Pretty In Pink Again

Episode 33: Laughing Your Way Through Motherhood: Finding Humor, Community, and Balance with Maria Roberts

• Kristina Bontempo • Season 1 • Episode 33

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Episode Description: 

In this episode, Christina and Kristina sit down with lifestyle creator Maria Roberts — the voice behind @mariaroberts and former co-founder of the beloved blog Spinach for Breakfast.

Maria shares how she went from creating easy recipes with her sister in their early blogging days to building one of the most relatable (and funniest) motherhood communities online. She opens up about:

  • The shift from Hoboken’s walk-everywhere lifestyle to suburban mom life
  • How she uses humor to stay grounded through motherhood’s ups and downs
  • The inspiration behind The Little Glow Society and creating a space for kids to feel celebrated
  • What it's really like to have content go viral — the good and the bad

It’s an honest, funny, and heart-filled conversation about identity, change, and finding connection in the middle of motherhood.

💗 Pink Spotlight
Each week, we highlight a moment, product, or practice that’s bringing us joy:

✨ Christina: The Alix Earle iPhone light — it’s under $25 on Amazon and truly a must-have for any content creator. It clips right onto your iPhone, laptop, or iPad and makes a huge difference in low light. Alix Earle made it famous for a reason — it’s the best for nighttime photos or beauty videos.

✨ Kristina: Portofino ‘97 by Victoria Beckham — she hadn’t switched up her perfume in years, but after smelling this on a friend, she had to copy. It’s become her new signature scent — fresh, warm, and just so good.

✨ Maria: A family tradition that’s as heartwarming as it is simple — every night at dinner, her family shares the peak and the pit of their day. It’s a sweet ritual that gets everyone talking and keeps them connected.

🌸 Things We Mentioned

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📌 Follow us on Instagram: @prettyinpinkagain @christinatarabishy @kristinabontempo
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Don't forget:  Leave us a written review on Apple Podcasts, DM us your address, and we’ll send you a light pink beaded bracelet with a gold pink flamingo charm—just to say thanks for being here. 💕

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I'm Christina and I'm t and this is the Pretty and Pink Again podcast. We're Motherhood Meets Rediscovery. Hello. Hi guys. Hi. Hey. We have a virtual guest on today. Yay. Maria Roberts. We are so excited to have you, Maria. Thank you so much for having me. My first podcast ever, so I can't believe that. I'm very excited. You must be in such demand though. I'm sure people wanna hear from you because if you guys don't know Maria, first of all, go follow her. Her handle is at Maria Roberts. And if you don't know who I'm talking about, you've probably seen her in your feed and you've probably sent her to one of your mom friends, or Christina has sent you one of her Yes. Memes. Yes. But she is a gorgeous, hilarious mom humor account and just woman humor account. I feel like you make light of all of the stuff that we as women and moms go through. And so you have definitely seen her in your feed before and she is here live and we're so excited to chat. Thank you. Thank you again. I'm excited too. Yeah. I love watching your content. I think you are so cute and I love that you make light of. Everything that's going on in this house right now. I'm like, how did she know that was happening here today? Yeah. Yeah. Liz is happening at your house. It must be, it's probably happening at your house. It's always like perfect timing too, because sometimes I'll see something and I'm like, wait, she literally must have been in our house.'Cause we just had this conversation. We just had this argument. How did you know Maria? Wait, the one that you just did the other day with the hormones, with the, you jumping up and down and on the ground and we just did a podcast about hormones. Yep. And I'm like, this is hysterical. And the husband's just standing there so stoic. Anyways, I love your stuff. It's awesome. Thank you. I feel like it all is just so relatable is what I'm finding, especially creating this content as well. Sometimes I'll be like, this is funny to me and you throw it out there and you don't know necessarily what the reaction is and when everyone is oh my god, same. And I like to consume that content as well. It makes you feel. Better. If you're stressed about something, you're like, oh, I don't even know if I'm doing this right. Or I messed up the other day. And then you get to see a video of someone doing the same thing and it's funny and then you're like, okay, this is fun. Like I, we're all fine. Yes. We're all doing our best. Yes. We're all doing our best. We're all our best over here. Yeah. I love that so much. I think it really helps. And I love, from like a lighthearted perspective, I feel like motherhood, we always say, and t and I have guests on and we tackle all the hard stuff on here but we also always say we don't wanna come off complainy. And so sometimes the best way to get through something is to laugh. And so that's why we appreciate, the humor in this. Yeah. You have to laugh your way through motherhood because if not you scream, you cry, you complain, you push people away. When you use humor, it brings you close to the people that are around you. I think to your point, we all talk about the same stuff all the time, and you can go about it in two ways or multiple ways. Yeah. You can be really crotchety and complainy about it. Yep. Which, ugh, come on. Nobody wants to hear that. Yeah. We're all going through the same stuff. Why are we gonna all complain together? Or you can like joke about it. Laugh about it, and laugh about it. Yep. Yep. And move on. You always say too, you're always like if you if you like took the roof off of the house Yes. If you took the roof off everyone's house is probably the same. Everybody's probably having the same argument. Everybody like looks like their life's together and it's not. You're probably having the same meltdown that we are and everybody's sitting next to the same pile of laundry. Literally as we speak. Thousand percent. I like cannot agree with that more. It's really the only way that I can get through it. I wanna take us back and I will, I'll kind of preface and say me and you know each other. So we, yes. We went to college together. We didn't run in the exact same circle, but there was a lot of crossover with our friends. Yeah. And so Maria, you went to Yukon. She went to Yukon. She's RH too. Is it? You're a Ucon girl. I'm a Yukon girl. Oh my. And you graduated in oh eight? Yep. Oh my gosh. Wow. Yeah. Fun. Small rock. I love that. We connected a few years after graduation because we had both started blogs and your blog was with your sister and you were one of my favorite recipe accounts. I feel like you share a little bit of that now, but that was how you started and I feel like that's such an interesting point. So I wanna talk about that and then your transition into this mom humor account. So can you take us back? It's funny, take us back. We were in like the OG era, like pre-Instagram. Instagram wasn't even a thing and I feel like it's so funny it how, why I even started, this is so random, but Lou, who is my husband, bought me a camera for my birthday, like one of those like Canon, yeah. Zoom lens cameras. And I remember being like, I. Want to use this, but what am I going to take pictures of? And at the same time, I was doing this clean program cleanse with my sister. We both lived in the city and we're like, what if we start to take pictures of what we're making for dinner?'cause this was like pre. Gluten free, dairy free. It was like on the cusp, but you couldn't really find recipes like you can today where it's everywhere. Like it wasn't as niche. No. We were like, what if we take pictures of what we're eating, put it on a blog, and it's only for like if anyone's doing the clean program cleanse, they can come to the blog. It was like so narrow, so specific, and really just like a side hobby. We were both working full time, but we were like, this could be fun. Let's use the camera. And that's really how it started. It was spinach for breakfast because in this clean program you had a green smoothie every morning. So that's how we started it and it was like a no pressure, just for fun hobby. Christina, did you feel the same way when you started it? I did. It really was just for fun. Yep. I remember specifically you being on my blog role, I've talked about this like where you used to have the side blog, like where you would be like, oh, there's other people that you should follow, and you were on there. Yes. And I was like, this is one of my favorite recipes. And I always loved making your stuff because again, you had the most amazing, very like easy, very healthy recipes. And so those were, some of those were like in my rotation and honestly still are. So I was like so excited to be able to like collaborate with you in that way. And I know we used to share each other and so it's just crazy. We go, yeah. Back, way back totally. It's funny. And I feel like there weren't as many people doing it. And I think when Instagram started, anyone who had a blog shifted over onto Instagram. But again, like there was no influencer, if you were to make money, it was if you had an ad bar on your blog. Yep. Like that, right? That's like how people made income. We started in this world where they're. Paid partnership on Instagram wasn't even a thing. Nope. Yet. No. And then it just slowly started to evolve the same way your account did as well. And I don't know. Here I am now, I know for my full-time job, but can you talk to us about I guess like the split off because you did do the blog with your sister and then it was your Yes. Your Instagram was also the two of you, like the face of it. I wonder if you scroll back, I'm sure on your account, right? It's probably still there. Oh yeah. Deep in there. So how did that, but yeah, no, how did it kind of transition then? So we did that for a while and my sister and I actually lived in the same building in the city for a few years. So that made it really easy because we worked during the day we came home, I would make a recipe, she'd come over and shoot it. Like we had a little thing going. We had a good work plan. Yeah. Yeah. And again, it was just for fun. But then I moved to Hoboken with Lou. She was still in the city. This was like I was having kids and our content just started to shift a little bit. I feel like the passion that I had for the food was really more in like the photography, the blog, post writing. I don't, I didn't really love cooking. I still don't love cooking. It wasn't like that was the passion of mine. I think when you create content, you have to love what you're doing. Sure. If you're going to have longevity in doing it. And I started to burn out a little bit. With the food. My sister was like deep in a full-time corporate job, and we were what should we do here? And this is when it was really like 2020. TikTok was coming through, lifestyle was becoming really big. Humor was becoming really big. I was pregnant with T Kaya and I was like, I think that this is the direction that I want to go in. It's what I'm consuming. So I feel like it's what I'm going to love to create. And it was just a natural shift and I'm so happy that I did it.'cause I don't know if I could have maintained doing the recipe content for that much longer.'cause I just like my, like heart wasn't in it, if that makes sense. No, it makes perfect sense because I think if anything in life. You have to have passion about what you're doing and you have to love what you're doing if you're gonna stand behind it. Because if you otherwise, to your point, you're gonna have burnout and you're gonna have fatigue and you're, yeah. The people that are watching your content are gonna feel it. And it's also what's relatable to you right now? What you're going through. And so Exactly. That's how you build that audience is because it has to be authentic to what is in your life right now, especially the lifestyle content. And I can imagine with the food just constantly needing to create and reinvent and figure out I can't imagine how hard that must be. So this seems just like a much more natural progression. Do you remember your first video when you pivoted to more of the mom humor, lifestyle, more of what you were saying that you were consuming? Do you remember your first video that you put out? I remember one video I did with Lou and I was like, I don't know how this is going. And it's so funny. It is not this is not my. Personality, and I mean it is, but if you would've told me back in college, Maria, your job is going to be humor content online for people to view, I would've been like, there's no fucking way. There's no way that I'm doing that for my job. So the fact that I'm doing this is funny, but Lou and I did a video, I don't know if this is the first one, but it was the first one that really got traction where it was like the intro was like. Our kids just went to bed and we were like, what are we gonna do next? And it was like us on the couch listening to one of those like murder things. It just was lighthearted and funny. But people thought it also again, it's relatable, same, and Nick also do that and it's shareable. And I think that's again, when like the algorithm and everything started shifting, there's some content creators where if you like, go in a different direction and it kind, you're just like following the algorithm. And and I mean that in like the best way. Like when sharing became really important when you could hit that arrow and send it to people. Yes. That's when stuff started to take off. So if you had content that was stuff that people wanted to share with their husband, with their friends with their family, that's when that all started. So you were just like in that snowball where it just Yes. Started to all click and make sense. You keep referencing your husband, Lou? Have you roped him into this with you and how does he like doing the humor videos with you? He's the best because he if it wasn't for me, he would not even be on social media. He's not trying to be like a social media star. Like he really does it for me because I ask him and he's so naturally funny and so naturally good at it and people love him. So yeah, he is just the best and supportive of me and I think that when you do have a husband who. Can partake in your videos. It does open up a different. Area of content and videos that I can do. And again, I think the husband and wife or the parents is just like another whole relatable aspect and Oh, totally. He really is just so good. Like he'll do it in one take and it'll take me like seven takes. Oh, I love it. Are you an actor? Like you do that? Tell me that you can act. I dunno what's happening, but he is. He's great. That's really fun. That's awesome. I know. That's really fun. And I feel again, it opens it up to more of the parent thing because I feel like it's very easy to. Constantly just be like, oh, moms are in this. Moms are in it. Yeah. But like a lot of the times it's, I feel like the dads sometimes get left out of it, like if you have a very involved partner, a very involved dad, like they're experiencing the same stuff too. So they're probably finding exactly the same humor in things. And so it is really nice. And then it's also, I think it's like nice to see you guys poking fun at it together as opposed to just being from the female point of view. Just like you poking fun at yourself. Or the situation. The togetherness is also more relatable. And I think it's funny sometimes because I feel like we'll do videos sometimes that we'll poke fun at Lou, like he's poking fun at himself, but then there will be like an uproar in the comments. But I feel like I don't, I'm like, we're just pretending. And he's involved in this. Like he knows what's going on. Like he's saying the line. So like he's there. I know he's here, he's recording it. I guess that's a good question. How has it felt? I'm gonna reference one'cause I know you've had some very viral videos. What's your most viral video? What are the views on, do you have a few pins that are, so here's what's funny. I have two that I think of very viral videos. For two very different reasons. My most viral video is of Blue. He back in Hoboken, took Luca to the coffee shop across the street. He took him to school every morning and they stopped at the coffee shop across the street for 10 minutes every morning just to have time together. And then he would walk him to school because he works full time. And that was like a great one-on-one time for him. So I posted a video of that.'cause every morning he took a picture of Luca in the little coffee shop seat that has, I think like 3.1 million likes and wow. All it just hit, it just is like very heartwarming sentiment. A unique story. Yeah. And it's awesome. Like I, it's my favorite video that I've ever created and the comments on that video are amazing. I read through and I get teary eyed for the things that people are saying. And The Today Show reached out and I. Good morning America had reached out. It like became a whole thing and it was awesome. So cool. On the flip side of this, we did another video, which we were on a airplane. On a plane. Yep. I know exactly which one. That's where I was going. So if anyone did not see the airplane video, it again is making fun of a relatable situation where I was sitting with both kids on the plane, I'm in the middle and I'm like getting them their snacks and like doing all the stuff. And then it pans over to Lou and he's like watching a movie just across the aisle. Yes, just across the aisle. And I feel like for me, that is a true situation of how we fly where if we're gonna go anywhere, he books the vacation, he books the flight, he books the reservations. Like everything about the vacation he handles, I handle. Packing the kids' carry-on bags and packing their outfits and we divide and conquer that way. So when we're on the airplane, especially when they were little, it was easier for me. I knew what was in there, carry-on bags. It was easier for me to sit next to not one of my toddlers and a stranger to just not that poor stranger in the corner. Just have both my kids there. So you're making fun of a relatable situation, which in the beginning when I posted it, so many moms were like. So funny. Same thing. Yeah. Like we fly the same way. This is hysterical. Then it hit like the other side of social media, which again, not everybody is going to find my content funny. Not everybody is going to agree. I totally understand that. But it like went like dark, got on the Daily Mail. It was like this whole thing father doesn't sit with family on airplane. I'm like, he's literally right. Like handing kind of the water cup like across the aisle. He's not like up front. So it just was funny. I, that type of stuff does not bother us. I feel like when it hits an audience of people who don't follow me, who don't know us, who just want to write mean things or whatever they say, like you have to just brush that off because. You can't get bothered by that type of thing. It's crazy because that, just for logistics wise,'cause I don't think we talked about this like we know this, but you, so it's you and Lou, and then you have two kids. So you have Luca and Kayah, and so it's four of you. So if you are on an airplane, there are no four seats. It's three and three, sometimes 3, 2, 3. Everyone was like, we would never it's always 50 50. Like I take one, my husband takes one, which like, if that works for you, amazing. I hope that works for you. But for me it was just easier to have both my kids next to each other not bothering anybody else. I could shuffle back and forth and then. Again, then we get off the airplane and my husband is the one who is carrying the suitcases and has organized the transportation to pick us up and is covering the cooking when we get back. And we, you divide and conquer in different ways. I know not and this is again just my opinion, but I feel like not every single task has to be 50 50, I think. Okay. Yep. Divided up with just what works for you. And is it always the best situation for the mom? No. Sometimes we end up carrying on things because our kids also. Just might wanna sit with us. And it's a struggle, and you're not gonna fight it. You're just gonna, whatever's making the situation as smooth as possible, I don't know how it is in your families, but my kids act differently when me and Nick are together versus when it's just like me and the four little ducklings, or like me, Nick and the, and all the kids together. And when it's just me and the four kids. I do everything. I like pride myself on that. Yes, I can go to the dance competition and the hockey games and I can do all the bags and I can do all the things and I can get all the food and every, whatever. It's totally fine. But if Nick is around, I act like I don't have it. My hands don't work. I'm like the bags, the food. What are we doing? Yes. I just dumped them. Duh. It's crazy though'cause the fact that you even have to explain that. I think it's unfortunate. It's part of the job. Anytime you're like opening yourself up and you're explaining how you do things in your family, some of it, like you said, it like hits the right audience. It's relatable. Yeah, it's likable. And then when it hits the dark web, when it hits the wrong people, then you end up. Unfortunately, having to hear some of those comments, it's nice to know that you guys try to roll them off. Like you, you know what place it's coming from. It's coming from a lighthearted place, you know how you operate and you know what works for your family. So you just have to let that roll off. But I'm sure it's hard and it's nice that you guys get to go through it together and it's nice when you guys are in it and on the same team and you can let it roll off, but I'm sure sometimes it sucks just to, with your type of content too, you're probably nervous great, this is getting viral. And then you're like, oh shit. I hope this doesn't go to the wrong audience. That's probably rough. And again, I feel like we just circle back. And Lou is very funny as well and like our friends are, we just are surrounded by funny people and one of his friends after that was happening like made Lou a sweatshirt and it's all the mean comments from That's awesome. The real with like his face on the Daily Mail I feel like you just have to approach things. I love it. With humor. Yeah, because then what else? It's no, you're not gonna sit there and doom scroll and read all of these negative things and you can't do that if you do this job because. You're not gonna make it through. Like we know that we have a great thing going. If anyone else, wants to see differently, then that's of course like their own opinion. But you just kinda have to roll with it. So another one this was again during COVID, so don't judge me. No, I was pregnant during COVID. We were in our apartment. He was. Two, not even. And we watched a lot of Peppa Pig because I was drowning. And he legitimately developed a British accent. It was so cute. It was so cute. We didn't know because we were just in our own bubb, it's like hard to tell when it's your own kid. So finally we had people friends over for the first time and they were like, why is Luca British? I was like, is he? And he was like, can I have a cup of coffee? And we were like, oh God, he's British. That's so cute. It was the cutest thing. It was adorable. And yeah, we missed his little British phase. It phased out, but it was really cute when it, it was, and I think in the beginning too, I was sharing because I'm a speech therapist as well, so I was sharing a lot of that. As they were babies, a lot of that, like early language things and like showing examples of what to do from a speech therapist point of view, from a mom to promote language development. So I feel like it all just started naturally. I don't really have a plan. I just, I'm just going with it as my life is going and I feel like it will take like form and shape year to year just depending on how it goes. But it sounds like the videos are following you. You are not following these trends that other people are doing and you're not trying to recreate it. You are living your life, your children are growing, you're growing, lose, growing, and with that you're creating the content around what you're doing. That's why it's so organic and it's so fun and interesting to watch. For sure. Yeah, it helps. It's funny, like I feel like now, and Tu can understand this too, I'm in like. Homework phase. There's different humor. I'm out of the trenches, I would say of the Yes, Christina is very much Christina. You're in the trenches. Still in the trenches. That's why Maria's even given me t she's even wrote me back girl, it's okay. The light is coming. Yeah. It's so true. And I feel like that a lot, like a lot of that early motherhood stuff was like the in the trenches content. Yes. Because again, like you're in it. And I think sometimes when I would scroll and see other creators and they would make a funny video of it, I'm like, I needed that laugh today or like in that moment.'cause I'm drowning over here. Yes. But now my kids are five and seven now, so I'm So you're just starting to come, you're just now coming out of it now with your youngest just being five, that's a huge transition year. Going to school. Yeah, all day. I'm using air quotes because even my kids are in school all day and it's still not even all day, but yeah. When your kids are in preschool and you have to get them there from nine to 12, what are you supposed to do in three hours? How is some one supposed to work or do anything productive for three hours? Preschool adds time to your day. It doesn't for sure. Doesn't take it away. Yes, it enriches them for a few hours, but it is not good for the mom. But you've now entered this new phase. Yeah. I feel like just everything is easier. It does, and I feel like moms are like, it gets easier and it truly does. I can take a shower and I don't have to have my kids in the bathroom with me. And I even just think about the HI mean, this is the first time we're in a house with stairs. And obviously I know people do it with younger kids, but. Everything is easier. Traveling is easier. Going to restaurants are easier. I can work a little bit while my kids are busy and I don't have to Be chasing them around. So it's nice. They're at really fun ages and so now yeah, we're in different challenges, which I feel like I can see myself entering where it's not a toddler tantrum, but it's. A child getting left out of a friend thing which I actually don't know if I'm ready for I feel like I might rather take the toddler tantrum than a child, getting their feelings hurt. I don't know. I'm like, that's like a no, you're, you can do it. You can answer it. Another thing you are gonna have to do more listening than talking as your kids get older. Yeah. It is a lot more listening than talking. And the best advice is honestly saying less. You have to ask them, how did that make you feel? Or maybe not in such a weird therapy way, but yeah. Tell me the whole situation. And you really have to be mentally sturdy as they get older. It's not as physical. Like scooping and carrying and cleaning and stairs. Yes. Yeah. But it's so mental. You said that so well, and I feel like it's something that. I am trying to remind myself of because you want to start to like blabber and keep talking. You wanna fix it, fix it. You wanna go and fix it mode. And it's not the, I think the best approach, like you're saying, is taking a step back and just making, putting herself in the position of being the listener. And I think there's definitely a difference between my daughter and my son. I feel like my daughter spills everything. My son's a little bit more. Everything's fine. Just we're all fine. Yeah. So navigating both. But yeah, I feel like in general I'm like really excited for the next few years. I feel like they call them like the golden years. Yeah. For a reason. Not five to. What, 10? Like the elementary, I think like the elementary school is what they call that. And it's the kindergarten through fifth grade or kindergarten through fifth grade. So yeah, five to 10 they're out of survival, but you just really special years. Yeah. Yeah. How did your kids do with your move and your, their new transition? They did. Okay. I feel like it is, it's a big change for them both, like in lifestyle, which I feel like they did a great job with. We moved at the end of June from Hoboken, which is a little city to a true suburb town. So I think they had the summer to acclimate to the town, which I feel like the house and the yard and the space, they were so excited to just be able to run around. That was definitely, I think a really smooth transition. I think school was a little harder. My daughter going to kindergarten, that was pretty easy. And just because everyone was new, but my son going into second grade yeah, was a little bit trickier and he's such a good kid, but he was definitely aware that all of these kids probably know at least each other, someone else. And it's like also like new soccer team or new everything, sports, new everything. And if, how are you far from where you used to live? Is he far from all of his friends? Yeah. We're like a good 35 with traffic, maybe 40 minutes. So I feel like it was throwing, the camps were new. Everything that we're doing. I'm throwing him in. He's new and doesn't know anyone and that's a lot. It's a lot for, and I think he's doing a great job and I just. I know at least now, like we're settled and this is where we're staying. So week by week, month by month, he'll meet new kids and make new friends and it'll get easier. But I feel like I'm proud of my kids and how they transition.'cause that's a lot. Awesome. How are you doing, how are you doing with the transition? Most importantly from you were city mom, even though I know Hoboken is like a little bit more quaint. It's very close to New York City. Yes. But it's a such an amazing town. It's so quaint and I feel like it's so like neighborhoody and family oriented and it's, I'm sure a wonderful spot. T and I always say that we're very suburban moms here and we always say oh, how nice would it be to just be able to walk out and walk to a coffee shop. So it's always grass is greener. Like we always look, I know I would look at you and be like what a dream. And then you probably are like, oh, I would love a yard and a car and all these things. But how is the transition from you as like city mom to suburban mom? I'm getting there. Yeah. I feel like it's, we love our town. I love the space. I've never had an extra closet. Looking at like people with true houses, I was like, oh, the space. So the space has been amazing. The yard, I feel like the great part about being in a little city is you walk out your door and you're like, which of seven parks should we walk to? Everything is right there, it's at your fingertips. But to get your kids to go outside, you are packing the stroller, you're packing the snacks, you're getting yourself together. It's more of a process. And now I feel like the fact that my kids can just run out is such a luxury. Everything was doubting before, now it's just open door, and go. Exactly. So I feel like that is awesome. I think the one thing that's interesting that you guys are probably used to but I feel like the suburbs are. Like isolating in a way, if that makes sense. I am so used to being around people all of the time. I step out of my apartment building and I am around people, whether I'm going to the coffee shop or I'm walking my kids to school or we're walking to the park. You're always out and about. You're always running into people. Your kids are always running into friends, and here you really don't, I'm in the car line in the morning and I'm in the car line in the afternoon, and then kids are playing in their backyard. You have to like really make a conscious effort to see people have a play date or to see people and when you don't know anyone, it's you. It's like you really gotta put the effort in. It's hard, right? It's hard. If you were planning outings all these other times, and now if you're. Opening the door and just playing in your own play scape in the backyard. Sometimes it's not as fun. Your kids, how many times do they wanna go on the swing? But just your brother and sister, it's always more fun to going to other people at the playground. It's always more fun for you too, obviously. Yeah, I was gonna say, I feel like even as a mom, like especially at the beginning where it's so isolating. I remember we had taken a trip when Leo was about three months old to Newport and that was like a little bit of more of a walkable town. Very similar to Hoboken in like layout and everything. Yeah. The stroller town. And it was a stroller. Yep. A stroller town. He was like three, three and a half months old and I would pop him in the stroller and walk to get a coffee and I was like. This is the first time in three and a half months, I feel like a human being. Like just to see another person and just how easy it was. A lot of the times, I think in the suburbs, it's like the logistics of I have to get the car seat in and out and then I have to, and it's so much effort. It's not worth it. It's not worth it. Totally. Yep. So I do think at the, especially at the be beginning and be back and be back for nap and be back you're like fight. Yeah. It's just so much, it's so many logistics to fight through. I could definitely see at the beginning how important that would be. And I feel like now you're saying your kids are at a sweet spot it's a better transition now. But I bet it totally, I bet you, you thrived at the beginning just being able to see people and get out of the house Yeah. And all of that. And I feel like I don't, I'm one of those personalities, I don't know what you would call it, like the extroverted introvert or however you say it, but I do. Like to be surrounded by people or maybe I'm just used to it for so long, since I, right after college I moved to the city. So it was just been like almost 15 years of that kind of lifestyle of just constantly being around people and I really enjoyed that. So I think that's like the biggest transition for me in the suburbs is just really not seeing anybody. I feel as my kids start to, and t you probably know this'cause you have older ones too, once the sports pick up and all of those things, you're just constantly you're at practice, you're here, you're there and you're like with all the different mom groups. So I think I, I haven't like quite hit that yet. But I feel like I can see that coming. Yes. That will definitely be coming. And also I think it's important to remember that even though you're meeting those people through your children, they may not necessarily be your people. They may be a nice people to be around if you are somebody that likes to be around other people. But I think it's important too, especially for you, you work at home to do things that you enjoy doing and meet people doing those things too. You know yourself, you wanna meet your people. Yes. It's so true. So I'm starting all the, I started tennis lessons for you. Totally. Yeah. Good. I took my first Mahjong do and people in your town play Mahjong. Oh yeah. Our neighbor is a big Mahjong girl. Yeah. She has a group. So I'm learning to play, so I'm like, I can get invited to the places. Yes. People are playing. So yeah, I feel like it's like learning all the things, trying new things. And I feel like I've been telling myself I expect my kids to put themselves out there and go to all of these things where they don't know anyone and I feel like I really need to do the same. And also leading by example. I feel like you have to I remind my kids of that too. Mommy doesn't know anyone either. And I have to make new friends. Just the same way that you guys are making new friends. So I feel like hopefully that helps them. Yeah. A little bit. How did you like your first tennis lesson? I love it. And my hand-eye coordination is not my strongest skill, neither. However, me neither. It's fun. I think it's something, it's also much more complex. Like I knew tennis was not easy, but it's much more complex than I thought it was with all the grips and the. And how to do all of the, the swings and serve and all of that. But I think I'm really going to enjoy it. I think once I finish this little basic beginner clinic it'll just be something fun to do with friends. I love that. Yeah. I love that you're trying something new. You're never too old to have some new hobbies. I know. I know. Try new things. I know, and we say this on the podcast all the time, but how sometimes you get into this season of life where you really do have to push yourself back out. Yeah. And we always say, like just from sports and activities, and that's like a lot of the times the best way to meet people is when you're doing things like, we always say bigger than you. Yeah. When you're involved in something and everybody's. Playing something or learning something new. A lot of friendships form that way as kids, so it makes sense that you would go back to that as an adult when you need to meet new people. Yeah. You had a nice shared experience. And also, yeah, for this past Saturday I played in a tennis match and I hadn't missed my son's hockey game and I was like, oh, sorry bud, it won't be there. I have a tennis match and he is oh, good luck, mom. Like you too. And I think sometimes it's nice like for my kids to know that, obviously yes, I try to make all their sporting events and put their things first, but sometimes I have things too, it's nice for them. Totally. It's nice for them to see. Yeah. And they probably look at you like, oh, she's committing to something and staying with something and she's gonna have fun and so am I. Yeah. I said, how'd you do? He is oh, we lost. I'm like, ah, me too. Bon Temples. We're losers today. It's alright. Yeah. But that to have a drink and a ice of pizza, it's, yeah. Like we can both, no, I feel like that is amazing and I think. Again, like Christina, you are in a different phase right now, but I think it's finding we can get so wrapped up in doing every single thing for our kids, which we love to do when we would do a million times over and work and everything that we have to do to run a household and all of the things. But to find those little pockets of whatever you enjoy, whether it's even just like reading a book, which I know a lot of moms are like, I would love to just read, or I would love to just, work out more, get, have lunch with friends or whatever that is. And I feel like it depends on the season of your life, but if you can make it where you can prioritize something for yourself, whether it's even just once a week for 45 minutes, sometimes that's all you need to just feel refreshed and like ready to be like, now I can take on the rest of this week.'cause I. I did something for me. So that is great advice. And I'll add to that and not second guess yourself. And guilt yourself because that takes up precious time. You, that could take an hour just overthinking the decision could be that hour that you could have been doing something that you, for yourself, right? Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes you just need to hear it. You just gotta do it. Yeah. You need to hear it and then you need to do it, so I wanna chat a little bit'cause you had mentioned your speech pathology and I know that's what you went to school for and did school afterwards for, is that something that you still do or are you a full-time content creator? Oh, now I'm a full-time content creator. That was a hard decision for me. Yeah. Because I. Was working full-time in first I did early intervention birth to three, and then I was working in the special education preschool in the city for six years, but also building a private practice that I did with one of my best speech friends. Eventually transitioned to only private practice once I had Luca. But I feel like that was like a business that I built that I was proud of. And I loved the field of speech therapy and the job and making difference in children's lives. And I felt guilty, I guess is probably the best word for leaving a job like that to do something like social media. I felt bad about it. But eventually as my account grew and then I signed with an agency and it became more of a real thing. And I really was burning myself out trying to do both jobs, both my private practice and doing the content creation for as much time as I needed to do it. So I decided to just go content creation full time. And the flexibility that I have for my kids at this young age is really just like unmatched. So I think that was probably the biggest reason. I love it. I love this job, but the flexibility for my kids, it was getting a little tricky because Luca was in preschool, so he'd be in school and then I would pick him up and then go out to see all of my private clients in the afternoon. So he,'cause you see a lot of kids after their, after the school hour. So it was like, he would see me two seconds and then I would be like, mommy has to go to work. And he was like wait I just saw you, you just got here. So that was getting a little bit hard and I think. When I had the opportunity to make the career shift, I just took that leap for sure. And I am happy that I did.'cause I do, I really enjoy it. That's awesome. It's so cool. I know I know a lot of women have to do that. They have to work when their kids are home. They have to find another way to do it. And I think it's so great that you've had an opportunity now to work full-time and mother. Your children, you're able, you're making both work. Yeah. So how does that It truly is. How does that work for you? Doing both at the same time? Yeah. Because you're still working full time. It's not like you gave it up. I know. Yeah, I know. And I always think that's like an very important, I wanna emphasize that didn't a working mom. And there is so much that goes into content creation. We've gotten into it a little bit on here as yeah. There's so much more behind the scenes, and so it's not just like popping up a cute video, especially when you're working with brands. Yeah. There is a ton of work that goes behind the scenes, and then there's just different avenues of ways that you can make money and monetize things. And so it's not just popping up one video a day and you're done. Like it's, it does, it's not even like that. Now that the kids are in school, there's probably a good window of time to work now. Yeah, so I try my best. I'm like, I feel like I'm like a work, like a working mom and a stay at home mom. Yeah. Like at the same time. So yeah, I really try my best to do everything that I can between nine and three. And then when I pick up my kids from school, I'm with them in the afternoon. Now there's still pockets of time where, I think that's another thing that I'm trying to balance, what you guys probably know as well, is it's a job that's constant, right? So you're constantly filming, you're constantly editing, you're constantly putting stories up and thinking of ideas and but I'm trying my best to be present with my kids after school and. Not answering the dms and trying to, work on the side. Although there's times where I do need little windows of that. But that is truly my goal during the day, is to really try and see if I can wrap it up at three and then be with them in the afternoon as much as I can. Yes. I think that's, so you try to batch things. So a lot of your like content creation, the editing, maybe some of the concepting if it's a campaign or something. Yeah. So you do a lot of that during like your business hours and then Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And then you find windows, right? Exactly. Yep. Exactly. And you're gonna, this is something that nobody told me, but when your kids get older, you have the time when they're in school and then they come home from school and then you have very important face time with them where you have to listen or when you are driving them. That is like important time where you talk to them when you're there, but then you get this weird time back where they're in activities that somebody else Yeah. Is in charge of them. And you can. Do two things. You can sit on the sidelines and talk to other moms and socialize, or I started to work during that time. Totally. I bring my computer and I work at hockey at here, I edit. I do whatever I have to do during that time. So you get more time back again in the evening. I do the exact same thing. My kids, Kay. Takes a tumble class and Luca's in like a ninja warrior class at the same time, at the same gym for an hour. Yeah. And on my computer out, I've got one more hour Yeah. That I can to be strategic. Yeah, exactly. So I feel like you fill it in as you can. But I feel fortunate to be able to get that base time with my kids after school. A lot of people who have corporate jobs or commute into the city like you, are you necessarily, what used to do before that was, yes. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. If I kept that job before, I wouldn't be able to do the volunteering that I can sign up for now while my kids are in school because I would've been at a different school or, seeing speech clients. So it does, it gives me that flexibility, so I'm so fortunate for it. That's great. That's awesome. So I wanna also talk about, obviously you transitioned to a suburban mom, but you did start a business back in Hoboken, literally right before you left, right? And yes. And so I wanna chat about that business because it's so adorable and very exciting. Thank you. And then you also did that with some other moms, and so I feel like this is really cool and this just hits all the points that we talk about on here. And we would love to plug your business and get a little bit more information about it. Thank you. Yeah, so it's called The Little Glow Society and it's owned by five moms, which is for one, just like the coolest, so awesome thing. And we all work full time, but we all bring something unique to the business and we all have our strength and it has just been really fun and really awesome to create. And I feel like when it started, the original idea was let's do a spa party space for that five to 11-year-old age group. And Hoboken is amazing in so many ways and has a lot for little kids. Like birth to Four, I would say there's a million classes and all of these things'cause it's a lot of young families. And then a lot of the times the families move out, but there isn't as much for that four to 10-year-old age group. So we were like, let's bring something here for that next age group. Something, like doing the spa parties. And then when we started to really create the brand, we were like, this is way more than just. A spa party space for kids. This is about confidence and this is about empowering girls and this is about a safe space that kids can feel like they can go and meet new friends and feel special. And we're so proud of it and we're so excited about it. And it's still fairly new. I don't think we've been open for six months yet. I think we're like hitting our Oh wow. Six months soon. But was this where you had your daughter's birthday party Yeah, I saw it on birthday yesterday, Instagram. It looked so beautiful with the dresses. Thank you. Explain to us talk us through, is this a space that you use just for birthday parties? Is this for do you have like classes? What does it entail? Yeah so we have the birthday parties and then, you learn so much this is my first time opening. A small business and it's a real, it's a brick it and order. It's like an actual right. Yeah. It's a brick. Brick and mortar. Exactly. Like I had my private practice and I have this Instagram account that's been, just me. It's virtual, both of them, so this is the first like true business in an area that I have no experience in, to be completely honest. So you learn so much as your business is just open and you get feedback. So I feel like it started as just parties and then we were getting all of these messages from moms being like, Hey, can I just come in with my daughter and book a, a time for us to come in? So now we have mommy and Me. Oh, cute time slots, which is really cute. And we just rolled out this after Glow club after school. So it's a space for kids to come after school and they can do their homework and we have special activities for them and maybe, whether they get little manicures that day or face mask that day. We're thinking of the girls after school where, again, Hoboken is very walkable, where a lot of the times, the older, maybe that fourth fifth grade age might want to walk to Starbucks or they wanna be a little bit independent, if that makes sense and hang out with their friends. But this is a space for them to go to that they feel part of a little club or like a little society. Yeah. That's adorable. Oh my God, I love that. Did you think, do you think you brought some of your speech pathology background since you are catering to kids and you have that foundation, did you feel like you brought any of that back into this? Totally. I think that a lot of what I've learned in my speech career is how to keep kids entertained as you're doing other things. So I think how we structure our parties and how we structure our events is. Kids, they need to be busy. The activities can't take too long. And I think just understanding what kids are interested in and what would make them feel special and what we're bringing in a lot of activities that are confidence based and affirmation based, like always bringing it back to why are you special, what do you love about yourself, what makes you a good friend? Which I think for these kids in that kind of five to 10-year-old age group is so important. And whether they're going with their friends or they're meeting new friends there it's it's all very positive. What a nice mission. It's more about the inside, not just like looking good on the outside. Obviously it is fun to get pampered, but I love that you have these, very important pillars of your business. For sure. And how did you meet the other four moms that you started this business with? So it started with, there's two moms in Hoboken that actually approached me with the idea. One owns a med spa, so the little kid spa Yeah. Piggybacked off of that. Yeah. The other mom is a nurse practitioner and then I jumped in and then they were like, let's bring on another mom, Sophia, who has like an amazing business background and another mom tos who has amazing an amazing financial background. We all again came together with our own skillset and it just, yeah. Yeah, it's been great. I love that. That's awesome. I feel like that I, again, that just hits all the things that we always say it's like meeting people and putting yourself out there and having an idea and pushing and believing in yourself enough to do it. And that's just, it's really inspiring and it's really cool to think that you can do this after having a family, because I feel like a lot of the times we said you put yourself on the back burner and it's all about the kids. Yeah. And it's just a really, I think, a really inspiring message that you can start a new business after you have kids, and thrive during it. You just gotta jump. Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah, I think, it's something that just makes you feel. Good and makes you feel like you are contributing something and whatever you're passionate about it and as inspire your kids. I think it's really cool that your kids are gonna see that you took a leap of faith. You started this like obviously multiple things. You had your speech pathology job, but then, and then you put yourself out there on social media and created a career and then you've done it now for a brick and mortar store. It's just really inspiring. Thank you. That's cool. Oh my gosh. What? What's next? I know. What is next on the docket? I don't know. The laundry. The laundry. The laundry. Yes, exactly. I don't know. I think it's the funny thing about this, Christina, you probably feel the same way. Like a few years ago might not have known that you were gonna be a podcast. You know, Both of you hosting a podcast, we don't really know. I just. Roll with it and whatever comes naturally comes. And same for you guys as well, in terms of what comes next in for both of you. It's always just exciting to follow along and see. I want you to franchise this place. I wanna take my onto it. Maybe that's the next step. Like I feel like that could be really cool. Yeah, we would love to open up more locations in different areas and I feel like that. That would be the goal for sure. So I guess to that point for moms listening who want to build a community, maybe who wanna build something on social media, maybe they wanna build a business like you did or something that they're thinking of and brewing. We hope that our listeners leave this feeling inspired to put themselves first. But do you have any advice for somebody who's maybe thinking of something or wants something more? Yeah, I think when it comes to content creation,'cause I get a lot of messages about that. And I think I used to hate this advice. I feel like back when I was. Trying to grow more. And you would hear there's no like specific rules that you can follow.'cause I remember being like, I'll be a good student. I'll do like X, Y, and Z and follow the exact template if you tell me to, like growth and success or whatever it is. And there really isn't that when it comes to social media, I feel like you just have to start creating content and trialing and erroring and seeing what works. And I think as long as you just bring it back to being a true to yourself, b, creating content that you love if you love style, don't necessarily try and do another area because other people are doing it and doing well with that if it's not true to you and vice versa. But yeah, I think just, the business or the content creation career or whatever it is, can't start if you don't try and not everything is going to work out. You have to be okay with failure and you have to be okay with sharing things and it not doing well or people not seeing it. I did that for a really long time before my account grew. And I think the difference right now is that because it is such a well-known, I guess like job now you would say people are hoping to just start and take off, have it take off. Yep. And for some people it does, but that doesn't happen with everyone. So you just have to make sure you enjoy it and stick with it. And you'll find your thing and people will come. Yes. That's such great advice. I wanna, before we get into our pink spotlight, we're gonna do a little quick fire round. So now that you're, you left city life and you're in suburbia. City Coffee Shop or Suburban Kitchen Coffee. Oh, city Coffee Shop all the way. Oh, I'm, I can imagine. What about an Instagram account that makes you laugh? Oh my gosh. I'm going to butcher these handles. Because you know how you see handles and you're like, but I don't always look at them. You don't know how they write, how they're sounding out. I, you can look it up, will put the correct one. It's, I think it's cs. Yes. Punch. Yes. Oh, I love her. I am obsessed. I don't know this one. Obsessed with, oh my God, she is oh my God. Isn't she a doctor or something too? She's she's a dentist. Yeah, she's a dentist. Yep. She, every video is incredible. She's just so smart and so funny. She is someone if you're having a bad day. Oh, I agree. Just scroll. Oh, I agree. Yep. Scroll through. There's so many accounts like that just. Awesome. But she always comes to the forefront of my mind because she is just so funny and she does not give a shit and she posts anything. Her stuff is so hysterical. I love it too. And I'm, it's totally, I love all of the millennial girl ones. Yes. Like they're like, which I feel like there's just like a flood of the, there's like a little fleet of those girls right now and I'm like, they're like getting dressed from like 2011 and they're putting on all the stuff that we used to wear and I'm like, how do you have that? Like it's big belt and the gacho pants. I'm like, how do you still have those and where'd you get it? I know it's new. They're like eBay. I'm like, I am obsessed. I literal, I know. I think one account is over the mood. Yep. And that one, she's another. I mean there's so many good ones and they are just so talented and make me laugh every time. I know it's the best. It always seems to be like right when you need it too, where you're just scrolling and it just transports you. Especially like the nostalgic ones. I am obsessed. Yes, me too. Then last one. Best mom hack you've learned recently? This, so this is random, but I got the skylight calendar. Oh, did you guys hack the skylight? I felt like I was losing my mind. Do you have it, Christina? I have the Amazon like the big fire TV thing. Okay. In the kitchen that I use as a calendar, but I don't have the skylight. So similar. I felt like I was all over the place. I don't know. For some reason the calendar on my phone does not show me enough. I'm like, I need it. Large, big picture and I need it all there. And I color coordinate it based on my kids and myself. And I feel like that has helped me. Grasp the weak. And I now just because I feel like I'm a scatterbrain all of the time, I have to put it in the calendar or I will not remember. So it could be something that's like a doctor's appointment or something so small and I'm like, it has to go in there so it's a something you have to purchase. But for me, if you feel like you're all over the place and wondering if it's worth it, it has helped me. I have heard that really good things about that and what I hate about having, like I'm a calendar person and a notes person, but then you're still harboring and responsible for all of that information and I feel like sometimes that always goes back to the mental load. Like you, yes, it's nice to be organized and have all of the information at your fingertip. Still the keeper of that, but you still are the keeper, right? So it's if it's out and about and you're like, it's on the fricking calendar, you can see it too. Yes. Like exactly. This you can read too, right? Literally all there. Yeah. So yeah, that it has been helpful for me to just stay, stay organized. Yeah. I love it so much. I love that. So I have one other question for you. You work now on social media and then you also use your phone for other things. Mm-hmm. Because, hello? You're a girl. Just like the rest of us. Yeah. I'm always on my phone. Yeah, just doing life. How do you, on a day when you're working, how do you like separate the phone stuff? Like from, not scrolling question, working to calendar to, oh, room mom stuff. Oh, this, that. Oh, back to work. Like how do you toggle between the two and chunk your work? Because I'm struggling with that right now too. I struggle with it too, and I feel like it's making me lose my mind.'cause my mind is constantly like ping, ping, ping, And it's different. You're using different parts of your brain, yes. Because you're like all over the place. Like creative. Oh no, I have to. No, this is yeah. Yeah. I'm majorly struggling with that right now. I have zero advice because I am not doing a good job. And I feel like it's hard because I feel like I'll, you open up the Instagram app or the TikTok app to respond back to some comments, let's say, and then then you start scrolling and you're like, I'll scroll for maybe like audio ideas. And then I'm just scrolling because the content is funny. So now I'm like in like a so now you're in consumer mode. I don't have time for that. And yeah, I feel like the constantly being on my, it's actually like impacting my neck. Like I'm having like a, like I'm constantly on my phone, I edit on my phone. I'm doing so much on there that. I'm trying to think of a new system because it is my, my brain is also firing in a million directions all of the time, which is why I can't remember things, which is why it has to go on my calendar. Yes. But yes. I don't know if anyone out there has advice besides, oh, which, your know, we're live. I don't know what to do. No. We bought an iPad for work and the computer for work, but when we were trying to do the social media stuff, it doesn't work well on there. No, you always go back on your phone. Yep. It's like you try to get away from the phone, make it hard so that you're like, I need my, I know. Freaking phone. I tried, I've tried to use Instagram on the computer to at least be like, not looking down and having more of like screen it does it, it doesn't function the same. Transition. You can't go fast enough. And I'm like, I need to plow through these dms right now. I know. So I know. It's crazy. I know. And then I always get the oh, you didn't reply back to me and you're always on your phone. I'm like, there are so many things, like once you're on your phone, it's like, it's almost too much. There's too much to do because you end up having to do everything on there and you're trying to stay focused and you're trying to be creative or you're trying to, you always end up having to be back to the phone. And then I feel like very unproductive because I'm always on my phone. It's like just such a weird, but I feel like everyone, exactly. I guess everyone's in the same, all right, so situation, group, consensus, we have no answer. Yep. We just, we come back to that a lot. That's always our favorite thing. We're like, oh we posed a question. None of us have the answer. Okay. So no. Okay, great. I'm save, I'm the asshole. Or someone will roll something out to make this a little bit easier. You would think. You would think they want us on our phones, so we're gonna. Segue into our pink spotlight, which is our person, place thing. Tip, mantra, anything that's making life a little bit better. I'll go first today.'cause I think you had this, but it's not gonna be a great commercial for it because it died in the middle of our, in the middle of our filming today. But, so mine is, I'll do a little show and tell. Mine is the, this is called the Alex Earl Light that she made this famous, oh, is this what you had or is it a little different? Show. Oh my God. Yeah. Okay, so now we got two. We got a two out of three with the Alex Earl Light. So I got this on Amazon. This is like a little light in case you're listening and not watching us, but this is a light that you can clip onto your phone and it's a really good light. It's a fantastic light. It really makes such a difference. So if you are creating content, so if you're like an aspiring content creator, if you're already creating content, you need to get this light because it makes a huge difference when you're doing makeup. Even if you're just talking into the camera, it just provides. Wonderful light and like creating content is all about the light. You need it. So especially if you're doing anything sponsored or if you're trying to highlight anything. Yeah, this is fantastic. And the battery life minus what happened to Maria, it really does last a long time. That's because it probably didn't charge it. Charge. You don't need to. It lasts a really long time, and so it does. This is great. This is great. It clips on, it could clip onto your laptop, your iPad, your phone. It's amazing and it's really helpful Yeah. For when you're using the front facing camera, because that's usually when it gets grainy and it's small enough where it can fit in a bag. So if you're going out, this is the light that I obnoxiously bring with me, T hates me, do I? She's, it should come with a disclaimer that say may cause temporary blindness. Yes, it does. Because that also might happen. You'll look amazing. You, but you won't be able to read the menu in order your dinner. Also, everyone around you will hate you, but it's fine. And you might, youll get the content, you'll get the picture. But like you can see the difference if anyone is watching the video. It like, is a, it's a big difference all of the time. Yes. Okay, good. Okay. You're helping me with my commercial.'cause it does, it makes such a big difference. And it's like an Amazon find. It's usually under$25. Yeah. I feel like even for like outfit pictures, like when we were just in New York for Fashion week, we pulled out our lights so we could get like night shots. That's the only way we would get a night shot. And it's, it makes such a difference. So content creator, but I feel like now everyone's a content creator, so you need this. Alex Earl was saying that this is how she creates all her content.'cause she always looks gorgeous and this is what she says. Yeah. Oh, good tip. Love it. So I'll link this one. What about Yout? I'm doing a product this week too, and it's ironic that I'm choosing this product on this week because I have a cold and I can't smell anything. But I always wear the same fragrance. I've worn Chanel number five since I was in high school. My mom bought it for me back then and I've always worn Chanel number five and I just got this new perfume in a few weeks ago.'cause my girlfriend Vanessa was wearing it and I think it smells. No, I know. So good. And I never changed my perfume and now I'm starting to wear this new one. It's Portofino 97 and it's Victoria Beckham. Ooh. It smells wanna smell delicious. So when you smell it at first, it has like a musky smell. Ooh, no, I like this. I like a muskie, but it dries sweet. I love it so much. She makes a good product. I have a lip stain by her, and it is, I love it. I haven't done any of her beauty stuff and now I'm, her beauty stuff is her eyeliners are really good. I don't know if you've ever tried those. They're like a gel. I haven't. They're very smooth. But oh, she doing it wrong. Yeah. I feel like some. I know I love her, so I'm like, but yeah, so this, that, that smells really nice. This was my little perfumes splurge, but again, I don't typically buy fragrances and you don't, you usually can have them for a while, so I feel like you can have them for a while. Yeah, totally. So this is mine. New switch up, so Love it. Now my girlfriend Vanessa's probably like, why did you copy my scent? Im like, too bad. Sorry. How about you Maria? Okay, so I'm going to share, not a product, but this is this just randomly came to my head, but it's something that we do at dinner time that I actually took from my neighbors who lived across the hall. They did it first and then we've adopted it in our family, but it's pit and peak. I love that. This, and we do it with our kids at dinner. We do not have family dinner every night, but when we do have family dinner, we will go around the table and talk about our peak of the day and our pit of the day. And I think it just gets the conversation flowing. And I think it's also good for our kids to hear that everyone had something that was awesome, but we might all have had something that. Wasn't as great and it gets your kids to share a little bit more in a safe space. And they love to do it. So I feel like if you are trying to get conversation going with your kids. During dinner time or whatever time that might be. Like, sometimes it's even when I pick them up from school in the car and I know we're not doing family dinner that night. I'll be like, all right. What? Tell me your pit and your peak of the day. And I like that you share too, so they get to hear from you. Yeah, we share it too. Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah. It's a good icebreaker. I love it. Yeah. That's a great, really great tip. That's fun. You share with your kids that we were your peak today. I know totally. Mommy was on a podcast. Yep. And yep. And guess what? Everybody goes through the same thing. You're mine. Yep. Exactly. Yes. Oh, I love it. So I know. That's so nice. This has been so fun. I can't believe it's, you guys are setting this up. Thank you. You, Abby. I know Maria, we are such big fans of you and we love you so much. If you guys have not followed her already, she's gonna be linked in our show notes. So just hit that follow button and go follow Maria. And we are so appreciative of you spending your morning with us and we just love you so much. We hope that your account continues to grow. We hope your business continues to grow and we're just excited to be able to be fans and watch you'cause it's amazing. You guys are the best. I love you. Thank you for having me. Honestly, we I wish we lived closer. I know. Next time I'll take a trip to, I'm due to for a Connecticut trip. It was so nice to talk to you, Maria. We will talk to you soon. So much for having me. Bye guys. Bye bye.