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EP 87: Spring Break
1.5k Plays3 months ago
Spring break hits different at every stage of life! This week, we’re reminiscing about the thrill of spring break as kids—the countdown, the packing, the absolute freedom. Then, we hit our 20s, and suddenly… spring break is just another work week. But now, as moms, we get it back—only now, we’re the ones planning, packing, and surviving it.
We chat about our plans for this year, how we envision spring break traditions for our families in the future, and the joy(read: horror) of swimsuit shopping. Are we ready for this? Absolutely not. But here we are.
Hit play for laughs, nostalgia, and all the mom-life spring break vibes!
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Transcript
Spring Break Styles and Memories
00:00:07
Speaker
There's no right way to do it.
00:00:12
Speaker
Oh, we're going to get into it. What up, moms? My name is Candice, and I'm here with my spring break bestie, Whitney Williams, and this is the Mom Group Chat Podcast. It's spring break!
00:00:26
Speaker
Oh, my gosh. If you... now She has goggles on and she just appeared on this view or on this platform with goggles. And i like the way I prepare for this, I put on some self-tanner to like make, you know, have like...
00:00:44
Speaker
tan spring break vibes and she grabbed goggles and that tells you everything you need to know about the two of us said I was like Candace is the one by the pool like looking so glamorous and beautiful tanning and I'm snorkeling in the water with my huge ass goggles on that's us Honestly, i love it so much. And that is why we are best friends.
00:01:08
Speaker
There's, I don't know how anyone's attractive in this. I'm about to take them off because it's hurting me, but well, she said I looked like a frog. You do look like a frog. I'm so sorry.
00:01:20
Speaker
But I do need to say that my husband, you know, is a swimmer. And, like, even in his, like, prime swim days, which he still is killing it. Like, he still can go to a race and win it. It's crazy.
00:01:34
Speaker
But even in his prime swim days, when his body was, like, chiseled to the gods, like, I'm sorry, when he still puts on the goggles, he looks like a fool. ah He looks like a frog. It's an ick. Yeah.
00:01:45
Speaker
I'm sorry. Yeah, it is. I'm like, okay. I gotta take them off. ah give me your Give me your Speedo body without the goggles on, okay? ah God, I feel free.
00:01:58
Speaker
Wow. wow Wow. Wow. That was a little treat. um Guys, we're going to be talking about spring break.
High School Spring Breaks and Parenting Reflections
00:02:06
Speaker
We don't have to jump into it right now, but I just thought. Well, okay. Can you say the word spring break without saying spring break? Do you know that like clip from that spring breakers movie?
00:02:16
Speaker
Spring break. only think of you when I say that. Oh, like when you say that phrase or when you think of spring break?
00:02:28
Speaker
Because I have a video of you waking up.
00:02:35
Speaker
I know this video. I do. I do. I do. This is one of our spring break stories. is a video of Candice. I still have it. i think we should actually clip it for the video because I still should.
00:02:46
Speaker
And also Candace's hair is like down to her waist in this video. She um had gone out the night before, think without us, like you were out and you had all ah come back home. It was like 2 a.m. m Whatever. We had to be up at five for our trek to Disney World that day, which we talked about our little Disney rendezvous that we went on.
00:03:07
Speaker
And she wakes up hammered. And I'm videoing her and I'm like, we're going to Disney World. That's what you say. You go, Disney World. Yeah.
00:03:18
Speaker
But it reminds me of Spring Break. Oh, wow. Spring break is such a fond like piece of my memory from college and honestly, even high school. like I don't know what you guys did for spring break in high school, but for us, it was like filled with like beach and like we would... yeah you know I feel like... I mean, I definitely did not have a beach house, but i mean a lot of my friends did So I feel like we spent a lot of time at like friends' beach houses and it was just like...
00:03:49
Speaker
Spring break is so fun and it's such like a welcomed break from like, you know, it just falls at the perfect time when you need a break after. You have an itch. Like, yeah.
00:04:02
Speaker
And it's funny, like I'm feeling that itch now. Like Vinny and I are scrolling through vacation things. We're like, where should we go? What should we do? And I'm like, wow, spring break really is that bitch, honestly.
00:04:16
Speaker
It's funny. We were having this discussion in my due date group of would you let your child go alone on spring break? How old are they?
00:04:27
Speaker
Well, said in college, obviously. And then in high school, like I'm coming too. Right? Right. Right. Okay. You're not going on spring break without me.
00:04:38
Speaker
No, like you're 16, 17, 18, right? Like, no. I mean, I definitely went on some spring breaks without my parents in high school. high school? Yeah, like with another family. so Yeah, yeah.
00:04:53
Speaker
I went to the Bahamas, though, on one spring break in high school with my friend Julianne and her family. I did that with Hannah. I don't think it was spring break. It was like a summer thing. And I went with them to Atlantis.
00:05:07
Speaker
Yeah. So that's where we went. We went to Atlantis. It was amazing. Thinking back on that, I'm like, yeah, we, um, anytime, anytime on spring break, I was literally telling my friends that this story I must have been a freshman.
00:05:27
Speaker
Must have. because i did Like a freshman in high school? Uh-huh. and I didn't have a car. And we met all these UGA students like in college. And they were like, come out on the beach tonight or whatever behind the hotel. And so and you were a freshman in in high school?
00:05:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think I was 15. And it was like me. Did know that? No, we lied. We said we were seniors. But some of the friends we were with were juniors. Like I was with Morgan and Kelly. And then there was also an eighth grader with us, but who went out there and when we were like drinking and I was literally telling the story because they were like, so what kind of car do you drive? And I was like, Oh,
00:06:08
Speaker
i don't have a car I don't know cars and I go a jeep it's just like I mean solid answer honestly jeep what color blue I don't know I don't know so I mean I told them I was like man i was just getting if anyone had alcohol and offered it to me I was like yeah Absolutely. Like, yeah, give it to me.
00:06:30
Speaker
Like I took it any chance I could. And my parents or my mom was there. We were there with another ah mom. So my mom was there and she to this day, like I think she told me that they had binoculars watching us and they just let us do it because it was like.
00:06:46
Speaker
You know, childhood. Enjoy. I was going to say, being a teenager. And I really do think I will be that
Future Family Spring Breaks and Staycations
00:06:53
Speaker
way with my girls. I'm not going to be some crazy, like, helicopter mom. Because, listen, I feel like it's important for kids and teenagers to, like, explore and have those, like, moments. I mean, obviously, I'm not going to, like, let them run wild and get away with murder. But...
00:07:13
Speaker
but I mean, come on How many times have I drank on a beach with rando guys? A bajillion. Yeah. you know And so it was just like now like looking back now that I am a mom, like that was cool of them to like let us have that moment.
00:07:28
Speaker
And yeah, I just started my love for drinking on a beach, I guess. I don't know. ah Well, I feel like. spring break was like the foundation of like our college years. Like we spent almost, we've talked about this before on this show, but like when I think of spring break, even now, like when I think about spring break, I think about you.
00:07:51
Speaker
Yeah. our Our little friend group that we went with for sure. Yeah. But I think about future spring breaks. And as our kids get older, I'm like, We need to be with Whitney, obviously, because if my kids are getting a spring break, I'm getting a a spring break. Yeah.
00:08:08
Speaker
And the truth is, our kids are the same ages. So like. Perfect. Perfect. Yeah. It's funny. I'm just saying. I'm just putting it out there. We just know we vacation well together, especially like that whole yeah group. And it's like when you think of vacation, you just automatically go revert back to like, okay, we do well together. Like we are on the same page. We're there to have a good time.
00:08:29
Speaker
um The expectations are what they are. We know what each other likes. We like to go out to dinner. We want a babysitter. Like it's all. That's true. We travel really well together. Like you, me, Whitney. of cute You are Whitney. Yeah.
00:08:44
Speaker
You, me, Vinny, and Chris, we travel well together. And I think Graydon and Alice get along really well. Yep. Evie and Margo, they have it like Evie was so young.
00:08:54
Speaker
They'll be great. They'll be fine. And they'll love each other. And so it's going to be a magical experience. I just hope our kids' spring breaks line up. when Mine is like this week.
00:09:08
Speaker
Okay. So Alice's is next week. Sure. Well, we got a lot of time. Okay. We got a lot You're right, you're you're right, you're right, you're right. It might change. But I just thought was interesting. Like, some people, like, do a staycation. have lots of friends that did that in high school, too But that was never my mom's.
00:09:28
Speaker
I feel like that's what's most common here in Florida because we do live at the beach. Like, I think a... staycation type thing is more common. Like people will get a beach rental, like, you know, 30 minutes from their house or, or even like, I know a lot of families that don't necessarily go anywhere.
00:09:46
Speaker
Like if they have a pool and stuff, they just like take the week off of work and like, yeah, ah make it a vacation at their house. Um, but I'm, I mean, I'm down for either. I'm down to travel. I'm down to have a staycation here in Florida.
00:10:03
Speaker
I will stay. and you know, you know, from coming down here this time of year during spring break in college, but like the weather here right now is chef's kiss.
00:10:15
Speaker
It is like low seventies, mid seventies, sometimes eighties, but not like crazy humid yet. So it's like, it's truly the perfect weather. Like it's so good.
00:10:30
Speaker
I know. And then like growing up, we always went to Destin and we always had to, we always drove, which makes sense. But now like there's so many flight options and it's like $96 from Nashville to like the Panama City airport or whatever. And it's like so cheap now. But back then you drove and it was like an eight hour drive. And you my mom and I saved $10.
00:10:55
Speaker
loose change for a whole year like from my dad's pockets and we saved it from the laundry and bought a little tv to hook up in the car so that i would have a tv in the back wait like a dvd player because you're not going to get cable right yeah it was like um okay well actually i mean growing up it was like ucr yeah and then yeah and then like you know when you got older it was like it just was so rapid i remember having like a tiny dvd player but then You got a computer and you could do that. But like, yeah, those are really fond memories of us like saving up to get me that TV. So I was entertained in the car. Like, who knows what the hell I watch. It's so crazy to hear that now that we have like iPads and so much stuff. so And then also to think about as a mom being like, wow, if i had six hours in an uninterrupted car, like the way I would sleep and have the chillest time just scrolling through TikTok and like,
00:11:53
Speaker
Honestly, a six-hour drive without kids sounds like a dream. Yeah, people, ah when
Road Trips with Kids and Parenting Challenges
00:12:00
Speaker
we did our little... then i can stop at gas stations and get the snacks I want.
00:12:05
Speaker
What snacks you getting? Sign me up. Oh, I get the same thing every time, pretty much. It is ah the, well, I guess one of two things.
00:12:18
Speaker
It's always Fritos, but it's like the honey barbecue Fritos or the chili cheese Fritos. Oh, those are good. They're so good. And a Dr. Pepper. Wow.
00:12:29
Speaker
I get the Gardettos.
00:12:33
Speaker
They're like Chex Mix. like Yeah, they they're like Chex Mix, but they have the brown rye chip. Okay. Sometimes I'll also get a candy like peanut M&Ms. That's my go-to. I love a peanut M&M.
00:12:47
Speaker
So good. Growing up, that's like the candy of my past. growing up that's the candy of my present my future ah and my future growing up at my my dad's mom's house on my grandma um who are still kicking um they have a log cabin on their property and she always kept ah a bowl of peanut m&ms in the log cabin i trot on out there and i'd and they just tasted like I was in England. I don't know. Something about that log cabin is all like, i don't know, smoky from the fireplace. I'm in England. I'm eating my peanut M&M's.
00:13:28
Speaker
Oh, wow. That's a totally different experience than I have have had with peanut M&M's. You're like, I love them at the gas station. No, literally. i love a peanut M&M for real. They're my favorite candy probably.
00:13:43
Speaker
I'm man. So good. But yeah. Wow. A drive. Sounds amazing. I will say driving with kids though. Totally different experience. Although have to say, so we did last June.
00:13:59
Speaker
i don't know if you remember me talking about this or last July, but we did a drive to Pensacola. So it was eight plus hours with both girls. And it wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be.
00:14:09
Speaker
To be honest, it was like, they had a good time we did have an ipad for alice and she loved it i will say she's just not a sleeper in the car that was tough like she was just like brayden didn't either are in breckenridge like used to he's like no he just doesn't like she just doesn't like to sleep in the car so she would stay like we didn't get in till like 11 p.m and she stayed up until like 11 p.m um um evie's chill always so evie's good she would just we just needed to stop and give her like a bottle and stuff here and there because she was still so little then oh my god you're almost done with the bottle well she's on whole milk yeah i don't do formula anymore at all i just we do well it's still a bottle it's just whole milk
00:15:00
Speaker
Oh, I feel like I nixed it. I was like, I'm not doing this anymore. Well, your kids didn't like whole milk, really. Margo kind of likes it. Oh, really? Mm-hmm. She does it out of like a sippy cup.
00:15:12
Speaker
Alice got a bottle and only one a day two a day, but she got a bottle until she was almost two, but it was like whole milk. Evie's right now has three bottles of whole milk a day. Isn't it just like I love you, Brezza. Thank you for all your help. Oh my God. It's also so annoying. I had to buy a milk warmer because she wouldn't drink it cold.
00:15:36
Speaker
And so I bought a, I actually bought, I didn't go with the Dr. Brown's warmer. I got the mom cozy warmer. I did a lot of research. Honestly, it's legit. I really like it.
00:15:49
Speaker
um And I got that And I'm already sick of warming bottles like the the ease of the Brezza to just press one button and it comes out perfectly warm and mixed and all of that. Like it saves so much time. Now I have to make sure if she's crying in the morning, I'm up and I'm putting the bottle in the warmer. It's like annoying.
00:16:10
Speaker
See, you took it a step further than I did when they just didn't drink it cold. I thought they don't want it. They don't like milk. And I just never pushed it. And then, you know, then we switched to yogurt packets, which take all my money. Okay.
00:16:24
Speaker
My God. So, so to be fair, when they didn't take it cold, I, so I tried the yogurt pouch in the morning. I was like, do you want this? And My girls are very picky about yogurt. Sometimes they like it. Sometimes they don't.
00:16:39
Speaker
They never like suck it down like other kids do. i I don't know. and I hate yogurt. Can I just say that? I don't want it. Get it away from me.
00:16:49
Speaker
My kids and Chris yogurt fiends. They're freaks. I don't understand. I like yogurt. I don't love yogurt. To me, yogurt is a health food.
00:17:01
Speaker
And I only eat it if I'm like really trying to get protein in and have like be healthy.
00:17:11
Speaker
I don't know. I just never liked it. But then I like cottage cheese. is i mean, that's like a a weird.
00:17:20
Speaker
See, I hate cottage cheese. are and You are such an interesting person. There's so many things that I feel like you shouldn't like that you like.
00:17:34
Speaker
a I'm going to always keep you guessing. I always think about you and Vienna sausages. e And I'm like, that is something that you should hate.
00:17:45
Speaker
But you love them. Well, I just like meet
00:17:50
Speaker
you Like canned meat and juice. I don't care. Processed meat. It's like a little hot dog. God, if anyone else likes Vienna sausages, i mean, they're freaking good. I'm sorry.
00:18:07
Speaker
Candace, no. Have you ever tried it, though? Yeah, when I was a kid. And you to be honest, I think at some point I did like them. And then I thought about them and then I don't like them anymore. You can't think about it. can't think about it.
00:18:21
Speaker
i um I'm going to make it for you. Make it? What do you mean you mean make it? There's nothing to make. You just eat them out of the thing, right? No, no, no, no. no This is a delicacy over here. So ah you get them out.
00:18:35
Speaker
You drain it. I'm sorry. That's nasty. I know. You drain the can. Then you put them in a bowl and you pour vinegar and you sprinkle um like red pepper, whatever it is, paprika on it. And then you get a saltine and then you put it on the saltine cracker.
00:18:55
Speaker
It is so good. okay It's giving like poor man's oyster or something. That's like what it's giving.
00:19:05
Speaker
Oh my god. What if instead of oyster bars there was like Vienna saage via a sausage bars? i'm going to open it. I'm going to open it and they're going to be on the beach. The poor man's oyster bar.
00:19:18
Speaker
Poor man's oyster bar. Okay. um All right.
Home Ownership Challenges
00:19:22
Speaker
I mean, I'll try anything once. Honestly, i will give it a try. And I eat tuna. I love tuna. Dude. And tuna's like... Yeah. Let's make the end of sausage hot again, you know? Like, I'm about to make it glow up.
00:19:35
Speaker
It's so good. someone were to tell me, like, what is one goal that your podcast had For this year, like make Vienna sausages hot again, like wouldn't be on that list.
00:19:49
Speaker
It's top five for me. Just decided. Making Groundhog Ian's stick and Vienna sausages hot. Oh my God. I don't need more followers, listeners, just those two goals for me and I'm good.
00:20:06
Speaker
Oh my God. Oh, wow. What a time. i didn't mean to like get so directly into spring break. I wanted to say i wanted to start this episode by saying that there is so much going on at my house. And so if there you hear noises in the background, it's been pretty good so far.
00:20:23
Speaker
But we've got so you need to give a frickin update on your house. Oh, it's ah it's like a disheartening update, though. and i I feel like it makes us seem stupid, but it's not like it's no one's fault. You're not stupid.
00:20:38
Speaker
I know. I just have like ick about it. I have to say you have people working on your house. and I mean, I'm fine to give a full update. Just know that we did all the due diligence before we bought this house and this still happened to us.
00:20:52
Speaker
And I'm not like, woe is me about it. We're just fixing it and moving on. Like I can't spend any more emotional energy on house issues after the past to six months. But we moved into this house about three days into us moving here. We had, we came across a plumbing issue.
00:21:09
Speaker
The master ah shower would not drain um and the toilet would not flush. And so we had one plumber come out here and snake the lines and um it cleared it for another like two or three days. Yeah.
00:21:29
Speaker
And then it happened again. it started backing up and clogging. There was also no washer and dryer when we moved into this house. Like, there wasn't one installed. So the inspector couldn't test that when he was here.
00:21:41
Speaker
And so we had our washer and dryer, you know, delivered and installed. And the the washer, when it would drain water, would overflow immediately. Like, I... what I tried to explain that to people in the way that like I don't even think it would get to the end of the pipe at the bottom of the floor. Like it would be like it would drain and go womb and just overflow immediately. the top of it opened up or?
00:22:06
Speaker
No, like, okay, you know how in the back of the washer there's that drain tube that drains the water? So that that water drain is in the wall. yeah And so you would hear it, like, you know, start to drain like a washer does and immediately water would start to come out of the hole from the wall.
00:22:22
Speaker
Oh. Yeah. And so Anyways, we ended up having another plumber come out here. We needed to camera the lines.
00:22:33
Speaker
We learned doing that that the outside of our house, like all of the plumbing on the actual inside of the home is newish. But all the plumbing from like directly outside of our walls is old cast iron pipes.
00:22:50
Speaker
And they were so calcified and clogged in the center of them that it literally broke the plumber's camera when he tried to camera it. Yeah. Like completely old, calcified.
00:23:03
Speaker
And it sucks because the sellers of this house probably knew about it. And they didn't disclose it. But we had two full inspections on this house, including the plumbing. And they all came back normal because technically inside of this house, the plumbing is new. It's the outside to the sewer lines.
00:23:21
Speaker
And the inspector cannot mimic everyday use of the plumbing. So we were literally just in here for a week and it's already like affecting it. That so wild because they ran our water for an hour here.
00:23:34
Speaker
When they did our. Yeah. Well, we talked to our realtor today and her husband's in construction and he was like, you need to sue the inspector. He said, and I said, let's, let's get it everything for an hour. Literally. Or he, or she was like, at least scare him and say, you're going to, because they should have tested the water longer. They should have, there there are things that they should have done to go a step further, to look for these cast iron pipes and Because if we had caught it before and brought it to the cellars, they probably would have fixed them and taken care of us. Anyways, we have a full plumbing team here. They are ripping up our entire front yard. We're having to replace 80 feet of plumbing outside of our house.
00:24:16
Speaker
It's very expensive and it's been a little bit of a blow to us. But at this point, like I said, I'm still just happy to be in our own house. I'm not going to be like a pity party. What was me about it? We're getting it fixed and that's just is what it is.
00:24:30
Speaker
Yeah. Start anew. I am. And now it'll be fixed forever and we shouldn't have to like worry about it any longer, but dear God, it's been a little, it's been very annoying.
00:24:41
Speaker
So I haven't had laundry here for the whole month we've been here, which has been hard. going to lie. And then we've been just having laundry picked up and washed and folded and dropped back off, which honestly is a dream.
00:24:55
Speaker
Like I want to keep it that way, but it would be too expensive.
Balancing Parenting and Personal Time
00:24:59
Speaker
um So yeah, that's the update. That's why we have so many things happening at this house. So if you hear like drilling or crazy noises, it's been okay so far.
00:25:11
Speaker
But yeah, the occasional pop in from Vinny's been fun. Like, what up? Yeah. What up, brother? Well, it's it's kind of fun to have him home. You know, he's not home, yeah obviously, normally on the day. So it's kind of fun to be like, oh, you're here.
00:25:24
Speaker
Whenever Chris has like um where he works, like the four days and then he's off one day. i'm like, what are we doing? What are we going to do? And then he's like, I'm going to run errands. I'm like, what? You don't want to sit here and just watch me work or something?
00:25:38
Speaker
You don't want to hang out? yeah I'm like, what are you doing? And ah yeah, he's already like today. He's gone. Bye. Oh, is he off today? oh Wow. But he's not here. He probably won't be here.
00:25:54
Speaker
and um But yeah, I feel like I had something else to say.
00:26:01
Speaker
it's escaped me. I don't know. I don't remember. um Okay. Back to spring break. Yeah. I'm pulling up back to spring break quickly.
00:26:14
Speaker
i don't know about you, but I feel like I kind of forgot about spring break in between like the 20s, like when you're – because you don't get spring break when you're like – That's true.
00:26:26
Speaker
In the career life. and It's a thing. and it wasn't until I was looking at Alice's school calendar yesterday or two days ago where I was like, oh, wow, she doesn't have school next week. It's spring break.
00:26:39
Speaker
And then that same day i was – picking her up from school and the moms in front of me were like are you doing anything for spring break they were like talk chatting and they're like yeah we're going to Anna Maria or like whatever and I was like oh wow okay this is something I need to like think of next year bookmark in my brain to be like okay we need to like plan ahead for spring break and look at when her spring break is and make some plans and Because I forgot about it.
00:27:06
Speaker
i mean, that's going to be us because here for Chris. It's like when everyone requests off and they can't all take off at the same time. It's like the number one week that in Christmas. And it's like really weird. You can't request the same week as the year before. Like you got to like alternate to give other people chances. So like this year he requested off like the whole week of Christmas, which he's never done.
00:27:32
Speaker
you know, he missed Christmas morning this past year because he had worked night shift or something. So he kind of, that kind of sucked, but it's like, okay, this year they're older. They're four and two, like, you gotta be there, you know, like these are the special years yeah for sure.
00:27:47
Speaker
But I mean, every year that spring, the spring break is always taken. so I'm like, okay, we get need to remember this for when he's in kindergarten because yeah we go on somewhere.
00:27:58
Speaker
And like, truthfully, my dad never went on spring break with us. Like it was always me and my mom. And then like friends or a group yeah that we would go with in high school. And, um,
00:28:11
Speaker
Yeah, I'm like, I'm sorry, Chris, I will leave you and go with just the kids. You will be left behind. and you know what? You can't. I mean, that's how it was for me. Like, I'm not scared to do it. Like, that's how I grew up doing it And I'm like, well, I know my mom would likely come with me, too. So, OK, I feel like Chris would have FOMO.
00:28:31
Speaker
No, he would he would absolutely be pissed. He would be upset. and He would be really upset. Yeah, he'd be like, you're not a you're not going without me. And i'd be like, yes, I am.
00:28:43
Speaker
Actually, this is kind of in this topic, but so we – do you remember at our old house, I had those three calendars on the fridge? Yeah. And that's how I like keep track of everything. well We added three calendars to the wall here in our kitchen so that I can like, you know, be my little organized self.
00:29:01
Speaker
And I started to put all of the weekends I have coming up because I have a lot coming up.
Spring Break Shopping and Swimsuit Challenges
00:29:06
Speaker
I have Hannah's bachelorette party. I have um my friend Keller's birthday, whatever. Yeah. Vinny is such a like checks and balances guy when it comes to like friend time or like weekends away.
00:29:18
Speaker
he like looked at the calendar and he was like genuinely pissed. He was like, wait, you have like three friend weekends coming up. And I was like, yeah, sorry. and he's like, man, I got to plan something. Like I'm going to text him and Zach and see if I'm like, okay, like, come on.
00:29:35
Speaker
You got to check some balances here of like how many, how much time I get away, which like I get to an extent, but I'm also like, cool. and You're like, it's not my fault. Like it's a bachelorette.
00:29:48
Speaker
Yeah. Sorry. not my fault. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. I feel you on that. um I think one thing that we wanted to talk about with spring break is the shopping of it all. Yeah.
00:30:05
Speaker
Number one being like, okay, what are we wearing? Okay, anything from the Nat Note? um No, literally, I bought two things yesterday. Oh, you i bought the i I ended up just going with the um Farm Rio set. Uh-huh.
00:30:22
Speaker
Yeah. I just can picture myself wearing that lot. You're going to walking in your neighborhood and going to like backyard barbecues and that thing. Yeah. All summer. Yeah. Play date. And it it wasn't like crazy expensive. Like it's something I would find in a boutique and like spend but that money on.
00:30:40
Speaker
Also my very favorite boutique out of Pittsburgh, which is so fricking random, but they're like my favorite place to shop. um That's me. Mount Pleasant. Frickin. Yeah.
00:30:51
Speaker
I got a, I'm on their text, you know, notifications and it says they're having a friends and family sale and the whole store is 25% off. And I was like, say less, honestly. ah um But yeah, I actually have a lot of shopping to do because obviously with the flood, like I lost a lot of my clothes specifically Like anything that was down, like a lot of my lighter springier stuff was down on the drawers, like in the bottom of my dresser.
00:31:28
Speaker
And if anything was like, like the things I'm thinking of that, like I had all these really cute, like beach coverups that were like knitted. That stuff is really hard to wash floodwater out of. Like it was,
00:31:41
Speaker
You know what I mean? um Anything that was like cotton or whatever, like that's fine. That's easy to wash and try to disinfect and all of that. But to be honest, I threw away a lot of stuff that was like soaked in disgusting sewer floodwater.
00:31:56
Speaker
So I lost all of my swimsuits. Which is wild because as a Florida girl, you probably had ah hundred. I was going to say, i easily, easily had 25 swimsuits.
00:32:10
Speaker
Like, yeah so to be down, I now have one that I purchased before we went to that wedding in Sarasota in November. That's my only swimsuit. So I have some serious swimsuit shopping and it's funny, like my phone has been listening to me because I said this to someone else and now I'm getting like constant swimsuit ads.
00:32:30
Speaker
Um, so Yeah, I will have to see. That's a journey. You know, trying on swimsuits is like not exactly the most fun thing. It's I've never liked it. Even when I was felt like my best, I've never liked it. But my swimsuit game has hella changed brah.
00:32:48
Speaker
Like I be wearing one pieces now. Yeah. Oh, well, I love one pieces. Okay. Here's, I was thinking when we were talking about recording this episode of like my swim, my perfect swimsuit criteria.
00:33:00
Speaker
So I'm going to say it on this pod in hopes that someone will send me a brand that is like, you need to try this. Okay. First things first, I want it to be thick. Okay. I want it to be structured and like, I don't like my problem with like Amazon swim and all that stuff is you get that stuff. And it is like,
00:33:20
Speaker
underwear material it's like that silky underwear it has no structure to it I want it to be thick and hold me in it's got to suck me in when I put it on I want it to to lay flat but it needs to like have some suction to it yeah okay So the second thing is the girls.
00:33:41
Speaker
Okay. I am orangutan, saddy, saggy titties, McGee these days. Okay. So it's got to have some lift. It doesn't necessarily have to have an underwire, but it has to, again, have that structure that can hold up the, the biddies, you know, um,
00:33:58
Speaker
um Adjustable straps is very important to me. Typically, I need a bigger band because my boobs are bigger. And usually if these are not adjustable, like the straps over my shoulders, they're way too big. And then I look saggy. I have to be able to adjust those. Yeah.
00:34:14
Speaker
And then the back coverage. Okay. I love all these brands that have like basically thong bathing suits. These days, your girl cannot do that as a mom of two. I cannot be chasing around my children at the yacht club pool with a thong on.
00:34:30
Speaker
Okay. So i needed to have moderate. I don't want it to be diaper coverage, you know, where it's like full butt, but I need moderate coverage to where I still get a tiny bit of cheek to where it's like flattering, but I needed to stay put, AKA the structure I was talking about.
00:34:50
Speaker
And I need it to not like ride up my punani as I'm chasing around my, my kids. Yes, I agree. um You got to have some side butt instead of side boob.
00:35:01
Speaker
It's some side butt. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, that's everything I want to. i feel like those are like the mom standards of swimsuits. Like that's the gold standard of mom swimsuit.
00:35:14
Speaker
My favorite one that I have is the Somersault brand where um you can tie it across. It kind of gives you a waist. Yeah. i have I had that one.
00:35:26
Speaker
The problem for me is the support in that is not great on me. It's like it's giving stack. It's low cut. That's what it is. It's like low cut. i find, yeah, I don't know.
00:35:38
Speaker
i i have to be honest. I am not a Somersault fan. I ordered three swimsuits from there last year. of them did it for me. I had a size up pretty high.
00:35:50
Speaker
yeah Yeah, they are. I've actually found the sizing of them to be weird. Like I did. I had the standard, the like most famous side oneho one one. That one ran small.
00:36:01
Speaker
And then I felt like the tie one to the side ran a little big to where I wish I had gotten a smaller size to support the girls. a So I don't know. I felt like I was a little bit all over the place. I think here are some brands I want to explore that I've been looking at online.
00:36:16
Speaker
I want to explore ah that T3 brand. Have you seen those? No. They have the... It's like a shapewear swimsuit. Oh, where you tie it.
00:36:27
Speaker
Yeah, I've seen that on TikTok. Yes. um And then... I honestly want to give Aerie another try. i liked their swimsuits at one point, but I feel like i they were um they got stretched out over like three or four years, which is fine. If you're wearing them all the time, that's like standard.
00:36:47
Speaker
But I need to give them another try. But honestly, I'm open. Let me know. Tell me a brand. i like I would love to wear a two-piece again, but my stomach has so many stretch marks from Margo, and they go kind of high.
00:37:03
Speaker
So that's unfortunate for me. But I always... like My favorite was like a high-waisted bottom. That's um me too. But... I don't know if there's one high enough anymore.
00:37:14
Speaker
Like that would always cut off right below my belly button and I need it above now. Oh, I feel like most of mine, you might have a longer torso than me maybe, but i like i feel like most of my high waisted come right above my belly button. And of course still some stretch marks like peak out the top, but it's not like bad.
00:37:36
Speaker
I need to try on like that one that we both have that brand where... It's like Santorini vibes, you know?
00:37:45
Speaker
well, yeah. That's like too small on me now. Well, I loved that bathing suit, whatever brand it was. Yeah, me too. It was We Were What. Yeah. yeah So I'm like, oh, I miss being able to wear that. I loved it.
00:37:59
Speaker
So that, though, when we purchased those, day that was still when she was like collaborating with Anya, O-N-I-A, and And they still make swimsuits. And I feel like I actually want to look through Ania's site. They're a little pricier, but I feel like for a good quality swimsuit, it's worth it.
00:38:17
Speaker
Well, yeah. And it for for it to be like my favorite one that I ever owned, I'm like, yeah, it's worth it. I just need to see like where it would fall on me now and decide. I think that's also something that's so hard. It's like bathing suits are not something that's like easy to try on.
00:38:35
Speaker
No. It's like even when I'm trying them on in store, I'm like, I don't know. And then it's like, am I wearing my underwear underneath it while I try You know? And then it's like if I'm ordering them online and then I'm trying them on here and then I have to ship them back because I'm going to have to order a shit ton and spend a bunch of money just to have one that works, you know?
00:38:57
Speaker
Yeah. It's hard. and Yeah. It's hard. I don't know. I'm going to have to get a few new ones, I think, and just deal with it. Because right now I'm rocking the one-piece train.
Vacation Traditions and Sun Safety
00:39:09
Speaker
And I never, ever, ever wore that until i had kids. So... It's fine. I definitely wore one piece before. I love a high leg vintage style. Yeah, that's cute.
00:39:22
Speaker
One piece. That's always been flattering on me with the, but I mean, ah feel like, I don't know. Do you follow some influencer moms that still look insane in a bikini and you're like, what the fuck?
00:39:42
Speaker
Maybe like Kara Lauren. Yeah. Oh, well, I don't follow her anymore, but, um, Oh, interesting. Did you like have a ah moment that you were like, I'm out?
00:39:53
Speaker
I don't know why. just I can't remember why. i don't, I feel like her style is really different from mine. I really think she is so cute. And like her kids are fricking cute and like their family's beautiful. It's just like, we don't have the same style. Okay.
00:40:11
Speaker
Okay.
00:40:14
Speaker
That's fair. She leans boho, I think. Yeah, she definitely does lean boho. Hi. oh my God. You scared the shit out of me. Say Hi.
00:40:29
Speaker
He like snuck in. I didn't even hear. i mean, these headphones are noise canceling, but dear God, I didn't even hear him. He was like behind your back and going like this.
00:40:41
Speaker
That's funny. What were we talking about? Carol Lauren. Oh, yeah yeah. She definitely leans boho. But she's one of those people that, like, she's had four kids and she's in a bathing suit. And I'm like, da fuck. Literally. She's ripped.
00:40:53
Speaker
But, like, yeah I actually... Her video of her finding out ah she was having a girl, like... Liv's rent free in my head. Oh my God. Me too Me too. I can, I can hear her scream in my head. crying Yeah. It was just like the sweetest video I've ever seen. And I, I like still think about it. Like she was so happy. i love that. Yeah.
00:41:16
Speaker
Oh, it's that as sweet. Yeah, that is a good one. Yeah, she looks good. oh Yeah. um I'm trying to think. There's some other people. But again, it's like I'm not dogging on them. I'm just jealous, honestly.
00:41:30
Speaker
But like they probably i mean, Kara works out Yeah. I was going to say Yeah. Yeah. she be um lifting you know like she looks so insane like is that gonna be me this summer maybe maybe i need to get in the gym that's for sure if that's the case need to go on a freaking walk and lift some weights bro why don't you sing bro i on spring break one and god i don't know if we um
00:42:02
Speaker
ever what do we want to talk about it was like oh um I was gonna say like growing up and I've done this a few times when we go on trips is I like to make little baskets for the kids when we go on trips and so like I remember our first little beach trip with Graydon I got him a beach book and some sand toys and stuff and I just like want to continue that tradition down the road with kids because like getting a new coloring book a fresh coloring book for a road trip or a flight like I couldn't think of anything better plus like little toys oh my god and so I want to continue that tradition and we're going to Key West in a few weeks and so the amount of clothes I've bought for these children fashion show every day freaking fashion shop um so I got to get them little coloring books and stuff and
00:42:54
Speaker
I'm excited to do all that. I think it's cute and fun. Yeah. Well, that's pastels. I know we didn't plan on talking about this in this episode, but I feel like it kind of goes. So I'm going let, can we talk about Easter baskets really quick? Oh yeah. Yeah.
00:43:09
Speaker
That's my favorite thing to So in my brain, like Easter and spring break, like growing up, especially like they are kind of similar. In fact, most of the time Easter would start spring break. I went to Catholic school. So it would be like we would have Good Friday off and that was the first. And then the spring break would be the week after Good Friday and like Easter. Yeah.
00:43:31
Speaker
And like into the next week. And so what was like, if you were to ask me the one thing that was always in my Easter basket, my entire childhood, it was a new swimsuit always and like pool toys or some sort of like spring break sunscreen yeah or like as I got older and into like beauty things, my mom would have like a bright orange nail polish and like stuff like that. That was like very spring break theme.
00:44:00
Speaker
And I love that. And I plan, I was just thinking about Easter baskets recently because to be honest, I've been not very like into those the past two years. I just have been like, just don't have time.
00:44:13
Speaker
They're young, but as they're getting older and I can see how they like, especially Alice, she's very into girly things and like, She's into clothes. She likes picking out her outfits and all that.
00:44:25
Speaker
So I'm like, oh, I'm excited to like get them ah cute swimsuit for their Easter basket. And like that will kind of take them into spring break. And it's just so like it's fun to do the things that I loved to do or like like I loved getting that as a kid. And now I get to like do that and for my girls. It's fun.
00:44:45
Speaker
I think that's maybe what I'm associating it with. Like it was a, ah guess, spring break Easter basket combination. Like I always got some white fluffy bunny stuff animal. And then it was like the coloring books, the the things for the beach. So remember one year...
00:45:01
Speaker
I got an Angelica doll and you could curl her hair and I would curl it up in the little rollers and I left it all week because I wanted, I was like, Ooh, her hair is going look real good by the end of the week. And I uncurled it and they were little spiral curls and I loved it.
00:45:16
Speaker
Loved it.
00:45:19
Speaker
Oh my gosh. That's cute. Shout out. I thought, I thought, I,
00:45:27
Speaker
I thought for sure you were going to say that you took it out and it was like, wah, wah. Oh, no. That shit with that salt air flowing through. Bitch had some good hair.
00:45:38
Speaker
Oh, my God. That's so funny. um I was also thinking about... something that like how we used to prep for spring break in college.
00:45:50
Speaker
And of course, you know, the thing that came to my mind. Oh, not. Oh, I was like, oh, tanning the tanning bed. Yes. And let me tell you guys, this is one of my most shameful things. When I think back on what I used to do, in fact, yeah I know if you like, but looking back now, i'm like, i like I'm in. That's one thing. I will never let my girls go into a tanning bed.
00:46:20
Speaker
You oh a to get your base tan so you wouldn't get burnt on spring break. It's just facts. I wish I could see. Protecting yourself. I wish I could see ah picture of what I would look like if I had never laid in a tanning bed.
00:46:35
Speaker
I'd probably look 10 years younger. No, you have great skin.
00:46:41
Speaker
Yeah, but I also like, okay, I also need to show y'all. I saw this picture. It came up on. Oh, my God. Sorry. I just opened my Facebook and 14 years ago, we were on the way to spring break.
00:46:56
Speaker
And look at this truck with the Mardi Gras. We had passed this truck on the highway. Oh, yeah. Wow. um Also, in my memories yesterday, we were clearly on, like, leaving for spring break, or we had just gotten there, and you had put on there a screenshot of the weather in Sarasota for the week, you know, like, from your weather app, and the caption was, my life be like, ooh, Yeah.
00:47:24
Speaker
It's times like things that'll make you say. Yeah, I love that song. Oh my God. Okay. Anyways, what I was going to say was there's a picture of me from prom of senior year.
00:47:38
Speaker
Or no, sorry. Christmas formal senior year You guys, first of all, my hair is jet black and I look like a Jersey Shore queen. Okay. I am so like, it's, it's actually sickening tan. Like I look,
00:47:54
Speaker
mentally unwell. I was brown. I was almost black. Okay. Like, and I, it's all from laying in a tanning bed. like, what the fuck was my mom letting me do? Like, I just don't think we knew, you know? Um, man, but I know now that's for sure.
00:48:12
Speaker
I've never looked better than I do with a tan. And that base tan got me to spring break. And then I would get a little crisp and I just felt gorgeous.
00:48:25
Speaker
Yeah, it does change. i just feel like the self tanning products are so good these days. Like I can get the same. And I just also when I'm out at the beach now, like I'm not sitting in the sun like I used to. My grandfather literally died of melanoma. Like it's in my jeans.
00:48:41
Speaker
I'm I will not be laying in the sun. I wear sunscreen every day of my life now. And I've changed. Wow. I've come so far, honestly. But I that's one thing i think when people ask like, oh, what's your number one skin thing? I'm like, wear sunscreen every day. Truly. it will keep you from aging.
00:49:03
Speaker
I um specifically remember getting a hella bad sunburn with Rachel Massey. um We fell asleep. We were sharing headphones and a CD player on the beach, and we both passed out listening listening to the album Puddles of Mud and um passed out, and we both woke up, and she...
00:49:29
Speaker
You know, she's a little lighter skin tone. She was like, it, like, had sun poisoning. And I was burnt. Like, we were miserable. all And that's probably the worst I've ever, i mean, us falling asleep on the beach was stupid. Mm-hmm.
00:49:47
Speaker
No, that's scary. I mean, but it's funny, like whenever I go to the dermatologist now, they still ask you like how many sunburns have you had them like a bajillion? Like, I don't know. ah So many.
00:49:58
Speaker
yeah not not so much these days. If I do these days, it's like.
00:50:06
Speaker
you know, it's like an accidental, like I'm working in the yard or something and my shoulders got a little red. It's not anything like there, there were moments in my life where I was so sunburned. I turned purple, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I haven't um gotten a sunburn in the past, like ever since I've become a mom, like I always wear a hat at the pool. And because if i don't, the dark spots, sunspots pop up on my face and um it's hella bad.
00:50:35
Speaker
Like yeah I was going to say bad skin damage underneath what's going on here. And if I if one drop of sun touches my face, they pop right back out. And I'm like, no. Well, melasma is caused a lot of the time by pregnancy and the hormones of pregnancy. So if you're listening to this, like and obviously you're a mom, if you're listening to this, most likely,
00:50:56
Speaker
um You need to be wearing sunscreen specifically or your dark spots are going to be really bad because of the melasma that pregnancy and the hormones of pregnancy create. So, and I know that's a really common thing. I had it.
00:51:11
Speaker
The mask of pregnancy melasma. Yeah. I had it really bad. My sister had it really bad. um And yeah, ever since then, I've sworn off sun on my face. So. Mm-hmm.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:51:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:23
Speaker
Anywho. right. Well, I love you guys. This was so fun. I hope you're enjoying spring break. ah Let us know what you're doing. Tag us in some pics. Tag us in the swimsuit brands that you love.
00:51:38
Speaker
Please share all the share all the wealth. We love you and send me pictures of your drink on the beach. Thank you. Love you. by Bye. Thank you so much for being a part of our mom group chat. New episodes drop every Tuesday. And don't forget the group chat is blowing up on our Instagram page. So make sure you're following along over there. All right. Got to go. My toddler just put something in her mouth.