Episode 4: Learning to fly, our fancy Scandi office and nacho average nachos.

Leah shares her journey of overcoming a fear of flying, offering encouraging insights and advice. Hali makes IKEA her home office and shares her latest obsession with sweet potato nachos . This week's What the Shell is presented by our AI friend, Chatty Spice. It's a mix of deep dives and light-hearted banter that you won't want to miss.

00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer

00:30 Fish Pond Drama

01:35 Today's Episode Overview

02:28 Childhood Memories and Missing Out on Everything

08:46 Overcoming the Fear of Flying

10:49 Medication and Managing Anxiety

15:09 Reflecting on Fear and Control

24:43 Leilani Land Update

26:25 Working at Ikea

29:34 Phat Grindz: Sweet Potato Nachos

32:51 Would You Rather: Talk to Animals or Speak All Languages?

35:50 Travel Memories and Language Barriers

37:57 Conclusion and Farewell

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Email Hali alllll of your podcast thoughts at hali@leahlaniskincare.com

Transcript

Hi friends, it's Hali here. I'm adding a little disclaimer to the beginning of this episode to make some things clear from the start. The contents of this podcast are personal opinions, anecdotes, and advice meant for entertainment purposes only. The views expressed on this podcast are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment.

Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. That's all.  All right. We're live. 

Shallow. 

Shallow. How you doing? I'm good.  Kind of wish I took a turn about the room before we started recording. 

Oh, do you want to take a turn really quickly and I can tell everyone about the fish debacle that just happened?

Yeah.  So basically. We were sitting in here getting ready to pod and Tessa, our other sister, came running in to tell us that my parents fish pond tank was empty and the fish were just like flopping on the rocks. And I was on the phone with Oliver and so I was in both conversations and she thought they were dead, but they weren't.

They literally just ran out of water right then and there. And she was able to transport them into a bucket with water and they are alive and thriving.  

Okay. I'm back. Hali's back.  Okay. Sorry. I just need to stretch.  

So that was a little dramatic, but Tessa saved two lives today. 

Yeah. They were so. I thought they were goners.

Okay. Today's episode. Today's talk story. Today's talk story is going to be about learning to fly and got wings  and  that's a fun little story. Yeah. I think a lot of people hopefully can relate to that. Yeah. I personally cannot. I know. But  cool. And then we have a Leahlani land update, which is just a silly piece of faff, but you know what?

Yeah. We'll  It's reality. I actually forget 

what it's going to be, so you'll remind me. 

We're going to be talking about something Scandinavian again, let's just say that. Okay. And then we have Fat Grinds from my household,  and you have a What the Shelf from Leah. Yeah. And that's our episode. The last episode was pretty long, so maybe we'll lock it down this time, we'll see.

Yeah, we'll see. Okay, Leah. Hmm. 

My  entire childhood.  With you being anxious.  And then  You went to Kauai  when I was Ten. Ten. Mm hmm.  And I didn't see much of you anymore, but I flew out to see you. You did. I was the first member of the family to come see you. You're the first one to meet Oliver too. I was the first one to meet Oliver. And let me just say  First impressions were not great.

Not at all. Neither were second impressions or third impressions or fourth impressions, but  we made it. Yeah. And now I cannot imagine my life without him. Yeah.  That's besides the fact.  What I'm trying to say here is that you stopped flying. Right. You made it to Kauai and I think you came back for a couple Christmases and then you just stopped flying altogether.

Yeah. And then you started missing out on things. Everything. And, A little part of me still resents you for missing my, um, college graduation, but not really. I think I have this memory of being pissed. Of course. But I'm not.  The further you can away from it. I'm the one who missed out. I'm the one who missed out the most.

You missed out. Yeah. And also it becomes way less of a big deal when you're not in the thick of it. It's not a big deal to me now.  However, you did start to miss out on some things. And I remember  talking to you and you were like, look, I'm so sorry.  It's out of my control. I can't do this.

This is I have diarrhea every time I drive by the airport fact  Like literal fact, um, and I was just thinking you know what Leah  you will get over your fear of flying Just nothing in your life means enough to you right now  To get you over it and I remember thinking when something means enough to you, you will get on a plane.

Yeah. You also told me  because I'm telling you Hali is drop some truth bombs on me that have resonated and changed my life like the conversation in Paris, but you also told me, I feel like I don't even know if you remember this, that you're putting every anxiety in your life into flying. 

Hmm. 

And.

Once you kind of get once you realize that you'll realize it's actually not the flying that you're scared of 

hmm 

Yeah, I see. You don't even remember. I don't remember that 

but that sounds true. Mm hmm.  I  Don't like flying. Mm hmm. I never have I had my first panic attack on a on a plane I was  10 or 13 flying to Australia  and that's a 17 hour flight and I think at around hour 12 I had a panic attack and I still had so long to go and it was a terrible feeling and I was alone.

I mean, I wasn't alone. I was with the orchestra, but I didn't have family members. I relate to the problem with flying. Everybody does. But I have never once. let a fear  of an airplane prevent me from doing anything. I think that's a whole different can of worms. That's just, I've, what is that like?  

Well, someone who is the opposite, every fear stopped me from many things in my life.

Um,  yeah, so I've always been terrified of airplanes and it's all the things. It's, um, dying, it crashing, uh, zero control. I also just. I think that they are so incredible that you can get in this bus  that goes into the air. I don't really understand how they work despite the fact that my dad has explained it to me in so many times, so many times in my life in dad way.

But yeah. And also I,  I got on a plane and went to Kauai, and you're, you're flying over an ocean to go anywhere. So it's kind of like That's another. You know what? If something happens between here and, and there, you're kind of shit out of luck. And I've done my research, guys, and you are shit out of luck.

Yeah. Okay? 

I, and I understand that. And I'm also the kind of person, if I have a fear of something, I don't avoid looking into it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. in context, I seek it. You very much indulge in all that. Oh, I'll watch all the documentaries on every airplane crash or every shark attack. Like I, I have to know all the scenario.

I just have to, I have to know it. And I will also say, 

I'll put the place because I was like, I'm never leaving. Cause I don't want to get on a plane. It's also the most amazing place ever. So. I've now lived there almost 23 years, and up until  2017, I have been terrified to fly. Like Kaylee said, I missed all of my siblings graduations. I missed funerals. I missed, um,  friends weddings.

I missed just about everything. And Christmases? Christmases! I was coming out, I feel like you did come out for, I, I would come out, like, it would be for Christmas, maybe once a year I don't know how I would do, I would be panicky. I, I just, it was the worst thing ever. Like Kaylee mentioned. But you missed Christmases too.

I did miss Christmases, yeah. I missed just about anything I could. It got to a point where it was so bad that when, before Oliver married me, I told him I'm never going to get on a plane ever again in my life. So I just want you to know that I'm okay living here. I'm happy. I don't need to leave, but I just want you to know that if I'm leaving here, it's going to be by a boat, which is ironic because I get so seasick, but, um, and he, he didn't care, he's like, that's fine.

So anyways, 

Oliver's not really in a rush to leave Kauai ever. 

No, he used to leave way more than like I do now.  Anyways, terrified of flying. And  I guess I never really. Tried to do anything about it. I just I accepted it as we know I Used to do. Yeah, it was like that's my line. This is my fear. I'm not getting a very 

good at setting boundaries 

Yeah, I was just paralyzed by fears in my life  and I let them control me I mean, the 

fact that you have recurring nightmares about this still is, is a lot.

Yeah, it's like embedded in your psyche. It's in your psyche. 

Yeah. But as we discussed in the last episode, it was IVF that made me get on a plane literally every single day for a long time, even though it was short flights, which is probably good because that's the worst part. Yeah, which is also ironic because to me, the takeoff and landing isn't scary because there's ground there.

It's, it's when you are up in the air and. above ocean and there's nowhere to go. That's when the thoughts come. If I can see the ground, I'm like, you know, we got this. Anyways, but I had to do it over and over again twice a day for a long time. I got used to it. And then wasn't there a 

flight attendant that liked Leahlani or something and she would help you? 

She would hook you up? Yeah, she 

did. But I still have met her in real life. Yeah, she, when I was going through IVF She was a flight attendant for Hawaiian Airlines. She isn't anymore, but she would upgrade Ollie and I to extra comfort or give us her buddy passes. Cause she knew I was going through IVF, just like strictly out of just the kindness of her heart.

Yeah. Yeah. Um,  

but I had to do it over and over again. And then that 2018 like flight to Italy, that trip that we took, which we talked about in one of the episodes, like what's kind of like, all right, this is the longest flight. I'm going to go on and here we go. And I was so proud of myself  flying that.

Hali would, I'd be sitting there at the window looking out just being like, Oh my God, that's Ireland. That's Iceland. I'm like a child in a candy store for the very first time, just geeking out on what is below me. And the fact that I was so far away and Hali's passed out, like on my shoulder the whole time.

Like she's been done this a million times. 

That makes me sound a lot cooler than I am. I think a lot of people just pass out on airplanes. Yeah. And also I don't sleep that well on airplanes. So I don't know what 

you're talking about, but Oh, you were catching flies. Yeah. Especially above Iceland and Ireland.

I remember falling asleep, whatever, it's neither here nor there. 

But actually, truly and honestly.  Let's give it up to the hero that got me over my fear of flying, which was Xanax. So I had never medicated myself flying and  until IVF, until, yeah, until IVF yeah, but I had never even thought that it would work.

When you're anxious, the irony is when you're an anxious person and the doctor gives you, you Xanax, you're too anxious to even take it.  

Oh, I've been prescribed Xanax twice, I've still not taken it. 

See? Oh, oh my god. 

Now, only because,  not because I'm afraid of flying, but because I'm afraid of flying with my children.

Okay. And I was talking to my That makes sense. Psychiatrist about this? And I was like, look, if stuff really goes south,  I'm gonna need something to lower my heart rate. Things went south and they still did not take that Xanax, but yeah, okay carry on. 

Yeah, so  When she gave me Xanax, I was obviously afraid to take it and I got prescribed it when I had that rolling six hour anxiety panic attack and had it you know, and then she said this is going to be your ticket to fly and  The first flight that wasn't InterIsland 30 minute flights was coming here for Christmas, that I had the Xanax and I remember Oliver was with me, and I was so terrified of that flight.

I think I took, I'm actually not even going to share how much I ended up taking, because my level of anxiety was so high that it was burdening through the whole flight. The milligrams of Xanax I was taking, but I felt like I, I did it. I got here, and it did help me. It helped me with the  pre flight anxiety when you're at the gate and you have to board and your chef, you're going in and oh my God, it's, if you're scared of flying, it's just you just feel trapped.

Like you're in a sardine can and you have to  come to terms with the fact that you literally have zero control over anything. And.  Yeah, Xanax just took that edge off and it gave me the confidence to know that if I was going to have a panic attack or if there was any point during the flight that I was going to be  completely terrified, it was going to do its job, which is just to balance your equilibrium. 

And  I did get to a point.  Actually really quickly where I realized I didn't even need to take it. Just having it there was enough because I don't really like to feel, I don't like to land and feel drowsy or oftentimes I'm running a car, so I'm going to land and rent a car and I don't want to be under the influence and whatever.

So, Even to this day, I always have it. I can't tell you the last time I took it for anxiety, but it was the catalyst to help me face the fear to take away those physical symptoms that you actually can put yourself in a situation that terrifies you. 

That's so interesting how you can put yourself in a situation that scares you if you know  that you have something, if you know you have an escape.

Yeah. But how interesting is that, that  it's like the fear of the anxiety is worse than the anxiety itself because you are able to face the, I don't know what I'm trying to say, but it's so interesting to me that  the fear of feeling anxious is often worse. Absolutely. Or just harder to get through.

Totally. Yeah. Yeah, and it's it  It blows my mind now that my heart rate doesn't even go up at all when I get on a plane. I literally am not afraid. I don't mind it. Now, I think it's a nice way to, like, relinquish all control and not, um, 

I know mom loves flying. 

Yeah, because it straps our mother to one space.

It's 

very hard for my mom to sit down for more than, what, 30 minutes at a 

time? Yeah. Yeah. And now Hawaiian Airlines has Starlink. So I actually can get work done on the plane, which is really nice. Cause sometimes it's hard to tackle projects when you're ADD and multitasking and all the things. Um, but yeah, for people, when anybody tells me like, I am terrified of flying,  I, I just feel like I just want to grab them and, and hug them and tell them that they can't get over it because I would have bet every cent that I owned at a point in my life that I would never get on an airplane ever.

But this is  you, past you, maybe, maybe present you, arguing for your own limitations because did you ever take any courses on flying? There's 

courses. I actually, I did. There, there was a pilot that has a free little course. And did it help?  I, I, I don't even think I let it help. I think I was so convinced that there was no way if I hadn't, if I didn't need to get on that plane to do the IVF or whatever, I just can't see any other situation unless something like  terrible happened.

To someone and I needed to be there. I would have done it but still with fear. I don't think I would have gotten to the place I am now where I am no longer afraid. That's no longer a fear of mine. Not at all.  It's like everyone has giant fears and I love asking people what theirs are because it's so different for everyone.

I asked Oliver's his the other day and I can't remember what it was, but it was just so fun. So like 

phobias, 

like Yeah. Fears, phobias. Yeah. Like what did, what is some of the things that like scare you the most? If you ask Tessa that she's going to say sharks. 

Okay. 

Which is another fear of big fear of mine, but, um, yeah, like I can, I don't need to go swimming in the ocean all the time, but yeah, like when you are afraid of flying or afraid, terrified of flying and you live on an island, it makes life really hard. 

If, yeah, when, like I was saying, if someone tells me they have that fear, I, in my eyes, you are so seen because Well, it's a very 

common fear. It's a common fear, yeah. when 

you're in the airport, you can see people popping pills before Oh my god, I've never noticed that and now I notice it all the time.

Yeah. I'm like, everyone's, everyone's 

medicated. I was talking to a flight attendant, I think you were there, if it's like, don't take the sleeping pills, because in the case of an emergency. People will just trample you like they'll just and because it some of them will knock you out 

good Yeah, my doctor did tell me she was she said you have two options I'll give you the what the sleeping pill that will just knock you out.

I forget what it's called 

Ambien, 

she's like you'll be out or something that and I was afraid of the ambien because of yeah What if I don't know? 

Yeah No, 

I wouldn't do that either. It 

just sounds, maybe great, I don't know. Sounds horrible. All of it sounds horrible to me. But, if it's, you do what you gotta do to live your life.

Yes! And since overcoming This fear  your whole world is just expanded so rapidly you travel so much more than anyone else I know yeah now you're like making up for lost time. 

Yes  I'm all about making it for the last lot last time especially with my family like I'll go see my brother Even if it's a few days or like Tessa when she was living in Oregon or here Just whatever like I don't want to miss anything and I realize I'm the one who missed out the most You You know, but, um, yeah, fears can be debilitating, but if yours is flying and you haven't tried medication, I would suggest doing it because honestly, what gets you over the fear of flying is actually doing it multiple times.

But if you have a fear, of flying, getting on the plane is almost impossible. So the medication will help you to balance your equilibrium so you can make the first step with just 

confronting your fear. Okay, I'm obviously going to put a disclaimer at the front of this episode because I don't love the way we're just recommending meds left right and center.

I also disagree that you should  go,  Oh, I'm afraid of flying, it's preventing me from doing things, so I'm just gonna go get Xanax. I think  there's a lot to managing fears without medication that  is  not only valid but  very, very cool. Yeah. It's cool to me to,  uh, you're epidurals twice for, I love, I love making my life,  I love eliminating things that don't need to be hard.

Yes, but  also with fear,  there's something really awesome about doing it  without medication. Yeah. And there are great resources on that that we are not aware of.  We don't have any, I don't know. I don't have anything to say there. I just know that there is resources. That is true. I also know that fear of flying is not necessarily a fear of,  it's, it's a little bit deeper than I'm afraid of the plane crashing.

Obviously that's a huge part of it, but you have to relinquish control. Oh yeah. And you're put in a place, I think that's a lot of people are deterred from it because  you are just in, you are in the hands of God. Yeah. You're in the hands of the pilot. And we're in the hands of Boeing, which none of us really want to be in the hands of Boeing these days.

But that's, you know, this is just logical in my mind. Um, I'm sure there's some fallacy involved of, yeah, planes don't actually crash that often, but  I think it's more about control and all of that. So study that up on that. Yeah. Come in and say like, maybe don't go straight for those annex, but. Yeah.

Or ask yourself, because I, I got it. I think it was you too. That asked me like, what is it about flying that makes you the most afraid?  And I, I had to sit with that and dissect it to figure out what it was. And I think it was actually the fear of dying. And I think I had to spend some time confronting that and, and coming to terms with that because, I have no qualms getting a car and that's so dangerous or, you know, all that way more way more dangerous.

So it was like coming to terms with that and letting statistics really hit and then  then coming to terms with the loss of control. But, but what I also want to say is my level was. My fear was so strong that, I'm actually not kidding. Our island is teeny tiny. So if you drive to town, you're driving by the airport.

And if I was to glance left and look at it like I had to go to the bathroom, like it just the way it affected,  Ugh. Yeah. It's like a visceral response. Yeah. And I'd ha like, yeah, I'd, if I, if I bought a ticket two, three days before the flight, I'm on the toilet the entire day. It's just like everything is,  I'm, yeah.

The panic was horrible. So for me, the medication was like.  was the catalyst to be able to actually put myself in that position to confront it. It's what it took. Yeah. And now, like I said, it's on me. Extremely rare times will I take it. I actually do remember the last time and it was on an international flight and the turbulence was so bad.

That the flight attendant's faces looked a little concerned. So I was like,  actually the flight, when the turbulence stopped, the flight attendant brought me like a tiny little pillow to squeeze because I was like, Oh my God, I haven't felt like this in a long time, but I'm going to take pill and here's a little tiny pillow.

They gave me to squeeze because I think they could, I think I was white. 

But I remember that flight on the way home from London. That man, that guy was just panicking, just, I offered him a You did? Yeah. 

He didn't take it. He, he, he was beer in the, he was like, he was like white, literally white. 

He was holding on to the,  

Oh, I feel so bad.

I know. And I see that now all the time. I see that. And aren't 

we so precious? 

Yeah. God. Yeah. 

Bless our hearts. 

It's, it's all scary 

guys. Life is so scary.  And I remember flying with you. I don't, I think it was an inner island flight before  Milan. And we went to go see the, those speakers on. Oh yeah. And you were just looking at me like, what was that?

What was that? I didn't even, 

I didn't have to even say anything. Hali would just look at me and go, that's normal. That that's because we already reached cruising altitude and that's the wheels.  And I also want to say this cause she's not in the room. Tessa is terrified of flying. And  I.  It will avoid at all costs sitting next to her because  she is terrified in an opposite way.

I'm deer in the headlights. Don't talk to me. Don't look at me. I'm just going to sit here. She is rocking, holding things. She's very physical. Like I have a photo of her with like a mask on and then I think like in like when we're leaving Dublin and she doesn't give shit. She does not. She does not care what you look like 

experiencing.

You know, like 

a horse.  So weird. But I was like,  can trigger me. So I have to be really careful. But also She doesn't give a shit, so she's a very loud fear.  Has loud fears. She has, she's, yeah, shameless about when she's uncomfortable.  Ah, anyways shout out to anybody who has those fears because, um, they suck.

They suck. But you can get over it. And I am so frickin grateful.  The amount of gratitude I have now, when I go anywhere on a plane, is next level. Because I didn't do it for so long.  And aren't we so lucky that we get to 

do this? Yeah. That we, that we can. Oh, yeah.  Yeah.  So that is a fear flying talk story. 

Bada bing, bada boom. Bada bing. Here we go. We're going to talk about Oh, Leahlani Land update.  Okay, guys.  Sierra and I, this is our Leahlani Land update. 

You said Scandinavia, now I remember.  

Yeah.  

Sierra and Hali live in California, Orange County.  And  

we both really wish we lived in Kauai because Well, obviously who doesn't wish that they lived in Hawaii,  but the Leahlani studio is just a little slice of heaven on earth.

In my opinion, there's like fresh sourdough and avocados, and there's just pink Crocs that everybody wears and hair nets, and it's just this darling little  place to be. And when I work there, I feel more productive because I have all that energy and there's all this momentum.  Um, 

beautiful open office.

That's looking, it's just lovely. 

Yeah. Yeah.  We are little orphans out here.  It's not like that, but it's kind of like that, but it's not like that. It was really cool. We 

used to have a studio here in Seal Beach. We used to have a really darling studio for a year and 

a half, I think. And then the pandemic hit. 

And then the pandemic hit and we stopped going to it. Actually, we kept it until I went to New York because, oh, that's right, the pandemic hit, Sierra stopped showing up. I always told her she could go and I would stay home,  but she didn't. The pandemic 

was, people didn't want to go anywhere if they didn't have to.

It was, it was heaven, though. I could open the door and have that place to myself and just make a mess and then leave it and then come back to it later and it was the best. I had a pool.  We don't have that anymore. We are orphans. We work from our homes and from coffee shops and  our favorite place to work was Ikea.

Okay, is that your favorite place or does Sierra like it, too? I was my favorite place for about two months. And then,  I don't know if it's because of us. It couldn't have been because of us because we didn't go that often. We went a few times. I went a lot by myself. It's kind of close to Peter's school.

Ikea is like a low key, uh,  Life 

hack. If you need to work Are you working in one of the faux rooms or are you in the cafeteria? No! Oh my god. I'm tr I I I don't know. I've never done this with you. Are you working 

on the couch? 

This 

is  my apartment now, everybody. Welcome. No. We go to the cafe. Oh, okay.

There's wifi there and coffee and the food is real cheap. And they have like really cheap breakfasts.  And then they have really cheap lunches. I think a lot of people don't 

know that, but it's such a big thing in our family. 

Yeah. Our family loves The cafeteria food at Ikea. I Yeah, it's I don't understand this.

Is it like 2. 50? It's like 2. 99. Wow.  It's kinda gross. Oh, okay. I haven't been. It I think it used to be better, but then now they're like microwaving the eggs and Okay.  It's not the most appetizing thing in the world. The point is that it's affordable because, you know, going to a coffee shop every day adds up.

Oh yeah. And it's got wi fi and it's comfortable and it's, for the most part, quiet. If you go, on weekday mornings.  And so that's where I was having Sierra meet me. But there used to be these like, This is stupid. I don't know why I'm talking about this. There used to be these really cool spaces.

There's clearly designed for you to work with great outlets, great USB ports. They took it all away and put like these weird steps there and  they all kind of shut down our Ikea dreams. But that was a fun fact is that  Leahlani operate West Coast Leahlani operated out of Ikea for like two months. She also is trying to hint, hint that we need a, we need a new studio 

space.

I will forever be hinting on that. But.  That was, uh,  just something for you. Maybe your local Ikea has a nice space. If you're a, you know, a mom looking for somewhere to go to work on their computer while the kids are at school or something, check out Ikea. Don't forget about Ikea. It's kind of cool. Today's 

episode 

is sponsored 

by Ikea.

I'm just kidding. Oh, I wish.  

Um, yeah, that's my Leelaniland update is what we got kind of usurped out of that when they rearranged their, um, Ikea. Outlets and then  we worked at a co working space, but they forgot about us. So we  just kind of like more or less snuck into a co working space for a day and worked there and Then left and we were hoping someone would come to give us a tour and charge us for the day But they didn't so we were just like infiltrated their space 

Nice  But we'll probably end up with another maybe space here.

Probably 

Cool. So that's our weird  Leahlani update for the day. And then then  Let's just move on forward.  We're going to talk about Fat grinds. Fat grinds. Which I'm excited because I 

have no idea what you're talking about. 

Okay, I just started this, uh, probably in, not long after Stella was born.  We, uh, Love nachos.

Who doesn't love nachos? Right. Nachos are like the easiest thing to make and it can be a whole substantial meal. It can be. Yeah. Yeah, and it's not a lot of cleanup. It's a sheet pan meal, essentially, nachos. Feeds the whole family. Mm hmm. And pour on the beans and the cheese and the, you can have cabbage on the side or lettuce on the side.

Beef it up a bit. Love it. But it wasn't, I didn't feel like I was feeding my family Something  healthy. Yeah, there was like a vegetable missing. There's not a lot of vegetables.  Like a substantial vegetable. So we,  I think I saw it on Instagram. Someone made sheet pan  This is, this is what you do. You go to, I think it's Target or Ralph's.

I think it's Ralph's. I don't know. The market will have  waffle sweet potato fries. So they're like chips. They're not like fries. They're like waffle cut sweet potato fries. You bake those in the oven till they get crispy, and then you pour the beans and the cheese and the jalapenos or the  Sorry, Rezo, if you're gonna do that.

I don't think we've ever done that. It's just beans and cheese on top,  and then you pull it out and you sprinkle the  avocado, tomato, whatever things you usually put on your nachos. We do Greek yogurt sometimes. So 

the sweet potato fries are the chips. Are the chips. Okay, I thought it was going to be sweet potato making a faux cheese. 

Oh! Doesn't that sound good? Yeah! But I love this! I love this idea. Okay. 

Yeah, no, I've never made sweet potato cheese before. I've made vegan cheeses.  This sounds even better. No, this is really good. It's delicious. Like, every time we make it, Kavi's like, wow.  This is really good. Yeah. Peter's like, wow, I don't like sweet potatoes.

But he likes those. No, he doesn't.  We've recently realized that he does like them if they're served completely plain and that there's no beans on the table. But if you associate them with beans, he just eats the beans. 

So we ordered fried pickles the other day  and because, god,  and Peter, like, picked all of the fried potatoes batter off of the pickle, ate the pickle, and then ate the fried batter. 

Yes. Separate. 

Toddlers are weird. He's not even a toddler. He's a preschooler. He loves pickles. He loves pickles and olives. He loves like briny things.  Yeah. Okay. I love that. I'm going to make those. I really recommend it. It's delicious. It's satisfying.  It's so good. I love it. Fat grinds.  All right. And then what the shell?

What the I'm so excited. Okay. I did. We come up with the name for chat GPT.  Um, Chatty Spice? Chatty Spice. Chatty 

Spice. We're all about the Spice Girls. Like, everyone's got like a Spice Girl name in our family. Um, so And Leah also loves Woody Rathers now, so we're going to do another Woody Rather. I, this is, I, I'm obsessed and there's three and I have to choose from one of them, but this one is really interesting and I'm curious what you're going to say.

Okay. Would you rather be able to talk to animals?  Or, like, be able to communicate with animals, or speak all human languages fluently.  All human languages fluently. You 

said that so fast. Mm hmm. Why?  Because I'd rather communicate with humans than, I don't know, actually talking to animals sounds really cool, and I see why you would pick, why someone would pick that. 

Like there's a lot of espionage you could do with the birds,  but like,  or like you could, yeah, you could do a lot of spying, I guess, you could do a lot of like safety in the wild, like talking to bears, but like, I come into contact with more humans.  

Okay, so when I saw this question. I thought, obviously, like I was like animals,  but then I started to think, I started to get panicky because I was like, I feel like I'd be heartbroken if you could, I  would be heartbroken  if my cats told me they didn't like me. 

Oh, I wasn't thinking about that, but yeah. But, oh god, no, let's not even.  

Just the pain that animals experience. The pain 

animals experience, you know, being farmed for food, and just like, or just anything. Who knows what they have to say, and I'm Maybe they probably have hella arthritis. Uh, yeah.

Or like, 

oh, that 

Yeah, I, I feel like I would just, it would 

But you could become such an aid to them. 

Yeah, or You would  really sad. Uh, yeah, your 

life would actually probably be hell. Because crazy animal people would start like harassing you to like, Yeah. Become animal whispers. Yeah, animal psychic whispers.

However, if you could talk to humans, we could go to Scandinavia. 

Well, yeah, so I would want to think that I would be capable, but knowing me, I would opt to have the human languages. 

Okay, you are granted human languages. What's the first place you travel to?  

Hmm, 

I think Italy only because I really want to go back and experience Italy and I don't understand that, like, none of it,  that language, I can't make out, make it out.  I,  what about you? 

Would definitely choose an Asian country. Hmm. Because I feel like we have enough experience with,  with, no, with like the European languages, I forget what they're called, like the Latin languages. 

That I can kind of get by, but when I go to Asian countries, actually, I've only ever been to.  So I have a lot to explore in Asian countries, and I also think those languages, like, they don't even have the same characters, so it would be a remarkable experience to go,  say, you go to, I don't know, Vietnam, or somewhere where you could just, like, land and then explore.

Yeah. 

It is true. 

Oh, what a boon that would be. I know. Ah! I know. Well, it's never gonna happen, but, you know, Google, Google Translate's cool. 

Yeah, that's true. But do you remember our first day in Italy? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Anyways, 

do you remember Kate in the bar after the press event?  Yeah, she came 

back 

to our table holding an onion.

No, she was  We were deep in Apertivos by then. Oh, yeah, and we were high on being like done with this press event that we could just relax Yeah, Kate goes to the bar and I think she's trying to ask Can we help ourselves to this aperitivo? I think that's what she's trying to ask, is like, is this really a buffet?

Like, is this really a free for all? Can we really go ham? I think that's what shewe'll have to ask her. And heshe's doing her best. She has Duolingo on her phone. She's been practicing. The guy leaves the bar, goes to the kitchen, comes back holding a raw onion. Yeah! And you and I are just sitting at the table watching her try so hard, and the guy's just holding the onion.

And why? What did he I have no idea.  That was a good, that was a great memory. 

It's just the very,  the very first  moment in Italy where we tried to walk in to get food, 

and we 

were We walked into that little street cafe and  we just,  the lady was probably just saying sit anywhere, but we thought she was so mad at us.

And we just, we walked out.  We didn't even, we walked 

out. And I remember being like, I get really stressed out. That is a good. That's, I have fears. I 

get super stressed out. But I think because you were the well traveled, I was looking for you and you were just like, uh, we're out. And I followed you and I was like, oh my God, we're going to starve.

Then we tried the next place and we got brave. We're like, we just go in and we just like, we, we assume they're saying like sit anywhere. So we did. And we ordered the Aperol Spritz. And do you, and they were terrible. So bad. 

Anyways, we could go on for it. Yeah, 

it was bad. And we were 

like, what the hell? Why is everybody obsessed with Aperol Spritz?

This tastes like Gatorade. 

Yeah. Or cough syrup or something.  Anyways, yeah. Okay. Okay. That's been fun. Um, see you next time. Love ya. Love ya. Bye. Bye.