Ashley Richerand

Entrepreneur, community builder, and founder of Giddy-Up Coffee shop.  Tune in as Ashley shares her story, the power of connection, and what it means to create a place people call home.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:08

Hello, welcome to Drop in Knowledge. I'm Anna Ciolino and this is Chris Couch, and today we have Ashley Richeron. Yeah, Richeron. Yes, okay. No, you're good.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Yeah, you got very close to it's really Richerand. Richeron. Spelled Richeran, but it's French, so we pronounced Richeron. Richeron. Yes, Richeron. I like Richeron. Yeah, I know I like it too.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

It's like Anna and Anna. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

You know, I had couch. So anytime somebody has a cool ass name. My cousin was Sonet. I was like, ooh, I like that. Oh, that is nice.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

Oh, that's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Couch is so basic.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

So Ashley, tell us a little bit about yourself. Let's get started there.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Yes. So well, first let me start with Chris. When I met Chris, he asked if I would I mean you know, he found out I was one of the owners of Gide Up and he asked if I would be interested in being part of the podcast that y'all do. And so originally I thought I was a little nervous. And then when he mentioned that it the theme of your podcast always has to do with it takes a village, that really resonated with me because it's something that I say weekly, if not daily. Because if you go through my life, 1000% it has taken a village. And so I'm excited to be here and I appreciate you asking me. But just to get into my life a little bit, um, uh, my name is Ashley Richeron, and I'm one of six kids and grew up, was born in New Orleans, or really Meadow-Kenner area. And then my parents moved when I was six years old to the the North Shore. And so my dad got transferred, and basically my parents bought land in Folsom. And so we were, they raised all six kids in Folsom. And so we went from that there, I was gonna say there's a 17-year span between the oldest and the baby, who's now whoever that is, I don't even know their ages now, but anyway, we're all old. But um anyway.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

So growing up with six kids, all of which at 17 at some point were probably all home.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Yes, at one point we were all um home for a short period of time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Total chaos.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yes, it was it was chaotic, I will say, but it was also my parents, I don't want to say they ran a tight ship because we were definitely, you know, we had a lot of fun, you know, and goofy and silly, but we definitely had a kind of regimented, you know, life. I mean, you have six kids, you gotta have some organization there, right? Right for sure. And my dad traveled a lot, and so my mom really, she was a stay-at-home mom, and I would say the best there is. I mean, she just was, she cooked, she cleaned, she did it all. She got us to, you know, to our uh meetings for our religion. I mean, she was very much a force to be reckoned with, and my father is the same way, you know. He would travel, he traveled a lot because he was in the oil field, but he was home a lot too, you know, absolutely home a lot.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

I mean, with six kids, your mom was like, I'm thinking of all the hat she's wearing. She's like operations manager, yes, you know, that's it. Emotional support, yes, therapist, homework. When I think of homework, warden, yes, I'm thinking of all the titles, right? Teacher.

SPEAKER_03 3:29

Yes, absolutely. I mean, and a lot of people don't realize that stay-at-home moms, yeah, that is a job. And that is a job that does not have a real start time and a real end time. Yeah, and it's every day seven days a week. And it's hard. So when people tell me, like, I'm a stay-at-home mom, I'm like, You have the hardest job in the world.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

And I was well, and it magnifies the more kids at home. Yeah, yes. And one is tough.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

I'm not saying two is more challenging.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

You start to bump up to four, five, and six.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

You're outnumbered.

SPEAKER_03 3:59

Yeah, that's a big one. That's a lot of that's a lot of balance. Yeah, yeah. And she didn't have help. It doesn't sound like she had help because she was cooking and cleaning and Uber driver for everybody and getting everybody where they needed to be every day.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

When my mom would have another baby, is when my grand my dad's mother would come and stay for a week or so and assist. And but other than that, we really my parents, just to me, they're the epitome of what like of parents, I guess. They didn't even get babysitters. I mean, they didn't do a lot of that stuff. I think they had a lot of fulfillment in, you know, being with their kids, I guess. Because my being that my dad traveled and then would have to come home and have this land and property, you know, he was really trying to get all that done and teach us, you know. They were really our mentors, and you know, they were really our mentors when I look back at that.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Yeah, my parents were were the same. We had myself and my brother five years younger. And, you know, I can count on my hand the number of times that they went out just to two of them. It was normally when, you know, the tax return check came and there was some extra cash after paying tuitions, and it was like, oh, we got a couple hundred bucks. Yeah. Let's go to dinner, right? Uh but generally speaking, it was, and to your point, I think between work and the household things that needed to get done, then their enjoyment really came out of hosting a lot. Sounds like we grew up very similarly, hosting a lot, being around their kids, seeing their kids' friends, and um Yeah, they were my parents were young when they had uh a sister, and so I think they were kind of growing up in a way too, you know, in a in a good way.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Right. They weren't the party people by any means. They set a really good example, but they really took it very seriously, like with they let us have a lot of get-togethers and they chaperoned if we were invited to something. My parents were there, at least one of them.

SPEAKER_03 5:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

You know, my mom would be back with the kids or the babies or something, and my dad would take the the teenagers, you know. And I like to call us first generation, second generation because my parents, they that my sister, myself, and my brother, and then six years later was the biggest gap between the age, and then my sister was born, and then my two baby brothers. And so we always say the oldest ones, we had a little harder, you know. We definitely came from a much more humble beginnings than I would say the the last three. But my parents, if I had to say one thing, they're very grounded, extremely grounded and down to earth. And so I think they taught us a really good just way to be, you know, as humans and just be the best you can be as a person. And, you know, that was their my takeaway from growing up with Chlo Lynn and Frank. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Wait, what was your mom's name?

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Chloe Lynn.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Clown. How do you spell that?

SPEAKER_01 6:45

C-L-O-L-Y-N-N. Oh, I love that. Yeah, and she could have been Clotilda. So she's like, I'm good with Chlo Lynn.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Clotilda Strong. I feel like that's a name they'd use on like one of these Netflix specials. I know where it's like age, you know, the what do they call it? The yeah. A period, period uh story or whatever. Clotilda.

SPEAKER_04 7:04

Clotilda.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Well, I was almost named Rock On.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

Oh, really? What?

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

My dad is it real?

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Oh, that's a true story. My dad loved that song. It came out right, I guess. I was born in 74. It came out, I guess, somewhere between 70 and 74. And um, my dad had his heart set on naming me Rock on.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

We could call you Rock for short. Thank God for that. That'll be your nickname, Rock. I'm telling you. Well, my brother's name Chris. I have a brother, Chris. That's a good thing. That was a very popular name.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

I have several friends named Chris. That's true. From the early 70s, and that was had to be one of the top names.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Yeah, I think so. It's a good name.

SPEAKER_03 7:41

So then tell us a little bit. You graduate high school, and then what? Where do you go from there?

SPEAKER_01 7:46

So after I graduated high school, I went to Southeastern. Okay. And I really didn't know what I wanted to do. I did not know at all. But I was like, okay, what so I went to school for communications, basically. I knew I had the gift of gab. That's what I tell people. That's my gift. I'm not an artist, I'm not out of the gift of gab. So I thought maybe I would do that. Well, in 95, I ended up getting married. And so my husband and I moved to Homa, basically. So I did not end up finishing and going, you know, finishing at Southeastern. Okay. Um, but I knew I was born with a very strong work ethic from, you know, both of my parents. So I started working for well, actually, let me back up because when I was in high school, I went and did cooperative office education.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

And I worked for an attorney and she was a real estate attorney. And it was an all-woman's group, and I I love them. And I just, I thought they really taught me a lot. You know, I because being that my mother didn't work in the secularly and she worked at home, I guess in my mind, I thought, you know, that was maybe where I was gonna go in in life. Because I really had a very strong desire to have a family. I will say that from like very strong desire. But it's sometimes you don't know if that's just because, you know, that's what you've been taught or if that's you know, right kind of who you are. That makes sense, you know. And so basically when I go back fast-forwarding a little bit, I started working for an oil field company in Homa because Homa is all about the oil field. And so I worked for um Tetra. It was a big corporation. And that's where I would say that I really started to believe in myself and really know kind of what I was made of because they doubled my salary within like maybe three months time. And I worked for them for seven years while I was on like this journey of trying to have maybe have a family myself one day and knew I wanted that for sure. And anyway, they they really taught me a lot, and I I got to learn every aspect of a business. I worked in payables, I worked in human resources, I worked in um receivables, and then towards the end, I was the general manager's um assistant basically and did receivables. So I was always dealing with him, and you know, and I loved it there. I really did. It was such a good experience for me. I worked with some, you know, really wonderful people, and I got a taste for the oil fields, you know, and I worked there for about seven years.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Uh so and you did you were at the law firm before?

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Yes, when I was a teenager in high school is when I did that.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

So when you think about those two experiences, what would what do you think you took away from working with the the group of women who were all lawyers versus what you took away from the bigger company in the oil and gas field?

SPEAKER_01 10:48

I would say I guess looking back, I love that it was all all women. Like I just thought it was so it's kind of what I was saying about, you know, my mom didn't work secularly, and so I didn't really see a lot of women working. I mean, I'm 52 years old, you know, so it's it was a different time back then when you look at it comparatively now, what you see, it's definitely that all has changed. But I think it was just exciting to see that women were doing and supporting their families, and I I just loved it. I really enjoyed seeing that. And it made me, I guess, believe in myself. Like you're a woman and you got this, yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

And yeah, and it's like uh I think there's also something else to when you're you're growing up, you you really know only know your family and how that operates. And now you go to friends and you meet friends and you see you get little glimpses of you know what it's like for someone's parents that might do something different than yours, right? Then you get a chance to start working and meeting different people in the context of their careers, right? Which is different than going to your friend's house and having coffee with your parents, right? And so to me, that was a real awakening. And when I look back, it was kind of like I got the foundation from my dad, my mom, and my dad. And then I got I started working and I started meeting all these different people, and I was like, oh, this is interesting. Like, oh yeah, this is this is this is out there, like in learning more. Correct. And I felt, you know, my base was so strong from my parents, and anything else was just adding to it. But I think that's also part of it. Yeah like you know, seeing for you, seeing that there were women who were working, you knew that obviously, but to be able to interact with them in a way that you had never really done before.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Yeah, and none of my friends' mothers worked, not one that I can look back and remember. Um, so it really wasn't something that I was uh right really familiar with, right? To tell you the truth.

SPEAKER_03 12:47

And I mean, well, that was it was kind of common back then for moms to be a stay-at-home mom. Yeah, I feel like it's becoming a lot more popular now again, like people are making sacrifices to keep that one parent home. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

I think everybody's just learning and has learned that it is really, really hard, you know, to to be two working parents and raise kids. It's it's tough.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

I agree a hundred percent. Yeah, so and then with learning with the the bigger group is that I think the professionalism in both places, honestly, but the just to see the organization and me getting a taste of like this was a major corporation that was in the woodlands, Texas. I would get to travel there and go experience um, you know, seeing a much bigger, you know, the high-rise building, you know, and that type of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

I mean, yeah, that is.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

So it was really a neat experience. And I worked with a lot of professional people with men and women, and I I just adored them. And because I'm a people person, so I've got to have that in my like I'm not gonna go just to work just to work. It's you know, even though that is it's important, but I I have to have those connections and relationships. So I really enjoy going to work all the time and being with them, and they really taught me a lot. So, and then fast forward actually my last when I got pregnant. Okay, so I had a a very long journey, and maybe I got pregnant earlier on in my marriage, maybe after a couple of years of being married, and then realized that I was had trouble, and so I ended up having to do an in vitro, and that was a a journey that took me to doing it three times, and then third time was the charm, and the at number three, I ended up with three, and three is my favorite number. Now I'm gonna ended up with triplets and um I have triplets, yes, wow, and so that was um the probably one of the most challenging things I've ever experienced in my life because first of all, trying to get pregnant was uh was you know difficult. And then, but mostly it was after at 20 weeks, they put me on bed rest, and my doctor said you have to come and live in the hospital. So I had to live in the hospital inverted.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Now, wait, how how old are you at that point?

SPEAKER_01 15:12

I am 29.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

So at 29, um, I the doctor tells me you're gonna have to come into the hospital and you're gonna have to stay here. And so for six weeks, I laid in the hospital bed inverted, sort of. And then at six weeks, one of my the water the broke. And so basically they were gonna do like an amniocentesis, and then when they brought me and did an ultrasound, they said, You don't even have fluid in there to take. These babies are coming out now.

SPEAKER_03 15:42

So my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

At 26 weeks, I delivered three babies that the total weight combined was four pounds 15 ounces, and so that was a start of the the hardest thing, I guess. But it's funny because despite going through all of that, I never lost hope. I was so positive. The hospital took very good care of us. My doctor was amazing, and then I had a village that was behind me the whole entire way.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

So not to minimize where we think we're gonna go, but you said something that is interesting. So when you were in the hospital inverted, how long how long were you in the hospital?

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Six weeks.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Yeah, I mean you say that fast, and it's like we just blow past it. Because what you said next was obviously monumental. But for six weeks and like what is that like?

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Well, the doctor wouldn't let me get up. I could only get up to go to the bathroom, really. I mean, that was it. And it was really that was so challenging because I had no movement, so my legs were atrophying. I mean, it was it was a very difficult time. But I had visitors all the time. Somebody from, you know, my religion coming. I mean, I at one point I'm sitting on a bedpan and men walk in. I mean, that's how it was. I mean, you know, because it was just people were constantly in and out. I would have I they even had my baby shower while I was in the hospital because they knew the babies were coming, so they quickly, you know, had the baby shower. So my poor husband had to sit there and open all the gifts. And I was on a like a video thing or whatever with a friend. She stayed behind with me, and you know, but all the rest of them were all there. But it was a challenging time. I'm not gonna, but I think because I knew I was having these babies, it was it was it's very difficult to get me down, I will say, just my personality, thankfully, because of my upbringing, right? You know, I've been surrounded by amazing people all my life. All my life. I mean, seriously, like just the best of the best. And I I'm just very I was very fortunate. So I never really got down ever when it came time to that aspect of it. But it was hard, I will say. And being inverted was definitely, I mean, I had to have my tilted. Yes, I can't even imagine. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_03 18:12

Yeah, that is incredible. And then, of course, then you have the babies, and there comes the next wave of challenges.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

And that was probably one of the hardest things because I didn't know how to handle that. They were micro premies under two pounds each. And but I had good insurance, so my children had the best care you can imagine.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

What hospital were you?

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Memorial Baptists.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

So this was before Katrina. Oh, yeah. So yeah, a couple years before, like two years, I think. Yeah. So that's where I had my two, but it's now Baptists, Ashner Baptist.

SPEAKER_03 18:48

But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

But my doctor was amazing. And then they also uh set you up when you're in the NICU. They found somebody else that was that had a baby at the same time, and her baby was born at 24 weeks. So her child was extremely premature, and she gave me a lot of hope. I will say that. They always tied you with someone that was able to give you, like you could see the the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. So I was very grateful for that because I had no I had no prior knowledge. I mean, my kids came out, they're not breathing on their own. I mean, there was nothing you know that was normal about this. And but I really I didn't really cry that much either. Like, I can't explain it. It was very strange because I think I was just like, I stayed so positive. It was just like there was no no way these babies, nothing's gonna happen to them. Right. But what happened was it it was because my daughter, Nicolette, had a brain hemorrhage three days after her birth. And so the doctors came in to me, they didn't know us, and they came in and they said, To what extent do you want her to live? Because she probably will be a vegetable. And I looked at the doctor and I said, That baby, we want that baby no matter what. We don't care. And so that's what they did. They said, Okay, we'll never ask again. And so when that they knew then that we it didn't matter. And they and I think at this point they could see they were starting to see the support that I was that I had within my family, my husband's family, you know. They they really knew that these kids were gonna have the support that they needed. And so my other daughter, Brienne, she ended up the first time I got to hold her, she ended up with pneumonia the next day. And so that was really challenging because I here I am thinking, what did I do? Did I do something wrong? You know, because it I didn't get to hold them for two weeks. They wouldn't let me. I could go buy them, but I couldn't really. I would leave a video or a tape recording of me reading Bible the Bible story books to them. It makes me cry, like when I think about it. But I would leave if I had to leave for anything, and I didn't leave much because the hospital was so good to me that they didn't, you know, they didn't shoo me out very often. And they let the family come in as well all the time, which I was so grateful for. Right. But the Brienne ended up with pneumonia, and then her and Cole both, my son, ended up with heart surgeries in and they had a PDA ligation. So they all three had heart murmurs, but Nicolette did not end up her that she took a medication and the medication closed it, whereas the other two did not. So very early on, it was mass chaos as far as like just dealing with medical, you know, issues and stuff like that. But like I said, we just we kept going and I never lost hope. I just kept and I will st tell you a story which is very interesting. One night we celebrate the memorial of Jesus' death. And so one night we're going, we have it, and it's the night that my son is in really bad, like he's gray. And they told me they said, you need to say your goodbyes. And I'm thinking to myself, there's no way. So I they won't let me touch him. And I go over to him and I say, Cole, I said, your sisters, they need you. Like you're the older brother. You cannot die. Like, and I'm telling him, like, I don't know, I don't know what to say. So I'm telling him all of this stuff in my like I told you the doctors would not let me touch him. And the next thing you know, his little hand comes it turns. Like, and so like I just like kind of grab it a little bit, and anyway, we decide because of it's a special event, we go upstairs to the room to just listen to it. So instead of saying downstairs, that's what I decided to go do. So I go up and then the next um the after, I end up falling asleep because I'm physically, emotionally, mentally, everything I'm exhausted. So I go and I go upstairs. I mean, I come back down, and my whole family had left as well because we all you know celebrated this event because it's our that's the most special event for our you know, for our family and stuff. And so everybody thinks we're calling them to tell them that Cole had passed, and we call him to tell them that he had totally taken a complete turn. And so he turned pink, everything was better. And the crazy part is is the doctors she put him on two different uh ventilators at the kind of alternating them. And when she did it, the other neonatologist came on and he said, Are you trying to kill him? Because he never they'd never done that before. And she said, I have nothing to lose. And so my son lives, and now you should see him. He's like six feet tall and healthy, and all my kids. What a scary scary moment though. Wow. It was a very scary moment. Wow. I know. I hate that that it's 23 years later and I'm still cry when I talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

It's powerful.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Yeah, it is very powerful. But for me to leave my child like downstairs like that, like I don't know. I just had this real, I don't know. I just put have a it's faith, is really what it boils down to. You know? Boils down to that.

SPEAKER_03 24:37

But that's a beautiful story. Yeah, it really is.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

My sweet boy and my my sweet girls.

SPEAKER_03 24:43

And so they're 23 now.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Yes, they're 23. Okay. And yeah, I don't know where we go from here. One that just got married. Okay. Yeah, just recently. And my other two are not even dating or anything like that. So they're like, we're just taking our good old time. Yeah, you know, some that's good. But they're great kids. I mean, I have to say, we've not dealt if it wasn't for medical issues, we would not have dealt with much because and I think that's probably why they're so good.

SPEAKER_04 25:10

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Because it really has brought our family together in that way. My my daughter that um has the had the brain hemorrhage, she's had um well 16 brain surgeries, so she's had a just had to have a lot of um revisions to her shunt. And so she also had um has seizures, but you know, like had that a good bit. So she's a miracle. I mean, they really all three are miracles. It sounds like you know, they're very much miracles, but she's dealt with the most as far as the health, but it's really made our family stronger, I think, and really just you rely on each other. I mean, you know, your village.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

Yeah, and you know, it's interesting hearing the story because I just listened to a podcast recently where there's an interview of a guy who owns one of these, and I'm not gonna say it right, these eugenics companies or whatever, you know, where they are they can look at the DNA of the of the uh embryos, I guess, and and all this stuff and decision making associated with that, whether it's things that are health conditions or all the way into, you know, I guess height and things like that. And I've heard about this stuff, but never really spent any time listening to it, you know, and I obviously have my own personal uh feelings and all of that, um, and I think lots of people do. And you know, you hear your story and it's like man you know, it it's powerful because it feels like we're moving into a place today where lots of people may make decisions different than you made. And uh and look where you are, and it's like it's to me it's an important message, at least the way I'm wired in my faith system, which is you know, there maybe there are certain things that should just be left to the man above, and we're just here to play the cards, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

Uh your faith plays my faith played a huge part in that.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Yeah. Well, that's an amazing story. Yeah. And um, see, I didn't know anything about this. And we're just passing in the gym, waving at each other. It's like she sells coffee. I like coffee, you know.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

You didn't think it was gonna go to that exactly.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Well, little did I know, you know, that it's awesome though. And um, and so let's talk coffee.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Okay, coffee. Yeah, absolutely. So the coffee, I'll tell you what the how that all came about. My dad was he's in the oil field, so my dad's way of diversifying has always been in the real estate. And so whenever I decided to move back to Covington, because I lived in Homa, I decided to move back in cut to Covington when my kids were eight years old. Because I'm like, I didn't want to change them from schools too late. That made me real nervous to do that. So I said, okay, they're eight. We're either gonna do it now or never. And so my husband said, I'm let's go. Like it's great. So I started working since I was in the oil field. I started working for my dad who's in the oil field, and all I did was do some of his safety stuff because it was very close to that the the oil spill, the blow up that happened. And so basically, they had a lot of rules and regulations that needed to be, you know, mandated, and they needed uh a safety binder basically in order to pass. And so, anyway, lost my thing.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

You know, I don't mean to say anything stereotypical, but I will say that we are two three for three on people who've dropped mics and they were all Italian.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

It's the hands. It's the hands, it's the hands. So uh anyway, I started working with my dad, and then that was just short-lived. Like I did they didn't need me to do that. It was just a they needed a big binder basically to prove and show that their safety you know policies were and procedures were in place. Yeah. So in that same time, my dad and I started buying some real estate, and we bought a little house, we redid it, and then we sold it. And then we kept trying to do that a little bit. So we've come across the little yellow house in Folsom. So we buy it, we sit on it for quite a while, didn't do anything. Well, one day, my sister, my dad, and myself, and I'm not sure who my mom, we were walking down because we all walk in the neighborhood. And so my dad goes, I want to open a coffee shop, I think. Folsom needs a coffee shop because with him working the way he did and traveling, he was always at a you know coffee shop or something, right? Needing to do to do business. So he said, I want to do that. And I looked at it and I said, Well, if you do do it, we we definitely need to name it giddy up because it needs to be something with horses, because coffee gives you a giddy up, and Folsom is full of horses, you know. And then my love for horses, you know, and it never left. And so he goes, That's it, that's what we're doing. If that's you know, so we basically started the drawing the planning stages of all that. He had a draftsman that worked for him in the office, and basically we just went right to work, started doing this, but we had no previous knowledge of anything food related, other than, like I said, we love food and host a lot of parties and get togethers. And so, but my dad is definitely not one to like if it can be done, he can do it. You know, my dad is a person that really is very capable, he's not the person that's pointing a finger telling you to go do this. He's under the house, you know, changing out the pipe, you know, that type of stuff. I mean, he's really a he's a force to be reckoned with. And he taught us uh he's a handful in a good way. But anyway, uh, so we just started doing that. And then we met now.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

What year was this?

SPEAKER_01 31:11

This was in so we opened in 2016, so probably well about 2015. Okay. We we started, and we met a guy in at the farmer's market that had coffee. So I started, I fell in love with him and his wife. So I'm like, okay, well, we're gonna talk to them a little bit. Well, of course, I knew nothing about coffee because I didn't even drink coffee. I'm a tea person, and so I'm thinking to myself, this is gonna be, I mean, coffee is that's a lot. Like, you gotta know about coffee. But I said, you know what, we're just gonna do it, we're gonna roll with it. So I started learning a little bit about coffee, and then fortunately, Kevin was extremely knowledgeable, and I loved his personality. Like him and I just clicked as far as and his wife, she's super sweet. So I said, I feel really comfortable with them. They're not gonna make me feel like I'm dumb and don't know coffee, you know. So that's basically where it kind of started, and we just started building, and the the rest is history, really. I mean, we opened up in March of 20, 2016. So we just had our 10 years anniversary. Yes. And we found some, we actually still have the original, two of the original women that we started with that work for us. Wow. Sandra and Mary, and then Madison was very early on too, and just some great people. Sandra worked in the restaurant industry, so she knew. You know, she worked in fine dining, so she kind of knew. And we knew we wanted to be like we had to have a a drive-thru because you gotta have a drive-thru to me. Like, if you have, especially in Folsom. We didn't know what to expect. We didn't know if we were gonna have people that wanted to come sit. We didn't know. Like it's a sm it's a village, it's 800 people, you know. And then my dad builds this big old building, and you know, we're like, oh, nobody's I mean, we don't, you just don't know. And it boy, it took off pretty quick, wildly, I would say. I mean, it took its, it took its time, don't get me wrong, but we always we were always steady, you know, and never had to borrow a dime from like my dad gave me the reins, basically, and I never had to go and say, Dad, I need money. I was given a little bit of money for payroll, this the first payroll, and then that was it. So we all we made enough, you know, to to to keep it going. And then we just gradually started building and building, and then we would buy more and more properties. Um uh just to kind of my dad had the idea of protecting kind of what what we had right there, and we just started buying more and more buildings, the land behind us. And so now I think I mean it's probably up close to 10 acres down in downtown. And it's probably about 15 acquisitions that took place to acquire, you know, all of it. But we eventually we would just kind of ask somebody, are you interested? And then my dad is extremely social, so people would come around and just say, I want to sell my piece, you know, would you be interested in buying it? They kind of knew that he was in that kind of going in that direction. And they also liked what we were doing. We had a little pushback here and there, but I will say through the process, I think people started to believe in us because we did tear the first building down because it was termite-infested, but my dad salvaged every piece of that building down to the termite-infested siding that we have put into another building. So we're not the people that are coming in and just tearing stuff down. If it has to be torn down, it has to be torn down, right? But he will salvage every piece of anything that he can, the wood. So basically, like behind the siding was barge board, and underneath every window is the barge board, and it's beautiful. Like he he planed it all and re you know, uh put the polyurethane and the stain, and so it's the the ceiling is now a wall, aside, you know, the once was a ceiling, and it was white. And when you got down to the wood, you could see the wood grain, it still has a little bit of the white in there because you can't get it all off all the time.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

But so he repurposes.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

Oh, yeah, we repurposed everything, and he's really good about that.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

I feel like he needs his own HG TV show.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

He does. I'm gonna tell you right now, he does. And yeah, we even have the first library of Folsom. And that, if you would have asked me, I've learned a lot from my father, really, because he's not one to just throw things away. And he has a vision and he sees. That's what I like, is that he sees the um the potential because he's done it all, so he's not afraid to try and and fail. And if it doesn't look good, you know, try. And then I think because you've traveled, he had a real eclectic taste of things because he saw stuff from all over the world. So it's like, okay, well, that looks good, you know, whatever. So I think he brought some of that into my dad's very um, even though he's got that engineer mind and you know, oil feel related, he is extremely versatile. He's left-handed. So I think you know, you have both sides of the brain going there. And so he would like start doing some drawing. He didn't have time for all of that, you know, when we was raising kids. So now this kind of brought out that creative side, you know, which I'm I'm enjoying seeing that aspect for my dad. And and myself, even I started that not drawing, I don't have that talent, but I started doing like my like poetry and things like that that I just didn't ever know. Because when you're in the helm of like raising your family and your kids, you're not thinking of any of that. No, all I'm thinking of doing is keeping my kids alive, you know. I mean, and I got the gift of gab, that's what I had. It's like so I didn't think about all this other stuff. So it's I don't know, I'm I'm enjoying seeing him though.

SPEAKER_03 37:14

Yeah, it's a lot of fun, especially for your dad who probably retired from the oil field and now has almost this second career. It is, which I always feel for older people like having purpose keeps them young. Yes, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Like they're getting up every day and absolutely, and that brings me to the back to giddy up because it is to me, you hit the nail on the head because we are not a college town, we are not all of that stuff, but you know what we are? Our demographic is primarily older ones that are in their 70s, and it is that's what is where the reward is for me and for my dad. And for him, it gives him like this purpose to come to to work every day and be with all these other ones because he's a natural networker. That's one. I mean, he's got a collection of business cards that will I love that like unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it before. I'm like, this is what you're collecting business cards. But anyway, he's really funny about that kind of stuff. But yeah, the older ones come and it's really amazing because so what you see is you'll see like two women sitting at a spot, and then you might see two men, and then you see a couple, and then next thing you know, the two women and the couple are sitting next to each other, and then next thing you know, the two men join in, and now they see each other every single almost every day, they come and have coffee together. So they didn't know each other before, and that's what is super, super cool about that giddy up to me is seeing, and then every Thursday since we've opened for 10 years, there's a group of women that have come to Giddy Up. They're retired teachers. It's really it's amazing. I love it. So that's like their spot on the case.

SPEAKER_03 38:59

Yeah, they come every Thursday. I love that. Yeah, I love that. I'm a big coffee person before you go on, and I have a group of friends that we try to meet once a week, and this has been going on. I mean, pretty much ever since I had kids because I wasn't working full time. But we go and we have our Tuesday coffee, and sometimes it's two of us, sometimes it's eight of us. Yes, but it's it's so cool. And I I love that for your and you might be doing that um when you get older, you know. I hope so.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Yeah, you're almost there.

SPEAKER_04 39:28

That's a good issue.

SPEAKER_03 39:30

No, I am there. The only difference is that I have young kids, so I don't get to mow my lawn on a tractor for six hours a day.

SPEAKER_00 39:37

Uh I feel like that was a shot.

SPEAKER_03 39:40

No, I'm jealous. I really am. Not a shot at all. Sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

Until it gets stuck and you can't figure out how to get it out of it. No, I I think you know, my the first time I went to Gide Up was a couple years ago, and it instantly struck me as like this really cool place. Ironically, I've been to the art gallery.

SPEAKER_04 40:00

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

With my father-in-law, mother-in-law.

SPEAKER_03 40:04

So is this before you and you actually?

SPEAKER_00 40:05

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 40:06

So just went to Albans and then you go and you were like, Oh, I've been to your coffee shop and the art gallery.

SPEAKER_00 40:13

Oh, I've talked more about getting up than I feel like a social media influence. I don't think I've caught I don't think I've generated any income, but I talk about it all the time.

SPEAKER_03 40:20

I wait, I did not know that. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 40:23

So we had gone to the art gallery, which I didn't realize was connected at the time. In fact, my father-in-law bought something. And um, and then I had gone to coffee there with Haley one time, and uh and I was just instantly struck by the setup. It's got like the porches in the back, and it's got obviously the indoor area. The people who worked there were absolutely great. Yeah, this you could sense that immediately. And it it just had this vibe of communal. I don't know how to really explain it. It wasn't like it was packed, yeah, it was a random one morning or something, you know. They had reasonable crowd in and out, but it wasn't anything like that. Like it wasn't like I showed up for a market or something and like, look at this communal thing. I just felt it. And I remember leaving telling Haley, I was like, man, that is there's something about that place that I I just I like. I don't really know. I couldn't tell you if I was like, man, that's the greatest coffee or not. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I could tell you, like, there was something about special about it, the way it was set up. And and since then I've gone a couple more times and actually had a meeting there not that long ago on the patio. But I I really want to get out there.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

100% going to get out there.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

So uh Yeah, and so it made me think that in fact I spoke to one of the ladies there when I the first the second time I went, I was like, man, you all should really think about opening another place. I know we've thought plenty of times because this area here, um, and we've got a new coffee shop, and obviously I hope that they're successful. Oh, yeah, clearly, right? And um, but I think there's a difference, and we'll see what happens with theirs. There's a difference between a coffee shop and a communal spot. And and I think you all have done a very good job of that, and I would love to see something like that. And it was your inspiration of Giddy Up that had me at home as my daughter. I have two daughters and roughly the same age as your children. 20 will be 25 and one that's 22. 25 year old in hospitality and loves it. 22-year-old trying to figure things out, but it started to do more in the coordination, event coordination space.

SPEAKER_04 42:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:33

And I'm like, you know what we ought to do? If Giddy Up's not gonna open one, yeah, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 42:38

Hey, I asked them.

SPEAKER_00 42:39

They said I was like, we should open our own version over here. Um, and to me, it's more about creating that the community, right? Right, because you know, you can sell coffee or you can sell a daiquiri or you can sell tea or you can do a smoothie and it's in and out and it's transactional. Or certain of these pockets, these areas, and I think Folsom was unique at the time. And yes, and I think this area here is behind Folsom, so to speak. It's catching up, and it could really use something very communal, like you said. And then you get to see it happen, which is awesome, right?

SPEAKER_01 43:14

We love it. That's what I said. It's just amazing to see all the people come together. People come for Bible studies, they come for business meetings, they come for we have a community breakfast that has a hundred people. We do women in business the first, the second Wednesday of every month. We do, we started out doing tons of um music and every Friday, first Friday. But my dad and I quickly, not quickly, we did it for years, but it was really that was hard, I would say. Every Friday night. And I had 12 year old kids. Yeah. I was losing it. I'm not gonna lie. I was it was really stressful for me because, like I told y'all, my main goal in life was to be a mother. You know, so for this to happen, I divorced. My husband and I divorced when my kids were 12.

SPEAKER_04 43:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 43:57

So that was the hardest thing I've ever And it was three months before Gideop opened. So that was the most difficult thing that I had ever gone through because I lost hope at that point.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

You know, when God was, you know, making you, He was like, you know what, we're gonna give this girl, we're gonna give her the ability to really handle lots of things all at once. And you clearly are wired to be able to do those things because it keeps happening to you and you keep surviving and succeeding, right? Which is good. And it it to me that's inspiring for people who are going through challenges in their life. It's like, look, you know, life is gonna throw some curveballs, and some people get much, much bigger challenges than others, right?

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Yeah. And growth and change to me is just that's my motto in life. It look change is gonna happen, period. Meaning it could be for the good, it could be for the bad. Right. I mean, it's gonna that's just what life is, it changes. And then growth, if you don't have a growth mindset, like I have to have a growth mindset. Otherwise, I will lose my mind. You know what I'm saying? Like it just it's not possible to you have to learn from it. And that's what I mean by growth.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

That you are, while you might get nervous about it, you're willing to to do things you haven't done before, things that make you uncomfortable. You're not you're not scared of the uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

No, I'm not. And I will say, like, even you know, early on in my life, like I think I get a lot from both of my parents, but my dad is the one that is so driven, you know, like he's so driven. And I would not say that I'm anywhere near as driven as my father, but he taught me that you can do just about anything. And like, so I built three homes whenever before my children were born. So between 21 and 29, my ex-husband and I built three, we had built three homes. The first home, we had a somebody that built it for us. We had a contractor, and so I watched him. And then the second home, I was like, I can do that. And then the third home, I said, I could do that. So my goal was to, we were like, okay, well, we're both, you know, middle class, whatever it is you want to call us. I we didn't know, you know, but it was like, well, we know we could do it. And then we bought a little house down the bayou in like Ponicham or something, you know. We bought it for like $20,000. Not we didn't live in it. We had bought built it.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

With the last name like you have, they were very large.

SPEAKER_01 46:18

Well, I was the boulanger at the Melanger. So I was fresh, too. He was from down the bayou. So we bought, and then we we made 20 grand on the little because we flipped it and we bought we so that was our first little introduction to like making some little extra, you know, cash or whatever. And so yeah, but I we did that made me believe in myself a lot because you know, we were a good combination, the two of us. He could do a lot of things, and then I had the mindset of like I can organize it and pay it and set it all up. So yeah, I mean, you do I learned a lot doing those little things like that early on in my early 20s, really. Because after I had when after I had kids, my whole life went in a good way, but you know, like there wasn't any like building, you know, thinking about building house. No, you're just thinking, how do I survive today and keep these kids alive? Yeah, yeah. Actually, I did build a house after, I'm sorry. I did build after them one more. That's it. That's a lot though.

SPEAKER_00 47:20

And I don't know if you'll have an answer to this, but you know, so when you think about getting up as it sits today, and I want to talk about so many other things you're doing, but let's just focus on the coffee because that was kind of the beginning. Um when you look back at the 10 years, like what do you think made it communal as opposed to transactional? Because a minute ago you're like, well, you know, you need a drive-thru, we didn't know what the hell was going to work. My dad does this building, like no one may even come in. You think coffee, people want to grab it on the go? Very transactional. Yeah. Uh and clearly companies are having a lot of success with that economic. But what do you think was the special sauce?

SPEAKER_01 47:57

Um, I think the people that you you know.

SPEAKER_00 48:00

You mean in your family?

SPEAKER_01 48:02

Yeah, our family, absolutely. My dad is there all the time. My dad, like I told you, he's a net worker. That's what he even though he's in the oil field, that's what he did. I mean, I ran into a guy that worked for my dad, and he came into the gallery and he goes, I'll never forget, I was in Saudi Arabia. And I said, they couldn't understand me, and I said, Frank, Richeron or whatever, and they go, I know Frank. And that's what he said. Like, you know, he's like, My dad does not meet a stranger. When I tell you, I mean, he will talk to the wall if nobody's talking to him. Like, usually men are not that talkative. I get in the car with them and I talk a lot, and I'm like, Dad, you're talking too much.

SPEAKER_00 48:43

But we really do have a lot in common.

SPEAKER_01 48:45

Yeah. So he is a like, my dad is just a natural born, like, salesman, I guess. And he really enjoys people. He enjoys getting to know, he likes their stories, he loves hearing. So he talked to people nonstop. I had to do the payroll and the ordering. And so I definitely was a part of it. And I I love all the people so much, but I couldn't get into all that. So I would have to say I owe it really we owe it to my dad because he was always present and around and visiting. Right. And so he would go and walk up to people, even if they're having meetings, and introduce himself and just say, I don't want to interrupt you, but I want to say thank you for coming, you know. And so if he's around, he's gonna be talking to you.

SPEAKER_00 49:27

You know, earlier you talked about the hospitality that your families were just naturals and always had parties at your home and you had a long range of kids, so lots of opportunities to to do gatherings, and you picked up hospitality from them. And so, you know, it's it's funny because I always feel like hospitality is a dying art. Yeah. And but when you go to old school Italian restaurants, and we have we're very blessed to have several of those here. It's funny that the owners still come out of the kitchen and make make their rounds. We were at Sal and Judy's not that long ago, and you know, the owner rolls out and just starts walking around and you know, says hello, and and it it it it goes a long way. And uh and so I think the fact that your dad just and I don't know that they're doing that because they write a book that said, Hey, you know, when you have a restaurant, make sure you come out the kitchen. I'm sure there are books that say that. Yeah, it's but a lot of times it doesn't really work for people that it's not natural for it.

SPEAKER_01 50:28

It is 100% natural, right? Yes, for my family, I will say it's a 100% natural for my family, especially my father and even my mom. But my mom doesn't really get involved in all of this. She's she's like, I'm done. I've raised my kids and I'm done, you know. Because my dad is so driven, that's what I'm saying. Like he and my mom's just like, enough, enough is enough, you know. Her mentality is more like, I'm doing other things, you know. So, but yeah, he definitely is the person I would say, and the thing is, is because he that's why we opened the gallery, because there were so many people that would come in and these artists would come in and these older ones. And that's when people have the time to do these things that are their hobbies and these passion projects that they're so excited about. So, what he what would happen is we'd meet people that were involved with um that were artists. And so my dad was like, we need a gallery in this, and he goes, and he everything we always said is we know this is premature, we know it's premature, but but you know, you gotta have the mentality of if they build, if you build it, they'll come. And fortunately, my dad is able to own the buildings. So if he doesn't make money, it's not a big deal to him. And right, you know, it's a labor of love, is really, if I had to say, it's really what it what it is. It's a it's a hobby for some for him. Some of this, I guess, is maybe maybe that's not the right thing.

SPEAKER_00 51:54

Is it because he thinks that hey, I've gonna I'm gonna have an investment in the property, and if for some reason this doesn't work, then I'll find someone to buy it or lease it.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

Yeah, he's definitely a smart business man, I would say, but you know, it is an investment in the end of the day. I mean, he owns a building, right? And all he's gotta do is pay for the you know electrical. If it's something doesn't work out, it's not the end of the world. But the the the best part about it is it gave people a place to now have their art.

SPEAKER_00 52:24

And so, you know, and here comes a crazy man from California, my father-in-law, driving through Folsom, and he goes, Wait a minute, there's an art gallery here. Because he grew up in Manhattan Beach in the LA area, and it's obviously a much bigger town, you know, and he's like, pull in there. So we pulled in and he was just thought it was awesome that here we are in this little bitty town, and there's this really cool art gallery. And then he looked around at his wife Charlotte and he's like, I'm buying something. He didn't even know what he was gonna get yet. He's like, doesn't matter. He's like, 'cause believes in support, he loves art, but also, you know, in supporting things like that is really cool.

SPEAKER_01 53:02

And that is the thing about life. Like you start realizing when you're younger, you know, you have your mind made up and on what you know you're gonna do. But like what this has all taught me is to buy local, you know, this is you're putting back into your community. Yeah, you know, for the longest time as a family, we lived on the south end of Folsom. So we lived on 1078 off of 1078. So, pretty much, if it wasn't for school and turning to the left and going towards Folsom, we turned to the right because that's where the grocery, the bigger grocery. Civilization was. Yeah, where yeah, exactly. And so for us, it was really exciting 11 years ago when we were like, we're turning left, we're turning left. And that's basically what we did. And, you know, we just started building and doing everything we could to try to bring more people that way in a in a healthy way, right? You know, we didn't want it to be, we didn't want it to blow up or be, but Katrina, not Katrina, COVID caused, I would say, more notoriety and awareness to Folsom because people were looking for outdoor activities. And then Bogachitta is such an amazing park that people started coming to Bogachitta, and then they were passing, and then they were seeing that giddy up, and then they were using our drive-through to be quick, and then they were seeing our little paddock in the back, and like, what is this? A green space to go and walk your dog or whatever, you know. So it just kind of it was a slow and gradual process, you know, through the last 10 years, but very grateful.

SPEAKER_00 54:39

When you when you think about, because I didn't really know how long. Yeah, I mean, when we spoke one day at the gym, I knew it wasn't like a 50-year business, but I I really didn't know it was just 10 years because when you see all the things that you guys are doing now, so you've got the coffee shop, then you do the art gallery next door, yeah, and then there's some other things y'all are doing.

SPEAKER_01 55:00

Yeah, we have um the stables, so we call them the stables, and it's really Airbnb. You can go online and rent, and if you want to stay the night, we have three, we have a and it's all equestrian themed. We try to name everything like the paddock in the back is a music venue and w area to walk, and we have so last year we had that bad drought, and a lot of the trees in the paddock were bad, and my dad is like, oh no, we're not tearing that down. You know, he cut the tree at the where the bad part was, and then he had a man come in and carve all these animal sculptures through the wood.

SPEAKER_04 55:40

How cool is that?

SPEAKER_01 55:41

That's a really cool thing because we have turtles, raccoons, eagles, fox, owls, and then that's like an to me, that's such a neat thing because kids love it. So they get to go and walk, and we're trying to make it into an art walk. So not only do you have the the wood sculptures by Steve Tresvik, great man, you have his sculptures that he's done with the wood, but now you have we we have some other art that's come through, and we're trying to make it to where you just kind of kind of wind through. And then we also have the um community garden. So my dad and I had the idea of a garden years and years ago, and then one day we went to a meeting for like some development, and they brought up that they were doing a garden somewhere, and so I immediately went up to them and I was like, this is something that we want to do in Folsom. We have the property, we have the land, whatever. If y'all are interested, come and check us out and see. Well, they decided to do it at the park, at Magnolia Park, which we understand that's city property, you know what I mean. We we get it, but we were like, we're already, we already had that in our mind and in motion. We'd already had two green barns on it. And so basically, my dad was like, we're just gonna start putting doing what we want to do. It doesn't have to be anything. Well, it's turned out to be precious and beautiful, and it we have murals there, and we have a ton of Steve's wood and sculptures, but now like there's pig, huge stalks of corn and some like a butterfly, and we have like a little mushroom garden and a pumpkin patch, and it's all wood, but it's a good place for kids to go, and then but we also have the real vegetables, and all of that we have a master gardener, and we also partner with LSU Ag. They've come in and wanted to be a part of it because Miss Laura, she's so professional and she's doing such a good job, and she's one of the master gardeners through LSU you know, agriculture, and so she anything that is not used by the community, or if you participate, it goes to the uh food bank. So that's I think that's what ultimately why it has become community too, is because we just everything we do involves the people, right? I mean, otherwise, and so that's what you do, they tell their friends. So when we have like a little uh art events, they tell their friends and then they come and then they're like, you know, and they get to show their art and then they all look around and kind of see, and then they bring more people, you know. I mean, that's really That's really cool.

SPEAKER_03 58:16

I mean, yeah, so you can totally spend half a day out there with the case. You can you can spend a few hours for sure. Now, going back to the art gallery, what is the name of your art gallery?

SPEAKER_01 58:25

Far Horizons.

SPEAKER_03 58:26

Far Horizons, okay.

SPEAKER_01 58:27

So it's that's a cute story with the name Mr. Ron Jenkins, who I love and adore. He passed away a couple of years ago, but um he became when we were building Giddy Up. Amazing man. I mean, if he was still alive, you would 1000% have to interview him because he is the most interesting man I've ever met in my life. And I adore him. But um anyway, he had a his little gallery, not a gallery, but he worked and collected antiques and all that. And so his name of his place was Far Horizons. And so when we were wanting to open up, I said to my dad, I was like, I wish we could have the name Far Horizons because my dad's initials are Frank Alexander Richeron, and then my the other initials are Frank, Ashley, and Ron, which is my you know, because I would joke and tell make fun because my dad and Ron did not know each other, but they before Giddy U. But when Ron came in, it was like those two were like the best of friends. They they didn't know each other before, but because they had both traveled, Ron had his children, they lived in like Asia, they lived in Australia, so they had that traveling and that desire. But anyway, he was just the most interesting man. And so I thought, and I used to call him Sarsky and Hutch, and you know, like make little cute names up for him. I call him Bo and Luke, and and I was Daisy. But anyway, uh I just love, you know, loved him so much. But I forgot where I was going with my little story, but the name. Oh, yeah, Far Horizons. So that's where that came from. I love that. Is that it, but it really is just, I guess, because you think of art, it's just, I guess, the you know, Far Horizons. I don't know. It made me think of I just thought it was a good name.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:20

I like it. Yeah. I like it. That's pretty awesome. So this is all in the same area.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:24

So we're all all the buildings connected.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:27

The art gallery, the coffee shop. It's almost like y'all have redeveloped that area, if you even call it a redevelopment. Maybe y'all have developed it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:33

Maybe there were Yeah, we really did, I guess, develop it because years ago it was a um video store. And then I think well, before we bought it, it was a nursery where where Gide Up is. Okay. Um the where the gallery is was where my dentist was when we were kids.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:51

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:52

So all these this different things, you know, we we can remember. We even opened up a snowball stand at one point, and this past year I decided not to open it for just personal reasons, but it was just it's a it's a lot managing more people.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:09

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:10

And when all the kids want to kind of um like they hit want a summer job, but then they're going on vacation with their parents, and it's hard to manage, you know. And I'm just like, okay, this is just not really, I have to put my time and energy into something else. And then it's hard to to pay somebody else to do it for just a short period of you know time. So I don't know. It was just it it didn't work out this year, but it was it was a good little thing to have, and it actually was great because my kids, up until they grew up, that's what they did, and so I was very grateful to be able to have them. And my nieces, one of my nieces worked there, so we've tried to keep it in the family a little bit to you know, have the family work as well, right? But I'm trying to think of what else we have. Um so you mentioned something about a library. Oh, yeah, that's a good little story. Okay, so the library was the first library of Folsom, and where Giddy Up is was where Aunt DC lived, and she was the librarian. Folsom Elementary did not have a library, so they had to walk to the library to go and actually check out a book, and they would allow, I think, one or two kids at a time to go in because it is literally small, so small. So that little building was pretty dilapidated. I mean, literally the entire roof was caved in, the windows were crushed. I mean, it really, and again, I've learned a lot from my dad. Like, you don't just throw it away, you repurpose it. And so my dad has the idea that he was going to make it a historic designation. And so we did.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:47

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:48

And we had a historian that came in, Mr. Jerry Laish, who's wonderful, he knows all about books, and he came in and helped us with that. He started researching it, and so he's actually the gentleman that is there when you go to the library, and so he does he'll do book signings there. It's directly behind Gide Up, like you could literally throw a rock. So it's still a library. Yeah, it's still a library, but it's a museum library, basically. So what he does is he has books out for like kids that they can come in and take a free book, and then on Saturdays, he sets up a tent and we get donations. So then he puts the little stuff out, labels them, like what type of books, and then he'll sell some like a book for a dollar, and it just kind of puts the money towards the um keeping it, you know, going or whatever. And so, but that building, getting back to that, my dad, you're gonna, y'all gonna laugh at this, but the the when it was caving in, it had fern on the top, resurrection fern. So when my dad decided he was redoing it, he took the whole resurrection fern off, put it to the side, and he's like, that's going back on once we put the new roof. So the roof still has the resurrection fern on it. Oh, that's pretty cool. So my dad, my dad's would tell you, y'all really need to interview my dad. He's the one that you know is all about the sounds like it.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:09

Yeah, he's a very interesting character. So getting back to the library because I'm investing. You love the library, yeah. So, how do you guys get donations on books?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:18

So people donate the books and you guys sell them and yeah, you wouldn't believe the people that call us up, or I'm leaving books on the back on the uh front. Or, you know, we somebody's moving and they're like, We're we're moving, we just want to get rid of our books. We had somebody that donated their entire library. And the thing is, is like Mr. Jerry doesn't put anything before after 1980 because that's when the library was no longer in um service. Doesn't put anything before anything before 1980 is in the library. If it's not, then that's what he kind of sells and will put it out for everybody because the other ones he actually literally has it. And so, in order for it for us to get the historic designation, we had to make it exact replica of what it was. So, like my mother, she they they literally still had the uh lines, the little short lines, and they were so filthy. I think my mom said she washed them like 15 times. So those are up, and then the the wooden um shelves, we didn't really know what the color of the the library was anymore, but it was this bright, bright like aqua color, and you could see one little strip that was left on the thing on the bookshelf when it was moved or something like that, and so we were able to match the color. My dad brought a color and said, match that, and then we matched it. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:44

So yeah, I love the fern.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:46

Yeah, I I need to go see the fern. Yeah, and then the fern dies. Oh no, snow when it's it dies every day, and then it like if it rains, it comes back. Oh, okay. So you'll be like you're gonna be. You don't know if you come into a uh brown on the top or if it's gonna be bright green. It just depends on if it rained. It's amazing. I love that.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:03

I know. So the so the library, the art walk, which y'all call the paddock paddock.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:08

Yeah, the paddock is where we have a little stage there, is really what we do, is it just have a little stage and that's where people play music. And on Saturday, we have a farmer's market in between, well, it's on the other side of the gallery, and in between a building that we're redoing. Right now, that's the the next kind of project that we're working on. But we've already redone the roof. And if you go in on the inside, it looks almost identical to Giddy Up on the inside. It's just the outside has a new roof, and but the the actual walls on the inside and outside are not done. Because we we've got to figure out what we're gonna do. And if somebody wants to rent it, we'd have to build it out. And if somebody doesn't, then we have to do something, and then we still don't know what we want to do.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:49

So is this area all like a little town square?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:51

Oh, that's so basically yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:53

I love town square.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:54

Yeah, you basically have all the buildings all in a row, and then if you look behind, they all go in like anywhere you can kind of see from Giddy up. My dad and my mom own.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:05

Well, they're creating the town square. Yeah. It's not we're creating it. The town square.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:10

Oh, it's not in the town square. Okay. But was it a town square at one time?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:13

Well, it, you know, we're Folsom has the two red lights. So everything in that little area is um, it just didn't have a whole we didn't have a lot. Like we have Maine's grocery, great grocery store, we have scoops, a lot of places that have been around, but there wasn't really like you could go to Gus's and they you could sit and have a, you know, relax and have a coffee and food, but you never had anything that you just like stayed a little while.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:41

It's essentially on a highway. Yeah, but yeah, as opposed to us like a town square that has the crossing streets and we with Giddy up, you have a place that people stay for hours and hours and hours.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:51

Like they'll come at eight in the morning and don't leave till you know, for two bucks, you gotta just get you a cup of coffee and use the internet, and we tell everybody, we're not keen yet, and I tell them all the time, like, even if you want to stay while we're cleaning, just get approved.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:07

No, but yeah, we just we love people, you know. That's awesome. We really do. We enjoy we enjoy everybody that comes, and we love seeing I love seeing all the older ones. I wanted to do, I told her I wanted to do a podcast because I want to interview older ones.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:22

I know, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:23

Because I'm surrounded by older, you know, older people. That's my graphic. Yeah, I think that'd be funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:29

Dropping elder knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:30

Yeah, I know. Well, you do you meet so many people that are so um there's a gentleman that comes to Giddy Up all the time and he was an air air a pilot. And so we just start talking to him, and he's just telling me all about he was in the Air Force and telling me everything, and he he loves Giddy Up. He's like, I wouldn't even know what to do with myself if I didn't have it. Because he comes by himself every day, and you know, and we just sit and visit with him, you know, and I I love that. I love it for him, and it it satisfies him for that day, right? You know, he'll even come in the afternoon. I'm like, you back?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:07

So but I bet they have great stories. Yeah, they do.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:11

So what do you think the what's one of the maybe biggest challenges that you guys faced with the coffee shop when you first started it? When when you look back, you know, what what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:25

I'm trying to think. I think I wrote something down. Let me just look. Um I think getting back to the no prior uh training in the industry for me, I didn't know anything about it. I really didn't. I mean, I just but like again, I said, you know, once you know you can you're capable, it's not like I have this attitude like the sky's the limit, you know. It's just I know if you put your mind to it, you can do it. And I knew that we liked people and I knew that we had a standard, you know, like I knew that we wanted it to have a certain feel to it, right? So I knew if we stayed in that direction, we were gonna be okay. And even if I had to work every day, all day, we were gonna we were gonna do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:10

But it was it was challenging, like just was it was it trying to figure out like the numbers, or was it trying to figure out the inventory? Was it trying to figure out the menu when you look back?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:21

Yeah, I would say, yeah. I mean the menu is definitely something, you know, when you're dealing with a drive-thru and you're dealing with another, you know, you have your main area that people are taking orders and then you have a drive-thru, that's like, oh my God. And then you're thinking about how many people. And then I worry about the employees a lot. Like, are you making enough money? Yeah, like are you getting enough tips? Like all these different things that go through your mind, you just you can't help but think, and my brain doesn't shut off. So I'm you're thinking of every I mean, from inventory to tips. I mean, it's just like it doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't shut off. It just doesn't. And then I'm trying to be a mom on top of that. Was my biggest challenge for me was being because I'm that was my that's my passion really is a mom. And so that I didn't I didn't really I felt pulled. I can't say that I didn't like the direction my life was going, but I really I didn't know where my life was going, you know. You divorced. Yeah, that work work work life balance. I think if I had one and could focus, it was like, okay, it's gonna be okay. And then, but you had both, and I had three kids that I was leaving at home. And you know, I had to once again rely on my village to step up, and I'm thinking, what am I doing? You know, but but you also have employees and you have, you know, you once you once you take on this responsibility, it's not like you can say, Well, I'm not gonna do that. That's not how that works, you know. So you have to balance it and figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:00

Yeah, and I think you know, having a purpose in being a parent to me is very important. It's probably the most important thing. At the same time, having a purpose beyond that is also really important because eventually the kids grow up.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:20

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:21

And uh and you know, I'm 51. So I and I have some friends who are in their early 60s. And so it's like you see this struggle now of well, the kids are gone, now what? Yeah. And I I've seen some folks who who didn't really have maybe a lot of purpose besides raising their kids, and they've done a great job because the kids are now moving on and doing their own thing, and then they're looking around like, well, you know, now what it what do I do? Right. And and it can be a real challenge because hobbies work, yeah, but sometimes a hobby doesn't necessarily give you purpose. Yeah. You know, sometimes it does. If your hobby, you know, I guess it's just individualized, it could be really anything. But you know, listening to your story, it's kind of like it's like you were battling at that time, um, but finding the balance. And then now your children are in their early twenties, and now you've got this thing that that you can just tell you're so proud of as you should be, and energetic about it, and it's still moving. But you have no idea where the hell this thing's going, because you know, you could get back today and your dad's like, so I got this other plan, and you're like, all right, I guess we'll figure it out. Right. So I think I think it's it's you know, one of the things I'm I'm taking from listening to you is that it's really important for people to make sure that they're finding purpose for themselves, yeah. Uh in addition to being a caregiver and and all those those types of things, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:54

Absolutely. Because I lost you can lose yourself. You really can, and I lost myself. I mean, I've had some pretty low times, I will admit, not knowing, like just what am I doing? You know, sad, mad, whatever you want to call it. But the last couple of years have been a major, major uh challenge again. I feel like it just it's like it comes in these ways, and I'm just like, okay, what in the world? But one thing that I do know is that when I turned 50, I was like, I'm not this is not the way my life is going to be, you know, and I basically made some changes. And I'm I'm really happy because I have found some of my creativity, I guess you could say. And actually, thanks to my dad, once again, he it's like your parents know what's best for you, you know. And my dad basically asked me to, they couldn't find a singer for their little band. And he's like, uh, my sister would sing a lot, but she's really a professional singer. And, you know, she would be in plays and things like that, and she would still want to sing a little bit, but my dad, again, he'll take it, he'll just keep going, signing you up for this and that. And you know, my dad and I work really well together because I'm like, just whatever, tell me what to do, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:12

Tell me where to be.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:13

I'm easy going. But um anyway, they said, We need a singer. Would you sing? And I'm like, no, not no, but hecto. It ain't happening. And so the guys go, Well, we heard you can sing. Micah says you can sing, your dad says you can sing, and I'm like, no, I'm not doing it. So finally they were like, Would you just consider coming on a Monday night? And guess what? I love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:36

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:36

So now you're and we had a little time where we were like had a break for just like a couple of weeks around Christmas time and all that. And I actually missed it, like really, and because I hadn't really been doing it that long at all. But it it's again, it's another thing that I need to be pushed out of my comfort zone because there are things that like I know that I'm can be good at, I guess. Like maybe the building of a house or something. Like, I know I could do that. But when it came time to being like in the spotlight or all that, that is not my personality at all. Even though I'm I'm I can talk, but I can talk in a small group or do something like that. I didn't want to be the center of attention ever in my life, even though all my friends will say differently, because I'm usually the one that's talking more than you know all of them. But I'm still kind of shy when it comes time to, you know, that kind of stuff. So I am proud of myself though for doing it because So what kind of music? We play the 70s. The men the men are like in their 60s and 70s, and so we play 60s, 70s. We even play some. Um, my my daughter sings like uh she sings too, she sings zombie and wagon wheel. So that's more uh you know 90s and 2000s, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:47

Um zombies made a real comeback.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:49

Yeah, yeah, it has.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:50

The cranberries.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:52

I'll sing like a lot of Stevie Nicks, that type of stuff. So is that your favorite? I was gonna do that. That's what I'm kind of favoring anything to sing. Like um, Ain't no Sunshine, you know, that kind of stuff. Stand by me. Um I kind of I'm like, y'all gotta let me come into this. Give us a little thing. I'm gonna see a set of her cell phone next. Oh god. You want to make me pass out? Oh no, no, no. Remember, we can edit anything. No, we can edit it.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:19

Well, Stevie Nix is playing Saturday.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:21

I know, and I'm planning on going. My sister goes to every single day of the thing, so I usually go with her for one day.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:27

We're we're currently planning to go. The weather does not. I know, that's right. And I'm like, I don't know if I want to be storm all day.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:35

I guess what happens when you get our age, you're like, making that call tomorrow. Yeah, I was gonna say, well, they'll we'll know more by tonight. But back in a day when Chris would take um his staff to Jazz Fest when we worked together at the law firm. Um, do you remember some of those days? It could be storming. And he was like, No, we're going. And I would be like, Well, we have clients and we have to go. But those were miserable days. Like, I won't do it. I won't do it anymore. It's good to know she had fun. But being in the mud, I mean, sometimes we're like in the mud, it's storming, we're still out there. That's awesome, though. That's some of the fun today, though. In the good memories, you know. I would I it's it's definitely a memory. Uh, I think I'm just older now, and I'm like, nope, I don't need to be in the mud to listen to music. Yeah, not doing it. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:22

Well, and I was gonna go see Tyler Childress Saturday because I've never seen him.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:27

I love him.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:28

And um, and that I'm like, I mean, I like the guy, but how much do I really like him?

SPEAKER_01 1:18:33

I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:34

You know, that's kind of where I'm at.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:35

Well, I'm a big Stevie Nicks fan, but I I mean, I'm with you. I'm still waiting to find out if the weather well, maybe it won't be like a whole day rain and event.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:45

It didn't look good as of last night. But yeah, what an amazing voice she has.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:48

Yeah, she does have a good voice.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:50

Uh I would argue one of the best female vocalists ever. Yeah. Um, when she was in her prime, it was pretty incredible.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:59

Yeah, I'm trying to sound like her when I sing.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:03

It's good you pick someone who's, you know, yeah, I know the best of the best.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:09

So we'll transition into our last question. But before we get there, I mean, I feel like some important things came up or themes I would say in in this podcast is believing in yourself. Yeah. You can basically do anything you want to do. You just have to work hard. Hope, a lot of hope. And the last thing was pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. So I think those were all great, great little topics and little drop in knowledge, yeah. Um, things that came up. So I definitely thank you so much for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:43

Oh, thank you, thank y'all for inviting me. I appreciate it. This is another thing that would be out of my comfort zone. And you did great, and you did great.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:50

And so we'll end up with one easy question. Okay. This is a fun question. If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be and where would you go? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:04

All right, that's a good one. I think if I had to do anything, I would want my mom and my dad. Awesome. Um they're getting older and I'm really struggling with that, I would say. Seeing them, my mother had a stroke recently, so that's been very challenging for us as a family. She is the matriarch of this family. She is the glue, you know. And my dad, too, I see him struggling. So it's like I want to spend as much time as I can. I'm very grateful to work with my dad, even though he does drive me nuts most of the time. I do I do love them so much. But I know I would want my kids. That is one. And I think I would take them to the man cook because that the man cook is hibachi. Oh, okay. And that was just their thing we did as kids, and it's just always a good memory for me. They were um, they loved to go see the man cook. The man cook. Could you catch the egg a few times? This big mouth, what do you think?

SPEAKER_03 1:21:05

I love it. Yeah, so well, awesome. I think that's a great answer. And again, thank you so much. Thank y'all. I appreciate it. This was great. You do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:14

And we're uh coming to Giddy Yup.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:16

Yeah, we are, and it's on me. And when y'all come, make sure you I want to do, I want to do everything. I want the work. I want to do video, far horizon.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:24

I want to go to the back.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:25

I want to do the we even have a sculpture that we rent to um people, and one is Daisy's Vintage Market, and it's a really neat place to go to. You would enjoy going to see what she has. She curates her place fantastic. And she's it's like a little mini market that people bring their things and then you know they can sell it. So it gives a small place for people to have some of their creative side. Yeah. Not like the art gallery where it's a lot of pictures and you know, that type of art, but other they might sell even old iron pots, you know, and kind of fun stuff. Vintage. Vintage though. Love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:02

We have a reason to go to full fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:03

Yeah, you do.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:05

All right.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:05

All right. Well, it's great seeing you. Yes, thank you. Take care.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:08

Okay. Bye bye.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:09

Bye bye.