9. People You Should Know: Krista Miller & The Real Art of Survival

This week on Premeditated Opinions, Josh does the unthinkable: he interviews his wife.  That’s right! The first official People You Should Know segment features Krista Miller: artist, mom, musician, and long-suffering spouse of one co-host with too many opinions.

Together with Pamela, they dive into the messy magic of creativity, infertility, and the long, weird road from “this is just for me” to “someone actually bought my emotional breakdown on canvas.”

They talk about how art became therapy, how infertility rewired their marriage, and how Krista’s abstract expressionism literally saved her sanity (and maybe Josh’s too).

Then, they recap a whirlwind weekend in Louisville, complete with the St. James Art Fair, drag brunch church, bourbon-fueled field trips to Jim Beam, and a 95-year-old queen who could drink them all under the table.

Other highlights:
 🎨 Turning trauma into art (and pricing your emotions appropriately).
 🍼 The wild economics of infertility and why “pro-life” should include IVF.
 🍞 Sourdough, spreadsheets, and Schitt’s Creek references.

If you’ve ever cried over a canvas, questioned your purpose, or just wanted to throw paint at something and call it healing... this episode’s for you.

Links Discussed:

Krista Miller Art:

https://www.kristamillerart.com

https://www.instagram.com/kristamillerart

https://www.saatchiart.com/kristamiller

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
We drove a little bit through Marstown.
Um because that's a cute littlelittle city, and then uh drove
back into town um and haddinner.

SPEAKER_00 (00:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We had dinner at uh shoot thiswas just last weekend.
I know, right?
It shouldn't be this hard.

SPEAKER_03 (00:20):
It was a month ago.

SPEAKER_00 (00:21):
Yeah, last week is that's a long time.

SPEAKER_03 (00:31):
You're listening to premeditated opinions because
yes, we thought about it, andthen we said it anyway.
I'm Pamela.

SPEAKER_00 (00:38):
And I'm Josh, and we are two people who somehow share
a brain and decided to weaponizeour brains with microphones.
Each week, we unpack anythingfrom politics and religion to
carpool dread and everything inbetween.

SPEAKER_03 (00:51):
You know, it would really help us a lot if you
followed us on Instagram andYouTube.
Giving us a like and a follow isprobably the best thing your
thumbs will do today.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00):
We are not experts.
We are just way too confident inour own opinions.
With all that being said, let'sget started.
Well, welcome back to anotherepisode of Premeditated
Opinions, and we are delightedto have a special guest with us
who also happens to be myspouse.
Please welcome Krista Miller,and I know you're applauding
right now, um, as you should be.

(01:21):
Um, so Krista um has the burdenof being my spouse and uh has
been burdened by that for thelast 18 years.
Um, and it is remarkable thatshe has lasted that long, but
she has and she's here, andwe're very grateful.
So welcome.

SPEAKER_04 (01:37):
Yeah, thanks.

SPEAKER_00 (01:38):
Um we have her on for a couple of reasons today.
This actually launches a uh asegment that we've been talking
about called People You ShouldKnow.
And so we are launching straightinto that today, and that's
gonna it's gonna look differentdepending on who our guest is.
And you know, some of them willbe remote, some of them will be
live in here with us, some ofthem will join us for entire

(01:59):
episodes like today, and thenothers will just come on for
certain segments and things.
So it's gonna ebb and flow alittle bit, but today you have
the the tremendous pleasure ofuh meeting my spouse.
And so one of the things wewanted to talk about is um your
art and your art evolution andcareer and all of that.
So we made a big fuss when westarted recording in this space

(02:22):
about how your art is ourbackdrop.
And it still is for those of youwatching on YouTube.
Um, you'll see that piece isstill up, and we'll start
rotating those pieces out as wecan.
Um, but uh Krista is a visualartist and uh also does a lot of
energy work and things, whichwe'll probably get into on a

(02:42):
later episode.
Um, and a vocalist and a mom anda spouse and a woman of many
talents.
And is currently also employedby a fancy schmancy hair salon
in Dallas.
Uh-huh.
Um, and so you have a lot goingon.

SPEAKER_04 (03:00):
I do have a lot going on.

SPEAKER_00 (03:01):
And even as this podcast is recording, you're
making sourdough.

SPEAKER_04 (03:05):
I am making sourdough, which I'm gonna have
to turn and yeah, yeah, we'lltake a break for that.

SPEAKER_03 (03:11):
So I can go fold her over.

SPEAKER_00 (03:13):
Yeah, yeah.
So um you fold in the cheese.
Yeah, you fold it, you fold itin.
Fold it in.
Right.
You just I don't know how to bemore clear.
Um but I love that show.
It's great.
Uh so anyway, we uh we wanted tokind of hear from you a little
bit.
We we are fascinated by um justyour journey in in the artistic

(03:36):
world and all the various thingsthat you've been a uh a part of.
And um, and if we started fromthe beginning, like where did
you really kind of take a leapand and start creating?
I mean, was that more in school?
Was it after school, like afterhigh school or anything like
that?
Or where did all this start foryou?

SPEAKER_04 (03:55):
Yeah, so I've always been artistic in some form or
fashion.
So my um I grew up in a familywho actually did love the arts.
Um so um I was surrounded bypeople who were really good um
at what they did, whether it wasdrawing or music or whatever.

(04:16):
Um so I honestly like growingup, I drew a lot.
I painted a lot.
Um, I was that kid who wouldjust sit in a room and hole up
and draw things on our walls, sowhich my mom hated.
Um in school, um, I always didsome form of art.

(04:38):
Um, so I was definitely in artclasses um in high school and in
college.
Um, my actually my main focuswas actually music.
It wasn't art um because Ithought music was just what I
was gonna do.
Um because that is somethingsomething I also always did.
Um and so art wasn't really whatI focused on.

(04:59):
Um, but like I said, I did artclasses.
Um in college, I did charcoal ummainly.
And I did like some painting,but not a lot.
Um, but again, my main focus wasmusic, so I wasn't ever really
paying attention.
I was paying attention, but Iwasn't paying attention.

(05:19):
Like it was more like a hobbyfor you than like a yeah, it was
something I loved to do.
And I mean, I was I'd say I wasgood at it.
Yeah, I'm not I wasn't likegreat, I wasn't anything you
know people are gonna write homeabout.
Um but um yeah, my focus wasalways music.
And um honestly, it wasn't untillater in life that art became um

(05:45):
something that was moreprominent for me and something
that I really started divinginto.
Um and a lot of that um justbecame well it it came from just
life circumstances.

SPEAKER_00 (05:58):
Um so I mean just for fun, like tell us a little
bit about the musical backgroundthat uh that you were pursuing
and kind of where that startedand and how that evolved.
Um, like where did where didthat all begin?

SPEAKER_04 (06:10):
So um as far as music concern is concerned, like
I I mean I basically came outsinging.
Um I was always on a fireplacetop or on top of my bed or
somewhere singing some song, um,singing in the shower, like our
daughter frequently does, um,and loudly.

(06:32):
Um so I was always involved inmusic.
Um, and then I did lots of musicgrowing up in church.
Um, I did choir in school.
In high school, I was in likethree choirs or something like
that.
I was like in our top one thatdid all these UIL competitions.
Um, I was in a women's choir.
I was in um my main one wasactually a jazz ensemble.

(06:55):
Um, and that's why that was kindof where I formed my love for
jazz music and all of that.
But I also, I mean, I sing a tonof classical.
So I I'm classically trained,um, and I've trained in jazz
vocal um as well.
So and I did that in both highschool and in college.
And so um, oh, and musicaltheater too.

(07:16):
I can't forget that.
Um, that was a big part of myschooling.
But yeah, I always I have alwaysbeen around music.
My dad was a DJ um growing up,and so we had vinyl coming out
of our ears.
I mean, we just had walls ofthem and he had record players
and like all that.
And so I have just I just grewup around it.
Um it was something I loved.
And then in church, um I I wasstarted as a vocalist and then

(07:41):
kind of worked my way up, pickedup bat picked up guitar after a
while.
Um, but then I mean I eventuallywound around to becoming a
worship leader um and did thatfor basically 20 plus years.
Um and yeah, I mean that'sthat's kind of where the music
thing all came from.

SPEAKER_00 (08:03):
Yeah, and that's and that's how we met.
Um we we met basically in churchenvironments playing music.
Um, and that was veryfoundational to sort of the
earlier part of our relationshipfor sure.
That was a huge part of of youknow just our lives and and our
creative expression too.
Um and so, you know, we hadseveral several forays into um

(08:26):
that world, and and largelythat's behind us at this point.
But yeah, um as far as visualart is concerned, so I I'll tee
up a little bit of thecircumstances and I'll kind of
have you um jump in.
But so I I knew from the timethat you and I got together that
you visual art was something youwere passionate about and

(08:47):
interested in.
And I remember I have this vividmemory of seeing one of your
sketchbooks from high schoolthat you had found after we had
moved in together.
And I was like, Holy crap, thisis so good.
Like seriously, yeah, yeah.
I hope you do.
I I hope you have kept it.
You should keep it.
Like it's there's stuff in thereI was like, holy smokes, this is

(09:08):
awesome.
And and so I knew that there wasunderlying talent there, and my
jealousy for that talent knowsno bounds because I I say
frequently that I'm verycreative with my ears, but not
my eyes.
Like, I I am not good at the thecreative elements um around like

(09:29):
taking a piece of paper andturning it from nothing into
something is terrifying to me.
I can turn something intosomething else.
I'm good at that.
Yeah, but uh turning nothinginto something is very scary.
And so I have to.

SPEAKER_03 (09:40):
And then I'm over here, you don't want to see me
draw or hear me sing.
Like, I nobody wants to do anyof that.

SPEAKER_00 (09:46):
Somebody has to make sure that we actually get things
done around here.
Yeah, and that's like that.
That is part of the baggage ofbeing married to another
creative, honestly.
We're not always just the mostresponsible people.
Like, like we're like, oh, thatsounds fun.
Can we afford it?
I don't know.
Let's do it anyway.
Like, it sounds fun, it doesn'tmatter.

(10:07):
Like, what are these detailsaround responsibility?

SPEAKER_03 (10:09):
Meanwhile, I'm over here being rational and
practical and logical,spreadsheeting, data, all of it,
all the things.

SPEAKER_00 (10:16):
Well, and we haven't gotten to this point in in our
friendship yet, but there'sgonna come a day where I'm just
gonna be like, Can you manage mymoney, please?
Like, I'm I've not done a greatjob of this.
Like, just please handle this.
Like, like, and this is adifferent conversation for a
different day, but like her thePamela's children have more in
their investment accounts than Ihave in mine.

(10:37):
Okay, that's all by itself,that's remarkable.
That's incredible parenting.

SPEAKER_03 (10:42):
And that is in spite of getting my finance degree
while all the banks werecollapsing and not being able to
become a financial advisor.
So I just went the personnelroute.

SPEAKER_00 (10:52):
Yeah, that was a brilliant humble brag.
Uh but no, like anyway, uh so weare two creatives that uh have
been married a long time andmanaged to make it this far.
But um we when I first startedto engage with some of your more
visual creative side, that thatwas a little bit new for me, um,

(11:13):
but really fun to discover.

SPEAKER_02 (11:15):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (11:16):
And then um we went through some hard stuff.
Like we were we were in asituation where we had been
married about seven years, sixor seven years, and and we got
serious at that point abouttrying to have children.

SPEAKER_02 (11:29):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (11:30):
And um it didn't come easily for adults.
Um and there was a tremendousamount of hurt um and all of
that.
And so why don't you walk usthrough a little bit of just
what was going through your mindin that season and then what
drew you back towards visualexpression in that season?

SPEAKER_04 (11:50):
So um, so we started, so we had decided to
start trying to have kids.
And we were kind of like, okay,you know, when you first start
trying to have kids, you'relike, oh, it's gonna be easy,
it's gonna be great, you know,and you just expect things to go
a certain way because they justdo for so many people.

SPEAKER_03 (12:09):
Well, yeah, because you we grow up thinking like if
you're not on birth control,you're gonna get pregnant.
Right.
Like you're like, okay, as soonas I stop, like, right,
absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (12:19):
Yeah.
And so I was like, all right,you know, I'm gonna stop taking
birth control, which I alreadywas already on that path, like,
because I just that's a wholenother thing, but I get it.

SPEAKER_03 (12:31):
Yeah, I hate birth control anyway.

SPEAKER_04 (12:33):
Um, so I had gotten off, we started trying, and you
know, a few months go by.
We're like, oh, okay, this isfine, it's gonna take time,
whatever.
And then we get to a year, and Iwas like, okay, it's taking a
little longer than thought wasgonna be.
Um, and we get kind of to a yearand a half, and I was like

(12:56):
starting to have some mentalstruggles of you know, like,
should it be taking this long?
Like, why is it taking thislong?
Like, my body's fine.
I don't, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (13:07):
Well, and you were actually in that season of life,
you were in incredible shapetoo.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
How are you maintaining yourbody at that point?

SPEAKER_04 (13:14):
Oh, yeah.
Well, I mean, I was I I wasdoing yoga like every day of the
week.
Um, I got super into yoga.
Um, and just I don't know, justI really was diving into just a
healthy lifestyle because I knewthat that would be good for
pregnancy.
Yeah.
And I was just like, if I canmaintain a healthy lifestyle,

(13:36):
then that's just only gonnabenefit me, you know, more once
I get pregnant and like allthat.
And um, so yeah, so we got to ayear and a half, I was starting
to struggle, and we got to twoyears.
And I was like, all right, likemaybe I should start trying to
figure out what's going on.
And so that's when the doctor'svisits kind of started ramping
up a little bit more and allthat.

(13:57):
And you know, all I got wasyou're fine, like everything
looks good.
It's just gonna happen when ithappens.
And I'm like, okay, great.
Um, it was at the three-yearmark that uh things got dark.
Um, we hit that three-year mark,and I went into some really deep

(14:19):
dark places.
Um, everybody around me couldget pregnant, no problem, and
we're having kids, and I was,you know, all the questions of
when are you gonna have kids andlike all this stuff, you know?
And it just you get to thatplace where you're like, I don't
want to hear that anymore.
I don't want to take testsanymore, I don't want to have to
keep thinking about this andwhere I mean it consumes you,

(14:42):
yeah, you know.
And so I got to this place whereit started getting hard for me
to sing.
Um, and we were deep in churchand like all of this, and you
know, some of the things thatyou're singing about just hit
you a certain way.
And especially when, you know,you're just in this really dark

(15:02):
place of like wanting to havekids and can't for whatever
reason.

SPEAKER_03 (15:06):
And well, I'm sure it's frustrating that like you
don't have a reason, right?
It's like everything is liningup, you're doing everything that
you're you should be or aresupposed to be doing.
You're you're being told it'sjust gonna take time, and it's
like, okay, well, but there'ssome factor here that's missing
because if everyone else isprobably not even in the same

(15:27):
shape or situation or whateverthat I'm in, and then this isn't
happening, yeah, there'ssomething going on that I don't
understand, I don't know,someone's not telling me, like,
there's something's going onthat I'm sure that's
frustrating.

SPEAKER_04 (15:40):
Oh, yeah.
Um, so I got to this place, itwas really hard for me just to
be in in and around music.
And um I was struggling withlike, whoa, what do I do
creatively, you know?
Um, and we were a part of agroup at the time um called Art
House Dallas.

(16:01):
And a couple of the people thathelped run this group, we were
close to and kind of knew ourstory and what was going on and
and kind of all that.
Um and as we kind of wereinvolved in that and we're we're
surrounded by all differenttypes of artists.
Um, and I kind of startedgravitating a little bit towards

(16:23):
visual art.
Um, and I didn't really knowwhy, because I hadn't done
really any visual art sinceschool.
Like I'm, you know, and so I wasjust like, uh, I don't, I don't,
I don't know that's something Iwant to do, you know, and it
kept nagging at me.
Like it was like this weird,like, you need to go buy paint,

(16:43):
you need to go get some paperand canvas or whatever and
brushes, and like you just youneed to paint.
And I ignored it for like a longtime.
Like, I I even I remembertalking to you about it, like,
you know, and I was like, Idon't know.

SPEAKER_00 (16:54):
Well, and when you talked about it to me initially,
I remember that conversation.
And um, we actually were in areally unique living situation
at the time, too, because we wehad some dear friends that had
bought um a foreclosed home thatthey were they were doing some
work on, and they had like wewere actually living with them,
not because we were in any sortof financial dire straits.

(17:16):
We actually had a rental home inFort Worth at the time um that
we had lived in before.
And so we just had thisopportunity to, you know,
cohabitate with some friends andand save a bunch of money, and
it did some wonderful things forus financially.
But so we were around thosefriends all the time, and they
were especially one of them, itwas very creative, and um, and

(17:39):
so we had sort of a good culturearound us that was reinforcing a
lot of these artistic things,including Art House Dallas.
Yeah, and I remember when youcame to me and started talking
about wanting to pursue visualart, I I didn't feel a need to
really understand it.
I was just kind of thinking,yes, by all means.

(18:00):
Like whatever is gonna feed yoursoul right now while things are
heavy and dark, because man,there especially especially once
we crossed over that three-yearmark.
Oh boy, that those I mean in the18 years that we've been married
and the 20 years that we've beentogether, that that year was
probably the darkest part of ourrelationship.

(18:22):
Like I can't think of anythingthat comes close.
We've had some hard seasons, butnothing like that.

SPEAKER_04 (18:26):
Yeah, and I was just so angry, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (18:29):
I was just angry, confused and everybody and
everything.
Yeah, yeah.
And and for those of you whoknow Krista, you know that anger
is not her default state.
Like that absolutely not.
This is that is not where shelives.
Um, and that would be way morenormal coming from me.
But I you know, I just rememberthinking, tell me what to buy.

(18:52):
Yeah.
Like just tell me tell me whatto go get, and and we'll get it.
Yeah.
And and then you just startedexploring.
And you explored early on, youactually explored a handful of
different visual mediums.
So what what all was kind of inthat initial exploration?

SPEAKER_04 (19:06):
Oh, I mean, so I I had talked to some friends who
were a part of that arthouseDallas crew, um, and just was
like, okay, you know, I don'teven like where do I start?
Like, what do I even startpainting, like I or drawing or
whatever?
I didn't even know what medium Iwanted to use.
I I just was just like, I needto do something with my hands
because I couldn't do it with myvoice.

(19:27):
So I was like, um, they were,you know, I I went to the store.
I went to, I don't know,whatever art store at the time.
And I was like, okay, I'm justgonna grab some pencils, I'm
gonna grab paints, I'm gonnagrab paper, I'm gonna grab
canvases, you know, and justhave it, you know, and just give

(19:48):
in to whatever this feelinginside that I'm having that is
saying to go get it.
And so I did.
And so I went and got a bunch ofstuff, and I remember going home
with all of it just in front ofme and threw on some music that
I could listen to and was justlike, okay, here we go.
And I was like, I rememberstaring at a blank paper and

(20:09):
blank canvases for a long timebecause I was just I didn't know
what to do, you know?
And um eventually after a coupleof days of that, um, two or
three days of that, um, I wasjust like, all right, I just
gotta put something down.
Like, I just I I I don't knowit.
It's probably gonna suck andit's not gonna be great, and

(20:29):
that's fine.
It's not for anybody else.
Because at the time, it wasn'tfor anybody else.

SPEAKER_02 (20:33):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (20:34):
Um, and so I did.
Um, I started off drawing and Iwas just like, yeah, I just not,
I felt like I was too rusty andlike I just didn't, I couldn't
grasp on anything that I hadlearned previously or anything
like that.
And so I was like, okay, paint.
And so I went with the paintsand figured out pretty quickly
that like figurative was not mything.

(20:55):
It's like it used to be, youknow, way back when, but right
now, this is not what I need inthis moment.
Like, this is not what I needright now.

SPEAKER_00 (21:01):
And what I did need just for the ladies and
gentlemen who are uninitiated,how do you define figurative?

SPEAKER_04 (21:06):
Uh, drawing people, drawing things, objects.
Um, that just still work.
Um, I just that just was notwhat I wanted to do.
I needed something that was moreexpressive.
Um, and so I decided that I wasjust gonna throw paint on a
canvas.
And I started throwing paint ona canvas and realized literally.

(21:29):
Yeah, literally, literally,literally, and and figured out
pretty quickly that it feltgood.
And I was like, in those firstinitial moments, I was like, oh,
like it, I don't know what isreleasing, but something's
releasing.
And so this is a start.
So I'm just gonna keep headingin that direction.

(21:51):
Um, and so I did.
And um, before I realized whatwas actually happening, because
what was actually happeninginside was me releasing anger
and trauma and hurt and guiltand like all of these things
that had been just building upinside of me that I didn't know
what to do with.
And I figured out quickly toothat I can be angry and throw

(22:16):
paint at a canvas and it wasn'tgonna talk back to me.
Like it wasn't, it was gonnahold all of that for me.
Um and that's what I needed.
You know, I I needed a spacewhere I could just be all of
these feelings and have a spacethat could hold it.

SPEAKER_00 (22:40):
And without without judgment, yeah, without needing
a reason.

SPEAKER_04 (22:44):
Right, right.
Um, and so I just continued todo that.
Um, and I did it for a while towhere I was like, I kind of have
all these canvases that werejust a mess.
Yeah, you know, it for me it wasjust this is a mess.
And I would use brushes and Iwould use palette knifes and
different tools um to just makea mess.

(23:05):
Yeah um, and there were timeswhere I would cry doing it, and
there were times where I wouldbe happy and I would just there
was all these just differentemotions that like that I would
experience while doing that.
And I would take pictures, Iwould take pictures of the work.
Um, and at the time, like Ithink Instagram was around, but
it wasn't like a big thing.

SPEAKER_00 (23:25):
It wasn't big yet.
We were still on Facebook, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (23:27):
And so I would post um some of these pictures of
just kind of what was happeningand what I was doing.
And I mean, people would commenton them, and you know, I had
some friends that would reachout and be like, Oh, I didn't
know that, you know, you paintedor you were an artist and like
all this stuff.
And I was like, well, I justnever really talked about it.
You know, it was just somethingI never, you know, brought up.

(23:47):
I mean, I loved art, I lovegoing to museums, I love looking
at art and talking about art,but I for me to do it myself was
just not something that I did.

SPEAKER_03 (23:57):
So people just didn't know it was kind of one
of the like the label of artist.

SPEAKER_04 (24:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (24:02):
I understand that.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (24:04):
And so I went through all of these different
like iterations of where whatdirection do I want my art to
go?
Once I figured out I wanted todo paints, once I figured out I
wanted to use acrylics andvarious tools, like I was like,
okay, um, maybe I should havelike a like this is Krista's
art, you know?
And but even that has evolvedthroughout the years.

(24:27):
But um so I kind of had a stylethat I kind of started leaning
into more and people just Istarted posting it and people
were like, oh, this is like thisis really cool.
And like, you know, can you canI can we buy this?
Like, you know, and I was like,uh no.
I was like, no, this is just forme.
Like, I don't plan on sellingthis.

(24:49):
This is not something that Iwant other people to have.
Like, I didn't see what theywere seeing.
Yeah, I was always like, okay,well, why would anybody want to
buy this?
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (25:00):
I I think part of the block for you at the time
was you weren't you weren'tgenerally you weren't creating
something that just felt goodenough.

SPEAKER_04 (25:09):
Right.
And I wasn't painting for otherpeople.
I was painting for me.
I was painting for all thestuff, you know, that was
happening inside me.
I wasn't it'd be like me tryingto sell my journals.

SPEAKER_03 (25:20):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (25:24):
Well, and and the other component to this too,
that that we encountered, bothof us kind of in our own ways,
we encountered a situation whereyou know, all of this pain and
hurt and trauma and anger thatyou're bringing to these
canvases was as a result ofinfertility, which wasn't a
conversation that a lot ofpeople around us were having.

(25:44):
No.
And to this day, I feel likeit's still a conversation that a
lot of people struggle to have.
And so, you know, the thereality is that there's a huge
percentage of women who have thesame exact struggle that you
did, absolutely.
Who are getting clean bills ofhealth medically who can't
identify what this block is andyet are struggling against this

(26:07):
invisible opponent that theycan't seem to outmaneuver.

SPEAKER_02 (26:11):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (26:12):
And and that's where we were.
It was like, you know, we werestarting to get deeper into some
of the testing and stuff likethat towards the end of that
timeline.
And it I mean, it was it wasalso overwhelming.
And and just from the outsidelooking in, I remember seeing a
lot of this stuff and thinking,thank God she has somewhere to
apply all of this feeling andemotion.

(26:33):
You know, thank God she hassomething that she can turn to
because you know, infertility asa husband is a really weird
place to be because you you feelvery connected to the situation
and entirely helpless.
And so, you know, that you haveto walk this fine line of like

(26:55):
how do I try and be encouragingand contribute to solutions and
you know, point us the rightdirection when it comes to to
testing and medical things andall that, but at the same time
just sort of allowing things tohappen.
Like you are not a person thatforces anything.
That's just not who you are as ahuman being.

(27:16):
I've never known you to besomeone who's gonna be like, I'm
gonna grab this bull by thehorns and force it into
submission.
That's just not how you'rewired.
No, you're wired much more likewhat comes will come, and we're
just going to embrace it when itdoes, and whatever that it is,
we're we're gonna deal with itand just sort of move forward.

(27:39):
And so I was so grateful forthat artistic expression at the
time because I I felt likepersonally I I was running out
of uh things to offer that werecomforting.

SPEAKER_02 (27:50):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (27:51):
I mean, we were more than three years into this
thing.
My my all of my Rolodex oftricks was long gone.
You know, and so I I was sort ofwatching all this develop and I
was watching your skillsdevelop, which was really
exciting because when you reallylatched on to creative uh to
contemporary expressionism as amedium, like that I felt like is
where you really found yourartistic voice.

SPEAKER_02 (28:12):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (28:13):
And then you know, things started to to just evolve
in a really cool way.

SPEAKER_03 (28:19):
So I I got a question for you.
When she started kind of uhfiguring out how to let all of
this out, what did you notice?
What changed?
Did you notice a change?
What change did you notice?

SPEAKER_00 (28:34):
So one of the things that that Krista does uh in in
many areas of her life is likewhen she finds something that
she's really passionate about,she really pours herself into
it.
And and she's not really good atdoing anything halfway.
Like she's not a half-asser atall.
Like she's whole ass or no ass.

(28:57):
Yeah.
It's pretty great.
But but she I I would the firstthing I noticed was how hard she
had latched on to just visualexpression in general.
And then beyond that, what I wasnoticing was her starting to

(29:18):
want it.
Like she was wanting that timewith those canvases, she was
wanting that time, you know,where she was gonna throw on
some music and she kind of doesthis little like this little hip
dance thing sometimes when she'spainting and stuff.
So I was starting to see likeher enjoy herself in different
ways, but then but then therewere certain days.

(29:39):
I mean, you know, the withoutwithout saying too much on this
podcast to make um those of youout there uncomfortable, I you
know, there's points of themonth that are clear indicators
as to whether or not you arepregnant.
And so we would hit thosepoints, and and then I would see
a slightly different turn.
I would see her need to workout.

(30:00):
out some emotions and work outsome anger and some frustration
and all of that.
But because of her being who sheis, you would always circle back
around to happiness, but youwould take a little anger detour
for a few days.
And so I was seeing a lot ofsome of that joy come back and

(30:23):
her having a place where shecould feel safe to bring all of
that anger.
Because in your in your infinitekindness, I think one of the
things you were trying to do forme was you were trying to not
direct all that emotion at me.

SPEAKER_04 (30:35):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (30:36):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (30:36):
Well because it wasn't you weren't the problem.

SPEAKER_03 (30:41):
You know But it could be very easy though for
you to take that out on him.
Oh sure.
And like just you know be justas frustrated.
Yeah.
You know, like it's not me.
It's you like what are youdoing?
What else could you be doing?
Like it'd be very easy for youto fall into that and you
didn't.

SPEAKER_04 (31:00):
So well I got to but I I mean I I eventually just I
got to a place of just like okaywell this is where we are and
you know what I can't stopliving.
I can't stop my life.

SPEAKER_00 (31:12):
Um we can't yeah that was right around the four
year mark.

SPEAKER_03 (31:16):
Yeah so yeah yeah so we hit four years we got to four
years still nothing um and andlike no one is like no medical
professional is giving you anyno so I had a wonderful so my um
my gynecologist um who wouldhave been my OBGYN and all that
he was wonderful he he knew ourwhole story um he was he knew

(31:40):
that we wanted to do this asnaturally as possible like we
wanted to take it as far as wecould before we started talking
about um next steps next steps.

SPEAKER_04 (31:51):
Yeah um and so he he knew he was like you know we're
gonna do all we can we're gonnayou know all that and um we're
gonna keep testing and and justkind of see he keeping track of
my hormones and like all thiskind of stuff and it's like he
he was just really wonderful andhonestly and I mean and yeah
could some of it have been justme being stubborn and just
wanting to try and do this onour own you know yeah I mean

(32:14):
that's but yeah there there wasmore to it than that too because
we we could have taken some nextsteps and tried to sort of
scientifically push thingsforward but also at the time we
did not have health insurance.

SPEAKER_00 (32:32):
Oh no and and even if we had it wouldn't have
mattered as it related to anysort of in vitro or uh
artificial insemination any ofthat stuff.
None of that's covered and soand and while we were pretty
financially stable at the timeyeah I we didn't have that kind

(32:52):
of money 50 grand to to dumpinto and that was and that was
pricing from you know 12 13years ago.
Now now it's even moreexpensive.
But um we we were stable we werein good shape financially but we
just didn't have the kind ofresources to really pump into a
true like IVF situation oranything like that.

(33:14):
We just didn't have the cashyeah and there was a whole
conversation I remember aconversation we had about like
okay what what level of debt arewe willing to take on to to try
and and figure this out and youknow and if we go a hundred
grand in the hole but we have noresults and that's easy to do oh
I know I know I know and and soyou know I was in a situation

(33:34):
where I was like okay like yeahwe want this so bad and and at
the same time like where aresort of the logical backstops
here where we don't want to justthrow caution completely to the
wind and dig ourselves into ahole that might not have any
results.
Yeah and so that was a part ofthe conversation too so I don't

(33:55):
I I'm saying all that to say Iwant to make sure and be clear
like yeah we wanted to have asnatural of an experience as
possible and you did too and youwere driving some of that and at
the same time there were reallike financial real world
limitations that we were upagainst because we did not have
health insurance at the time andand so I I some of that decision

(34:16):
I felt like was being made forus.
Yeah like there were just limitsto what we could do.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (34:21):
Okay so we got to four years um got past four
years.
Yeah um and at that point wewere just living like we were
just doing what we wanted we youknow it was one of those things
where it's like you just put youdon't forget about it but you
put it aside and you just kindof move on you know and um so
around that time um people keptwell people had were still

(34:46):
asking me about my art and likeif I would sell and like all of
this stuff.

SPEAKER_03 (34:50):
And we had a couple of friends um who saw a piece of
mine who really really wanted itand they asked me like several
times turn them down and theneventually I was like okay um I
will I will let you have andthey were like no we want like
we want to pay you for this likethis is gonna go in our house

(35:10):
you know we're gonna frame itit's gonna go in our bedroom
like they this is what theywanted what was the struggle for
you in letting it go uh it was Ithink it was just I don't know
there were there's part of itthat was I didn't want to have
to people to pay for my stufflike I get that no I get that I
get that because you're justlike you're like I to you you're

(35:30):
like I'm not an artist like whywould you pay me for this right
and then it's we just threw thistogether out of rage right yeah
you know and it's like why andthen you're like how do I charge
for right that's it's like howdo you know I would charge for
this yeah it's like what do Ieven ask my friends to pay me
for you know yeah yeah well andon top of all of that one of

(35:52):
your fundamental beliefs aboutsociety is that money should
shouldn't exist.

SPEAKER_00 (35:56):
So that's that's that's another part of this too
like you just kind offundamentally hate money.

SPEAKER_03 (36:01):
Oh same well I'm the same way like if again just to
parallel the situation ifsomeone for some reason really
wanted my scribbled up journalsI mean like you're insane.
Yeah like why like why do youwant like and then you want to
pay me for these things like youwant to pay for my jumbled
thoughts like here's yeah 20bucks I don't know like all

(36:24):
right you know and so I talkedto Josh we had several
conversations about it likeactually I mean a lot yeah
because he was just likeobviously people are seeing
something here they're obviouslybusinessman Josh is kicking in.

SPEAKER_04 (36:37):
Yeah I am who I am he's like you know people are
seeing something here so if theywant it you should just let them
buy it like just let them buyit.

SPEAKER_03 (36:46):
So so for you it wasn't so much like letting go
of the piece as it was kind ofcoming to the realization that
you know you are an artist.
Yeah and accepting the fact thatlike I am making things that are
authentic yeah and genuine andand that people appreciate yeah

(37:07):
and I eventually yeah Ieventually got to that place
that place.

SPEAKER_04 (37:10):
I ended up selling like giving that piece to them
that they purchased and then umI we had a couple other friends
that wanted a piece and so Iended up selling it to them and
eventually I started comingaround to the idea of when
people see my work it meanssomething to them.

(37:31):
Something in that pieceresonated with them on some
level um why should I keep thatfrom them?
Why should I keep them frombeing able to experience
whatever they see on a dailybasis?
You know, why should I hold thatback?

(37:54):
And so I ended up coming aroundto that and got to a place where
I started making pieces thatwere still for me but also
pieces that I was like I don't Ican paint this and I don't have
to hold on to it anymore.

(38:14):
Like I it was almost like Irealized that like I'm releasing
these feelings that and all ofthis pain and hurt and whatever
um and I'm putting it down andI'm letting it go.
And that's what it kind of camedown to and I was like it's not
mine anymore you know and thatwas a part of the healing
process.
It was you know it it getting toa place of like okay it's done

(38:38):
it's there it's not mine anymoreand then having somebody else go
oh this like means something tome because of this this and this
I'm like awesome like great likeI want you to have that you know
and then the struggle was okayhow much do I charge for all
this?
Because I'm not this this artistwho can charge whatever you know

(39:00):
I you're not an art dealer.
Yeah I can't just put oh this isa grand you know that's not
where I was yeah yeah yeah youknow and so that I had that
struggle for a little bit um butI figure I ended up figuring it
out just as a you know entrylevel kind of artist and just
still figuring stuff out youknow I eventually priced
accordingly and all that um anduh and so so we get to this

(39:26):
point where um I'm creating I'mbuilding up inventory you know
I'm selling one off pieces likehere and there and doing that um
and then before about four andabout what four and a half years
um is when we found out that Iwas pregnant and I had no idea

(39:48):
um and that is yeah that was awhole that was a whole story in
itself.

SPEAKER_00 (39:53):
Yeah that's a story that'll consume a whole other
podcast episode on its own.

SPEAKER_04 (39:57):
It's beautiful it's a really great story but but I
ended up yeah I ended up maybewe'll do a part two yeah we
should totally do a part twoyeah I ended up finding I was
pregnant and obviously I meanthat was great news and not
expected and um and around Iguess around that same time is
when I started branching outinto looking into doing like

(40:20):
little art shows and likepop-ups and I had had enough
inventory by that point where Ifelt confident enough that I
could do a show um even if itwas a small one and um be able
to you know sell you know adecent amount I didn't think I
was gonna do great but you knowI was like you know I'm putting

(40:41):
myself out there we're justgonna see how it goes and I
remember doing Art Scoggle yeahart scoggle in Fort Worth that
was I think that was your firstreal show that was my first
weekend show it was a one dayshow um but it was a huge draw
in Fort Worth and still is umand I was able to get in have we

(41:01):
I remember we we got a boothlike it was a big deal like and
do you remember and correct meif I'm wrong here but we shared
a booth space with with a friendof ours didn't we wasn't wasn't
April Hawkins involved with thatand I don't think she'll be
naming her on here.
She was involved with that Ican't remember to what degree
but yeah I think I think we wereclose or yeah something like

(41:23):
that.

SPEAKER_00 (41:23):
I feel like we actually shared I think she had
a 10 by 20 space but she onlyhad a 10 by 10 tent and she was
like if you want the other 10foot space you guys can have it
we didn't even have a tent.
I don't even so I remember goingand buying a canopy and like
buying it oh yeah we had to buyeverything how do we hang this
art up like it's I was sort offabricating oh PVC pipe and

(41:45):
chicken wire yeah yeah and I waszip tying the PVC pipe to the
the canopy structure and it didwork.

SPEAKER_04 (41:52):
It did but how far we've come oh my god yeah but
anyway yeah so that's that wasthat was like my first show and
I sold almost everything wow Iwalked away from that show and
sold almost everything how didthat make you feel oh my gosh I
I was dumbfounded like all thesepeople who I don't know want to
talk to me about my art andactually want to buy it like how

(42:15):
did it feel for you to let go ofall of that um it was I at that
point I I feel like I had gottento a place where I was ready
that was ready to do that.
And I had also created I wascreating pieces that were not
really like I don't want to sayfor me but they they they were

(42:37):
just things that I thoughtlooked pretty you know and there
were just things that I becauseI was in a whole different space
like headwise.
And so um it was just it wasnice to be able to be like have
like this collection of workthat people really enjoyed and
that I could be like oh my stuffis in like people's homes you

(42:58):
know and that's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_03 (43:00):
I'm still saving up my pins I don't know where my
favorite piece is it's somewherearound here.

SPEAKER_04 (43:06):
Oh it's probably back there.

SPEAKER_03 (43:07):
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (43:08):
But yeah and so I did that show it went really
well um and then I mean thatjust kind of lit a fire into my
butt and I was like all righthere we go we're doing this and
I got to experience what it isto be art show husband which is
one of my favorite rolesactually because I'm not
actually responsible for muchother than taking care of the
artist.

SPEAKER_03 (43:28):
So hauling stuff.

SPEAKER_00 (43:30):
Right yeah I'm the truck driver I am the canopy
putter upper I am you know canyou get me coffee and breakfast?
Can you stay in here while I goto the bathroom can you like
grab me some lunch yeah and Ijust I was like this is great.

SPEAKER_04 (43:44):
Yeah well and well and what's interesting is like
so you get into the art scene inthe art world and you start
learning the underbelly and likeall of us and how things work
and then all things you gottahave and like I mean it's a it's
a it's a whole thing.
Like it is a whole thing to doespecially those who are doing
like outdoor shows and three dayshows and like all this stuff.
And I like I had I didn't knowanything about any of that you

(44:07):
know until it we actually dovein and then it was just a
snowball from there.
Like I I did that show and thenI had a couple of people come up
to me in that show who asked ifI'd be interested in being a
part of other things, you know?
And so it's this whole networkthat starts to happen.
Yeah yeah yeah and so from thereI you know I'd oh my gosh I did

(44:29):
like these little pop-up eventsin like different stores.

SPEAKER_00 (44:31):
West Elm was one of the stores I was in yeah you had
a whole thing with West Elm fora while that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 (44:36):
I was bummed that went away yeah I was like I did
like these little paintingworkshops um I'd oh my gosh I'd
like there's so many differentthings I started doing exhibits
um and and my art kept evolvingand you know I mean had a baby
and all of that yeah um and thenhad another one a couple of

(44:58):
years later um and yeah I meanmy art has definitely evolved to
a point where it's verydifferent from what I started
off creating.
Um and I mean and I'm very happywith where I'm at now and and
and I paint from a verydifferent place now yeah than I

(45:21):
did then.
Absolutely you know um and soand that I mean an art is it
just does that like you don'tstay in one place.

SPEAKER_03 (45:29):
Exactly it's meant to evolve it's meant to evolve
yeah at what point did youfinally accept and start calling
yourself an artist so I'vealways kind of said that I'm a
practicing artist.

SPEAKER_04 (45:41):
Okay of I and like we said earlier like art can
mean being an artist can mean somany different things.
Yeah um and I've I always kindof say like yeah I'm a I'm a
practicing artist like because Idon't feel like I ever stop
practicing.
Okay I don't feel like I'vearrived you know like I don't
think you ever arrive.
I think that you keep evolvingyou keep growing you keep

(46:05):
learning and your art reflectsthat um and I think just
different things that have kindof happened to us in our life is
reflected in my art.
I mean so I paint in collectionsum now whereas before I didn't
really paint in collections Ijust kind of went off stuff um
and a lot of artists do that youknow and that's totally fine

(46:27):
that's what they want to do.
But I for me I've learned thatpainting in collections kind of
helps keep me more focused onwhat I'm painting.
Um and you know the pieces arenormally end up being pretty
similar across the board in someway.
But they all also have their owntouch um and what I'm painting

(46:49):
about within that larger subjectum or that larger collection.
So um yeah I don't I I I thinkthat I I don't know that I'll
ever say like oh like I I'm anartist.
You know like I think apracticing artist is more
fitting for me.
And that it's probably differentI'm sure it's different for

(47:10):
other people.

SPEAKER_00 (47:11):
But the art show circuit is you know it's
definitely come back sinceCOVID.
There's new momentum.
Oh for sure and you know we'reworking to do what we can to to
get you into some largermulti-day shows including some
ones that are out of town.
I mean we live in North Texasand there is an art show seen
here and I'm grateful for that.
There's actually a few reallynice ones um but one of the

(47:31):
things that we've really beenchallenging ourselves to do is
try and get into some somelarger shows in other
communities um and a lot of thereally serious artists that
we've gotten to know over theyears um are doing exactly that.
So anyone who's listened to someprevious episodes knows that um
we actually just spent a weekendin Louisville Kentucky and part

(47:52):
of I mean the whole reason thatconversation got started is
because Louisville is home to areally fantastic art show uh
called the St.
James Art Fair and I love thatyou say Louisville correctly
yeah well I'm within strikingdistance of you so like uh yeah
it's very dangerous just like wedon't say the W word we say the

(48:14):
B word.
Yeah bourbon yeah there's nosuch thing as something that's
not bourbon.

SPEAKER_03 (48:18):
Well I when I found out that Krista was doing art
shows and we went to one of herart shows and I saw you know her
work and her booth andeverything set up for the first
time I a light bulb went off inme of like this would be
perfect.
She would be perfect for the St.
James Art Fair.
And so I reached out and senther the links and said you know

(48:41):
I think you should try.
You know I used to volunteerwith the St.
James Art Fair that was manymany years ago um trying to find
some connections within thatspace because I think that
Krista would do amazing in thatshow.

SPEAKER_00 (48:56):
You applied yeah and um because of its popularity and
because of its sizeunfortunately you did not get in
this time.
Right um but I we just we webecome such great friends with
Josh and Pamela and and theyhave spoken so highly of
Louisville and we really wantedto check out that community
anyway and and so we justdecided hey let's go to that art

(49:21):
show.
Yeah let's shake some hands andmeet some folks and try and do a
little bit of networking and umand just kind of see what's
there and goof around inLouisville after the which we
absolutely did which weabsolutely did and so we um we

(49:42):
ended up booking some tickets onpoints and and and went out
there and spent a whole day atthe art fair and I didn't even
know this until we were leavingbut uh Josh said there was
actually even a whole street wedidn't walk down.

SPEAKER_02 (49:56):
Yep and we spent all freaking day that was big yeah
that thing is huge.

SPEAKER_00 (50:00):
Yeah so that was really cool all by itself just
to kind of walk around and meetsome people we ran into some
artists that we knew from othershows that you've done you ran
into an artist whose work youalready own some of oh yeah I
flipped out while we're there II think I saw her booth and then
looked at you and I was like uhI'll be back I just remember

(50:23):
turning around and you all weregone and I was like I'm okay
line for her and I was like ohmy gosh yeah it was I kind of
fangirled it's fine yeah yeahbut but I mean it was it was it
was really cool to run intothese people that we knew and
and um yeah uh we had a greattime there but then we we spent

(50:43):
we spent a long weekend inLouisville basically so um your
so josh and Pamela's kids camealong because they were able to
see some family and friends outthere our kids stayed back in
North Texas um but uh yeah wewent out and like we we man we
did all manner of things um wehad a lot of food yeah we we we

(51:05):
really ate our way throughLouisville Kentucky um it is a
foodie city it is it is but it'salso a very artistic city it's
quirky and fun in all the rightways there were there were cute
bookstores and there were justshout out to Carmichaels yeah
absolutely um yeah the firstnight we went there so we Krista
and I love a divey bar oh yeahespecially a divey bar with pool

(51:28):
tables and so yeah our firstnight there we just ended up
goofing around we went tospinelli and then uh walked down
Baxter Avenue uh and hit upO'Shea's oh yeah that's right
yeah went to Ocean we did somuch like oh man yeah uh and
then yeah uh ended up at Outlookin and played pool and yeah oh

(51:52):
my god that was so much fun itwas that was just the first
night that was just the day welanded um you know so and then
the the day after that so thatwas Thursday night I'm pretty
sure and then Friday is when weactually did the art fair all
day it was unusually warm it wasyeah it was like mid to high 80s

(52:14):
which is unusually warm forLouisville in early October I
mean I've I've had some earlyOctobers it's freezing yeah like
bitterly cold.
Yeah freezing would have beenfine with me but over the the
the not us lizards like theheat.
We also got to meet some of yourcommunity um out there which was

(52:36):
a lot of fun we met a bunch ofpeople at the art show and ended
up spending uh you know chunksof time uh with them off and on
um it's funny how as I'm tryingto remember everything we did
it's all running together butI'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure
the St.
James Day was also the day thatwe went to that Mexican spot.

SPEAKER_03 (52:52):
Gustavo's so we had some great food and some
wonderful people watching yeahoh yeah watching uh Louisville's
finest uh try and track downsomebody like there was constant
police movement oh my gosh yesthe Cresswood drama yeah we were
there with my bestie uh Lauraand her son and her husband Doug

(53:14):
who that family is actually whoI named Tucker after oh yeah so
they're the Tuckers and so mylittle cavalier is named Tucker.

SPEAKER_00 (53:23):
Yeah and so we we met them spent some time with
them and uh and then the nextday was all drag.

SPEAKER_04 (53:30):
Oh yeah yeah so why don't you tell us Krista where
we started out then we went tochurch on Sunday morning at a
drag brunch in the moon we didit was great so yeah no we ended
up going to this drag brunch umwhat was the theme of that drag
brunch uh so we didn't know whatit was until we got there I know

(53:51):
and we walk in and we're likewhy are all these yes dressed up
like showgirls yeah and theywere all like you know all the
sparkles and the feathers andlike everything and then once we
get in there and we startedlooking around and we're like
wait this is Taylor Swift themethere was like an older lady
that had like the life of ashowgirl t-shirt on and I was
like what's happening yeah likethis is like there's not really

(54:14):
a uh uh dress cone in Lemoo butI'm like sure this is weird well
yeah well and there were likelike younger girls there yes you
know um like grade school therewas a good mixture of people
which I love which I think iswonderful and great um but yeah
and they were dressed up andwere like and they were dancing
and they were so cute.

(54:36):
Yeah but the I mean the queenswere great.

SPEAKER_03 (54:37):
I mean there was what four or five of them I
think five I think five yeahfive um yeah four or five I'm
I'm blanking um it again it allruns together and then there was
that 95 year old woman there ohmy gosh it was her birthday it
was her birthday she did a shotwith one of the queens and she
ended up at some point getting acrown yeah I was like this was

(55:01):
so great I'm like if I live to95 yeah this is what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_00 (55:05):
It's fantastic but that was a lot of fun yeah that
was great and we had food and acouple of drinks and yeah and
then we came along yeah we leftthere and gosh what do we do
that was that was so that's whenwe went back and then we walked
to Carmichael's that's rightyeah yeah um and then we went to

(55:25):
the bourbon oh is that theBurbage that was that was
actually oh no that's rightthat's right we we went to the
drag brunch and then we went anddrove out to Barstown yeah yeah
that's right that's right and wetoured the the Jim Beam facility
um and gosh that was fantasticlike uh for starters it's
beautiful out there like likeit's just a beautiful place to

(55:47):
be the time because the weatheris still so warm out there
everything was still green andlush and um man so I've only
I've only done one other bourbontour um I went to Angels Envy a
handful of years ago and so thiswas only my second one I'm I am
not at all well versed and itwas just fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 (56:08):
I you're more versed than me because this was my
first one.
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (56:11):
And you were a Louisville born and raised local
like come on now.
I know um well but yeah it don'tshame me it's all right there's
still so much Dallas touriststuff I've never done.
Yeah but um I mean it was justit was so well done.
I think that was the part that Iwas really struck by is they

(56:31):
really put a tremendous amountof thought and effort into how
to make sure people have a greatexperience and put chest on or
put hair on their chest.

SPEAKER_03 (56:39):
Oh my God.

SPEAKER_00 (56:40):
So as you're going through the tour you end up uh
you end up getting to do theselittle tastings and it's not
even I mean they're doing tinylittle pores it's it's maybe
maybe a barely anything halfounce probably less yeah it's
very it's just enough to tasteit like it's that's about it.
You're not getting schnockeredon on the tour but it was a lot

(57:01):
of fun and until the end.
Right yeah but then they there'sa whole section of it where
they're kind of walking youthrough all of the different
brands that Jim Beam kind ofdistills and it's quite a few I
mean basil Hayden Knob Creek uhJim Beam including all the the
varieties of Jim Beam like JimBeam Black um Jim Beam honey and

(57:23):
all that um what am Iforgetting?
I feel like there's uh ohbookers is a Jim Beam there's
several yeah so a lot of thosesmall batch there's there's
several offshoots and so um asyou're going along you're you're
also getting to taste some ofthese sort of subcategories
within Jim Beam's inventory.
Well we get to the knob creekone so for starters we did

(57:45):
something really cool um whenyou get to the knob creek part
of the tour you can actuallyhave your own bottle poured and
and labeled and so you can umyou can get a customized bottle
and at the very end you evenhave the opportunity to put an
inscription on the glass of thebottle and you can put your name

(58:05):
on it things like that.
And your fingerprint yeah yourfingerprint on the top that's
right I forgot about that.
Yeah because they do the uhwhat's that the wax sealing yeah
so you can put your fingerprintin the wax seal it's so cool
it's very well done it's reallyenjoyable um and so we get to to
that part of it and they'regiving us some knob creek to
taste and I'm I'm no stranger tothe bourbon scene and I I've you

(58:30):
know when I enjoy a beverage Iusually drink spirits uh I'm not
much of a beer guy anymore Idrink wine a little bit but um
so spirits are kind of where Ilive so it's hard to shock me
and we got to Knob Creek and boythat was that we didn't know
that what they had poured for uswas 120 proof.

(58:52):
Oh yeah which is 50% strongerthan a standard bourbon for
those of you who that aren't inthat scene.

SPEAKER_03 (58:58):
And we tasted that and we all just looked at each
other we're like oh my god yeahit burned it burned so deeply
like respectfully paint centeryeah it was not much like I was
like oh oh like sinuses clearedout like the whole nine yards it

(59:20):
was it was intense it was butthen we wrapped up that tour and
uh it was just it was great andthen um what did we do for I
don't remember I don't rememberwhat we I don't remember but
then we ended up going to playoh yeah then we went to play
yeah so what is play one of myfavorite bars um so it is one of

(59:44):
the few unfortunately gay barsin Louisville we used to have
quite a few um I the bars scenein in Louisville seems to be
dwindling a little bit um I'msure it's economy related but um
Yeah, so play is uh one of theplaces that Josh and I enjoy

(01:00:04):
going to when we do get to goback home and we have like a
kid-free evening.
Um and yeah, it's a gay bar andthey do uh drag shows.
Like I'm pretty sure it's everynight, or it used to be every
night at like nine and eleven.
Yeah.
Um, and I found out that one ofour favorite queens was
performing on Sunday night.

(01:00:26):
So I we made it a point to tohead out there and and that was
that was a promise.
And she was fantastic.
Yes.

SPEAKER_04 (01:00:32):
Oh my gosh.
She was.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:34):
Yeah, she sang some live stuff, which is not super
common, and she was reallywonderful.
Yeah.
Laughing.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:39):
Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:39):
So yeah, we had we had a killer time out there.
Um, that was Sunday night.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:43):
I didn't think that I liked Lady Gaga's uh new song,
what's it called?
Dead crap.
Ah oh well.
Uh whatever her new song was,though, I've had it stuck in my
head since then.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:58):
Well, and there was one performer there that that
played a song that like I'msitting there listening to it.
I was like, I have never heardthis song before, and this
freaking slaps.
Like, I love this song.
And so I looked it up while wewere sitting there, and I've
listened to it about 20 timessince we got home because it was
so it's just such a fun tune.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:15):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:15):
Um, but yeah, we we had an incredible time out
there.
Oh, the the thing we didn'tmention, we got to meet some
other friends of yours.
So Saturday night we we enjoyedMerle's whiskey, and then we
went to a very cool bar that umis The Last Refuge, yeah, called
The Last Refuge.
It was gorgeous, gorgeous,gorgeous.
Can't recommend that placeenough.

(01:01:36):
Um and yeah, but make areservation.
We learned that the hard way.
Um, and so yeah, that was ourSaturday night, and then Sunday
was the the drag brunch and thenthe distiller tour and then
play.
We we fit in some fun over thehouse.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:50):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
We did a lot, we did a lot,yeah, and we didn't exhaust
ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:55):
No, I felt like we were pretty well balanced.
I will say coming back from thefair, the fair, yeah, we were we
had just all been in the sun andthe heat all day and all that.
Well, it was every last one.

SPEAKER_03 (01:02:05):
Yeah, I always there's always a point, no
matter where I'm going, I getthat little bit of jet lag
anytime I fly.
So it's kind of like my body'slike, okay, let's catch up a
little bit.
So I think it all kind of hit usafter we left the St.
James Right.

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:22):
Totally.
Yeah.
I mean, even Krista, I thinkKrista was asleep before I even
had pajamas on.
I walked in, I walked into ourbedroom and I was like, oh well,
good night.

SPEAKER_04 (01:02:34):
Well, because that well, I I never like in going to
these doing these art shows, I'malways in the booth.
I don't really get to walkaround.
You know, I don't get to likehave a big break where I can go
see everything.
And this was a big everything togo see, you know.
And so it was great.
It was fun.
And I yeah, and I enjoyed thetrip, I mean, in its entirety.

SPEAKER_03 (01:02:54):
Like I think it was just so if anyone out there can
pull some strings for us nextyear for Krista and the St.
James, we would highly, highlyappreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:04):
And if you need Louisville recommendations, uh
Pamela's only an email away.
She basically planned thatentire weekend for us.
And there's big chunks of thingsI'm even leaving out.
We we went to your oldneighborhood.
We went to we met some of yourother friends who still live out
there.
I mean, it was a blast.
We we met so many people, ate somuch good food, drank plenty of
bourbon, um, and you know, justreally enjoyed uh a lot of what

(01:03:26):
Louisville has to offer.
We drove past Churchill Downs,but there's nothing really
happening there at the time, butwe did go past it, which it's
impressive all by itself foranyone that keeps up with the
Derby and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 (01:03:36):
Yeah, we tried to we tried to see Waverly, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:39):
Oh, that's right.
We did try and see Waverly.
So for the uninitiated, Waverlyis one of the most haunted
places in North America.
It's in Louisville, and um usedto be a TB hospital, yeah, yeah.
And and we tried to go and checkit out because we're gluttons
for punishment, but it was itwas closed that specific day,
which was a bummer.
But uh we caught a littleglimpse of it from the street.

(01:04:00):
But anyway, it was it was justit was a great weekend.
We had a blast, and hopefullynext time we're there, it's
because you are in the St.
James Archer.
Yeah, which would be reallyawesome.
So so where can the people findmore of your work?

SPEAKER_04 (01:04:14):
So um I'm not in any exhibits right now.
Um, I have all of my workcurrently.
Um, but uh Krista MillerArt.comum is basically my online
gallery um and information oncommission work and my bio and
just that kind of that wholething.
Um and I'm pretty active onInstagram, which is also Krista

(01:04:39):
MillerArt.
Um and I'm also on the Statiewebsite, um, which for those of
you who don't know is a uh largeartistic uh community where you
can buy work from artists allover the world basically.
Um and I just um became a partof that.
So I'm there.
Um that's really that's reallyit.

SPEAKER_03 (01:05:01):
Yeah.
Um what do you like?
Are you working on anything now?
Do you have anything coming up?

SPEAKER_04 (01:05:06):
Yeah, so I um uh my current collection, um I have
everything and it's still umit's still in rotation for
things that I apply for and allof that, but it is all available
for purchase.
But um I actually just figuredout where I want my next
collection to go.

(01:05:26):
Um and it's actually gonnacenter around my
great-grandmother and um thingsthat were important to her,
which were also important to me.
Um but yeah, I'm I'm kind offleshing out still what I want
some of it to look like.
Um, but I think a lot of it umis gonna kind of hit home a

(01:05:49):
little bit just for me, justbecause we were very close.
Yeah.
Um, but I plan on incorporatinga bunch of different materials
into this next collection, um,which I'm excited about.
And yeah, I think it's gonna beI think it's gonna be
interesting.
It's gonna be really pretty.
Um but yeah, I have some I havesome ideas.

SPEAKER_03 (01:06:10):
So but I want to like look forward to Well,
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were fully baked and only mildlyregrettable.
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(01:06:31):
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