Morning Routines for Success. Interesting Food Combos. Movie Mike. Travel Tips.

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, cass up roa little food for yourself life. Oh
it's pretty, but it's pretty beautiful thing that for a

(00:23):
little moth kicking. Fourth Okay, so Mary, you know how
you joined me for Tuesday's fifth Thing episode and your
quote was about just setting yourself up for a good day,
but like just speaking that positivity, putting it out there

(00:45):
like it was from dr Amon and basically he was
just saying, you wake up and you're like, I'm going
to have a good day. Yes, it's gonna be great,
and I'm going to start implementing that. So I'm glad
that you reminded me of that. And listeners on Tuesday,
but I saw like this article that was put out
by a psychologist that shared tweaks to your morning routine

(01:05):
to make you happier throughout the day. And the first
thing that they had on there was drinking a cold
glass of water first thing, right when you wake up.
And I was like, Mary's basically an expert, because I
feel like people love this tip so much the last
time you talked about it, I feel like you need
to say it again because not everybody listens to every
single episode. Okay, So I started doing this a few

(01:27):
months ago, and I still it's like, I don't know.
I tried different habits and some stick and some don't,
but this is definitely stuck. So I have like a
giant not a giant, just like a big yetti tumbler,
and I fill it with ice water and like lemon
slices at night and then just set it on my
nightstand so then when you wake up in the morning,
it's like a refreshing, delicious drink and that you can
get stay hydrated. It's something I look forward to it

(01:49):
and when I wake up. So that is my tip. No,
I love it. It's a genius pro tip because it's
like if you don't do that, you have to get up,
go to the kitchen, get the ice, get the women.
But like you've figured out a way, especially because yetti
or something insulated will keep the ice there, and then
you have this refreshing cold water situation and then you
wake up and you just look at your cup and

(02:11):
you're like, I'm going to have a good day. Another
thing that this psychologist shared, which is Oja Aussie is
the psychologist's name, by the way, but um, they said
to reclaim your time by doing something that you like
to do before you go to work, Like you feel
more in control when you start your day with something
of your choosing before just heading into work demands like

(02:33):
that could be taking time for meditation or maybe a
little yoga, or just quietly enjoying a cup of coffee,
or maybe taking time to journal in your four Things
gratitude journal, or maybe you don't have one of our journals,
but you've got any notebook and you want to make
note of four things that you're thankful for. Whatever it is,
it's for you, it's you're not jumping right into work.

(02:56):
It also went into keeping the stress of your commute
in perspective, like if traffic or train delay stress you out,
trying not to let those setbacks overwhelm you. We can't
control some things that life throws at us, but we
can take a minute to breathe, to reset our nervous system,
to fill calm and composed again, and breathing really does work.

(03:16):
I know it sounds so weird that, like if you're
getting worked up and your nervous system is getting like which, yes,
traffic is totally out of your control. Or and that's
just an example, but I've been heightened for various reasons,
and when I do take the time to breathe, it's crazy.
And my therapist too, has me do angel taps sometimes,

(03:36):
which is where you just kind of criss cross your arms.
How do you describe this, Mary, Like make an X
touch both your shoulders, crossing your arms. Yeah, right, huh.
And then I sit there and I breathe and I
kind of just tap. There's something about your brain processing
ther your hands tapping your shoulders and you getting in
touch with yourself and it it calms you. Just something

(03:59):
that I'll throw out there. Obviously, if you're driving, you
cannot do angel taps, but you can still do the breathing. Yeah. Yeah,
I don't know. I didn't believe in the whole breathing thing,
not believe. I just didn't really care or think about it.
But yeah, it definitely makes a difference. I did get
an m R I on my job last week, and
I wasn't worried about it at all, and then I
got in there and like, I did not like it
at all, and I felt like I was gonna about
to lose it. But then I was like, Okay, I'm

(04:20):
gonna do breathing and that's the only way I could
do it. And then I was fine, not fine, but
like the breathing, otherwise I was going about to yell,
like get me out of here. The breathing really helped
helps call you. Did you do your Everyone has different numbers,
like my numbers four seven, eight, but you have Mary's
is four six eight. Yeah, breathing from four hold it
for six, blowout for Is that what it is? I
don't know, or you can just do I think I

(04:40):
was doing shorter because I was trying not to move
at all the same time, so it's a little more hard.
But yeah, you can do like four or four four, Like,
it doesn't matter. I don't think as long as you're
just consistent. Thinking gets your mind off of it too.
Another thing here says create boundaries with the morning habits
that drain you, like, pay attention to what's adding to
your stress in the morning us and for a lot

(05:00):
of us that's checking emails or scrolling on your phone
first thing. And it says here like, try not to
do that first thing if you can help it. And
the idea is to create a buffer between energy draining
activities and the ones that energize you. For the day ahead.
So I know, for me sometimes because my phone is

(05:21):
my alarm, I'll pick up my phone to turn my
alarm off and then boom, my phone already it's like,
sucks me in. It's already got me. And it's one
because like your thumb, it's so easy to just swipe
or click or whatever, and the next thing you know,
you're maybe answering text from the bed or checking email
or scrolling on Instagram and you're like, oh, shoot, ten

(05:42):
minutes goes by and you're like no, no, I needed
to be up. And then that goes back to reclaiming
your time for something that you need to do for
yourself in the morning that's going to set your day
up for success. I feel like, since we're talking about
this too, I want to get into next just real quick, Mary.
I saw Jennifer Aniston talked about her self care secrets,
and I just want to say, so we're gonna talk

(06:03):
about Jennifer, but before we do, I feel like now
is an appropriate time to play that song again, at
least the hook for a good Day, because we did
this on Tuesday's episode, and I don't know, this song
is so fun, So Houston, let's hit that clip again
day way, ain't nobody grad Okay, I think it's official.

(06:40):
I'm making that my alarm wake up song again. I
had it years ago, but then I changed it. You know,
my alarms are different depending on which one I click.
You had some weird one when I was heard Taylor Swift. Yeah,
maybe you're so goodeous. I can't say anything to your face?
Is what can I say? You're googeous? Yeah. I don't

(07:04):
know how that became a wake up song for me,
but it did. I think one of my kids did
it once and then now sometimes it scares me so honestly,
I feel like good day. I'll still have a good
feeling when I listened to it, But sometimes when Taylor
Swift gorgeous like comes on in any other capacity, I'm like,
change it because now I feel like I'm having to
wake up and I don't want that feeling. All right. So,
Jennifer Aniston spills her self care secrets. So when asked

(07:29):
how do you practice self care, Jennifer said, it's just
a daily thing. My self care is my morning routine.
I don't pick up my phone until I'm finished walking
my dogs, feeding the dogs, meditating, journaling, making my coffee,
you know, just having a nice clear head, and then
I'll go into the world, so to speak. So look,

(07:49):
I mean basically, yes, yeah, to me, that sounds crazy
and overwhelming. But then I'm like, I didn't used to
like look at my phone. I remember, Yeah, when I
lived in New York. I would wake up, I wouldn't
even look at my email or text, and then I
would like go to a workout class whatever, and I
would look at my phone when I got out of
the workout class, and like, I don't know. Now, I'm like,
I can't even imagine doing that, but yeah, it's definitely possible.
And I feel like we play so much emphasis and

(08:11):
importance on checking things. I don't know if there's an emergency,
I guess we can see it, but I don't know.
I also start Up started using the Hatch sleep machine
thing instead of an alarm clock. Oh yeah, I I
saw that thing. I was making an order one should
I I think I was waiting for you to review it.
I mean, I I really like it. Yes, I think
it's good. It's it's like a three in one like

(08:33):
alarm clock. It's like a little machine you keep on
your nightstand and it's not like super ugly or anything.
And it has like a built in light that you
can set your sleep routine for what you want to
do when you go to bed and when you want
to wake up, So like I have it set where
I don't know, you build an increments like I want
to read for thirty minutes, and then you can do
like a meditation or something, which I don't do anymore,
but you can just do different things like that, and

(08:54):
then you you're woken up by the light. It's like
a natural like something that helps your circu adian rhythm.
I don't know. It starts getting light like fifteen minutes
before you want to wake up, and then you can
set your wake up your alarm clock too. And I
wake up to the sound of like I think it's birds,
but I'm not sure it's birds. I always set a
backup like real alarm on my phone for later, just

(09:15):
in case, because I'm like, am I gonna wake up
to this? But I have every time, so I usually
wake up before. But okay, and it's called hatch, yes, okay,
So if people want to check that out, I just
wrote it down for myself actually, so yeah, and you
can do meditation, Like it's like a after you your
light goes off, you can have it. Just do like
a ten minute meditation that kind of helps you go
to sleep too. I haven't done that recently, but some

(09:37):
people learned to that. So yeah, yeah, well I'll be
checking out sold not a commercial. Put it on your
am thing. Yeah yeah, I'll add it to my Amazon page.
Anything that I get from Amazon. You'all can find it
radio amy dot com. Okay, So Jennifer Ananston was asked
what advice do you have for those who want to
start a wellness routine but don't know where to start.
Jennifer said, start with ten minutes, ten minutes a walk,

(10:00):
maybe ten minutes of meditating, two pages of journaling, give
yourself three minutes to journal, set a timer, give yourself
little goals, and then once you start to love it,
you'll realize, oh, I just went for four minutes. As
she said, she has a girlfriend who got a Peloton
bike and she said, okay, I can only get to
five minutes. Well now she's up to forty five minutes.

(10:22):
It just took her time. It's about giving yourself that
allowance to take baby steps, and I think that's actually
really good advice. Especially. That's even when Mary and I
were creating our Gratitude Journal, we just wanted to be
four easy things, like you literally could just drop down
one word, or we put stickers in the back where
you could just put a sticker down for the days
you don't have words, And it's baby steps to where

(10:44):
some days you may end up writing a whole paragraph
for one thing that you're thankful for instead of just
one word. You may just grow into it. If something
seems intimidating, like the meditation, Like I still don't feel
like I'm a good meditate or I mean even if
I'm having a quiet time or trying to pray, like
my brain just like goes all over the place. But

(11:06):
I'm probably trying to do it for too long. Like
if I set more tiny goals, then I'll get more
used to having that quiet time and able to do it. Yeah,
you can do it for like as little as like
two minutes, even on either the hatch thing or like
there's apps on your phone that you can do it
for free that I've done, and I don't know, I
think that's a good Yeah, Okay, last thing that Jennifer

(11:27):
Iniston was asked, or what are your wellness goals for
the rest of one and be on? Mary, This is
kind of like I'm having Jennifer Inoson on the podcast,
but it's basically welcome to Yeah, Jennifer Anderson is on
the Fourth Thing podcast. Really, I'm just reading an article,
don't know, but it's fine. I like in the description,
I typed Jennifer Innoston so that my podcast comes up

(11:47):
if people search her out. Okay, so what are your
wellness goals for the rest of be on? And Jennifer
said to stay on it. My goal is to continue
to be committed to myself into my body because this
is the only one we get. But also fully allow
you're indulgences, I think is a good rule. Allow yourself
some fun, allow yourself things that you love, and take
away any kind of negative thoughts around it. Enjoy it.

(12:08):
Remove shame from your vocabulary or feelings if you are capable.
And then what were you telling me earlier? Mary, like,
not on the air, Jennifer Inison eats bread? Now, oh yeah,
I saw something that was like it was like a
headline Jennifer Innison had started eating bread again, which I'm like,
is that really a headline, but apparently it is because
she said, yeah, like that everyone is always afraid of
the bread basket, and that she has been in the

(12:29):
past as well, but she has given herself a break
and she's no longer afraid of bread as long as
it's She's like all about moderation. Good for her. I
thought whenever you said that, I was like, oh, wait, no,
I think that's Gwyneth Paltrow, because I think there was
also a headline not too long ago that she ate
bread during the pandemic or something, which I'm like, Okay,
I don't know, I have no room to talk. I've

(12:50):
come a long way, but yeah, I used to be
so scared of certain foods and I'm so thankful to
be out of that. But I know I also want
to be sens of the fact that others listening maybe
in the thick of it, and that's not lost on
me at all, and there is no shame around that,
And I love that. Jennifer Anderson, and did that question
with remove shame from your vocabulary or feelings if you
are capable, and you know that's easier said than done.

(13:13):
That might actually take a lot of work. But if
you're committed to it, you can get there. Well. I
just like to thank Jennifer Anderston for joining us for
today's Mary and I actually watched the Friends reunion on
HBO Max together. You probably heard us talk about it
on a previous episode. That got me watching Friends again.

(13:33):
I feel like I watched it every day now, every night,
which I had taken I was more about the Office,
and now I'm back to Friends. Oh. It definitely got
me watching Friends again, and I'm watching Ship's Creek. And
then I wanna make Golden Girls a thing. My niece
sent me a clip. She's eighteen and had never seen
Golden Girls. I had her modeling our Four Things t

(13:53):
v t s when she was staying with me a
couple of weeks ago, and I just had her pull
up the shirts and see if she knew the TV show.
So she held up the shirt that said pivot on
a brake, Smelly Cat, How you doing? And I think
right away she was like, oh, yeah, this is Friends.
Then she held up the shirt that said that's what
she said, and she was like, how I met your mother?
And I was like, oh, this is the Office. And

(14:16):
then she held up Blanche Rose, Sophia and Dorothy, and
she had no idea, and I thought, how how has
my sister been raising you and why do you not
know who the Golden Girls are? And why are you
not watching it? So like at midnight the other night,
I wake up to a text that she sent, like
around midnight too, of her watching Golden Girls by herself

(14:36):
at home, and I'm like, yes, I am training you well.
And then the last shirt was Johnny Moira, alexis you David? Yeah,
And she knew right away, Oh, that ship's creek, so
obviously that one's popular with the kids. The eighteen year
old I had put up the Golden Girls one and
it got quite the reaction on Shop aspla because I

(14:57):
run that Instagram and it got like over two thousand
likes and I don't know seventy comments, and that never happened.
Like I get excited if, like we get a couple
of hundred likes and maybe three comments, and then two
of the comments and normally me replying to somebody for me,
we all just replied ourselves, Yeah, if you want to
make Amy happy and feel good, go like and comment

(15:19):
on all shop and sply Instagram. Well, my point in
saying that is I think that picture obviously did so well,
and it made me think people are like tagging their
friends because I asked, like, which golden girl are you? Like,
if you had to pick to be one of the
Golden girls, who would you be? I think I would
want to be Rose, But I'm probably more Dorothy. You are, sorry,

(15:41):
you know, I mean I had put in that post.
I said that probably too, like a little bit of Rose,
not necessarily like the sweet part, but sometimes just how
she she is, like with her storytelling and like gumbling
like that's me, and then like some of Sophia. Yeah,
that so mixture there. And so people were tagging, so

(16:03):
I thought, oh, this could be a fun giveaway. So
maybe I'll do that one on Radio Amy for today,
so the third you're listening to this on Thursday the eight,
and so I'll do the giveaway through the weekend and
I'll put it up and you can go to it
Radio Amy and then tag like your bestie and like
post which golden girl you are and what golden girl
she is? And you heard it Mary's Dorothy. But yeah,

(16:28):
just do that and then you'll notice whenever we put
up the giveaway that Mary and I will comment and
post like comment on our own post to be like yay,
good job. So we're very cool like that. And Mary
runs at the shop Forward if you want to go
follow her there and watch her stories because for whatever reason,
nobody sees her stories and it's very depressing. Okay, well,

(16:52):
thank you Mary, and thank you Jen for for joining
us for this thing. And if y'all are interested in
geting one of the t v t s for yourself,
the Four Things t v t s, you can go
to four things dot com. This is the easy way
to remember it. I feel like every time I say
one website, I have to say them all because I'm like, well,
or what if you remember Radio amy dot com? Is

(17:13):
that easier or the shot forward dot com. But since
it's the four Things t and you're listening to the
four Things podcast, maybe four things dot com. But all
those shirts are up there, and those are four shows
that you definitely should check out or watch. It's kind
of funny, but it's the one we like. Naturally just
talked about we happened shirts about. Yeah that's probably why
we because they're like our favorites. But yeah, yeah, so anyway,

(17:36):
that's where you can find the shirts. If you want
something to wrap your favorite TV show, or you need
a cute gift for somebody and you want a gift
that gives back. Because our four Things line is under ESPOI,
which supports Haiti always a spoa means hope in Haitian creole.
All right, Mary, I will talk to you later. If

(17:59):
all right. I got my there David on for this thing,
and David, I thought you could join me because we
grew up with a dad that love food and interesting concoctions.
And I saw this article that was talking about foods
that people grew up with where in their family it
was like, totally normal, but it's actually super gross stuff.
And I feel like we might have some recipes that

(18:20):
lean in that direction, and I'll share some of the
things that the people shared in this article as well.
But growing up, we would have cinnamon rolls with sausage gravy,
and in our family that was very normal. But anytime
I tell it to anybody, they're disgusted by it, and
I'm like, look, don't knock it till you try it,
because it's amazing. That was one of my favorite things

(18:42):
that he ever made. And you know, you go to
McDonald's they've got what is it, the sausage macgriddle, which
is pancakes with sausage on it. So I mean sausage
and sweet goes well together. I mean people like that.
So I don't think that that's gross. I'll tell you
what's gross. What was gross was Oyster's Christopher, which taste
it awesome, but you just can't hide the fact that

(19:03):
you're swallowing these slimy oysters. You know, to be fair,
they weren't raw though they were pan fried. Oh they
weren't pan fried. I don't know. For me, it's slimy food.
So like fried okra, which you know in West Texas
where I grew up with my you know, my family,
that was a that was a regular you know, regular
treat quote unquote, and it was disgusting and uh and

(19:27):
then oysters, yeah, oysters, which dad loved. But I don't know,
I feel like I'm swallowing a booger. You know, it's gross.
David's making it sound well, I don't like oysters either,
but it was so tasty. It was really tasty. It
was Worcestershire sauce and yeah, I think it was breaded
and it was tasty. But it was like a love
hate relationship because it was like this really taste good

(19:48):
on the outside, but it was like an oyster Eminem.
It tasted really good on the outside and the inside
is just nasty. Is that how you feel about Eminem's. No, No,
I love Eminem's, but if they had oysters inside, I wouldn't, So,
you know, it's funny. I mean this is sort of aims.
You grew up like putting ketchup on everything, right, and
and I was sort of the same way. I think

(20:10):
one of the like, food shaming is such a big deal,
and when we were growing up, it was like you
ate what was put in front of you and you
didn't say anything. If you did say something, you were
like grounded or sent to your room or paddled or whatever. Right,
and food is so personal and forcing people to eat things,
you know, especially as children, that are disgusting to them

(20:32):
right where their taste buds or whatever the consistency is
just foul to them. It feels like that's such a
horrible thing to do to kids, And it's horrible to
make people eat things that they're not comfortable eating. Do
you agree? Oh? Yeah, no, I mean I definitely think
that hopefully we can change the way we do things
around the family table, and I think that we have

(20:54):
in a way of I don't think we're the generation
that's like, eat every bite on your plate, or you
can get up from the table. But then that came
from a different mindset of like you should be thankful
for this food and maybe you don't know when you're
going to get anymore, so you better eat every bite.
And you know we're shifting away from that, but I
do know that you're particularly sensitive to the food shaming

(21:16):
and maybe not necessarily being into what your family is serving.
But I do want to go over some of the
grossest foods that people talked about in this article, and
I just want your thoughts on it. So all right,
someone said that their family regularly served them cold peas, mayonnaise,
and sugar mixed together. As a scientist hold peas, mayonnaise

(21:36):
and sugar, I guess, I guess it was some type
of salad. Yes, I could see that like a salad. Yes,
that's I mean to me, I love mayonnaise and I
actually love peas, so it doesn't sound that gross to me. No,
I mean, okay, so potato salad as a mayonnaise based
and it's potatoes, so I guess I mean peas are
a start, So I guess I can sort of see that.

(21:58):
I mean, it wouldn't be something I choose, but I
think I'd be able to swallow that without wretching. So
kind of scale like one to ten, I'd say that's
a five on the gross scale. Well, speaking of salads,
someone said that their parents would put leftover pot roast
in a food processor and mix it with miracle whip
and relish and eat it on bread and they called
it beef salad. Uh, you put relish into anything and

(22:21):
it immediately gets like plus four on the gross scale.
So that's up in the eight or nine ring. So.
Fun fact about me is I hate pickles. Cannot stand
them because I threw one up in the sixth grade.
I was on the pep squad and I ate one
of those big pickles from the football game, and then
we were driving home and my mom had to pull
over because I was throwing up. And I don't eat
pickles at all, but I like relish, sweet relish. I

(22:46):
hate relish. Relish is like gross, But but the pickles
on Chick fil A sandwiches right, those all eat I
take them out of the sandwich and eat them, but
they taste okay to me, So I don't know, it's weird. Yeah,
Like I'm the one person in our family that gets
if we're going to Chick fil A, I get the
number one or whatever. No pickle, no pickle, sand's pickle.

(23:08):
What about peanut butter and bacon on toast topped with gravy? Okay, So,
first off, you know, peanut butter is the most disgusting
food on the planet, right. The smell of peanut butter
is just it's horrible to me. So anything with peanut
butter on the list is just a nonstarter for me.
How about cold spaghetti, lettuce, chicken, cheese all topped with

(23:29):
French dressing. Uh, someone's family called that the President's salad. Okay,
if you're one of these people that needs to disguise
your salad so that it's like a meat and cheese dish,
this actually works. So if you've ever had like a
Russian salad, like a like a salad with Russian dressing
or French dressing, like a cob with ham and cheese
and bacon and everything else, it's sort of like easy

(23:52):
to ignore that there's lettuce in it. So I can
see that my kids are from Haiti and they often
would have just spaghetti with ketchup, spaghetti noodles with ketchup
on top, but that was served for breakfast regularly. Yeah.
Also to kind of if you think of culturally where
you grew up and what was served, and then that's like,

(24:12):
to me, that was very not normal. But then it's like, well,
what is normal? Why is the breakfast food of breakfast food? Well,
it's because marketing has told us this is what you
eat at breakfast time. Well, and in Haiti, though, I
would think normal is not getting food, right, Yes, for
a lot of those kids in the orphanages, So I
would think they're they're not gonna they're not gonna be

(24:33):
picky about whether it's a breakfast food for breakfast or
dinner or whatever. They're just happy to get a meal. Yeah.
But in Haitian culture, like those that are getting food regularly,
even outside of the orphanage, spaghetti for breakfast with just
noodles and ketchup is a thing that's interesting. You would
like that though, right, You put ketchup on something and
it's good for you, right, Yeah, shockingly, I don't use

(24:55):
ketchup as much as I used to. Yeah, Dad used
to say that food was just a carrier to get
ketchup in my mouth. But I have grown up a little.
That's that's a little sad though, because I think ketchup
is a food group. Right, It's it's like one of
the best ways for me to get tomatoes inside me.
So it's a vegetable, right, it's made out of tomatoes
or fruit, right, I mean something we can count it, right,

(25:15):
we can count. We can say, hey, we're having we
had our fruits today. If you have a large enough
serving a ketchup? What about damn? If I know, soup.
I guess someone's grandmother would just always throw stuff if
she was cleaning out her fridge. And I guess I've
heard that is like everything but the kitchen sink, like
whether it's a cookies or soup or whatever. But I
kind of like that name, like damn if I know. Yeah,

(25:37):
so Castle rolls. Right. When we were growing up, Sunday
after church, you know, everybody would bring over potlock and
there would be these mystery cast roles right where you
had no idea what was in them. And I guess
if you're somebody that loves everything right, then it's sort
of cool because it's a surprise. But if you're somebody
who doesn't like a lot of foods, it's sort of
not a pleasant surprise. So that would be pretty high

(26:00):
on my gross list. Well, so, do you personally have
anything that other people consider like but you appreciate the combo?
I don't know. I mean, most of the stuff that
I eat is I think is pretty standard, right, I
think probably the like, the craziest thing that that I
regularly enjoy eating is I eat a lot of steak
with bozamac vinegar. I don't think that that's crazy. That

(26:22):
was something Dad taught me so, but I think it's
a typical. When I tell people that, they're like, that
sounds really interesting, and a lot of people are skeptical
at first, but everybody who's tried it really really enjoys it.
Like I'm a burger and potato and steak guy. So
I don't think any of the things that I eat
are too crazy. I mean, as a kid, I just
remember you always drinking dr pepper and was it were
you eating funyans? Oh? Yeah, yeah, funyans. So there's some

(26:46):
snack foods that are sort of nasty that that you know,
I don't know, I just have a taste for them,
like funyans. The it's really weird. I hate onions, but
but funyans, which are onions flavored. I was about to say,
they're not really onions, David, they're but but they're onion flavored, right.
They taste like onions, right. So anyway, Yeah, there's there's
some snacks that people are like, why are you eating that?

(27:07):
But but yeah, funions is up there. One like Lisa,
my wife, she really thinks that friedo pies are strange.
She's like, you're eating like junk food is a meal
just because you put Frito's and chili and cheese together.
And she didn't think too much of that. A lot
of it may be regional, right, because in Texas, freedo
pies are like a thing. It's like Friday night football

(27:29):
games freedo pies, right. But in Boston, where she comes from,
it they just don't get that. But they have strange
things that they eat up there that I don't understand. Yeah,
I mean, I think one of the most genius things
ever is getting a bag like the little individual serving
size bags and you cut off the top and then
you pour the chili, the cheese, and the sour cream
into the bag and boom, you're good to go. Like,

(27:50):
if you're ever hosting a party, that's such a cute
way to serve everything, and then you don't have to
wash any bulls at the end of the party. Yeah,
they give you a spork and you're good to go, right, yes,
oh sporks? Okay, Well, I just wanted to give people
conversation starter at your next family meal or something like, Hey,
what's something that we ate as kids that we thought

(28:12):
was normal and it is actually kind of gross? And
I would love to hear any interesting concoctions that y'all have.
You can email me for things with Amy Brown at
gmail dot com. And maybe I need to try some
of these out, because I would campaign all day long
for people to try cinnamon rolls with sausage gravy, which
is just that, Like you can get the Pillsbury Doughboy

(28:33):
cinnamon rolls, you get Jimmy Dean spicy sausage. I think
the spicy sausage is key, at least Dad would say that,
and then you Jimmy Dean's hot and then make some
white gravy and boom, you're good to go. And you
just bake the sinna rolls, put the icing on top,
put the sausage gravy as the final touch, and then

(28:55):
you bite in and it's so good. I know it
sounds weird, but I'm the voice of sausage gravy and
cinnamon roles. So I'll tell you what. If people are
gonna write with the grossest thing that they ate when
they were growing up, they also have to write in
the best thing that they are their family made, Okay,
because it's sort of fun to laugh at the gross thing,
but I want to hear you know what people really

(29:15):
thought was like the best thing that they're family made.
Because I'll try it. Yes, I think that we should.
We should try it. Maybe next time we're together, we
try it, we make a video, We're like, hey, we
heard about this. It's so good, and it becomes a
new thing. The sausage gravy and cinnamon rolls. My I
think that falls into both categories. Does It is gross
and weird, but it's also one of my favorite things
that has come out of our family. Yeah, So I

(29:36):
don't think that one's grosser, weird, it's weird. It's it's
definitely strange, right, But that to me, it's like cinema
roles are amazing and sausage gravy is amazing. So together,
maybe a little bit weird, but you would expect it
to be amazing. But yeah, let's let's get together and
try some of these. So people should send their best
recipes in there and their weirdest recipes and we'll try

(29:57):
it perfect. We have a new cooking show in the
works we're putting up, and all of our free time,
well and I coordinating. Yeah, we do have to eat,
but Dave and I re coordinating together to try to
record I mean, busy bees, but we got it done.
I'll always make time for you Aimes. Okay, David, We'll
good to see you. I kind of like this too
because I get to see you over zoom and it's

(30:19):
like a little weekly meeting. No pressure to join the
podcast weekly, just saying it's not a problem. I mean,
ten minutes hanging out with my sister. It's that's that's
a good thing. Is there anything that like you would
like to share or plug with listeners here? I you know,
some sometime we'll come back and we'll talk about what
I do for business. But I don't want to sully
this right at this point. Here's what I'll plug. Right.

(30:41):
My favorite breakfast and it's super easy to make. You
go get cinnamon, the cinnamon bread, right like Hilshire Farms
or Thomas's Cinnamon Bread, and then you get the Jimmy
Deane hot sausage and some just white American cheese like
bores Head cheese, and you cook the sausage in the pan,
toss between a you know, a couple of slices of

(31:02):
toasted cinnamon bread slice of cheese, and it's like better
than any breakfast sandwich that you pay like four dollars
four out at a fast food joint. So I'm gonna
plug that because that's my favorite breakfast, needed almost every day. Okay.
I love that, And that reminds me of something else
Dad used to do. He would do the cinnamon raisin
bread and make like a grilled cheese, but put jalapeno

(31:23):
pimento cheese in the middle, and so he'd butter each side,
fill it with the pimento cheese, and then grill it,
you know, on the stovetop, like back and forth. Just
like you would do a grilled cheese and you slice
into that, and I mean that is a nice concoction. See. See,
I'm totally into things that are like with COVID and us,
like like we work from home now, you know, all

(31:44):
the time, and I know that you do as well.
So with COVID, the thing that I love the most
is that I've stopped going out and spending like, you know,
crazy amounts of money on on fast food, and I'm
making things at home. And so I've started trying to
make things that I liked at restaurants at home and
they're better. They're usually better than what you get at
a restaurant, particularly fast food. So I'd love to see

(32:05):
people's recipes for that, Like how do you take something
that like taco bell or whatever you used to eat
at fast food and make it at home and make
it better? That would be awesome. Sometimes it's just the ingredients,
right Yeah. Okay, Well, I'll let you know what we
hear from people. I'll send the emails your way. Okay, David,
I will talk to you real soon. Thank you so much.
All right, take care of there we go. Okay, So

(32:36):
this thing today is a little different It's kind of
a teaser of a podcast that I was on earlier
this week on Monday, Mike D's Movie podcast releases Did
you do that on purpose? Mike D's Movie podcast out
on Monday. All in so, I got Mike D here
with me, and we would encourage you all to go
search for his podcast and listen to our chat because

(32:57):
I feel like, although we were talking about movies, like
I shared some things with you that I have never
said really out loud or for sure on a microphone.
I learn something about like that one thing about my
boyfriend in college. I thought maybe I had said that
on The Bobby Bone Show at some point, but I
guess I didn't. But it's something crazy that my boyfriend
in college had to do at one point in his life.

(33:18):
And we were kind of I'm trying to think if
I could ever do something like that, and I definitely could,
definitely don't think I can. And Mike and I went
down memory lane. We went deep into the Bobby Bones
Show archives from nine years ago or so, and just
things that we've worked on together and stuff that we
put out as a show. An award that I won
back in the day. It's probably one of my biggest

(33:41):
radio accomplishments ever. Maybe a lot of people don't know
about it. Yeah, maybe they don't. I know I've talked
about it from time to time because honestly, I do
like to brag about it here and there when it
comes up. But Mike D's podcast is all about movies.
We throw back to my favorite movies as a child.
And what else did you ask me? Like? What movie? Uh,
Serrie Ease or franchise series? Do I really enjoy stuff

(34:03):
that I like to watch with my kids? And I
don't know, Mike, Why don't you just give a little
plug for your podcast here and see if people want
to go check it out. Well, if you love movies,
you used to check on my podcast, because that's all
I do. Every single week. I talk about movies. I
researched movie topics, and then I also interview directors and actors.
Just recently, I got to talk to the original cast
of the Willie Wonka movie, the original one, which they

(34:24):
were all kids when they did that movie, but now
they're all like in their sixties and they like reunited
for the first time. So I got to learn about that.
Oh that's super interesting. Well, I was honored that you
had me as a guest this week, and I feel
like we stuck two movies. We talked about a few
other things in between, so there might be some tidbits
that will also be interesting to you, So if you
like things that we talk about here, I really feel

(34:45):
like Mike and I episode on his podcast is totally
like a thing that would be here on the Four
Things podcast, So I think it's something that you'll enjoy.
And Mike d even made me go way back into
memory lane or way down memory lane to think of
who my first movie date was, like the first person
I can remember going to the movies with as a date,

(35:06):
and I think I know the person and now I'm
very curious where he is, So definitely check that out.
We're on the same network right, the Nashville Podcast networkwork,
So just know that, Yeah, if you're supporting me, you're
supporting Mike, You're supporting Bobby cast Get Real with Caroline, Hobby,
Velvet's Edge. Who else is on the network. We have
a new music podcast called The Biss Tape Music Business,

(35:28):
Oh Sore Losers, Yes, which obviously we want to support
Eddie Ray and Lunchbox and then who else Talked to
Chuck with Chuck Wicks, and Too Much to Say with
Kaylee Shore awesome. So that is everybody on the Nashville
podcast network. I also have my own, so sometimes people
get confused the Amy Brown podcast network, and not that

(35:49):
this really matters the networks, but they we do feel
like we're our own little family and we try to
look out for each other. And then over on mine
is you Need Therapy podcasts with Cat Defada, Truthius Live
with Lisa Hame and then the Eating Disorder podcast that
I post called Outweigh with Lisa as well. So there
you go. Lots of podcasts for you to go check out.

(36:10):
And I guess, Mike, before I have you go, is
there a movie recommendation you have for anybody listening right
now that maybe they haven't checked out yet. I just
watch a really good movie on Netflix called Fatherhood. It's
with Kevin Hart and it's about him living as a
single dad. It sounds like a spoiler, but it's not.
You learn it in the trailer in the very first
five minutes, but his wife passes away after having their daughter,

(36:30):
and then it's him deciding whether or not he's gonna
go back home to be with family or just go
on the full single dad route. Huh. Okay, so Kevin Hard,
he's a comedian. But it's sounding kind of sad. So
where does it fall in the emotion r It's like
a dramedy. There's some sad parts. It's dramedy like drama
and comedy. Drama and comedy. It's not like laugh out
loud funny, but it's like subtle things that will make
you laugh. And overall I think it's a really great watch. Okay,

(36:53):
Fatherhood on Netflix? All right, Well, thank you, Mike D.
And yeah, y'all go search up his podcast, Mike D's
Movie Podcast. And I was on this last Monday's episode,
which is July fifth. If sometimes you need a date
to help make sure that you're getting the right episode,
but I'm sure you put like Amy is my guest?
Is that the title Amy? Okay? Cool? All right, thanks Mike. Okay,

(37:23):
I'm on with Pavia Rosatti and you recently co authored
Travel North America and Avoid Being a Tourist, So thank
you for coming on to talk to us about traveling. Oh, Amy,
thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.
I'm always happy to talk about travel. Well, yeah. I
mean you're also the founder of a travel company, Fathom,
which for Fathom Way, and so I think like you're

(37:45):
the perfect person that we need to talk to. And
I want to start off with discussing the joys of
slowing Down, which I know is something that you get
into and the book, and I think that that's what
we all need at times, is that permission to slow down.
So you know, when you speak to that, what what
do you want to remind people to do, especially when
it comes to taking a vacation. You know, what I

(38:07):
want to remind people is that there's no right way
to do a vacation, but there are wrong ways to
do a vacation. And I think the wrong vacation is
the one where you come home and meet a vacation
from your holiday because you ran yourself so ragged trying
to do too many things. Vacations are it's time to recharge, right.
And so we actually have a chapter in the book

(38:28):
that's you know, the second chapter in the book is
really all about this. It's called the Joy of slowing Down,
and we say, sit still, take a walk, get to
the beach, right. I think slowing down when you're traveling
is really about enjoying the moment that you're in, getting
your nose out of your phone, and just relishing the
fact that you're in a foreign place and taking in

(38:49):
everything that means. What does it look like, what does
it smell like, who are you meeting, who is new?
How does it make you feel? And I think you
bring up a good point about the phone, and that's
something you know, we want to capture memories. But then, yeah,
do you have sort of a rule about you know
what you would advise you on phones and like Instagram,
maybe even like taking content quickly while you're there, but

(39:10):
not worrying about posting it right away. Oh my god,
never post when you're on vacation. You're robbing yourself of
your holiday time. I do have a couple of rules. One,
no phones at the dinner table ever, ever, Ever, I
think it probably gives you indigestion. Never look something up. No,
don't look at your phone at the table unless you
want to take a quick picture of your dinner. But
my goodness, don't let the French fries get cold while

(39:32):
you capture the perfect lighting and the perfect like glisten
of the ketchup. When you're traveling. Also, similarly, beautiful sunset,
take a quick picture, beautiful site, take a picture, don't
forget to take a picture of yourself. Also, end of
the people who you're with. But then put your phone
in your bag, put your phone in your pocket. You
are not a slave to that phone. That phone works

(39:52):
for you, so don't let that phone interfere with your
precious vacation time. You know what I want pictures of
so badly because I have never been, and it's right
here in the US, Like I've been thinking about, yes,
domestic travel, and where are some places right here that
I have never been that I really want to go?
And at the top of the list is Montana. And
I know maybe I became Oh well, I am obsessed

(40:14):
with the show Yellowstone. Have you watched that. I've watched
one or two of them, and listen, it's so beautiful.
I can't stand it. Yeah. Yeah, And so I want
to go, but I guess, you know, planning something. I
think everybody, because they didn't get to travel last summer,
they're getting out and about and Montana is just such
a popular destination and everything has been booked. It's crazy.

(40:37):
I was trying to go at the end of July
and I can't find anywhere to go, and I'm like, uh,
maybe I just go and pitch a tent or something. Well,
you can, and you know, new glamping options and tenting
options and r V these are a huge trend that
we're seeing all around the country. What I'm going to
say is this, the parts are getting a lot smarter
about crowd control, and that's a really great thing. Right,

(40:57):
Museums are also getting smart about crowd control. So maybe
you can't be as spontaneous as you could otherwise be,
but by having to book it means you're going to
have a better experience when you're there, because nothing is
going to be as overrun or as crowded. Now, if
you can't get into Yellowstone, if you can't get into
Zion or Canyon Lambs or the giant parks, look closer

(41:18):
to home, what are the state parks that you've probably
you've probably never been to those either, right, because we
never go to the places that are right under the nose,
because you always think one day, one day, one day,
I'll get there, and then we never really bother to
pay attention to the things that we have close by.
So if you can't make that great big place like
the Marquis Headline, look smaller and look to something a

(41:40):
little bit more local. And then if you can't get
somewhere at the height of the summer when everyone else
is traveling, see if you can't go in the off season,
Montana in the wintertime late fall beautiful, really really beautiful.
Oh okay, that's a good tip. I just seem curious.
I am so not good at planning, and plus my
schedules just up all over the place. And yeah, I

(42:02):
mean some people that I talked to you were like, well,
maybe you could look into booking next summer, And I thought,
how in the world am I supposed to think that
far ahead to next summer? Listen, listen, you know what.
I'm totally with you because I'm very much a last
minute planner, so having to adjust schedule this has been
a huge truck for me. And this is what I
do for a living, right, I plan travel all the time.

(42:22):
It's true, it's a different way of thinking about things.
If you want to go on a big trip. For instance,
there's so many great safaris in Africa that are already
sold out for two if you can believe that. So
it is true that people who are able to plan
ahead have the advantage of getting their first choice of
where they want to go and what they want to
do because they have the advantage of being able to

(42:45):
plan ahead. So I'm with you, that's not the way
that I travel. I would say, though, every study shows
that anticipation is one of the best things about a trip.
So if you book your July trip now, it means
you have a whole year to look forward to it
a year and an oh okay, well I didn't know
that about the anticipation, so I guess that is. Yeah,

(43:06):
there's huge psychological benefits to being able to look forward
to a trip. So think about it like that, as
opposed to oh, no, I have to wait so long
you're like, oh, goody, I get to go. Well, I'm
also excited to get out and travel more. I've recently
become obsessed with birds, but mostly in my backyard, and
I've got several different visitors. Some are regulars, and I've

(43:28):
named them because I can tell them apart from the
other ones. Like you would think, yeah, okay, all cardinals
look the same, but they don't. They have very distinct
features at times to where I have one named happy
in one name Scrappy, and they they're so obvious to me,
like every time they visit it's a special moment. I
watched that movie The Bird Year, and it made me

(43:49):
want to like travel and get out and see birds,
like all the different kinds and almost like have like
a chart of all the birds and I get to
check them off and like tally how many different types
of birds I can lay eyes on. Is that anything
that you have tips on at all? So listen, Yes,
But my first question is do you think that the
cardinals think that all humans look the same? No? No,

(44:11):
you think that they can tell the difference. Well, I
mean I hope. So, I just can't ever seem to
get close enough for them to really bond with me.
I'm always through the window and anytime I get too
close they fly away. But I mean, I guess honestly,
I don't know really what birds see. Well, I think
you need to go to the Galapagos at some point,
because if you've ever been there, the most amazing thing
is animals don't fly away. All the animals and the

(44:32):
Galazacos islands, they've never had to be afraid of humans.
There is a limit to how close you can get
to the animals. That is sort of the rule for
traveling around the Galapagos Islands. But you could get as
close to the birds as you wanted to and they
would never flap away. So you should just add that
to your list because that sounds like a very perfect
place for you to go. Oh closer to home. And

(44:54):
in America, we have a whole chapter in the book
called follow Nature's League, and one of the things that
we talked about or where you can go to see
birds and so for instance, the sandhill cranes fly from
Siberia to Mexico along this kind of hour glass shaped
roots that contracts in the middle of Nebraska in the

(45:16):
central Platte River Valley, where up to like more than
half a million of them will gather to fuel up
for the rest of their journey south. Another thing that
you can do this is kind of incredible. The day
of funding in Nova Scotia, which has the highest tides
in the world, is an incredible place that birds like
to go also, and you can go with your checklist

(45:39):
and see so many different kinds of birds close by
in New Brunswick. It's the last thing I tell you
about that I love. There are all of these birds.
They fly from Canada down to South America. Now, plenty
of birds do that, and you know, I grew up
in New Jersey with the Canada geese flying south for
the winter. And that's not crazy. What's crazy? These birds

(46:03):
fly from New Brunswick in Canada and they do not
stomp until they reach South America. But they make one
pit stop at this place in New Brunswick called Mary's Point,
and that's they're kind of pit stop before they go
all the way across the North to South US on
their way to South America. How incredible was that? Oh? No,
that's amazing. I feel like I definitely have some traveling

(46:24):
that I need to do. I feel like I'm not
living enough. I'm not getting out and seeing enough. And
what tips do you have for us when it comes
to traveling, Like how can we be better travelers? In general?
A lot of it is just being prepared. Right. If
there's stuff you always need when you travel, keep it
all in the same place. If you don't have to
go looking for your medicines or your travel toothbrush, or

(46:45):
your suitcase or your travel pillow, it's all in one place.
It's going to make getting ready to go super easy.
The other thing I want to come back to the birds.
What I really like about you thinking about birds when
you're traveling is you're using something you're passionate about to
guide the way that you travel. And think about that.
If there's something that you're really into, is there a
band that you like, is there a hobby that you have,

(47:08):
use that as the inspiration at the starting point for
how to think about your trip and for how to
plan your trip, and then you can figure out, like
where will I like, what's the national park where I
can see the best birds? How much richer is your
trip going to be than just going to a random
beautiful national park if you know, I'm seeing my birds here.

(47:29):
And you can take whatever your passion is. Let's say
you're crazy about hot dogs, or let's say you're crazy
about pizza. Imagine going on a trip throughout North America
looking for the best pizza if you are a pizza fanatic.
Wouldn't that be a great way to travel? Oh yeah, no,
I could get into that. Birds and pizza. Circling back
to kind of what you said at the beginning about

(47:50):
that balance of like making sure you don't return from
vacation needing a vacation, like, is there a percentage rule
of like how much you should have planned out and
sites that you want to see and things, and then
a percentage that you know you're relaxing and or reading
or laying out by the pool or maybe even taking
naps or something like that. Yeah, you know, this is

(48:13):
a really personal thing, so it's not as though you
should say it should be sixty four. Are you doing
stuff versus doing nothing? Right? It really depends on what
kind of traveler you are and what kind of stuff
you like to do. So, for instance, I'm like the
energizer bunny when I'm trying. When I travel, I'm go, go, go, go, go,
go see everything, to everything, and then see a couple
more things so I can get to the end of

(48:34):
the day. And if I've seen a billion things, I
feel energized and charged. My husband at four o'clock every day,
no matter where we are, you like taste out, I'm
going back to the hotel, I'm taking an ass I'll
see you with dinner. Because too much for him by
the end of the day means he's tired and he
hasn't had a good day. If he's had to keep
my pace. So I think the important thing to do

(48:55):
is to figure out, like, what do you like to do,
what's gonna make you feel great when you at home
and like you had a terrific trip, and make that
your percentage. And by the way, it's the people you're
traveling with have different expectations and different travel paces. Let
everybody do what they want to do so that everybody
ends up with a great trip and it's not like

(49:15):
somebody is dragging everybody else. Belong to the thing that
that first person wants to do that not everybody else
thinks is as much fun. It's okay if the people
who are traveling together don't all do the exact same thing.
When you're traveling, especially if you're traveling in a group,
is make sure you don't leave one person to do
all the work. Right. We have a section in the book.

(49:36):
It's a little essay called like how to travel in
a group without being a jerk, And it's basically like
share the burden of the travel planning and of the coordinating,
because then everybody's invested in the trip. One person doesn't
end up being tired because she it's often a girl
I'm sorry, ends up having to do too much of
the work. Right, if everybody participates and if everybody respects

(49:58):
what other people want to do, abody's going to have
a better time. Yeah, now that's definitely a good tip,
good reminder, especially as like I'm thinking of friends that
are headed out on bachelor at weekends and bachelor parties.
A lot of weddings are picking back up and people
are traveling, and I feel like, sometimes, yeah, that burden
if you're traveling with a group of friends, especially there
might be one friend that takes a lot of it on,

(50:19):
or one family member that's taking a lot of that on.
And so I assume with the book being called travel
North America and avoid being a tourist, there's plenty inside
for people to just know how to travel right here
and get the most out of not even having to
leave the country totally. And this is, you know, to
get back to what we were talking about earlier, I
think it's really important that we look at what's super

(50:41):
close by, what's super close to help. Everybody's got that
list of things that they know are close by, but
they've never bothered going to use this as the summer
to explore all of those things, and you know what,
it may not be Paris, but there's no reason why
you can't treat that adorable town that you know is
just an hour away like an adventure. And you may

(51:01):
only go for the day, or you may only go
for a weekend, but treat it like you're going to
some foreign place and explore it in the way that
you would explore Paris, like research what's the best restaurant
in tail, what's the cool museum that I want to see,
what's a great walk that I can take? And you'll
be surprised and probably delighted at the amazing thing that

(51:22):
are super close to home, and you won't have any
jet legs. I love that encouragement so much, So thank
you so much for talking travel with us for a
little bit today. And before you go, though, I gotta know,
is there like one item that you pack on every trip, like,
no matter what, are something that's great for travel that
we all need to know about an open mind and
a sense of curiosity. That is the essential thing to

(51:45):
pack with you wherever you go. Can I mentioned that
my website, fathom away dot com has tons of tips
for all over the world, tons of us Canada, Mexico,
Caribbean stuff and the idea of not feeling like a
tourist when travel is feeling more like a traveler. It's
feeling like I found something, I experienced something, it was

(52:05):
super special, awesome. I love that and I love that. Yeah,
you're reminding people to stay curious. I think that we
need to do that every day, like whether we're traveling
or not. That will make life a little more interesting
for sure. So thank you Pavia for coming on with us.
Oh my god, thank you Amy. It was a pleasure.
Please say hi to the Cardinals for me. Oh I

(52:25):
definitely will

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