YOU'RE NOT LOST, YOU JUST NEED A HOBBY

Hi house guests. Welcome back to my home. This week you and I are catching up. We are back in Dallas. I'm telling you guys all about Nashville, dating, what I've read all this year and like really crazy things. We're talking about the summer, the plans, hosting. Summer 2025 is all about hosting. Like we're just like kind of getting into everything. Solos are always some of my favorite episodes to record every now and then. And you guys are always requesting them. So, if you guys are watching on YouTube and you have a solo that you want to hear from me or see from me, leave it in the comments on our last YouTube video. But I hope you guys enjoy this episode and let's get into it. Hi y'all. Welcome back to the show. Welcome to my couch. If you guys are watching on YouTube, first things first, my tan on my arm is very messed up and I am thanking you guys in advance for just ignoring that. Like I am too. You would think I would like cover it up, but I really like my outfit today. I'm not changing. Okay, but I was so excited for us to be able to catch up, do a nice little solo catchup episode. The last time we were here, I was saying that I was moving to Nashville. I guess I should give you guys a little Nashville update. I'm really loving it. So, to catch you guys up to speed, if you're new here or you don't know, I got a second place in Nashville, which sounds really bougie, but you need to understand it's a rental. The lease isn't that long. And also, it's actually cheaper to do what I've done with this lease than it is to like get an Airbnb for like a month or so or whatever. It's a really crazy story how that came to be. Definitely go listen to the episode where I talk about that. Something that I just like always wanted to do, but I just didn't know when or feel like it was the right time and I just kind of went back and forth on it for a couple years. And here we are. Will I extend past September? I don't know. I actually don't even know if I have that option. I need to ask. I did have it in the back of my head that I would probably just stay longer. But also, I feel like if I've done what I like feel like I've needed to do, whatever that is in Nashville, I might not and I could just go and get an Airbnb for a week. I really don't know. It's very up in the air on what I'm deciding to do. We'll see. I think being back in June will give me like more Well, you guys are listening. This is mid June, so I guess there'll be more context on the YouTube channel, but I did April there and then I did May in Texas and now I'm going June in Nashville and then I'll do July in Texas. Fitz, hello. Fitz is growling at someone who is dropping off a package. He's so kind. That dog. But anyway, I don't know what I'm gonna end up doing. I am really liking it. The first three weeks that I was there, I loved it. The last week, I just had a really bad week personally, so I let that kind of jade it. And then the weather was really bad and I just getting homesick, which I never I've literally never been homesick actually in my life until the fourth week in Nashville. So anyway, all that to say, I'm loving it. I've made so many friends, guys. It is the friendliest city in the world and like within 10 days I had 11 girls at my house and I was teaching them to needle point. I've obviously taught the girls mong hanging out with Shannon. I hung out with cheese gal. Guys I am obsessed with her. Okay, if you guys don't follow cheese gal court on Instagram, she's everything. She loves entertaining. Like she loves a Martha. She loves an Ida. She's one of us. We need to have her on the podcast. I need to be doing things with her immediately. We hung out like a couple days before I went back to Texas and I was like, I need to be with you like every single day. Like, I need to be with you. Something that absolutely will come as a shock to everyone, myself included, is that I only went to a bar one time. One time, just for a couple of hours. That month ended up being a really, really busy month and I just had so much going on and I felt like I spent half of the not half the time actually 90% of the time at my desk in Nashville. It's like why am I here if I'm just going to be like working at a desk? But I ended up just having a ton of stuff good things happen with a friend of mine, but I was just very busy. Anyway, all that to say, somehow managed to not even go to Broadway, which I personally love Broadway. I am not a Broadway hater. I know the locals hate it. I don't care. You can be a local, you can hate it all you want. I love Broadway. I will always love Broadway. Had a good time. Every single time I've ever been there. Never had a bad night on Broadway. I need to be going out immediately. Like going into summer 2025, my vibe is hosting hobbies and bars. I will be doing everything. I will be living to the best of my ability. I will be a woman who could have it all. Okay? I know that they say women can't have it all. And that's when they're talking to people with kids and husbands and well, I guess I don't have it all cuz I don't have those. But like, you know what I mean? Like I am single. I am child-free. Feel like right now I can't have it all. Meaning that I can like work hard. I can play hard. I need to be doing everything I can possibly possibly possibly be doing. So it is a summer of the dinner parties. It is a summer of hosting. Get your hosting journal. Friend of mine launching in two weeks. I just have so many things that I want to be doing and I want I'm very excited because I'm like making them happen and it's just gonna be a really fabulous summer. I'm very excited and I'm loving that. Also, speaking of summer activities, I have had a shift recently in terms of dating. This is good. And it all started with me reading this book and I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit it, but a friend recommended it to me and I did already have it, I have to say, because I was going to have the author on the podcast. However, now she is doing Khloe Kardashian's podcast. I don't know if she's going to be making a making an appearance on House guest. I would still love for that. Okay, but she was supposed to two years ago and they had to cancel because of scheduling or something. So, now I'm making sound like I'm like this desperate person. Anyway, it is a book called How to Not Die Alone. It's an embarrassing read. Okay, but it's actually been incredibly helpful. And a friend of mine who's kind of in a similar space when it comes to dating, she's the one who texted me was like, "You really need to read this book. I actually really enjoyed it and I've been listening to on Audible. Love, love, love, love that book." Anything that will tell you what you are, that will like give you like a personality test, a quiz, diagnose you with something, I'm all about. And they have a dating quiz in there. And she There's three different types of daters. There's the romanticizer, the hesitator, and I cannot remember what the third one is, but the hesitator, that's what I am. It's basically just the dator who is waiting for everything to be perfect in their life before they start dating. Like, they want to achieve x, y, and z. They want to make x amount of money. They want to travel so much. They want to hit a certain age. they want to be, you know, whatever it is. They're waiting for every single all the chips to fall in the perfect place and then they will start dating. And I feel like that's kind of been me cuz I'm so focused on other stuff. And I've actually I don't feel like it. I know that's been me because there's so many things where I times in my life where I've been like, well, I'll start dating once I do this or once I finish this and like that just like isn't really working and I just don't like dating. That's really been the issue and I need to like do a mindset shift. I did write some notes of things from this book that I got out of it. However, I will say I don't remember what these things mean. Okay, evaluative to experiential. I don't remember that. But the dating checklist, like there's so many things that I'm getting out of this book. I would really recommend it to you guys. And I've just been like really really overall enjoying this book. So, how not to die alone. Logan Yuri. She has her um dating quiz, too. Logani.com if you guys just want to go take the quiz. Um I get emails from them. I read them sometimes. I actually really like it. So, anyway, I have been liking that book and thank you for giving me the space because it is a it's not You know what? It shouldn't be an embarrassing title. Actually, reframing it. I don't get embarrassed anymore. It's fake. Being embarrassed is a choice and I don't choose that. So, anyway, I've been loving that book. Oh, friend of mine products. I'm getting a lot a lot of questions about this, guys. I am going to get to some questions soon. I promise. Um, the hosting journal is launching in two weeks. Overalls, we did the final fit check. They're looking fab. If you guys are watching the vlogs, which you need to be watching them if you're not, we have developed the most perfect denim overalls and I, for one, I'm in love. Like, they're so cute. I'll be wearing them all summer long and I'm just I'm loving that. I'm getting also a lot of questions about like date sorry dating. No one's asked me questions about that. You guys know I'm getting a lot of questions about hosting and just things that I have coming up. So, we're actually I think the week that this podcast episode goes up, I'm hosting a Parent Trap themed dinner party cuz I'm currently going through all the Nancy Meyer movies and I am hosting dinner parties to each movie. I actually just rewatched the Parent Trap to like really get in the spirit with my niece and her friend. and they had a sleepover this weekend and we watched it in the morning and like guys I've seen that movie a billion times but it is just not talked about how that is one of the greatest movies that's ever existed in the end like Nick Parker just as for Nick Parker we're not talking about him enough I'm in love with that man it is so rare that I see someone and I'm like I'm in love that's it and like him in the end scene like that is my new type if I'm choosing like what my type is it is Nick Parker in the parent trap final scene like I I love that man and then Amelia and I actually we hosted the last book club like our book picked together. We had the whole like hosting episode last week. Go listen to it. It's so good. All about it wasn't even just the book club recap. The book club, here's the thing about book club the way that we do it. When we recap on the episodes, we really just go and discuss the themes of that book. So, you don't really have to have read the book to listen to the episode, but we are like diving in on that. And because it was all about hosting, I had Amelia, who's a star hostess, Amelia Edmonson, on and that really inspired us. We've been like doing so many different like we've been throwing ideas at each other for hosting and just like doing a bunch of stuff together and we're going to be hosting a dinner party at the end of June in Nashville. I wanted it to be chicken themed because my friend on her h at her property just got a bunch of chickens and I was like perfect friend of mine chicken Dolly that's our like mascot if you will and she really didn't think that chickens were like a good enough theme. So it's going to be like farm girl like a farmer girl theme but like to me it's still chickens. I will be going on Facebook Marketplace and I will and Dallas actually I did this this morning and putting like rooster ceramic in my search bar to get notified every single time there's one listed and I will be driving probably about 200 miles just to collect all these different rooster ceramic so I can do the centerpiece that I have envisioned and when you guys see this centerpiece that I have envisioned I need like the most amount of comments you guys have like the most amount of excitement I've ever heard from you guys I need on this centerpiece because I will make it happen. The entire reason that friend of mine, my home brand, by the way, I feel like I need to be explaining things a little bit better. My home brand, friend of mine, the entire reason that Dolly, our hen, our chicken, is our mascot, is because I grew up in a house full of roosters. And I don't mean like the physical ones that are alive. I mean like the rooster decor, like all of the roosters all over our the wallpaper, the ceramics, the dishes, the towels. Like we had roosters everywhere. So, it's kind of like an ode to my childhood. So, I don't mind collecting all these for the tablescape. And I I no not only do I not mind, I will be and I will be enjoying every single second of it and I'm going to be working on that now. So those are like the two things that I have coming up. We are working on like Father of the Bride here for The Intern. Oh my god. Last thing I'll talk about for dinner parties for right now so I don't bore you guys to death. But since I'm going through every single Nancy Myers movie, I will be doing The Intern. And I actually wanted to talk about this movie with you guys anyway. That is the greatest movie that's ever existed. There's no better movie than The Intern. It's a Nancy Myers movie. It is a more recent one. I do talk about this in the Nancy Myers solo podcast episode. It is the least Nancy Myers in the way that like normally in her movies for context, they build those houses like the Holiday Cottage. Like all of those places were built for the movie. And in this one, it was like 2014, movies had changed. They went all into like Marvel and whatever. So, they didn't give her that budget. So, she wasn't able to do that. So, it's less Nancy Meyers in the sense that like the houses are less obvious, but if you're a true like Nancy Meyers lover like me, it still feels like a Nancy Myers movie. And it follows this woman who is this intern. No, she's actually quite literally not an intern. She is a founder of a very, very, very successful startup company. It's gone from like 0 to 2005 employees in like the first 18 months. They decide to do this program called the senior internship program where they hire interns who are senior citizens. So, they hire this old man. Oh my god. Every time I see him on the screen, he's like talking about his wife who died, I literally just want to sob. It's oh my god. And like when he got he's like getting ready for his first day at work and he's wearing this suit and he's like smiling and he's like practicing saying hello because his boss is scary. Like it is the sweetest movie ever. Anyway, all that to say, I have been looking for a dinner party where I can invite old people because you guys know I love old people. That is what I've been wanting for so long. I've been looking for the perfect dinner party for this and this is the movie I will be doing. This has been actually in my thoughts for about two or three months now, but I will be hosting a gender party where I match up like someone who's under the age of 35 with someone who's over the age of like 65. I match them up with like an intern for the night. It's just going to be everything. So, I'm really excited for that. You guys literally do not care about all the dinner parties that I'm hosting and I will be plastering everywhere. So, I will move on. Oh, last thing. I did just host a dinner party with Harrison Wallace. Like literally, he's my everything. I say this every time. And it was Paris, Texas theme. That one was so cute. And we like blended like Parisian and Texas stuff. It was just so fun and creative and like the way that like they do like the Parisian way of doing dinner parties is that they host different they serve different courses in different rooms. So we did that. It was just so fun and like feel like because of the book that we just read, the art of gathering. I've gotten so much better at hosting. We did like the 15 toast. I implemented all the place card rules. I split everyone up like boy, girl, boy, girl. Like I just feel like I've gotten so much better and it really showed in the last dinner party. It was so fun. Like absolutely loving that. So anyway, I already gave you guys a Nashville update. Oh guys, new hobby unlocked. Okay, I don't even think I got to this guys. New hobby unlocked. Okay, I am doing a little mindset shift, if you will, after reading that book. And I will be viewing dating as a hobby because one thing about me is if I have a hobby, I go all out. All right, needle point. I have a new needle point cabinet in the garage. Hosting, I have my hosting closet. Cooking, literally my entire life. Like decor, everything. like what other hobbies do I have? Reading. I read 100 books a year. Like every single thing like I just basically I will be married by next year like what I'm getting at if I'm viewing this as a hobby. So I've been making some moves. I decided this about 24 hours ago and I've already like made a lot of like plans. So I will be doing that. I think it's all it needed to take. Like if I make this a hobby and it's like something fun, which I'll have to somehow figure that out. I haven't figured out how I'm going to do that. Then I will be married by next year. So that will be the plan. I think the issue is that I am not like with everything else like I want it really bad. I don't feel like I want it so bad. So, I feel like maybe I need to shift it. Anyway, regardless, I'm making it a hobby and I think you guys should join me. All of my summer 2025 girls, we're going to be hosting. We're going to be hobbying. We're going to be going to the bars and we're going to be dating. That's what's happening if you guys are single in summer 2025. Okay. I did want to go over like a little 2025 reading list so far, but honestly, I think this is better done on Instagram. So, I'm going to do a roundup post of every book that I've read so far. That way, because we're recording this two weeks in advance, I can add a couple more, give you guys all the reviews on the House guest podcast. And then we're also going to have the House guest like TBR download list for the summer. So, if you guys need any good lists, it's going to be like a house guest submitted. So, all of y'all will be submitting the books that are on your TBR or just books to add to the TBR for the summer and you guys can download that. While we're here, I actually already have a download that's my top 100 book racks, which is a download for our newsletter, but all you have to do is download it, put your email in, we'll send it to you. And we have our DFW Rex, too. So, all of my Dallas Rex, if you guys are Dallas people, if you need like anything from a handyman to who I do my wallpaper for to where I like to go for coffee to like coffee orders, all that stuff, I will be doing. I really want to build that one out towards like on a Google sheet to where it's organized by like neighborhood price like every single thing you could do. I picture it as like a very organized Google sheet. However, we know that I won't be making that because I hate Excel. I hate Google Sheets. I will not be doing that. But I do need to figure that out. And while we're here, we do have a newsletter weekly that I launched recently where I share like my current favorites, the new episode every single week, all of the discount codes, what I'm learning. It's you guys like the podcast, it's all in there. I won't do more of a sales pitch for this, but sign up for the newsletter. I think you guys are really going to like it. I've really been enjoying doing it and it's been a really fun time. So, anyways, let's get into your questions that I asked for on Instagram. Number one, how to deal with being in your 20s and feeling like you are behind from everyone else. I'm going to give you guys some very unconventional advice. And this might be unhealthy. It might be a little bit toxic, but I think it'll get the job done. When I was 22, I really thought I was going to get married. I thought I was going to get married younger. I thought I really wanted this whole idea with my life. And I saw these other couple and people and I really wanted what they had. I was like, "Oh my god." Like they are like married, they're happy, they have it all done, like they're they don't have to date anymore. Like which is not a good enough reason to get married. At the time, I really thought that that is what I wanted. Okay? And I would look around at all these people and I would see them and I would like compare myself to them thinking that that was what I wanted. Now fast forward what 5 years later. So many of the people that like I was looking at and wanted to be are either divorced, miserable, I hate their lives, they've ended up going off and becoming like really really really extreme, odd, or I know things about like their marriage that like I don't want to know. Like while this is bad advice cuz it's obviously not everyone's story, I'm just giving you an example of like you just never know. Like you feel like you're behind and now there's a lot of those people who are actually divorced or getting divorced and having to start over later in life. So like you just like never know. And not to say like that isn't about like getting married young or anything like that. It's just like an example. You're not behind at all. I feel this way all the time, but I do remind myself of this very toxic unhealthy story of like, you know, I wanted to be them and now they're divorced and having to start over and like I didn't have to go through all that. So whenever you feel like you're behind, like it could always get worse for the next person. That's horrible advice because like it's not about the next person. Like it needs to be something within yourself. But I feel like I've given that advice on this podcast and I don't think it's been wellreceived. So, I think that this might be the advice that really hits home. Okay. Number two, I'm feeling so burnt out, lost, and unmotivated. How do I get out of this rut? Okay. I don't think you're lost as much as I think you need a hobby. I heard this lesson like my early 20s that really helped me. And it was basically saying that like rest and being lazy are not the same thing. Being lazy is being lazy and rotting. Resting is doing things that are recharging you. So, when you're feeling like you are unmotivated or in a rut or you're feeling lost and like you can't just like quit your job and not work anymore, I would try to add things into your day-to-day that you actually enjoy that like fill you up because that's actually going to give you energy. For so long, when I was in my earlier 20s, I would like rest, aka be lazy at that time. And I was so confused why I would like lay in bed all day for like a Sunday just to like feel better the next day and I would feel worse the next day. And I realized it's because I wasn't doing things that were like refueling me and recharging me. And something that's just been great in my 20s is like developing hobbies, which is like I'm a broken record. It's all I ever talk about, but that's because it's made such a big difference in my life. So, I feel like if you're feeling lost, like in a rut, unmotivated, try developing a hobby because it breaks you out of your routine. It gives you confidence because you're able to like learn a new skill or get better at something else. You have a break from being on your phone and doing something else. It makes you a more interesting person. You meet new people. You're in a new environment. You're doing something different. It's breaking up your like everyday. You're not lost. You just need a hobby. I think that's what it is. Dallas Rex for a 20-year-old. I'm just going to refer you to my DFW master list down actually in the description below. Okay. Propaganda you're not subscribed to. Uh this is like a Tik Tok trend right now. Here's the thing about propaganda I'm not subscribed to. I don't love that trend because I don't love things that are like yucking other people's yums always. And I also don't like how on social media unless and I don't mean this on like the grand scheme of like big ideas and human rights and those like obviously I'm not talking about that but like if you are not exactly what someone else wants you to be like thinking the same way saying the same things talking the same way you like if you're not exactly who they want you to be they hate you and I just or they're like oh I'm over her like I just I don't like that. I just think I don't like the propag like not to make this so deep I know it's not that deep it's like literally a Tik Tok trend but like I'm not subscribed to that. Like people can like what they want to like. I remember just being around people in my 20s in my 20s as if I'm not 27. Like the way that I say this guys is like insane. But I remember like just being around friends who would outwardly like shun things that I liked and like thought it was like a fun conversation. And I didn't always like the things that they liked, but I respected that they liked them. Like I just think it's cool to like things. I think it's cool to like be interested. It's cool to like things. It's not cool to like make fun of people for what they like. I don't know. I just like don't like it and I'm not into it. So, how to deal with friends who are jealous of your relationship and boyfriend. I just have this gut feeling that like I don't know if they're jealous. I I don't know if they're jealous of it. I would say, and this is different if you have one friend who hates every boyfriend that you've had and relationship that you've been in, maybe that's something to check into. Unless you're one of my friends. No, I'm just kidding. But I think if your friends and family, people around you really don't like a partner, it's definitely worth cuz it's one thing for them to just like not like love them. Like they just don't click, that's fine. Whatever. Like not everyone has to be like besties, but for them to like really hate him. Like I don't know if it's jealousy. I would just first check that like do other people in your life not like him cuz maybe it's not jealousy, maybe it's hatred. If it is jealousy, I think that's weird. Like jealousy is like a normal human emotion, but like not in that like that is weird. I would I would move on from that. How to cultivate your vibe when moving. I don't know if you mean like my vibe or like my house. We'll go with the vibe. I in Nashville, even though I said I've only gone to a bar one time. Listen, we will be there in June. I really wanted to be like making a lot of new friends. I'm either like making I'm either the girl that's like inviting 30 people over or I only want like the three friends that I've had since I was eight like with me at all times. I went into it like wanting to make a ton of friends and like wanting to kind of shift my day-to-day routine and make it a little bit different than Dallas. I will say the move to Nashville has made me love my life in Dallas so much more and appreciate my life and it like kind of got me out of like a really bad rut. But I went into it with like intentions. I would say that was kind of like the vibe. How to deal with being far from family to study and work for your dream career. Living away from family is very hard. I did it for like 5 years from like 17 to 22 and I was so young at that time and we had experienced less tragedy. So it wasn't as hard for me. I was really young and naive honestly and that really worked to my benefit and I liked it and at the time I feel like it was actually really beneficial for a lot of my like my relationship with my parents and stuff like got better with me living far away cuz you just like appreciate them more and you're not in each other's face and it's just like I think it's just good for like space but now I mean I experienced being homesick for like the first time real like real homesick for the first time ever and it is really hard I would say it just depends on the situation like I'm trying to remind myself personally that like this is temporary and I will go back and I will be home and I'll be with my family again. But some like small things that I used to do too is I in LA I would light candles that I lit at my home in Texas cuz that made me feel like very homey, very cozy, FaceTime a lot. I would talk like to my family all the time. Another thing I will say though is I would try to focus less on being homesick and more on like quite literally anything else in your life. Like I feel that similarly when you have an issue in life I feel like I do this personally like you'll all you think about is your problem. All you think about is your issue and you're all not thinking about anyone else besides yourself, right? And you make it this really big thing because it's all you think about. But then the second that your focus isn't on yourself and you're focused on like helping someone else or doing something for someone else. It's breaking you out of it, you're realizing your problems are not that big and also like you're not meant to sit there and focus on yourself 247. And I feel like when you're homesick, it's really easy to like sit there and isolate and just be thinking of your problems 24/7. So, I would actually really try to channel that energy into like building a life wherever you are and getting the most that you can out of where you're at there. So, I would pay attention to being homesick. I would, you know, light the candles, do whatever that is for you and your home. I would FaceTime your family. I would, you know, phone calls, all of that stuff. But I would really try to like build a life for yourself where you're at so that you're building that home for you there. If that makes any sense. How do we get the Foster Sisters on the podcast, guys? I am so obsessed with them. And like I just feel like Sarah would absolutely hate me. She hates influencers. I listen to every single podcast. Like I have not missed a week. I feel like I'm their spokesperson. I know everything. I own Favorite Daughter. I knew everything about the show. Anytime someone's like, "Have you seen Nobody Wants This?" I'm like, "Have I seen Nobody Wants This?" Of course I have. I know everything there is to know about that. Like, do you know that's based off like Aaron and Sarah Simon's love? Like, I have a whole thing. Anyway, I want them on the podcast so bad. I actually was almost seated next to Sarah at South by Southwest. I was supposed to be seated next to her at dinner. I was so I mean, I swear I I would be cool. I would like play cool, of course. But I was so excited. And then she ended up having to fly home early. They are my dream podcast guest. I think they're perfect for the show, too, because they give such amazing advice for your 20s. And like that of course largely we talk about navigating life in your 20s and 30s cuz you know I am turning 30 in like two and a half years but I think that they would be the best. Like genuinely I would do a month of episodes with them. Like I love them if anyone has any connect. Here's the thing. I have connects and like it's still not happening. So like I just don't know that's in the cards. They're very busy. But like we need to get them on the podcast. If you guys haven't listened to World Series podcast, it is my favorite podcast ever. I'm so obsessed with them. Every Thursday morning I'm listening. Like every single Thursday I went to my scope class. I just love those women. They're incredible and we do need to get them on the podcast. Last question. How to do DIY projects without the fear of it not being perfect. This is quite simple. One, I don't really do DIY projects. And two, I am not a perfectionist. So like I I am never worried about something being perfect cuz like I'm lazy. So like when it comes down to it, I'm like, let's just slap that up there and that looks good to me. So I don't have that fear. So and I really don't do that many DIY projects. I want to try more. Like I definitely want to be doing a little bit more cuz like it is ridiculous. like I can take a door off. I I got a little spoiled with my handyman. I will say he would come over and I just have him do everything. And now I'm like, "Okay, like this is out of control." Like Reggie's busy, you know, like I can be doing other things. So anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed our nice little solo episode. You don't need a new life, you just need a hobby. Okay, it was nice to sit down, chat, relax, give you guys all the little updates. Leave um a suggestion below of the next solo podcast episode you guys want to see. I love you guys so much and I will talk to you in my next episode.