Good Day Google+ - Songs in the Key of Life

Hi everyone, I am Chef Dennis Littley and welcome to Good Day Google+. And it's my favorite day of the week, the day I get to spend with my friends and introducing my friends to each other. And we got a great show for you today. We have a whole brand new cast on Good Day Google+. Sometimes we have veterans that come on again, but today it's a whole new cast and I am excited to get the conversation started. And my sister Mia, AKA Thelma, was just on with us in the green room. As she came to us from Rome, and she was just breaking my heart drinking some wine, or probably Prosecco. She's got so many bottles of Prosecco squirreled away now from the Veneto. So we're gonna have some fun later. We'll probably be doing a live show if we can work out the logistics from one of her stops on the trip. But Thelma, we love you, we miss you, and I hope you're having a good time. And for those of you that don't know, she's Thelma and I'm Luis. We are Thelma and Louise. So right now we're gonna get this party started and let me introduce everyone and say hi, and then we'll come back and just have a little fun. So first on my list next to me, coming from Munich, is Stephanie Fourian. How you doing?

Great, how are you guys all doing?

I'm good, I'm happy, everybody's happy, and Bernard's having fun with the camera, the cameraman, so we're all good.

Yeah, we're doing one big test adventure, so we're having fun.

Isn't it fun though? He's doing a great job, this is really cool. This is probably the most show-like time I've had anybody on. It's been moving things around and stuff, so I'm excited, it's fun. Well, thank you so much for being here, and your hometown is not Munich evidently, I can tell from your accent.

No, no, it's not. Actually near Boston.

Okay, I have family outside in Natick, but haven't been up there in a long time though. Alright, so we'll come back to you because you're gonna do some songs for us and we're gonna let you start off as soon as we get to that point. So let's move on, Ryan. Going across from me is I have Larry Brown Jr. or LBJ, either way. I'm so happy you could come on today. How you doing?

I am well, thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of Good Day Google+. I am excited about being here and looking forward to sharing with everyone. I'm wonderful. It's Friday, it's Saturday Eve, preparing for one of my favorite days of the week. Most people like Fridays, I love Saturdays, especially Saturday morning. So this is a great day for me.

I know Saturdays are wonderful. I remember what I mean, I don't really work where I do work, I do a lot of stuff, but I don't have that 9-to-5 job anymore, so I kinda lose track of when Saturday is, but I still, I still kinda love hearing the day, hearing them say it's Saturday.

Yes, I love it, I love it.

Alright, so we'll get back to you in a minute.

Thank you.

And now moving across, I have Jenny Bradford. How you doing, Jenny?

Hi, great! Good to see you in person. I think we almost met at ShiftCon once, but I'm not sure.

I think our paths crossed and we probably saw each other, but you know, that was a blur for me. And you know, I always tell everyone that was my life-changing event. So I'm excited to go back this year and hopefully maybe we'll even be speaking on a panel.

Yeah, fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed. I haven't heard on my other one yet either on my YouTube host, but I'm hoping that Leah picks us.

She's amazing.

She is. I love her. She's really been a big inspiration to not just me but countless people all over the country. And for the abuse she takes from some of these people too, it's just unreal. Hang in there, Leah, we'll do a cloud clap for you later. Anyway, alright, let's move on over to Ashley. Ashley DePaulis, is that correct?

Yes, it is.

Okay, and you are coming to us, you got a great picture and you're on your iPad.

I am.

Wow, that's cool. And you are outside of Denver or in Denver?

I'm in Denver, right in the Capitol Hill area.

Okay, I don't know where that is.

It's very beautiful weather, so it's central Denver, basically.

Okay, very good. So you're still up in the Mile High area though?

Yes.

Well, actually now all of Colorado's high.

Yeah, yeah.

That's why we have to be extra careful of sun exposure here.

Yeah, because I know Florida is different too. You know, we're, I think, closer to the equator. We stay out in the sun, and all of a sudden I feel like I'm baking. So, you know, it's all where you live. You gotta be careful.

Yes.

So we're gonna talk to you, and I think you and Jenny are gonna have a lot in common today. So we'll—

Yeah.

And Jenny, you're in Texas, right?

Yeah, Dallas, right on the east coast.

Yeehaw!

How about them Cowboys?

I don't know about the sports ball.

I was waiting to see if Larry would cringe at that one.

I know, I'm so sorry.

I don't know much about sports.

That's okay, no problem.

I used to live in Dallas, Jenny, when I was growing up, like middle school, high school age.

In central Dallas or?

Actually in Grapevine, Texas, so right near the airport.

Yeah.

Yep, been there a lot.

Yeah.

Well, there's years that the Cowboys didn't know a lot about sports either, Jenny. That's what I hear. Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this year, but I'm not holding out. Well, thank you. Let's see who's in the audience real quick and we'll say hello. I got Kate Bowers here saying hi to everyone. Jim Sharp is here. Hi, Jim. Dave Pipe is tuning in from England to us. How you doing, Dave? Gail Harris is here, and actually Gail's going to be on next week with a person she co-authored a book with, Finding Zoe. Brandy Rose is going to be on with us next week. Ron Sneyberg is here. Dave Williams, Sherry Valentine, so we're having a good time. So everybody's here to watch, thank you so much. Leave your questions or comments in the comment section and I will get to them. Alright, so let's start off Friday with a bang and let's let Stephanie sing for us.

Alright, can you guys hear the guitar?

Yep.

Sounds good.

Okay. Thinking, do you want to walk with me? We could talk about the future, reminisce about the past, remember enemies and friendships, make fist to fist battle. Dream on, you can rise. Dream on, you can open up that bank. Dream on, dream on, Dennis Littley. Dream on, in the dead night. Dream on, in the open night of faith. Dream on, dream on. Oh, dream on in the open night. Dream along, open my heart. Dream along, dream on, Dennis Littley.

Wow, that was beautiful. Incredible.

Thanks.

Stephanie, unfortunately we lost your picture right after you started though.

Okay.

We could hear you, but I see your icon up there now.

Okay, that's strange. As long as you heard the song, I guess.

Oh yeah, we heard it. I don't know if Bernhard switched— there you go, now you're back.

Okay, now I'm back.

Okay.

I don't know, apparently— We must have switched something.

So Bernhard, if you can watch the live screen, because I will have her in it when she sings, and that way if you don't see her, maybe make changes until you see her.

Okay, he's clicking around, so that was probably it.

That's alright, but it was a beautiful song, so we all enjoyed it, and we had a comment for you. Ron Snaper says, what a beautiful sounding voice. You brought an angel to sing today.

Ah, thank you, Ron.

That's really sweet.

That was great. So if you don't mind just joining into the conversation now, well, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you're doing in Germany?

Um, well, I came to Germany a couple years ago because I had the opportunity to work as a musician here instead of just doing it as a hobby in the US. So I followed music over here. And I've been doing that ever since. I've been working as a background singer and a studio singer, and I've always had my own songs. So this year I decided I'd give it a go and see what happens if I go solo. So that's what I'm doing now.

Excellent. And I remember when we first connected, you were doing a concert in a Mongolian yurt. Was that in Berlin? Maybe that's how I got Berlin.

No, that was Munich too. But when I first moved here, I moved to Berlin. So if you had read my biography, I was in Berlin for a couple of years.

That must have been where I got it. But yeah, how did that concert go? I was so excited when I heard you say that.

That was a crazy concert. The people that came were really, really cool. It was a really weird place, so it was like only people in the know found it. But it was really cool. It was a really fun night.

Now, do you sing in English or German when you perform for just Germans?

In English.

Okay, do you speak German?

By saying it in German, they wouldn't want to hear it.

I know, it's— unless you're doing opera, right?

Yeah, but even then they wouldn't want to hear my German.

Well, that's cool. So I'm really happy you came on today, and thank you for braving it and finding a place to do the show from. This is really, really great.

No, I'm glad because you gave me an excuse to get out. I'm new in Munich, so I don't know anybody yet, and I had to contact one of the few people I knew, and he happened to know Bernhard. So I got to know Bernhard, and that's why I'm in the studio today. And it turns out he's a really cool guy, and he's got a lot of really cool stuff in a really cool room. So I think he's going to be a good guy to know, and it's all because you invited me.

So— Good things happen through Google+ and just meeting people and starting out. Now you know how to do Hangouts, and we'll expect to see some more concerts, and you have a standing invitation anytime you want to play on my show. So, uh, great.

I'll have to bother Bernhard about that in the future.

There you go. And like I said, if Bernhard wants to drum up some other people or have his band on, I'd love to hear his band as well.

They're really good. I've heard their recording. I thought it was really good.

He's going, "No, they're good." Well, I can play for him, and then he'll see how good he is, because I Okay, alright, alright. Well, thank you so much. Now we're gonna move across and we're gonna talk to somebody else, but please feel free to jump in the conversation and say hi. So let's move right on over to Larry. Larry, LBJ.

Hello, yes, yes.

So we were talking about the cherry blossoms in Washington and, you know, God, spring's here. Come on, we know it's here.

Spring has sprung. Spring has sprung everywhere it seems except for the East Coast, especially Washington, D.C., where I'm currently located. I'm looking forward to the kickoff of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival here in Washington. If you've never had an opportunity to see it, for everyone watching, I encourage you to come and visit us here in D.C. It's an awesome time to just see the blossoms in bloom. The cherry blossom trees were gifted to Washington, D.C. from Japan as a peace offering, and every year the blossoms produce these huge, these beautiful pink petals, and they're strategically arranged around the tidal basin here in Washington. And it's just amazing to get in a paddle boat and look around and see the blossoms in full bloom and look at the families and just embrace spring. It's quintessential spring, if you ask me. So I encourage everyone to come. I'm looking forward to spring, Chef. Hopefully, right now it's gray and dreary here. It's 48 degrees and I had to wear a pop of color today to bring something, uh, to bring something to everybody around the office as well as here on Good Day Google+.

So why don't you tell us a little bit about what you do in Washington?

Sure, so here's what I do in Washington. I lead a program that's 37 years old. It's called ACTSO. It stands for the Academic Cultural Technological Scientific Olympics. And what ACTSO does is engages high school students from around the country from 150 different programs, and they compete every year locally for prizes and scholarships in 6 different categories. And under those 6 categories, there are 29 competitions that span from the arenas of culinary arts, performing arts, visual arts, humanities, business, as well as STEM— that's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. And the program's been around for 37 years. I have the pleasure of leading almost 1,000— leading 11,000 youth across the country who will come to Philadelphia this year. Last year we were in Las Vegas, and this will be in Philadelphia for the 37th Annual AXO National Competition and Ceremony. So we do it kind of like the Olympics. There's a big opening ceremony, the kids come in and march representing their state teams, and they compete the next day. You can hop around to the different competitions as if you were at the Olympics, and then you move into master classes where corporations as well as local community leaders and business owners come and offer something as an impartation to the the future of the students. And then Sunday we close with a full-on award show that's similar to the Oscars. I mean, the students get dressed up for this, they're awarded medals, they get scholarships, they get laptops and all kinds of wonderful prizes. We've got some great surprises in store for the students this year, so feel free to follow the hashtag #ACTSO online and you can learn more about ACTSO.

That's great. Are you going to be doing any shows from there, you think? Any live shows?

Yeah, so we actually will be live streaming the award ceremony Sunday, July 12th, which will be held at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. We go live at 1 PM Eastern and we go off the air promptly at 4 PM Eastern. You can catch it live on YouTube. And we're actually, Seth, this is a great piece of technology I actually engaged with yesterday, we're thinking about doing some behind-the-scenes reporting throughout the entire weekend through a new app called String Wire. And what String Wire allows folks to do is essentially create a channel and you can give people a code to this channel and you have embedded reporters, um, and they're on the ground for whatever kind of event you're hosting, and people can follow that and get a live stream from either a computer or from a mobile phone. So we're looking into some new technology to enhance the experience for people who can't come to Philadelphia but they want to see what's going on the entire weekend. We're looking to enhance the experience that way.

That's great. I had never heard of that, and I know the big hubbub was over Meerkat, and then Twitter put a clamp on that because they were using their own, and now Periscope is out. So people are saying a lot of good things about Periscope. Again, that's only for iPhone. A lot of these things are just for iPhones right now. So the one— iStream— what is it called again?

It's called String Wire. It's actually, uh, it's underwritten and produced by NBC News, and they actually have been using it for a lot of their on-the-ground stories. It's how they're able to kind of push a lot of their things and become top level. And they've made it public now, so anyone can go on to String Wire, download the app for Android and for Apple, uh, for iOS users. And you can even do it on computers that can run apps as well. So you can essentially have a guest next to you, and you can do the same thing there, and you can go back and forth. You can have like an anchor desk and then go to reporters in the field with cell phones or with tablets. Who can provide any kind of feedback for the stores. It's a really awesome app.

Great, well thank you for telling us about that because that sounds like a lot of fun. Always happy to find new technology. I may not be the most techie person, but I always say I know a guy who is.

I know one of them.

Well good, thank you and thanks for sharing that with us. I look forward to seeing more about your project there. My soon-to-be wife, for years we just said we were married because it was easier, but we're actually getting married April 10th. So my soon-to-be wife is a teacher, and I know she's always talking about STEM, and it took me a little while to know what she was talking about. So I didn't quite understand the terminology. I thought they were talking about—

I didn't either. Yeah, I didn't either. I, um, it's one of those kind of buzzwords right now, but it's becoming industry standard, so I had to embrace it. I have a background— I'm a creative person by nature and by background, so Science, technology, engineering, mathematics was not my thing growing up at all. So it took me a while to— I would hear it sitting in meetings, but once I realized what STEM was, I embraced it, and now it's a part of my life because I feel like I'm connected because I'm a techie. So I'm like, oh yeah, I'm STEM, I'm STEM savvy, count me in, count me in. So I'm a part of the group.

Good, well, I'm glad to hear that, and thanks again for being here today. You know, I found you through your show that you did on Martin Luther King. And that's, I think, how I found— how he first came to my mind, and I saw you doing something. So I've seen some of your other shows that you're doing. It's really good stuff. We have to get more people involved in what you're doing too, in the shows that you have.

Awesome, thank you so much, Jeff. I appreciate that.

Oh, my pleasure. So let's move on over to Jenny Bradford. How you doing, Jen?

Hi, great, great.

So why don't you tell us a little bit about what you do and what you have fun doing, your passions and anything you might have going on?

Yeah, I think that you probably know each other kind of through blogging so— been blogging 10-ish years recently changed name of blog used to be Conscientious Confusion nobody can spell the word conscientious we change this year to Living-Consciously which goes right along the same veins um I'm a momma at heart! 2 little ones that are 4 and 5, and so technically I stay home with them, but I also blog and I teach part-time. I'm a Lagree Fitness instructor. If you wanna know more about Lagree, just go to lagreefitness.com, and I teach at Ultimate Pilates. So they franchise to studios, and I teach here in Plano. It's a form of Pilates but on a giant metal machine called the Megaformer. Uh, extremely intense. It will do cardio and strength training in 50 minutes. We will exhaust all your muscles. So it's really great. I am super pumped about it. I've loved teaching that for the last 3 years, but I've done yoga for, well, since 2003, so what is that, 12 years? Um, and I'm going through yoga teacher training right now, so I'll be done with that in July. I'll have my 200 hours, which is the minimum that you can you know, have for your typical yoga certification. Hopefully, you know, there will be more eventually, but that's what I'm working on right now. My brain is completely full of that all the time. I was just watching your video, Ashley, the other day, right when I saw this, the listing for this show, and you were doing— you have a video about retracting the scaps, and we were just— oh yeah, We were just going through our, you know, in yoga, your alignment. You've got your skull draw and your shoulder draw and your ribs. And so I was like, you know, right when I clicked on that was right when we were studying that. So it was kind of, it was really helpful because I could like, I could, that lady has lovely scaps.

Yes, she does.

I've tapped that before.

That lady has lovely scaps.

Very well.

She's got lovely scaps, yes.

She does. So that was helpful, you know. I might have sent that out to some of the people in my class, I can't remember. But helpful, you know, all along the same vein. So I do Instagram yoga as well, which I wouldn't call myself an Instagram yogi because I feel like those people are more talented than I am, but I do enjoy following the challenges, which is when you have a challenge every day, you have someone famous like Keenan McGregor or Keri Verna, who's Beach Yoga Girl, and they post what the pose for today is and then you try to do it. Try being the operative word there. There's no wrong way. I mean, well, there is if you hurt yourself, but you know, there's no— there's different interpretations and that can still be the pose for you today. And so try to Follow along with those and have a lot of fun there. One of my favorite things to do is kind of the photography end of it. I'm not a fabulous photographer, but I'm getting better, all with the iPhone, you know, so that I can take it with me everywhere. And it's a little community there that we have.

Yeah, you can take fabulous pictures with your phone now. They really do come out well.

Oh yeah, they're fabulous. I love it.

Yeah.

Slowly.

So will you be a yogi then when you get your certification?

Well, I don't know, you know, what that word entails. You can call yourself that. That really just means you do yoga, right? So anybody can be a yogi. But as for an instructor, you know, that would be the full wealth of where people are will start to be more comfortable taking from me. I will feel more comfortable when I'm fully certified so that I can make sure everyone is safe, you know, because safety is really kind of my number one concern, you know, anytime I'm teaching.

So I can understand that. Well, I met a yogi yesterday. She's an instructor too in Winter Park, and we're going to actually do a show from her studio. What's her name? Her name is— oh, you put me on the spot right now.

I don't recognize them, you know, from yoga. They're from Instagram or online.

Yeah, I'll find it, but being old, I can use that as an excuse now. Things don't come to me as quick as they do. Her last name is Mason. I remember that much. I'll get to it. Anyway, we're going to do a show, one of my on-the-road shows, from her studio. I thought it'd be fun. I said, "You can even make me try to do some.

Everybody will enjoy watching Chef trying to get into a yoga pose." Yeah, I mean, if you're sitting up and your spine is aligned, You are doing a yoga pose.

You are doing yoga all the time and you just don't know it.

That just totally made me adjust in my chair, Jenny, when you said that. I was like, I need to be sitting up using my sit bones correctly aligned and ready to be in yoga pose. So thank you for the reminder.

All the time.

You can do it every day.

Well, I had one guest on, and the first time I'm talking to him, I noticed he's just bouncing up and down. And finally I said, what are you What are you doing? He was sitting on a ball. They don't have balls.

I've got one behind me. I don't know if you can see it over there. I've been playing with it, but it's not for them. It's supposed to be mine. I keep telling them it's my ball, not your ball.

Well, if I used one, you'd see me sliding off of it, falling backwards. I think it would take a while for me to get used to that, or bouncing too much, one of the two.

It develops your core strength while you're sitting there. So even though you're sitting in front of a desk, you're kind of challenging your core all the time, and that's really helpful.

Maybe I'll try one then. I'll get one. I won't use it for my shows, I don't think.

Right.

No, we don't want you to start bouncing around.

Oh no, not a pretty sight.

Oh well.

Anyway, well good. I'm glad that— and you know, I'm looking forward to seeing you this year in ShiftCon. I'll be there whether I'm speaking or not because, you know, it's changed my life.

It was really amazing. Yeah, and for you guys who don't know what it is, it's just a blogging con— well, I mean, it's a conference. You don't have to be a blogger, but I think most people there are involved in social media in some way, either, you know, maybe just for advocacy's sake. But it focuses on shifting our, basically all of our society, kind of more toward either more sustainable, but we focus, I think, a lot more on food than some of the other conferences might. We have a lot of focus on real food, clean food, GMO-free. Well, we'd like to be GMO-free. I know right now we're pursuing at least labeling, at the very least, right? And then living more sustainably. I'm hoping to— we're working on maybe addressing Green 101 for people who are just starting out. With more conscious lifestyle. And so we go, you know, runs the gamut really at that conference. People who are just starting out, people who are super hardcore, and the whole time they were there they never created a piece of waste. And I was like, wow, that's amazing.

That's not me.

I'm still struggling. You know, the best takeaway I got from that, and I think I had Leah spitting out whatever she was drinking when she read the tweet was I bought those dryer balls.

I love those things.

My shirts are so fluffy and soft.

You can put essential oils on them, and then you know it's an alternative to dryer sheets, right?

Oh yeah. I had bought the Seventh Generation dryer sheets first. I probably shouldn't have said their name. They were working well, but I walked in the laundry room one day, and I said, "Who's using sandpaper in here?" When they came out of there, they kind of looked like sandpaper. I hadn't seen them. I just bought all the stuff and said, "Here, we're using this now," because Lisa doesn't shop. I do the shopping, and she's got to use what I buy her. I walked in there, so then I found out about the dryer balls, and I ordered them, and I said, "Oh my God, it's so soft." My tweet was, "Thanks to ShiftCon, I now have dryer balls." Nice. Yeah, Leah loved that. I have to say, she never knows what's going to come out of my mouth, and I think that's why she keeps me around sometimes.

The jokes just never end with dryer balls. I mean, I did a post a couple years ago and I was like making all these jokes about it and the dryer ball lady was like, I've heard all of those jokes before.

Oh, you know she has, yeah.

Constantly. It's still pretty funny.

But I was amazed that they really worked that well. You know, I bought them thinking, oh yeah, sure, right? And it's like they keep getting— everything keeps getting softer and there's less lint in the dryer vent too, which is kind of odd.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Now, are these the dryer balls with the little spikes on them? It's like a ball with the little spikes all around?

These are white wool. They're from— you can get them on Amazon. That's where I bought mine. There's people that sell them in the States too, but they're New Zealand or Australian wool, 100% organic and all that. I have 6 of them in there. They actually— it takes less time to dry because the balls are going around and separate your clothes. Air gets to them, so stuff dries a lot faster than it would have because it's not all clumped together. And they're— like I said, and we don't put any essential oils on them because she's not real big on the scents, but you can, and then stuff smells really nice too. But there's— I'm telling you, I was amazed. It's like Downy or something without the Downy.

Wow.

Interesting.

I'm going to hook you up with a girl that makes those by hand.

The one I worked with was an Etsy seller. I'll put a link in the group chat.

You want to put it in the comment section of the show.

I may not have done that right.

Yeah, you put it in our chat, but if you put it in where the show is being broadcast, you can put it there for everyone.

Is ShiftCon always in California? That's where it was this past year, right?

Well, this is just the second one. Okay. So it'll be in Los Angeles. Leah's in Los Angeles and based in California around there, so I would assume probably unless it gets so big that she starts doing an East Coast one as well, which is a thought.

Cool.

I don't know if she'd like that.

I knew Mia went. That's all I knew, and I heard about it, so I was wondering.

We both went there to speak about Google+. I'm like, yeah, other ones, yeah, yeah. Okay, and I've heard— I like Leah. We're friends, and she got me to change all my chemicals, and I've heard everything. I'm sitting there like, "Yeah, I understand. I understand." Then all of a sudden, I'm listening going, "What? They're doing what? They're putting what in our food?" I'm like, "Oh my God." When I left her, I says, "You got me. I drank the Kool-Aid." She did a little cheer and said, "I thought I would." I said, "Yeah, you got me." So Ashley, we're with you now. Why don't you tell us about what you do? And I know you're Mia Voss's personal trainer.

Yes, yes, and we have— we've had a lot of fun over the 6 months that I've worked with her and still working with her while she's in Italy. So I live out here in Denver, Colorado, and teach some fitness classes as well, Jenny. I teach out of 2 gyms here and a lot of more high-intensity training classes that I teach, but also work with folks privately on helping them integrate healthy lifestyle habits into their busy days, because a lot of people sometimes find themselves sidelined due to injury or just jobs and so on and so forth, and kind of want to get back into the game, so to speak. So do personal training with them and then also integrating healthy lifestyle habits. That is what I'm doing out here. As you saw earlier, I have a yellow lab, so he keeps me busy and outside very often to enjoy the beautiful weather out here. Other than that, I myself like to be active and grew up that way in Upstate New York riding bikes and the whole shebang.

So I was going to ask if you were a native Coloradian.

So I'm not, I'm not. Many people aren't. I do have a few friends that are. There's a lot of people out here from the Midwest. Also California draws a lot of folks because I think the lifestyle is similar. It's very much a lifestyle a very sports-based state. That's why people live here, because they like to ski, bike, hike, golf, you know, just do it all in a day. It is possible here because the weather changes very quickly.

It's kind of like Florida. If you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes.

Yes, yes.

Only with us, the 10 minutes will bring more heat or rain. God knows what.

Funny, the other morning, um, one of my clients, I was with her and she was like, oh, my son was supposed to start soccer practice this afternoon. I was like, it was snowing in the morning, and I was like, oh, I bet it'll be sunny by the afternoon. And it actually was. It was a really nice day.

Gotta love it. Well, you know, you get used to it. And plus, the good thing about Colorado is, as opposed to the East Coast, you have a lot of sun.

Yeah, we do.

Yeah, one of the things about living in Philadelphia was it was gray. It was just from November, and you can attest to that, Larry, living in DC, right? It gets gray, it stays gray until spring.

Yeah, it does. It stays gray until spring, and it just lurks and lurks and lurks. You've got to really find a happy place. I'm reminded of Finding Nemo when they find a happy place, find a happy place, when it's gray and the gray just lurks like that. But I mean, once you move past that, you can get a lot of stuff accomplished.

Oh yeah, Philly has a lot of great things there. You're going to enjoy the city with the conference too that you're doing. It's just a wonderful, wonderful city. Lots of good food and lots of things to do.

Oh my gosh, I love Philly. My wife is actually from Philadelphia, so we've been up and down the road several times from Washington to go to Philadelphia to see family, conduct business there. And I love going. I'm actually going to Philly next week for a site visit. So that's like my third hometown. I'm originally from Detroit, Michigan, came to Washington, D.C. to go to college, and this is where I'm based now. But Philly, by being married, is my third hometown now.

There you go. Lisa was a Philly girl and she went to Girls High, so she always makes sure whenever you ask anybody, someone says, where in Philly is she from, she says, I always mention that I went to Girls High. So, you know, yep.

I know exactly where girls high school is. My wife went to Shelton High School. So mention Shelton High School to your fiancée and see if she remembers Shelton High School.

I actually taught and I cooked at Mount St. Joseph Academy, which is in Flowertown, which is just up the road a little bit. Oh, awesome. So I had 600 high school girls that I fed every day, and they were a lot of fun. They were good and became my students later when I started teaching culinary classes there. But that's what I miss of Philadelphia, but not the weather. No, not at all. I'm done. That boat done sailed. I'm a native Texan, so that boat done sailed. I actually found a really cool shirt that had the state of Florida on it, but it was colored in like the flag of Texas, so I thought that was pretty cool. I might get one of those.

That's awesome.

That's awesome. I love both of them.

Ashley, what else do you do? Do you do anything besides exercise? Anything else for fun?

I was just going to say, I was just thinking how much, since we're talking about weather, I used to ski a lot, and I was injured last year, so I couldn't ski and have not gotten back into it, but I miss it, even though I don't always love the snow.

Snow is different out there than it is here.

Yes, it's very dry. I like to ski. I like to bike. Outside of fitness, I just enjoy eating. That's why we should talk more about your food.

Wonderful.

Good wine and just good company, honestly, just what everyone loves, being around my family. I like traveling. I'm going to Mexico go soon, so I'm really excited about that. So yeah.

Yeah, we're headed back up to Jersey for the summer because summers are— it's not any hotter down here, trust me. You just can't stay out in the sun. The heat's about the same. It's just you bake rather than just sweat up in New Jersey. We're going back up there, and then I'll be back for the fall, so I'll be taking all my shows on the road, I guess, when I go up there.

Yeah, I know, I've been getting more into the Instagramming videos and blogging and all that, and it's fun, and I like the idea of being able to do it anywhere I go, so it shows people that you can move wherever you are. I'm waiting for Mia to do a pose and send it to us all.

Yes, Mia, strike a pose.

Strike a pose in Rome. You can even have a glass of wine in your hand.

I already did all the Spanish steps while she's there. Oh yeah, I miss Italy. I got to get back. Oh well, what are you going to do? But yeah, it's good to know we have people around that think the same. We all love to eat, but we need to show it. At least I need to show a little bit more restraint in what I do, and I'm learning thanks to ShiftCon. I've learned a a lot of valuable lessons. Plus, my doctor— and I always refer to her now as Dr. Evil— she made me give up on cow milk and casein, and also soy. She found out I was allergic to both of those, or she's just telling me that because she wants to see my reaction.

I actually think that my body doesn't act very well to soy as well.

Soy is in so much.

Soy is the number one— well, number one or number two right behind corn GMO crop. For the most part, soy contains a lot of glyphosate. It's hard to know sometimes when someone's reacting to soy if they're reacting to the chemicals that are in it, glyphosate, or if it's the actual soybean. Soy is hard to digest in general. Sometimes we suspect— I mean, there's a number of us who are like, you know, sometimes if you are 100% organic GMO-free soy, it doesn't hit you the same way. It's just interesting. If you're allergic or allergic, right, it doesn't matter. But sometimes if you've just got a weird— you know, like, well, maybe sometimes you're intolerant of it, or sometimes, you know, sometimes that can be because of the GMOs in it, you know? Yeah.

Well, I know, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, Soybeans, like you would eat out of the shell, are— those aren't— they don't have GMO in them, but it's like the soy milk and all that, the more processed.

Well, I mean, the way genetically modified— most genetically modified crops, from what I understand, and Lee, chime in later and let me know for sure, but are made is that— so the actual plant is genetically modified, the DNA to be a pesticide. Like, the actual plant is registered with the FDA as a pesticide. So what— it isn't the one that kills the bug, right? So it has to have something sprayed on it to activate the chemical reaction that's built into the plant. When the glyphosate is sprayed on the plant, then this chemical reaction comes up, and that's what kills the bugs, makes their guts explode. I mean, it does. It makes them implode from their stomach, which is fun because that's— it's not doing that to us, but what is it doing to us? There are differences in the DNA of those Roundup— what's called Roundup Ready seeds. You can Google Roundup Ready crops. There's a difference in their DNA. Versus the DNA of an organic seed, which has not been modified. There is a difference in the actual crop even before anything is sprayed on it. That's kind of the place where we enter this sort of suspicious, like, "What is going on?" thing. Who knows? I don't know enough about the science, but it's kind of weird.

We just need to know what's in the food we eat, and they're so reluctant to do that. Just tell us. Where we have 12 items that are banned, and there's what, how many hundreds in the EU that are banned? There's something wrong with that picture.

Yeah, I totally agree.

I thought it was pretty crazy when they were talking about— if I have this right, this information— that the Dairy Association of America petitioned the FDA to include sugar as a part of milk, so you no longer have to list that sugar is in milk. Because they add sugar to milk, but they don't have to list it anymore because now it's officially considered a natural part of milk. My goodness. Which, I mean, like I said, I'm not an expert on all this, but the stuff that I read just scares me sometimes.

Yeah. The problem is we don't get enough— people don't get to read that stuff because they squash it so much. I did read something briefly about the lobbyists got in trouble for Monsanto or something. Hopefully, more will come out about how they're paying to get bills pushed through and all the things that they do to us as Americans. It's just not right. Let's get off that note, though. Let's get to a happy note. Let's hear Stephanie sing us some beautiful songs. Are you ready for us?

Okay, yeah. Before I start, I'm going to tune up my guitar, and I'm going to ask— Ashley, I think I'm going to need to hit you up because I go on tour a lot and when I do, I have no choice of what I eat, when I eat, or pretty much anything. So some tips might be really cool. I'm going to have to talk to you later.

For sure. I can definitely help with that. I'm actually doing a little short snippet for The Winerist. Winerest, and Chef Dennis Littley has heard of the Winerest. They do food and wine tours throughout Europe and then some here in the States. I'm going to do a short little video with them and some tips on how to make travel a little more healthy.

That would be great. I know that it wreaks havoc with me.

Yeah, no, it totally turns your system upside down.

Yeah, yeah, between jet lag and not being able to control when or what I eat.

Yeah.

All right, well, I've got two songs.

Okay.

Hopefully the guitar is on. This first one is about— whoa, the lights just changed!

Wow, look at that!

Bernhard's showing off his stuff.

I think so.

He's like a kid in a toy shop. He's like pressing all these buttons. Just don't lose the picture this time, Bernie.

Yeah, we want to see her.

So this song is about where I grew up, my hometown. It's this little tiny, tiny town in Massachusetts. So, Small Town Blues.

Sitting in the shade watching the sun go down. On the clock, seems to me that the watch is stopped, but it's not. Lazy summer afternoons often pass this way, wind it up creeping down the glass. Measure out the day, measuring my small tail. I've got the small town blues. There's an old man rolling down the street pulling his wheelchair along with his bad feet. He's always sure to be patriotic with so many flags, looks almost idiotic, but he's proud and I'm proud too. We share them small town blues. I've got them small town blues. Young man comes around every day. I swear he just wants to smoke his whole life away. Long as the sun's up, he's around. I don't know why this boy just doesn't get out of this town. So for it— from small town blues. We've got that small town blues. Everyone here knows my name. I think I'm playing this— what, when, what, where game? I know that—

oh my goodness, this whole live show thing is making me crazy. I'm thinking like Where are the— what camera is on? Oh my gosh, instead of thinking of the lyrics. So I just forgot what I was singing. And there's also, of course, you know, the camera guy who told me that I should call him Little Ozzy because he keeps going like this. You guys don't see that happening.

But he goes, ahh!

And I'm sitting here trying to concentrate.

But we're having fun.

So yeah, yeah, now they're gonna headbang in the background. Yep, they're headbanging. I wish there was a camera on them because it would be a lot more fun.

But I'm not infuriated, just incapacitated by these small towns.

I don't know, did you guys just get a glimpse of him?

We got it.

Yes. The sun sets but it leaves the heat behind. Tiny bits of sweat wipe away. them. The small town blues, they ain't so bad. These small town blues, maybe I even love these small town blues. Woo!

Yay!

Very nice.

Thanks.

Action.

It's a lot of fun over here. I really wish he would put the camera on them more often.

We don't want to see them.

Okay, I don't know, but they're offering a pretty good show. It's a pretty good contest here. Alright, so rock and roll, let's go on.

Do you have another song for us?

I have one more song, yeah.

Okay.

It's called Jessica. I'm Stephanie, not Jessica. The song is Jessica. I get that after shows sometimes. Jessica, Jessica, wait!

No, no, no.

I'm Stephanie, the song is Jessica.

I have written so many letters, my hands bled. I am tired of worshiping to the defeat trail, where you have shut the door tightly, locked it and swallowed the key. And even though I am 5,000 miles away, I can see Brit just by name. It was 10 years ago exactly today That you took 3 years of hard work and just threw them away. And though I really can't say that I'm constantly suffering, now and then I can feel the knife deep in my back. When it's Wednesday, Jessica, you took the side of the bad guy. You're taking him by the throat. Evil grin of the vampire. Never ask me why you never called to say goodbye. You don't answer me when I write, don't even try. You took the wrong side. There have been too many cases for me to Count where you left me feeling down and out. Do you remember the day we hit the fork in the road and you left me standing alone in the freezing cold? Jessica, you took the side of the bad guy. Got Taken in by the evil grin of the vampire. Never asked me why. You never called to say goodbye. You don't answer me when I write. Don't even try. You took the wrong side. Now I'm on the other side of the ocean, vaguely aware of the plans set in motion. No matter the number of wires laid, you won't call back because you don't feel half pain. Well, you have fought me this fight even though you never left home. You keep on trying to prove to me how much you've grown. Well, now I'm finally fed up. My patience is wearing thin. No matter what you I think you've got no idea who I am. Jessica, you took the side of the bad guy. Got taken in by the evil grin of the vampire. Never asked me why you never called to say goodbye. Don't answer me when I write, don't even try. You took the wrong side. You took the wrong side. You took the wrong side.

Wow, you take my breath away.

Thank you.

That was amazing. Oh my God, people are loving it too. Let me throw a few comments up for you. Jacob is saying round of applause for Stephanie. Was just nodding my head forward to the beat. Colin really likes Stephanie's style speaking and singing. And Aslan Blore was saying the same thing, she's listening to you. I'm trying to find hers. Jim Sharp, what a nice voice and presence Stephanie has, a real treat to listen to. Her speaking voice really nice also. So, you got a lot of new fans.

Yay!

Nice to meet you.

Stephanie, where can we find your music?

I think Bernhardt is going to post the link in the comments right now. It's called Adobe Connect. You can sign in, all you need is your email, and then you can watch the live stream that's going to be happening at exactly 2 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Okay, so in just a few minutes. So go right over there from my show and watch the rest. And I have to ask you, are you going to do machine— I don't know what I don't know what the name of that is.

Yeah, I'm gonna try it. Yeah, it's brand new.

I have been humming that all week. I've been watching the test clip and singing. I love that song too. Those were magnificent. Those were beautiful. But can we get your music? Can we get recordings of your music anywhere?

Not yet, but I have a bunch of recordings that I've been working on. So if you guys want to follow me on Google or on YouTube, YouTube. I put all sorts of free music videos on YouTube all the time. I've got a channel. I also have a music blog. And you guys can feel free to follow me. I love meeting people. I also love responding to people in comments and stuff. So I'm just really into building a community of people who are nice. So, you know, if you like music, then feel free to subscribe or feel free to follow me on Google+ because I'd love to meet you.

We will do that and I will put some more links up for you. So thank you so much. I know you gotta go get ready for your livestream now. We're going to be signing off so we can watch it. But, oh, what a joy. Thank you so much. I'm glad we got to meet thanks to Google+.

I know, it's great. Now I'm going to be able to get some tips on how to tour without getting fat.

I'm happy.

Yes, let's connect.

Alright, well thank you Stephanie. And Larry, do you have any last things you'd like to say before we sign off?

Any—

where can we find you, where can we follow you?

Sure, I have totally enjoyed my time with all of you here today on Good Day Google+. Stephanie, thank you so much for your beautiful voice. Jenny, you mentioned a reformer earlier. I got my wife a reformer for Christmas, so I totally know what the reformer is. And she's got like 2 attachments for like— one's like a trampoline and the other's like a regular standard step thing, whatever. But she's got a reformer, so I relate. I'm following all of you now on Google+. Chef, thank you. And Ashley, it's so awesome to meet you and your family friend over there as well, running around probably in the background. You can follow me at the information on the bottom of my screen. I'm @LarryBrownJr, all one word, on Twitter and Instagram. I'm also on Facebook at facebook.com/LarryBrownJr as well. Thank you so much.

Oh, thank you, Larry. And Jenny, anything you'd like to share with us, where we can find you, follow you, or anything you're doing? Oh, you're muted, Jen.

I did that so I wouldn't interrupt Stephanie. So I was listening to her and I didn't want her to— yes, I didn't want to mess her up with anything that might happen back here. I'm at Living Consciously, so it's living-consciously.com, and I'm on Instagram me on Instagram, consciously Jenny, and that's where I hang out most of the time. Yeah, thanks for the beautiful music, Stephanie. I thought that was wonderful. I can't wait to see when you get some stuff that we can help you promote, so let us know.

Yeah, I want it for my car.

Oh, go ahead, sorry.

No, I just said I want it for my car too. I want to listen to it all the time.

Yeah, I would love to like do yoga to some of that, you know. Yeah, fun, right? And it's good to meet you, Ashley and Larry. Hope to see you online too.

That was—

it's great to have other fitness people to follow.

Yeah, no, it's great to meet you too.

All right, well, thank you. And Ashley, what can we do for you and find you anywhere or anything you'd like us to know about?

You can find me at theashfitness.com. Com. I'm also on Twitter as TheAshFitness and Instagram as well. And I post little videos every Monday, so if you want to check those out to see if it's something that motivates you. And I think it's been great meeting all of you. I love that we can connect so easily and that we've gotten to hear Stephanie's voice, and it is so soothing. Meeting you too, Jenny, and finding out more about ShiftCon and how we can all become a little more healthy in our eating. Then you too, Larry, and everything that you're doing.

It has been a fun show.

Yeah.

Thank you all for coming today. It's been a good day on Google+. Enjoy your rest of your day, and check in and watch the rest of Stephanie's show because you do not want to miss it. I'm telling you, I'm going right there now. Have a great day, everyone.

You too.

Bye now. Thank you.

Bye.