New Year, Not New Us

Welcome to Buns and Banter, a podcast by work Busties for work Busties. Hey, I'm Lauren and I'm Ali. We're both morning show hosts for iHeartMedia. We're both millennials, and we're both trying to figure out how to build the lives we dream about, dating, marriage, career, career and being a mom. How to get through a week without crying. Welcome to Buns and Banter. We're glad you're here. It feels so good to be back. It does. I know it's been a hot it's been a hot minute. Apologies, guys,

We can do that anytime. We can do anytime.

So I'm trying to like, I'm trying to calm myself. I got one of those just very frustrating emails right before we were ready to record. In one of my New Year's resolutions, which you know this about me. I don't make resolutions. I find them to be very depressing because more often than not you don't actually fulfill them, than you feel terrible about yourself. But I'm trying to set better boundaries and sometimes that's just deleting an email

I was just reading about like, no buy twenty twenty five. Have you heard about this? Yeah, people are going on like a spending freeze and it's just basically you're not buying anything that's not completely one hundred percent necessary in twenty twenty five. And you know, it's like to improve people's finances, but it very much feels to me like, oh, we're in a really bad spot.

It feels that way, though it doesn't it. We're in a really bad spot.

I can't afford to have fun, I can't afford to buy things that I want to buy. I can only afford to buy the necessity. So let's turn it into a trend and make it less sad.

So maybe I guess there's a sense of community there right like everyone else feels. It feels very odd. And I hope you guys weren't coming into this new season thinking we were going to be a bunch of positive pollies. It's realism in twenty twenty five. Like Chris called me the other day. He was picking up groceries and he was like, Hey, what's that borson that you like? The bores and cheese?

She Oh, it's so good.

And there's like six different flavors. Oh, And I was like, baite, don't you dare. We can't afford those luxuries anymore. I will simply sprinkle my slices of cheese on old crusty bread and protect them bouche.

Seriously though, m M, seriously though, I deleted all of my food delivery apps.

Oh that's smart though.

That was one of my big ones. That was one of my big ones. I'm not telling myself that I can't get fast food or like I can't eat out places. I just have to get in my car and go get it. And there have been already like two or three occasions where I'm like, man, I really just want to order food.

Right now, I'm hungry.

I don't feel like moving from the couch such an inconvenience, and I didn't get in my car and go get food because I just was too I was like, I can't do I don't want to go outside in the cold, so I'm just gonna find something here, and like that's brilliant, was it?

No?

Most of the time it was just like popcorn.

That's fine. So it grew a super healthy snack. Yeah, But we'll see how it works out.

Because now when I am at the grocery store, I find myself buying things that I don't normally buy. Like now I'm stocking up and I'm like, I should probably have some ice cream in the freezer because I'm not gonna be able to order it if I want it at some point in the future.

Well, treats or candy.

I can't tell you the last time I bought candy, and I bought like sour ropes and like licorice.

Ooh, and like I never.

Have that stuff. And now because I know that it's there, now I'm eating it.

We're also getting into like I read this fabulous article and it was from a psychologist, so I feel like it's pretty legit. January resolutions are the dumbest idea, like we are not designed as human beings to like change lifestyle in a cold, dark month. They were like, this is a time of rest and reset, but not in the ways of like forcing yourself to do something. And I thought that people are into dry January. I love that. More power to you. I want to do a dry June.

At six, I am doing dry January.

I knew it. You're so good at that stuff.

And I wasn't planning on it. It didn't even cross my mind. But I was catching up with my friend Angie over the weekend and she was like, just anybody you wanted to do dry January with me? And I just had like kind of a slower end to twenty twenty four, so I hadn't planned on doing it, but I had been dry since the day. I did have a drink on Christmas, but then the day after, Like I didn't.

I didn't even have a drink on New Year's Eve.

That's I mean great, and I got all the stuff, like I got the champagne, but then we just had such an uneventful New Year's Eve that we just didn't even touch it. Oh, we didn't even touch it.

Sounds like my ideal New Year's Eve? Look good for you? Then, well then I'm not even gonna tell you anything more about this psychologist. She's not right. You're gonna kill it at dry January.

You know, like drinking is just like not something that's super difficult for me to give up.

Yeah, I don't. I don't.

I mean I live by myself, and Jimmy and I are kind of back and forth in between each other's houses, and he does like a cocktail in the evening or like on the weekends, but usually not Monday through Thursday.

Yeah, I'll pour like a glass of wine and watch like a Virgin River episode and then I'll go to bed. It's never more than a glass of wine because you get into two glasses and then it's like ough that three am alarm is terrible.

I can't tell you how many times I've poured myself a glass of wine and then I fall asleep on the couch. I wake up and it's just still sitting there.

Plus I'm trying to stretch my bottles now and one model in this economy, girl, I'm feeling it.

You have to get one of those wine subscription boxes. That's what Jimmy got me for Christmas. It delivers like new wine every month, and this is.

A very thoughtful gift.

Yeah, it's really cool. And you know I usually buy like the same bottle. I just like stick to a price range and buy like whatever same fits in there. And some of it's good, some of it's not, so you know, you tend to like stick with the same brands and stuff. So I haven't had any of it yet to try it, but I love the idea.

Yeah, I like that a lot. I don't know, it just seems like a very I don't know what did this start of the year feel like for you. I was craving coming back into routine, and I'm not sure if that was like losing that week between Thanksgiving and Christmas because Christmas came up so fast, But I was just like, oof, I need regular bedtimes for my kids. I need school I need, you know, somewhat of a

I was ready for some new fresh energy. Yeah, some new fresh vibes. And I feel like, no, I feel like we're just bringing the same vibes from last year. No. I tried so hard not to into twenty twenty five. And I'm like, some of you need resolutions, and it shows I have a few in mind. If you're looking some of.

You, that's actually really great. But we should assigned people resolutions.

Yeah, and I've come up with with your personal resolutions for the new year if you need them, and.

You should.

Not a suggestion, just saying this is a demand.

That'll be good. It'll be a good it'll be a good year.

Boundaries are a tough one though.

Oh yeah, especially for me. I'm a certified type A people pleaser.

Boundaries are hard because while boundaries are for you, they're difficult too.

Yep. I, oh my gosh. We talk about her a lot on here, but Mel Robbins, Yes, I think I'm going to order her Let them Theory, her new book, her new book. I was just so fascinated and like enthralled with that watching her interviews over the Break about it, and like at its baseline she's she said, it's a let them theory, Like let them if they're not going to work as hard as you let them, you can't.

Yeah, radical acceptance. That's a hard Oh, it's a hard thing though, right because.

I've never even heard that term. That's like, amazingly.

Just it is what it is. They are, how they are going to be. And I think I think like acknowledging that and being like that's just how they are is one thing. But then accepting that and moving on with your life and not just like itching about it all the time.

That's tough.

That's tough.

I do love bitching.

I do love a good event.

Oh you know, oh, oh my god, talk about over a class of wine, like you know, saddled up to a cute little bar and you're just like, can I be a bitch for a minute? Oh say less?

Oh yeah, but yeah, very much. Looking for new hobbies in the colder months. But yeah, not not like snowboarding or like skiing or like, you know, not gonna like take up running. But I need something to do because Jimmy is studying for this big exam and now it's like lockdown time like it is this free time is study time. Stay disciplined, and he is. He's very disciplined and he's very dedicated. And I give him a lot of credit for that because it's like almost like he's

Wow.

But I need something to feel productive while he does that, because I can't just like keep sitting on the couch and scrolling through social media while he like studies makes me feel bad about myself. I feel like I hear it if we're doing it together, and he's also coutrotting.

It's totally different.

It's totally fine because then I feel like we're spending quality time together. But when it's just me doing it and there's someone else in the house and I know they're doing something productive, I'm like, I'm bad.

You know what. One of my brothers got my sister in law for Christmas a little crochet kit. They're super cute. He found it on Etsy and it's like beginner stuff, and it's just like something in one sitting. It's not like but she made like a little I don't even know how to describe it. It was like a little pucket lizard. But then what does she do with it? It's supposed to be I don't know. I think its supposed to be stressed relieving. Yeah, it's cute. Yeah, give it to your nieces or your nephew.

Oh, that's a good idea.

It'supposed to be great for mobility, great for brain health.

Yes, I do knit, do you?

I didn't know that about you.

My grandma taught us all to knit when we were young, and she attempted to teach us how to sew. I'm not as good at sewing as I am at knitting, but I can knit.

That is very impressive. Okay, so fuck it, forget the crochet, let's move on to something.

Well, No, because I don't know how to crochet.

I think it's similar to knitting. You still have a different hook.

Yeah, it's definitely different and you can make like different stuff.

So crocheng is out because you already know how to knit.

No, I don't think it's out. But I also and I said that I wasn't really interested and like reading more.

Okay, because what about coloring stress books? Oh maybe I do like to color and I do like to paint, but I like these to be like kind of portable. Yeah, oh yeah, you shove like a Bob Ross with your easel and everything.

Sometimes I'm at my house, sometimes I'm at Jimmy's house and like taking everything like back and forth, because that's what I'm trying to avoid, right, is when we kind of like camp out at each other's house for the weekend. So like I'll go to his house for the weekend. And we don't live far apart. We live fifteen minutes apart, so really going back and forth is more of a

I wonder what like a top top hobbies of twenty twenty four are top?

A lot of people were suggesting books which.

Cooking, so oh no, I would have said the same thing. Uh, gardening and landscaping. Oh what if you pull a little I can't do that in the winter. Indoor garden at his house. Door garden at his house. Hey coming in, not moving in the gardens. Some herbs. Oh, pickling, he does love pickles. You can pickle. You can pickle almost anything according to Google. But yeah, candle making. Who are

Is there a time daft?

That response? Mm my nap, that's whatday took a pretty killer one. I have no answer to that question.

Yeah, I do one of the things that I am for sure gonna I'm gonna start a puzzle. I'm gonna do a puzzle at his house.

That's a good idea.

He's gonna make fun of me, but that's okay.

There's some great puzzles though, Yeah, and they as something did a puzzle, it's like just stimulating enough where it can keep your attention for probably like a solid hour and you might need to take some breaks, so like maybe you can stretch it into two hours. My friend did twelve puzzles last year. She did a puzzle per month that took her, on average, like all time put together, like two and a half weeks. She does like intense puzzles.

Yeah, we like that. We like that. We have to think about that now or we're of age to start.

I know, or kids, please, you still got some time, girl. I am staring forty down the barrel, and I am nervous about it. Why because I think I feel like my body's already fallen apart so much, and that's ninety percent on me. I don't do what I should do, but I just feel like at forty, do you remember that first Harry Potter movie, Chamber of Secrets for Sorcerer's Stone, His hands touch the guy and he just crumbles to sand. I think that's what's gonna happen in my four Oh.

The first forty I think that you and I just with the nature of our job, I think that we are more active than we realize. And I think it's I think it's inactivity that really kind of starts you down a path you can't return from.

But I also just told you when people ask what my hobbies are, I say napping. I don't know if I've got.

But how many free we go do you have in a day between going to work and going to all of these events and then taking care of your kids and taking them Because you guys are very active. You're always doing something, You're always going somewhere. You guys do stuff together.

As a family and you can get the people.

You visit with friends, you take trips to all over the state to see your family and hang out with cousins.

Now I do all activity, do you activity? You know what I had for dinner the other night tot castrole, which is amazing, delicious, but I put it on crusty bread. Yeah, so it was like carbon carbon carb side of starch.

They do that in the UK, they really.

Yes, they do.

It's called everywhere it's called a is it a chip buddy, A chip buddy something. No, but it's fret. It's I mean, they call French rice chips, but it's French fries on bread. It's a French fries sandwich.

So don't that does make me feel better? You are very European. New resolution for both of us compliment each other more. I think that an indoor garden or candle making could be great for you, But I also want to frame your puzzles. I don't want to frame the puzzles. I don't want to frame them because that's a That's another thing that I don't want to have to deal with is that I don't want hobbies that create junk. I want to throw everything away. Oh, the minimalist side

I want to throw stuff out. I want to get stuff done, like I've got a few house projects. On my list for twenty twenty five. And whenever I have a contractor over to the house, they always ask how long I've lived in the house, and they're always surprised when I say seven plus years, and they like look around and they're like, oh, I thought, like.

Maybe you had just moved. No, we don't judge.

I just live in this. I just live like this. I just live with no tile in front of the front door. I just live with the half bathroom off the kitchen. It doesn't have a door. The toilet works, you can flush it.

I see no problem.

The sink needs some attention, but I'm getting there. I'm getting there. I had to call my friend Renee and be like, these are the three projects on my.

List for the year. Yep.

If I do more, great, but these are the bare minimum. This is what I have to get done.

So you got accountability, buddy.

But I don't know where to start. I've narrowed it, but like, which one? Where do I start? So she was like, you know what, I'm just gonna decide for you. You're gonna start at the front of the house and you're just gonna work. You're able. I like that, and then since then, She has texted me once or twice to be like, where are we at? We got something has we got to check something off on Friday?

Oh, she's getting new deadlines.

I like it, which is great, but also like I shouldn't have to rely on I am an adult, like I should just be able to do it. But yeah, I had a few contractors over for quotes and I was, hell, yeah, how long have you lived here?

Seven years? Oh?

Oh, okay, yep, I just I can. I love the Renno or the not the Renno, the demo. I love the demolition.

You gotta eat half of it's done.

Can tear shit down and tears it apart and rip things out and get rid of them with the best of them, but then putting it back to get there.

I felt like it was gonna be so hyped coming into the new year, refreshing, new vibes, new energy, and then when you just said, yeah, I live like this, that's gonna be my mantra by like February, and I think I'm good with this.

Yeah, I live like this. I really do.

Happy twenty twenty five.

Mmmm mm mmmmm