Embarrassing Stories!!!

Welcome to The In Between Podcast.

I'm Astrid.

And I'm Alexis. And we're 2 best friends on a journey to living a fun, intentional life.

We know it's easier to share on a season of life once it's behind you, but what about when you're in the middle of the growth, confusion, and decision-making?

This lifestyle podcast is for the everyday gal who loves to travel, talk about business, relationships, fashion, and everything in between.

Welcome back to The In Between Podcast. This is one of your co-hosts, Astrid.

And the other half of the pod, Alexis. And I'm so excited that we are actually together in person recording this in my new house in Houston.

And it feels so good to be together.

Y'all, it is so cute here.

It is truly a dream house.

Going back a little bit to the Personal Style Podcast, she has a girls And a man's dream closet, really.

I feel like it really is a dream come true because when you picture like that ideal closet space, that is this house. And I will tell you that it might have influenced why we bought it because of, because of the closet space. I was like, this is a dream.

I mean, I don't blame you.

I would do the exact same thing. And now you've completely influenced me to do the same with my closet. So Someday I will have a beautiful closet like that with everything organized. And honestly, Marie Kondo would be very proud of the way that you have your closet organized.

I agree. Honestly, I wanted to be able to walk into my closet and feel like I was shopping in my own closet. I would love to be able to say that the closet and the organization has helped me stop shopping, but I'm getting ready to go to Europe and I feel like I have— like all I do is shop and Once I get back, I want to do an episode actually on like budgeting and frivolous spending because I need to go on a spending freeze and maybe we can all do it together. We could all do like a little challenge where we like don't spend money on this X thing in your life and we can all hold each other accountable.

Yes, we need to do that.

I feel like we've all probably gone through a season of overspending on an area that's just really fun to you. That was 100% me before Miami trip.

So I totally get it.

Love the idea of having a challenge.

If y'all like that and you'd be in, please message us on IG and say, I also need to stop spending so much in a category and we will happily do a challenge altogether.

I agree. I'm 100% game on that. And the more accountability, the better. I feel like that's one of the reasons why I share so much online because there is like an element of accountability and community that comes into it. I love it. But also, I cannot believe the pod is launched and the feedback that we've received and the love and the support and y'all relating to the episodes and sending such meaningful messages to Astrid, to myself, to the In Between Pod Instagram. It's absolutely blown me away.

Seriously, it's been an absolute dream. I feel like my favorite part of the launch has been connecting with everyone and the messages that we've received and just realizing we're not alone. I think that you and I have found so much support in each other and like, oh, I finally find someone that gets me. And to know that there's other people out there that feel the same way and are like, oh, I also want to grow. I also crave more. I also just want to have fun. And how do we make space for all these different things? And how do we make space for the in-between? Like, we tend to just see the results online. We tend to just have goal settings and coaches that lead us to the end of the line. But really talking about the in-between spaces and hearing everyone relating to it is just very encouraging to say, we're all in this together, we're cheering you on. And yeah, I'm just really loving this little community that we've been building in the past few weeks.

I agree. I couldn't be more thankful for the support and leaving reviews and just all the thoughtful messages and support seriously mean the world to us. Um, we always start each episode talking about what we are personally in between.

So do you want to go first? Do you want me to go first?

You, you go first. You go first.

Okay, I'll go first.

There's been so much that I've been in between, and it's funny because we recorded a ton of them in early early May, and so much has happened. Because right now we're recording mid-end July. And so, so much has happened. And it's crazy how I've gotten into this mindset. And maybe some of y'all listening, now that you've listened to some of the podcast episodes and continue to listen to it, the word in between keeps popping up every time. And I'm like, what? This is something I'm in between right now. And so, yeah, I think it's just a really cool thing to stop and reflect back on that. So I will choose what I'm in between right now, but I just want to say that I missed recording for a whole month and a half because there was so many things I wanted to say. Okay. I would say I'm in between what feels safe and comfortable and really stepping into growing and the life that I feel called to do and be. And it's nothing to do specifically with business goals or career or anything, but more thinking about my everyday life. And so one beautiful thing about this season for me is I've really learned and created certain habits on how to enjoy the little things in my life and my routines and nature and all these— just really savoring every day, savoring every meal, every moment. And it's been a really beautiful time of doing that. And that's also trickled into what do I want those every day to look like? So do I visualize myself where I live right now? What are my routines? And so it's even brought in more motivation into movement, into style, into every area of my life. But yeah, so I'm in between feeling comfortable where I'm at and feeling so grateful and also I feel deep down that there's something that I need to step into, and I don't have everything figured out right now. And so that nervousness of being pulled. And yeah, when you're a planner, when you find safety in plans and not everything's figured out, it can be a bit nerve-wracking. But I'm learning to enjoy this in-between space as well, because that's exciting and that's I think sometimes when you go through really hard things in life, it's hard to even dream. And so I'm feeling just really grateful that I'm even dreaming of something else. So yeah, what about you?

Okay, I'm not just going to jump into sharing mine after that.

That was so beautiful.

And I'm really proud of you too for the awareness of recognizing that you are in between safety and security. And then the unknown of something new. And like, it's almost like you're being attracted to something else, like a magnet. And it's like there's, there's this other part of the magnet out there, and then the other part is like in you, and you're like being literally pulled towards something else.

Why is it making me emotional?

And so it's like, by, by ignoring the, the magnetism of this next step for you, It's like, what's it costing you not to really lean into the magnet and where you're feeling most called? So I'm proud of you for exploring it. Even if you don't have everything figured out right now, you're still in a very exploratory stage and you're curious about it instead of being like, it has to be this, it has to be that. You're really just opening yourself to possibilities. And that is freaking dope.

Thank you.

Beautiful.

Oh my gosh, if y'all could see me, I'm like so teary-eyed right now. Thank you for that beautiful analogy because I really do feel that. I really feel that magnet being pulled and I want to ignore it. And I've been feeling this way for a few months now, but it just gets stronger and stronger and stronger. And I'm really feeling it right now. And it's just hard. It's hard when you've kind of conquered a few things and find your stability, and then things kind of shift.

It's like, why can't I just stay in this cozy little end of life?

But yeah, that's just real talk. It's really how we move from one stage to the other in life and just welcoming all the feelings, all the changes, all the things. So what have you been in between?

As you were talking, really quick, I know you're trying to get me to go, but just really quick on that. So actually, A phrase that just came up was, what you resist will persist. And, it's like when— I mean, even things in my life, there are big things I'm resisting right now because I'm scared, because the timing's not right, because whatever the reason is. And, it doesn't matter because even though I'm resisting it, it continues to persist.

Yes.

It continues to knock on the door and it's like, hello. Hi. Yes, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. And it's like at some point we all face ourselves in that way. So anyways.

Yeah, that was so good and so true. And I also think that's where some resentment can pop up whenever we resist that long enough. Like whenever you're in a healthy space, that's knocking there, right? It's almost like a voice. And then the more you resist it, you also start like turning the volume down after a certain point. And then I feel like there comes a point where there's people who resent, like, oh, I wish I would have. I wish I would have traveled. I wish I would have done this. I wish I would have gone after this opportunity. And it's scary and it's hard, but really thinking— and that's something that's helping me in this season— is Astrid, 5 years from now, what will she regret not doing now? And it helps me so much to stay grounded. So I love that you said that because It's really what can help us push forward through those hard feelings. So now for real, go.

We all want to know, what have you been in between? Okay.

So I have really been in between— this sounds like a level of superficial, so I just want to call that out. But with the house decor, I just want my space to feel really intentional. And so it goes way below the way below the surface of just like a piece of furniture for me. And I want to be able to walk into each room and like feel something and, and for the room to like really reflect Matthew and I's style and our values and what we like to do. And so design and architecture and like, this house is amazing. And I can't believe that it's ours. I still wake up and like walk down the stairs and look at my kitchen and the living room and the dining room. And I'm just like, wow, this is like— What we've worked really hard for, what we've envisioned. We've made a lot of sacrifices for this. This feels so good. Okay. Now, I want to get it all to where I want it to be right now. And so, I'm in this interesting in-between space of like, we have a lot of our furniture from when we were first married, things that parents have given us, things that we've collected from along the way that have been in storage. And so, now we kind of have this interesting hodgepodge of furniture and styles. And it's like, how does it all work together? And then also not trying to overspend. Like a move, y'all, a move is so expensive. I'm like, get me out of here.

And my husband's like, when are we going to stop spending money? I'm like, never. Like, you know, it's like, oh my gosh, Alexis. So I'm like, okay, I need to like calm it down.

Yeah, I need to calm it down. Shout out to the husband. I need to calm it down on like The spending, but just trying to get things set up. We need bedside tables, we need lamps, we need things like that. But I can feel myself try to make every room perfect right away. And so if you are in that space with your own house and your own design, or even just whatever it is, you're like, okay, I'm going to do this in steps. And so, okay, step 1 was moving in and seeing the missing pieces. And then for me, step 2 is going room by room. So I feel like our main floor is somewhat put together and now I'm really focusing on the primary bedroom, getting that to feel like a spa, like a luxury, modern boho experience. I just want us to be able to walk into our bedroom, walk into our bathroom, and just feel like we're transported into a really cool boutique hotel.

Mm-hmm.

And okay, how do I do that? Okay, there's certain places I want to source different furniture and I just get really excited. It can be hard when you're not seeing the artistic vision come to life or your artistic vision is freaking expensive. So I'm like, I need to reel it in. So that's where I'm in between.

That was so, so good.

And honestly, not superficial at all because if there's anything that will impact your mental health a whole ton is where you live and the space that you sleep in every day, the energy that that carries too, of like, whenever my house has been a wreck, oh my gosh, go check on me. Um, but yeah, I also bought a house last year. And so I've kind of gone through that experience as well of like, oh, not like there's certain rooms that just don't feel like you, but also a house is freaking expensive.

And you're like, okay, I just got a new HVAC system, which is not as exciting. Could have gotten a whole couch, but instead I've got air. I am paying for air. So it's very expensive.

That is hilarious. That is hilarious.

The things we do for clean air, which is a privilege, but also like, come on, you know?

Like, I feel that so deeply.

And I think it's also working through like your vision coming to life and giving yourself grace. And so like, okay, right now I'm focusing on my— our primary suite. So my office is like taking a hit. Like I've got my rug, I've got my desk set up, I've got my monitors, but like everything else is pretty hodgepodgey in there. I've got boxes, some boxes still in there of like books and things that need a bookshelf. Well, I don't have a bookshelf, but that's something I'm going to leave for this fall and just kind of do things in stages. And, um, but it's been so lovely. I got to host my parents this past weekend. I'm hosting you now. And it's just something Matthew and I really love is we love hosting.

We love—

community and bringing people together and having a home that feels reflective of us so that when we host, it's like, welcome to our space.

Yes.

Here's a part of our personality and art and reflection of where we've been in the world. And so we're slowly but surely putting it together and it has been really, really fun, but also stressful and expensive. And that's just the way that it goes.

I love that. And some of the things that you were sharing reminded me a lot of our personal style podcast, because at the end of the day, it's the expression of who you are, and your home is an expression of who you are. So whenever you feel like the pieces don't match who you are as a couple or your style or, um, just how you want to welcome people, that can be very conflicting. And so of course you can't just Go and change your entire wardrobe all at once or change all everything in your house. But I love that you're being intentional with going room by room and also starting with the rooms that you spend the most time in. So it's not just about, oh, does it look pretty? It's how does it make me feel? And since I spend so much time here, I want this specific room to feel absolutely incredible. So I love that. If any of y'all are decorating a house, let us know.

We're both new homeowners, so we love chatting all the things.

Yeah, one one more thing I'll add on that too is I can feel when I'm like I wanted to share the house. There was like a lot of people that were really excited with me, like on the internet, and then I would share certain things, but then like okay well the house isn't like together yet, and so I don't want to like share the primary suite because it's not finished, and really kind of getting over that no one really cares. No one gives a crap. Like I care, but it's getting through that again that like well it's not ready yet. It's not ready to share, and just kind of being. Like okay, my house is in between.

Literally, my house is in the in between.

So giving myself like some grace and not really like holding so much weight in stock. And oh, it's got to be this big reveal. I feel like TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest is just so amazing for inspiration, but it really can add a layer of like well, my house isn't ready yet. Like I can't have that big reveal like that really cute TikTok or that really cool Pinterest photo. Like It's got to be to a certain level and it can really get in your head. And so I've been kind of working through letting that go too and noticing when that pops up and then kind of talking myself through that of like, hey, remember honey, it doesn't really matter. And we're like in between things. And so we'll do the big reveal, but we can also share things along the way. Like people love the journey too.

People love the journey. I was laughing because I just remembered I recorded this video of my bedroom when I bought my house last April, last March. To do a before and after, and there's no after. It's just sitting on my phone.

And it's—

people love to see the in-between and celebrate you.

And so if anything, I'm sure our in-between community would love to see in our stories your bedroom and your house in the in-between season. And then we'll celebrate you when you add more furniture to it and it's done. But— One thing that I find too, as a creative, and you're a creative as well, is I don't think we ever get to a point where we're like, this room is done.

So might as well just post it.

I agree.

Just like liberate, liberate the rooms, you know?

Um, I love this conversation and we should probably get into like the topic, I suppose.

That was like a bonus podcast within a podcast.

Yes, I agree. Just all the little Easter egg nuggets. Inside of the pod. Today's chat is about embarrassing stories. I'm really excited about this. We're each going to share some embarrassing stories and just normalize that crazy stuff happens to all of us and how we work through it and how you let go of the embarrassment. Honestly, just to not give a crap about what people think about you and just lower the insecurities when things happen to you and just let it roll right off of you, ask yourself what you can learn, and then just move on.

I love it. I love it. And I am here to kick us off with a story. There's nothing better than when an embarrassing story happens to you at work or in your, in my case, wedding that I was shooting. And basically what happened to me is I was in my first full year of business as a wedding photographer, and I was super into it. I was shooting the couple right outside the church. Beautiful views. And I also, as you all know, love to dress up, love to put together a whole outfit. And I love to put together outfits for the weddings that I shoot as well. I like to be comfortable but also look cute. So I was still learning like what is, you know, stretchy enough to squat in for shooting weddings. So I bought these beautiful black linen pants And I got like a bodysuit with it. It was a hot summer wedding. I was like, this is great. And so I'm shooting the couple right outside the church, trying to get the entire building in the shot. And so I squat down, I shoot them, get the shot.

And then when I come up, I just feel this breeze back there and I'm like, oh no, it's happening. I just ripped. My pants. So I went to my second shooter and I was like, did I—

please check me. Like, did I just rip my pants in this wedding? And she's like, yeah, I can see your entire soul.

And so I went to the bride and—

well, let me back up a little bit.

So ever since I started the business, I travel a lot for weddings and my primary markets are St. Louis, Chicago, Miami. I was fortunate enough that that specific wedding was in like the town that I live in, Effingham. And so I was able to go tell the bride what happened. And I was like, hey, I just ripped my pants. My house is 2 minutes from here.

I'm going to go change.

And in the meantime, my second shooter is going to like go ahead and get started with photos. Because as you all know, with a wedding, or you might not know, but with a wedding day, you cannot get behind on the timeline. It like screws everything up. And I didn't want to be the reason for that either. And so, yeah, so thankfully she was super graceful.

She laughed at it with me. And back to your point of just not taking ourselves too seriously, that happens.

It's going to happen. We learn from it. I wasn't like— I mean, I was freaking out, but I didn't go up to the bride and completely like, oh my gosh, my pants just ripped. I got to leave. No, I just laughed about it. I was like, dude, I just, I just ripped my pants.

I gotta go change. I will be right back.

And I promise we will take the best photos ever after that. And then during the drive, I just try to like sync myself back up. I'm like, that happens to everyone. We're gonna change our pants. We're gonna let this go. It's embarrassing. Sure.

Did she probably tell her entire bridal party on the bus?

Probably. And we're just gonna laugh about it.

And that's fine.

We're not gonna let this get in the middle of creating and having a good time. So yeah, ever since that, A, I have purchased stretchier clothes for wedding days, and B, I carry an extra pair of pants or suit or whatever it might be. Because if that— if I would have chosen to wear those same pants at a destination or a wedding far from home, I don't know what I would have done.

Like, some of my weddings are literally so remote, so I would have like just like asked one of the groomsmen for their pants or something like that.

Girl, you are a queen for not making the whole situation about you too. Like, especially at a wedding day, going up to the bride, she's already feeling anxious, she's already feeling a lot of emotions. And in that moment, you could have like really brought her anxiety up. But you were like, you really handled yourself. And you just owned that like a queen. And I love that you now have a backup pair of everything. You're like, you know what, I'm just gonna carry backups. So that now I'm prepared for the situation in case— hopefully it never happens again, but just in case it does, you know, you are prepared now. That's, that's the lesson. You've got an extra pair of pants.

If anything, just learn from me, y'all.

Just make sure you've got an extra change of clothes because you never know what can happen. Okay, I am excited for your embarrassing story.

Please take it on.

Okay. Mine is taking it back, like way, way back. This is a childhood, I would put like actually awkward junior high embarrassing story that I just thought was so embarrassing at the time. It took me like kind of years to really fully recover from it because it was just so like, I don't know, you'll get it once I tell you the story. So I grew up going to church camp every summer. Shout out to Oil Belt Christian Service Camp in Flora, Illinois.

Represent.

But we—

so the camp was kind of next to this community park. And then every day we would walk to the pool. So you'd walk maybe a mile to the community pool. And then at the pool, the pool was the best part of the day. It was where— and you're in junior high too. So I was like 13 at the time. 13. Yeah, 13. You know, you've got crushes on boys and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm meeting all these new friends. And the pool time is where you're like able to really socialize a lot more and like do fun dives and like really kind of show off, you know, like show off your skills at church camp in like a modest way, right? So it's like, you know, people that really knew how to dive or like do cool flips off the diving board, like it was just, it was like very performative in a way.

It was like, look at me.

And so A part of that is the camp counselors would get together. There are these 2 guys that would— sorry, my dog just sneezed. But there are these 2 guys that would make their forearms a square. And then you're in probably 4 feet of water. And then you would jump up on the square of their arms and you would do like 1, 2, 3. And then the guys would flip you up in the air.

Oh my God.

And you would do like front flips, backflips, like whatever. So I was like, okay, I want to go next. I want to go next. Just for some, just for some like context, I am wearing a tankini because you can't wear 2 pieces and cannot show the midriff at church camp. So it was either a one-piece or a tankini. So I was wearing a tankini just like right on the, right on the rebel line. I was like, how close can I get to breaking the rules?

So I was wearing like these boy shorts.

Shorts, like bottoms. And then I was wearing a tankini, which covers your midriff, but it's 2 pieces and it was a halter top. And so I was like, I'm gonna go next. And I jumped up on the middle of their arms and they did the 1, 2, 3 and flipped me up. And there's all these people that are watching you do flips and stuff. And so they flipped me, I did a backflip, and then I came up out of the water and I was like, oh my gosh, that was so much fun.

I was like, that was so crazy.

You know, 13. Silent, absolute dead silence. And I was like, what is going on? Like, I did not know why people were looking at me like that. My halter top tankini had twisted in the water. And when I came up, both of my tatas were showing at church camp in the community pool. I was like, I like, I twisted my top down and I went under the water. And I remember just like swimming until I couldn't, like, like to the point under the water where I was like, I'm going to die down here.

I am going to just hold my breath and die down here. This is where I live now. I live at the bottom of the Flora community pool. You know, I was absolutely shattered.

And the most embarrassing part was like all the, you know, I'm 13, but all the like camp counselors saw. Everyone saw that was in that little area of the pool. And so I finally came up for air and I got out of the pool and I went and just hung out in the locker room for a little bit. And shout out to Miranda, she might be listening to the podcast. Her and I always went to church camp together, but she really consoled me through that. She's like, nobody saw.

And I was like, people definitely saw, but okay. She really helped me through that.

But I'll never forget, we got back to camp. And one of the camp counselors pulled me and she's like, are you doing okay? That was probably really embarrassing. And how are you feeling? And we talked about it. And then another camp counselor wasn't as cool about it because she's like, yeah, I think it made a lot of the guys feel really uncomfortable. And for the rest of the week, a lot of the guy camp counselors wouldn't talk to me. It was really weird where I was just like, embarrassed, but I think they were embarrassed and they were just like, we're just not going to talk to her, avoid at all costs.

So there's my childhood embarrassing story.

Girl, that's not just an embarrassing story. Like, take me to therapy, take me to a retreat, take me to all the deeper life things that you might have available. So sorry that happened to you. And thank you for sharing. Oh my gosh, I was cry laughing and then also just like mortified for you. I cannot imagine. You are a trooper. I definitely would have stayed underwater and just kept— just ignored the whole thing.

But hey, it happens.

I'm sure that there's someone out there that's like, me too.

And hey, Yeah, girl, it was no joke, very embarrassing. And I do remember feeling a bit nervous to go back to camp that next year too, just kind of mentally recovering from that. But we made it through and I will let you know I no longer wore a tankini because that 2-piece twisting, the top twisting from the bottom, there was no connection. So I was like, okay, I need to wear one piece from now on. So I just fully was like, you know what? This is why we follow the rules, Alexis. To protect us from situations like this. So I now— not now, but then I was like, okay, I'm going to wear one piece from this point forward. But yeah, my heart rate is actually like increased right now. I can like, I feel like I've tapped into my 13-year-old self and I'm feeling all the same embarrassments that I felt then.

But you go next.

I love how you're like, and I'm just going to pass this on now. I do not want to feel all of this.

Okay, so next one. Well, the truth is I have a lot. I'm trying to pick. Okay, so as you guys might know, I grew up in— or I'm from Venezuela. I grew up in Miami and Spanish is my first language. And then I moved to the Midwest, like small town Effingham, Illinois. What, like 13,000-some people? And so I moved there my senior year of high school. And so right after my senior year, my first job was a waitress.

And I'm like, my hands are sweating just thinking back on that situation. It's crazy how that can just take us back in time.

But basically in the Midwest, especially in smaller towns, there's a lot of Lingo. That is just not what you learn in a textbook.

Astrid learned English from a textbook, not like culturally.

So anyway, so in this restaurant I worked at, Ruby Tuesday, they had changed the menu and I memorized the menu. I wanted to be all-star server because I'm crazy like that. And so I memorized the menu and basically my strategy was Anything that anybody said that wasn't on the menu, I knew was from the old menu. So my response would just be, oh, I'm so sorry, we don't have that anymore. And everybody knew, like, okay, the menu changed clearly. I can see a new design, blah, blah, blah. So then there's these 2 times. I'll start with one. The first one, it was a very busy Saturday night and I'm like, you know, welcome the family. Hi, my name is Astrid.

I'll be your server today. The whole deal.

And he's like, I'm going to have the sliders. And I'm like, sir, I'm sorry, we don't carry those anymore. Mind you, I'm thinking back to my menu. I'm like, sliders aren't on there. And so apparently in the Midwest, sliders is also known as the mini burgers. And I think it comes from this other fast food restaurant that they call them sliders. And so anyway, he orders the sliders and we have mini burgers. But mind you, I'm connecting with what I've studied and what I've learned and trying to defend the little bit of English that I have at that point. And so I'm like, sir, I'm so sorry, we don't have them. He's visibly upset and he's like, fine, I'll have— and he just had something else. So I just keep going about my night, busy Saturday night. And then I come back to refill their drinks. And at the same time, the other servers come and bring the food to the table next to them. And someone in the table next to them had ordered mini burgers. And so as I'm refilling their drinks, he's like, what are those? And innocent Astrid's thinking like, oh, he thinks the dish is appetizing. Maybe he'll order it next time.

So I'm like, oh, those are mini burgers.

And he just stares at me and he's like, those are sliders. And I was like, oh, is that what you call them?

And so I just freeze and I basically just tell him like, I'm so sorry, English is my second language. I had no idea. And he gets super visibly upset. I'm pretty sure they like, they barely left me a tip that night. And I was like, I hate the Midwest. Get me out of here. And so there was that.

You are a trooper though, because that wasn't, that wasn't your fault. It was just like, also like MVP for memorizing the menu. Like you are an all-star server and he could have definitely been nicer about that because it just was like a miscommunication. Like not everyone knows that sliders mean mini burgers and that's not your fault. So he was rude and goodbye, sir.

Thank you. We canceled him after that.

He was on the blacklist at Ruby Tuesday. No, I'm kidding. Um, but yeah.

Yeah, I guess a little side note is, hey, if you're ever at a restaurant, be really nice because even if they sound like they might know English, maybe they don't and maybe they don't understand you.

So that was one of the stories. Another one of a restaurant one I just remembered, another one I haven't told you.

Girl, you got to tell me.

Tell me now.

Okay. Again, cultural differences. I did not grow up around this.

So there's this sweet family I'm waiting on at the restaurant.

And then again, I memorized my drinks.

And Astrid at that time was not 21 years old. I didn't know my alcoholic beverages. And so I knew that anything that wasn't sodas or the lemonades were alcoholic drinks. And so I would always try to just play it off. And I'm like, all right, yeah. And then I would go and Ask the bartender what it was that they ordered, and they take care of making whatever it was that they make. So I'm waiting on this family, and this child asked for a Shirley Temple.

And I was like, oh, you're so funny. You can't have that. And then the mom is like, why can't she? She's like, you know, it's just lemonade and tea, right? And I was like, oh, yeah, I was just joking.

A Shirley Temple isn't lemonade and tea. It's, it's cherry grenadine and Sprite.

Oh, yes, that. There's like, there's another one that's like lemonade and tea.

That's the Arnold Palmer, which also is like, which is like sort of, you can make it alcoholic, but it like just a regular Arnold Palmer can be spiked or it can be like a virgin.

You're like, no, sorry, Miss Little Lady, you can't have a Shirley Temple. And the mom was like, why are you telling my daughter what she can and can't have?

Well, that also sounds like an alcoholic drink. An Arnold Palmer. That also happened to me in a different scenario.

And that's when I learned all my drinks. But, you know, Astrid, Venezuelan Astrid never ordered a Shirley Temple.

My parents never got me a Shirley Temple or an Arnold Palmer. And so yeah, this lady was standing up for her daughter, rightfully so, because she thought that I was prohibiting her. She thought I was prohibiting her from her drink.

And so anyway, I turn around and I'm like, um, the lady responds to me, she's like, you know, it's just, um, Sprite and— what was it? You know, it's just Sprite and grenadine.

And so anyway, I was like, yeah, just kidding.

LOL.

And so yeah, so then I went back to the kitchen and— or to the bar and I told everyone what happened and they could not with me. And I'm literally getting a flood of stories now coming back to me from the restaurant.

But long story short is I learned a lot of lingo. from people in the Midwest. And, um, a lot of times I tried to just play it off by pretending that I knew what I was talking about because that was my defense mechanism and just a way to honestly just keep trucking along. And so yeah, I have learned a lot in the past 10 years of living in Illinois.

I'm proud of you though, because on a very serious note, like, yes, while those things are Funny and like embarrassing and like ha ha ha because we're both like literally cannot stop laughing. On a very serious note, like moving here, learning a second language, like it is hard. And in all honesty, like I'm proud of you for just pushing through, not letting it get to you, learning. You're like okay sure didn't know that. Like I'm not gonna feel embarrassed or feel bad about something that like I truly didn't know and just kind of letting it roll. I'm I'm proud of you and I feel like we need to give. People who are learning English or learning any second language, regardless of what it is, like, just give them a lot of grace because they're trying. And, you know, we're going to mess up. We're not going to say things right. We're going to use the wrong, like, conjugations and stuff like that. You're just— it's going to happen.

Yeah. Even like, it's been 10 years since I lived in the Midwest, and I've lived in the United States since 2001, and I'm still learning. Like, within our friendship and friend groups in general, it's like, oh yeah, it's like an Astrid thing. And I'm learning, and that's okay. And it takes a while to learn things. And yeah, now we just have great stories about it.

So please switch gears and tell us your next embarrassing story.

Okay, mine is from whenever I was in my early 20s. It's like a work, like, professional one. And I still think it's so funny. I have 2 that come to mind. The first one is I was 23 and I had just started at a company called ConvertKit. And they are an online email marketing platform for creators. And it was my first time in a software job. And they kept saying like, yeah, we're a SaaS company, we're a SaaS company. And I was like, I don't know what that means. You know, I was like, man, sassy, got a lot of attitude. You like to do things with a flair here, you know? So I'm like, this is part of our brand.

We're a SaaS company. And I finally asked somebody, I was like, what do we keep saying, SaaS?

I saw it spelled for the first time because they would say it, but seeing it spelled out, it's S-A-A-S. And I was like, that's not how you spell SaaS.

No, I copy and pasted it into Google.

I was like, SaaS, meaning S-A-A-S.

And it said it stands for software as a service. And I'm like, I'm working at a software company and I don't even know what genre of software it fits in. But that was like more of an internal embarrassment.

No one saw it. But I thought that was so funny. Like, just for me, I'm like, you know what, Alexis, we got here. We don't know how we got here. But we're here and we are learning.

Shout out to Google for helping us all with all of our embarrassments. Like, if anything, you just Google it and it has your back.

Like, I wish I would have Googled what a Shirley Temple was.

Excuse me, ma'am. But that is— that is—

I feel like something that happens to so many people in their early 20s, especially jumping into the entire corporate world. Or software world, like there's so many acronyms or so many things and people to know.

And honestly, whenever I jumped into the corporate world, I did the exact same thing that I did at the restaurant. I pretended I knew, and then I figured it out later. I go back and I'll ask my coworker like, "What did what did that he actually mean?" So I really wish though it would have been SaaS, as in the company had a lot of SaaS.

But that's okay.

I know we can't win them all. But actually, that just happened to me today.

Someone was sharing a report. I get this. I feel like whenever I'm laughing, my voice goes up a couple of octaves.

Okay, hold on. Okay, so, um, okay, what was I gonna say? Okay, so actually that just happened to me today with a colleague who was writing a report and they used capital W lowercase o capital W like wow.

And I was like, wow, you know, in the sentence. I was like, I don't know what he means here. These capital letters definitely mean something. So I literally just copied and pasted it into Google and it means week over week, week over lowercase o week.

And I was like, okay, interesting. Got it. Learning new acronyms every day.

Wow. So that's just like, you know what? We're just learning. We're not, we're not letting it define who we are or our ability to be successful. Okay.

One more.

Okay.

I have 2 more. I have so many.

Hold on, you go.

I wasn't ready for another one, but I can, I can.

Okay, another embarrassing story. Okay, so last year I had a wedding in Austin, Texas, and there was out of nowhere a huge storm that hit. And so I was shooting that wedding with my friend Riley, who's a very talented videographer.

Shout out to Riley if you're listening.

And so this was like 2 days before the wedding, the snow— like, sorry, a week before the wedding, the huge snowstorm hit. Nobody had power, nobody had water. Austin just did not know how to deal, of course, with a snowstorm. And so we were just waiting like day by day to see if the wedding is still on, did they get power back at the venue, etc. Long story short, the wedding ended up still happening, but flights were getting canceled left and right. And so Riley and I are like, well, we got a wedding to get to. Our flights will likely get canceled. We have to make a call now.

Are we going or are we going to try to catch this flight?

So we decided to drive and that's a whole other story time for a different moment. Super fun adventure and very scary as well.

And so we drove down, shot the wedding. It was beautiful. And then on our way back, so it turns out that when we were driving back through Kentucky and all that area, a lot of the bathrooms were closed because of the storm and there was no water. And that was a huge thing where we had to pack water and everything. But our primary issue, specifically my primary issue, was driving back and really needing to go to the bathroom, and there was no bathrooms, and there's no bathrooms in sight. And also, I'm just not a squatter. Like, I just, I just can't do it. Freaks me out. I just can't. And so Riley is like, well, what are you gonna do?

You either squat or you squat. Like, there's no options.

And so we're driving, and I see a sign, and there's a Planet Fitness.

And I'm like, Riley, you're a member, aren't you? He's like, what are you thinking? So anyway, we pull off on the exit and we go to the Planet Fitness.

I'm like, the Planet Fitness is open 24 hours. There's like, they're definitely gonna let us in. And so we get in there and I am considered Riley's guest.

So then I have to like Take a picture, sign a waiver, do the whole thing just so I can go to the bathroom because I really, really had to go. So anyway, sometimes you just have to get really creative with your problem solving.

There's a tip for you. If you can't find a bathroom and you see a Planet Fitness, go for it and just pay the $10 pass if you have to. Um, but yeah, I really had to go, and shout out to Planet Fitness for absolutely saving me.

Sponsored by Planet Fitness. Oh my gosh, that is amazing because the ingenuity of like, we don't have water to go to the bathroom in any of these gas stations. Like, thank God Planet Fitness was able to have it and like the bathrooms worked and everything. But girl, that is hilarious. And I was laughing silently over here by myself. I I, so many elements of like bathroom stories are, we could do a whole episode of just like crazy places that we've had to go to the bathroom. Like my husband's family owns a cabin in the middle of nowhere in Colorado. And so I've gotten very used to going out to like an outhouse, but whenever we're like hiking or exploring or whatever, like, I'm like, I peed on that mountain.

It's like the most Midwest thing ever, but I'm like, I peed on that mountain. Anyways, so you just get really used to it.

And I feel like that's one of the things I'm like, I'm glad I grew up, I guess, in the country because my mom always taught me how to go to the bathroom anywhere. But at the same time, depending on how you have to go to the bathroom, that's a whole other story because it's like going number one is one thing and then number two.

Is a whole different story.

My biggest fear is just honestly that I'm gonna squat down and some animal's just gonna come up and like get me.

And so I just can't do it. Like someone could teach me how to do it because this Miami girl never learned and I would still, I wouldn't be able to relax enough to go to the bathroom. So anyway, we'll definitely have a different podcast episode on that, but Please share with us your embarrassing story. Okay.

I would say my last one I'll share, I have, well, I have 2, they're super quick. The first one was whenever I had just started at a new company and we were at ConvertKit actually, like all my, all my work stories are at ConvertKit, but anyways, I had lots of good times there. Um, we, I was at my very first like work conference as I was a couple of months into the job and it was in Denver and a part of my role was taking clients out to dinner and getting to know people and really building relationships with them to learn about their business. And like as a salesperson slash affiliate manager, I was really trying to figure out like, how do I build these relationships? And like, you know, really kind of position myself as a leader and as an expert. And so we're at this restaurant in Denver, this really nice Italian restaurant, right? This long table. I'm kind of like right in the the middle of the table too. And so there's a lot of different conversations happening. Um, but I was like, okay, I really gotta, I gotta talk, you know, like there's, there's this part when you're more professional and you're young and you're like, I need to say something. So I was trying to make small talk and kind of get to know people that were sitting, sitting around me. And, um, there are all these different platforms, right? Like there's MailChimp, there's ConvertKit, there's Teachable, there's Circle. I work for Circle now. There's a lot of different tech platforms as an entrepreneur. And at the time, courses were really starting to take off. This is 2016. So this is like 6 years ago. This is kind of right as online business, it is completely different now, but really starting to take more of a mass scale. A lot of people are shifting into online business. And a course platform at the time was called Rainmaker Digital. Which was kind of like a legacy course platform. A lot of people were using it for memberships, for courses, like before that was even a thing. And so that was a topic of discussion at the conference that we were at. So I was like, oh, I'm going to talk about Rainmaker because that's like a popular thing to talk about right now. So I looked at the guy next to me and I was like, so have you, have you ever heard of Rainmaker Digital? Like, do you use it? You know, what have your experiences been? And he looks at me and he's like, Yeah, actually that's my company. I founded that. That's, that's mine.

And I literally wanted to crawl under the table because I'm like trying to make a good impression.

And it's like directly with a client too. Like he was an affiliate. He was someone that used ConvertKit. Like we're complementary software tools. And I'm like, hey, founder of the tool, have you ever heard of the tool? And I'm sure he thought I was an absolute complete idiot. But he was so gracious about it and was really like, "Oh, it's okay. You know, I know you're new, and it's all good." And like, but other people on the table kind of heard and thought it was funny as well. And I kind of had to work through that of like, "You know what? I am new. I am starting out in this new field that I'm really learning a lot, and I'm not going to let something like that dictate it." And we ended up having a great relationship, and you know, he ended up being a really incredible partner for. ConvertKit, la-dee-da-dee-da. But it's like those little moments. And then actually we were able to laugh about it a couple years later whenever I really kind of became an expert in a lot of the email marketing stuff.

It was like, remember that one time that I asked you if you had heard of your own company?

And we were just able to kind of riff on it. He thought it was funny and it was a fun memory. But at the time, definitely wanted to go eat a whole basket of bread from the Italian restaurant in the bathroom by myself.

Girl, you handled that with so much grace. Like, I don't even know.

I feel like I would have frozen for a bit and then just kind of like, what do I even do next? And the fact that you just continued that conversation and you were able to navigate through that quickly mentally, like, I'm not gonna let this ruin the rest of the night and just kind of like play it off, is admirable for sure. And hey, it happens to the best of us. And like you said, There's so much to learn when you jump into a new role, a new world, and a new industry where you're like, I don't know the first thing. I remember my last job, it was in the water industry, and I had zero idea about anything, especially things that were technical.

And I could sit here all night and tell stories of all the times that people were like, okay, let me just teach you. And you just have to be like, okay, I'm learning.

And that's all good.

Yeah, I think it's kind of back to what you said earlier in in in the episode is just not taking yourself so seriously. Really kind of layering, like lowering down, lowering. Wow, words are hard. Lowering your guard and just being like, you know what? I I know I made a mistake, or I know that was funny, or I did the wrong thing, or I said the wrong thing. Ha ha! Like. And we're moving forward instead of being like, oh, I feel so insecure now. I feel so unconfident. And you can start to make evidence. Oh, this is why I'm not good enough. And this is why I'm never going to be able to do that. And this is why no one's going to be able to take me seriously. I have intentionally taken embarrassing moments that could have been a part of my identity and decided, you know what? I'm not going to use that as evidence against me because I already have enough mindset stuff to work through. I'm not going to let all this stuff get in the way. And I think that has to be an intentional thought, like whether it's in your personal life, whether you're trying to make new friends, you say the wrong thing, whether you're in your professional world, like whatever scenario of life you're in, just really giving yourself a lot of grace and space to just be a freaking human being. Like you are going to kind of fumble your way through things sometimes, no matter how old you are. It's just a part of life and really just kind of normalizing that and giving yourself the space to show up that way instead of like, I must be perfect. I must be rehearsed. I must be like 100% all the time. It's just not realistic. And I find more relatability whenever I see someone else's humanity. And it's like, I will send them a message and I'll be like, hey, like, that happened to me. Or, oh, I totally feel that. Or like, I'm sorry that happened to you. And like, you know, just extend a layer of like, I see you. You're a human, I'm a human, it's all good. I'm sending you love. And move forward. Not like a get over it, but it's like, don't let this get in the way of you being able to have a fun life and be able to have confidence and feel secure.

I think too that whenever we go through some of those embarrassing moments and our defense mechanism is to pull away and shut down and close off because you to meet your own standard, reminding yourself that that's just ego popping up. And if really what you want is connection with other people, are you really going to let your ego get in the way of that connection point? And the truth is, we see our own insecurities and we see our own faults and everything, but everyone has been through an embarrassing moment. And so we sit here and if we were at a table where somebody experienced something embarrassing, we'd be like, girl, me too.

We got you. No worries.

Do you need new pants?

Let's go shopping.

But really being able to think through whoever it is that you're surrounded by, if ego pops up, it's just because you care and that's okay. But don't let that get in the way of connection. And it's just going to happen anytime.

Yeah.

And it's also a good learning opportunity. So if you perhaps— like, we've shared kind of like funnier stories, but there's also more embarrassing moments where even going back to my cultural side of things, where there's been embarrassing moments that haven't been so funny that it's like, dang, culturally, I didn't understand that. And I'm still learning. I'm still human. I don't know everything about every culture, about every race about anything. And so being able to be like, oh, I'm sorry, can you share more on that? I had no idea. That was just my experience. And so being able to expand a little bit more on that conversation. And again, keeping in mind, what's the goal? At least my goal is connection. At the end of the day, I want to get to know someone. I'm curious about human beings in general. I think everyone deep down is a beautiful human being. And so I'm not going to let that uncomfortable moment take me away from a point of connection.

I love what you said about the ego too, like that and how that can really get in the way of connection. Like I, there have been moments in this new role at this new company I'm at, like for the last 6 months where, you know, even though I've been in the software space, in the partnership affiliate marketing space, I'm still learning a lot. And instead of being like, oh yeah, Alexis, she knows a lot, she knows everything, she has a yes to everything, she has an answer for everything— I don't want to be known as that. Like, I want to be, oh yeah, Alexis, she's super fun to work with. Like, I love collaborating with her, I love creating with her, she's super open-minded. Like, even thinking about my goal is not to be so rigid with my personhood where like Oh, I have to act like I know everything all the time, because that's that again. That takes away from like the connection part, and so that's something I've been working through. Like even through some somewhat quote unquote embarrassing elements of like fumbling through meetings or like, oh yeah, what does that mean? Like tell me what is that actually? Like what do you want in this report? I actually don't know, and collaborating and inviting someone in to teach me.

Mm-hmm.

Instead of being like, oh yeah, I'll figure it out. Or like, oh yeah, I know how to do that. And then not. I actually am not a fan of that mentality of like, you just fake— I don't— we should do a whole episode on the fake it till you make it thing because there's so much there. But I think that's an element of like embarrassment saying, oh, I'm not really sure. Yes, I will figure it out, but I'd like to invite you to help me figure it out instead of like being an island. Being like, oh, I got to figure it all out on my own.

On that too, my past boss, he was absolutely incredible, is. And one thing that I loved and I really respected about him is he was not afraid to admit when he was wrong or when he messed up. He was the first one to be like, guys, I screwed up. I am sorry.

I need you all to come around me and help me fix this mistake.

And he would genuinely just be so apologetic and genuinely learn from it and move forward. And it actually was what brought our team together so much because it created this culture of, I can come to the table. If my leader can come to the table and be like, I screwed up, I need you all, which a leader can sometimes be like, well, I have it figured out. I don't invite the team into it.

Yeah.

Help me do that, then it opened up this beautiful door for all of us to be like, shoot, I screwed up, or oh my gosh, I have way too much going on and I miss these details. Can someone please jump in and like look at this too? And we had this very, very tight-knit team that was so beautiful and I admire so much. And I learned how to be, I guess, softer in my leadership and just welcome it and be like, wow, this This incredible leader that I admire that is so smart is showing me his human side. And so that's really the holistic view of a true leader. And everyone has that.

I completely agree. And the inviting people in because you need help is another source of relationship building, and it can really open a lot of doors to trust. And collaboration, and I I just love that. Even like when I was first getting into the gym again, like about a year ago, being able to go up to another woman specifically and be like, "How do I use this machine?" Like, "Oh, I saw you do this, but I'm not really sure how. Can you like teach me or show me or walk me through a rep?" And like, or I dropped a weight, or I you know, like dropped the bar, or I couldn't lift that actually. I had to stop, and I had. to like get help, whatever. You can just get embarrassed. And it's like coming back to center, coming back to being grounded and being like, okay, this is who I am. This is what I know to be true about myself. And like, I don't want to take all of this so seriously. And I don't need to be worried about what other people are thinking about me. And this is really about me and my moment here. Like, just like kind of getting out of your own head about stuff. But wow, we've really covered a lot. We've covered, we've covered tankinis in the church camp pool to leadership and everything in between.

Well, you guys can definitely get a little bit of everything in this podcast episode. And it's really, you know, an insight into our friendship, which I love. I just love that we invite laughter and embarrassing stories and moments and then deep conversation as well and development. I hope that you enjoyed this podcast episode.

If you did, be sure to screenshot your player and tag us on Instagram or on social media and let us know what you're loving about it. And if you want us to share any more embarrassing stories, I'm sure we could go on forever and do this like once a month or quarterly or whatever it might be. But we love hearing from you all. And you can tag us on Instagram at InBetween.pod. And you can also connect with me on Instagram @astridjohannaphoto.

And you can connect with me @alexistechmiller on Instagram as well. And yeah, if you're resonating with the show, we would love for you to leave a review too. You can rate us or you can actually write us a review specifically on Apple if you're listening with Apple Podcasts. But we have loved seeing your ratings and reading your reviews. And we're just really thankful for you guys taking time to listen to the show, but also share, you know, what you're getting, what you're getting from it. It's super motivating to us, and, um, we just find it to be like really uplifting. It brings a huge smile to our face. So, um, that would mean a lot to us. Thank you so much, and we will see you next week.