August 30, 2024 • 31 mins
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What happens when two California girls pack up their lives and head East for new adventures in the Southern states? Join us in this lively episode of Fearlessly Female as we recount our personal journeys from California's beaches to the heart of Alabama and Tennessee. Learn about our motivations for making such big moves—Megan's leap for love and a career change, and Brittany's pursuit of an exciting job opportunity. We share the cultural shocks we faced and the unique dynamics within our new communities, offering a candid look at how these transitions have reshaped our lives and deepened our friendship.
Ever wondered how to build a sense of community in a new place? Megan's no-drama drinking club, Années Folles, became a sanctuary for women seeking genuine connections without the typical book club facade. On the other hand, Brittany found her tribe among co-workers who juggle demanding corporate jobs and family responsibilities like pros. We also touch on the glaring absence of good ethnic food in the South, as well as some funny cultural quirks—like Megan's struggle with Alabama's traffic norms—that make life in the South uniquely entertaining.
From culinary delights to weather extremes, our stories capture the essence of Southern living versus our Californian roots. Experience the thrill of tornado season with our lighthearted Megan Emergency Guide System (MEGS) and hear our take on the vastly different pace of life in the South compared to California. We chat about everything from the scarcity of decent Mexican, Indian, and Asian cuisine to the Southern staples we've come to adore. Listen in for laughs, reflections, and a genuine glimpse into the wild, wonderful world of moving South.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brittany (00:10):
Welcome back to Fearlessly Female, where two
blondes make a right.
We are Brittany and Megan, thehosts of your podcast of
Fearlessly Female.
Our podcast is born out ofambition, drive and a lot of
wine.
We're two powerhouse comedicwomen having uncensored
conversations about topics thataffect women, and we're airing
all the dirty laundry.
So grab your favorite drink andgive us a listen.
Meghan (00:33):
Today's podcast is wish they all could be California
girls until they didn't want toanymore.
In this episode we handle CaliGone East.
Warning calm your tits.
Offense will not be taken here.
Grab your favorite drink, burnyour bra and have a good time.
Brittany (00:53):
It's a little background about us.
Both of us were raised inCalifornia but in our 30s
decided to head east.
We took different routes ofmoving.
Megan, maybe, took a moretraditional route and Brittany
took a non-traditional route.
So, megan, you left first.
What made you leave?
Meghan (01:11):
Well, I was dating someone who lived in Alabama,
rural Tide, and at the same timeI got a promotion at work that
pushed me up a tax bracket, so Iactually made less with my
raise and then my rent went up$300 a month.
It was getting so hard to liveso I decided to go for it.
Brittany (01:28):
That sounds about California you know, get a great
promotion and guess what?
Your rent's going up and you'regoing to get taxed.
More Food stamps, please, Sorry.
So why did you decide to moveto Alabama and not, you know
somewhere else, like you know,North Dakota or New Mexico?
Meghan (01:47):
Well, you know, I had never considered leaving
California before.
I had a company that I couldretire from.
All of my friends and familywere there.
But I fell in love and with itbeing so hard to live and not
feeling like I was ever going tobe a homeowner or make progress
, I was pretty much done withCali Brittany.
You left a couple of yearsafter me.
Why did you decide to leave?
Brittany (02:10):
Very similar reasons.
I was in a very toxic job, alot of broke culture, and, you
know, after a couple of years itjust kind of got exhausting and
been wanting to leave for awhile and so I was just applying
out.
I ended up landing an amazingjob out in Tennessee and I was
in a relationship.
I honestly had no idea if mypartner was going to move with
(02:33):
me, but you know, I knew Iwanted to leave.
So I didn't let therelationship of dating someone
be a defining point and takingthat job opportunity Just to
give a little more context aboutit.
My person I'm with is Latin, andtaking that job opportunity
Just to give a little morecontext about it.
My person I'm with is Latin andso typically in their culture
the man runs the show.
You know what he says goes he'sthe breadwinner, he's the
(02:55):
provider.
So that's kind of why I wasn'tsure if he's going to come with
me or if he's just going to saybye, have fun, I'm going to find
someone else here.
But I ended up kidnapping himin the middle of the night and
throwing him in my trunk and weboth just kind of really throw
him in my trunk.
Meghan (03:13):
He came willingly Mostly .
It's still up in the air.
We haven't decided yet.
So I remember when you showedup at my house after you first
move and you spent the 4th ofJuly with me.
It was so great to have you inthe South and honestly I think
you moving was really pivotal inour relationship.
We really had a sharedexperience of you leaving and I
(03:35):
think it made our bond so strongthat now Brittany can't even
shake me off.
Brittany (03:42):
I agree that was definitely a fun time and
definitely just a completelydifferent experience of
experiencing fourth of Julyoutside of California, because
they're like okay, fireworks,you know you're gonna burn
someone's house down, andAlabama's like, yeah, shoot him
off in the front yard, it's fine, you want him hand him out on
the freeway, you know?
One for you, one for you.
I'm like it's like illegal.
So much, though.
Meghan (04:03):
Completely different culture about it.
Brittany (04:07):
So I think you highlighted our experiences in
the South were different and Ithink they're quite interesting.
I feel that maybe we have asimilar personality but
different experiences, so maybefor our listeners can you
explain what is a typical lifelike for a Southern woman in the
area that you moved to.
Meghan (04:27):
Oh man, I mean very interesting, very different from
anything I had ever experiencedbefore or was raised in.
When I was in Alabama I had twowonderful stepchildren and one
of their friends came over andin the conversation mentioned
she wanted to be a lawyer or ahairdresser.
(04:47):
There is nothing wrong witheither of those paths, but it's
just such a vastly differentthought process to be either a
lawyer or hairdresser.
For me it really showed whatthe kids were exposed to, which
was those two things.
Brittany (05:02):
in that small town it was a very narrow viewpoint, um,
in that culture yeah,hairdresser and lawyer, that is
like two like I feel likeopposite ends of the spectrum on
like career paths, like justyeah I'm not sure if there's
like any commonality in betweenthose two at all yeah, I could
(05:23):
definitely see how, see how thatthought process comes about
with just those two career paths.
So you're an independent bosslady.
You have to read it.
How'd you get down with theculture out there then?
Meghan (05:39):
Oh man, there's a lot for me to unpack here, but I
think I was probably seen as toofancy, too intimidating, too
over the top.
Some of this could have beenthem.
Some of it could have been therelationship I was in and what I
was being told.
There's a whole differentpodcast we'll talk about, but
there are many times I reallyfelt like I was the third wheel
in my own home.
(05:59):
Have you ever had thoseconversations that are like
one-sided, where you ask all thequestions, questions, and no
one has any interest in you?
Brittany (06:10):
That's so awkward.
You're just sitting there likeuh yeah.
Meghan (06:15):
So it was pretty much like that for a good four out of
the five years I was down there, and some of it was probably
root causes.
It was a really small town Ilived in.
There's generations that neverleave, so they're they have
their friend group, and some ofit was probably root causes.
It was a really small town Ilived in.
There's generations that neverleave, so they have their friend
group.
They've been friends since theywere kindergarten and they
don't really have a need or roomfor new people.
And then new people moving tothe town I lived in was a
(06:38):
complete rarity.
I had met someone who hadalready lived there for seven
years and they still hadn't hadany friends or broke in to a
network.
Brittany (06:48):
Oh my gosh, that's crazy.
Yeah, I I've had a similarsituation, knowing friends that
have grown up like you know,like that's so close and then
just kind of being the awkwardlike person to come in.
Meghan (07:00):
It's like, hey, I'm here and they're just like you can't
sit with us exactly and youknow, when you think about like
we're women's, I'm in my 30s,like we're not in high school
and we're still dealing withsome of that, it's pretty.
It's sad, in my opinion, and Iknow it doesn't happen just
where I was at in that town.
It happens all over the place,um, but it's just sad when that
(07:23):
happens.
Brittany (07:24):
I agree, I agree.
So I'm like I'm down to befriends with everyone.
You know, if you're cool, like,let's hang out.
So what did you eventually doto like fit in?
You know, what were some thingsthat maybe worked, that didn't
work.
Meghan (07:37):
You know, one thing to know about me is, if you tell me
no, that's the fastest way toget me to do something.
Brittany (07:46):
Spark a fire.
Meghan (07:47):
Yeah.
So really I was kind of beingpushed into a place where it was
my fault and I was told like Icouldn't create the friend group
and so I decided to make sure Idid it.
I had to be really intentionalabout it.
I started building Anna Esfalas, which is the drinking club
that I run.
(08:07):
Again, it's a drinking club.
It is not a book club.
It is not sugar coated, it isabsolutely a drinking club and
we just started.
I just started handpickingwomen.
I wanted no drama and I wantedwomen supporting women.
I think sometimes we get taggedwith this stereotype that women
compete with each other, butthis was really just women
(08:29):
supporting women no drama,having fun and enjoying
cocktails at the same time.
Brittany (08:35):
Yeah, I mean, if you invite me to a drinking club,
I'm there Book club, don't?
No, don't call me Drinking club, absolutely.
Meghan (08:42):
I have had so many conversations about this, where
they're like but but is it abook club?
And I'm like no, it's adrinking club.
I don't.
Well, yeah, I know, but likeyou pretend to read a book and
then you drink, no, we aredrinking.
I'm very straightforward,straight up, we're having a
drinking club so britney wouldnot bring a book.
(09:04):
Yeah, no books.
I mean, I love reading, butthat's kind of like a I do it on
my own thing.
I want to.
I want to drink with my ladies.
So, brittany, how about you?
How is your experiencedifferent from mine?
Brittany (09:17):
So I've moved to Tennessee, as I mentioned and I
think just my experience is alittle bit different was because
the group that I was broughtinto, with my co-workers and
everything they're veryindependent, dominant women, so
they are the breadwinners oftheir family.
They are the ones that you knowwent to college, you know, got
a quote-unquote corporate job.
(09:37):
They're the ones that areproviding for their families.
You know some of them.
Their husbands are, you know,either in construction you know
some of them, their husbands are, you know, either in
construction, you know, whichobviously makes good money too
or they're farmers, you knowstuff like that.
But it was really interestingbecause they're obviously older,
you know in their 50s or so,but they're all very supportive
and having that in a team,coming from a toxic company and
(09:59):
then coming into that was justlike oh my gosh, this is just
mind blown.
Like it felt so good.
Everyone supported each other,whether it was at work or like
their personal lives.
They talked about differentparenting styles, like how to,
you know, deal with certainsituations with your kids and
they all have kids that you know, different stages in their
lives, so they kind of mentoreach other too, which I thought
(10:20):
is is really great, um?
And then, yeah, it is.
And then, just on top of that,I think I mentioned um, my
partner is a Latinxer, so youknow a little side note he hates
the term Latinx, which justmakes me latch on to it even
(10:41):
more oh, he's a good sport um sothere's just not a lot of
diversity in the south.
It's very black or white.
Anything in terms of like brownor yellow spectrum is just not
there and I don't know how elseto put it.
It's black or white.
(11:02):
So yeah, if you want to getgood Mexican food, no, that's
not going to happen.
Good Indian food it's not goingto happen.
Good Asian food just stick tobarbecue or American Like.
Those are your best bets.
Meghan (11:16):
I will say, you know, the first time, so you know, I
was living in Alabama.
The first time I flew back toCalifornia, I landed and, you
know, get off the plane.
And the first time, so you know, I was living in alabama.
The first time I flew back tocalifornia, I landed and, you
know, get off the plane, and thefirst thought that popped into
my head was, oh, mexicans.
And then, like, the secondthought was megan, what are you
doing like you're about to getcanceled?
Right, but really, truly it was.
(11:37):
It was just so exciting to seeother races and just the
representation of what we havein this country, Whereas, like
in Alabama, exactly whatBrittany is saying is very black
and white.
There's no other representationof ethnicity down there.
Brittany (11:55):
Yeah, what was?
Do you have any stories aboutassimilating to the culture?
Meghan (12:02):
Well, you know, I'll tell you this, this story is
kind of ridiculous.
So I kept running stop signs.
So what I?
What I figured out and noticedin California they have stop
signs and then on the groundthey do like these white lines
that say like stop on thepavement, and in Alabama they
don't.
And there's just so many treesin Alabama.
(12:25):
It's really beautiful that Ijust never even noticed the stop
signs.
So I just kept running them.
Brittany (12:35):
She took her California roll all the way to
Alabama.
Meghan (12:38):
Just barrels with the stop signs, yeah it changed from
like a california roll to likea california barrel exactly what
you just said over speed.
Brittany (12:48):
Bump kids.
Don't put your kids in the carswith megan did you ever run
over?
Meghan (12:55):
any kids, definitely didn't run anybody over or get
into any accidents, but I was umtaking kids to school during
that time of my life and wordwas getting back to other
parents that I was running themconstantly, so I definitely had
to focus on finding the stopsigns and stopping they're like
(13:18):
put your seat belt on johnny ifmegan's driving double buckle.
They're like coming in the carwearing helmets.
Already I know I've got aproblem.
What about you?
Any funny stories?
Brittany (13:31):
oh gosh.
Yeah, there's a couple um, Ithink probably one is just how
they do business in the south isa little bit different, so, and
it's really just with how theycommunicate.
I'm always a laid back person,very chill.
I've always come across as justvery like I don't know, not
(13:52):
passionate about what I do, eventhough I am.
I'm just not super in your faceabout it until they get me a
drink and then I'll be in yourface, but obviously I can't
drink at work.
So I get on a call with youknow my business unit.
I'm like hey, you know how's itgoing, talking blah, blah, blah
, and they're on the call andthey're just like yeah, okay,
you know we're gonna do this andyou had a great weekend.
Meghan (14:13):
I'm already like could you speed this up?
Yeah, and.
Brittany (14:17):
I'm on there, like you know, spitfire, like oh yeah,
let's do this, this, this, this,this, and they're probably
thinking it's cracking girl.
She just must have did like, ohyeah, let's do this, this, this
, this, this, and they'reprobably thinking it's crackhead
girl.
She just must have did like aline of coke and just got on
this call and is just shootingoff the hip.
So I think just I had to putmyself on mute a couple of times
so I can catch your breath.
Ok, slow down.
Meghan (14:44):
Well, I know I can keep up with you, but we may need to
add closed captioning for ourlisteners, because you do spit
out some words.
Brittany (14:47):
The South doesn't just have thick accents, though.
They also have, obviously, theslow way of talking.
So maybe what other languagesdo they have other than their?
What is it?
Drawn out drolls.
I can't even talk right now.
Drawn out drolls.
Meghan (15:00):
I can't even talk right now Drawn out drolls.
I would love to hear a personfrom the South say drawn out
drolls.
I bet you they wouldn't be ableto, but you know there's
actually a language barrier, soI have to tell this story.
I was talking with someone andthey were asking me about my
(15:23):
brother and how he's doing inschool and they said you know
how much he like and I was likeI mean, I think he likes it.
All right, you know.
And she's like no, how muchthey like.
And I'm like what he likes,school, just fine.
Like what are you saying?
But really what the term likethat?
What it means how much you likeis how much you have left and I
(15:47):
like how much of school he hadleft and I honestly think the
term used to be how much youlack, like how much is left,
lack, but the like accent overtime turned it into how much you
like, and so pretty funny, justcompletely different language
almost.
(16:08):
And then there's definitely somesayings down in the South.
Brittany (16:14):
Oh, I know my manager was kind enough to put together
like a little playbook of thetranslations of all of these, so
she gave me a little text andwas like okay, you know, when
people say this, this is whatthey mean.
And one of them was fixing toleave and I was like what are
you fixing?
Like do like a home improvementproject before you leave, Like
(16:34):
I mean I'm usually getting readyand like all right, see you
there, and she's like no, itmeans I'm getting ready to leave
.
Meghan (16:40):
I'm glad you got the booklet.
I didn't.
But I would tell you probablymy most favorite saying from the
South that I still use to thisday is you a mess?
And there is literally notranslation to like what that
actually means.
It's just you a mess.
It's kind of it's funny, it'shilarious.
(17:03):
It's not meant to be offensive,um, but I have no way to
explain what it means.
I just love it and of course Ihave to say it with like lots of
head movement you a mess.
Brittany (17:15):
I don't think it gives it the same.
Meghan (17:17):
if you don't right, you gotta add a lot of flavor into
that one.
If you don't Right, you got toadd a lot of flavor into that
one.
Brittany (17:23):
Let's see.
Oh, they got some other ones.
I like the little, the classic,the bless your heart one, my
favorite, my favorites.
When we talk to vendors thatare, you know, obviously not
from the South, and my coworkersare just like, oh, bless your
heart.
And they're like, oh, sweetie,you're so sweet.
And I'm just like oh my God,you're such an idiot.
Meghan (17:40):
So for our listeners bless your heart.
If you've ever been told blessyour heart, they were saying
you's an idiot.
It is the nicest way to say youare dumb, you messed up.
It is not a compliment whenthey say bless your heart it
sounds so sweet too when thelittle accent comes out.
Brittany (18:03):
It's just oh my God, it makes me laugh, and it is not
sweet, I would say too.
Meghan (18:10):
The culture of like, using ma'am and sir, is very
much like alive and well.
And I absolutely loved it when,you know, kids were like, yes,
ma'am, no ma'am, I thought itwas, you know, super sweet.
Yes, ma'am, no ma'am, I thoughtit was, you know, super sweet.
But it just becomes part ofyour language and so it's my
habit now and you know, I'veleft, I've left Alabama, but I
still say you know, ma'am andsir, and I'm dating someone
(18:33):
right now and I'll be like yes,sir, no sir, but it's just, it's
part of it and so he's tryingto retrain me.
So now I'm like, no, sir, I tryto add like a little attitude
in it, because before it waslike marching orders.
Brittany (18:46):
No sir.
Meghan (18:46):
Like you know, so adding a little flair into it.
But I've definitely likechanged some of my language and
it's been added on and I can't,can't get rid of it quite yet
it's just ingrained now at thatpoint.
Brittany (19:01):
So changing topics a little bit, what did your
friends and family say when youwere?
You told them that you weregoing to move to Alabama.
What was their reaction?
Meghan (19:11):
Yeah, you know, honestly , people were on board mostly
probably because they werescared to go against me, but
really they saw how in love Iwas and they really wanted that
happiness for me.
I, hands down, have the mostincredible network of family and
friends, and so not only didthey support me with this, but
(19:31):
they all like showed up in hugefashion when I was coming back
too.
What about you, brittany?
What did your say I had?
Brittany (19:41):
a different reaction.
I mean, obviously my parentswere supportive, but a lot of my
friends were just like why areyou moving there?
Like they're all racist and I'mlike who?
And they're like you know, thepeople in the South.
I was like this isn't the 1950s.
(20:01):
Like you know, we're in like2020.
Like we've progressed as asociety since then and they're
like their perception of theSouth, I mean, they're so like
in this little eco bubble of theBay Area and you know, tell
them you're moving to like astate.
That's not that, or New York ora big city.
(20:21):
They're just like, oh my gosh,they're all rednecks, they're
all racist.
So I wish a lot of them wouldcome out to, would have came out
to visit, cause I just I had ablast out there and they were
all super welcoming when we cameand it was just completely just
I don't know.
I had a really good experienceout there.
Meghan (20:41):
I think there's.
You know there's a mix, like Ithink unfortunately the South
gets tagged with that stereotypeof being racist and you know
that's where a lot of the civilrights movement happened and so
it is different than Californiajust because that's where it
happened and there's stillmonuments and there's, you know,
big major historical eventsthat happens there around that.
(21:04):
But that's not to say that youknow they haven't moved.
You know some of thatpopulation hasn't moved past
that and aren't, you know,inclusive to others.
I think I experienced a littlebit of a mix as it related to
that.
Brittany (21:18):
Yeah, yeah, I could see maybe like the smaller towns
being a little bit offset bynewcomers or people that are
different than maybe like a cityor if you're working at a
corporation or something likethat a little bit bigger.
I was in a very quote unquoteliberal area for Tennessee.
So it wasn't wasn't no bigthing.
(21:40):
Well, let's talk about food.
Yeah, I love some food.
Meghan (21:48):
So what like food like?
What was your food experiencedown in the south?
Brittany (21:54):
um well, definitely do not take recommendations from
my co-workers on anything ethnicrelated, like love them to
death.
But when they say there's goodmexican food, I tried every
mexican restaurant I swear in inthe local area.
Not one place was good likeyeah, it was pretty much like
just like whitewashed mexicanplaces, so they're like little
mini chipotles all over theplace.
(22:15):
So summit all at taco bell wasbetter.
Um, yeah, that was mine.
My, I don't know.
Did you have a differentexperience?
I don't know how much ethnicfood was down in Alabama.
Meghan (22:25):
Well, I lived in a pretty small town, so like there
was not really any good food Imean ethnic is so far from like
what I had.
But I would say this I hadnever had okra or hush puppies
until I moved to the South andlet me tell you, oh, I could eat
some okra and hush puppies.
Um, till I moved to the southand let me tell you, oh, I could
eat some okra and hush puppies.
(22:46):
Love them so much.
And it's funny because you knowyou never see them on the menu
outside of the south.
But anytime I go back for avisit if I see okra and hush
puppies, like I'm ordering themin like buckets because I love
them so much.
Brittany (23:01):
But there's a lot of fried food.
Yeah, this is why their healthpremiums are so high.
Everything is fried, deep friedlard.
Real ingredients.
Meghan (23:11):
Yeah, and I think Brittany said it earlier, they
got some good barbecue.
Brittany (23:15):
Oh yeah, hands down for sure.
Good barbecue, good American.
Stick to the basics.
Meghan (23:22):
Okay, so let's lighten it up a bit.
When I say lighten, I meanlightning.
How do you feel about tornadoes, brittany?
Brittany (23:30):
So Megan was talking about her network earlier and
let me tell you she really has anetwork.
So we're going to dive intothis with our weather story.
But for our listeners, caliweather is very like centric.
You know, they're alwaysfocused on the weather, always
this, that, whatever with theweather.
And Megan basically just movedto Tornado Alley.
So why don't you tell us aboutyour experience with that?
Meghan (23:53):
Well, I didn't say that I didn't abuse my network.
I said I had an amazing network.
But you know, it was kind ofinteresting because when I moved
there was just such a huge feararound tornadoes and not
understanding them, because inCalifornia, I mean, we have
earthquakes but that's just likea little rumble, it's no big
deal, and so there's just thishuge fear, not exposure to it.
(24:15):
So I decided to start MEGS, theMegan Emergency Guid system,
and I had different alerts andlevels based on like the tornado
danger.
So if it was like just atornado watch, it would be like
the Wizard of Oz, like witch,like riding on her bike, but
then if it turned into like atornado warning, you'd see like
(24:37):
a house, like flying.
But I did that so that theycould have some exposure to how
often we got these warnings andhow most often it wasn't really
a big deal.
For me, exposure createscomfort and in the absence of
information, people make it up.
So I was giving them thatexposure and information so that
(24:59):
they could see it wasn't as bigof a deal as you thought when
you moved there.
Brittany (25:05):
Yeah, I definitely agree with you there.
If you don't grow up with it orif you're not exposed to it,
you don't really, you know, notreally sure.
And let me tell you, meganreally did expose us to this
because when she was leavingshe's like can you help?
You know?
You know, pack up my house andmove.
And we're like, yeah, sure, noproblem.
So we drove down and, yeah,there's like she's driving to
the airport to go pick up herparents and she's like, all
(25:25):
right, just stay in my house.
You know like whatever box andstuff.
I'm like, cool, no problem.
There was a tornado watch, andnot just one tornado watch, and
not just two tornado watch orthree, there was 20.
And she's driving to theairport up and they're like
landing the freaking plane.
Two different planes, they'reon separate planes in alabama.
And I'm like what is thismadness?
(25:46):
Like the shelter is pulled back.
Oh yeah, just grab my dog andcats and you know your dog and
get in there, you'll be fine.
I'm like what the hell?
Meghan (25:55):
well, first off, 20 isn't normal, so I think alabama
was in protest.
I was leaving or they weretelling me to leave, and I was
quite surprised that my parentswere able to land with that many
watches going on.
But that day was quiteinteresting.
There was a lot of tornadoespopping off in the state.
Brittany (26:14):
It was wild.
Yeah, what did you say?
You was wild, you was wild.
Meghan (26:21):
You's a mess.
Oh, that's what it was.
You's a mess.
Alabama, get you some act right, that's another term, get you
some act right so why did youdecide to leave?
I mean, obviously wasn't thetornadoes whirling you out yeah,
um, honestly, that traditionalkind of southern wife life
(26:41):
didn't suit my personality.
Um, I think that'll be anotherpodcast that we talk about, but
you know, unfortunately thesituation didn't work out, and
so I decided to move closer tomy parents.
What about you, brittany?
Why did you decide to leaveTennessee?
Well, that's fair enough.
Brittany (26:56):
Our rent was going up something crazy in terms of what
I would have paid for inCalifornia.
So it was a hard.
I'm not going to pay that outhere.
We did look at houses out there.
I guess the most covenant quoteunquote houses are on top of a
brow ridge.
And in case you don't know whatthe big deal is, behind a
freaking brow ridge, it's thetop of a mountain.
Meghan (27:18):
It's not like my eyebrow here, like brow ridge, I'm
hearing eyebrow.
Brittany (27:23):
That's what I heard too.
I was like they have browwaxing in this place.
Meghan (27:28):
I have questions.
Brittany (27:29):
No, he really was selling us hard on it.
It's like a whole little golfcart community and it just
sounded like a lot of dollarsigns and HOA fees that I was
not willing to pay.
So essentially, long storyshort, it didn't align with our
long-term financial goals.
So, um again, I kind of justthrew my husband in the back of
the you know car and we ended upmoving to florida and I like
(27:52):
that.
Meghan (27:53):
He's always thrown in the back of the car, because I
know your dog is like sitting inthe front seat, like sucker.
Brittany (27:59):
I got the air conditioning and he's tied up in
the back no, he's such a goodsport.
I just tease him because youknow we got to keep it
interesting.
But now, like plot twist, so Imoved him to Tennessee where you
know we got black, white, he'sthe minority.
And now we have like brown, andyou know black, and now I'm the
minority.
So everyone comes up to me nowand thinks I'm, you know Latin,
(28:23):
and they start talking to me inSpanish and I'm just like I got
about every other word you saidLike I'm going to need like
translator.
Meghan (28:29):
I like it.
Well, I'm happy you left, eventhough you live further away,
but I'm happy you left from aselfish reason, so I can come
vacation at your house and getsome sunshine.
Brittany (28:42):
Oh yes, we got plenty of that, lots of sunshine.
Oh yes, we got plenty of that,lots of sunshine.
So for our audience, the bigquestion, oh, question from the
audience.
Would you ever move back toCalifornia if?
You would do it all over again,knowing what you know now and
why.
Meghan (28:59):
No, just hard pass.
But I can expand on that.
I mean, you know it, it didn'tquite work out going to Alabama,
but now I'm in Arizona and youknow, um, I learned a lot and
you know it's hard to say that,um, you would change stuff.
You know, I I try not to livein regret.
I just try to learn from mymistakes and hopefully share
(29:22):
them with others.
So, yeah, I'm very happy I leftCalifornia and would never
intend on moving back.
What about you?
Brittany (29:30):
I was going to say, if you said yes, I think we should
just end it here and like goour separate ways as friends,
because I would never come visityou again.
Fair enough.
Needless to say, no, I wouldnot move back.
There was just so much stressliving there that you didn't
really realize until after youmoved out.
And I don't know if it was justthe fast paced life, everyone
(29:51):
concerned about what thefreaking weather is doing for
the day, the high taxes, thebullshit, whatever political
uprising is going to happen thatweek, like I just I was over it
, like yeah and you move, andit's just like and I?
Meghan (30:06):
I don't think it has to be made political at all.
It's just so hard to live there, um, and there's so many extra
things that you have to do whenyou live in california.
From like a a thinking processlike okay, it's gonna take me
five minutes to get to thegrocery store and then I have 20
minutes there and I can planfor 10 minutes on the way back.
Like you have to do so muchmore mapping out and thinking
(30:30):
through just normal tasks thatyou don't have to think about
here.
You can just go do them.
I know it's just such a stressrelief.
Well, I think that's enoughabout callie, don't you?
yeah, I think we've given itenough air time for for the
podcast perfect well, if youyourself have ambition, drive
(30:50):
and booze in your system, wewould love to have you as a
guest or hear your ideas.
Please email fearlessly femaleuncensored at gmailcom.
Thanks for joining us today.
Welcome back to Fearlessly Female, where two
blondes make a right.
We are Brittany and Megan, thehosts of your podcast of
Fearlessly Female.
Our podcast is born out ofambition, drive and a lot of
wine.
We're two powerhouse comedicwomen having uncensored
conversations about topics thataffect women, and we're airing
all the dirty laundry.
So grab your favorite drink andgive us a listen.
Meghan (00:33):
Today's podcast is wish they all could be California
girls until they didn't want toanymore.
In this episode we handle CaliGone East.
Warning calm your tits.
Offense will not be taken here.
Grab your favorite drink, burnyour bra and have a good time.
Brittany (00:53):
It's a little background about us.
Both of us were raised inCalifornia but in our 30s
decided to head east.
We took different routes ofmoving.
Megan, maybe, took a moretraditional route and Brittany
took a non-traditional route.
So, megan, you left first.
What made you leave?
Meghan (01:11):
Well, I was dating someone who lived in Alabama,
rural Tide, and at the same timeI got a promotion at work that
pushed me up a tax bracket, so Iactually made less with my
raise and then my rent went up$300 a month.
It was getting so hard to liveso I decided to go for it.
Brittany (01:28):
That sounds about California you know, get a great
promotion and guess what?
Your rent's going up and you'regoing to get taxed.
More Food stamps, please, Sorry.
So why did you decide to moveto Alabama and not, you know
somewhere else, like you know,North Dakota or New Mexico?
Meghan (01:47):
Well, you know, I had never considered leaving
California before.
I had a company that I couldretire from.
All of my friends and familywere there.
But I fell in love and with itbeing so hard to live and not
feeling like I was ever going tobe a homeowner or make progress
, I was pretty much done withCali Brittany.
You left a couple of yearsafter me.
Why did you decide to leave?
Brittany (02:10):
Very similar reasons.
I was in a very toxic job, alot of broke culture, and, you
know, after a couple of years itjust kind of got exhausting and
been wanting to leave for awhile and so I was just applying
out.
I ended up landing an amazingjob out in Tennessee and I was
in a relationship.
I honestly had no idea if mypartner was going to move with
(02:33):
me, but you know, I knew Iwanted to leave.
So I didn't let therelationship of dating someone
be a defining point and takingthat job opportunity Just to
give a little more context aboutit.
My person I'm with is Latin, andtaking that job opportunity
Just to give a little morecontext about it.
My person I'm with is Latin andso typically in their culture
the man runs the show.
You know what he says goes he'sthe breadwinner, he's the
(02:55):
provider.
So that's kind of why I wasn'tsure if he's going to come with
me or if he's just going to saybye, have fun, I'm going to find
someone else here.
But I ended up kidnapping himin the middle of the night and
throwing him in my trunk and weboth just kind of really throw
him in my trunk.
Meghan (03:13):
He came willingly Mostly .
It's still up in the air.
We haven't decided yet.
So I remember when you showedup at my house after you first
move and you spent the 4th ofJuly with me.
It was so great to have you inthe South and honestly I think
you moving was really pivotal inour relationship.
We really had a sharedexperience of you leaving and I
(03:35):
think it made our bond so strongthat now Brittany can't even
shake me off.
Brittany (03:42):
I agree that was definitely a fun time and
definitely just a completelydifferent experience of
experiencing fourth of Julyoutside of California, because
they're like okay, fireworks,you know you're gonna burn
someone's house down, andAlabama's like, yeah, shoot him
off in the front yard, it's fine, you want him hand him out on
the freeway, you know?
One for you, one for you.
I'm like it's like illegal.
So much, though.
Meghan (04:03):
Completely different culture about it.
Brittany (04:07):
So I think you highlighted our experiences in
the South were different and Ithink they're quite interesting.
I feel that maybe we have asimilar personality but
different experiences, so maybefor our listeners can you
explain what is a typical lifelike for a Southern woman in the
area that you moved to.
Meghan (04:27):
Oh man, I mean very interesting, very different from
anything I had ever experiencedbefore or was raised in.
When I was in Alabama I had twowonderful stepchildren and one
of their friends came over andin the conversation mentioned
she wanted to be a lawyer or ahairdresser.
(04:47):
There is nothing wrong witheither of those paths, but it's
just such a vastly differentthought process to be either a
lawyer or hairdresser.
For me it really showed whatthe kids were exposed to, which
was those two things.
Brittany (05:02):
in that small town it was a very narrow viewpoint, um,
in that culture yeah,hairdresser and lawyer, that is
like two like I feel likeopposite ends of the spectrum on
like career paths, like justyeah I'm not sure if there's
like any commonality in betweenthose two at all yeah, I could
(05:23):
definitely see how, see how thatthought process comes about
with just those two career paths.
So you're an independent bosslady.
You have to read it.
How'd you get down with theculture out there then?
Meghan (05:39):
Oh man, there's a lot for me to unpack here, but I
think I was probably seen as toofancy, too intimidating, too
over the top.
Some of this could have beenthem.
Some of it could have been therelationship I was in and what I
was being told.
There's a whole differentpodcast we'll talk about, but
there are many times I reallyfelt like I was the third wheel
in my own home.
(05:59):
Have you ever had thoseconversations that are like
one-sided, where you ask all thequestions, questions, and no
one has any interest in you?
Brittany (06:10):
That's so awkward.
You're just sitting there likeuh yeah.
Meghan (06:15):
So it was pretty much like that for a good four out of
the five years I was down there, and some of it was probably
root causes.
It was a really small town Ilived in.
There's generations that neverleave, so they're they have
their friend group, and some ofit was probably root causes.
It was a really small town Ilived in.
There's generations that neverleave, so they have their friend
group.
They've been friends since theywere kindergarten and they
don't really have a need or roomfor new people.
And then new people moving tothe town I lived in was a
(06:38):
complete rarity.
I had met someone who hadalready lived there for seven
years and they still hadn't hadany friends or broke in to a
network.
Brittany (06:48):
Oh my gosh, that's crazy.
Yeah, I I've had a similarsituation, knowing friends that
have grown up like you know,like that's so close and then
just kind of being the awkwardlike person to come in.
Meghan (07:00):
It's like, hey, I'm here and they're just like you can't
sit with us exactly and youknow, when you think about like
we're women's, I'm in my 30s,like we're not in high school
and we're still dealing withsome of that, it's pretty.
It's sad, in my opinion, and Iknow it doesn't happen just
where I was at in that town.
It happens all over the place,um, but it's just sad when that
(07:23):
happens.
Brittany (07:24):
I agree, I agree.
So I'm like I'm down to befriends with everyone.
You know, if you're cool, like,let's hang out.
So what did you eventually doto like fit in?
You know, what were some thingsthat maybe worked, that didn't
work.
Meghan (07:37):
You know, one thing to know about me is, if you tell me
no, that's the fastest way toget me to do something.
Brittany (07:46):
Spark a fire.
Meghan (07:47):
Yeah.
So really I was kind of beingpushed into a place where it was
my fault and I was told like Icouldn't create the friend group
and so I decided to make sure Idid it.
I had to be really intentionalabout it.
I started building Anna Esfalas, which is the drinking club
that I run.
(08:07):
Again, it's a drinking club.
It is not a book club.
It is not sugar coated, it isabsolutely a drinking club and
we just started.
I just started handpickingwomen.
I wanted no drama and I wantedwomen supporting women.
I think sometimes we get taggedwith this stereotype that women
compete with each other, butthis was really just women
(08:29):
supporting women no drama,having fun and enjoying
cocktails at the same time.
Brittany (08:35):
Yeah, I mean, if you invite me to a drinking club,
I'm there Book club, don't?
No, don't call me Drinking club, absolutely.
Meghan (08:42):
I have had so many conversations about this, where
they're like but but is it abook club?
And I'm like no, it's adrinking club.
I don't.
Well, yeah, I know, but likeyou pretend to read a book and
then you drink, no, we aredrinking.
I'm very straightforward,straight up, we're having a
drinking club so britney wouldnot bring a book.
(09:04):
Yeah, no books.
I mean, I love reading, butthat's kind of like a I do it on
my own thing.
I want to.
I want to drink with my ladies.
So, brittany, how about you?
How is your experiencedifferent from mine?
Brittany (09:17):
So I've moved to Tennessee, as I mentioned and I
think just my experience is alittle bit different was because
the group that I was broughtinto, with my co-workers and
everything they're veryindependent, dominant women, so
they are the breadwinners oftheir family.
They are the ones that you knowwent to college, you know, got
a quote-unquote corporate job.
(09:37):
They're the ones that areproviding for their families.
You know some of them.
Their husbands are, you know,either in construction you know
some of them, their husbands are, you know, either in
construction, you know, whichobviously makes good money too
or they're farmers, you knowstuff like that.
But it was really interestingbecause they're obviously older,
you know in their 50s or so,but they're all very supportive
and having that in a team,coming from a toxic company and
(09:59):
then coming into that was justlike oh my gosh, this is just
mind blown.
Like it felt so good.
Everyone supported each other,whether it was at work or like
their personal lives.
They talked about differentparenting styles, like how to,
you know, deal with certainsituations with your kids and
they all have kids that you know, different stages in their
lives, so they kind of mentoreach other too, which I thought
(10:20):
is is really great, um?
And then, yeah, it is.
And then, just on top of that,I think I mentioned um, my
partner is a Latinxer, so youknow a little side note he hates
the term Latinx, which justmakes me latch on to it even
(10:41):
more oh, he's a good sport um sothere's just not a lot of
diversity in the south.
It's very black or white.
Anything in terms of like brownor yellow spectrum is just not
there and I don't know how elseto put it.
It's black or white.
(11:02):
So yeah, if you want to getgood Mexican food, no, that's
not going to happen.
Good Indian food it's not goingto happen.
Good Asian food just stick tobarbecue or American Like.
Those are your best bets.
Meghan (11:16):
I will say, you know, the first time, so you know, I
was living in Alabama.
The first time I flew back toCalifornia, I landed and, you
know, get off the plane.
And the first time, so you know, I was living in alabama.
The first time I flew back tocalifornia, I landed and, you
know, get off the plane, and thefirst thought that popped into
my head was, oh, mexicans.
And then, like, the secondthought was megan, what are you
doing like you're about to getcanceled?
Right, but really, truly it was.
(11:37):
It was just so exciting to seeother races and just the
representation of what we havein this country, Whereas, like
in Alabama, exactly whatBrittany is saying is very black
and white.
There's no other representationof ethnicity down there.
Brittany (11:55):
Yeah, what was?
Do you have any stories aboutassimilating to the culture?
Meghan (12:02):
Well, you know, I'll tell you this, this story is
kind of ridiculous.
So I kept running stop signs.
So what I?
What I figured out and noticedin California they have stop
signs and then on the groundthey do like these white lines
that say like stop on thepavement, and in Alabama they
don't.
And there's just so many treesin Alabama.
(12:25):
It's really beautiful that Ijust never even noticed the stop
signs.
So I just kept running them.
Brittany (12:35):
She took her California roll all the way to
Alabama.
Meghan (12:38):
Just barrels with the stop signs, yeah it changed from
like a california roll to likea california barrel exactly what
you just said over speed.
Brittany (12:48):
Bump kids.
Don't put your kids in the carswith megan did you ever run
over?
Meghan (12:55):
any kids, definitely didn't run anybody over or get
into any accidents, but I was umtaking kids to school during
that time of my life and wordwas getting back to other
parents that I was running themconstantly, so I definitely had
to focus on finding the stopsigns and stopping they're like
(13:18):
put your seat belt on johnny ifmegan's driving double buckle.
They're like coming in the carwearing helmets.
Already I know I've got aproblem.
What about you?
Any funny stories?
Brittany (13:31):
oh gosh.
Yeah, there's a couple um, Ithink probably one is just how
they do business in the south isa little bit different, so, and
it's really just with how theycommunicate.
I'm always a laid back person,very chill.
I've always come across as justvery like I don't know, not
(13:52):
passionate about what I do, eventhough I am.
I'm just not super in your faceabout it until they get me a
drink and then I'll be in yourface, but obviously I can't
drink at work.
So I get on a call with youknow my business unit.
I'm like hey, you know how's itgoing, talking blah, blah, blah
, and they're on the call andthey're just like yeah, okay,
you know we're gonna do this andyou had a great weekend.
Meghan (14:13):
I'm already like could you speed this up?
Yeah, and.
Brittany (14:17):
I'm on there, like you know, spitfire, like oh yeah,
let's do this, this, this, this,this, and they're probably
thinking it's cracking girl.
She just must have did like, ohyeah, let's do this, this, this
, this, this, and they'reprobably thinking it's crackhead
girl.
She just must have did like aline of coke and just got on
this call and is just shootingoff the hip.
So I think just I had to putmyself on mute a couple of times
so I can catch your breath.
Ok, slow down.
Meghan (14:44):
Well, I know I can keep up with you, but we may need to
add closed captioning for ourlisteners, because you do spit
out some words.
Brittany (14:47):
The South doesn't just have thick accents, though.
They also have, obviously, theslow way of talking.
So maybe what other languagesdo they have other than their?
What is it?
Drawn out drolls.
I can't even talk right now.
Drawn out drolls.
Meghan (15:00):
I can't even talk right now Drawn out drolls.
I would love to hear a personfrom the South say drawn out
drolls.
I bet you they wouldn't be ableto, but you know there's
actually a language barrier, soI have to tell this story.
I was talking with someone andthey were asking me about my
(15:23):
brother and how he's doing inschool and they said you know
how much he like and I was likeI mean, I think he likes it.
All right, you know.
And she's like no, how muchthey like.
And I'm like what he likes,school, just fine.
Like what are you saying?
But really what the term likethat?
What it means how much you likeis how much you have left and I
(15:47):
like how much of school he hadleft and I honestly think the
term used to be how much youlack, like how much is left,
lack, but the like accent overtime turned it into how much you
like, and so pretty funny, justcompletely different language
almost.
(16:08):
And then there's definitely somesayings down in the South.
Brittany (16:14):
Oh, I know my manager was kind enough to put together
like a little playbook of thetranslations of all of these, so
she gave me a little text andwas like okay, you know, when
people say this, this is whatthey mean.
And one of them was fixing toleave and I was like what are
you fixing?
Like do like a home improvementproject before you leave, Like
(16:34):
I mean I'm usually getting readyand like all right, see you
there, and she's like no, itmeans I'm getting ready to leave
.
Meghan (16:40):
I'm glad you got the booklet.
I didn't.
But I would tell you probablymy most favorite saying from the
South that I still use to thisday is you a mess?
And there is literally notranslation to like what that
actually means.
It's just you a mess.
It's kind of it's funny, it'shilarious.
(17:03):
It's not meant to be offensive,um, but I have no way to
explain what it means.
I just love it and of course Ihave to say it with like lots of
head movement you a mess.
Brittany (17:15):
I don't think it gives it the same.
Meghan (17:17):
if you don't right, you gotta add a lot of flavor into
that one.
If you don't Right, you got toadd a lot of flavor into that
one.
Brittany (17:23):
Let's see.
Oh, they got some other ones.
I like the little, the classic,the bless your heart one, my
favorite, my favorites.
When we talk to vendors thatare, you know, obviously not
from the South, and my coworkersare just like, oh, bless your
heart.
And they're like, oh, sweetie,you're so sweet.
And I'm just like oh my God,you're such an idiot.
Meghan (17:40):
So for our listeners bless your heart.
If you've ever been told blessyour heart, they were saying
you's an idiot.
It is the nicest way to say youare dumb, you messed up.
It is not a compliment whenthey say bless your heart it
sounds so sweet too when thelittle accent comes out.
Brittany (18:03):
It's just oh my God, it makes me laugh, and it is not
sweet, I would say too.
Meghan (18:10):
The culture of like, using ma'am and sir, is very
much like alive and well.
And I absolutely loved it when,you know, kids were like, yes,
ma'am, no ma'am, I thought itwas, you know, super sweet.
Yes, ma'am, no ma'am, I thoughtit was, you know, super sweet.
But it just becomes part ofyour language and so it's my
habit now and you know, I'veleft, I've left Alabama, but I
still say you know, ma'am andsir, and I'm dating someone
(18:33):
right now and I'll be like yes,sir, no sir, but it's just, it's
part of it and so he's tryingto retrain me.
So now I'm like, no, sir, I tryto add like a little attitude
in it, because before it waslike marching orders.
Brittany (18:46):
No sir.
Meghan (18:46):
Like you know, so adding a little flair into it.
But I've definitely likechanged some of my language and
it's been added on and I can't,can't get rid of it quite yet
it's just ingrained now at thatpoint.
Brittany (19:01):
So changing topics a little bit, what did your
friends and family say when youwere?
You told them that you weregoing to move to Alabama.
What was their reaction?
Meghan (19:11):
Yeah, you know, honestly , people were on board mostly
probably because they werescared to go against me, but
really they saw how in love Iwas and they really wanted that
happiness for me.
I, hands down, have the mostincredible network of family and
friends, and so not only didthey support me with this, but
(19:31):
they all like showed up in hugefashion when I was coming back
too.
What about you, brittany?
What did your say I had?
Brittany (19:41):
a different reaction.
I mean, obviously my parentswere supportive, but a lot of my
friends were just like why areyou moving there?
Like they're all racist and I'mlike who?
And they're like you know, thepeople in the South.
I was like this isn't the 1950s.
(20:01):
Like you know, we're in like2020.
Like we've progressed as asociety since then and they're
like their perception of theSouth, I mean, they're so like
in this little eco bubble of theBay Area and you know, tell
them you're moving to like astate.
That's not that, or New York ora big city.
(20:21):
They're just like, oh my gosh,they're all rednecks, they're
all racist.
So I wish a lot of them wouldcome out to, would have came out
to visit, cause I just I had ablast out there and they were
all super welcoming when we cameand it was just completely just
I don't know.
I had a really good experienceout there.
Meghan (20:41):
I think there's.
You know there's a mix, like Ithink unfortunately the South
gets tagged with that stereotypeof being racist and you know
that's where a lot of the civilrights movement happened and so
it is different than Californiajust because that's where it
happened and there's stillmonuments and there's, you know,
big major historical eventsthat happens there around that.
(21:04):
But that's not to say that youknow they haven't moved.
You know some of thatpopulation hasn't moved past
that and aren't, you know,inclusive to others.
I think I experienced a littlebit of a mix as it related to
that.
Brittany (21:18):
Yeah, yeah, I could see maybe like the smaller towns
being a little bit offset bynewcomers or people that are
different than maybe like a cityor if you're working at a
corporation or something likethat a little bit bigger.
I was in a very quote unquoteliberal area for Tennessee.
So it wasn't wasn't no bigthing.
(21:40):
Well, let's talk about food.
Yeah, I love some food.
Meghan (21:48):
So what like food like?
What was your food experiencedown in the south?
Brittany (21:54):
um well, definitely do not take recommendations from
my co-workers on anything ethnicrelated, like love them to
death.
But when they say there's goodmexican food, I tried every
mexican restaurant I swear in inthe local area.
Not one place was good likeyeah, it was pretty much like
just like whitewashed mexicanplaces, so they're like little
mini chipotles all over theplace.
(22:15):
So summit all at taco bell wasbetter.
Um, yeah, that was mine.
My, I don't know.
Did you have a differentexperience?
I don't know how much ethnicfood was down in Alabama.
Meghan (22:25):
Well, I lived in a pretty small town, so like there
was not really any good food Imean ethnic is so far from like
what I had.
But I would say this I hadnever had okra or hush puppies
until I moved to the South andlet me tell you, oh, I could eat
some okra and hush puppies.
Um, till I moved to the southand let me tell you, oh, I could
eat some okra and hush puppies.
(22:46):
Love them so much.
And it's funny because you knowyou never see them on the menu
outside of the south.
But anytime I go back for avisit if I see okra and hush
puppies, like I'm ordering themin like buckets because I love
them so much.
Brittany (23:01):
But there's a lot of fried food.
Yeah, this is why their healthpremiums are so high.
Everything is fried, deep friedlard.
Real ingredients.
Meghan (23:11):
Yeah, and I think Brittany said it earlier, they
got some good barbecue.
Brittany (23:15):
Oh yeah, hands down for sure.
Good barbecue, good American.
Stick to the basics.
Meghan (23:22):
Okay, so let's lighten it up a bit.
When I say lighten, I meanlightning.
How do you feel about tornadoes, brittany?
Brittany (23:30):
So Megan was talking about her network earlier and
let me tell you she really has anetwork.
So we're going to dive intothis with our weather story.
But for our listeners, caliweather is very like centric.
You know, they're alwaysfocused on the weather, always
this, that, whatever with theweather.
And Megan basically just movedto Tornado Alley.
So why don't you tell us aboutyour experience with that?
Meghan (23:53):
Well, I didn't say that I didn't abuse my network.
I said I had an amazing network.
But you know, it was kind ofinteresting because when I moved
there was just such a huge feararound tornadoes and not
understanding them, because inCalifornia, I mean, we have
earthquakes but that's just likea little rumble, it's no big
deal, and so there's just thishuge fear, not exposure to it.
(24:15):
So I decided to start MEGS, theMegan Emergency Guid system,
and I had different alerts andlevels based on like the tornado
danger.
So if it was like just atornado watch, it would be like
the Wizard of Oz, like witch,like riding on her bike, but
then if it turned into like atornado warning, you'd see like
(24:37):
a house, like flying.
But I did that so that theycould have some exposure to how
often we got these warnings andhow most often it wasn't really
a big deal.
For me, exposure createscomfort and in the absence of
information, people make it up.
So I was giving them thatexposure and information so that
(24:59):
they could see it wasn't as bigof a deal as you thought when
you moved there.
Brittany (25:05):
Yeah, I definitely agree with you there.
If you don't grow up with it orif you're not exposed to it,
you don't really, you know, notreally sure.
And let me tell you, meganreally did expose us to this
because when she was leavingshe's like can you help?
You know?
You know, pack up my house andmove.
And we're like, yeah, sure, noproblem.
So we drove down and, yeah,there's like she's driving to
the airport to go pick up herparents and she's like, all
(25:25):
right, just stay in my house.
You know like whatever box andstuff.
I'm like, cool, no problem.
There was a tornado watch, andnot just one tornado watch, and
not just two tornado watch orthree, there was 20.
And she's driving to theairport up and they're like
landing the freaking plane.
Two different planes, they'reon separate planes in alabama.
And I'm like what is thismadness?
(25:46):
Like the shelter is pulled back.
Oh yeah, just grab my dog andcats and you know your dog and
get in there, you'll be fine.
I'm like what the hell?
Meghan (25:55):
well, first off, 20 isn't normal, so I think alabama
was in protest.
I was leaving or they weretelling me to leave, and I was
quite surprised that my parentswere able to land with that many
watches going on.
But that day was quiteinteresting.
There was a lot of tornadoespopping off in the state.
Brittany (26:14):
It was wild.
Yeah, what did you say?
You was wild, you was wild.
Meghan (26:21):
You's a mess.
Oh, that's what it was.
You's a mess.
Alabama, get you some act right, that's another term, get you
some act right so why did youdecide to leave?
I mean, obviously wasn't thetornadoes whirling you out yeah,
um, honestly, that traditionalkind of southern wife life
(26:41):
didn't suit my personality.
Um, I think that'll be anotherpodcast that we talk about, but
you know, unfortunately thesituation didn't work out, and
so I decided to move closer tomy parents.
What about you, brittany?
Why did you decide to leaveTennessee?
Well, that's fair enough.
Brittany (26:56):
Our rent was going up something crazy in terms of what
I would have paid for inCalifornia.
So it was a hard.
I'm not going to pay that outhere.
We did look at houses out there.
I guess the most covenant quoteunquote houses are on top of a
brow ridge.
And in case you don't know whatthe big deal is, behind a
freaking brow ridge, it's thetop of a mountain.
Meghan (27:18):
It's not like my eyebrow here, like brow ridge, I'm
hearing eyebrow.
Brittany (27:23):
That's what I heard too.
I was like they have browwaxing in this place.
Meghan (27:28):
I have questions.
Brittany (27:29):
No, he really was selling us hard on it.
It's like a whole little golfcart community and it just
sounded like a lot of dollarsigns and HOA fees that I was
not willing to pay.
So essentially, long storyshort, it didn't align with our
long-term financial goals.
So, um again, I kind of justthrew my husband in the back of
the you know car and we ended upmoving to florida and I like
(27:52):
that.
Meghan (27:53):
He's always thrown in the back of the car, because I
know your dog is like sitting inthe front seat, like sucker.
Brittany (27:59):
I got the air conditioning and he's tied up in
the back no, he's such a goodsport.
I just tease him because youknow we got to keep it
interesting.
But now, like plot twist, so Imoved him to Tennessee where you
know we got black, white, he'sthe minority.
And now we have like brown, andyou know black, and now I'm the
minority.
So everyone comes up to me nowand thinks I'm, you know Latin,
(28:23):
and they start talking to me inSpanish and I'm just like I got
about every other word you saidLike I'm going to need like
translator.
Meghan (28:29):
I like it.
Well, I'm happy you left, eventhough you live further away,
but I'm happy you left from aselfish reason, so I can come
vacation at your house and getsome sunshine.
Brittany (28:42):
Oh yes, we got plenty of that, lots of sunshine.
Oh yes, we got plenty of that,lots of sunshine.
So for our audience, the bigquestion, oh, question from the
audience.
Would you ever move back toCalifornia if?
You would do it all over again,knowing what you know now and
why.
Meghan (28:59):
No, just hard pass.
But I can expand on that.
I mean, you know it, it didn'tquite work out going to Alabama,
but now I'm in Arizona and youknow, um, I learned a lot and
you know it's hard to say that,um, you would change stuff.
You know, I I try not to livein regret.
I just try to learn from mymistakes and hopefully share
(29:22):
them with others.
So, yeah, I'm very happy I leftCalifornia and would never
intend on moving back.
What about you?
Brittany (29:30):
I was going to say, if you said yes, I think we should
just end it here and like goour separate ways as friends,
because I would never come visityou again.
Fair enough.
Needless to say, no, I wouldnot move back.
There was just so much stressliving there that you didn't
really realize until after youmoved out.
And I don't know if it was justthe fast paced life, everyone
(29:51):
concerned about what thefreaking weather is doing for
the day, the high taxes, thebullshit, whatever political
uprising is going to happen thatweek, like I just I was over it
, like yeah and you move, andit's just like and I?
Meghan (30:06):
I don't think it has to be made political at all.
It's just so hard to live there, um, and there's so many extra
things that you have to do whenyou live in california.
From like a a thinking processlike okay, it's gonna take me
five minutes to get to thegrocery store and then I have 20
minutes there and I can planfor 10 minutes on the way back.
Like you have to do so muchmore mapping out and thinking
(30:30):
through just normal tasks thatyou don't have to think about
here.
You can just go do them.
I know it's just such a stressrelief.
Well, I think that's enoughabout callie, don't you?
yeah, I think we've given itenough air time for for the
podcast perfect well, if youyourself have ambition, drive
(30:50):
and booze in your system, wewould love to have you as a
guest or hear your ideas.
Please email fearlessly femaleuncensored at gmailcom.
Thanks for joining us today.
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