¶ Travel Drama
What is up everyone ? Welcome back to another episode of the Babbles Nonsense podcast . Today we have a brand new episode . It is not a Take Me Back Tuesday episode , but I do appreciate y'all all for showing those older episodes some love , so that I could take a little break from podcasting for a couple of weeks . But Miss Ivy is back today .
She is back from her summer vacation with her family to San Salvador . So we talk about everything from her first spray tan experience getting there , the little drama they had with the airport due to the hurricanes prior to going to the trip , and then what they did and loved the most while they were there .
So we talk about all of her travels and a lot of girly pop things . So , yeah , we're just going to dive on in . All right , ivyy , welcome back . I had so many good comments from our last episode saying that we were hilarious together .
So , yeah , I've just made an ultimate decision that you're just going to start co-hosting the podcast with me as long as it can be my second job and we can make millions , that's a lot of pressure we're not making millions over here . I hate to tell you that's too much pressure .
I don't know what to tell you about the millions , but there ain't no millions coming in I wish anybody want to sign me . No , I wanted you to come back because you came back from your trip to el salvador , which we realized at the last podcast that I'm geographically challenged and it's not in mexico and it's Central America .
God , so how was your trip to Central America ? It was amazing and I have already been on bookingcom like planning our next one , like absolutely cannot wait to go again , like I want to go twice a year . I don't know That'll be fun .
So what all did you get to experience ? So actually we need to back up , because you're traveling was a little rough there at the beginning .
Yes .
So let's talk about your travel that you experienced .
I guess this happens to people that travel all the time , but like we , obviously like when you realize you don't travel and then when you finally I'm not a big traveler . Yeah , oh , my God , um it . I think I almost like literally , had a CV event , like I almost literally croaked for those , for the lay people , what's a CV event ?
Oh , cardiovascular event Like I literally almost died from stress .
Um , eight hours before our flights were going to leave . Um , sorry for the loud mouth smacking , sorry , it was a little dramatic . Um , literally eight hours before our flights were going to leave . Um , we , I got a text message from the flight , the what do you call it ? Like the flight people oh , my god the airline . What airline was it ?
Should I put them on blast ? Yeah , I guess it doesn't matter , because it was because of the hurricane , so it was united and they're also just a terrible airline . I'm sorry , are they really ? Yes , we had no problem . Should I put them on blast ?
Yes , I guess it doesn't matter because it was because of the hurricane , so it was United , but they're also just a terrible airline . I'm sorry , are they really ? Yes , we had no problem .
Well , I shouldn't say that I would prefer to fly Delta or Southwest versus United or American and there's a lot of people online that say the same thing Because a lot of times and I , flights will get canceled for no reason , oh , or delayed or whatever , just for nothing .
Yeah , because , like the influencers I follow will like literally be putting american airlines and united on fucking blast , tagging them and everything being like y'all are the worst airlines . I don't know , I don't fly a lot . I fly with friends that do travel a lot and they also would prefer Delta or Southwest . Oh God .
Okay , I don't know they you know . What I can say is , after the most stressful event ever in the history of the universe , like fast forwarding to they um , what do you call ? It Made it right . And well , let's go back , cause we got to tell people what the stressful event was Okay . Yeah , there are people who are like like what are you talking ?
about context for the people that weren't there .
I know the story it's hard for me to um get all my marbles in one basket , yeah , or whatever , anyways , okay . So literally like eight hours before we leave or something , I get a text message and it was like your flight has been canceled .
Like nothing else Not .
we have rebooked you not , and you're like is this a scam Like , and it totally wasn't , because it was on like the legit . You know like , hey , check in for your flight , get ready . Blah , blah , blah . You know like it was legitimate and no , it wasn't . Like hey , we've rebooked you or you know not high by , thank you , ma'am .
No , it was like just your flights have been canceled .
And so I like almost shit , my britches and literally , and then , of course , like everyone , ever's flights were being canceled , so the hotline or whatever you know , it was like a bajillion , Like I sat on the phone trying to talk to somebody for literally an hour and a half , I swear to God , and I was like just I was about to have a stroke .
I was having stroke-like symptoms , like I've never in my life been so stressed , and but so we were , all four of us were on one . You know , on one thing , I guess like so they they just outright cancel your shit . Okay , they can't outright , damn cancel it . They're not trying to rebook for tickets .
My mom's was on a separate ticket , so you know we so pause for a second .
I think that's what a lot of people talk about is that they just cancel you and they don't rebook you . Correct . Where I think and I could be wrong , cause again , I'm not a big canceled , but I think other airlines do say but we plan to have this flight rescheduled for this time tomorrow or something I think I don't know I could be wrong .
It is a cluster fuck , let me tell you . So they kept . So you know . Thankfully I was able to buy my mom's ticket . It was super awesome , felt like fucking daddy warbucks , like fucking mommy warbucks okay , it was super awesome .
So the cool thing was they were rebooking my mom's flight , okay , but not four of ours , so we were just like they were just like fuck y'all , all y'all you know , so they were only booking like individual flyers ? yes , because I guess it was easier .
So I kept getting these texts and it was super confusing because it was all on the same thread , because it was all under my , I guess , credit card .
Yeah .
So it . Oh my God , literally I swear to God , I'm having like a conversion disorder right now talking about it , so like
¶ Travel Adventures in San Salvador
. So there was one point during this whole fiasco , if you will , where my mom , I was like just please . I was texting her and I was like you just need to please get on the phone with United and confirm your flight , because she was like at first , like I'm not doing that , blah , blah .
And then no , this , like I hope my mom doesn't listen to this , she's not gonna . I love okay , thank god , I love you , whatever . But like this bitch was literally like I'm not doing that , you're just gonna have to book me with you guys . And I was like book us with what fucking imaginary flight ?
book you wear on your broom that you're gonna , harry .
Potter bullshit , like what the fuck this is . This is going on while I'm literally on hold with United texting my mom , listening to fucking elevator music , and I've been on goddamn hold for like hours or something and this bitch is like oh , I , I , they were trying to have me go to Chicago and then Houston .
And then he and I was like , oh my God , I swear to God if I have wanted to , you know you don't want to cuss your mom out .
I wanted to , but you were just at your wits end at that point .
Wits end . I wanted to . I almost wanted to punch her in the face Like I was at my absolute wits end . I was literally I , oh my God . I felt so bad and my sweet kids were . They were trying to help and I was I , you know , I was honestly staying as calm as I could . I was like mommy is having a very difficult time right now .
Please go play , yes .
And I was like I'm really trying to keep it together and oh my God . So then ? So my mom did that shit . She pulled that shit at first , like literally where they like gave her an option , and she was just like no . And I was like , oh my God , if you literally want to murder somebody , fucking right , then I kind of get it .
She doesn't fly a lot I don't give a flight .
No , ma'am , why would she want to ?
make two different connections without anyone she knows , especially like , honestly , I get it , I get it . I'm like she would want to fly with y'all .
That's true , I do . I do understand it , but it's like she couldn't see how just literally fucking awful it was .
No , I get it , so let's move on to the next step . We're harping on that a little too long .
I know there was a lot of harping Ended up , so we all ended up going the next day . We were supposed to be in El Salvador the afternoon , early afternoon of July 9th . Well , I guess the Lord saw fit that we just needed a day still in Alabama , cool .
And they said that . You know . They said your flights were canceled because of a hurricane , which ? One was it Barrel Because you were going to connect in Houston , right ?
Yes , and then like there was like power outages and stuff yeah , it was really bad yeah and so then , how did you get to the point of them being like okay , we can get you on this flight ? Did you ever like ? Did you resolve that in that conversation of the hour and a half waiting ?
um . No , that was also a clusterfuck but it turned out . So they got my mom on a flight um to DC and then overnight she spent the night in dc and then flew from dc to houston and she finally got to san salvador um the afternoon of july 10th . So that was cool .
But it was pretty interesting because she's never been out of the country and so she went as a solo traveler that's what I'm saying . That's scary bad bitch , yes and like , but thankfully because of louise's sisters um , they had someone , they had a family friend and they were able to pick her up from the airport and got her to her hotel .
But what about y'all Like how did you get your flight rescheduled ?
Oh , my God . So , like in the midst of all that , we were also on you know different websites Like should we just cancel all these four tickets ? Get a refund .
I don't think they refund you , even if it's weather related they would have because it was an unforeseeable event .
It wasn't us canceling they would have , but we would have had to , of course , purchased thousands of dollars in new tickets .
Yeah , so that was also like , oh my god , this is so awful yeah um , thankfully that didn't happen , because , also , there was no good options right , because it was like just there was nothing Right and layovers were like 20 , 30 plus hours . It was going to be a nightmare . So we're past all of it and like it .
It was kind of neat to see the process , though , because more flights were coming in , so it was over a two hour process . At first they didn't have anything for us until July 11th .
We were going to miss two days of vacation in in San Salvador , so it was like stress like I've never experienced , but then , like I would refresh , and so they were able to have a flight that left um afternoon of July 10th . So we finally got there um the evening of the night of July 10th .
So your mom was there before you , okay , and then tell them about the hotel trying to cancel your um rooms .
Oh god , so we found out about that .
that's an interesting part about vacationing Right like you , you handled all the flight stuff and then you texted me like two hours later and you're like you're not gonna believe this and I was like what're like ? They're trying to cancel my hotel now and I was like what ?
Apparently , even though you reserve these rooms , like they're like oh well , your ass isn't here to check in , so , and you're like I swear to God , just please let me pay for that one night , just let me hold , I don't care night , just let me hold , I don't care . Yeah , just whatever . Right , and that's what we ended up doing .
I called bookingcom they were wonderful , by the way , and like they were like , basically , thank you for not being a big fucking Karen , and I was like , yeah , I don't care , I'll pay for July 9th , whatever yeah we'll be there on the 10th . I don't care at this point , just like .
I just need a place to stay . When I get there , I'm gonna have a raging migraine , heart attack , stroke .
At this point I will pay the , whatever the room rate is . I just want somewhere to stay and the the car rental did the same thing , but thankfully they had they just put us in a separate another rental yeah , the next day and refunded . Anyways , it is a big hot mess . Luis had a good point , though .
He's like why does that matter if we want to rent that car for those many days and park it in a parking lot , why does it matter ? I was like good point .
It doesn't yeah , but I guess if somebody else needed it and that was their last car , then they're like well , y'all aren't here . Yes , so I mean , I guess maybe that that's that's what they're doing . But once you got there and the stress was out of the way , let's talk about your actual vacation that you got to have .
So tell us about your vacation that you got to have . Tell us about San Salvador , because I've never been there . I would like to go neither had we .
And now I feel like , oh my gosh , I feel like I want to go at least twice a year .
You know , like god willing , I feel like what was your favorite part , like what did y'all ? Okay , listen , we got . This is a podcast . We got to do descriptions , we can't just say all of it .
Okay , bye . Let me paint a picture like truly , the absolute hell on fucking earth that we went through to get there was so worth it . We vacationed so fucking hard .
And el salvador is a beautiful country , like it is a may zing and like I , I can't speak to , I guess , what they went through before with , like the civil wars and all that and all the politics and stuff , I I have no , you know , I guess foot in the game or whatever . I I can't speak to it , but I'm sure it was . It was fucking horrible .
Um , but it is not like that . The people are so welcoming and wonderful . The country is gorgeous .
Like when I do like any excursions or anything we did , like we vacationed so hard .
When I tell you we did something every day and if we did like , okay , we're on a podcast , we have to like this podcast is going to be like literally 20 minutes If you don't kind of give description .
Okay . Everyone's like okay , so cool .
You had a great vacation . Move on , okay , if you're not going to describe it .
Okay , so the first day , oh my God . I can't think of everything we did all the time , but like we went to this place , called . Los . Choros what are some of your favorite things .
Yeah , it's like a volcanic cenote . So the water is like turquoise blue , oh cool . And you're surrounded snakes in the water no , no , snakes in the water . There's fish in the water , you can see them ? Yes , cool . The water is crystal clear and like turquoise blue and freezing , but it's so hot there that you're like , don't mind .
And there's like waterfalls , like tiny waterfalls that come off the side of it and like natural rock , and there's three different levels to it . The bottom is like a man-made , like kids pool area , but the water is from that cenote or something yeah um , and the very top is like the instagrammable , beautiful , amazing waterfall . Did y'all go to the tops ?
and so like is this volcano that ? It's like the volcano that it's around or in or whatever . Is it active ? Like could it erupt at any point ? Like that ? That's the thing . If I'm on vacations , that's the kind of things I'm thinking about . I'm like should we be by this ? When's the last time it erupted ? How hot is the boiling point ?
Can I run fast enough to get away from this lava ? No , if it erupted we'd all die , but it would be fine because Would it . I'm not trying to be burned alive , have you been ?
watching House of Dragons and these dragons just be melting some folks . It doesn't look fun to me .
Hopefully it's fast . No , it's not they , the guy took a knife . Okay , spoiler alert . So if y'all have not seen the last episode of house of dragons , this is a spoiler alert
¶ Dragon Lore and Travel Stories
. Fast forward a minute .
But the guy got burned by a dragon because he wasn't targaryen , I guess , and they were trying to get a non-targaryen to bond with this dragon , and apparently dragons only bond to targaryens , and so he thought he thought he had bonded with it because the dragon had kneeled down to let him on his back and he was like tricked you , bitch .
And then lit his ass on fire and he's sitting there burning alive , screaming like in the . The dragon trainer also was beside him and he got burned alive .
So the dragon trainer , who is smart because he's been around dragons , then slits his throat because he's like I'm not gonna sit here and burn to death ah , okay while the other guy didn't have a choice , he just laid there until he burned to death ew like sizzled from the outside in right okay , so no being . Maybe .
Maybe it would be quicker with a volcano , because it would be so hot that you would just instantly die , but I would assume a dragon's breath would also be so hot , hot like lava . Yeah right , you would think . Also , while we're on this topic , do you think dragons are real or ever existed ? What topic are we on dragons ?
sure I'll go for it do you think they're real ?
yes , like , why would they not be ? I mean , if dinosaurs were real , sure . But also , why do we not have any fossils or anything of dragons ?
because they're so , we'll go with it .
I I have no idea I would love to have a pet dragon no , fuck , no , I would not it's a weapon you can fly . It's your best friend like a dog is it though ?
yeah , have you watched ?
you need to watch house of dragons .
It's it's really good , but what happens if they turn on you ?
they don't because they bond with you like they imprint . You know how animals imprint yes , like jacob on right so , and they only let their owner ride them like anybody else who tries to get on them . You're gonna you're gonna be burned to death oh okay , so it's not like okay right , no . So like the dragons only bond with their , their human .
And you have to be targaryen full-blooded , so if you're , not targaryen fuck off anyways . Back to your story about my vacation yeah , so more about your story . So you , that was one of your favorite things , and I'll finally get to the point which I know . No , not the point . I just want you to explain .
Like you're , you're , you're just giving me short , one-word answers , and that's not how a podcast works . You , you know , you've done this before . If you're going to be my cohost , you need to learn . My God , I know you have to elaborate to paint a picture . This is not a visual podcast .
That's true . I can't like pull up my Instagram photos and be like here . Look at this , Okay , One day .
I will do a visual podcast but right now we're both sitting here in here .
Nobody wants to see this no , they don't , maybe they do maybe it's a fun time if it's a fetish we need to get paid for , we can put it on only fans or patreon has a subscription for podcasts .
No celebrities do patreon . It's a podcast subscription . So like you give like sneak peeks and bonuses and you and that's where they do like a lot of their visual podcasts , if you actually want to see them talking to each other and stuff- get a sneak peek of it and it's like $10 a month or something , oh my God Anyway .
So tell us more yeah , so that was one of your favorite things .
It was all . I mean . We did so much that it was . It is amazing he was . We went there at night and so it's literally a rainbow slide and it's massively , gigantically long . Oh , I'll have to go look it up . It . The food was so good , so you like eat and drink and then you can decide to go get yeeted off this slide . It was so great did you go ?
Down it . No , hell , no , I did not . We didn't end up going back just like .
Is it like a water ?
slide , or is it like filled with air ? Or it's just a regular slide , oh god , and it's like different colors .
That's what they call the rainbow do you have to like ride on a rug down it ?
a um like a blow up thing okay , float okay they do mist it with water , I think . So you like slide , yes , like for real , for a slide . And the funniest part is it was like super dark and um , all of a sudden , just he just gets yeeted into El Salvador . Where do you land ? Just down the street , it's straight .
Has anyone ever like went down it so fast that they're like not even on the slide ?
I don't think so , so you're supposed to um I you know what I'm talking about .
Like what if you're like hovering above it like you're supposed to ? Be heavy enough so that's also the thing like your youngest one probably couldn't ride it .
No , you can't okay they have one for younger kids and okay . So I believe that sebastian was tall enough and heavy enough to go on it . Um , you're supposed to be 12 and older , but he's as big as a 12 year old , so we totally did that . I did not think the risk of him okay , like what if he was ?
just a hoverboarding over the fucking slide down into the city and he said they're going I didn't think he would , though he's almost as tall as me , you know no he is not .
He weighs over 100 pounds , so he was gonna be fine . So , from what we know , he just got yeeted into san salvador and then , like it just comes out , you walk up these steps , apparently , and then there you are again . It's like everything's fine . Um , it's so cool and , oh my gosh , like the food what is there like ?
like what like ? I know everyone has like different . Like foods that they like . How am I ? How like in Italy , you're gonna have pasta and pizza ? Or like what is their food that they typically eat on a normal daily basis ?
like I think the most popular one , or whatever , is papusas what is ? That . But oh man , my description is gonna suck and I hope that I don't have to do it justice .
But it's like a like a flour , like a masa , and you make like a cake almost , but you fill it with different fillings , like either chicharron or cheese , or beans and cheese , or um so you can make literally a different one every day .
Literally , but the same dish .
Oh , that's cool and they're super tasty . Um , because you make the the , you know the masa with like lard probably so it makes it super tasty . I mean , it's so good and when I tell you you the top it with a salsa and like um , a cabbage slaw , I guess .
Oh yum , yeah . Oh , my god , are you gonna try to recreate it here at home ?
man I should .
¶ Rediscovering Roots
Just to see if I can do it , just to see well , let's talk a little bit about cause you went , mostly because that's where your husband is from , so that's his native country . How was his experience Like ? How did you get to experience him going back home for the first time , cause you told me it would have been how many years since he had been home ?
I got almost 30 . I think we're going on 30 .
Yeah , and how was his experience going back home for the first time like living it through ?
your eyes . You know I he's probably not going to emote , obviously as much as I will but I hope , or maybe I'm speaking for him . I'm just saying like from your perception of what you saw . Yeah , I think he got to be a kid again and actually got to enjoy his country .
that he grew up in because , like you know , I mean that's a very emotional too , Like you're going back home for the first time , like I mean I know it's completely different than like if we lived in different states . But let's pretend I used to live in California and I'm across country and I ain't been to California in 30 years .
I would assume it would feel that that nostalgia and you know you would just be like oh my god , like this is just . I remember it , but I don't don't , but like everything's changed , but it hasn't . Yes , it's that , yeah .
I can't even imagine how overwhelmed he must've been with emotions , but he would say that we were driving around we didn't get to drive around nearly as much because I think we also wanted to see and do everything but he would be pointing out different landmarks and like just this main strip that used to be like mostly barren , I think , where you can see the
mountains and the volcanoes , but like there were nearly not as many businesses , well , I mean it's kind of like people driving around now , like if you're driving around town , like when my mom came down the other day and she hasn't been to Huntsville since it's kind of erupted in a long time and she used to bring us down here in high school and like we would
go shopping , so like where Madison Square Mall used to be like . I took her , we went to Dave and Buster's for my niece and I was like mom , can you believe all of this used to be the mall you took us to ? And she was just like , oh my god , yeah , she was just like this is insane because she hasn't seen it .
I think the last time she had been down here was several years ago when it just had the camp and Topgolf . Oh wow , like nothing else was . And and then the , the climbing place .
Oh yeah , and none of the like Trader Joe's wasn't there , dave and Buster's wasn't there , none of those restaurants were there , the parking garages weren't there , the hotels weren't there , so she hasn't seen it since .
It was like three buildings there , like she saw it when it was torn down and everything , but like you just don't know how massive it is until you go in and you're like all these buildings fit where this mall was .
So I would assume it would be similar , but obviously on a higher scale , for him , because like this is obviously childhood memories and stuff and he can take y'all around and be like this is where I used to do this and this is where I used to do that , and that's really cool it was really special .
it was neat to hear and kind of very sad I think about like he didn't get to be a kid like we're used to .
I can't even imagine when you say he wasn't able to be a kid . What do you mean ?
From what I can gather and what I'm maybe feeling for him . It was just very different Because , like he , I forget how old he was roughly when the Civil War started , but he was thankfully protected from it because of baseball and he would go play baseball and then go straight home okay baseball and straight home when did he move to the united states
¶ Spray Tan and Acrylic Nail Drama
? Uh , the states was . I want to say , let's say , 2000 how old was he ?
oh god , 1920 oh , wow , okay , but he moved .
They moved to bolivia when he was like 16 . Oh wow , I didn't know that okay , so he's very cultured yes , oh , cool here for a very long time .
That's really , and it's cool that he could translate for y'all as well .
So , like you , had your own built-in translator so I wore his ass out , but then you didn't have to like well , I mean , I'm sure it's not often that he gets to speak his native language at home because obviously , like , I'm sure you understand it but you can't speak it back my understanding is limited .
Hey , I did feel really good about myself , though . My mom and I went to like this national craft market that Louise found for us .
Oh my god , when I tell you it's like a plethora of all these different booths and like every treasure that you could possibly think that's where I got your um your bag yeah , like every knickknack , uh uh , painting um carved everything possible .
That's beautiful , perfect . Was everything really bright colored , like the bag you got ? Like everything . There's very bright colors and stuff like that A lot . Yes , okay .
And he got um . It was really neat . He like picked me out this dress that's like traditional from there and like an outfit where it's like a blouse and these like pants . I did not know their artwork . Yes , it's mostly very bright colored and I've got some hanging um on the adjacent um gallery wall .
Now , Okay , Did you ship it back ? How did you get it back ? How did you get the art back ?
Shipped it back .
Okay , wait in your suitcase , so okay , so it wasn't like large , large art . Okay , it's smaller pieces . Okay , okay , well , okay , well , we , we skipped a whole step of your trip . So we mentioned you were getting a spray tan and your nails done before you went . Oh , and that was your first spray tan , oh my god .
So let's talk about your first spray tan experience yes , we'll go all the way , all the way back , because now I'm addicted , by the way , um glow and co yeah um , now has two more appointments for my pasty ass . You know a spray tan girl .
It'll make a girl feel like a whole new woman a million bucks . Well , because , like , I am very pale as well and I used to tan all the time and I'm looking back and I wish I wouldn't have . I wish somebody would have been like no , but again , when I was in high school , self tanners were very orange , orange , orange , orange , um .
But now , like I'll either self-tan or I'll spray tan and like so I had gotten that spray tan and then you ain't got your spray tan . And when mine started wearing off , I was like oh , like I had pasty , pasty .
So I've literally put on self-tanner twice since then because I was like I think I like myself better with a tan it , my whole mood was different , the whole vibe was different . So give us the whole experience for your first spray tan , like start to finish , how ? How did ? Well ? If anybody who doesn't know um glow and co has been on the podcast twice .
She was at my very first episode , caitlin talking about her business , so you can go all the way back to episode one If you're interested in you're in Huntsville for a mobile spray tan . They've expanded their business so much , which I need to get Kaylin back on here just to even talk about the expansion of her business .
But she's a mobile spray tan artist here in town . She's got , like gosh , three or four people colleagues with her now that do spray tans that can cover larger areas so they come to your house . So how was that experience for you when ?
they came to your house Amazing . It was such a special experience , Like they make you feel so comfortable from start to finish . I mean it's it's so great that they come to your house , Right .
Well , cause I think people in general , being a female like even if it's your first spray tan or maybe it's your 50th if women have insecurities and you're sitting here like I don't want to get undressed in front of somebody you know , and then you're already in an unfamiliar environment , so it just adds that additional comfort layer , I feel like like because
you're comfortable in your own home , yes , and so you're not as uncomfortable being naked in a strange place , correct ?
yes , and it's like I like that she prepared , but you already prepared yeah she literally went over everything above and beyond and did make me feel very comfortable . She was like you know . Basically I've seen it all it . You know you get into whatever you are comfortable you know being sprayed in .
Um and never she made me feel so comfortable throughout the whole process .
Right .
And they set up wherever they can . You know , it was so wonderful .
Yeah .
And , like I don't know , it's just great and you do feel like , oh my God , whole new personality , yours looked really good . It was just like that perfect little glow . Oh , let me tell you , and I asked her .
I was like I kind of want to be obnoxiously like , I want to be like ridiculously dark , and she was like , okay , let it set for this amount of time . Um , if you go over two hours , though , you're gonna look like I didn't know any friends yes , like a friends reference , like David or something I don't watch friends either , I don't know well .
So honestly , if you leave it on too long , you're gonna look like , and what she means by that is a bodybuilder .
You know when they do their competitions and they look like like a bronze statue .
Okay , if you leave it on too long or you do a little bit too dark . That's what you're gonna look like , and we don't , we don't want that . We don't , we don't want that . No , we don't know . We need it to look natural , yeah it .
Oh , it felt so good . It did look because it was the first time I'd been tan , I guess too , so it did , it was shocking . Yeah , it's very shocking .
And then , of course , like you , get nervous because , like you were sending me pictures of your neck and you're like oh my god like what is this ? Is this gonna streak my neck ? And I was . No , that's just where they build up . They build up , and when you rinse it off , it's going to be fine .
She even prepared me for that . But seeing it in my necklace lines I was like , oh my God .
Well , I mean anybody can prepare you for anything , but then , once it happened , you're like oh , I was like oh , my God .
And then of course you went and got your claws on miss ruby miss ruby is the best she and she was even like are you sure that you want your nails this long ? I was like she was trying to .
I know I've always tried to talk off . I was like ivy you do not want , oh , but I do . She was like , and even miss ruby was like , I think you want shorter almond shaped . And she was like no , no no , no and .
But let me tell you I am ridiculous and even got them refilled right before I went back to work . That was stupid . So I am completely trashy and could not do my job .
I cannot type with those glamorous fingernails , which is what we were trying to tell you . I told you to go get those things taken off .
Oh my God . So I hacked at them with kitchen scissors and they look so trashy right now , and you ?
paid for a fill-in . I know I should be ashamed .
I told you to get them taken off . I know or I don't listen , I don't listen .
If you're gonna get acrylics back on , do like she said and do the shorter almond I know like something like a short almond where I get like a nice shape . That's why she was trying to explain to you like , yes , these are beautiful for a short time if you're a celebrity and you have a bidet and you have people cooking your food and typing for you .
But if you're a celebrity and you have a bidet , and you have people cooking your food and typing for you , but if you're a working woman , these are not functional true , and they're wonderful for vacation .
Absolutely I should know they're not .
You couldn't even texted me a single word that made sense .
I don't worry about it . I could use the talk text , which still didn't make sense let me just explain to y'all .
Texting ivy is like if okay , if any of my friends are listening . I know I'm the worst texter like when it comes to misspelling things , because I just don't care and I don't try to correct it , but this bitch but you expect people to anyways , this bitch will do five run-on sentences all together no commas , no periods , no , nothing .
And I'm sitting here reading it , going trying to my best to make the sense of it , and I was like Ivy . I just really don't know what you're trying to say . She'll care , she ain't trying to explain it , she ain't trying to repeat it , she's just like yeah , me either . I don't know . We were having a conversation . I don't know what you want me to do .
Um , anyways , back to your vacation . Is there anything else that you left out that we needed to cover ?
man , I don't like . Between the I mean the scenery , the people , the food , the . How did your kids do ?
on their first um . That was their first flight all together right and it was international .
Yes , they did honestly did they ?
did they enjoy it , like was it fun for them , like , oh my gosh , like they had an ?
amazing time and they honestly did so great . I mean truly . They're what 10 and 6 . You know Luca just turned 7 right after we came back . They did amazingly good it felt really good to be able to give them that experience .
Um , I mean , we , we just did are y'all gonna try to , like yearly , do a big vacation now , like different countries , as a family ? You ?
know , I hope so , but honestly I want to go back to . I want to go back to El Salvador twice a year no , not twice a year .
Yes , I mean , I get that , but also , like you , want to give experience to other countries as well maybe right now I kind of just I want to do El Salvador , you know , and then like spend more time there so that way we can go to the surrounding countries like Guatemala .
I think my dad wanted to go but we just did not pack it in yeah , the time yeah . Yes , Cause it's like a . I think you need to plan on kind of probably a two days , um so one to get there , spend all day , spend the night and then come back the next day , cause it's like a four .
So you really should do like a 14 day to get like everything that you want to get in absolutely and the travel time and everything , which , honestly , isn't that bad . I think it was just your layover that was long yeah , not , and even really not too bad .
It was only like four hours in houston , so it wasn't too bad . Like four hours I would die . Oh , I'm telling you before , like coming back , that is really not that bad , because , god , by the time you go through 800 million customs yeah and 20 bag checks , which I am a-okay with .
Please check my bag 800 times , because that means , if you're checking my bag 800 times , you're checking everybody else's bag 800 times , please do right , I am not complaining .
Did y'all hit any turbulent turbulence or anything ?
mild to medium okay , but not bad nope good it was wonderful and going to , so we got bumped up to premium economy oh cool To the international flight and Luca took his headphones off one time . So basically we had we got the fancy plane .
I think .
And it made it all worth it because they had TVs on the back of every seat , with more leg room . Oh my God , luca took his little headphones off and he was like we're so spoiled right now .
It's so funny , like when you do see things through a kid's eyes , like how they think differently , like when , like , my niece came down the other day and she she just turned 12 in April .
But like , just seeing her , like when we were like out and we were school shopping and things like , and just seeing things through their eyes is just so eye-opening to you to be like , wow , you really are so innocent , like you really have no clue what this world is about yet and you can just tell by like talking to them you know , and you when you say it
like that , like we have to preserve that you know , shouldn't like be bitter and ache .
No it's for real Because , like I had to grow up very fast and very young , like I was taking care of myself by the age of 10 , like I know , I was doing laundry , I was cooking myself lunch and stuff , because my mom had to work like multiple jobs , like that's just what it was .
So I just had to grow up really early it's probably a good thing , you know .
In some ways , though , that's a good thing . I mean , I'm fair .
I think I was very mature for my age and always had older friends , but like , but now , being the age I am , now I feel like I've lived a hundred lives and I'm like , I'm old and I just want to sit on the couch and everybody's like oh my God , why don't you stay up till midnight , or something I'm like .
I can't .
I got to get up at 5am like a grandpa , I mean . You know that's .
¶ Memorial Bench Surprise for Mom
That's okay , though , speaking of your grandpa , we talked about him last episode and you were telling me some sweet stuff that's going to happen tomorrow , which this episode won't be out till after the after it'll air after your little special surprise for your mom , so we're not giving any spoilers away .
So do you want to talk about it ? Because thankfully she doesn't listen after I just bash the shit out of her .
She might , we don't know . Mom , we love you , mom , I love you .
I'm sorry for saying I wanted to punch you in the face .
No , but last episode we talked about how you had recently lost your grandpa , um , and I had mentioned that I asked him to be my boyfriend and he told me no , and so it was funny . I was going through my phone this past week just like clearing out some photos and stuff and I found a picture of me and her grandpa .
That we took a photo at her house and I sent it to her and she was like , oh my god , when did you take this ? I said when I asked him to be my boyfriend and he told me no , I was like I wasn't lying . A little precious soul he's . He's straight up . I was like I can't even get the geysers to love me the most wonderful man on the planet .
I just find you exactly . I'm just saying like , if I can't get the old ones and the decrepit ones who know they're about to pass , excuse me , they're decrepit , they're old . I didn't mean it in a negative way . I'm just saying I can't even get the old ones to love me . It was not a negative comment decrepit , though decrepit .
That's like the crypt keeper that's not what I was thinking . Sweet , perfect grandpa . He was sweet , okay , so tell us what your surprise is for your mom tomorrow we um for those of you that live in Huntsville um out of nowhere .
I've always wanted to kind of um do a memorial bench for um my grandma and my brother , and if , for those that don't know , I think Ivy's episode was episode number three , when she very when we first first started podcasting and I believe we talked a little bit about her brother .
Um and I'll say this for a backstory , cause she's about to mention it Her brother had passed away many years ago , when he was young and Ivy was still young too , and they were very close , um , so if you want to hear that story a little more , then go listen to episode three , where Ivy talks a little bit about that more .
Um , but anyways , sorry , ivy , I wasn't trying to interrupt you , I just wanted to give a little backstory thank you , because I'll just run with it .
I'll be like , oh you obviously don't know my brother's dead . I'm just kidding y'all also .
We , we joke about death like very sarcastically , but we're also . We worked in emergency medicine , like I know Ivy was more of a hospitalist but she stayed in the ER , so we have this weird sense of humor around death and it's honestly just a protection mechanism because we have . That's the only way we could do our job every day .
So if y'allall are listening to this being like , damn , they do not care , it's not that we don't care , we care a lot . Laughing and crying are so close together that if you , if I'm not laughing , I'm probably going to be crying . So if our sense of humor seems very odd , it's just so it is . And that's usually a healthcare worker .
Yeah , if you have a healthcare worker in your family , you know exactly what I'm talking about . We joke about death like it's just nothing .
Yeah , because I think it truly . I promise you . It means that we care probably a little too much , because if we didn't joke and have a twisted , different sense of humor , we would just cry all the time and internalize all of this and we wouldn't be able to be nurse practitioners in the fields that we are .
We would be , we would be just rocking on our couch or something Agreed so so you were saying that you um , there's a memorial you've been wanting to do a memorial bench .
Yes , and like the more that I , like you know , do . My hot girl walks on the greenway and I see these benches and or we'll go downtown . You know Huntsville and I was like , oh my gosh , let me ask about the process .
It was super easy to dig into it , so I got in touch with her name is Nicole Southers and she is in charge of Operation Green Team here in Huntsville and the process is really streamlined . To purchase an entire bench is a little bit , you know , a zest .
You have a price .
Yeah , Perfect If you're able to do it go for it .
Yes , absolutely Do what you can just for the memories , and I'm sure in any city like you could probably just Google like how to purchase a memorial bench for family or something like that , even if you're not in Huntsville , correct , I'm sure anywhere and , like I would say , start with , like I think I called City Hall first .
Okay , and they directed me to where I need to go and it was super seamless .
Yeah .
And they have the option because they've installed tons of benches around the city . There is an option to donate . Should I say the amount ? I don't care ? Yeah , okay , maybe because people can be prepared for it and be like , hey , maybe I want to do this .
I mean , it's whatever you're comfortable with , if Okay .
Maybe because people can be prepared for it and be like , hey , maybe I want to do this . I mean , it's whatever you're comfortable with . If you're comfortable sharing , then it's really neat , because so we donated a $500 to operation green team .
That's the amount that you donate to do a plaque for your family members , um , and you can I'm I don't know how many names you can squeeze on it , um , but we have a , you know , a nice did they tell you like the size of the plaque ?
did they say it's like this many inches by this many inches ? They didn't okay .
I wonder if they're all standard . I don't know . Maybe the the type the font gets smaller , the more names you try to rack up how many .
So how many people did you put on the plaque ? Three , okay , we have too many . Okay , and where is yours going to be located ?
in Huntsville it is so cool we got like prime real estate do they tell you like ?
do they give you an option ?
they do so there's um maps of all the places that they have these benches installed and the ones that are available . They tell you okay um , and so I picked the one that's like right by the massive the big duck pond and by the art museum and I was like oh my god , this is so perfect , so um , they've installed the plaque on it have you seen it ?
not in person okay but she took a picture of it and the whole process too , like she was so communicative and like they um send you the like , the proof of the uh , the plaque , before they even send it to get done yeah or whatever .
Um , and then she sent me the final pictures of the plaque installed and she was even as detailed , as are you sure that you want this bench Because there's paint , dings and dents , and I was like even better . You know , I don't care about some cosmetic defects Like that's perfectly fine .
Yeah , now do you have to pay more for , like , downtown benches versus like , oh wow , interesting Cause I figured you would . No , cause more people are downtown seeing it . Yeah , oh , so you're going to do what tomorrow ?
So tomorrow my mom has no idea that we've done this and like it feels super cool because it says , in loving memory of Neil Sue and Aaron Heffelfinger and I joke with my dad that we're just racking up the deaths around here , racking up the deaths around here , the Heffelfinger sadness , death and grief club , oh my . God , sorry .
So my dad and I , we went in and split this and did this behind my mom's back , which is pretty cool , and so it's for my , both of my grandparents and my brother .
And so tomorrow , all my mom knows is that we want to take her out for lunch , um , at Ponte Vino , and go feed the ducks , because I also like to go to CT Garvin , feed and seed and get like a mega bag of the duck food because it's , like you know , there's only so many quarters A that you're going to have sitting around and , b , I'm so tired of , like
you know , twisting that little thing , getting like that little pinch of duck food , you know . Anyways , oh , my God , I'm going off on a tangent anyways . So we're going to feed the ducks , go have lunch and , like , I'm going to take her to that bench , and you know like .
Are you going to take her before or after lunch ?
I wonder , maybe before , because I won't be able to contain myself any longer . It's been like we have been working on this for two weeks or so , I think . Started working on it before .
See , I can't keep a secret , like if I buy someone a really good gift , I'm like here open this . I know .
I can't .
I can't like when it comes to Christmas . If I buy you a Christmas present in September , you're getting it in September , and I'm just like just know that you're not getting anything on Christmas day , because I can't hold it in anymore .
That was like my birthday birthday present the spray tan . You were like bitch , here's your spray tan . Get it together . Please look nice for your trip .
I just can't . Like I love giving gifts , like I love it and I love seeing people's faces , so like I can't hold it in or I'll tell I'll end up like spilling the tea .
I'll be like or you think they're going to like ? So yeah , I don't know how I was able to shut my mouth about it , so I want her to be home even today , but she'll , we're going to be ready to show her tomorrow . That'll be sweet .
You'll , when you come back on , you'll have to tell us how it went .
But next time I think since we did kind of talk a little bit about our humor around death , I think the next episode we do , we should talk about your palliative care experience as a nurse practitioner and just the difference and , like maybe educate people a little bit more on palliative care versus hospice , just because I think it is such a taboo thing and
people don't truly like I didn't know truly what it was until , like I was educated on , like oh is a difference in this , and you know , I think that would be kind of a cool episode to do as well .
I think that would be amazing . We need to talk about it more like so .
That way it's not taboo that way , it's not a four-letter word so , guys , if you're interested in that kind of topic and I mean obviously our humor around it I can't promise anything less than , um , I don't know , dark twisted , dark twist . Yeah , it's , it's gonna be , it's gonna , it's not just gonna be like , oh death . Here's what palliative care is .
Yeah , oh bullet points . It'll be weird per use um . Do you have anything else you want to say before we end today's episode ?
any more updates in your life no , no more updates , but that's a good thing . I want to go on vacation again . I think I was meant to just be on vacation 24 7 .
I think we all were bitch . What are you talking about ? I know , I don't know , though I'm probably the oddest person . Vacation stresses me out . It stresses me out like thinking about it . Once I'm there , I'm fine . But I'm a very like creature of habit and I actually really do like to work and like so .
When I'm not at work , it stresses me out to not be working . And when I'm not in my routine like the gym , my meal prep , I'm like oh , where are we going to eat Like what am I going to do , like how many steps am I going to do ? I'm weird , jeez . I mean , we knew that . So , vacations really kind of stressed me out .
But then , like I said , once I'm there , I'm like , okay , yeah , I need to do this more , but like getting my mind around doing it , because that stress before I go is just , you know we , you know me , I spiral , it's a spiral , it's a spiraling thing . And then once I'm there , I'm like , oh , this is fun .
Why did I ? Why did I that's ? I didn't even bring my like steps watch because I didn't want to know . You know , I was just like we're gonna let it all go . I'm gonna have a freaking blast , and that's exactly what we did .
It's hard to do that sometimes , but I need to work on it a little bit more probably so all right guys . Well , thank you for listening and stay tuned for some more episodes . I hope you found this enjoyable . Pretty huge , no , I'm just kidding anyways , anyways , until next time , guys , bye , bye , thank you .