I GOT A JOB!

hiii! 

I literally just yapped about my last 2 weeks, and that's it, but I ended up rambling about shrimp for 15 minutes at the end :) 

see you next time!!!

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SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hey everyone, welcome back to Long Story Longer. It has been a couple weeks, but I'm back. Um I don't know why I haven't recorded. I just kind of haven't. It slipped my mind. And then, well, of course I've thought about it, and then I'm like, well, I don't really have anything to talk about. So um, but yeah, we're back. I'm in my parents' camper in our shed. It's 8:30 at night, and I'm literally in my pajamas and ready to go to sleep. But I, of course, wanted to podcast and then watch TV and then read and go to bed. I've been watching The Real Housewives of Rhode Island, which is a new um like Bravo show. It's a new um series. Like they don't have the Real Housewives of Rhode Island, but they do now, and it's season one, and I just wanted to watch it because I like Real Housewives of Salt Lake City because I've like watched it from the beginning and and it's just a good show. But like the other Real Housewives, I'm sure I would like, but it's just too much because there's like 12 seasons, and I'm like, okay, I can't, I don't have time to like start from the beginning and catch up um now. But this one is season one, so I was like, okay, this is doable. There is like six episodes already out, which I like because I've started and I'm on like episode three and I'm really liking it, and there's more to watch. So yeah, that's my new show I'm watching. And it's pretty good. I didn't know any of the like women, obviously. Um, except one. She was on The Bachelor. Um, I don't know whose season she was on, but then she was on again. Or then she was on Bachelor in Paradise, and that's where she met her husband that she's with now. So I like know of her, but yeah, it's pretty good. Okay, I need a drink of water. Parched. I don't know why. I need to wipe it off first because Mav would like look at earlier. Although they say dog's mouths are cleaner than humans, but I don't think that's true for Mav. He doesn't eat like a normal dog, he eats like raw and like animal. Like he ate half a squirrel the other day, he eats like raw goat legs, he'll eat cow poop. Like his mouth is definitely not cleaner than ours, so hold on, I need a drink.

unknown 2:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Also, I saw this TikTok of well, it doesn't matter what it, but it was about talking about like cold water, and people in the comments were like, I can't drink cold water, it doesn't like quench my thirst. I'm like, if the water isn't ice cold where I can like feel it going down my throat and into my stomach, that's how cold it is. I don't want it. I hate like warm water or like just halfway cold. I need it literally ice cold, like it just came from a glacier, like freezing. So that's how I like my water. And it does quench my thirst. Okay, so hope you all are doing well. Um, I don't really know what I'm gonna talk about. I'm kind of just gonna like go through my see, this is my thing. I'm like the past couple weeks I've been like, I don't know what to talk about, but I'm just gonna go through my camera roll and like see what I've been up to. That's literally what I'm gonna do, okay? So last time we talked was right after the Luke Combs concert, which was a blast. Um, and then oh yeah, okay. So my roommates and I made a list of places that we want to eat or visit or have a drink at or whatever before we leave Ames, and we've been checking them off. Uh, we're doing pretty well. And let me see if I can find our list. I don't know if I'll be able to, but I should remember most of them. Oh yeah, here. I feel like we maybe added some to this, but here was our checklist as of two weeks ago. Flight in Huxley, which we went to and was incredible. The wine bar in Ames, I think it's called Dolce VD or just VD maybe. It's on like the main street of Ames. We want to go there, but we have not. I well, I actually think Kenzie and Campbell have both been there separately, but we haven't gone together, and I don't know if Ellie's been. And then Cyclone Liquor Speakeasy. So yeah, if you didn't know, Cyclone Liquor in Ames, the one that's like by Hobby Lobby and like the um high V that's like on Lincoln Way. There was a liquor store called Cyclone Liquor, and there's a speakeasy like underneath of it, apparently. That's super cool. And we need to go. Have not gone to there yet. Then Great Plains Pizza. So we did go here. It's like an Ames favorite, like a it's kind of like an like Hickory Park. Like if you're in Ames, you eat here and Oh wait, hold on. Sorry, I thought I stopped recording. We didn't love it. They're known for their like thick wheat crust. So we got one of those because we thought we had to in a what did we get on it? Oh, we just got like a I forget what it was called, but it was basically just like sausage and peppers and onions, which is like what I would normally get on like a pizza. And then we got a flat well, it was called a flat bread or like a thin crust, but it was not very thin. And that was taco pizza. That one was like bad. Like I did not like that one at all. But the thick crust one was pretty good. They're also known for their like honey, not the honey, but they have like a big thing of honey at every table, and you're supposed to like put honey either on your whole pizza or like most more specifically eat it with your wheat wheat crust. And it was fine. Like, I don't know, I I don't think I would go back. I don't really know what the rave is about, but maybe that's just me. Another place we want to go to is cornbread. It's like a barbecue place, I think, in Ames. We we really gotta go there. Because I think it'd be good. And West Street Deli. Okay, I said we're doing good at this list, but we've been it's because it's because we've added, like, we'll like go somewhere for dinner and then add it to our list and then check it off when we're there so that it looks like we've done stuff, but we actually haven't. West Street Deli, we want to go to. It's like over by campus, well, on the west side of campus, and it's like a well, it's a deli. So they have sandwiches and stuff, and I've actually had it once catered, but it was like they just got like white bread with turkey and like mayo, and so it just tasted like that. But I want to go and like get an actual sandwich that I want. Next is El Jefe. We did go here, a new Mexican restaurant names right on Lincoln Way. It is so good. I've been twice now. It's incredible. Their chips are like really, really thin and white and like super salty. I the first time they brought the chips out, I was like, what? And now every other chip I'm like these are so so so so so so good. And then wallabies. We did go to Wallaby's. I had been there before. It's just it's another Ames staple. It's really, really good. Um, everything I've ever got there is good. They're I don't know if they're known for, but my family, specifically my dad, likes their cheese fries. Maybe they're like cheese, like dip is like homemade or something. I don't know. Um, so we did go there. Oh, and I had a drink there that was really good, and now I can't remember what it was. It was something raspberry. I think it was maybe just like a raspberry mule or something. Or strawberry or no, no, that was where I got the jalapeno one. Sorry, I'm forgetting. I think I got a jalapeno mule there, which I love. I love a spicy mule, spicy drink in general, and it was good. Um, yeah, that's all on our original list. I know we've this list is on Campbell's phone, so I don't have it, but um we have gone more places and crossed them off, but why can't I think? We've also added more places. We want to go to oh, we went to Cafe Bouddhulaire, which I I have gone many, many, many times over my college experience. It's so good. If you're in Ames, you need to go to Cafe Bouddhalaire. It's right on Lincoln Way, right across the street from campus. It's so, so, so good. It looks like you're in like a little European cafe. Um oh my god, the food is incredible. I get the Beirut Sandwich, if you're wondering. That's I think that's what you should get. It's the best thing there that I've ever tried. Also, their empanadas as an appetizer are really good. They come with like a chimichuri sauce. That's amazing. Um, anyway, you all should go there. And if you like to drink, they have good long islands. So, um, then we also want to go to La Tosca, which is um a coffee shop like during the day, and then it turns into a cute like restaurant bar at night. I've gone there count like uh so many times throughout the my four years, um, just sit on their like cute patio and have a coffee and do homework. Like I do it like really often. Um and sorry, I lost my train of thought. Oh, and like I said, at night they have like dinners and it's cute to sit on the patio and people come, um, like it's always packed. And us girls want to go there and have drinks. I guess they have good drinks. Like girls have gone there and said their espresso martinis are good and whatever. So that's another one on our list. So we will see if we can get all those done. It's also just like it's like expensive to eat out, plus like we're going to the bars and spending money on drinks, and then we go out to eat, and it's I don't know, it's kind of a lot, but just gotta sacrifice it. Oh, another thing is I've been making vlogs, aka I've done two, like weekly vlogs, and posted them on YouTube. And my first one I posted on TikTok, but it was like 10 minutes long, so like nobody's watching that on TikTok. And it's really fun. Like, I really, really like it. It's also making me want to buy like a vlogging camera, which like I know that's like really, really jumping the gun. Because I've just like filmed it on my phone and posted on YouTube, and I have like 20 views, so like I don't need to buy a vlogging camera, but like I'm like, oh, it would be really fun. So yeah, if you want to watch my vlogs, they're on YouTube. I believe my username is Reynolds-Macy, or maybe it's Reynolds.macy, but something like that. And I have two vlogs up, and I think they're fun. So because I like to talk, you guys know that. And I can just like talk. It doesn't have to be like super short for TikTok. Like I did like a five-minute post-shower hair care routine on YouTube, and like I don't know, TikTok, that's just like I would have to make it into like 30 seconds, and it's just hard for me to do that. So um what else? Oh, we did the wait, did I talk about this already? I'm feeling like I did. I don't know if I talked about the kegrace. Well Yes, I definitely did talk about the Keg Race. Okay, well, we had a Keg Race, if you don't know what that is, it's where a ton of teams get together, you buy a pony keg, and you try to finish the fastest, and people get really drunk and it's fun. Um, yeah. And then we've had our series of grad pictures. So Kenzie did hers like a couple weeks ago, and then Campbell did hers, and then I did mine just a few days ago, and I went along to both of theirs and watched them. It was fun. Um I'm trying to see what else. Oh yeah, so Brady came to to town for a state of a fake invention, and so then my mom came to it. Well, my dad did too, but I didn't see him because I had a meeting that night and he only came for the evening, so um I just saw Brady and my mom and Blake and we ate at Cafe Boudelaire because it is our favorite, and then Brady got his Iowa degree. So that was um I didn't get to go to that, like I said, because I had a meeting, but what was my meeting for that day? I know it's for student council, but it was like something specific, but now I can't remember. Um also I went to my I was gonna say my dad's work. Yeah, like it he's the only one that works. No, I went to Corteva Um to do like a little job interview, like exploratory meeting type thing. Anyway, not that's not important, but it was on the day of their like 100th um anniversary of Pioneer, and it was really cool. I walked in and immediately saw my dad and I was like, oh, this place is like a party. Like it was so packed, but it was really cool. Um they had like presentations and I actually don't know what else. Like food and um like what was the room? I don't I didn't even tell my dad this. I went in their like little room of like memorabilia and they had like well it would be 1926 to 2026 of like pioneer branded things and it was cool. Um oh yeah, I'll have to update you guys on my job too. But I'll get that that at the end because we're going in chronological order of the past few weeks. But I've been working, keeping up with my, you know, my internship, my shrimp internship. And then I went golfing with Blake and Kenzie and Nick. It was fun. Kenzie, this is so true. She swung and missed or hit it bad or something and was like, golf is the ultimate rage baiter. And I'm like, I've never heard anything truer. Like, golfing is so frustrating, it's crazy. But that was fun. We went to Boone. I'd never golfed in Boone, but it was actually really nice. Um, it was a gorgeous day. And then, oh yeah, and then that night, Campbell had her picture, so we walked around with her. Oh yeah, and then we went to the bar. That was fun. We went to BNC and played bingo, and unbeknownst to us, it was country music bingo. It was amazing. Every song they played, we knew. So they played, and then you had to, if you didn't know the song, you had to figure out the song. Um, but then you just had to like cross it off if you had it on your bingo card. And um the the guys, we had never been to play bingo, and we were like asking questions like wait, because they were like bingo's starting, and we're like, we don't have cards, or whatever. And we asked the take guy uh the okay, they uh we asked the table of guys next to us, we're like, wait, asking them questions, and they're like, Okay, yeah, so you get the card, and then if you don't know the song, then you like shazam it or whatever, and we were like, oh no, we will know every song. We will know every word, we will know every song, we will know every artist. You don't know who you're talking to, you're talking to the country music experts, okay? So that was really fun because it was basically like an hour, maybe even more, of just like country song after country song playing and marking it off on our bingo card and drinking. It was really fun. And Kenzie actually won a bingo and she got a free shot. So, yeah, and then Campbell bought us all a round of shots because she wanted us to get crazy and yeah. Um, then we went to a keger that night. This podcast is just drinking, drinking, drinking. Okay, you guys gotta understand, I'm in the last month of college, okay? Just don't judge. And also, I'm not a huge drinker, like I don't always participate, okay? And if you do, that's fine. I'm just saying. Um then we went to a keger that night, and that was on there was a lot of people. Um, and Campbell did three keg stands, and like she probably doesn't want me to say this. I'm so sorry, soup. I'm so sorry. That's just like that was the highlight of my night, so I'm just sharing, but I actually won't give any more details because she probably doesn't want me to. Um yeah, no, I I won't I'll just move on. That was on a Wednesday night, though, and I had to work. Oh my god, I just accidentally got out of where I was looking for my pictures. You're kidding me. Okay, hold on. Um, that was on a Wednesday. I think I had to work the next day, if I'm remembering right. I don't know. I didn't like stay super late. So yeah, oh. Noah Khan's new album is so good. I oh wait, I know I didn't have to work that Thursday. I don't know what I did that Thursday. That Friday, I had to go into work all day. I worked from 10 to like 7.30 that night. So it was a long day, and that's the day Noah Khan's album came out. And I remember I wake, I woke up and played it, but I was like, I just want to stay at home and like listen to every song, read every lyric, digest every word. You know, um, because I love him. He's my favorite artist, but I didn't. But anyway, the album I'm loving. I honestly don't know what my favorite songs are. I of course like The End of August. I like Willing and Able. I like Dashboard. I like 23. I like all them horses. Those are probably my favorites. I know that's a lot, but it's hard to pick, okay?

unknown 17:43

Wait, what is this?

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Oh, there's a song on my recently added that I did not add. I must have done that accidentally. Then I went to work for all day Friday. So I'm, if you're new here, which I'll get into more later, but if you're new here quickly, I work for Midland Coast Shrimp um as right now as a social media intern, just like part-time. So right now I just like manage all the social media's content calendar um and you know, more, but that's the gist. So we had a big content day last Friday where it was all Cinco de Mayo themed. So we basically like through a Cinco de Mayo party and made content for it all for our social medias. It was really fun. Um started at 10. I got us coffee, and my boss Sarah, she she like thinks it's so funny that I like fruit flavors in my coffee. I talked about this in a recent podcast episode how I like love like strawberry or blueberry or banana coffee. And she was like interesting because she literally just gets an iced Americano. And with she does get milk, I think. I should know, because I like bring us coffee all the time. Yeah, iced Americano with milk, no sugar. So you can imagine that's like very bitter. I get like banana bread mocha with oat milk, like all this shit. And our coffees, though, the color looks the same, and they were the same size, and she accidentally grabbed mine and like took a big swig out of it, and then like was like, Oh my god, I just drank your drink. Like, I'm so sorry. I was like, Oh no, it's fine. We were laughing about it, and then she's like, Wait, I've made fun of you for this flavor, but that was actually really good. And I was like, Thank you, I know banana bread, it's so good. And it's not like you would think like that was just straight like sugar, and it it is definitely a lot of sugar, but I'm it doesn't taste like like that sweet to me. I don't know. It was really good anyway. So we had our whole content day, so it started at 10, and we had well, first we had to refilm a recipe from the last time that we did a content day that the microphones like stopped working, so the audio was like terrible. So we refilmed that quick because we needed to, and then we started our Cinco de Mayo Day content. So we had a tequila shrimp pineapple salsa, we had a southwestern shrimp salad, and then we had marinated grilled shrimp skewers, like kebabs. Those were our three shrimp recipes, and then we also did, because we're having a party, so we needed like more, we also did like nacho bites. It was like just like scoop, like tostito scoops with a little bit of refried beans, a little bit of um cheese, and then put that in the oven and melt it, and then top it with like whatever toppings you want. So like sour cream or salsa or guacamole, whatever. It was those were good. And then we had Mexican street corn, but we did it like on the cob. So we just made like a street corn dip, and then I say we, it was her. I was filming it, and um emotional support. But we did like corn on the cob and then put the streetcorn dip like well, okay, sorry. I can't speak. Corn on the cob, grilled the corn, and then put the street, and then I put the streetcorn dip like all over the corn. It was really good. And then oh, we had jalapeno poppers too, and then we had two drinks. We had a basil, no, sorry, mint lemonade for like none of us drank that, but we wanted to make it for the video for the content for like if you have kids, this is an easy lemonade recipe. And then we did um what were our margaritas? I think they were just classic margaritas or were they flavored? No, just classic margaritas, just a classic margarita on the rocks. But Sarah like hand squeezed um all the like lemons, limes, and orges to make the sour mix. She said it took her literally hours the night before. I was like, girl, you shouldn't have done that. But she was like, it tastes so much better, which it did taste really good. So yeah, that was our oh. And then we had more skewers. So we did shrimp skewers, like I said, but we also did pork skewers with um pork and mango. So we did like a chunk of like a cube of pork and then a cube of mango and seasoned them or marinated them or whatever and grilled them. And it was quite the feast. So we had um all the guys come like from Midland from the day like they were at the shop and then they came over for dinner. And then um some other family members came and I had Nate come because he was coming to Ames anyway. And so I was like, just come to our little Cinco de Mayo party where you can meet everyone, we're gonna have a lot of food, like it'll be great. So we had a little backyard party, and it was great. And you should go to Midland's social media pages to see the pictures and recipes that we slaved away for. Anyway, I have a lot of videos and pictures on my phone from that day. And then the next day, Nate and I toured apartments in Ankeny. We toured two different complexes and four units total, so two within each unit. Um, we toured a studio and a one bedroom in the first place, and then two different layouts of one bedrooms in the second place. And it was really fun. Um, it's exciting to like see a place and then be like, ooh, you know, like could we live here? And we like obviously the price of studios. Um I mean, we could get them for like like 900 a month. Um, obviously split between the two of us, like that wouldn't be bad at all. But we do have a couch and two recliners, and the furniture, it just simply isn't gonna fit in the living room of that studio, so I don't think we're gonna do that. Plus, it's it would be nice to have a little bit more space, but yeah, it was fun. I um don't know if we'll actually end up living at either of those places, but we'll see. We'll see where the next um couple months take us because I still have my apartment in Ames till like mid-July or even the end of July. So we have a couple months to like decide. Um, and obviously we have our home, like our parents, you know, that we could stay into if we need to. But if we could just if I could just like move all my stuff right from Ames to a new apartment and not have to um like move it all home and then back up to an apartment, that would be amazing. So that's probably what we'll end up doing. I just don't know where our apartment will be yet. And then we had a wedding. Um, some of our family friends, well, they're yeah, family friends. I I it college friend group, it's a whole group that we, you know, hang out with every year, grow up, grow up with, whatever. A lot of details there, but it was super fun. Um, it was a very, well, not very, but pretty small wedding. And um, yeah, it was great. It was at it was actually at Seven Oaks in Boone, and I did not know they were like a wedding venue, but the venue was like pretty. Um, obviously, not obviously, they got married outside, like right underneath where the slope ends, you know, like the ski slope or whatever. So that was a pretty, you know, scenery. And then inside had a nice size, like bar and happy hour area, and then um into the dance floor area. So it was a really nice venue. I was like, oh, I didn't even know you could like do weddings here, but yeah, it was fun. Um got to hang out with my family and friends and see people that we hadn't seen in a while. So then what else? Oh, Blake, and I got Blaze pizza on Sunday night when we got back to Ames. Little sibling date. That's like our favorite place to go. Um we both are obsessed with Blaise pizza, it's so good. And then I pretty much spent the week uh working on editing the shrimp content from Cinco to Mayo. Oh, and we had our senior send-off for student council. So um it was like a little party um honoring the seniors of student council. There's a lot of us, I think there's like 16 of us, and it's just like so cool. I'm so happy that I was like a part of that. I came in freshman year like knowing I wanted to get involved in something, and I tried to get involved in two different clubs freshman year, and I just wasn't really like vibing with either of them. And I I knew I like needed to, plus I wanted to like be a leader, like be an officer in one or both of them, but I just was like, I don't know, I don't know, like how like I'm I'm not like feeling like I'm fitting in, like it's whatever. And then I started to make new friends and whatever and found student council and it was literally the best. Um, I served a year as vice president and it was with like a small executive team. There's just four of us, and so we got so close and it was so fun, like genuinely probably the best, like or what's the word? Like extracurricular or whatever um thing I did at camp on or in college. It was so so good, and so I just love student counsel and holds a special place in my heart. So we had a little senior send-off and they catered in Chipotle, which was so good. And like they literally gave you all the toppings, like guacamole, cheese, corn, salsa, and you can like add as much as you want, like for free, you know, like at Chipotle, it's extra, and it was just it was really, really good. And we got gift baskets and we got sweatshirts and um did a little slideshow of a baby picture of us and which I used one of me sitting on the I think it's the Iowa State football field. Yeah. Or maybe the practice field. Um, like when I was like one, I think. So I felt like that was fitting. And then we set our future plans and we got a superlative, and my superlative that I got was most likely to become TikTok famous, which I'm not surprised. Um, that's also the same superlative that I got senior year of high school. Well, it was most likely to become an influencer, but you know, similar. And um yeah, I was like, oh, thanks, guys. And Lydia got, if anyone cares, Lydia got um most likely to win Survivor, and she was like so confused. And I was like, girl, you're literally so athletic, so jacked, like who else would freaking win survivor? Who else would even go on it? Like, of course you would win. She would be so good at Survivor. Lydia, you should go on Survivor. I actually would love for you to do that. Um, yeah, it was a it was a fun night. Oh, also this past week was senior week. So there was like all these um deals and like food on campus for seniors. It was amazing. I actually only went to one, so I can't really say it was that great. We oh no, I missed I meant to go on Thursday. Well, I meant to go every day, but I didn't. Anyway, Monday there was like quesadillas and chicken tenders, and Tuesday there was hot dogs, and Wednesday is when me and Ellie and Campbell went, and there was Chick-fil-A and breakfast burritos and hyper, and then and this is all free for seniors, and then Thursday was Jethro's, and there was like cornbread, mac and cheese, wings, and I really wanted to go, but I just couldn't because I what was I doing Thursday? Oh well I'd left town to go meet my mom for lunch in Des Moines and Friday I don't know what they did Friday morning. Anyway, we got a picture with Sai, so that's all that matters, I guess. And then oh wait, I missed what day did I? Oh yeah, that was Wednesday. And then Wednesday night, very exciting. I took my graduation pictures on campus. It was so fun. And I got them back two days later. Shout out Walker, and they're so good. I'm literally obsessed, and it's just like crazy to see the pictures. I'm just like, wow, like it's literally over. Like all it's just over. Like I I'm done with school. Like all I've done my whole life is school, like everyone else. I mean, pretty much like everyone else. For how many years is that? 16. And now it's just I'm done. It's crazy. Um, yeah, that's pretty much it. Um today, well, I came home so I came home Thursday. My mom and I met at Crispin Green, which is like my favorite freaking place in Des Moines. It's so good. Um, their wraps are amazing. You guys gotta get the Southwestern wrap. Anyway, or any of their wraps are good, I think, but that's the one I like the best. Although you guys know, since I've stopped eating avocado because of my problems last time, um I have to get the wrap with no avocado, which does not taste as good, but it's fine. I don't want to be like hunched over in pain and like down for the count for three days. So my mom and I met there on Thursday and then went shopping for our Europe trip. So we went to Dick's and she got two pairs of shoes and she got more stuff there: a t-shirt and maybe just a t-shirt or maybe something else. I don't know. And then we went to Nordstromrack because it was like right there, and we literally got all of our shopping done. We thought we were gonna have to spend like this whole day like in the mall, go into like department like Von Mahr and whatever, like that's what we usually do. We literally went to Dick's, went to Nordstromrak, and we were done. It was amazing. And I like just discovered Nordstromrak, like it's amazing. It's it's also like one of those places like it sells nice stuff, but it makes you want to buy it more because you see, like, oh my god, it used to be $60 and now it's $10, you know what I mean? So, or like used to be $150 and now it's $70. It's like, oh my gosh, what a deal. So even though it's still $70 for like a pair of pants or whatever, you know what I mean? But we found my mom found, well, I picked them out. I'm very proud of them. A very cute pair of capris. Like they're like, well, they're not linen, but they're a white pair of like wide-leg capris. She they're really cute, and the style of pant looks like good on her. It's it's cute. Um, and then sorry, mom, I'm forgetting what else you got. But I got this adorable little red sweater. It's like a tank top sweater, and it has like a little tie around the neck. I don't really know how to explain it, but it's really cute and really soft. And then my favorite thing that I got. I honestly am so excited about this. Like, I think I might like wear it tonight's graduation this next weekend because it's so cute. Got this little Maidwell is the brand, linen black dress, and it's like sleeveless, but it's high neck and it has a cute little back with like a peephole, like a keyhole or whatever, like cutout. And it just hits like right above the knees. It's black, it's like flowy, but really like flattering, like it's kind of slimming, but it's still loose. I don't know. It is literally perfect. Like I put it on and immediately we both were like, yeah, it's perfect. So I can't wait to wear that. I can't wait to wear it all summer. I can't wait to wear it to work. I can't wait to wear it to Europe. Like, it's perfect. I literally found the perfect little black dress. It's amazing. And that was Thursday. And then Friday, we didn't do much, or I didn't at least. Um, I did take an exam that took like an hour and a half, or maybe just maybe not that long, maybe like over an hour, which is long these days. Okay, I was like expecting it to be really good. It was only nine questions, so I was like, oh, this will be easy. No, when you have to type them out, and each question took about 300 words, it was a lot. Um, and I still have a final for that class too, which will probably be just as long or longer, so whatever. And then we had dinner at West Side Bar, always good. And then today we had prom for Brady, his junior prom. He went to Adele with his girlfriend. They looked so cute. And yeah. Um, then I came home. Oh wait, then I had dinner at I'm just like telling, like, who literally cares about this? Like, literally, who cares about what I've done day to day the past two weeks? I don't know, but if you're listening, you might care. You probably care for some reason. I don't know why. Then I had dinner with Jenna and Kenzie, and my mom joined us at ADL Mexican. I freaking love that place. It's so good. You know what sucks though is I used to like them the most because of their homemade like their guacamole was incredible, and now I like can't have that. That actually like breaks my heart. Thinking about like I just I don't know, I just don't want to risk it. Like I've eaten guacamole so many times and it's hurt, and so I finally I I just have to stop. But it's so good. It makes me sad that I can never just like house a bowl of guacamole. But whatever. Um yeah, now I'm home, and like I said, I'm podcasting, and then I'm gonna watch Real Houses of Rhode Island, and yeah. Okay, last like big update, I guess, since we last talked is I accepted a full-time job. So I am, you guys know I've been working for Midland Co. Shrimp. Sorry, I like I had a little throat like noise. Oh, also I'm drinking, okay, no, that doesn't matter. I'm drinking clean simple eats water, and I don't really like it. That's what I was gonna say. I used to be like the biggest fan of Clean Simple Eats, and now I'm like I don't know. I feel like everything I get is kind of just like underwhelming. Anyway, so you guys know I've been working at Midland Co. Shrimp as their social media content intern since February, and I'm now working for them full-time after college. So I am the marketing and sales manager, and I will be working out of our office, which is in it's a boon address, but it's like in between Ames and Boone. And yeah, that's me. Um I will be focusing on well, a lot of things, but selling our shrimp, um, marketing it. Social media will still be a like my job, but it it's not enough to do full-time, so I'll be focusing on other things. Actually, let me just hold on. I'm gonna see what my my boss like wrote out an offer letter, and it was like all this like, you know, fancy wording of like what my role is gonna be. I'm gonna see exactly what it is. I'm like I'm reading it for the first time now. I'm I'm joking. So I'll lead their marketing strategy, um, including brand development, content creation, social media management, digital campaigns, and performance tracking to strengthen our brand awareness and customer engagement. I'll support the sales strategy and business development for Midland products, which includes our shrimp, obviously. I don't know if I should be saying this. Am I allowed to like read this? Maybe not. Is this like is this like confidential? I don't know. I'm just a girl. I don't fucking know what I'm doing. Like, okay. Well, whatever. I will be just basically I will be helping market the shrimp, sell anything marketing efforts with our partners, with our farmers, with our whatever. That'll be me. That was that was that was a lot. Um, and I could get into a okay, actually, you know what? I'm going to. I've given this spiel a few times, and I'm just gonna say it on here because I feel like it's interesting and um it's definitely something that people are wondering about. So when I say like I'm working for Midland Coast Ramp, they're like, what? Like Midland Coe Shrimp, it's like Iowa ground shrimp. And a lot of people like cock their heads, they're like, what? So Midland Co. Shrimp is a startup company. Um they or I'm gonna say we, because I work there. We build the technology to grow shrimp in Iowa. So it's this whole system of like tanks, filters. Um we have our like see, I don't know like the words for everything, so this is actually gonna be really hard for me to explain. I'm gonna try to keep it like simple. Okay, we have the technology and the systems to grow shrimp in Iowa. Farmers or people who then become farmers, if they're not already, buy these the our system from us and we install it at their barn or their house, their place, wherever they wherever they have their building. They so our guys set up the system. It takes about three days. If you want to see that them setting up the system, you should go to Midland Co's Facebook and watch, go to the Reels like tab, and a few videos down, there'll be a video um of a three-day installment that's like within a two-minute time lapse. It's really it's like from a clear floor to like a full system installment. It's really cool. So you should watch that. That gives like a good picture. And then, um, so our guys go in, install it all, and then people have to like who does that, like electricians or plumbers or something, whatever. They come in and do like the water hookups, electricity hookups, and then they can start growing shrimp. Well, so once they start growing shrimp, that is like their farm, and that is like their thing. We then help like we're like consultation, like if you need help with, like we help you, and I when I say we, I don't mean me. I mean like the the guys that work there. Um I'm not going to the farmers like here's how you set up your system, obviously. I don't think I had to clarify that, but um then they start they start growing shrimp, and how it bent how it was in the past was they would grow their shrimp, they'd have a harvest, they we'd send it to a producer, um, we'd go through a whole production of like de-heading and packaging and freezing and whatever, and then we'd go sell that in grocery stores. Well, now we're kind of moving to like a D2C marketing strategy, so um our focus, we still will be selling in grocery stores, but our focus more I again can I share this or is this like confidential? I I don't know. Well, this is what I've been telling people when they ask like what I'm gonna be doing. So I hope they don't get fired. Hopefully this podcast thing works out if I get fired from saying this. I don't know. Anyway. Um now we want people to buy shrimp like right off the farm. So the thing is, is these farmers are growing. So like I don't work with shrimp like in Ames. Like, we don't have a farm that we're like managing. There's farms all around Iowa. There's a farm in Washington, Iowa, Hampton, Iowa, Bell Plain, Iowa, Redfield, Iowa. So my my girls that are listening to this, go get some fresh shrimp from Redfield. I think it's like outside of Redfield, it's on like old highway road. And then Jordan, Minnesota. So we have five farms right now. Um, the Bell Plain one isn't actually up and going yet, but it's installed. Or yeah, I think so. And um yeah, so the thing is that they all have their own separate Facebook pages. So I like I tell you to go follow Midland because like that's the page that I'm running. But these farms also all have their own separate pages so they can post like when there's a harvest. And so yeah, when there's a harvest, you can get fresh shrimp right off of the um farm. Like it's literally taken out of the tank and you can take it home right that day and cook it super fresh. Like, or of course, you can always buy it in grocery stores. So yeah, that's my that's Midland Co. If you're wondering, like, what is Midland Co. shrimp and how can you grow shrimp in Iowa? That's how it's done. There's also more questions, like, there's a lot of questions on like what do they eat and blah, blah, blah. I could get into all that too. But again, me plugging the social media. There's a like an FAQ video on our social media about what like what they eat. Are they sustainable? Are they organic? Um, you know, where do they come from? What do they taste like? All that stuff. And so you should go there if you're wondering more. I guess I could talk a little bit. So they're they some common questions. They are grown in salt water. Um, they a lot of so this is something interesting. Okay, I I'll stop on my shrimp spiel in a second, but something interesting about our shrimp that makes it different. So when you get them from the ocean, you obviously can't control what they're eating or when they're eating. So shrimp that you eat there or like right off the coast or whatever, it is oftentimes, I think always, I'm not quite sure about always, deveined because their vein, like runs from their head to their tail like through their back, um, holds like is their intestines like it holds their poop and all the junk, you know? Well, since we can control what our shrimp eat and what they do eat is like it's like minerals, um, kind of just like like a pellet-based food, but it's it's good for them. Um and I keep in mind, I'm like not an expert. This is just like what I've learned in the past few months of working there. Well with our shrimp, we actually pull them off of feed, because again we can control that pull them off of feed like three days or I don't know how long. I think like three, two or three days before harvest. So it gets their whole system like cleared out basically all the poop cleared out so that you don't have to devein them. And you still can and a lot of times when they go through production and they take their head off their vein like naturally comes out because it's connected through their head but if you get them like fresh off the farm they're obviously not but anytime I've had Midland shrimp it's not deveined. Like I said, it doesn't make a difference. It's really really good because there's nothing in it. It's there's nothing in there there's nothing in that that little tube in the little vein so they don't need to be deveined. So that's something that like people who eat shrimp often like I like I've had a couple of people ask me like are they deveined? And I'm like well no but they don't need to be and here's why so that's a little interesting fact that makes our shrimp a little bit different um and there's a lot of other reasons too but yeah that's my little shrimp spiel. You guys should follow Midland and you know if you're a shrimp lover I highly recommend getting some Midland shrimp um following the farm that's closest to you on Facebook if you want to know the specific names I can let you know I or the one okay most people who are listening to this probably live around like Central Iowa. So the one in Redfield is called landgrown landgrown shrimp or maybe just land grown but this family has their shrimp farm outside of Redfield hold on um let me search and make sure and so you should follow them just so that you know when they have a harvest and you could run down there and just get a pound of shrimp and have it for dinner. Super easy and also shrimp seems scary to cook it's really not I've learned like I never would have cooked a shrimp like a year ago I just would have been like too scared. I like it I just never would have like cooked it it's so simple and so good. Yeah so it's just land grown on Facebook. If you see it you'll know it's it because it's like a little shrimp logo and their um profile picture is or their cover photo is shrimp too so yeah you should um you should follow them they're on South Old Highway 6 yeah redfield and see when a new harvest is let's see when the last yeah the last one was a few weeks ago so anyway if you guys got any more questions about shrimp let me know but that's my spiel and that's my job and that's what I'll be doing when we get back from Europe so yeah hope you enjoyed that um Europe is so soon I could go on about that too but I won't because it's just I'll be talking for way too long. And yeah um this weekend is Nate's graduation and Mother's Day and then the following week I graduate. So I'll probably do one more episode before we leave for Europe and then I'll go on a little break because I'll be gone and I gotta get I do need to get a lot of work stuff scheduled while I'm gone to go up because I don't want to be working while I'm there and I won't I won't have to they don't expect me to but definitely need to be prepared so anyway that's what I'm gonna end with. I hope you all have a great day whenever you're listening to this and yeah hope you enjoyed I will see you on the next episode. Bye