I knew I wanted to go into something design oriented, and then once I was in, I did enjoy it, so I was like, I'll stick it out. But I was there for five football seasons.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_04So, which my dad gave me a little bit of grief about. He made a joke after I got past year four about like, well, you know, and I was like, bro, you were Georgia Tech for six years. Yeah, you know. So five five football seasons I was there. You were UA for six, I guess.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and three of them championship years. Yeah, you know, the kids that like we're gonna be like, like had never seen a loss ever in well, no, see, but I grew up in Tuscaloosa, so like so you went through the the the Mike, the Mike years, right? Yeah, and then at like what 07, I remember um Kristen Sabin going through our school and looking at it, and she ended up going to ACA, um, one of my friends' schools, and then yeah, so it was crazy. Um and then what I started in 08. And 09 that's when it was a beautiful year.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's that was you should have seen the smile on her face. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because that was the first one, right? 09?
SPEAKER_00That was the first win since was saved.
SPEAKER_04You was saved, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay, yeah, whatever.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Anyway, moving on. So your graphic design.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04You do that for a year.
SPEAKER_00I did it for two years.
SPEAKER_04Oh, two years. Oh. Yeah. Okay. Man.
SPEAKER_00I loved it. I honestly it was not like I didn't love it. I just kind of randomly, my friend was like, hey, you should think um interior design for whatever reason. And I don't know. I was like, huh, that makes sense. And then I changed.
SPEAKER_04And then you're like, I'm only paying half price anyway. I could stay here eight years.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Well, because I'm not following her like, I loved it. It was great. And then my friend just was like, you should do interior design. So I said, Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_00The art part of it, but it was digital media. It wasn't actually graphic design. So I don't know if I actually have like a graphic design program, but it was great. I loved it. It got the creative part that I really liked.
SPEAKER_04I I don't know, just was it too 2D? Like, was that part of it? Is there just some physicality to interior design in terms of like the space?
SPEAKER_00Honestly, we're trying to we're gonna figure this out.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, this is very important to us.
SPEAKER_00And it was just, I mean, it wasn't more and less almost on a whim. Like, I was like, well, you know, that kind of makes sense. I've always really enjoyed, you know, that built environment type thing. And I mean, not to be cliche, but like, you know, you grow up, you watch like Trade and Spaces, remember that show.
SPEAKER_02I knew that crazy show.
SPEAKER_00Um, but yeah, like and then you kind of get into it and realize, oh, well, it's actually kind of different than I thought. But I I mean I didn't change immediately, but I went ahead and took a class, like the initial class that next fall and enjoyed it and was like, okay, we're doing it, and yeah. Before whenever I was like, hey mom, I'm changing my major. She's like, uh what? She was like not happy. But it did work out because I know people who were graphic design majors who had a harder time finding their job and I was kind of lucky in that I mean I think I I kind of had a job uh probably a year before I graduated, like a full time, you know. Yeah, which is kind of cool, you know.
SPEAKER_04Were you already in were you like uh interning in furnishings before?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I interned for three years.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00So and then rolled into it um full time.
SPEAKER_04So you interned for three years. So you decided to switch majors and then probably within a year you are already interning with who would be your that's how the math works. Yeah, yeah. Well, before I just think that's pretty funny. That all on the whim. All on the whim of the friend. Are you still friends with this friend? That yeah. Okay. At first there was a face where I was like, could be a loaded question.
SPEAKER_00What friend are you talking about? She's an accountant, which is funny, but like she's super artistic and everything and does like beautiful paintings and whatnot. But yeah, but we actually she and I and actually a few others met when we were working at the action card office at UA. So this is where you get your ID card. Okay. And so or we work orientations in the card. It's called Action Card. It was called the Action Card. It is cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I think it is I think that everything's on the phone now, so it's different. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, we um she and I worked there, and that's why we had met, and it was I don't know. Yeah, so I was there for three years before that at Action Card. So I don't know.
SPEAKER_04I think it was called the Tiger Club card, so I don't know which is better. Maybe they're both not great. Yeah. Tiger Club card.
SPEAKER_03As a objective, I I'm not really drawn to either. Okay. Whatever. You went to Vanderbilt. The action card. Action.
SPEAKER_02Woohoo!
SPEAKER_03Um, so you uh you had a job immediately. So okay, you you graduate and then two weeks later you're married. And you obviously met your husband at university. No? Yes? No. No, okay. She was like, why would you assume that? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know why I assumed that.
SPEAKER_00We um had known each other for years, several years. Um I think we met when I was 16. And he was maybe 19, so he was already in college. But we weren't we didn't date until years after that. We both he went to Brent, I went to Holistier, but like um we were like acquaintances, and then I don't know, we started. Okay, so he's also from Tuscaloosa. Yes, okay. Tuscaloosa native, his parents still live there. My parents moved with us after the kids, and so um yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so you're graduating, you get married two weeks after, and then honeymoon, I guess. Yep. Okay. Where was the honeymoon?
SPEAKER_00Hawaii, Maui. We my aunt and uncle had a timeshare, so we got to that was fun.
SPEAKER_03Right. And then you're back, you've got okay, so you've got your job, you start your new job. How long were you in the facility?
SPEAKER_00Four years.
SPEAKER_03Okay. And then moved here.
SPEAKER_00And then uh so Byron graduated and he got a job in Selma. Which was interesting in itself, but it was at a healthcare laundry facility. So yeah, that was kind of crazy. And then he um That's what they say.
SPEAKER_03It's crazy in healthcare laundry.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, I mean, in Selma. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Let's be honest.
SPEAKER_00That's all you have to hear, really.
SPEAKER_04It's not crazy anywhere else.
SPEAKER_00It's pretty crazy. So but um a bumper sticker or something.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, one in Selma.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, um, so he had kind of accepted a job there, and then I went looking in Prattville and I actually um like reached out, you know, Mary Catherine Holt. She had suggested to like reach out um and kind of do it like old school way, like just call and say, Hey, would y'all want to just meet with me? I'm gonna be moving here, and what um, I mean, just would you please meet with me just in case you have anything in the future? And I ended up having like four like formal interviews and one or like with four different firms. With four different firms.
SPEAKER_03Same dude. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And then three came up with offers and I went to Cherry McDab for a few years. Um, and I did interview, or I'm not I didn't I met with them at SSA, but they did not have a job opportunity at that point. And then they had reached out later on, or I had reached out, um actually, and it happened to be like a day after they found out they were gonna get a new position or something, and Carla called, and she was like, Hey, just curious, how how did you hear about this? She was like, It's so new, and I was like, uh I just I just had my finger on the pulse of this. And um he was, I think, uh, 10 months at the time, and um, yeah, and he was my little Armageddon baby, so it was in 2021. Um, yeah.
SPEAKER_04My Armageddon baby. Yeah, it's just funny. It's just funny. Oh, is it?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I just I've always caught on that. I don't know. He he's my little Armageddon baby, he is. He, I mean, he was born in the middle of the shutter. I think of the movie Armageddon.
SPEAKER_03So I just have this vision of this kid watching Armageddon. Exactly. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's what happened.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, okay, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, I mean, he was literally born in the middle of shutdown. We were like, oh, I hope Byron can go to the hospital. And then it was actually great being on maternity leave during the Armageddon because we couldn't really do anything anyway. So it's not a good thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's not like we were missing out on life. Yeah. Yeah, no.
SPEAKER_00So it was um kind of kind of blissful in a way, um, kind of nerve-wracking for the obvious reasons, but yeah, so and then yeah, um, I ended up going to SSA and I've been there for five years and it's been kind of pretty great.
SPEAKER_03Kind of pretty great.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, like it was by far the best place I've ever been. Like I really I enjoy it there as a whole. People are collaborative, people I you know, it's a build people up type environment. And for the most part, I mean, nowhere is perfect, but um is it just the one office here in Montgomery?
SPEAKER_04Or do they have no we have one in Auburn. Okay.
SPEAKER_00So um that one I forgot their address, but I'm sure you're familiar with the area. But they have a whole bunch of guys in that one.
SPEAKER_04It's completely different than when I was in school there. I go to Auburn and I'm like, well, I don't know where I am.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think I told the story, but we toured because my daughter's there, but we're touring my wife had gone to Auburn. Group was raised in Auburn, and so we're we're walking around, and the whole time it's just my wife saying, Well, that didn't used to be there. And that this was different. This is this doesn't look the same way as this.
SPEAKER_00I mean it's like UA is totally different from our guy.
SPEAKER_03And so I mean it's the whole the whole time she's doing this, and then we end up on this one stretch, and she's like, Okay, wait, no, no, here this looks the same. This is except for okay, if you don't there's a there's a there's a building grenade in that was not there, but then that railing wasn't there, but other than that, everything else is exactly the same. And I'm like, okay. And so then we end up, that was just the two of us, and then we link up with my daughter, and we're walking back, and I was like, just so you know, this is the only spot that's the same. And then my wife goes, Well, I mean, this used to be a street. It's been closed off for pedestrian traffic. I'm like, so it's not the same at all. So, anyways, so an aside. Accurate, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yup.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03So um, what kind of work do you all work on?
SPEAKER_00We do a lot of DOD work. Um, a lot of healthcare is kind of our like bread and butter, but we are kind of branching out into more local territory again. And um, but I don't know, we've gotten to do projects kind of everywhere, which is really insane because I'm a homebody and I've gotten to go to Japan three times. I mean, that's cool. It is cool, and it's not all for Dungeons and Dragons work.
SPEAKER_04I know, DMD.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So it's um it was So are you a certain class like wizard or what obviously lean into this joke that actually didn't even get right. Yeah, and I don't I don't I don't even know if a class wizard makes any sense within that world. No, I think it works.
SPEAKER_04I think it works for the people who don't know Department of Defense, correct? Okay, yeah. I hope I'm right. Yeah, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_03That turns out no, it is Dungeons and Trickets.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Dungeon and Trackets, obviously. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Big in Japan.
SPEAKER_00Well, of course. Which, yes. But there's also been like a Chuke hospital project um which we finished design on maybe six months ago, and um I don't know, we kind of we have stuff like national and international, so it's kind of cool. It used to be called like a truck, maybe, but it is smack dab in the middle of nowhere. And by that I mean it is in the middle of the ocean. It takes three days to get there from here. I didn't go to that one, but it takes literally um I could go from here to Hawaii, Hawaii to Guam, Guam to the Island Hopper. So in three different days to get there and three days to get back. And it's a 15-hour difference.
SPEAKER_03Who who uses that hospital?
SPEAKER_00It'll be the Chukies, the Chuckies. Oh, welcome. The Chuckese people. If I offended any Chuckies. They're Chuckese people, so it's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_03Were they previously known as the Chuckeys? I forget about how I used to pronounce that previously. Possibly. Okay. You know how many people are gonna be grinding. The PM on that project would know. At least a few. They're gonna be like, what?
SPEAKER_00The PM on the project would know. I I'm not that person, so.
SPEAKER_04And so it's is it it's C-H-U-U-K. Yes. And so is it it's and it's Chuke Island? Yeah. And there's what, a military base that we have there?
SPEAKER_00Mm-mm.
SPEAKER_04No.
SPEAKER_00No, this one was a little different.
SPEAKER_04It wasn't um I'm just trying to for our listeners and myself. How do we go from Montgomery to Chook Island in the middle of the Pacific?
unknownHonestly.
SPEAKER_03There's a sorcerer's base.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. There's a sorcerer's base. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I can't wait to get text from Adam and Mickey and be like, you guys completely lost the plot on this one.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Our fault. Yeah. Yeah. You're doing great, Casey.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So so, but this was a DOD project, was it not? No. Oh, it wasn't. Oh. Again, how did you guys end up on Chook Island?
SPEAKER_00Well, I think it just because we've done stuff internationally, maybe it helped. I don't know. Okay.
SPEAKER_04I mean, that's kind of cool. Like they're just like they're like Googling, they're like looking for an architecture firm.
SPEAKER_03These people do stuff all over the world. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah. I mean, it's kind of cool. Um, I think it was kind of like I don't know exactly how that part worked, but I don't really have to either.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, right. How how do you work on a project that's that far away and is or even like Japan? I mean, like, is it just as far?
SPEAKER_00So Japan's interesting because it was um a hospital on a base, and it was so you gotta take into account this is so crazy, the way that they maintenance stuff is different. So instead of like, you know, popping up a ceiling tile and going to maintenance, you know, getting up on the ladder, going looking kind of through that ceiling tile, turning around, whatever you need to do, just whatever you need to see, you're fine in it. They don't do that. They actually go like uh on the ceiling, so they have totally different ceiling tiles that are really like screwed into the frame or screwing to screwed into the jit board, okay, which is screwed into the framing above. And so they walk on it, they walk on like the plenum in that plenum space. And so it's totally different.
SPEAKER_04Is this because of earthquakes?
SPEAKER_00Possibly, yes. Um, but there's also, I mean, it's just a different way of working because there's also, you know, like seismic bracing or seismic. stuff you can do to the ceiling tiles, you know, like to the ceiling grid. It's not like so yeah, I mean just people, you know, everything is so different in that just the way that everything operates, but it is on a US. So there's lots of things we had to kind of like figure out. But anyways yeah it was cool though. And then Tuke was really it was difficult finding people who would who people who would um service these areas. Like it's so remote. So you are like remote on top of remote. So you have to have people who are going to reserve service these areas. We talked to like some metal manufacturers, we talked to you know um signage um we talked to like multiple people and you gotta you kind of are left with what you're left with but I feel like we got some really cool stuff on there. It just took you know it took a lot more work than maybe a an a national project something in the US um would do. But it was really I mean a good learning experience and it was kind of cool. It was like actually not a sprinklered building we had all the waiting areas outside and I don't know how that works but our I made I made a face and she looked at me and she's like I don't know how it works. Don't have a follow-up question but our fire protection people are on point and yeah they yeah did all the research and you know that was all approved and everything so um yeah I mean it was really cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah I still I don't understand how that works. I'm trying to wrap my head around that exactly yeah I'm gonna have to look up this hospital.
SPEAKER_04So we're we've done a hospital now in Chuk and we've done hospitals on US bases in Japan. Or is that was that one project your three trips project okay yes and actually I was pregnant for two of those trips oh I assume early because that's a long flight.
SPEAKER_00Yeah I was I think 14 weeks and then 20 28 weeks. Okay. Yeah actually it was yeah the jet lag was better when I was pregnant because I always already had insomnia and then I went like after Heidi wasn't sleeping anyway so it didn't matter. That yeah whenever I went after Heidi was one it was much harder and she's my uh my world traveler so I have my Armageddon baby and world traveler.
SPEAKER_04Nice yeah but um did you get to see much of Japan like when you were there?
SPEAKER_00Oh sweet yeah so we would we'd have to get there like we'd leave I think on a Friday God it's been a minute and then we get there no the time huge time change just bear with me um but we would have like a day where we were trying to get acquainted so like you would kind of get acquainted to the time because it is crazy time difference and we went to like Yokohama and then um we'd be leaving towards the end of the week and again huge time difference. You literally are like time traveling uh which is kind of weird and crazy but yeah.
SPEAKER_04Well how long would you be there? Like a week or something?
SPEAKER_00Well yeah it ended up being like nine days each time but yeah that's good.
SPEAKER_04Just because you know you have to get there get acquainted and then get everything done for the when you come back after a nine day trip from Japan and you're coming back with your coworkers or your coworkers know you're back in town are they like well Tracy we'll see you at eight in the morning tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_04Or do you like get a little like grace period of like oh I'll see you in like four days.
SPEAKER_00Yeah I don't know four days but like it's let's let's bring it somewhere in between Mark.
SPEAKER_04Yeah yeah let's not be crazy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah I mean yes definitely I mean there I guess since COVID like everything's gotten a lot more lax too so like even when we go in I mean it's not like a big deal like you don't have to dress super you know business casual or anything every day. Um so I typically just dress up a little nicer whenever we see reps but you dress up for reps?
SPEAKER_03Well yeah because that's oh that's funny to me yeah I mean I get it you know you were dressed so well they always look so well Chad Chad looks nice but like I'm like I mean they all do all they do there there's a yeah yeah um you know yeah yeah Bridget we bring Bridget up uh up on every episode just randomly Bridget came in one day and I was working but I'm wearing her workout clothes yeah she is the worst dresser I did I had my leggings on and a spooky season sweatshirt my favorite sweatshirt and it was like January or February and I had forgotten she was coming and I was like oh well she won't care yeah no yeah she won't no so anyways yeah she was hilarious but okay so so now so let's bring it back to the mainland yes okay what other projects do y'all do um well I mean we've had um have you traveled anywhere recently I have not Carla is gonna be going to Hawaii pretty soon um and for those who don't know this is Carla Hall and Carla Hall she's the interior designer I thought you were gonna say where Hawaii was it's north of Chuk by probably a thousand miles I don't know who knows uh who knows really no way to tell yeah nope and is it just the two of y'all interior designers say yes yes yeah and then Auburn's just full of bunch of dudes and architects and engineers I guess yeah they have um an accountant Catherine and then yeah sorry Catherine it's all a whole bunch of guys it's yeah yeah yeah they yeah Chad's looking at his notes no I was just uh I was zoning out button I think zero sleep uh no I I had a question in mind and then it went away and I was like what was I thinking about and then you're like Chad's over there looking for a question Chad's just trying to complete a thought in his head um I was gonna ask about the VA because I think you were you're you guys have a VA project you're working on yeah we have a VA project it's been really kind of very different honestly we've gotten to work more closely with the clients which has been nice and they're they're local which is nice as well and it's kind of cool um I mean first of all like the VA like you're helping people who obviously deserve it right um and so it's kind of cool to be able to like help provide a facility for them and then and in a place that's needed um so they don't have to travel as far and then also like working with the people um with our clients they were wanting to do some murals and so we try to follow like evidence based design type practices right where you have like lots of scenic biophilic imagery for artwork.
SPEAKER_00You don't necessarily you know we were not gonna add really as much of the patriotic stuff but they said they did want that and so we've been working through and still kind of going through um that whole process it's a little bit late in the game but we're still kind of going through and figuring that one out. But um I think we're gonna try to do it on FRP um panels but it was kind of cool or kind of interesting I guess because we're trying to like integrate these evidence based design with these you know patriotic and like giving odes um to the veterans and so we're trying to like incorporate you know all the different branches of a military and kind of you know maybe have them like overlooking the ocean. I don't know like we're just kind of working through that and so we're trying to find this good like balance of it and one of them that we were trying to do something that was like had a American flag drawn in the sand you know for a mural so like maybe in the behavioral health area where it's like very calming and you know so I don't know I just thought it was kind of cool and it's been fun to work with um this very different I mean government entity I guess um and interesting their processes um learning those and so yeah it's been really um is the project is this a V local VA it's uh Dothan.
SPEAKER_03Dothan okay and where who are you working with on the artwork? How's that um we are working with and is your graphic design background changing. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Well for the neural prompts I actually was going to Shutterstock to try to work with like for the uh maybe national for the like FRP type stuff but um I went on to Shutterstock and they have an AI thing so I was like literally entering prompts like and I worked with one of our um the medical the lead head of medical planning he's a veteran and um I was like okay you know help me out like what is um like this appropriate as that potentially triggering to you like a whole thing right so it's kind of cool like we do have several people who are you know have military backgrounds of you know varying things everything from the National Guard to um I mean army navy air force marines I actually don't think we have air force no Chad wrong yeah and I don't think we have marines so wrong on both accounts I think should have quit while you're ahead sorry I could be incorrect but so yeah hopefully none of those people here I'm incorrect but yeah we have a Navy and army for sure and so it's kind of cool though to be able to like you know talk to him and like kind of understand this a little more and be able to make sure like okay you want like one officer and one enlisted and like so with the different uniforms and everything. So it's really I don't know it's kind of cool and interesting and it's just something new and so it's nice to you know do things that are different in general.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00And then you have clients that are close by that you can yeah it is it's really nice and I mean I've like dropped off stuff to them before or they've dropped by and it's kind of nice to have that type of a relationship you know instead of a three day trip yeah or even just a phone call. I mean it's just it is different being face to face right than it is we do a lot of things virtually some meetings are virtual and so it is nice to be able to you know even if some people are virtual to be able to be like in person in person and have that like you know kind of contact with them and I just think it helps build a rapport a little bit more um but yeah.
SPEAKER_04Well that's why we're here in Montgomery again. That's right. Face to face face to face it's way better. Yeah but I do think maybe we should do an episode in Japan.
SPEAKER_03Oh that's a good idea yeah yeah and I kind of want to find Chook Island Chook Island.
SPEAKER_00Well you know have you been to Japan?
SPEAKER_04I have not I've got a friend I've got a friend who lives there um yeah and he's got an Airbnb so it would be perfect to go visit have heated toilet seats I was not expecting you to say that they have heated toilet seats everywhere I'm not talking about like just in your hotel I'm talking about you just go to a strip mall heated toilet seats full partitions you have the um the little sound machine that has trickling water and they do bathrooms right they do them right what's wrong with us in the US yeah we have we're filthy filthy cold porcelain yeah partitions that are like two feet above the floor yeah have gaps in them they even have like things to put the babies like you have a little thing where you can just if you need to put a kid up um in there you can just put them right there in the stall they'll hang out there yeah it's amazing that's an interesting detail yeah well I mean like there's a little you'd have to look it up I don't know but you can put the babies there and it's like how long can you leave them there?
SPEAKER_00I mean doubtful very long yeah no not very long but like I mean I wouldn't think so but I gotta run some errands have a little sign watch after this when I come back yeah don't drown yeah exactly but it's cool like you can just like put them up and you know not stress out as much I mean for a mom that's kind of great you know like okay well do a podcast there in a bathroom yeah um with a baby with the baby with the baby that can be the guest are you just gonna pick up a random baby or how are you gonna do it?
SPEAKER_03There may be already one in the stall that's what it sounded like there you go that's what I was envisioning you just pop them in there again we lost the plot again the people are recording late in the afternoon there it's getting even longer than since I've slept.
SPEAKER_00So yeah the people are the sweetest so that's good. Okay so uh we've got sweet people awesome bathrooms what what's something else from Japan I mean architecture in general you get all these beautiful like there was the open air museum which was kind of cool they had like a Picasso exhibit too which was that was awesome um the open air museum had but a whole bunch of um uh statues and everything it was you know just really it was just so different and then um obviously the food was fun pretty good pretty damn good pretty pretty good on the home front and the um like their desserts oh and they were so good and so pretty and perfect and like and tasted delicious and yeah sushi they had just conveyor belt sushi just yeah what is that how do they how do you pay for that is it like they they count your little trays or something on your no you order it from I think you order a order and then they send it to you.
SPEAKER_04Sushi's free you get it off the conveyor belt. It's a bunch of islands and it's just fish just everywhere.
SPEAKER_00Yeah yeah yeah like it's so cool and it just like comes out and you pick which one's yours and then you're good. Like it'll kind of stop at your you know table and yeah did you eat uh any ramen like I did.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Did you eat uh ramen the Japanese way? Where they eat it like really fast.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna offend some Japanese people on here but they'll be like you're you're supposed to go with people where you hear people swear we did get lost and we finally found this place and it took forever because you know obviously and um it was like under a strip mall ish I don't know how to even describe it it's been a few years um but and also I'm just following the leader I'm not directionally uh I'm not directionally capable. So um I just follow the leader. It's okay. So um didn't even try to drive that one. Not not that we drove we walked but like yeah we did go there and I'm well I'm pescatarian vegetarian whatever and I tried to order it vegetarian and with like the even with the was it Google Translate and I just felt miserably and then it had bacon on there so I didn't really get to eat it.
SPEAKER_04I wanted to make a joke of like coming out like as a cheeseburger or something like that. I love it it's like yeah tried to order it this way and then it came out with bacon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah yeah yeah yeah I really really tried and I just felt miserably but uh everyone said it was delicious and everyone was like slurping everything I'm sure it was yeah I'm sure it was great yeah yeah I just yeah we'll have to go back it's a gateway meat yeah it's a gateway meet it's a gateway meat yeah there you go all right well now we're now we're now where are we?
SPEAKER_04Now we're in Dothan. We've gone to Japan now back to Dothan and now let's see let's see where we go from here. So what is I'm see this is usually your job chat because I'm also trying not to look at my paper. Right I'm sleeping we have gone my eyes are drooping the rails you had I will say Tracy No don't say uh this is good uh we get varied quality of question the quality of questionnaires varies answers yeah yeah the answers vary uh in terms of like yours is one of the worst we've got was that where you were going no that's where I'm gonna leave so Chad would like to talk to you about how bad you did on your questionnaire. No yours was a really good one because one your personality came out uh uh pretty great because it was like a lot of really thoughtful answers um interspersed with interspersed with just like very quick quips right and so like a good example is like say one of these questions is what tips do you have for listeners who want to improve their space on a limited budget and your response is crap is expensive this deal these days not a freaking clue but then she went on to answer she did and then but then you did go on to answer but I the way my page printed Oh that's great I put a star I put a star next to it because I thought that was hysterical and then turned the page and I was like oh well she still went on yeah and then you had and then you did have some some some two good bullet points and but but but again you're you're you're you're lovely I was really crying you did but it the next bullet point is if I had to take a gander which I don't know if I've ever read that before if I had to take a gander I cannot remember pick one or two areas that would be the most impactful and mean the most to you and spend more money on those areas while being more economical with other places. Which we've heard that uh before and that's not to be like we've heard that before but like yeah people have been like okay like I said this is one of the worst like Chad said one of the worst uh and then fresh print always spruces up places and makes them feel new but it's just you it was just there was a lot of this wasn't like full on Haley Treadaway. Right yeah Haley's was um it's all personality all personality all the time yeah I mean she probably dropped a few f-bombs on hers okay I edited some stuff out oh you did you take f bombs out of this I don't think I dropped I took um other bombs out of there but not not quite as yeah I do I actually have a question we're gonna bounce we're gonna bounce back to to I guess Chook because you mentioned this um oh actually well let me back up because I did love this answer too because we've had we've talked about this before on the show about sustainability yeah and people have a lot of like really good answers and like kind of the ways that they do it. Yeah but I just love the answer of like if it doesn't last it's not sustainable. Yeah right it doesn't matter how green it is that's 100% true oh it's like it could be 100% recyclable but falls as falls apart in three months yeah that makes it well yeah so I I so I I like that and but then you go on eco-friendly materials and you mention uh futrus am I saying that correctly are you familiar with futress I'm not what is what prefab solid surface head walls and nurse stations you bring it again because you get you used it on Chook Island. Yeah do they sell it here in the United States?
SPEAKER_00Yeah so they use they partner with Corian but I think they're trying I don't know if they're partnering anybody else but basically I mean it is completely solid surface so like and it's prefab and it was so cool because what we did is we kind of did the nurse stations how we wanted them, sent it to them and then they did these typical like I don't want to say the modules okay modules that's how what they called them. And so you can have like the same module in multiple locations and then you can pair it with different modules. So like it was so cool because then you'd have like a partial transaction top for one area. You'd go down to um 88 height for some areas like all of ours were rounded because um we went to HTD a few years ago we did see um got to see a hospital and it was like so beneficial this is track I'm sorry. But it was um we got to see a hospital and a lot of their corners that like they were in process of renovating but they had already renovated this area and it's just like two years old and the corners were beaten up to hell and back, you know? And so it was really so we kind of you know lessons learned type stuff you try to make things better um and so having rounded corners. So we had everything very rounded in the hopes of not having beaten up corners. And um But the way they did it was just insane. It was like uh the coolest thing to have these multiple modules so you can like so we had like module one and two on this nurse station, then we had module one and three on this nurse station, module one, two, three on the you know, like it it was just so cool. And then they had like one or two areas that were like just you know one-offs, but they tried to like repeat it, which was really cool and smart to me, but also it comes their prefab. So you're hopefully lessening the likelihood of it being a crappy, you know, uh millwork job or something. And this is again remote, so we are trying to do everything as you just wanted to get to the site and then they just put it together. That's I mean, really, that was our goal. So um we had looked at demotables, but they had decided against that, and I think this actually ended up being great because we got to use the head walls, um, which were I mean, again, like kind of floor to ceiling type thing, but um we didn't use them like a whole wall, like we had some bay areas, but we did have well, I guess they kind of were, but um it at each bed. And it was so cool. Um so, anyways, it's a product, very healthcare friendly product. I totally would recommend it. They have lots of customization available, but they also help you if you want to be more economic.
SPEAKER_04This episode brought to you by Futris.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03How do you Futris? Futress F-U-T-R-U-S. Okay. Yeah. And they ship to Chook Island. So they service Chook. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I might be saying it wrong because I say a lot of things wrong. So there you go. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I do I do have a question, and this is probably something that our um listeners would be interested to know about. But um old lady lady hobbies.
unknownOh.
SPEAKER_03We've jumped around. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00We did jump around.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I don't it seems like I'm definitely not the only one, but like they're kind of the bomb, and I just keep getting into more and more of them. Um, so I started embroidery shortly after my daughter was born. And my granny had taught me like years ago, back when I was like probably in middle school, and I hadn't done it in a long time. And then randomly I was like, I saw something on Instagram, maybe, and I was like, I'm gonna do that. And then I'm embroidering. I mean it's been a I haven't had a project in a month or two, so I'm probably gonna start something out pretty soon. But um yeah, it's been super fun, and like now I'm like, oh, I want to get into quilting, or you know, like it's you played mahjong too, like no. I don't and I don't necessarily I'm not super interested in that.
SPEAKER_04I really just want to do my art and like you know, and like I well and you mentioned too introvert and mahjong people and well, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, and then was there I do think there's a lot of people embroidering though. There are it is so fun. Um, yeah, and then I actually submitted something I'd made for Heidi to like the little Montgomery Art Guild, and so it'll be like a little show and oh cool. Um and it was accepted, and I was like, oh well that's cool. Huh.
SPEAKER_03Fun.
SPEAKER_00I just like I didn't tell anybody, not even my husband. I just like was like what the hell?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and I I do want to um I probably should start with this, but we've got at the very end of our question here it says what's missing. Is there anything you want to talk about? That's yeah, because I just threw out old lady hobbies. Yeah, but you did, yeah. There's a segue. Yeah, okay, so future's old lady hobbies. Yeah, that was uh that was part of the thing that she had thrown out there is oh we we could talk about this, but the other part I thought was interesting was momming and how that has impacted your career in a way.
SPEAKER_00So again, introvert, um definitely always have been, and especially earlier in my career, um definitely more insecure, and so then I had Saxon and I don't know what happened, but it just I mean I just screw it. Yeah, kind of like it was like okay, well, I mean, I was scared to even like ask to take off just to go to a regular doctor's appointment before, you know. I was like nervous about that, like, do I need to do that? I don't, you know, is that oh it's too late. I didn't give them enough notice. And I mean, you know, and now I'm just like, well, I kind of don't have a choice. Gotta bring the kid to the doctor. They're sick again. They're you know, they're petri dishes, they got the other one sick. Oh, they got us sick, you know, we get two weeks type thing. I mean, I don't know. It just and just in general, and my work, I thought I think maybe it just helped with priorities. I don't know. But I've heard other people say the same thing. It made them more confident, like after they had kids, which is just the most unexpected thing ever. I just did not Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, most people don't go into having kids like I'm gonna do this so that I can become more confident.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no, no, no. You're like, oh, I'm probably gonna fail at life, you know. Am I even responsible enough to have a baby? I thought should I take a speech class? No, I'm gonna have a kid.
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna have a kid.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Well, exactly.
SPEAKER_03And I few people have said that you get more confidence when you have a kid.
SPEAKER_04Her accountant friend was probably like we should have a friend.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, she wasn't.
SPEAKER_00But I mean, you know, we had like I had when I was at UA, we sat next, uh, sat next to Tyler or near Tyler Savage for a little bit. I don't know if y'all remember her, but she had four girls. And so like she was a few of them.
SPEAKER_03Really confident, yeah.
SPEAKER_00She was a few of our birth control because she was telling us all the crap she was doing 24-7, and we're like, not doing that. And then like, yeah, and then I had Saxon and I'm like, huh, I don't know that anybody should have I how I'm I'm a teenager, aren't I? Like, I'm not 30. I shouldn't have been able to have a kid, maybe. And then lo and behold, like you go into work and you're like, I mean, I don't know, it just something about priorities. So even if we're having to work late, like I still go home and do like dinner or whatnot, and then whenever I I can get back in and start working later, whether it's at home or back at work, depending on what's preferential for that time. And um, I don't know.
SPEAKER_03We had a waiter today that basically um yeah, Mark and I went and had lunch uh earlier today, and our our waiter just seemingly disappeared, like just was gone for at least 30 minutes, if not 45. Just like dropped off the food, yeah, and then we saw nobody. And then finally somebody came to get the plates and we're like, Hey, can we you know get the check? You know, if you'll let the our our server know. And they're like, Okay. And then our server did show back up and said, Sorry, I had to go pick up my kid from school. We're like, oh well, that would explain why we haven't seen 45 minutes. You got in a car and drove away. Drove away.
SPEAKER_04We we were very grace. We just rolled with it. Yeah, it happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, yeah, yeah, like in the middle of her shift, she's like, I went to school and picked up my second grader.
SPEAKER_00I mean, you gotta get shit on. You gotta do what you gotta do.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. I mean, and I we told Tracy this earlier. I mean, to be fair, we did have our food and drinks, like yeah, yeah, you were good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, she she made we were good, but it was just funny that it didn't the table did not get handed to anybody else at all. No, yeah, no, not at all. She didn't be like, hey, I'm gonna go get the kid. Can you keep an eye on them? That did not happen. Yep. Uh we're 52 minutes in. Um I still have more Chook Island questions. Okay, good. Yeah, I've got four Dungeons and Dragons. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_04Um, I did want to ask, I feel like you had a good one on the I liked the the technology question. Where is it, Chad?
unknownOh god, I don't know what I said.
SPEAKER_04Well, no, it was interesting just because the way of where you took the answer is oh, how has technology influenced the field of interior design? Most people answer that question with, and you actually got to it a little bit later in terms of software. Yeah. You approached it as the way technology is and how you have to think about space.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And I just thought that was interesting. Like just talking about how so much technology is incorporated in the projects and you just have to have to and it's only increasing.
SPEAKER_00It's like you almost have to know what technology is gonna be in what room even before you outfit it. Because I mean it affects everything, right?
SPEAKER_04In terms of like how they're gonna use the space.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, yeah, are you gonna have one monitor? Are you gonna have two? Are you gonna have a smart screen, which most a lot of people are doing now, and then there's even what have you seen the um Claris? They have the I think it's called the Link L Y N K. And it has like the white, the backpane glass board around the have y'all seen it? I think so. I think I have to around the monitor, and it has like the camera and everything, and it's like the coolest thing. It's just all integrated, which is really smart to me, because you can still go and like use the marker board without having you know, to have like a marker board kind of I guess more spectacle.
SPEAKER_03How do you plug something into the monitor?
SPEAKER_00Do it?
SPEAKER_03How do you plug something into the monitor?
SPEAKER_00Oh god, I can't remember.
SPEAKER_03I remember because that seems to be like, well, I'll do a presentation. You go in and they're like, you can't get the connected to the television.
SPEAKER_00Well, okay, so what we do whenever we have teens meetings, um we just have them like or if we have like a rep com or you know an L, we have them com and we have them um uh we have our teams link that we send to our whatever conference room and uh have that person join and then they can share screen.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00But not everybody does that, obviously. There was a way to do it. I honestly cannot remember.
SPEAKER_04Who's their Claris rep? Is it Megan?
SPEAKER_00It's not Megan. Amber.
SPEAKER_04Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Uh I can't remember her last name, Amber. She's in Atlanta.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I was gonna say they're out of the way. Shout out to Claris. Yep, shout out to Claris. Yeah. If they're listening right now, they're like, this is the time you connect. Google it, it's the best product ever. Because that's what I would be doing if we got 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh difficult right now. Yeah, it's not. But I haven't used it yet. I've tried. So I have to get people on board.
SPEAKER_03So it's probably super expensive.
SPEAKER_00Oh, 100% yes. It's completely off.
SPEAKER_04I don't know if we have any Atlanta lists in this. It's fine.
SPEAKER_00But some people, I mean, you know. Yeah. Hey.
SPEAKER_03It's if it's really cool.
SPEAKER_00But if you think about it, like it's just a small chunk of whatever the building costs.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_04Percentage costs at percentage. Yeah, you're obviously spending a lot of money already on the building.
SPEAKER_00If you're building a building, or if you're purchasing this, you are spending, you know, this is gonna be, you know, points of a percentage, right?
SPEAKER_03Like, that's that's what I talk about when people are like they're furniture. It's like, think how much you spent on the building. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can afford this chair. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00What is, you know, $2,000 more dollars? Right.
SPEAKER_04Right. Yeah. That's I mean, shh. That sounds like a conversation with my wife. All right. Well, we're already doing this. Why would we not just build a pool? Are you guys building a pool? She wants one so far. Does she really? Why can't we finish the damn kitchen first? Pools are easier to do that.
SPEAKER_00I do happy wife, happy life. I do.
SPEAKER_04I do go with what she says. That's why we have two cats and now a house. So, you know.
SPEAKER_00We have three cats.
SPEAKER_04Oh, no need to brag, Tracy. Yeah. I only have two cats and a dog.
SPEAKER_00We just got the third. She showed up at work.
SPEAKER_04And then you took her home? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02She's nodding. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04She had a collar on, you like cut that all. Oh, she was a kitten.
SPEAKER_00And her name was um, I was like, oh, we can name her um Sherlock if she's a boy, and Shirley if she's a girl, and then I brought her home and Saxon was like, she's gonna be named um what do you say, Rocket Blast. And then he just changed it to Sabretooth, and we're like, okay, well, we found out she's a girl already, maybe Sabrina Sabretooth. So her name is Sabrina Sabretooth. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Does he call her Sabretooth or does he call her or Saber?
SPEAKER_00Sabrina. He calls her Sabrina Sabretooth or Sabrina.
SPEAKER_03I like Rocket Blast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And then Heidi calls her Brina or Brina Baby or Kitty Baby. And yeah.
SPEAKER_04Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04This is what happens with the the pets though, right? They just get like you get a name and then they get a nickname and they spread their nicknames. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I won't reveal all of our cats' nicknames, I promise. But the newest one for Ernest is um for whatever reason the other night, uh, it came to me again, there was a reason. Yeah. But it was like gangster, and I was like, you know, if Ernest was a gangster, like a like a mob nickname, he would be Ernest Allright.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Chad is like, what? Yeah, I don't know what's going on. Ernest Alright.
SPEAKER_00Well, we have a Rafi cat. He's alright. Yeah, no, I do. And his his name is Rafi, R-A-F-I. But for long, his name is Raphael Ulysses.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'm saying that's his that's his that's his name on his birth certificate. Okay, gotcha. Getcha.
SPEAKER_00But no, no, no, no, no. Rafi's on his birth certificate. Oh. This is for long.
SPEAKER_04We joked about like earlier before we started recording that no one's ever gotten up during a show to like go to the dad is about the we'll just keep talking, Tracy. We'll keep going. We'll we'll wrap it now, and then we're just gonna talk about uh pet names.
SPEAKER_03Rapid fire? Rapid fire. Rapid fire.
SPEAKER_04All right. What's your ideal Saturday with nothing planned? She's like, I have two kids. Three kids.
SPEAKER_03She's like, that never happened.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, push the kids off on someone. Yeah, okay. Uh do nothing, have like total silence for a while. Or hang out with my kids and you know, do art projects.
SPEAKER_04There you go. See.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. One or the other.
SPEAKER_04One or the other. Okay. One's more likely than the other. Yeah, Chad doesn't like that answer.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's neither one. It's fine. I'll accept it. If you were a care bear, which one would you be?
SPEAKER_00I don't know what their names are.
SPEAKER_03I just make up one. Um they're all kind of like, you know, they have their their thing on their belly that tells kind of their personality.
SPEAKER_00Well, my initials are TLC. Can we just TLC bear? Really? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_04I think there's a heart care bear. There is. Yeah. Um what are you completely over right now? Like, what are you just like you're done with?
SPEAKER_00Pokemon. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04We talked a little bit about it.
SPEAKER_03We did it earlier before we started recording.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, Pokemon, yeah. Everything. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Anything related to Pokemon? Anything starting with the letter P? Anything that's yellow?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. If it looks like a Pikachu. Yeah. Or Mewtwo.
SPEAKER_04I'm gonna cross out my Pokemon follow-up questions.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't know. Uh yeah. That works.
SPEAKER_03Okay, Pokemon. Pokemon works. What is your guilty snack item?
SPEAKER_00Cookies, chocolate chip cookies, if I don't have one a day.
SPEAKER_04Oh, one a day?
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Yeah. I mean, should everybody what type from where? Where do you get your chocolates?
SPEAKER_00The best ones here now.
SPEAKER_03Like if you're having one a day, you have you have thoughts on this.
SPEAKER_00I do have thoughts on this because they need to be worth the calories, right? Right? Yeah. So Vintage Cafe has some really good chocolate chip cookies. With that said, if we're in Birmingham, I like Church Street Coffee Shop The Breakup Cookie.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00And you can actually buy the frozen ones now here at Rosemont Gardens. And they're just as good.
SPEAKER_04So these are like legit chocolate chip cookies. This is not like you're going to the grocery store and buying chips ahoy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no.
SPEAKER_04Wow, I thought she was gonna hit me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, at this point, mm-mm. No more TLC. She just is much higher than the keep or elves. This is another level. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I need a good one. And I will take them from my kids.
SPEAKER_03Because they're there occasionally we'll get cookies. Uh actually every week my wife, when she gets uh the groceries, show up there'd be desserts, and usually there's some cookies and there's chocolate chip cookies, but they're just like Publix or whatever. Basic. They're not that good. Like I They're okay, they're fine for a chocolate chip cookie, but it's like to the thing.
SPEAKER_00Vegan ones are actually better than the other ones. Okay. Which sounds weird, I promise. But they are like Publix brands. Publix vegan ones are better than the other ones because the other ones kind of suck.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, they do. And I eat you might as well get one and be just like, this isn't wasn't worth that. No. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, it's not. Interesting. If y'all are in Birmingham, I'm sure you've you've had breakup cookies, right? Y'all will have breakup cookies.
SPEAKER_04We will now. There you go. Yeah, we will. We're gonna go over to Church Street and get some breakup cookies. Together. Together. Together.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04We should do a podcast there. Just set up. You should. Just be like they'd be like, what are y'all doing? We're advertising for you. We're talking about breakup cookies. Give it a rest. Yeah. Uh, what's something you've changed your mind about recently?
SPEAKER_03She wasn't gonna do the podcast and then she decided to do it again. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. That's a weird question. Is it what's something I've changed my mind about recently? Um honestly, I don't know.
SPEAKER_04You are setting your ways. No, I mean she's decisive.
SPEAKER_00Sometimes, but sometimes no, but lately I feel like I've been more decisive, and sometimes I I don't know. Change my mind a lot. I don't know.
SPEAKER_04Did you have to talk yourself into doing this show? Like, yeah. You were like, ah, like shit, they've asked. Right.
SPEAKER_00I was coming together. 50-50. 50-50, you know? It's kind of like, okay. But then it could be fun. And it's, I mean, I I've listened to it, it's fun.
SPEAKER_04So are you having fun now? Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yes. As a whole. As a whole.
SPEAKER_03If I were to range the hour. Yeah. Yes. I would round up. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03If you could repeat one day over and over again, what day would it be?
SPEAKER_00Um kids' birthday party days.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. We discussed this a little bit before we started recording, and you your face lit up and you were like, oh, they're so much fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It's I mean, it's equal to wedding day or more.
SPEAKER_03Like, which probably is it the birthday party itself or is it the the the planning and it's the planning, it's the creativity.
SPEAKER_00I literally, so their birthdays are in the end of April and early May, so like a week apart. And I have to do that. And so right now you're doing joint. You're doing joint birthday parties. Yeah. The first one for Heidi, we did a set like uh one Sunday and then the Saturday for prior Saturday for his, but since it was her first. But yeah, it is so much fun. I get the things together by like January. I have a nail down, I have plans, and then I put give everybody task, and then I will redo their task if I need to.
SPEAKER_04When you say, let's start with everybody, who who's who's on this list of everybody that has she contacts me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. So that's a long list. It it depends. So um usually my in-laws come and so I give them tasks, but I give them you know things that they can do that I that I think they will not be listening to this that I think they can do. Yeah, okay. Sometimes they can, sometimes they can't, and I just pass it on to the other.
SPEAKER_03But these aren't important things, these are not these are not critical things.
SPEAKER_00Well, they need to happen.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00And then I have Byron kind of complaining about like, like, Tracy, we're not doing this right now. Like, yes, you are, yes. And then um, my parents, obviously, because you know, big plans, like I embroidered Heidi's little leotard. She had it leotard that's a dancing queen, and then it had like little pearls on it, and yeah, I had a lot of fun with that. And um, yeah, and Saxon making his like cutting out his whole um Byron's whole uh Starscream thing because this year it was Transformers Transformers and Dancing Queen. Yeah. So um yeah, I don't know. It's fun.
SPEAKER_03Do you see that as a a side hustle at some point where you're coordinating these or for other people?
SPEAKER_00No. Okay. No. I don't want to work with other people. I I'm okay with my ideas and not having to answer to anybody except for I was this thing like creating like a kitten ideas or something like here's a Yeah, see it would, but then She's like, that's not a bad idea, Jack. But all the stuff gets torn up after, you know, like if you have a role.
SPEAKER_03Like the yeah, because it was the the things that you were telling us before we started recording regarding the transformers and all the little ideas. Yeah. Those were great. And so I was just thinking like you could package it, like these are. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I don't know, maybe that could happen. I just would have to like have time to like think about that.
SPEAKER_03And when you have kids that age, you have plenty of free time.
SPEAKER_00Plenty. Oh yeah. Abundant, abundant free time. So you know. Yeah, we're golden on free time.
SPEAKER_03So this isn't gonna happen. All right, next question.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's not gonna happen. Um I'm gonna take it back to design a little bit. So this podcast also is informative to people most of the time. Um, so what's something reps should do less of? You can name names if you would like to color paint the picture or not. Maybe not dress as nice. Stop dressing so nice. Yeah, stop coming down here to Montgomery and looking so good.
SPEAKER_00Don't come down to the gump looking nice. Yeah, not a pregnant.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Spooky sweater. No, I just tend to dress up a little more. I don't know. Like, for the most part, and this is I don't know. I I think most of our reps are really pretty great. There's just a select few that maybe aren't the best, but like they really, I mean, as a whole, I feel like like our carpet reps are great, our you know, our flooring reps are great, furniture people. I I don't know.
SPEAKER_04I just does anyone ever bring you public's chocolate chip cookies?
SPEAKER_00We have been brought um many different things. Okay. I think maybe, which is fine.
SPEAKER_04Chad and I want to know. I never like uh like six months from now, we want to know what reps bring that bring you chocolate chip cookies. Oh, yeah. Because that way we'll know who's to the show. That's right.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And the good and the good chocolate chip cookies.
SPEAKER_04And the good chocolate cookies because I can already tell you, and I won't say.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04There's at least one rep that's gonna bring you some good chocolate chip cookies.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04I know. Guaranteed. Yep.
SPEAKER_03Guaranteed. Okay. So yeah. What where is your happy place?
SPEAKER_00Um yeah, like sitting in my never been, but yeah, no. Sitting in my bed listening to a book doing like old lady hobbies and poundry or whatever it is. Perfect. At the moment. Yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_03So you got you got your book going, you're in a comfortable comfortable place, you're doing your hobbies.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, comfy clothes, you know, whole thing. I'm just in a no dressed up reps around. No, no dress up anybody. Hopefully the kids are asleep. That would be preferable. Yes. Um, or I could be like out in the little park doing that, that's fine. But yeah, just like nice.
SPEAKER_04What's your most used app on your phone that is not email or text?
SPEAKER_00Probably Instagram.
SPEAKER_04Okay. You said that like Yeah, she's got a face.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I try to take like get it off my phone like a few months every year just because it gets too much and I feel like I'm too addicted to it, and then I put it back on, and I really am at that place where I need to take it off again. So yeah, I um yeah, I mean, I don't really do, I don't post much on there, I don't do much, but like you just get sucked into the scrolling and the video audio. Yeah, it's like addicting.
SPEAKER_04So they know what they're doing. They do.
SPEAKER_00They do.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, okay. All right, well this episode's not brought to you by Instagram and stuff, but we will post this episode on Instagram.
SPEAKER_00Instagram you can better than Facebook, though, let's be honest. For real. Oh well, way better.
SPEAKER_03All right, uh, my final one, you win a hundred thousand dollars. And that's it. That's that's there's no question. No. What would you spend the money on?
SPEAKER_04Um, I mean she's trying not to be selfish. Yeah, like I can tell. I can tell.
SPEAKER_00We are probably at that point where we're gonna need new cars pretty soon. Or, you know, we're pushing 200 on both.
SPEAKER_04Dang, way to go. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's impressive. Herb the Honda is a beast, man.
SPEAKER_04Herb the Honda.
SPEAKER_00Herb the Honda. Um I don't know. I think it'd be cool though to be able to like give back to like everybody.
SPEAKER_04I know. Time out. I do, seriously. I thought about it. What could you spend a hundred grand on if there was no judgment or repercussions?
SPEAKER_03You're just and and everyone else is doing awesome.
SPEAKER_04And everyone is doing awesome.
SPEAKER_00Okay, everyone else is doing awesome. Yeah. I mean, probably just I don't know, new cars, payoffs. I I don't know.
SPEAKER_04She's still being practical. She is practical.
SPEAKER_00I'm not like I I don't know.
SPEAKER_04This is not a bad thing.
SPEAKER_00I'm not a big gift person either. Like, I just don't really, you know, I'm not great at giving gifts, and I'm not great at same.
SPEAKER_04I'm not, I'm not a it's just not my thing.
SPEAKER_00It's not my love language. I'm more of like acts of service or the other one. I can't remember now.
SPEAKER_04Uh you would take everyone out to dinner.
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_03No. No, she's just not anything. She was like, Yeah. No. New cars. New cars.
SPEAKER_04New cars, new cars. Two two nice new cars.
SPEAKER_00That would, yeah.
SPEAKER_03One wine fuel car.
SPEAKER_00Fuel efficient. Fuel efficient.
SPEAKER_03One fuel efficient new car. Two. Why not two? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, no, two would be great. Yeah, two fuel efficient. I'm just trying to get rid of sport a little bit. But they're expensive now. You would pay if it was a hundred thousand. I mean, even the minivans are expensive. They're like pushing what 50k sometimes. And but I don't know if they're expensive. Yeah. So like that doesn't go as far as it used to. True. Maybe you need to up that number.
SPEAKER_04All right.
SPEAKER_03You have 300,000. There you go. What do you know three of that? You are forbidden at giving any of it to charity. Yeah. Even though there are lots of needy people. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04All right. So you have two really nice minimans.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah. See the Toyota one is um hybrid.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_00So like it's like 35 gas mileage either way, city and highway. So that would be the car I would choose for me.
SPEAKER_04What's great about I am interrupting because this first time question you've ever asked is it's been great. It also bombed. It bombed. We'll see how it works out next time. Well, only because you're so practical and sweet. Like you're just like trying to be so and I just want you to know I want to go to Vegas and blow all the money, or I want to like go hella ski in Canada.
SPEAKER_03But she's not at that stage of life. She's got two young kids. Yeah, very responsible for the kids.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. It would be cool to go to like honestly, we'd be cool to like move somewhere in Europe or some I don't know.
SPEAKER_04But there you go. I think you I think you could probably buy Chook Island for $100,000. Yeah, maybe.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_04What if we get because we can track the the the the listener locations. See if Chook shows up. Yeah, that'd be kind of cool.
SPEAKER_03That would be cool. Do you know anybody there? You can send the link to. Just I didn't go there in person.
SPEAKER_00I was just virtual on those calls.
SPEAKER_04So you don't even know if it exists.
SPEAKER_00Supposedly it does. Yeah. Doesn't have yeah, the hotel's not great. Carla went sound for that one, so yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well when we have her on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. You'll have to ask her about it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yes. In like a year. Yeah. And then you come back. All right.
SPEAKER_00Um you can't come back to the comp before a year.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um, so we usually finish these off with a custom song. Okay. Um, what genre of music would you prefer pick the song to be in?
SPEAKER_00Bluegrass.
SPEAKER_03Bluegrass? Yeah. Are you sure? Sure, why not?
SPEAKER_00I think it'd be funny.
SPEAKER_03I know Mickey's continued he wants what was it? Was it opera? Maybe it was yeah, opera, maybe. I mean I think of like uh church music or it wasn't, I think it was opera. You just wanted somebody to pick that or a Gregorian chant. Bluegrass. Okay. And uh what should the um the chorus be?
SPEAKER_00What thing?
SPEAKER_03No, the like the chorus, the lyric, the chorus line, like the repeating line.
SPEAKER_00Some transformers, obviously. Oh, of course yeah. Transformers.
SPEAKER_03Transforming into two practical cars.
SPEAKER_04I think you should take a uh do bluegrass, uh, or you should incorporate something from ABBA. Some sort of dancing queen, dancing queen, dancing queen, bluegrass, transformers, or just do ABBA transformer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, whichever. It doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_04A Japanese shout-out.
SPEAKER_03So a disco transformer song.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay, well that's really funny, but like But I'm not bluegrass.
SPEAKER_03No, I'm sticking with bluegrass.
SPEAKER_00We finished a project in at UA, um, like finally got the as built and everything, everything done. And the PM, it was um the architect was out of Iowa, the prime on the project, and she sent Carla and me like a song that I guess she did through AI.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00About like how she thought the project was and everything. It just made me, you know.
SPEAKER_04She probably listened to the show. She got it.
SPEAKER_00She probably listened to the show until she's in Iowa. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I do there's our there's um I've seen some news stories about it where people will take um text messages, like the thread. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And turn and just feed that in and have it make a song out of the which is pretty funny. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04All right. We got our we got all our song things. I think we got it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Great. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. I hope you had fun for part of it.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it was fun.
SPEAKER_04You laughed in the beginning. You're still laughing now.
SPEAKER_00It's more nervous.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't know. It's it's an awkward laugh.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. She's like, she's like, I did it.
SPEAKER_03She's like, I'm out of here.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh thanks, Jesse. You were great. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00All right, thank you.