February 21, 2025 • 18 mins
From Sweet Magnolias, JoAnna Garcia Swisher takes a seat at Luke’s Diner.
Which Gilmore character would she share a meal with? The answer may surprise you!
Plus, a special east coast bond between Scott and JoAnna you’ve got to hear!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I Am all in Again. Let's you. I Am all
in again with Scott Patterson in iHeartRadio Podcast. Hey Everybody,
(00:23):
Scott Patterson, I Am all in Podcast one eleven productions. iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia,
iHeart Podcast. Very special guest today on Luke Steiner Joanna
Garcia Swisher. Let me tell you a little bit about Joanna.
She's an American actress and a businesswoman, widely recognized for
her roles as Sam on Are You Afraid of the Dark,
Vicky Appleby on Freaks and Geeks, and Seyanne Hart Montgomery
(00:46):
on Riba. She currently stars in the Netflix show Sweet Magnolia's.
She is also the founder of the blog The Happy Place,
where she shares her favorite insights on food, home design,
and self care. She is married to former baseball star
Nick Swisher and is a mother of two. Hello, Joanne,
(01:08):
nice to meet you.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Got it? Who wrote that? Because I feel like I
need to I need that I need.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
That wasn't me, wasn't man.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Like you covered all the bases.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
There's there's a very very competent team of specialists here.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I mean, send that over.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Okay, you got it? So thanks for coming on. And
I didn't know that you were such a foodie and
you all, oh yeah, besides all of your other, you know,
busy career highlights and accomplishments, you are a foodie and
you blog about food.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I do.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
How did that start?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
It actually started about in twenty seventeen. It was more
of an interior design based because I went to school
for that and that was something that I felt really
passionate about.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
And so someone asked me if I should you know, like,
Wh're not sure? That what the word old? And I
thought why not?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
But as time went on, I realized that what I
enjoyed about the Happy Place was just sort of sharing
a little slice of my life, and a lot of
that is eating and in the kitchen, and as I
became a mother and all of those things, and you know,
I'm certainly no chef. In fact, one of my friends
who is a chef, she says that she watches me
(02:22):
with knives on the Happy Place. That is like, oh God,
is she gonna she gonna take her tip, the tip
of her knife, the tip of her figure up. But
it's so much a part of you know, I'm my
I'm Cuban and my mom was a great cook and
so so many of my memories with her were in
the kitchen, and I just it's a passion and we
(02:47):
just I just share what I like.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
So what's what's one nostalgic food from your childhood that
you that you still prepare and still crave.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
And I still prepare pigadillo, which is like a ground
beef Cuban. It's a Cuban dish, very much a beloved
meal in our home and something that really just brings
us back, and I love as my mom is amazing
at it. It was I think that my most favorite
thing that she made. But I can't make it. My
(03:16):
brother makes it just like my mom did with like
the rice that was just crispy enough.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I haven't.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
I don't have it. I don't have the secret sauce
to be able to do that. But I'm my brother is.
I think he's an orthpeedic surgeon, but I think he
could be a chef and loves it, so I always
make him cook that or paea.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
You know, I love like rice and meat.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
All all right? So do you go to a lot
of concerts? We just we just had Vicki Pedis and
from the Bangles on and they were in this episode
the concert interrupted. Do you go to concerts? Do you
and Nick go to concerts?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
We do, I mean we anything that really comes into town.
We try.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I feel like I find myself most these days going
to country music. We're going to Kelsea Ballerini that's coming
to Tampa a couple of weeks. My girlfriend or my
children are so excited, and so we're taking all of
their friends and their mom friends beating only dude. But
someone needs to be there to kind of rein it
in and make sure we don't like lose our minds.
Reva's coming back to town. She's coming to a strawberry
(04:15):
festival in Tampa, So I'm super excited about that. But yeah,
I love I love music. I love live music, and
I just anything that comes to town. I usually try
to get in there.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Do you guys take your own food? You have concert
food or just get and what's they're selling it there?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Well, I love a tailgate more than anything in life.
Is well, I won't.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Say more than anything in life, but I do really
love a tailgate, and I do find the shows that
come to the stadium you get a lot of tailgating,
which is this is where I really thrive up, like
bringing a dish that's gonna stand up to the hours
on end that you can nibble on that after a
few cocktails you can come back to and eat cold
even though it started warm.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Things that really have that you know that age.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Well, that's where I that's where I feel like I
drive right.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
By the way. Shout out to your husband. I was
a Yankee myself. Oh my god, a long time ago.
I was on the forty man roster in nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Fun real, what position?
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I was a starting pitcher.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
That's so cool.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And guys like your husband were always you know, they're
rare because you want a guy like that in the
clubhouse who's positive and energetic, and you know that's that's
the kind of a guy that gets you through like
the rough parts of the season, because it doesn't matter
how good your team is, you're going to have downturns.
But anyway, shout out to him. He had a great
(05:43):
he had a great career. Positive guy, full of energy
and good vibes and uh and with him and a
very very dangerous hitter.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
But yeah, part I had no idea what I was
getting into when I met him, But I now quite
a baseball efficient, it's not.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
And you guys met while he was still playing.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, we met in two thousand and nine here in
New York.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
I was shooting Gossip Girl and he it was his
first year with the Yankees, and we got set up
by a mutual friend, and ten months later we were engaged.
Six months after that we were married. And he won
the World Series that year. And so I really didn't
I thought you'd do that every year.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Oh No, I.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Really closed this year in New York, and I have
high hope hopes next year.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
But I realized that it's not so easy to do that.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
So I feel super grateful for the experience. But I
think if you're a Yankee fan, I know not everyone is,
but in our house we are very much Yankee fans.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I think we're ready for another one. So we'd like
to see another one.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yes, So if you could share a meal with any
Gilmore girl's character, who would it be? And why?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Oh? I mean Rory. I think, you know, I just
feel like I just related so much to her character, and.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
It'd be nice just to kind of hash it all out,
just be like, let's let's talk, let's talk.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
About all of it.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Mm hmmm mm hmm. All right, let's talk about your
happy place, your your your blog okay, focuses on food,
home designs, some self care. What inspired you to create it?
How do you and how do you hope it'll it'll
help others find their own happy place?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Yeah, you know, it's like I said, it's a real
It's like my diary almost. You know, we we certainly
aren't always talking about things that make us happy. You know,
I've shared my grief, I've shared my moments of anxiety,
what it feels like to become a mother, the balance
of being a working mom. It really just is a
(07:52):
little peek into my heart and my life and and
as it's grown, it's really just it's, like I said,
I've said this so many times, but it's like saved
me in so many ways and connecting. And I do
really feel like the energy that you put out comes
back to you. And I think that this world can
be really overwhelming at times. And not to say that
(08:14):
I always like this because I am I am a
fiery latina.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I can get worked up with the best of my
mom's as an actress. But I do feel like.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
We have created this community of just you know, positivity
and being real and not nothing's too perfect, and it
certainly isn't you know, too polished or you know, it
just just it's a little part of my heart and
I feel like it's attracted that in our community. And
(08:47):
then our production company that we've launched was inspired by
our book club.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Now we're actively like producing right now.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
We're I'm leaving tonight to go to Ireland because we
have movies and products and we're shooting in Ireland over
the next little bit. And it just feels like a
dream come true. And so it really, like I said,
it's taken on shape in so many ways, but that
really was came from my love of reading and sharing
books and not books that are fancy or necessarily you know,
(09:16):
the book of the month or whatever it may be,
or one that everybody's talking about like it sometimes they're
smutty romance.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Novels or really simple homecoms or.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
You know, we're not trying to be anything that we're not,
which is just like we were just living and right that.
You know, if you want to come along for the ride,
you are more than welcome.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
So you see food as a form of well it
is I mean it's just sort of giving love. Yes,
you know, it's it's how you prepare the food, and
you want to see the reactions on people's faces when
they eat it their first bite, and you want to
feedback because I cook for my family. I love cooking.
I love it. I love it, and I'm always trying
(10:06):
new recipes or new additives and sauces and things like that,
and I want the reaction. Sometimes I get a thumbs down,
a lot of times I get a thumbs up, but
I'm invested, you know. So you're the same the same way, right,
So what's what's your meal? What's the one meal the
two meals that you really love to prepare for your family?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Well, dinner is kind of a non negotiable.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
When we're all home, we eat together, even though, but
I will say, as much as I paint this picture
on happy place that you know we're cooking, and like, yes,
do I put this on the table for my family,
my kids are still real kids and they're like, that's
got some weird spice in it or what is that
looks weird or something like that. So like it's very
real at my house and also has a lot of feedback.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
But so I want to just make sure that's out
there that I don't have these like magical kids that
eat everything that I or love to eat. We do
have something in.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Our house called food challenge. Also, Nick eats more than anything.
I cannot keep up with his eating, so he now
is like a food delivery service, but he will People
will be like, I think, I just saw you eat
three meals. I hear that the fork puncturing the plastic
and microwave go on, and I could be in the
(11:24):
kitchen cooking and nothing enrages me more around like jeez, Nick,
like what the hell you know?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Like what are you meaning?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
But we have food challenge in our house and it
usually is when we're out to dinner because when we're
are traveling, we kind of ask our kids to, you know,
do the food challenge. And that's just picking something that
they normally wouldn't eat. And my kids have tried oysters.
They didn't like them, but they've tried things that normally
they wouldn't and that's just fun. It's fun to experience
(11:54):
food and be a little bit adventurous. And like I said,
so much, I mean, we are the family where it's
like I'm cooking breakfast.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
That's the other thing you ask me. The two meals.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
I really love breakfast just because it's just like the
start of the day and knowing there's something you know,
I'm a mom, there's something in me knowing that like
I've given my kids some like nourishment and their brain
and their bodies before I send them off to school
or on their feels like Okay, I checked that box.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I did that really well. But yeah, so those were
the two those are the two big meals for me.
But yeah, it's like just about for me.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
It's I completely associate eating with like togetherness and memories
and you know, they're activating our senses, our sense of
smell or sense of taste, and our sense of sight.
So it's just like all of these things that are
really important and stick with you, is what it is.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
And well, yeah, our our our family dinners are everything
to me. Yeah right, it's I mean when we're home, Yeah,
it's it's got to be a family dinner. We go
out once in a while and love it. But you know,
those round the dinner table conversations are priceless, they are,
and it's it's where we really have the best time
(13:00):
together as a family unless we're on a vacation some
fabulous place. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
And by the way, usually around a table there too.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Exactly right, right, Yeah, I just looked so forward to dinner. OK,
let's talk a little bit about Sweet Magnolias. Tell us
a little bit about it. It's it's it's on Netflix.
Are are you? This is season more four? Oh yeah? Wow?
So that's that's a good long run for Netflix show.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Well, I know, it feels like a dream come true.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I was just talking to Heather Hedley, who's one of
my co stars, she's one of the Magnolias this morning
and we were just reflecting on it, like we talk
all the time, but these moments of like the day
of when things drop and it's like we are both
so nervous and you know, we work hard on these
things and we care so much. But then she said,
you know, Joe, like this, like I was like breastfeeding
(13:52):
my daughter when this offer came in. You got a
call and said you have to move to your family
to Atlanta in like three days, Like it just material
materialized out of nowhere and then and it's been this
beautiful story and it's been such a gift, you know,
the last four years in my life, I've lost my mom,
(14:14):
my dad, and my grandmother.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
We've had a pandemic, we've had writer strike, actor strike, like,
it's a lot.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
It's a lot now and.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
This show has been such a mainstay and there's such
a beautiful love that we've all created and it feels
really special because, as you know, those things don't come
around very often, and those opportunities to really dig in
and become a family, you know, things don't last that long,
and so it just really has been such a blessing
and the show I think, really has that heart and
(14:46):
you know, it's not trying to be anything that it's not.
It's you know, it's a sexy, sweet drama that's said
in the South, but it's also about friendship and it's
a I think that it really celebrates friendshi in its
most beautiful form, which is you know, your chosen family
and supporting each other and really being in it with
each other through thick and thin.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
And we certainly have been through a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
And you're doing what you're doing ten episodes, nine episodes, Yeah,
and you're what are you down there for like four
months or something?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, Like it doesn't take as long.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
And that's why these shows are so great to have
a balance in your life, because you know, you get
I get an opportunity to really be a mom and
an entrepreneur and now a producer and explore all of
those things. But then I also get to do the
show that I'm so so proud of. So it has
been such a gift and I am in a very
(15:42):
heightened moment of gratitude in my life right now where
I'm like, Okay, these are really great gifts and so
I'm super thankful.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Atlanta. You're in Atlanta. Huh Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
We love Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
And we bought a home right outside of Atlanta on
a lake called Lake a Cony And talk about my
happy place, Like that is the most magical place ever.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
And we have these incredible friends and this incredible.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Community that my kids get to go and my husband
gets to be at that we like, they love, and
I get to work and then we have this like
small town that's wrapped its arms around me. And one
of our guys in the prop department told me one
night after we were working, He's like, you know, my
(16:30):
parents live in Like a Cony and they're just so
proud of you. And I was like, oh my god, absolutely,
I would like thank you, and he's like, no, it's
just like you're a part of the community now, and
so it feels like that same feeling of like sweet
my noise, like serenity, like a coney for me, where
I'm just like people are magic, wonderful.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Well, it's been great getting to talk to you a
little bit. I wish we had more time. There's so
many more questions I want.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I don't come back anytime.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Oh love love to have you back.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Have Nick come back and talk to you.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Oh that would be fun. Yes, Oh I'd love to
meet him. Yeah, that'd be great. Sure, yes, love it absolutely,
yeah with him. What you said, Oh great, thank you? Yes, yes, good, good,
good good. Yeah. Anyway, it's been a pleasure. Good luck
with uh Sweet Magnolias on an epic four year run
and counting, and all the best to you and your family,
(17:26):
and good luck with your your blog, the Happy Place
and all that you're doing, all the productions that you're producing.
And man, you're you are a busy, busy lady. I'll
tell you that much. And it's good good to be busy,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Grateful?
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Thank you and it was just such a breath of
fresh air. So I really great to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Good talking to you too, and we'll hopefully see you
real soon.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Let's do it all right, all right.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Take care Joanna. That's Joanna Garcia Swisher. Everybody love talking
to her. She'll be back for a future episode. I
am sure, all right, We will see you next time.
Best fans on the planet. Thank you all so much
for your downloads. Remember where you lead, we will follow.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Stay safe everyone, everybody, and don't forget.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Follow us on Instagram at I Am all In podcast
and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.
I Am all in Again. Let's you. I Am all
in again with Scott Patterson in iHeartRadio Podcast. Hey Everybody,
(00:23):
Scott Patterson, I Am all in Podcast one eleven productions. iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia,
iHeart Podcast. Very special guest today on Luke Steiner Joanna
Garcia Swisher. Let me tell you a little bit about Joanna.
She's an American actress and a businesswoman, widely recognized for
her roles as Sam on Are You Afraid of the Dark,
Vicky Appleby on Freaks and Geeks, and Seyanne Hart Montgomery
(00:46):
on Riba. She currently stars in the Netflix show Sweet Magnolia's.
She is also the founder of the blog The Happy Place,
where she shares her favorite insights on food, home design,
and self care. She is married to former baseball star
Nick Swisher and is a mother of two. Hello, Joanne,
(01:08):
nice to meet you.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Got it? Who wrote that? Because I feel like I
need to I need that I need.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
That wasn't me, wasn't man.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Like you covered all the bases.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
There's there's a very very competent team of specialists here.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I mean, send that over.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Okay, you got it? So thanks for coming on. And
I didn't know that you were such a foodie and
you all, oh yeah, besides all of your other, you know,
busy career highlights and accomplishments, you are a foodie and
you blog about food.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I do.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
How did that start?
Speaker 3 (01:47):
It actually started about in twenty seventeen. It was more
of an interior design based because I went to school
for that and that was something that I felt really
passionate about.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
And so someone asked me if I should you know, like,
Wh're not sure? That what the word old? And I
thought why not?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
But as time went on, I realized that what I
enjoyed about the Happy Place was just sort of sharing
a little slice of my life, and a lot of
that is eating and in the kitchen, and as I
became a mother and all of those things, and you know,
I'm certainly no chef. In fact, one of my friends
who is a chef, she says that she watches me
(02:22):
with knives on the Happy Place. That is like, oh God,
is she gonna she gonna take her tip, the tip
of her knife, the tip of her figure up. But
it's so much a part of you know, I'm my
I'm Cuban and my mom was a great cook and
so so many of my memories with her were in
the kitchen, and I just it's a passion and we
(02:47):
just I just share what I like.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
So what's what's one nostalgic food from your childhood that
you that you still prepare and still crave.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
And I still prepare pigadillo, which is like a ground
beef Cuban. It's a Cuban dish, very much a beloved
meal in our home and something that really just brings
us back, and I love as my mom is amazing
at it. It was I think that my most favorite
thing that she made. But I can't make it. My
(03:16):
brother makes it just like my mom did with like
the rice that was just crispy enough.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I haven't.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
I don't have it. I don't have the secret sauce
to be able to do that. But I'm my brother is.
I think he's an orthpeedic surgeon, but I think he
could be a chef and loves it, so I always
make him cook that or paea.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
You know, I love like rice and meat.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
All all right? So do you go to a lot
of concerts? We just we just had Vicki Pedis and
from the Bangles on and they were in this episode
the concert interrupted. Do you go to concerts? Do you
and Nick go to concerts?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
We do, I mean we anything that really comes into town.
We try.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I feel like I find myself most these days going
to country music. We're going to Kelsea Ballerini that's coming
to Tampa a couple of weeks. My girlfriend or my
children are so excited, and so we're taking all of
their friends and their mom friends beating only dude. But
someone needs to be there to kind of rein it
in and make sure we don't like lose our minds.
Reva's coming back to town. She's coming to a strawberry
(04:15):
festival in Tampa, So I'm super excited about that. But yeah,
I love I love music. I love live music, and
I just anything that comes to town. I usually try
to get in there.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Do you guys take your own food? You have concert
food or just get and what's they're selling it there?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Well, I love a tailgate more than anything in life.
Is well, I won't.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Say more than anything in life, but I do really
love a tailgate, and I do find the shows that
come to the stadium you get a lot of tailgating,
which is this is where I really thrive up, like
bringing a dish that's gonna stand up to the hours
on end that you can nibble on that after a
few cocktails you can come back to and eat cold
even though it started warm.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Things that really have that you know that age.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Well, that's where I that's where I feel like I
drive right.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
By the way. Shout out to your husband. I was
a Yankee myself. Oh my god, a long time ago.
I was on the forty man roster in nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Fun real, what position?
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I was a starting pitcher.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
That's so cool.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And guys like your husband were always you know, they're
rare because you want a guy like that in the
clubhouse who's positive and energetic, and you know that's that's
the kind of a guy that gets you through like
the rough parts of the season, because it doesn't matter
how good your team is, you're going to have downturns.
But anyway, shout out to him. He had a great
(05:43):
he had a great career. Positive guy, full of energy
and good vibes and uh and with him and a
very very dangerous hitter.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
But yeah, part I had no idea what I was
getting into when I met him, But I now quite
a baseball efficient, it's not.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
And you guys met while he was still playing.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, we met in two thousand and nine here in
New York.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
I was shooting Gossip Girl and he it was his
first year with the Yankees, and we got set up
by a mutual friend, and ten months later we were engaged.
Six months after that we were married. And he won
the World Series that year. And so I really didn't
I thought you'd do that every year.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Oh No, I.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Really closed this year in New York, and I have
high hope hopes next year.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
But I realized that it's not so easy to do that.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
So I feel super grateful for the experience. But I
think if you're a Yankee fan, I know not everyone is,
but in our house we are very much Yankee fans.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I think we're ready for another one. So we'd like
to see another one.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yes, So if you could share a meal with any
Gilmore girl's character, who would it be? And why?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Oh? I mean Rory. I think, you know, I just
feel like I just related so much to her character, and.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
It'd be nice just to kind of hash it all out,
just be like, let's let's talk, let's talk.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
About all of it.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Mm hmmm mm hmm. All right, let's talk about your
happy place, your your your blog okay, focuses on food,
home designs, some self care. What inspired you to create it?
How do you and how do you hope it'll it'll
help others find their own happy place?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Yeah, you know, it's like I said, it's a real
It's like my diary almost. You know, we we certainly
aren't always talking about things that make us happy. You know,
I've shared my grief, I've shared my moments of anxiety,
what it feels like to become a mother, the balance
of being a working mom. It really just is a
(07:52):
little peek into my heart and my life and and
as it's grown, it's really just it's, like I said,
I've said this so many times, but it's like saved
me in so many ways and connecting. And I do
really feel like the energy that you put out comes
back to you. And I think that this world can
be really overwhelming at times. And not to say that
(08:14):
I always like this because I am I am a
fiery latina.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
I can get worked up with the best of my
mom's as an actress. But I do feel like.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
We have created this community of just you know, positivity
and being real and not nothing's too perfect, and it
certainly isn't you know, too polished or you know, it
just just it's a little part of my heart and
I feel like it's attracted that in our community. And
(08:47):
then our production company that we've launched was inspired by
our book club.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Now we're actively like producing right now.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
We're I'm leaving tonight to go to Ireland because we
have movies and products and we're shooting in Ireland over
the next little bit. And it just feels like a
dream come true. And so it really, like I said,
it's taken on shape in so many ways, but that
really was came from my love of reading and sharing
books and not books that are fancy or necessarily you know,
(09:16):
the book of the month or whatever it may be,
or one that everybody's talking about like it sometimes they're
smutty romance.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Novels or really simple homecoms or.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
You know, we're not trying to be anything that we're not,
which is just like we were just living and right that.
You know, if you want to come along for the ride,
you are more than welcome.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
So you see food as a form of well it
is I mean it's just sort of giving love. Yes,
you know, it's it's how you prepare the food, and
you want to see the reactions on people's faces when
they eat it their first bite, and you want to
feedback because I cook for my family. I love cooking.
I love it. I love it, and I'm always trying
(10:06):
new recipes or new additives and sauces and things like that,
and I want the reaction. Sometimes I get a thumbs down,
a lot of times I get a thumbs up, but
I'm invested, you know. So you're the same the same way, right,
So what's what's your meal? What's the one meal the
two meals that you really love to prepare for your family?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Well, dinner is kind of a non negotiable.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
When we're all home, we eat together, even though, but
I will say, as much as I paint this picture
on happy place that you know we're cooking, and like, yes,
do I put this on the table for my family,
my kids are still real kids and they're like, that's
got some weird spice in it or what is that
looks weird or something like that. So like it's very
real at my house and also has a lot of feedback.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
But so I want to just make sure that's out
there that I don't have these like magical kids that
eat everything that I or love to eat. We do
have something in.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Our house called food challenge. Also, Nick eats more than anything.
I cannot keep up with his eating, so he now
is like a food delivery service, but he will People
will be like, I think, I just saw you eat
three meals. I hear that the fork puncturing the plastic
and microwave go on, and I could be in the
(11:24):
kitchen cooking and nothing enrages me more around like jeez, Nick,
like what the hell you know?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Like what are you meaning?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
But we have food challenge in our house and it
usually is when we're out to dinner because when we're
are traveling, we kind of ask our kids to, you know,
do the food challenge. And that's just picking something that
they normally wouldn't eat. And my kids have tried oysters.
They didn't like them, but they've tried things that normally
they wouldn't and that's just fun. It's fun to experience
(11:54):
food and be a little bit adventurous. And like I said,
so much, I mean, we are the family where it's
like I'm cooking breakfast.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
That's the other thing you ask me. The two meals.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
I really love breakfast just because it's just like the
start of the day and knowing there's something you know,
I'm a mom, there's something in me knowing that like
I've given my kids some like nourishment and their brain
and their bodies before I send them off to school
or on their feels like Okay, I checked that box.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I did that really well. But yeah, so those were
the two those are the two big meals for me.
But yeah, it's like just about for me.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
It's I completely associate eating with like togetherness and memories
and you know, they're activating our senses, our sense of
smell or sense of taste, and our sense of sight.
So it's just like all of these things that are
really important and stick with you, is what it is.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
And well, yeah, our our our family dinners are everything
to me. Yeah right, it's I mean when we're home, Yeah,
it's it's got to be a family dinner. We go
out once in a while and love it. But you know,
those round the dinner table conversations are priceless, they are,
and it's it's where we really have the best time
(13:00):
together as a family unless we're on a vacation some
fabulous place. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
And by the way, usually around a table there too.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Exactly right, right, Yeah, I just looked so forward to dinner. OK,
let's talk a little bit about Sweet Magnolias. Tell us
a little bit about it. It's it's it's on Netflix.
Are are you? This is season more four? Oh yeah? Wow?
So that's that's a good long run for Netflix show.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Well, I know, it feels like a dream come true.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I was just talking to Heather Hedley, who's one of
my co stars, she's one of the Magnolias this morning
and we were just reflecting on it, like we talk
all the time, but these moments of like the day
of when things drop and it's like we are both
so nervous and you know, we work hard on these
things and we care so much. But then she said,
you know, Joe, like this, like I was like breastfeeding
(13:52):
my daughter when this offer came in. You got a
call and said you have to move to your family
to Atlanta in like three days, Like it just material
materialized out of nowhere and then and it's been this
beautiful story and it's been such a gift, you know,
the last four years in my life, I've lost my mom,
(14:14):
my dad, and my grandmother.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
We've had a pandemic, we've had writer strike, actor strike, like,
it's a lot.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
It's a lot now and.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
This show has been such a mainstay and there's such
a beautiful love that we've all created and it feels
really special because, as you know, those things don't come
around very often, and those opportunities to really dig in
and become a family, you know, things don't last that long,
and so it just really has been such a blessing
and the show I think, really has that heart and
(14:46):
you know, it's not trying to be anything that it's not.
It's you know, it's a sexy, sweet drama that's said
in the South, but it's also about friendship and it's
a I think that it really celebrates friendshi in its
most beautiful form, which is you know, your chosen family
and supporting each other and really being in it with
each other through thick and thin.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
And we certainly have been through a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
And you're doing what you're doing ten episodes, nine episodes, Yeah,
and you're what are you down there for like four
months or something?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, Like it doesn't take as long.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
And that's why these shows are so great to have
a balance in your life, because you know, you get
I get an opportunity to really be a mom and
an entrepreneur and now a producer and explore all of
those things. But then I also get to do the
show that I'm so so proud of. So it has
been such a gift and I am in a very
(15:42):
heightened moment of gratitude in my life right now where
I'm like, Okay, these are really great gifts and so
I'm super thankful.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Atlanta. You're in Atlanta. Huh Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
We love Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
And we bought a home right outside of Atlanta on
a lake called Lake a Cony And talk about my
happy place, Like that is the most magical place ever.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
And we have these incredible friends and this incredible.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Community that my kids get to go and my husband
gets to be at that we like, they love, and
I get to work and then we have this like
small town that's wrapped its arms around me. And one
of our guys in the prop department told me one
night after we were working, He's like, you know, my
(16:30):
parents live in Like a Cony and they're just so
proud of you. And I was like, oh my god, absolutely,
I would like thank you, and he's like, no, it's
just like you're a part of the community now, and
so it feels like that same feeling of like sweet
my noise, like serenity, like a coney for me, where
I'm just like people are magic, wonderful.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Well, it's been great getting to talk to you a
little bit. I wish we had more time. There's so
many more questions I want.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I don't come back anytime.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Oh love love to have you back.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Have Nick come back and talk to you.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Oh that would be fun. Yes, Oh I'd love to
meet him. Yeah, that'd be great. Sure, yes, love it absolutely,
yeah with him. What you said, Oh great, thank you? Yes, yes, good, good,
good good. Yeah. Anyway, it's been a pleasure. Good luck
with uh Sweet Magnolias on an epic four year run
and counting, and all the best to you and your family,
(17:26):
and good luck with your your blog, the Happy Place
and all that you're doing, all the productions that you're producing.
And man, you're you are a busy, busy lady. I'll
tell you that much. And it's good good to be busy,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Grateful?
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Thank you and it was just such a breath of
fresh air. So I really great to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Good talking to you too, and we'll hopefully see you
real soon.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Let's do it all right, all right.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Take care Joanna. That's Joanna Garcia Swisher. Everybody love talking
to her. She'll be back for a future episode. I
am sure, all right, We will see you next time.
Best fans on the planet. Thank you all so much
for your downloads. Remember where you lead, we will follow.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Stay safe everyone, everybody, and don't forget.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Follow us on Instagram at I Am all In podcast
and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.
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