Episode #102: Flash Q+A

Elsie: You’re listening to the A Beautiful Mess podcast in this week’s episode, I’m doing a flash Q&A from our Instagram, as well as some questions from our new hotline. We’ll cover all kinds of topics from business to personal to design and even some mom stuff. OK, let’s jump in. So Keely’s joining me.

Keely: I’m so excited to be back and to be interviewing Elsie for this fun Emma episode. Yeah. So let’s just get right into it. All right. So first question. Any tips for figuring out a good layout. I wish I had an interior designer.

Elsie: Most people don’t have an interior designer. I’ve never worked with one. It’s not like something that everyone is going to have. And that’s OK. I think for layout, my best tip is to start with the big pieces of start with your rug, your sofa or your bed, whatever room you’re doing, and make sure that the scale is right. Scale is the most important thing you don’t want to have like. And it’s sad when you buy a piece that’s off scale and you have to switch like there’s times when it’s like the rug is just too small for the room. You can’t — like no amount of compensating or moving things around is going to change that. So if you get the scale right, that’s good. I recommend using tape if you’re not sure, like tape it off. And then the next tip is color palette. So if you get the scale right, the next thing is color palette. You can go neutral, you can go bold. But whatever you do, just plan it from the beginning and stick to it. (laughs) I know that, like, having a strict color scheme is not for everyone, so you don’t have to, but it just makes it easier. Also, sometimes it pushes me to try more colors. Like recently I was like, I’m going to cut off my pink and I’m going to try some other colors. And did you see my little office downstairs? It’s painted like a different color.

Keely: No! Oh my gosh, what?!

Elsie: It’s painted a totally different color. I can’t wait to show you.

Keely: Oh, my gosh. I’m so excited. All right. So what is your favorite and most recent big splurge and how did it make you feel?

Elsie: Oh, OK. So I’ve had a couple splurges lately. I got a entryway console from Serena and Lily. I was thinking about it for like six months and it was — and I like did the tip where I went on eBay and bought a coupon for 20 percent off and then it saved a lot. Like hundreds.

Keely: That’s like buying hotel points. That’s a life hack.

Elsie: It’s a life hack. I always do it whenever I shop from Serena and Lilly, especially because there’s always one on eBay and it is helpful. And there’s ones for other stores, too. Like if you like to shop like CB2 Pottery Barn, places like that, there will always be a coupon on eBay. So never skip that. Other than that, we recently finished landscaping and decorating our backyard around our pool area and I splurged on a fancy pool umbrella. (laughs) I’ll link it in the show notes. It was like the silliest but most joyful purchase that I’ve probably ever made in my life. It was like pure joy.

Keely: And from someone that’s seen it, it is such a high-impact item. I feel like I’m at the Beverly Hills Hotel, like it’s so charming and adds so much beautiful texture and color. It’s it was worth it for sure. Yeah.

Elsie: I love you. I love you so much, Keely.

Keely: All right. I know you used to scrapbook. Do you still scrapbook? How else do you document family memories?

Elsie: This is a funny question, OK, because if you have not followed me from the beginning, which most people haven’t. My first job in I guess the blog world was making my own scrapbooking line in my early 20s. It was called Love Elsie. And every once in a while someone still tags me in an Instagram where they’re like using my old scrapbook products that they have, like, saved in a box somewhere. And it makes me so happy. I still have a few in my garage. So anyway, that was my first start into blogging. That’s how the blog even started. And at the time it was something that was like very a very big, important part of my life. I definitely burned out. A lot of people who get very into scrapbooking burnout. (laughs) It’s definitely a thing. And I didn’t want to do it for a long time. I think when you mix your business life with your personal life, that’s a recipe for burnout. So I haven’t done it for years now and I’ve been making photobooks like Chat Books. So I’ve made a few like photobooks. And that’s basically how I’ve documented the kids so far. But I do have the intention this year that I’m going to make them each a really nostalgic scrapbook, just one each. I’m not going to become a full time scrapbook or bye. I’m just going to make two scrapbooks. So if I do it, I promise I’ll blog about it. For those few of you who still are like, please Elsie make a scrapbook again. I’ll do it for you.

Keely: I cannot wait to see thse. All right, so this person says I’m building a house from scratch. What are the must-haves right away and what can wait?

Elsie: This is what I would do: if you’re building a house from scratch, I would prioritize. Because I know that people are thinking you can get everything perfect. That’s not necessarily true.

Keely: And so much pressure to put on yourself. So much pressure.

Elsie: Right.

Keely: To think of everything.

Elsie: Yeah, I would chill a little bit on like the bedrooms in the living spaces, and I would focus your heart and your soul on getting a perfect kitchen and really good bathrooms that you because that is where you would save the most money, not needing to renovate later. So that’s my tip.

Keely: So smart.

Elsie: I hope it works. And good luck because that’s a huge — I thought about doing it and it was too much pressure for me. So good job for you.

Keely: Tips for redecorating your bathroom without removing any cabinets or built-in stuff.

Elsie: We have done this so many times. This is how we normally redo a bathroom. So Keely just did — actually Keely and I both just did — a blog post where we refinished our countertops. So Keely has one for Terrazzo and I have one for marble. I will link those in the show notes. Those are great. They’re not difficult. It was I thought mine was so much easier than I thought it was going to be.

Keely: Same. I watched a lot of videos to prepare myself for it and I thought it was going to be just like the hardest thing in the world. I did have to start over one time, but after I like got the hang of this one technique, it was like all downhill from there. So I agree with you.

Elsie: Ok, so we have a cabinet painting tutorial on A Beautiful Mess.

Keely: I just want to vouch for the cabinet painting tutorial though.

Elsie: It’s a game changer right?

Keely: Because we painted some built-ins with just regular latex paint — primed and painted. They’re sticky. They’re showing wear already. We just painted them last summer, but we did this hard drying cabinet painting tutorial from the blog that you’re talking about on our bathroom cabinets. It is like night and day. It’s like we got them professionally refinished in this new color. It is a game changer.

Elsie: It’s a very, very big deal. If you’re painting anything that is like trim shelves, cabinets, anything like that, you need to use this tutorial. It’s not that much extra work and it’s going to be such a better result. Other than that, I would just say, like, swap your lights, swipe your mirror. If you feel like you’re ambitious and you want to add like some removable wallpaper or some of that cute removable tile, do that. You can paint your walls, you can do a stamped like faux wallpaper. I love a low-budget bathroom makeover. I think there’s lots of ways you can do it. Just accept the things you cannot change. I will link to my main bathroom mini makeover actually also because I think it’s a good example. It’s like very nineties and I had to accept some things, but it was like a big upgrade. It feels a lot more us for now and I’m glad I did it. I think I at first I felt discouraged, like it wasn’t going to there wasn’t anything I could do to make a difference, but it did make a difference. So I highly recommend.

Keely: Next up, we have a biz lady question, a little business. Tips for partnering with brands you love.

Elsie: I’ll just give you my, like, most honest, like what I will say to my friends when I’m not being recorded. The truth is, you’re not going to get to work with every brand that you love, no matter who you are. Like, there’s so many brands I would love to work with, but it’s just never going to happen. And it — that sucks. Like no matter what level you get to, you’re not going to get to work with all the brands from your list, but you definitely will get to work with some of them and you’ll make new friends along the way. So I guess my my best tip for a just influencer sponsorship life is to keep an open mind, because a lot of the brands that are my absolute favorites now, I actually like got introduced to them through like, for example, Agility Bed. I never even heard of Agility Bed until I heard them on John and Sherry’s podcast. And now they’re like one of our consistent sponsors. And I love my bed.

Keely: Pretty sure you’ve sold me on an Agility Bed like you guys, high praise.

Elsie: I would just say keep an open mind. Yeah, like like in my dream world, you know, I would be like sponsored by Jonathan Adler every day, but that’s like never going to happen. And yeah. Don’t get fixated I guess is my advice.

Keely: Love that. OK, this one. I’m really excited to hear the answer to what new artists did you include in your twenty twenty-one music jar.

Elsie: Ok, so I did put a lot of repeats…

Keely: Maybe explain what the music jar is really fast in case somebody doesn’t know.

Elsie: Oh yeah! I have a blog post about it so link to it. But basically what it is. Is a jar that’s filled with 52 different musicians, artists and bands, and then each week you let your child, it can also be for adults. I do it with my kids. You let them pick one and then you play that artist in your home, in the car. And honestly, a lot of times we go more than a week on an artist, especially when it’s one of our favorites. And something cool that we did that helped was making a playlist where we were continually adding like the favorite songs of the new people. So that helped. Our kids are very fluent in old music, which I’m very proud of, and I have to credit it 100 percent to the music jar. So I did put a lot of repeats because our younger daughter is only three and when we were doing it the first time, our older daughter was three. So she doesn’t remember any of that. So our older daughter, like, knows all the Elton John songs and stuff, but we wanted them to both have that. So we did a lot of repeats on our absolute favorites. And I would say like 90 percent of the list was repeats. But here’s some people we added new, because I wanted to add more new music because a lot of it was old music the first time. So I added Britney Spears, added Sam Smith, Harry Styles, Katy Perry, Calvin Harris. So hopefully we’ll have a little more…

Keely: I approve of all of those in such an intense way. You know how much I love Harry. So, OK, so this is a good one. Favorite room you’ve ever renovated and why.

Elsie: Oh, man, that is such a tough question. I guess what I’m going to have to say is in our last home, our kitchen, because it was my first big kitchen and I feel like you’ll never forget your first, right?

Keely: Absolutely.

Elsie: And it was just like it was the first time that I ever took like a full, like, grandma room and made it into, like, my vision. And I learned a ton. I made a lot of mistakes and I fixed them along the way. It was just like all around a great learning experience. So, yeah, I hope to have more kitchens in my future that I love as much as that one. It was very special.

Keely: The vinyl wrapped appliances were a moment, say a moment. And I remember so when Elsie had done her kitchen, I was still like maybe eight months away from even meeting Elsie and being a part of the A Beautiful Mess team.

Elsie: Are you serious?

Keely: Yeah. So I like had that kitchen all over my Pinterest boards and I was so enamored by the fact that you could come up with an idea like vinyling the appliances, and it really inspired me to like, think outside of the box and try to come up with different applications for things when I was doing my house on a really tight budget. So I. I love that kitchen.

Elsie: Thank you. My gosh.

Keely: Let’s see. Advice. This is a really fun thing for me to ask you this question. Advice for talking to your coworkers or employees about performance issues.

Elsie: I honestly, this is a great question because it’s hard and it’s never, ever, ever going to be easy. So I’ll just frame it as like this is always going to be hard forever, like hiring people, firing people. And I guess disciplining feels like a weird word to say. But like giving warnings to your employees are definitely some of the hardest parts of owning a business. So my advice is it’s so it’s very simple. Just say the thing. You don’t like, apologize for it. You don’t make — don’t put it off. Just say the thing and then it’s done and you can both move forward and do better and hopefully it’ll, you know, be taken care of after that point. And maybe you’ll have to say the thing twice. But I’ve never I never think that there’s really any advantage to, like, covering your like I was calling the oreo cookie…like…

Keely: The compliment sandwich?

Elsie: Righ! Like just say like, please stop doing this or whatever thing you have to say, just say it. Yeah. Just accept it and just do it. And I think don’t give it this big power that it doesn’t need to have.

Keely: All right. Do you have a guide for people who like multiple styles and color palettes to help decide on a direction?

Elsie: Oh, no. This is my favorite question. OK, so I love I love, love, love this question. And the first thing I want to say is, like, you don’t have to give up any of your styles. You can have both. I think a lot of people feel like they have to be like on this very strong, severe theme. Actually, when you’re doing like your first house, you don’t you can definitely mix styles. And I definitely I think the best homes are a mix of more than one style. So I would say embrace that. And I’ve always felt like even in my most theme-y home there was a mix of styles that you could identify. I think it just adds like a richness and yeah, don’t give that up. All right. Let’s just take a quick sponsor break:

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Keely: All right. As an Enneagram seven, how did you follow with the 12 week year? It seems daunting.

Elsie: This is interesting because I get this this type of question so much so I think that other sevens, when they find out I’m a seven and they’re like, but how — basically like insert productivity question here. OK, so if you don’t know the twelve years a book, the Emma and I have, we’ve talked about it like at length on this podcast. So you’ve probably heard us talk about it. But if not, it’s a really good book that I definitely recommend probably the best productivity book I’ve ever read. And I’m following it right now and it’s going great. I guess a couple tips is that for me to stay, to start a goal is easy to stay through the whole process. Very difficult for an Enneagram seven. So I think knowing that about yourself and I like in the 12 week year how he talks about the valley of despair. Now, I know that the valley of despair is always coming. It’s that middle point when you want to give up, when you’re like it’s not going as perfectly as I want it to. Maybe I should start over. Maybe I should just, like, not put this pressure on myself. You know, it’s how any goal process goes. There’s always this point where you want to quit. So, yeah, it’s helped me very much to keep going, just knowing that. And the other thing that’s helped me from the 12 week year is the scoring yourself. So I score myself every day for my goal. And it is so weird and like I would say, cheesy, to be honest, but it’s helpful. And I think keeping that like honest reflection about whatever your goal is, just keeping that honest reflection. And then eventually you start to realize that not every day has to be a ten to achieve that goal in your life. In fact, it like they say in the book, that people who execute eighty percent will still fully achieve their goals. And I love that. So, yeah, we’re all going to have bad days. And I think that that makes a lot of people feel like they have to give up or start over, especially when you’re doing a goal that is like a business or productivity goal. Not every day is going to be a ten. It’s OK.

Keely: All right. Are you ready for a steep departure? To a beauty question.

Elsie: A beauty question! Wow.

Keely: What are your thoughts on eyelash extensions?

Elsie: Oh, this is a good question, because I had them for probably like two or three years before March of 2020. And then they were gone in an instant…

Keely: In a COVID instant.

Elsie: Yes, andI at this moment am not planning on putting them back yet. And I think this is where Emma and I part ways because she got hers back the first moment she could. And I get that because I think that eyelash extensions are really pretty. Like, for example, Jeremy and I were watching The Circle the other night and the girl, Chloe, he was like — iot was like showing her waking up. And he was like, why did she have on full makeup? Like, he was like trolling? And I was like, yeah, she has an eyelash extensions. Like, that’s why women love them! Because you wake up and you kind of look like you have on makeup.

Keely: Yeah. You feel complete.

Elsie: So I loved that feeling and nothing there’s like no like for me, confidence booster that can ever measure up to eyelash extensions and a spray tan like I love those things.

Keely: A spray tan. Ugh. Amazing.

Elsie: But I will say that I started using a serum and it is it works pretty good. And I like that I can fully wash off my mascara every night, like when you have eyelashes extensions you kind of have to like, be careful and you have to be careful when you’re in the swimming pool, the shower, like there’s annoying things about it and those things are gone. So I don’t know. I guess I feel — and I and I haven’t been wearing fake lashes like at all since I started using the serum. So I guess I feel like I’m living in like a modified state of being right now. And I can see, like the other side of it and it’s still good. It’s maybe not as good, but it’s still good. And I found the best clean mascara. There like…it’s the Bite one.

Keely: The Bite one, really?!

Elsie: It’s like I thought that the Ilia one was the one. It’s like the one ten times better.

Keely: How do you deal with negative people online?

Elsie: Oh, it’s such a challenge. So I will say that, like, in the beginning, my earlier days, I think that I just shut out all negativity regardless. And I think that was a mistake. I think that it’s important to always keep your brain turned on always and to listen, because sometimes when people are calling you out, they’re actually right. And the thing that they’re calling you out for is something like you could learn and do better at and like is a — is valid. I’ve learned a lot of things I need to learn from, quote unquote, negative comments on the Internet and definitely on Instagram. With that said, there’s also a lot of times when people are just trying to drag you for no reason and like, be hurtful or super weird. That’s what the restrict button is for, for sure. And I have pretty much zero tolerance for people who are going to come and, like, tell me that I’m like living my life wrong, like especially when it’s like something to do with parenting or something, anything personal, you know what I mean, or like something to do with my appearance. Zero tolerance. So I think you have to keep both lanes open. And what’s weird on the Internet is that sometimes they can mix.

Keely: Yeah, that’s a very insightful answer. There’s definitely a grey area there.

Elsie: I definitely had the experiences in life to back it up. And I and I don’t say that as a good thing, but I will say, like, as far as teaching my kids, I think a lot of people feel like they can shelter their kids from it. And I know that you can’t. So I’m going to teach them how to face it from the beginning. And I mean, I that’s what I goal is, so I want to teach them. Yeah. I think that as we raise our kids, let’s just remember that, like, we can’t hide the bad parts of the Internet from them, like that kind of stuff is always going to be there and it doesn’t necessarily make it not worth it.

Keely: So smart. So speaking of kids, what is your favorite thing about being a mom? What a sweet question.

Elsie: Oh, that is sweet. Honestly, my favorite thing about being a mom is just living every season. I’m like weirdly present right now. I think I’m too present, like every day I have to have, like, a conversation with Jeremy about how we have to appreciate this time in our lives. We just feel like ultra conscious that this is like a one time thing and we’re kind of like living in the glory days of what it’s like to be a parent. It’s really special. It’s really wonderful. It is hard work. And during 2020, when our kids were out of school for almost a year, you got guys like really, really hard. So for people going through that, I’m proud of you. And yeah, just because you’re having a hard day doesn’t mean that you don’t appreciate this time in your life like it can be both.

Keely: As a podcast queen. What podcasts do you listen to?

Elsie: Ok, I would love suggestions because I always want more podcasts in my life. But my favorite podcast I’ve listened to the most, I think everyone knows, like I got my start listening to John and Sherry’s Young House Love Has a Podcast.

Keely: A classic!

Elsie: Yes, but they’ve kind of. Aren’t doing it right now, which was devastating, I know it’s devastating for everyone. But I’m loving the You’re Wrong About podcast. I’m loving You and Me Both, Hillary Clinton’s podcast, like I understand when people don’t love Hillary the way I do, but she is like my third mom and I love her with all my heart. And her podcast is great. It’s a great interview podcast. I’ve learned a lot and heard from a lot of people that I just never would’ve heard from on there. I like Elise gets crafty. So my friend Elise, our third sister, as we call her, she has a podcast and I always enjoy her episodes. I would love your suggestions. I’m very excited about the Sharon Says So podcast launching…

Keely: Ugh Sharon is so great.

Elsie: Great. She’s so great. Also, I love the Lady Gang podcast. It’s kind of like my guilty pleasure fun podcast. And I listen to the — what’s it called the Office Ladies podcast. It’s just great. It’s wonderful. I, I love to watch The Office. We just did finally bought the, you know, the thing we bought on iTunes and yeah. It’s so expensive and it’s like we have it forever now! Worth every penny. So I just listened to their episode about the Booze Cruise. Oh my God. It was so good.

Keely: That’s a great episode. I love the Booze Cruise episode.

Elsie: Wow we listen to the same podcasts!

Keely: Yeah. I need to start listening to the Hillary one. I listen to a lot of like pop culture podcasts. So do you guys watch Saturday Night Live?

Elsie: Mmhmm.

Keely: Do you know Bowen Yang? He has a podcast with his friend Matt Rogers. It’s called Las Culturistas. It’s amazing. So that’s like my my main one.

Elsie: Nice. I’m going to try that. Anyway. I’d love to hear your suggestions. If anyone has a podcast suggestion, like I really just started listening to them not that long ago, like I listened to John and Sherry’s and then I was like, Emma, let’s have a podcast. And that was like right before we started. So I have only listened to them for a year or so. But I will say, like, I’m not like the true crime lady. That’s just not me.

Keely: Same.

Elsie: I just love like I would love more podcasts at home. I’ve tried a lot of business podcast and I find them to be like sometimes really boring.

Keely: Yeah, just hard to get through.

Elsie: Yeah. Just like a lot of just like money, blah, blah, blah. But like I, I only like to learn about money from my people, you know, not just like.

Keely: Yes. Your trusted sources.

Elsie: Right. Have to trust in that way.

Keely: Ok, as a mom, is there anything you’ve shared that you regretted?

Elsie: Oh, OK. I thought about this question quite a bit. It was like haunting me a little. And I will say, like, I went into motherhood with the expectation that I’m going to make mistakes and I’m going to have regrets. And I think that’s normal. And so before I share my answer, which is yes, you don’t have to send me a message. This is like it’s OK. Like, I know it’s OK. Like, we’re all going to make mistakes and nobody’s going to be a perfect parent. If I had to go back. The thing I regret is I regret sharing my kids’ names online and I wouldn’t share their names because I do feel like anonymity is a luxury. That’s something Sherry just said to me actually. And I am like keeping that as my mantra. It’s a luxury and I feel regretful that I shared their names and that now they have like a google-able history that wasn’t of their making. So yeah, if I had to go back, I would do that differently. I don’t think it makes me a bad mom. I knew I was going to make mistakes. And guess what? I made some. And I, I think that in the future I’ve already kind of like pulled back quite a bit on what I share and I’ll probably pull back more as they get older. But overall, I feel like sharing, sharing certain things about our parenting journey and our kids online has been worth it. And especially when I talk to like my mom and my grandma. And I know that, like, that’s one way that they’re like looking to see, like pictures of our kids and stuff. It makes me feel like, I don’t know, there is some something special there, too. And now let’s take a quick break and hear from our sponsors.

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Keely: So continuing down the parenting path, do you have any tips for helping kids cope with a move?

Elsie: Moving with kids is really hard. I have one kid who’s a big feeler who doesn’t like change and that is something that like, if you know you have that, be prepared. So here’s some things that we did. So one is letting them pack a special box with all their special things in it. So on the first night, they can get out like all their night light their toys, like all the things like maybe some favorite books, some things that are like comfort in that bedroom. And the other tip, I would say, is set up their bed and their bedroom first, like right away immediately and try to make it as familiar as possible. Like don’t wash their sheets before you move. Let the sheets like smell like they smell like and just bring them with you.

Keely: That’s a good idea.

Elsie: Kids are really like big feelers and moving is truly scary to them. Like when you think about it it’s like we have these exciting…like we go look at a house, we know how much it cost. We know the features, like they don’t care about any of that stuff. Like they just feel like they’re losing their safe place, you know? So the sooner you can, like, put that back together for them and show them, and then the last thing is to kind of let them do something. So let them like hang up some of their art on the walls. Maybe you can, like, plant a tree together or plant a flower or just do things that show them like this is your home where you live. These are your memories, like this is all for you. I think that that kind of thing has been very helpful as we move.

Keely: Back to the Enneagram (laughs) we love an enneagram question.

Elsie: I’m glad everyone loves talking about the Enneagram so much because I love to talk about it. And I know it is annoying to some people and I’m sorry for you, but it is. I love it so much

Keely: As a fellow seven. How do you stay focused on what you want most and not what you want right now?

Elsie: I think that it’s OK to give yourself things you want right now. It’s like being a seven isn’t a bad thing. I think like remember that your excitement about life is what makes you like try that new recipe and what makes you decorate for Christmas early. Like, those are good qualities that are going to, you know, make your family happier and make your life more exciting. I think when it comes to goal setting, you do have to — you have to find ways to trick yourself into staying focused. And I am like the queen of tricking myself. So I think find ways to sort of like manipulate yourself, whether it be a reward at the end or chart those kind of little things help me to like celebrate each step. I think when I stop celebrating a goal, it just becomes boring. And that’s why I have like a hard time maintaining baselines instead of — like I have an easier time doing a new goal that I’m excited about. And that’s normal seven stuff. So you’re not alone, but yeah. Trick yourself.

Keely: Are you ready for a serious question Elsie?!

Elsie: Yes!

Keely: If you had a knuckle tattoo, what would it say.

Elsie: I would never have an knuckle tattoo so. I just don’t think it would be me, but I do have a couple of friends who have them and they’re very cute. So anyways, I would put WINE MOM, how do you think that would look, WINE MOM?

Keely: I’m into it.

Elsie: OK, so funny little side note, this past year Emma and I — we knew that we had to call our podcast A Beautiful Mess podcast because it was like the obvious name. It was like the branded name. That made sense. But I wanted like a fun, exciting name for the podcast. So anyway, my biggest regret is not calling our podcast Wine Moms because I think that’s the perfect podcast name. So someone else out there, please start a podcast called Wine Moms, and I promise you, I’ll give it a listen.

Keely: So to round out our episode, we have a couple of hotline questions.

Tracy: Hi, this is Tracy from Missouri. And this question is for Elsie. I’m wondering, post pandemic, what’s the first place you can’t wait to take your whole family on vacation? Can be either road trip or by plane looking for ideas for our little family. Have a great day, bye.

Elsie: Oh, well, congratulations, Tracy. We made it to the end or whatever the semi end. I don’t know how to feel about it. I feel really weird. I think a lot of people feel really weird. I recently went to my first restaurant in a long time and I felt so weird. It feels good but weird. It’s not how I expected it to feel, I think, for a vacation — so this summer we have already committed with our family to go on a Disney trip with Jeremy’s family so we are doing that. And I am looking forward to it. We’re driving. So our first trip where we fly, I think after, I think in the fall when Emma’s returned from maternity leave and hopefully things are a little bit more settled, we would like to go with our kids to Palm Springs just because that’s our special place. And Goldie has never been there still, which is so crazy because, yeah, we normally go like twice a year. So we haven’t been in almost two years now and it feels like an eternity. So I am excited to go to Palm Springs and eat at Birba and stay at the Parker and go to the special kids pool because they have a kid’s pool. (laughs)

Keely: Oh cute!

Elsie: I think it’s perfect. But honestly, like at this point in life, every single thing we do feels so special. Like everything has this like heightened like appreciation, which I know it won’t last forever.

Keely: But I mean, I hope it never wears off like I know it’s going to. But wow, it’s so special.

Elsie: It’s definitely a defining moment in our lives that we’ll never forget the feeling of. For those of us who quarantined for a whole year till we got our vaccines, it is bonkers. It was it was something I never, like, prepared — like I would sooner prepare myself for, like some kind of like nuclear bunker in my basement than this. Like I never had this on my radar. So it’s very funny.

Keely: Ok, and our last question,

Caller: Is there an interior design style totally different than what you currently have that you would like to try out?

Elsie: Ok, so I have on my pinboard my personal pinboard — I’ll like it. It’s like all a style that I don’t think people would say is like me. And it’s not exactly what I do in my house here. It’s like really for a historic home and I’ve been saving it and saving it. And I’m hoping at some point will be able to get a little place in Missouri where the cheap old houses are (laughs) and really do that historic style. I love like a 1920s, like an American four square or a bungalow or a craftsman or…I’ll go on and on. I love historic homes and I would love to do a home where I like leaned into that instead of away from it. OK, so that was fun. I hope you guys had fun hearing all the randomness. Next week we’ll be back with a new episode. If you would like to call in and leave us a question, we now have a podcast hotline. The number for it is 417-893-0011. And also, just as a reminder, all the stuff we mentioned in this episode will be in the shownotes at abeautifulmess.com/mpodcast. Also, a transcript of every episode is in there, too. So if you’re ever in a place where you like, for whatever reason, you prefer to read it instead of listen, go get that transcript.