June 25, 2025 • 24 mins
In the final episode of Season One, Kristen reflects on the journey so far and invites listeners into a summer of rest, joy, and gentle reset. With her signature warmth and honesty, she shares what “pause and playback” means to her through book club retreats, unplugging from social media, revisiting childhood favorites (hello, Klondike bars), and soaking in the little things that spark joy.
She also revisits a few quotes from her 1999 journal that still resonate today including one that captures the heart of this podcast: “I may never be who they want me to be, but at least I’m who I want to be.”
Part thank-you note, part summer sendoff, this episode is an invitation to slow down, reflect, and make space for what truly matters. Season Two returns in August.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kristen (00:02):
Hey everyone.
Welcome back.
For those of you who don't know,this is the final episode of
season one.
I have so many notes.
I was thinking about, how Iwanted to wrap up season one and
what I wanted to talk aboutthere's just so many things and
that's partly why I put offrecording the last episode for
(00:22):
so long, just because I reallywanted to.
In the head space and focus onthe message that I wanted to
share.
You know, like in TV shows whenthere's a season finale,
sometimes there's a cliffhangerand it leaves you wanting to
come back to know what happensin the next season.
I'm not gonna do that.
Sometimes some TV shows in theirseason finale have an episode
(00:46):
where things are neatly tied upbecause they don't know if the
show's gonna be renewed, theyneed to wrap it all up so that
everything's complete, just incase it gets canceled or not
renewed.
Don't get renewed or getcanceled, and then you just
never know what happened.
So I don't think my podcast isgonna get canceled.
I'm planning on coming back.
(01:07):
Like I said, in last week'sepisode, I already have so many
ideas for season two.
I'm already starting to plansome of it, so I'm very, very
excited.
But anyways, back to how I wantto end season one.
I love words.
I love alliteration, and when Iwas making notes, different
words kept coming to me.
(01:28):
The theme for this episode andfor the summer break, my brief
hiatus, or whatever you wannacall it, we've been talking
about in the podcast, it's thepause and playback time we can
pause with new recordings and goback and play back episodes we
haven't heard or some of ourfavorite episodes, in real life.
(01:48):
What we're gonna do for thesummer is focus on the Rs.
So what I mean by that is we aregoing to rest, relax, refresh
and refill.
I started making notes and I mayactually post this page because
I've got notes everywhere andwe're gonna try to make sense of
it and get through this in areasonable amount of time.
(02:11):
When I was thinking about whatI'm doing over the summer, when
I'm not podcasting and how Iwant to be feeling at the end of
the summer, at the end of thispause and playback time, I just
started jotting down a bunch ofdifferent things.
I thought that during thisepisode I could share with you
some of my summer plans, whatI'm planning on doing during
this pause time.
(02:31):
And maybe it could give you someideas of what you would like to
do.
Maybe some of them will dotogether or check in with each
other or hold each otheraccountable for some of them, so
that you can also get some timeto refine yourself over the
summer.
We've done a lot this season.
Looking into who we are, what wewant, how we make friends, how
(02:51):
we get through tough times, howour community helps us get
through that, how to break freefrom some of the things we've
been told or believed aboutourselves.
And so it's a good time toreflect on all of that.
So I wanna share with you alittle bit of that.
So first I'm going to say relax.
So I still have to work.
It's not like I'm a teacher andI get the summers off.
(03:13):
I mentioned that because,Alexis, Kelly and I were texting
earlier tonight and talkingabout Alexis she's not working
anymore, she's enjoying hergardening, reading, really just
kind of relaxing.
And Kelly and I are like, oh,that's not us.
We're still working.
But it's still important to makethat time to relax.
So over the summer, for myrelaxing.
(03:36):
I plan on going to some, outdoorconcerts with my son, or we're
going to some theater shows.
We're going to do things that weenjoy.
Like mother son dates hangingout.
As a family, we'll go out forice cream, family bonding
things.
I am not an outdoorsy personunless I am laying out in the
sun, sweating in my own puddleof sweat, which sounds
(03:59):
disgusting.
But it's so relaxing when I'mlaying at the pool and there's
this splash pad and you can hearthe water trickling and little
voices in the background.
Kids playing.
Splashing.
It is so relaxing to me and thewarmth of it, like, summer
really is my time.
I will complain about winter allyear long.
(04:21):
I hate being cold.
I hate the snow.
I hate the ice.
I hate all of it.
There is nothing I enjoy aboutwinter unless we have snow on
Christmas, which very rarelyhappens.
So I feel free to complain aboutwinter all the time.
In exchange for those wintercomplaints, I do not complain
about the summer.
I will be hot all day long.
(04:41):
I may get a little uncomfortablein the humidity and the
stickiness, but I'll notcomplain about being hot.
I enjoy feeling like I'm in anair fryer or a toaster oven I
used to go to tanning beds, Ilove the heat, I want the
warmth.
So just being outside isrelaxing for me.
But like.
Laying out, relaxing, not likehiking.
(05:01):
I did a 5K earlier this summerfor Taylor's birthday.
Happy belated birthday Taylor.
And I survived.
Thanks to Greta.
Thank you Greta.
But that is not my idea of fun,love all of you who enjoy
running and physical activity.
I'm not that girl.
That is not relaxing for me.
So that's what some of thosethings I'll be doing to relax to
(05:22):
rest.
One of the things I am mostexcited about this summer is I
am going on my book clubretreat.
Ariel, who you heard from on thebeauty blogging episode, she
started a virtual book club thatI've been in for a few years
now, and I'm so excited.
A little nervous too, becausewhile Ariel and I have known
each other for almost 15 years,we've never met in real life.
(05:44):
All of the other girls in bookclub are friends of hers that I
know through book club but nevermet in real life.
I'm a little nervous about that,but I'm also very excited.
We're getting away to a cabinand as Ariel mentioned, it's a
choose your own adventureretreat.
So you know, whether you want togo on nature walks or hikes,
which we established, I probablywon't.
(06:07):
Uh, if you wanna go into theshops in town, if you just wanna
stay at the cabin and read.
There's just so manyopportunities for where we're
going, and I am so excited aboutthat.
I'm just excited about gettingaway and I already have my books
lined up, which I'm sure you'rewondering about.
So it's funny, when I waswriting down the books that I'm
(06:28):
planning on reading for theretreat.
I looked back on the episodethat Alexis and I did about
books we loved in 2024 or someof our favorite books and books
we were looking forward to in2025, and a lot of the books
lined up.
I was like, first of all, thisis great.
I am staying true to what I saidI was gonna do.
This is all very on brand and Ijust thought it was fun.
(06:51):
Going back to that episode.
Which is the second or thirdhighest rated episode of the
season.
If you haven't listened to thatone, it came out February 19th.
It was probably, I don't know,third or fourth episode that was
published.
So you'll want to like, I thinkit's called Escaping Reality,
something about books.
With Alexis.
It's fantastic.
(07:11):
If you love books.
So anyway, some of the books I'mreading.
For the retreat that I'mplanning on doing, first of all,
before I get there, I will berereading the four wins.
I have mentioned this book asone of my favorite books of all
time.
It's by Kristin Ana, and when Iread it the first time I
listened to it because JuliaWhelan is the narrator, favorite
(07:33):
narrator of all time.
I was planning on reading itthis time because I ended up
buying the ebook when it was onsale, knowing that it's a book
that I would reread, and Iactually started listening to it
again this morning.
It's so good.
That's the book we're discussingfor book club when we're out
there.
I'm going to reread it and we'lldiscuss it when we get out there
for the retreat.
(07:54):
And then I plan on alsolistening to.
The girls We Sent Away by MeganChurch.
This was a book I was reallyexcited about when it came out
last year and I just didn't getaround to reading it.
So when it showed up on the bookGirls Guide Decades Challenge
(08:14):
this year for the books in the1960s, I was like, okay, that's
it.
I'm gonna read it then.
So that's the book I plan onlistening to when I drive to the
book Club retreat.
And then when I'm there, I havebeen saving atmosphere by Taylor
Jenkins read, and I can't tellyou how hard it has been to wait
to read this book.
(08:34):
First of all, I forgot that Ihad pre-ordered it.
So when I went to buy it acouple weeks before it came out,
Amazon's like, oh, you alreadypre-ordered this book.
I was like, oh, that'sfantastic.
But then surprise upon surprise,because I am in central time
zone, when the book released atmidnight.
It was sent to my East Coasttime.
(08:55):
So I actually got it an hourearly, I started reading.
The beginning part that has theauthor's note or whatever it was
I was like, no, no, no.
This is a book I want to read onmy book club retreat.
So I have held off.
I haven't read it even though Ihave seen people posting it
about on Instagram, and Alexisasked if I read it yet, and
Ariel talked to me about it Ireally do wanna read it, but I
(09:18):
am saving that to read on mytrip.
And if I finish that, I willalso be reading Sounds Like
Love, which is Ashley Post's newbook that just came out and I
went and I met her last week andgot it signed she is so good.
I mention these two books nowbecause I had talked about them
both in the episode with Alexisabout books that I was looking
(09:40):
forward to in 2025.
I raved about how much I loveSeven Year Slip by Ashley
Poston, if you haven't read thatbook, read it.
It's one that I will read againand again because I still
remember Lemon and I can picturespecific scenes in my head.
It was just such a good book andit's been almost a year and a
half since I've read that one.
(10:00):
So I was really excited.
That sounds like love was comingout this year.
I talked about atmospherebecause I can't remember the
last time Taylor, Jenkins, Reedhad a book out.
I wanna say it was Carrie Sotois Back.
And that was probably, I'm noteven gonna say a date'cause I'm
gonna get it wrong and thensomebody's gonna be like, oh,
(10:21):
you got that wrong.
But it's been several yearssince I read a new.
TJR book, so very excited aboutthat.
The other books that I mentionedin that episode too were, it's a
Love Story by Annabel Mongan,which it's so great that I
mentioned that book because Iended up reading that one on Net
Galley.
Thanks, Nat Galley.
(10:41):
She was phenomenal.
I ended up meeting her earlierthis month too, and got all the
books I have of hers signed andshe was just the.
Absolute Swedish.
Exactly what I pictured herbeing in real life.
She was amazing.
The other book I'll be readingthis summer, I'm going to
finally read The Great Alonebecause that is the book set in
(11:03):
the 1970s, which will be my bookGirls Guide Decade book in
August.
I'll probably read some more,but those are the big plans of
what I want to read on theretreat and while I'm in my
resting mode.
To refresh.
Also, along with the rest timeon the book club retreat is that
(11:26):
I am planning digital detoxunplug.
You've heard me say multipletimes during the season how
frustrated I get.
With social media and how itmakes me feel so I really mean
it now when I go away.
We're just going away for aweekend, but I plan on being off
social media the whole time.
I will have my phone to check inwith my husband and son but
(11:47):
really I just wanna like getaway from it, disconnect and all
that.
And I'm hoping that I'll be ableto do that and have that last
when I'm home from the book clubretreat too.
I would like to.
Break the addiction of alwayslooking at my phone for no
reason at all, because I'venoticed that I'm really bad at
that.
I think a lot of us probablyare, so I'm gonna be working on
(12:08):
that and really focusing on, afull digital detox, unplugging,
using my phone more for what Ineed to almost like an old
fashioned summer when you didn'treally use your phone unless you
were calling your friends tohang out.
It wasn't what it is now.
I think I just wanna go back toa simpler time and not know what
(12:29):
everybody is doing all the time,not care what everybody is doing
all the time and really justfocus on me, my family, my
friends, building the life thatI want and not focusing
outwardly not gonna go a wholeepisode without talking about
Oklahoma City Thunder, becausehow excited are we that they won
the championship game?
Oh my gosh.
(12:50):
So, so excited.
And I'm sure I'll talk about itmore at another time too, but to
go along with enough, focusingon what other people say.
So J Dub, Jayden Williams, hehad a really good quote from an
interview.
He said, you don't want yourfood to get cold looking at
somebody else's plate.
Here, you can actually hear whathe said here.
Uh, I don't compare my successto anybody else's.
(13:13):
You don't want your food to getcold looking at somebody else's
plate.
So that's, I just bared up rightthere.
Yeah, you just, you kind of justwanna focus on like what you're
doing.
So like you can't measure yoursuccess by what somebody else is
doing.
I feel like that's how you getlost and that's.
Really stuck with me when I sawit.
I ended up saving it onInstagram so that I could
(13:33):
remember because I feel like thetext happened to me a lot.
Seeing what other people doingon social media and comparing
whether it's my success orsomething I'm doing, and you
know, they always say don'tcompare your every day to
somebody else's highlight reel.
But it's hard when it's thereall the time.
So I am just going to continueworking on me over this pause
(13:57):
and playback time, and focus onrefreshing my mind, my soul, my
spirit, and just focus on me andget away from that and unplug
and staying off socials andlimit my exposure to all of
that.
So if I'm doing all that, thenhow am I refilling?
Well, this kind of goes alongwith a lot of things and I know
(14:19):
it's gonna go contrary to what Ijust said about staying off
socials, but I am going to tryto revamp my bookstagram a
little.
I have let my bookstagram gowhile I've been focusing on my
podcast.
Although as you can see, it'snot like I'm super active on my
podcast Instagram either.
I am really not a great.
Content person.
(14:40):
Like I have all these been in myhead, but I'm just not good at
keeping up with it.
So I would like to get back withmy book Instagram a little bit
through.
I've read so many books that Ihaven't done reviews, so I wanna
get some more reviews up.
I wanna update more what I'mreading.
I wanna engage more with otherson there and focus on reading
and sharing that with otherstoo.
If you don't know, my books toGraham is read with Kristen with
(15:02):
an e.
One word.
You can find me there onInstagram.
I'll be posting a lot morethere.
If you like books or reading orwanna keep up with what I'm
doing, you can follow me there.
I'll still post on the podcastone occasionally too.
But something I wanna work on isreally kind of get back to doing
reviews and updates on myInstagram account so that's what
(15:22):
I'm thinking about as I amrelaxing resting, refreshing,
refilling.
Then I started jotting downother things I wanna do over the
summer and focus on, and I justkept writing and writing and a
lot of it was about.
Finding the little things everyday to find joy in like those
little things that kind of sparkyou.
(15:43):
So I'm gonna give you some ofthe things on my list.
Maybe we'll talk about some ofthem.
But I also want you to thinkabout little things that bring
you joy, and we'll kind of bringit all together.
So here's some of the things Iwrote.
Singing in the car, dancing inthe kitchen, enjoying the sun,
catching fireflies, makings'mores.
(16:06):
Sitting by a fire, jumping in apool, leaving work early to go
to the pool, ignoring my phone,catching up with a friend in
real life.
Iced coffee on a hot day.
Driving with the windows down.
(16:26):
Fireworks Parade, AmericaDrumsticks.
Lawn dyke bars, simple summernostalgia.
I started thinking abouteverything that I enjoy in the
summer and all the things thatmake me smile.
And some of them are little, andsome of them are big.
I mean, fireworks, paradeAmerica, hello, July 4th.
(16:49):
Sitting by a fire and jumping ina pool seemed contrary.
But in the evening.
If it ever gets cold, sittingout by a fire making s'mores
camping, that's some outdoorsythings I can get behind too.
When I got to the drumsticks andKlondike bars, it reminded me I
would spend summers at mygrandma's house in Massachusetts
and she always had drumsticks.
(17:11):
She also had pudding pops andKlondike bars, and back when
Friendly's made the watermelonroll.
Oh my gosh, so good.
Ps last time I looked, theydon't have it anymore and I'm
very disappointed and I mightsee if I can make one myself,
because if you know, you know,and it was amazing anyway, think
about the simple things thatbring you joy and how you can
(17:34):
embrace joy in every moment.
Try to just center yourself andbe present where you are and not
worry about what's going onaround you or what's going on
with whoever else is around.
Just focusing on being content.
And I think if you focus onthat, you'll automatically feel
(17:54):
more joy and be happier becauseyou're focusing on what you
have.
You're not letting your lunchget cold by looking at somebody
else's food.
When I was thinking aboutnostalgia, I started flipping
through one of my old journals.
I actually ended up only doing,I think, one dear diary episode
(18:16):
this year.
And there really are so many Icould do.
And I have a whole story in, thesummer of 99 that really could
make for a really good storytoo.
So maybe I'll record it as abonus episode before we
completely wrap up.
In this journal from 99, therewas a page of quotes and I was
(18:36):
like, Hey, some of these arestill pretty good.
So how I'm going to end theepisode is just to share these
quotes with you.
Maybe they'll resonate with you,maybe not.
So these are listed here asquotable quotes.
Summer of 99, I'm gonna vote forReagan.
(18:56):
We need to get him back inoffice.
That was my grandpa.
All girls want boys.
All boys want football.
That's why things don't workout, Elise.
I just don't know what to do.
Pause, I need ice cream.
(19:17):
I feel like that is stillactually very good advice.
Now, even 26 years later, whenyou laugh, the world laughs with
you.
When you snore, you sleep alone.
A snorer on the news.
Kristin, I don't know where yourattitude comes from, but I love
it.
You are such a blessing to me.
You are a really wonderfulperson.
(19:39):
Debbie, I shared that onebecause in relation to the final
two that I'm going to share,it's an interesting way of how
somebody viewed me and then kindof how I viewed myself.
The two quotes from me that Iput in here, they hear my voice
(20:00):
and they hear my words, but theyjust don't hear what I'm saying.
And the last one, I may never bewho they want me to be, but at
least I'm who I want to be.
And I loved those because I feellike those last three, the one
that Debbie said about me andthe two that I said really
(20:24):
encompass this whole podcast.
Season and why I set out to doit.
You know, talking about how theyhear my voice and they hear my
words, but they just don't hearwhat I'm saying.
I think for so long I struggledwith being seen I loved being on
stage.
I loved people seeing me, but Inever actually felt seen, I
(20:46):
never.
Thought that people took thetime to get to know me, and part
of it was me not letting them inand not letting them get to know
me.
But that's how I always felt.
And with the other one, I maynever be who they want me to be,
but at least I'm who I want tobe.
I think even though I said thatin 1999, I don't know that I
(21:07):
actually believed that.
I don't know that I was everokay with being myself.
I wanted to be, I wanted to beokay with me, but because I
struggled so long, with peoplepleasing and trying to fit in
and morph into what I thoughtpeople wanted me to be and do
what they wanted me to do, andtry so hard for that validation
and acceptance that I wasn'tokay with me being me.
(21:30):
But again, this podcast whetheranybody's listening or not, me
being able to talk out loud iskind of just like when I was
journaling when I was younger,and it's given me an outlet and
a way to share where I am.
And I do feel that I amcomfortable being me now, and I
don't care if anybody likes meor if they don't like me because
I like me and I am going to keepsharing my words and my voice,
(21:56):
and hopefully they hear what I'msaying.
And I hope that maybe somethingI have said.
Over these last 30 episodes,these last almost six months,
maybe.
Maybe made a difference tosomeone, maybe that someone was
you.
And I don't know how to reallyend this.
(22:17):
I just, it's hard to put intowords what I'm really trying to
say, but.
Thank you for coming along onthis journey with me.
Thank you for listening.
Whether it's been one episode orall the episodes, I'm grateful
that anybody is taking time tolisten to me and allowing me to
(22:38):
have some success in thisopportunity, and I'm just really
grateful for that.
So I hope you find some way torest, relax, refresh, and refill
yourself.
Have a wonderful summer.
Find joy in the little things,enjoy the big things, and we'll
(23:00):
talk again in August.
Hey everyone.
Welcome back.
For those of you who don't know,this is the final episode of
season one.
I have so many notes.
I was thinking about, how Iwanted to wrap up season one and
what I wanted to talk aboutthere's just so many things and
that's partly why I put offrecording the last episode for
(00:22):
so long, just because I reallywanted to.
In the head space and focus onthe message that I wanted to
share.
You know, like in TV shows whenthere's a season finale,
sometimes there's a cliffhangerand it leaves you wanting to
come back to know what happensin the next season.
I'm not gonna do that.
Sometimes some TV shows in theirseason finale have an episode
(00:46):
where things are neatly tied upbecause they don't know if the
show's gonna be renewed, theyneed to wrap it all up so that
everything's complete, just incase it gets canceled or not
renewed.
Don't get renewed or getcanceled, and then you just
never know what happened.
So I don't think my podcast isgonna get canceled.
I'm planning on coming back.
(01:07):
Like I said, in last week'sepisode, I already have so many
ideas for season two.
I'm already starting to plansome of it, so I'm very, very
excited.
But anyways, back to how I wantto end season one.
I love words.
I love alliteration, and when Iwas making notes, different
words kept coming to me.
(01:28):
The theme for this episode andfor the summer break, my brief
hiatus, or whatever you wannacall it, we've been talking
about in the podcast, it's thepause and playback time we can
pause with new recordings and goback and play back episodes we
haven't heard or some of ourfavorite episodes, in real life.
(01:48):
What we're gonna do for thesummer is focus on the Rs.
So what I mean by that is we aregoing to rest, relax, refresh
and refill.
I started making notes and I mayactually post this page because
I've got notes everywhere andwe're gonna try to make sense of
it and get through this in areasonable amount of time.
(02:11):
When I was thinking about whatI'm doing over the summer, when
I'm not podcasting and how Iwant to be feeling at the end of
the summer, at the end of thispause and playback time, I just
started jotting down a bunch ofdifferent things.
I thought that during thisepisode I could share with you
some of my summer plans, whatI'm planning on doing during
this pause time.
(02:31):
And maybe it could give you someideas of what you would like to
do.
Maybe some of them will dotogether or check in with each
other or hold each otheraccountable for some of them, so
that you can also get some timeto refine yourself over the
summer.
We've done a lot this season.
Looking into who we are, what wewant, how we make friends, how
(02:51):
we get through tough times, howour community helps us get
through that, how to break freefrom some of the things we've
been told or believed aboutourselves.
And so it's a good time toreflect on all of that.
So I wanna share with you alittle bit of that.
So first I'm going to say relax.
So I still have to work.
It's not like I'm a teacher andI get the summers off.
(03:13):
I mentioned that because,Alexis, Kelly and I were texting
earlier tonight and talkingabout Alexis she's not working
anymore, she's enjoying hergardening, reading, really just
kind of relaxing.
And Kelly and I are like, oh,that's not us.
We're still working.
But it's still important to makethat time to relax.
So over the summer, for myrelaxing.
(03:36):
I plan on going to some, outdoorconcerts with my son, or we're
going to some theater shows.
We're going to do things that weenjoy.
Like mother son dates hangingout.
As a family, we'll go out forice cream, family bonding
things.
I am not an outdoorsy personunless I am laying out in the
sun, sweating in my own puddleof sweat, which sounds
(03:59):
disgusting.
But it's so relaxing when I'mlaying at the pool and there's
this splash pad and you can hearthe water trickling and little
voices in the background.
Kids playing.
Splashing.
It is so relaxing to me and thewarmth of it, like, summer
really is my time.
I will complain about winter allyear long.
(04:21):
I hate being cold.
I hate the snow.
I hate the ice.
I hate all of it.
There is nothing I enjoy aboutwinter unless we have snow on
Christmas, which very rarelyhappens.
So I feel free to complain aboutwinter all the time.
In exchange for those wintercomplaints, I do not complain
about the summer.
I will be hot all day long.
(04:41):
I may get a little uncomfortablein the humidity and the
stickiness, but I'll notcomplain about being hot.
I enjoy feeling like I'm in anair fryer or a toaster oven I
used to go to tanning beds, Ilove the heat, I want the
warmth.
So just being outside isrelaxing for me.
But like.
Laying out, relaxing, not likehiking.
(05:01):
I did a 5K earlier this summerfor Taylor's birthday.
Happy belated birthday Taylor.
And I survived.
Thanks to Greta.
Thank you Greta.
But that is not my idea of fun,love all of you who enjoy
running and physical activity.
I'm not that girl.
That is not relaxing for me.
So that's what some of thosethings I'll be doing to relax to
(05:22):
rest.
One of the things I am mostexcited about this summer is I
am going on my book clubretreat.
Ariel, who you heard from on thebeauty blogging episode, she
started a virtual book club thatI've been in for a few years
now, and I'm so excited.
A little nervous too, becausewhile Ariel and I have known
each other for almost 15 years,we've never met in real life.
(05:44):
All of the other girls in bookclub are friends of hers that I
know through book club but nevermet in real life.
I'm a little nervous about that,but I'm also very excited.
We're getting away to a cabinand as Ariel mentioned, it's a
choose your own adventureretreat.
So you know, whether you want togo on nature walks or hikes,
which we established, I probablywon't.
(06:07):
Uh, if you wanna go into theshops in town, if you just wanna
stay at the cabin and read.
There's just so manyopportunities for where we're
going, and I am so excited aboutthat.
I'm just excited about gettingaway and I already have my books
lined up, which I'm sure you'rewondering about.
So it's funny, when I waswriting down the books that I'm
(06:28):
planning on reading for theretreat.
I looked back on the episodethat Alexis and I did about
books we loved in 2024 or someof our favorite books and books
we were looking forward to in2025, and a lot of the books
lined up.
I was like, first of all, thisis great.
I am staying true to what I saidI was gonna do.
This is all very on brand and Ijust thought it was fun.
(06:51):
Going back to that episode.
Which is the second or thirdhighest rated episode of the
season.
If you haven't listened to thatone, it came out February 19th.
It was probably, I don't know,third or fourth episode that was
published.
So you'll want to like, I thinkit's called Escaping Reality,
something about books.
With Alexis.
It's fantastic.
(07:11):
If you love books.
So anyway, some of the books I'mreading.
For the retreat that I'mplanning on doing, first of all,
before I get there, I will berereading the four wins.
I have mentioned this book asone of my favorite books of all
time.
It's by Kristin Ana, and when Iread it the first time I
listened to it because JuliaWhelan is the narrator, favorite
(07:33):
narrator of all time.
I was planning on reading itthis time because I ended up
buying the ebook when it was onsale, knowing that it's a book
that I would reread, and Iactually started listening to it
again this morning.
It's so good.
That's the book we're discussingfor book club when we're out
there.
I'm going to reread it and we'lldiscuss it when we get out there
for the retreat.
(07:54):
And then I plan on alsolistening to.
The girls We Sent Away by MeganChurch.
This was a book I was reallyexcited about when it came out
last year and I just didn't getaround to reading it.
So when it showed up on the bookGirls Guide Decades Challenge
(08:14):
this year for the books in the1960s, I was like, okay, that's
it.
I'm gonna read it then.
So that's the book I plan onlistening to when I drive to the
book Club retreat.
And then when I'm there, I havebeen saving atmosphere by Taylor
Jenkins read, and I can't tellyou how hard it has been to wait
to read this book.
(08:34):
First of all, I forgot that Ihad pre-ordered it.
So when I went to buy it acouple weeks before it came out,
Amazon's like, oh, you alreadypre-ordered this book.
I was like, oh, that'sfantastic.
But then surprise upon surprise,because I am in central time
zone, when the book released atmidnight.
It was sent to my East Coasttime.
(08:55):
So I actually got it an hourearly, I started reading.
The beginning part that has theauthor's note or whatever it was
I was like, no, no, no.
This is a book I want to read onmy book club retreat.
So I have held off.
I haven't read it even though Ihave seen people posting it
about on Instagram, and Alexisasked if I read it yet, and
Ariel talked to me about it Ireally do wanna read it, but I
(09:18):
am saving that to read on mytrip.
And if I finish that, I willalso be reading Sounds Like
Love, which is Ashley Post's newbook that just came out and I
went and I met her last week andgot it signed she is so good.
I mention these two books nowbecause I had talked about them
both in the episode with Alexisabout books that I was looking
(09:40):
forward to in 2025.
I raved about how much I loveSeven Year Slip by Ashley
Poston, if you haven't read thatbook, read it.
It's one that I will read againand again because I still
remember Lemon and I can picturespecific scenes in my head.
It was just such a good book andit's been almost a year and a
half since I've read that one.
(10:00):
So I was really excited.
That sounds like love was comingout this year.
I talked about atmospherebecause I can't remember the
last time Taylor, Jenkins, Reedhad a book out.
I wanna say it was Carrie Sotois Back.
And that was probably, I'm noteven gonna say a date'cause I'm
gonna get it wrong and thensomebody's gonna be like, oh,
(10:21):
you got that wrong.
But it's been several yearssince I read a new.
TJR book, so very excited aboutthat.
The other books that I mentionedin that episode too were, it's a
Love Story by Annabel Mongan,which it's so great that I
mentioned that book because Iended up reading that one on Net
Galley.
Thanks, Nat Galley.
(10:41):
She was phenomenal.
I ended up meeting her earlierthis month too, and got all the
books I have of hers signed andshe was just the.
Absolute Swedish.
Exactly what I pictured herbeing in real life.
She was amazing.
The other book I'll be readingthis summer, I'm going to
finally read The Great Alonebecause that is the book set in
(11:03):
the 1970s, which will be my bookGirls Guide Decade book in
August.
I'll probably read some more,but those are the big plans of
what I want to read on theretreat and while I'm in my
resting mode.
To refresh.
Also, along with the rest timeon the book club retreat is that
(11:26):
I am planning digital detoxunplug.
You've heard me say multipletimes during the season how
frustrated I get.
With social media and how itmakes me feel so I really mean
it now when I go away.
We're just going away for aweekend, but I plan on being off
social media the whole time.
I will have my phone to check inwith my husband and son but
(11:47):
really I just wanna like getaway from it, disconnect and all
that.
And I'm hoping that I'll be ableto do that and have that last
when I'm home from the book clubretreat too.
I would like to.
Break the addiction of alwayslooking at my phone for no
reason at all, because I'venoticed that I'm really bad at
that.
I think a lot of us probablyare, so I'm gonna be working on
(12:08):
that and really focusing on, afull digital detox, unplugging,
using my phone more for what Ineed to almost like an old
fashioned summer when you didn'treally use your phone unless you
were calling your friends tohang out.
It wasn't what it is now.
I think I just wanna go back toa simpler time and not know what
(12:29):
everybody is doing all the time,not care what everybody is doing
all the time and really justfocus on me, my family, my
friends, building the life thatI want and not focusing
outwardly not gonna go a wholeepisode without talking about
Oklahoma City Thunder, becausehow excited are we that they won
the championship game?
Oh my gosh.
(12:50):
So, so excited.
And I'm sure I'll talk about itmore at another time too, but to
go along with enough, focusingon what other people say.
So J Dub, Jayden Williams, hehad a really good quote from an
interview.
He said, you don't want yourfood to get cold looking at
somebody else's plate.
Here, you can actually hear whathe said here.
Uh, I don't compare my successto anybody else's.
(13:13):
You don't want your food to getcold looking at somebody else's
plate.
So that's, I just bared up rightthere.
Yeah, you just, you kind of justwanna focus on like what you're
doing.
So like you can't measure yoursuccess by what somebody else is
doing.
I feel like that's how you getlost and that's.
Really stuck with me when I sawit.
I ended up saving it onInstagram so that I could
(13:33):
remember because I feel like thetext happened to me a lot.
Seeing what other people doingon social media and comparing
whether it's my success orsomething I'm doing, and you
know, they always say don'tcompare your every day to
somebody else's highlight reel.
But it's hard when it's thereall the time.
So I am just going to continueworking on me over this pause
(13:57):
and playback time, and focus onrefreshing my mind, my soul, my
spirit, and just focus on me andget away from that and unplug
and staying off socials andlimit my exposure to all of
that.
So if I'm doing all that, thenhow am I refilling?
Well, this kind of goes alongwith a lot of things and I know
(14:19):
it's gonna go contrary to what Ijust said about staying off
socials, but I am going to tryto revamp my bookstagram a
little.
I have let my bookstagram gowhile I've been focusing on my
podcast.
Although as you can see, it'snot like I'm super active on my
podcast Instagram either.
I am really not a great.
Content person.
(14:40):
Like I have all these been in myhead, but I'm just not good at
keeping up with it.
So I would like to get back withmy book Instagram a little bit
through.
I've read so many books that Ihaven't done reviews, so I wanna
get some more reviews up.
I wanna update more what I'mreading.
I wanna engage more with otherson there and focus on reading
and sharing that with otherstoo.
If you don't know, my books toGraham is read with Kristen with
(15:02):
an e.
One word.
You can find me there onInstagram.
I'll be posting a lot morethere.
If you like books or reading orwanna keep up with what I'm
doing, you can follow me there.
I'll still post on the podcastone occasionally too.
But something I wanna work on isreally kind of get back to doing
reviews and updates on myInstagram account so that's what
(15:22):
I'm thinking about as I amrelaxing resting, refreshing,
refilling.
Then I started jotting downother things I wanna do over the
summer and focus on, and I justkept writing and writing and a
lot of it was about.
Finding the little things everyday to find joy in like those
little things that kind of sparkyou.
(15:43):
So I'm gonna give you some ofthe things on my list.
Maybe we'll talk about some ofthem.
But I also want you to thinkabout little things that bring
you joy, and we'll kind of bringit all together.
So here's some of the things Iwrote.
Singing in the car, dancing inthe kitchen, enjoying the sun,
catching fireflies, makings'mores.
(16:06):
Sitting by a fire, jumping in apool, leaving work early to go
to the pool, ignoring my phone,catching up with a friend in
real life.
Iced coffee on a hot day.
Driving with the windows down.
(16:26):
Fireworks Parade, AmericaDrumsticks.
Lawn dyke bars, simple summernostalgia.
I started thinking abouteverything that I enjoy in the
summer and all the things thatmake me smile.
And some of them are little, andsome of them are big.
I mean, fireworks, paradeAmerica, hello, July 4th.
(16:49):
Sitting by a fire and jumping ina pool seemed contrary.
But in the evening.
If it ever gets cold, sittingout by a fire making s'mores
camping, that's some outdoorsythings I can get behind too.
When I got to the drumsticks andKlondike bars, it reminded me I
would spend summers at mygrandma's house in Massachusetts
and she always had drumsticks.
(17:11):
She also had pudding pops andKlondike bars, and back when
Friendly's made the watermelonroll.
Oh my gosh, so good.
Ps last time I looked, theydon't have it anymore and I'm
very disappointed and I mightsee if I can make one myself,
because if you know, you know,and it was amazing anyway, think
about the simple things thatbring you joy and how you can
(17:34):
embrace joy in every moment.
Try to just center yourself andbe present where you are and not
worry about what's going onaround you or what's going on
with whoever else is around.
Just focusing on being content.
And I think if you focus onthat, you'll automatically feel
(17:54):
more joy and be happier becauseyou're focusing on what you
have.
You're not letting your lunchget cold by looking at somebody
else's food.
When I was thinking aboutnostalgia, I started flipping
through one of my old journals.
I actually ended up only doing,I think, one dear diary episode
(18:16):
this year.
And there really are so many Icould do.
And I have a whole story in, thesummer of 99 that really could
make for a really good storytoo.
So maybe I'll record it as abonus episode before we
completely wrap up.
In this journal from 99, therewas a page of quotes and I was
(18:36):
like, Hey, some of these arestill pretty good.
So how I'm going to end theepisode is just to share these
quotes with you.
Maybe they'll resonate with you,maybe not.
So these are listed here asquotable quotes.
Summer of 99, I'm gonna vote forReagan.
(18:56):
We need to get him back inoffice.
That was my grandpa.
All girls want boys.
All boys want football.
That's why things don't workout, Elise.
I just don't know what to do.
Pause, I need ice cream.
(19:17):
I feel like that is stillactually very good advice.
Now, even 26 years later, whenyou laugh, the world laughs with
you.
When you snore, you sleep alone.
A snorer on the news.
Kristin, I don't know where yourattitude comes from, but I love
it.
You are such a blessing to me.
You are a really wonderfulperson.
(19:39):
Debbie, I shared that onebecause in relation to the final
two that I'm going to share,it's an interesting way of how
somebody viewed me and then kindof how I viewed myself.
The two quotes from me that Iput in here, they hear my voice
(20:00):
and they hear my words, but theyjust don't hear what I'm saying.
And the last one, I may never bewho they want me to be, but at
least I'm who I want to be.
And I loved those because I feellike those last three, the one
that Debbie said about me andthe two that I said really
(20:24):
encompass this whole podcast.
Season and why I set out to doit.
You know, talking about how theyhear my voice and they hear my
words, but they just don't hearwhat I'm saying.
I think for so long I struggledwith being seen I loved being on
stage.
I loved people seeing me, but Inever actually felt seen, I
(20:46):
never.
Thought that people took thetime to get to know me, and part
of it was me not letting them inand not letting them get to know
me.
But that's how I always felt.
And with the other one, I maynever be who they want me to be,
but at least I'm who I want tobe.
I think even though I said thatin 1999, I don't know that I
(21:07):
actually believed that.
I don't know that I was everokay with being myself.
I wanted to be, I wanted to beokay with me, but because I
struggled so long, with peoplepleasing and trying to fit in
and morph into what I thoughtpeople wanted me to be and do
what they wanted me to do, andtry so hard for that validation
and acceptance that I wasn'tokay with me being me.
(21:30):
But again, this podcast whetheranybody's listening or not, me
being able to talk out loud iskind of just like when I was
journaling when I was younger,and it's given me an outlet and
a way to share where I am.
And I do feel that I amcomfortable being me now, and I
don't care if anybody likes meor if they don't like me because
I like me and I am going to keepsharing my words and my voice,
(21:56):
and hopefully they hear what I'msaying.
And I hope that maybe somethingI have said.
Over these last 30 episodes,these last almost six months,
maybe.
Maybe made a difference tosomeone, maybe that someone was
you.
And I don't know how to reallyend this.
(22:17):
I just, it's hard to put intowords what I'm really trying to
say, but.
Thank you for coming along onthis journey with me.
Thank you for listening.
Whether it's been one episode orall the episodes, I'm grateful
that anybody is taking time tolisten to me and allowing me to
(22:38):
have some success in thisopportunity, and I'm just really
grateful for that.
So I hope you find some way torest, relax, refresh, and refill
yourself.
Have a wonderful summer.
Find joy in the little things,enjoy the big things, and we'll
(23:00):
talk again in August.
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