This week Brandi finishes sharing the second half of her road trip through the midwest and all of the interesting, and inspiring things she found!

Michelle’s week:

This past week was the 4th of July and it was Michelle’s daughter’s birthday. That meant planning the birthday party, and that party was completely unicorn-themed. Including unicorn dog (Just normal corn dogs, not rainbow flavored). Lots of colors and Michelle made it through alive! So proud of her! Michelle is also very busy with work as it as they begin to film a new series. She got her introvert time by going home, cleaning a bit then, having dinner, and then watching the Bachelor. And Michelle is getting a massage before she starts another week of stress. Michelle didn’t bring a song this week, but she has been listening to a lot of Billie Elish.  

Brandi’s week:

Brandi saw Spiderman Far from Home and she liked it a lot. Brandi is also catching up on Handmaid’s Tale and she likes where they are taking the show. Brandi also found a new podcast called Bring Backup. It’s a deep dive into each episode of Veronica Mars podcast and Brandi is loving it. She also had a big party for the 4th of July as it is her mother-in-law’s birthday. And she is also working on getting some freelance gigs going which is a bit of a pain, but it will all be worth it in the end. 

Inspiration on the road:

• Brandi’s highlight from Chicago was the Museum of Science and Industry. It was mainly her husband Kenny’s top choice, but she ended up loving it as well. She especially loved the Tesla Coil. 

• Also in Chicago, they rented Devvy bikes to ride around the wooden garden and Japanese Gardens. 

• They also stopped at a mirror maze that made Brandi feel like she had walked through the looking glass. It had colors that changed which was so fun. It also gave her a lot of inspiration for here Alice book cover that she has been working on.
• They also stopped at the Art Institute of Chicago. And a tip for those traveling, It’s usually cheaper to visit museums if you get a yearly pass because they come with free stuff and you can visit special exhibits for free rather than paying extra. Plus, if you go back within the year you get to visit again for free!

• And on the last day in Chicago, they went on an architecture tour of Chicago.

• To Brandi, Chicago feels like the “lovechild” of New York and San Francisco. It has the big city vibes of New York and the chill vibes of San Francisco and Brandi loved it.
• Next stop was Sioux Falls South Dakota which is where Hugh Weber is from! Brandi and her family got to meet up with him for lunch and then a stop to see the actual Sioux Falls.
• Next were the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore at sunset. They stayed at the KOA in the Black Hills which is like a full resort KOA! 

• Next stop was Denver to visit Family and eat at Torchy’s tacos which is now in Denver. Brandi says they are better in Austin.
• And the last stop was camping for Father’s Day at Navajo Dam.

Brandi’s song: Windows by Frankie Cosmos

The Dramatic Chipmunk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw

Brandi mentions the podcast: Bring Backup 

Please rate and review our podcast in iTunes and if you want to support our show please go to Patreon.com/designspeaks we would love it! You can give as much as you want. Every little bit goes to helping us keep this podcast going.

Thank you to Vesperteen for allowing us to use his song Shatter in the Night as our intro and outro music for Design Speaks

This Quarter’s Book:

We are reading and reviewing books on the podcast every quarter!

If you would like to read along, THIS QUARTER, we’ve been reading, The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair.

Want to support us?

Go to Patreon and help support our podcast!

Find us on all forms of social media via @BrandiSea on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and you can email us any burning questions you want Brandi to answer on an episode at brandi@brandisea.com.

THANK YOU to the ultra-talented  Vesperteen (Colin Rigsby) for letting us use his (“Shatter in The Night”) track in every episode of Design Speaks.

TRANSCRIPTION

Michelle: 00:02 So you’ve never seen the dramatic chipmunk. It’s like a five-second video.

Brandi Sea: 00:06 No.

Michelle: 00:06 Oh my gosh. Okay. After that, after this, I will show you the dramatic chipmunk.

Brandi Sea: 00:10 Okay.

Michelle: 00:11 And I will have Joelle link it

Brandi Sea: 00:12 Those are words I’ve never heard strung together the dramatic chipmunk and video.

Michelle: 00:17 It’s like get your hopes up. Because it’s that good

Brandi Sea: 00:19 Okay. They’re up. They’re up.

Speaker 2: 00:22 Welcome to Design Speaks. This lovely podcast is brought to you by graphic design geek and a regular human being AKA a non-design. We’re here to chat about music, pop culture, cool places and basically whatever we feel is relevant.

Brandi Sea: 00:39 Hey, I’m Brandi Sea

Michelle: 00:41 And I’m Michelle

Brandi Sea: 00:41 And you’re listening to episode one oh six of Design Speaks

Michelle: 00:46 One oh six. And I’m finally not over the phone, which is nice.

Brandi Sea: 00:50 Yeah, you’re here.

Michelle: 00:51 I’m here

Brandi Sea: 00:52 In-person

Michelle: 00:53 In the flash

Brandi Sea: 00:54 I can look into your eyes

Michelle: 00:55 Yes, and on today’s episode, we will be continuing the continuation of Brandi’s road trip. Um, we’ve got a few more things to share with you. So stay tuned

Brandi Sea: 01:04 The motivation trip recap part two

Michelle: 01:06 Hey! Stay tuned for that. And uh, just so you know, next week we have more interesting things, but it’s not the road trip stuff. It is. We’re going to be talking about stealing people’s work and whether or not that’s okay.

Brandi Sea: 01:19 I mean, it’s not okay.

Michelle: 01:21 We’ll see.

Brandi Sea: 01:22 Spoiler

Michelle: 01:22 Next week. We’ll see.

Brandi Sea: 01:25 You need to put like some really intense music.

Michelle: 01:27 Dun, dun, dun. It’s like the, um, what is it? The dramatic chipmunk music.

Brandi Sea: 01:32 What’s what?

Michelle: 01:33 You’ve never seen the dramatic chipmunk. It’s like a five-second video.

Brandi Sea: 01:36 No.

Michelle: 01:37 Oh my gosh. Okay. After that, after this, I will show you the dramatic chipmunk.

Brandi Sea: 01:42 Okay.

Michelle: 01:42 And I will have Joelle link it.

Brandi Sea: 01:44 I can’t wait that has never heard of this in my life.

Michelle: 01:47 Oh my gosh. There’s no way you haven’t

Brandi Sea: 01:49 Those are words I’ve never heard strung together the dramatic chipmunk video.

Michelle: 01:54 Like get your hopes up because it’s that good.

Brandi Sea: 01:56 Okay. They’re up. They’re up.

Brandi Sea: 02:01 If you love this show and want to support it so we can keep making more episodes, get to our Patreon.

Michelle: 02:07 It’s Patrion.com/designspeaks and you can give as little as $1 or as much as $50. You can give monthly. You can give one time, whatever you want.

Brandi Sea: 02:17 We can’t do this without you.

Michelle: 02:18 We can’t do this without you. So go Patreon.com/designspeaks.

Michelle: 02:25 Uh, my week has been crazy and not crazy at the same time. So, um, I this past, this past week, 4th of July and I was planning my daughter’s birthday party and you came over and helped me a ton with my house, um, which it needed it. So thank you.

Brandi Sea: 02:43 You had all the supplies. I just helped you.

Michelle: 02:46 I didn’t have the cooling

Brandi Sea: 02:47 Did a few dishes

Michelle: 02:48 Supplies our swamp cool. We have a swamp cooler here in, we have, we use swamp coolers mostly in New Mexico. If you have um AC if you have, what is it called? Air Conditioning

Brandi Sea: 03:01 Forced air?

Michelle: 03:01 If you have that, man, you are a lucky person.

Brandi Sea: 03:05 So again, me with the bougie life.

Michelle: 03:07 Your bougie life. Yeah, air conditioning. We have a swamp cooler, which doesn’t work. Um, but hey, whatever air’s wind is still blowing,

Brandi Sea: 03:15 You know what, I like swamp coolers because they’re moist

Michelle: 03:19 And their smell is nice.

Brandi Sea: 03:20 You don’t get dried out when you sleep.

Michelle: 03:22 It’s true

Brandi Sea: 03:22 With AC, you like have to have a humidifier and the AC going.

Michelle: 03:26 So it’s really hard in wintertime the adjustment because all of a sudden I wake up and my throat is sore and I’m like always drinking tea. But it’s the heater. It’s not like, because it’s wintertime, it’s the heater that’s killing me.

Brandi Sea: 03:38 Dry you out.

Michelle: 03:39 I know. It’s awful. Um, oh he, um, now here I am. Um

Brandi Sea: 03:44 We’re so spoiled.

Michelle: 03:46 I know. Geez. Um, so I was planning the birthday party and getting everything ready and after we did the birthday party

Brandi Sea: 03:55 We had unicorn dogs.

Michelle: 03:56 Yes. Unicorn dogs. Which are just normal corn dogs

Brandi Sea: 03:58 They were not rainbow flavored.

Michelle: 03:59 I just felt like if I tried that people would get sick from too much food dye.

Brandi Sea: 04:04 Oh, they would be so gross. So I didn’t, it was just normal corn dogs. You guys, it was a five-year-old birthday party, corn dogs and then like rainbow fruit. Well, the colors of the rainbow and fruit, so that, and

Brandi Sea: 04:19 There were rainbows everywhere.

Michelle: 04:20 It was a very colorful birthday party. It was hard for me, but I did it and I made it out alive

Brandi Sea: 04:26 Your neutral soul was dying a little

Michelle: 04:29 Killed me, but it was really cute and she had so much fun and I tried to like introvert for the next few days because I took it out of me. Um, but work did not allow me to 100% introvert because, Whoa, we are busy at work. We have a new, we have a new, um, I don’t know thing that we’re filming and we have

Brandi Sea: 04:52 Shoot

Michelle: 04:52 A shoot. Yeah. But it’s like a series, a series of

Brandi Sea: 04:56 Of shoots

Michelle: 04:56 Of small shoots, a series, a series

Brandi Sea: 04:59 The word shoots is starting to sound really weird

Michelle: 05:00 I know. It’s like not a word anymore. Um, we have a series of small little clips that are going to be like a minute and a half to two minutes long that we are going to be shooting, coming up. And so we had a lot of planning and so my mind is just going like a million miles per hour because of that. But it’s okay because I’d come home, I do a little bit of cleaning, I make sure we ate dinner and then I turned on the Bachelorette and I was fine. Um, so yeah

Brandi Sea: 05:29 Yep, that’s pretty much brain dead watching.

Michelle: 05:31 I had to

Brandi Sea: 05:32 Only the brain dead can watch that show.

Michelle: 05:33 I don’t know. I don’t know because she still has Luke P around, sorry, spoiler alert. By the way, Luke P is still around and I don’t know

Brandi Sea: 05:42 Luke Perry? He died

Michelle: 05:44 Rest in peace. It’s too soon. It just happened

Brandi Sea: 05:45 I was so sad about that.

Michelle: 05:47 This is a different Luke P, Luke Parker, and it’s so weird like I don’t understand this season

Brandi Sea: 05:53 I don’t understand these shows, what kind of people go on live television to watch the person they might possibly marry, kiss and possibly do more with a bunch of other people and are super stoked that they got picked after like 15 of these girls were like

Michelle: 06:09 It’s a weird concept.

Brandi Sea: 06:10 It’s not, it’s just weird

Michelle: 06:10 It’s a weird concept, but it’s entertainment for me. And I, the thing is I really like these people. Like I ended up really like love. Like I love Hannah B. She’s the Bachelorette and I love Becca from the a few seasons ago. Like, man, there’s some good people and Colton is so great. Okay. I love the Bachelor and Bachelorette. I just love it. Um

Brandi Sea: 06:30 So it’s not just cause you were brain dead. This is like legit stuff you like

Michelle: 06:34 No, I really enjoy it.

Brandi Sea: 06:34 I don’t know if we can be friends.

Michelle: 06:36 I was uh, catching up on because so bachelorette and bachelor is on Monday night. So I had, but I had to watch it on Tuesday night.

Brandi Sea: 06:45 Oh my goodness.

Michelle: 06:45 So that happened and then I get a massage tomorrow, which I sound really basic right now and I’m okay with it cause I am, this is myself

Brandi Sea: 06:54 Are massages basic? That sounds pretty fancy.

Michelle: 06:56 Well, I watch the Bachelorette and now I’m getting a massage. You know, it’s like they go hand in hand.

Brandi Sea: 07:01 With mimosas

Michelle: 07:01 I might as well have a glass of red wine in my hand, but um a massage and that’s going to be really nice because then next week is all this stress. So I dunno, it was a, it was a good week. It wasn’t bad. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Nobody lost their minds. Nobody was mean to me.

Brandi Sea: 07:23 Oh it’s so good. You make it sound like everybody’s mean to you on a daily, on a weekly.

Michelle: 07:28 No! It’s just nothing

Brandi Sea: 07:29 It’s like, no one was mean to me at school this week.

Michelle: 07:31 The most dramatic thing that happened to me this week was the Bachelorette. So

Brandi Sea: 07:36 That’s pretty good.

Michelle: 07:36 That’s pretty good. I didn’t go to yoga. I really wanted to, but

Brandi Sea: 07:40 Last night?

Michelle: 07:41 On Tuesday

Brandi Sea: 07:42 I’m a day behind. I posted something on my Instagram yesterday that was like something, something about Tuesday and didn’t realize it was Wednesday

Michelle: 07:50 You’re all and that’s my week. Yep, that’s about, that’s about right. Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 07:54 Oh my gosh.

Michelle: 07:55 But that really is my week and I don’t have a song this week, but that’s okay. I will say I have been obsessed and you can actually, you might not even know who it is, um, because it’s pop music. Um, but there’s this muse, this artist out there that I’ve been really liking. And again, she’s like, I feel like mostly like, I don’t know how to explain who her demographic is.

Brandi Sea: 08:22 You?

Michelle: 08:23 No. Like younger, younger people. It’s Billie Eilish. Um, she is, I think she’s like 19 years

Brandi Sea: 08:29 Like eyelash, but Eilish

Michelle: 08:31 E I. L. I. S. H. Um, but she’s like this like really like moody vibey girl and she plays like pop. She sings like really poppy music and um, it’s darker. It’s a lot darker. It’s not like

Brandi Sea: 08:46 Can pop be dark?

Michelle: 08:48 Oh, I think so. Um, but she’s got, she’s got all

Brandi Sea: 08:51 Emo pop?

Michelle: 08:52 Yeah, no, for real. That’s what this is. Um, but for some reason, I’ve been really liking her sound and then, and then I saw an interview with her on Ellen and guess who was in the crowd supporting her? You get one guest

Brandi Sea: 09:07 John Mayer

Michelle: 09:09 Dave Grohl.

Brandi Sea: 09:10 What?

Michelle: 09:10 And I was like, I’ve done something right if Dave Grohl supports her! I’m okay supporting her.

Brandi Sea: 09:12 What?! That would have been probably been next to my last guest.

Michelle: 09:19 Right, exactly.

Brandi Sea: 09:20 My last guess would have been me

Michelle: 09:21 And I was like, this is awesome. Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 09:24 Oh my goodness.

Michelle: 09:25 So I was like, all right, cool. Like I’m not just like some like want to be a 14-year-old right now. Like she’s, I really like her music and I really liked her vibe and I like what she has to say. And not everything is, she’s not saying something 100% of the time just because it’s pop music and you just gotta sell. But, um, I love it. I love it. And so she today just um, did release like a remix of bad guys with Justin Bieber. And I was like yes thank you and

Brandi Sea: 09:57 JB you’re back.

Michelle: 09:59 He’s been doing all right. Like he goes through things and he’s doing all right. I’m proud of him. There’s my update.

Brandi Sea: 10:05 Oh my gosh. Your week would not be complete without the pop-up date.

Michelle: 10:10 Yeah. I hope Dominic approves of my Billie Eilish. I’ll have to ask him.

Brandi Sea: 10:13 I’m sure he does.

Michelle: 10:14 Maybe

Brandi Sea: 10:15 He’s, he’s the most emo pop-loving kid I know.

Michelle: 10:18 It’s good stuff. Good stuff.

Brandi Sea: 10:21 Um, I guess he’s not really emo anymore though. He’s married and has kids now. All his emo went away once he got married. So I guess that’s a good thing.

Michelle: 10:26 Yeah, I think so. That’s a good sign.

Brandi Sea: 10:30 Um, okay, let’s see. My Week. Um, let’s see, we saw spider, the new Spiderman.

Michelle: 10:36 Oh, I hear it’s good.

Brandi Sea: 10:36 And it was great and we were late to have dinner with friends, so I missed the second um, and credit scene.

Michelle: 10:44 Did you look it up?

Brandi Sea: 10:45 I did look it up. I don’t want to spoil anything for anybody, but

Michelle: 10:48 For you, you like

Brandi Sea: 10:48 It sounds amazing.

Michelle: 10:50 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 10:50 Um, uh, the movie was great. I liked it a lot. The villain was pretty epic. Um, I, there’s just so many spoilers. I don’t want to say too much, but it was really good.

Michelle: 11:01 Good.

Brandi Sea: 11:01 It hasn’t been long enough for people to have seen it.

Michelle: 11:03 I feel like the feel like with Spiderman, I was worried that they like that it wasn’t gonna be any good because I didn’t hear much about it.

Brandi Sea: 11:12 Well that’s because there’s Avengers, there was a bunch of spoilers for Avengers in the Spiderman. So if they had told you a lot about Spiderman or man, you would have guessed a lot of things that happened in End Game.

Michelle: 11:24 Makes Sense.

Brandi Sea: 11:24 So, but,

Michelle: 11:25 And it doesn’t help that Tom Holland plays Spiderman. Have you watched this stuff with him?

Brandi Sea: 11:29 Yes.

Michelle: 11:30 He’s like known for spoilers. It’s what he does. So

Brandi Sea: 11:33 Yes. He’s my favorite

Michelle: 11:34 Somebody might think it’s planned.

Brandi Sea: 11:36 Favorite Spiderman? I think I’ve said that before, but he is my favorite. Spiderman.

Michelle: 11:39 That’s did you, just speaking of Dominic, did you see his like hot take on Spiderman? He posted a thing on

Brandi Sea: 11:45 No.

Michelle: 11:45 On Facebook.

Brandi Sea: 11:46, Of course, it’s on Facebook. I don’t, I’m never on Facebook.

Michelle: 11:49 I’m pretty sure he said is hot take his favorite Spiderman is just Toby Maguire.

Brandi Sea: 11:53 Oh, he used to be, but I feel, I feel like the the teen attitude, the snarkiness, that was my pen. Um, I got so excited talking about Spiderman. I couldn’t even hold my pen. Um, just feels right. Yeah, he feels he feels accurate.

Michelle: 12:10 Yeah, that makes sense. I, I like the younger, actual younger Spiderman.

Brandi Sea: 12:16 There it is.

Michelle: 12:17 It happened. You’ve been waiting for that sneeze. I might leave it in just so you can remember this moment that you’ve got to finally sneezed.

Brandi Sea: 12:24 I don’t even know what happened earlier when I lost it.

Michelle: 12:26 I looked at you and distracted you. I noticed that when I look at people when they’re about to sneeze, that distracts them. And when people look at me and I’m about to sneeze, it’s gone.

Brandi Sea: 12:36 Interesting. I think I don’t remember you’re looking at me, but maybe

Michelle: 12:39 It’s a psychological thing.

Brandi Sea: 12:41 You’re so scary.

Michelle: 12:42 Oh, I know. And then also last thing before we move on about with me talking, sorry, I was listening. It’s on the subject of sneezes. I’m just going down this rabbit trail. I was listening to this station with this mid-day DJ guy talking about, um, yawning. Have you heard this?

Brandi Sea: 13:00 At first I thought you said Yawni, I was like,

Michelle: 13:02 Yawnie, no,

Brandi Sea: 13:02 Oh, Yawni, why are we talking about him?

Michelle: 13:04 No, don’t worry about him. He’s, he’s fine. Yawning, yawning like when you yawn. Um, apparently he was talking about how yawning is a form of empathy. Um, and how like psycho psych psychologists have did, they did this study where they figured they took, had people take a test and figure out who had, um, psychopathic traits and those who had psychopathic traits, um, were far less likely to yawn if someone else yawned.

Brandi Sea: 13:36 Oh.

Michelle: 13:36 Because they lack empathy. So, but when he’s telling me this, I’m thinking, oh shoot, I never yawn when Kelly yawns like, I’m a, I’m a, I’m a psychopath with him

Brandi Sea: 13:47 So I shouldn’t be alone with you.

Michelle: 13:49 Apparently I was just like, shoot, like, but even talking about yawning, I want to yawn. But seeing Kelly yawn is like, no, don’t make me tired. I don’t have time for this.

Brandi Sea: 13:59 I think that’s just like stubborn. I don’t think you’re like a psychopath. You’re just good stubborn. Like you will not make me tired.

Michelle: 14:06 I was

Brandi Sea: 14:06 Husband

Michelle: 14:07 I was like, well, I’m like eating McDonald’s French fries in my car, listening to this going, well, I guess I’m a psychopath.

Brandi Sea: 14:14 I think you can rest easy. You’re just stubborn. You’re not psycho.

Michelle: 14:17 I’m not 100% on it. But anyway, I digress. Your week

Brandi Sea: 14:23 Let’s see. How do I segue to that? Um speaking of Psychos a been catching up on The Handmaid’s tale.

Michelle: 14:31 Ooh, I haven’t seen it all.

Brandi Sea: 14:33 Um, and it’s just getting better and better and better. And her character, man, she’s, she’s blowing me away. I loved her in mad men cause I was obsessed with that show. And, um, gosh, I can never remember the name of that actress, but she’s incredible.

Michelle: 14:46 She’s really great.

Brandi Sea: 14:47 She’s really good. They’re really growing the storyline with all the women really intense and it’s great. Um, found a new podcast called Bring Backup and it’s a Veronica Mars episode by episode like deep dive.

Michelle: 15:05 Ooh, I bet you love that.

Brandi Sea: 15:06 It’s the best. It’s the best, um, backup if for, for all you marshmallows out there, you know who, who that is. But, um, backup is the name of her dog, so her dad tells her, make sure you bring back up.

Michelle: 15:22 I love it.

Brandi Sea: 15:25 So the podcasts is called Bring Backup and it’s really good. So if you guys are, are big fans of Veronica Mars, they’re not even through season two. They’re, they’re just getting into season two.

Michelle: 15:34 It’s a podcast you said. Interesting.

Brandi Sea: 15:36 Yeah. So they go really in-depth. Like they even have like the script, like they’ve somehow asked, I don’t know, maybe you can Google these things and have like the script so they can like look into them even more. It’s pretty great.

Michelle: 15:49 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 15:50 Um, 4th of July was big. We have lots of fireworks. We do 4th of July big here at our house because it’s Kenny’s mom’s birthday. Um, so we did that and yeah, trying to get, um, trying to get some freelance gigs going. So that’s been a, a pain. But

Michelle: 16:08 Yeah, that always is

Brandi Sea: 16:10 Getting

Michelle: 16:11 But it’s worth it.

Brandi Sea: 16:11 It will be worth it. And yeah, that’s basically, I do have a song though

Michelle: 16:16 Hooray

Brandi Sea: 16:17 That that goes along with very nicely with my road trip that we’re going to keep talking about. This song is called, um, Windows and it’s by, uh, that’s I think, yeah, it’s a girl. Her name is Frankie. It’s not, her name isn’t Frankie Cosmos. The name of her band is Frankie Cosmos.

Michelle: 16:34 She makes music under the name of Frankie Cosmos.

Brandi Sea: 16:36 Correct.

Michelle: 16:37 Got it

Brandi Sea: 16:37 I can’t remember her name, but, um, this song is called windows and I will talk about it after

Brandi Sea: 18:04 So I have a few things I love.

Michelle: 18:07 Very road trip vibey

Brandi Sea: 18:08 It is, it is very road trip vibey. So it kind of like caught my ear because it sounds like, I mean this in the nicest way it’s going to sound mean at first. It sounds really like juvenile, like high school garage band.

Michelle: 18:23 Okay. Yeah, no, that totally makes

Brandi Sea: 18:25 But like in the best way.

Michelle: 18:26 I used to listen to a band that kind of reminds me of that. They were a little bit more like girl rock. Um, the Donnas. Did you ever listen to the Donnas?

Brandi Sea: 18:34 Yeah

Michelle: 18:34 It’s kind of like that.

Brandi Sea: 18:34 Yeah, a little bit. Um, so that was like what caught me first. I also love love songs that start out with the name of the song and the first line

Michelle: 18:45 It’s like, just get it out there

Brandi Sea: 18:46 Just get it. And there’s, there’s like, not really like there’s a chorus, spit out diamonds cough up ruby’s call me when you can see through me, but it kind of doesn’t feel like there’s a chorus because of like the way that she sings and kinda like rolls through each line. It’s like, it’s like run-on sentences and it just, I don’t know, something about the way that she, she kinda like goes with her words. I, if you read them along with the song, you expect her to say things differently. Does that make sense?

Michelle: 19:19 Yeah, that does. It’s kinda like I’m in raw and counting stars. Ryan Tedder has a line from counting stars by One Republic.

Brandi Sea: 19:31 Oh yeah.

Michelle: 19:31 He has a line that’s like, you think he’s going to rye rhyme old with bold, but he doesn’t.

Brandi Sea: 19:38 Yeah.

Michelle: 19:39 He was like, oh, okay.

Brandi Sea: 19:41 And it’s like, it’s like really modern poetry is ish esque. And I just really like it a lot. Um, also it did feel, I did listen to it on my road trip. It is very vibey and I was like, oh, I like, I still like looking at windows

Michelle: 19:56 He does rhyme old with bold. It’s a different line.

Brandi Sea: 19:58 Oh okay

Michelle: 20:00 I don’t know what line it is. Maybe it’s like young and dumb or something.

Brandi Sea: 20:03 I have to hear it.

Michelle: 20:04 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brandi Sea: 20:07 Um, and then I, I really liked the line. I want guidance direction even for just a second. Um, on like a more personal note, I’ve just been feeling a little bit like, not directionless. Like I have a lot of things that I have my mind directed towards. Like, I have my book covers and have this podcast and all this stuff, but I’ve, I’ve been like kind of quasi pursuing some other things that just aren’t like panning out that I feel like I’m being directed towards that then don’t.

Michelle: 20:37 So it doesn’t make sense.

Brandi Sea: 20:38 Yeah. So I’m like, okay, why, why does this seem like it’s supposed to be happening? And then it’s not happening. I don’t, I’m, I’m purposely being vague because I don’t want to be weird. But, um, just, just some of the stuff is like, okay, well maybe there’s something better that I’m supposed to be doing if this thing isn’t working out. So just like the line about, you know, wanting guidance and I know, you know, I have been seeking friends and you know, praying and do the stuff that I normally do and I’m, have, I have faith and confidence that what’s happening is supposed to be happening. But it’s sometimes still just like a little disheartening

Michelle: 21:13 It’s still hard, yeah

Brandi Sea: 21:13 When things don’t quite work out the way that you hope they will.

Michelle: 21:16 And it doesn’t make sense that it’s not.

Brandi Sea: 21:17 Yeah, exactly. Yeah. If there was like good reasons for things I would, I’d be like, okay, yeah, I get that. But then it’s like, okay, everything lined up perfectly for this to work and then it didn’t.

Michelle: 21:27 Right.

Brandi Sea: 21:28 So

Michelle: 21:29 I don’t get this

Brandi Sea: 21:30 Yeah, so I don’t get that. So I mean I’m fine. I’m like depressed or anything. It just, it was like a cool line. They just kind of made me feel like

Michelle: 21:35 Yes

Brandi Sea: 21:37 I vibed.

Michelle: 21:37 Heard and seen

Brandi Sea: 21:37 Yeah, I vibed with it, really well

Michelle: 21:40 I feel so heard.

Brandi Sea: 21:41 I feel so heard. Um, so yeah, so that’s, that’s Frankie Cosmo’s.

Michelle: 21:44 I love it.

Brandi Sea: 21:45 As always, you can find our music on our music from design speaks podcast. As long as name ever playlist on Spotify

Michelle: 21:53 We made that kind of confusing that we put podcast and playlist in the same thing.

Brandi Sea: 21:57 Yeah. I don’t know.

Michelle: 21:58 Whatever.

Brandi Sea: 21:58 And now it’s too late.

Michelle: 21:59 Just go find it

Brandi Sea: 22:00 Now it’s too late. Um, yeah. So are you prepared to hear the

Michelle: 22:05 I am

Brandi Sea: 22:06 The exciting conclusion

Michelle: 22:08 To be continued. Continuation of last episode. The road trip. Yes, I’m ready.

Brandi Sea: 22:14 Okay. So I think I finished on my Nutella.

Michelle: 22:17 Yeah, you did

Brandi Sea: 22:18 My Nutella high.

Michelle: 22:19 Oh, and Joelle’s like breaking news. I don’t like Nutella and I’m just like, who are you?

Brandi Sea: 22:23 I didn’t know this either.

Michelle: 22:25 It’s weird, Joelle, I didn’t get to, I had a really busy days, as you know, so I didn’t get to text back on any of that.

Brandi Sea: 22:31 We, I think we feel, I think we need to do an intervention. I think this can’t happen over text.

Michelle: 22:34 You know you’re wrong.

Brandi Sea: 22:37 You know who also doesn’t really like it. I told you, Kenny.

Michelle: 22:39 Yeah. I don’t get that.

Brandi Sea: 22:40 So that’s probably why Joelle and Kenny get along so well

Michelle: 22:43 That’s the reason.

Brandi Sea: 22:44 That’s just the reason

Michelle: 22:45 They didn’t know

Brandi Sea: 22:45 Nothing else.

Michelle: 22:48 Probably

Brandi Sea: 22:48 Also I think, is it like a fought a five and a two? Yeah, I think missed connection.

Michelle: 22:53 Missed connection. And their dislike of Nutella.

Brandi Sea: 22:58 Yes. Okay. So that was in Chicago. Um, I don’t know if I have this in any kind of order. I don’t, and I’m probably going to be missing some things because Chicago was amazing, but um, one of the highlights for me was, um, actually was one of the things that Kenny really wanted to do. So do you know about the Chicago world’s fair?

Michelle: 23:19 No

Brandi Sea: 23:19 It’s like one of the biggest world’s fairs of the world’s fairs.

Michelle: 23:22 No, the only worlds fair I’ve ever heard of is the one that I did in sixth grade.

Brandi Sea: 23:26 Oh

Michelle: 23:27 That’s it.

Brandi Sea: 23:27 Okay. So the world’s fairs where these fairs that cities around the world would put on to kind of showcase their city. That’s where the Eiffel Tower was built. And that’s, it was never meant to be permanent.

Michelle: 23:39 Oh, I didn’t know that

Brandi Sea: 23:40 And the people of Paris hated it because it was like this eyesore in their beautiful city. And it ended up that it was bringing in somebody to tourists and stuff. They ended up keeping it and then like grew on them or whatever. So the next world’s fair after that was set to be in the United States and there was a competition basically between, oh gosh, it was three. Um, I learned all this sidebar. Um, read the book with Kenny, audiobook, it’s not cheating, um, Devil in the White City. It’s about, it’s a, it’s a, uh, co story about the, um, 1894 world, 1884, 80 94 world’s fair in Chicago. And the fir, the world’s first known serial killer. Um, HH Holmes. Um, do you know who he is?

Michelle: 24:26 I’ve heard of him.

Brandi Sea: 24:27 Okay. So anyway, so it’s like, cause he was doing this stuff at the same time that they were developing the Chicago world’s fair. So long story short, the the Chicago world’s fair won out over, um, New York and I think maybe Kansas City or St Louis to have it be in their city.

Michelle: 24:43 Okay.

Brandi Sea: 24:44 At the time Chicago was like this gross place where they just slaughtered pigs for the rest of the US like that’s what they were for.

Michelle: 24:50 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 24:50 So they, they made like, um, their goal was to out Ferris or I’m sorry, fair. I’m blowing, I’m killing the punchline.

Michelle: 24:59 Jeez

Brandi Sea: 25:00 Out Eiffel. Eiffel.

Michelle: 25:01 Oh, okay.

Brandi Sea: 25:02 Um, so they were like, Eiffel did this thing and we have to be, of course, we’re America, we have to be bigger and better and do something cooler and more spectacular.

Michelle: 25:10 So prideful

Brandi Sea: 25:11 Yeah. So they ended up like building out this acres and acres and acres, cause Chicago is on the river and they built this whole thing. It was like, it was called the white city because they painted this entire. Was, I don’t remember the measurement, it’s likes like four Disneyland’s or something. Humongous. Um, and of those things in the end. Um, so the first Ferris wheel was, was there, that’s what they out Eiffel with

Michelle: 25:38 Oh it’s a Ferris wheel

Brandi Sea: 25:38 Was the Ferris wheel. Um, each cart was like as big as this bedroom.

Michelle: 25:43 Oh Gee.

Brandi Sea: 25:44 Like each car, they have like people serving drinks inside.

Michelle: 25:47 I’d be like, we can’t go on that it’s gonna fall.

Brandi Sea: 25:49 And it took an hour to go around and there’s so much craziness to it. So of all the buildings in this huge, amazing place, there was only one building left because of like the

Michelle: 26:02 The construction?

Brandi Sea: 26:02 There was fires

Michelle: 26:03 Oh, the Chicago fires.

Brandi Sea: 26:05 Um, so this one building left, um, is now the home to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Okay. So that was a long way around to getting to this place. So Kenny is obsessed with the Chicago world’s fair because that’s where they debuted, like the Tesla Coil, um, all this, all this incredible stuff that like changed the world. Like AC DC power, like what they, what we chose was based on the kind they use at the world’s fair Wrigley’s gum was invented like um, cracker jacks. Like Oh, like those are the little things that like huge, huge, huge things were there. So this was on Kenny’s wishlist to go.

Michelle: 26:44 Good

Brandi Sea: 26:44 To see. So we went, but it ended up being like the highlight for me because one, the Tesla coil was stinking awesome. They have a real

Michelle: 26:53 Did you get to drive it?

Brandi Sea: 26:54 No, the Tesla Coil.

Michelle: 26:56 Oh, like an actual coil.

Brandi Sea: 26:57 Like, like Tesla’s. Like Nikola Tesla, not the car, not like the car guys.

Michelle: 27:05 I don’t know.

Brandi Sea: 27:06 Nicola Tesla was one of the first guys to do electricity.

Michelle: 27:10 Oh

Brandi Sea: 27:10 It was him and Thomas Edison like they were

Michelle: 27:12 I’m like, wasn’t that Benjamin Franklin?

Brandi Sea: 27:14 They were, they were like fighting over how to harness it and which energy is like more efficient.

Michelle: 27:20 See I totally would have never gotten that.

Brandi Sea: 27:21 Yeah. So

Michelle: 27:22 Okay, so they have this, this ginormous working original, like not original, but based on the original Tesla coil that they light up once every like 15 minutes. And it’s crazy. It’s like little lightning in a wheel.

Michelle: 27:34 That’s so cool

Brandi Sea: 27:35 And it’s so loud and it’s so cool and colorful. So that was really awesome. Um, we rode Divvy bikes, which are just like these rental bikes through the wooded island and Japanese gardens, which are two other things that they developed for the Chicago world’s fair. The only other two things that are kind of left, they, they made a Japanese garden and like developed this like wooded island to just like have a little bit of nature because this was before they cared about keeping it. And this one guy was like, we need to have some nature to show like are animals that are wildlife to people coming from all over. Um, but the, the one by far that I loved is they have a mirror maze.

Michelle: 28:12 Oh my gosh. That’s probably so scary.

Brandi Sea: 28:14 Which normally would have been really overwhelming for me because I’m claustrophobic and it wasn’t, I was just, I felt like I had stepped through the looking glass. This is like the biggest, it’s like a funhouse mirror except beautiful. They have like these, these tree things in between every mirror and it just looks like wonderland. Like I’m walking through the looking glass into wonderland and like the lights change

Michelle: 28:43 Oh so cool

Brandi Sea: 28:43 Like all the time. I, Kenny literally had to like come in and pull me out. He was

Michelle: 28:48 Time to go

Brandi Sea: 28:48 We have to go. So I have tons of pictures and all this time I was like picking up lots and lots and lots of inspiration for my Alice. I was actually really upset that I hadn’t finished my Alice cover yet

Michelle: 29:01 But now

Brandi Sea: 29:01 But while we were on the trip, I got so much cool inspiration, um, colors and uh, this thing especially cause I was already kind of thinking that I wanted, I know for, I knew for sure I was gonna use a mirror and I knew for sure I was going to use trees. And as soon as I walked in there I was like, this is amazing

Michelle: 29:18 Oh man

Brandi Sea: 29:20 I don’t know how I’m going to use that just yet. But it’s, it was, it was incredible. Um, we went to the art institute of Chicago, which was voted one of the world’s best museums.

Michelle: 29:29 That’s cool. Worlds. Not nations

Brandi Sea: 29:33 Worlds. World’s best museums. Um, cause I’m a 90-year-old woman. I got a member bag that says a member of like just those totes.

Michelle: 29:42 Yeah

Brandi Sea: 29:42 Those tote bags.

Michelle: 29:43 That’s a very grandma-y thing to do.

Brandi Sea: 29:45 So, so hack for all of you travelers out there. If you have a family of like three or four or even if it’s just two people when you go visit museums, it’s almost always cheaper to get like a yearly pass

Michelle: 30:00 Really?

Brandi Sea: 30:01 Because you get tons of free stuff with it. Like we got, we got, we got, we bought up a free or a a year pass for our family to go to the museum. We got two of these member tote bags, which is like all I want in life. I’m like I’m a member of a museum cause I’m 90. And um, we got free entry to the um, special, like all of these museums always have like a special exhibit. Um, this one was, oh gosh, I can’t remember now. My brain just went away. There was a special thing and you get into that free where normally if you were going into museum you’d have to pay for that extra. Um, you also, we didn’t get to go cause we were in a hurry, but, um, they have like a member lounge where you can go and like get snacks and water

Michelle: 30:43 Fancy

Brandi Sea: 30:43 And so like you pay about the same or just like a tiny bit more for all four of you and then if you ever, and if in the next year you end up going back to that city

Michelle: 30:54 You can just go

Brandi Sea: 30:54 You can just go in for free.

Michelle: 30:55 Yeah

Brandi Sea: 30:56 So, um, there’s a little hack for you. But yeah, that was amazing. We saw lots of really awesome, fine art, you know, Rembrandt and Picasso and all of my favorites. And uh, let’s see, we also were staying on the magnificent mile, which is like a really well-known part of Chicago. It was really beautiful. Um, and took, took, uh, took some cool walks around. There was lots of really neat shops and stuff nearby. Um, the last thing that we did on the last day that we were there, um, was the architecture tour. Did I tell you about that?

Michelle: 31:32 You kind of, you mentioned it, but I don’t remember it. So was it really cool?

Brandi Sea: 31:39 I’m like, I don’t know how much I should say. I don’t remember how much I talked about it last time.

Michelle: 31:43 Um, oh from like, like to in person. I don’t know, have you? I don’t think you talked about it on the podcast.

Brandi Sea: 31:48 Okay. On the podcast. Okay. So the architecture we got, um, we got on a speed but we went on a speedboat ride and basically, it takes you all through, um, the river inside like in the city of Chicago cause the river goes like all along inside the city. Um, and the, the guy that’s like talking, what does he call?

Michelle: 32:09 The

Brandi Sea: 32:09 Tour guide

Michelle: 32:10 Tour guide.

Brandi Sea: 32:10 Thank you. This is what happens when you record at night

Michelle: 32:13 We just mess it up. It’s okay

Brandi Sea: 32:15 Um, he had like all the stories of like all the different, um, buildings like the architects and like what they were thinking, the style of architecture. And um, one of them was super cool. One of them was meant to look like, um, when you’re looking up at it like, um, a flower, like pedals, like you’re looking at the outside of the pedals.

Michelle: 32:34 Wow

Brandi Sea: 32:34 And I was just like, I would never have thought of this.

Michelle: 32:37 I would have loved to go on this tour, but only because How I Met Your Mother because Ted Mosby is an architect and he almost moves to Chicago to be an architect there.

Brandi Sea: 32:48 Oh yeah. They should like every building has this, these incredible stories and like, um, why they did certain things and fun fact if you didn’t know this, um, the river inside that city area runs backward.

Michelle: 33:02 Oh that’s cool. So it runs upstream.

Brandi Sea: 33:04 Yup. And they, they had to engineer that

Michelle: 33:07 Wow.

Brandi Sea: 33:08 To get the the water to flow clean cause it was so dirty.

Michelle: 33:13 Gross

Brandi Sea: 33:13 Yeah.

Michelle: 33:14 That’s weird.

Brandi Sea: 33:14 And it’s, it’s this bizarre color of blue because of some sort of like weird phytoplankton or something that’s like eaten away something. And so the waters like look like they poured blue turquoise dye into it, but it’s natural.

Michelle: 33:29 I love that

Brandi Sea: 33:29 Yeah.

Michelle: 33:29 Also really weird

Brandi Sea: 33:30 Which is really crazy and cool. I’m like, I like this, but also I don’t know if I want to go in that water.

Michelle: 33:35 Nope. Definitely, I don’t want to go in it. I don’t know what that means

Brandi Sea: 33:37 The tour guide. So there was some, some people kayaking and he was like, you can always tell the tourists because they go kayaking in water that I wouldn’t even want to be splashed by.

Michelle: 33:51 But that’s his job.

Brandi Sea: 33:54 I’m like, I don’t know if you’re joking.

Michelle: 33:55 Yeah. But also very real. Like No.

Brandi Sea: 33:58 Yeah. Um, so that was the last thing we did in Chicago. I’m probably forgetting something that I’ll ended up bringing up at some point, but it was really great. Um, I think I said this already, but I’ll say it again. Chicago to me and to Kenny feels like the love child between New York and San Francisco.

Michelle: 34:16 Aw.

Brandi Sea: 34:16 Like it’s not so manic-like New York, but it has all the things New York has like the big city like things are open and things are cool and the buildings and everything. But then like San Francisco, it’s like pretty chill and like in certain parts doesn’t feel as big as it is.

Michelle: 34:37 But you also went in the summertime when it’s not winter.

Brandi Sea: 34:42 It’s true.

Michelle: 34:42 Winter I hear is brutal out there.

Brandi Sea: 34:45 Yeah. Yeah. Well yeah, we did. We did get a rainy day and a cloudy day and a sunny day. So we got like

Michelle: 34:51 Good. You got you got, you got the gist of it.

Brandi Sea: 34:53 Yeah. Not Cold, but yeah. But similar to New York.

Michelle: 34:57 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 34:57 I’m sure New York is not fun in the winter.

Michelle: 35:00 Oh my gosh.

Brandi Sea: 35:00 I imagine

Michelle: 35:02 I imagine. I mean they have like crazy warnings out there when it does get cold. So

Brandi Sea: 35:06 However, Chicago has a whole series of basically like underground sidewalks for wintertime

Michelle: 35:15 Oh, smart.

Brandi Sea: 35:16 So they have dry.

Michelle: 35:18 Smart architects

Brandi Sea: 35:18 Yeah. So not only do they have subways, they have like driving under the city, but they also have sidewalks

Michelle: 35:25 That’s so smart

Brandi Sea: 35:25 Which is as far as I know, not something New York has. So that was pretty cool

Michelle: 35:28 As far as I know.

Brandi Sea: 35:30 I was like, that’s smart.

Michelle: 35:31 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 35:32 Cause that place is gross in the winter.

Michelle: 35:34 Oof. Yeah. I can’t even imagine.

Brandi Sea: 35:36 Um, let’s see. From there. We went to, uh, Sioux falls.

Michelle: 35:40 Okay.

Brandi Sea: 35:41 Um, South Dakota, which is where Hugh Weber is from.

Michelle: 35:44 Yes, hello Hugh.

Brandi Sea: 35:45 We met up with Hugh for lunch, which it was just a quick stopover. We weren’t there for very long. Um, we went and had lunch, had some burgers with him, and then checked out the Sioux Falls.

Michelle: 35:57 Ooh. The actual

Brandi Sea: 35:58 The actual falls

Michelle: 35:58 Wow

Brandi Sea: 35:58 Which were pretty impressive. I was, I didn’t know what like

Michelle: 36:03 What to expect. You’re like, I don’t know

Brandi Sea: 36:05 We parked at like this like right downtown. And he was like, Oh yeah if you just walk up that way about like half a mile, there’s the falls. And I was like

Michelle: 36:13 Oh, okay.

Brandi Sea: 36:14 As in like this, the Sioux Falls falls. And he was like, yeah. So I’m like, Oh if they’re right in the middle of downtown, they’re probably like sad. Like it’s probably like nothing. So we’re like, walk-in and we like see a little, a little fall. It’s like maybe a foot high,

Michelle: 36:30 You’re like, oh there it is

Brandi Sea: 36:31 And I was like, oh, there it is. And you walk a little more and there’s the falls and you’re like

Michelle: 36:35 That’s so cool.

Brandi Sea: 36:35 Oh my gosh.

Michelle: 36:36 You couldn’t hear it?

Brandi Sea: 36:37 Yeah, it’s, it was crazy. Like I just thought I was hearing this one cause it was like over to the left, but it was very impressive.

Michelle: 36:44 Wow.

Brandi Sea: 36:45 It was very nice.

Michelle: 36:45 That’s so cool.

Brandi Sea: 36:46 Yeah.

Michelle: 36:46 And also like a little sad that they built a whole city around it but also really cool.

Brandi Sea: 36:53 Yeah.

Michelle: 36:54 Like I think selfishly more cool.

Brandi Sea: 36:55 Apparently there was like some ruins that we didn’t get to go to cause it was like I said, it was just a quick stopover. But it was where like the native people like set up shop.

Michelle: 37:04 Yep. Oh no, it totally is. No, you’re, I mean Sioux Indians that makes sense

Brandi Sea: 37:08 So that’s why they built, ended up building a city there cause it makes sense cause you’re by the water.

Michelle: 37:12 Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense.

Brandi Sea: 37:13 Yeah. Oh, this is Sioux Indians. Hello. Some native

Michelle: 37:19 You’re like apparently

Brandi Sea: 37:23 Peoples.

Michelle: 37:23 Forgive us. We are so sorry.

Brandi Sea: 37:25 I, this is not meant to offend anybody. I’m just an idiot.

Michelle: 37:28 It’s just we suck at night. So

Brandi Sea: 37:31 We really do. Why did we do this for a year recording at night.

Michelle: 37:34 I don’t know. We’ve, we fixed it and only have to do this in emergency situations

Brandi Sea: 37:38 Yeah, like now. Oh my gosh. So, um, downside to, to what I’m about to say is that, um, we were not anticipating doing that architecture tour in Chicago when we did

Michelle: 37:53 Right, somebody graciously bought you tickets

Brandi Sea: 37:53 Gave it to us. So because of that, um, because of the timing of that, we didn’t leave Chicago until like one which left us late to

Michelle: 38:04 Sioux Falls

Brandi Sea: 38:05 To not we, well, yes, basically to Sioux Falls and consequently, um, actually what am I thinking? I have this out of order. We went to Minnesota first. Minnesota is in between

Michelle: 38:17 And that’s where like nothing

Brandi Sea: 38:18 That’s, that’s where nothing happened because we were supposed to meet up with my friends, um, Kelsey and then my other friend David Schwinn and we didn’t get in, we didn’t get in till so late because we left Chicago so late. And then, then all we had time for was like doughnuts the morning at like 6:00 AM with, with David Schwinn. And we didn’t end up being able to meet Kelsey and we didn’t see anything in Minnesota at all.

Michelle: 38:43 Minnesota.

Brandi Sea: 38:44 I know. And I

Michelle: 38:45 Minnesota. And you had some donuts

Brandi Sea: 38:46 Had some donuts. I have been there before and it’s beautiful. But we were really hoping to let go kayaking or something cause um, David and his family are very outdoorsy. Um, so I’m just so sad that we missed out on that. So that Kinda like threw it. So we had to leave there early to make lunch with Hugh.

Michelle: 39:04 Yeah, that makes sense.

Brandi Sea: 39:05 So, yeah. Um, then we left Hugh, well actually Hugh ended up saving my life because he was asking what the plan was and I was like, oh, we’re doing this, this and we want to be at Mount Rushmore by like six o’clock or whatever to make sure that we can see the lighting ceremony at sunset. And he was like, you realize it takes, what did he say? Like 10 hours or something to get from Chicago. And I was like, I did not, in fact, realize that it takes that long. So that’s when it really like we had to

Michelle: 39:40 You had to, yeah

Brandi Sea: 39:40 We had to just do it

Michelle: 39:42 You had to move along.

Brandi Sea: 39:42 Yeah. So, um, but there, the thing that we noticed about Minnesota was that there is so much water everywhere. There’s just like lakes and lakes and rivers and lakes and lakes and lakes and it was beautiful.

Michelle: 39:54 Different world.

Brandi Sea: 39:55 I know

Michelle: 39:56 Different

Brandi Sea: 39:56 It’s like I don’t know what this life is so much water up there.

Michelle: 39:58 Can you imagine living around that much water?

Brandi Sea: 40:00 Yes

Michelle: 40:00 Like what would you, I can’t

Brandi Sea: 40:02 I would like it very much.

Michelle: 40:03 I cannot imagine that

Brandi Sea: 40:05 But I would not be willing to sacrifice for that crazy winter they get

Michelle: 40:09 I know where the water’s like icicles, jet-like Jag, icicles, pointing out

Brandi Sea: 40:14 Yeah, where you just don’t even want to leave your house.

Michelle: 40:15 No

Brandi Sea: 40:16 Cause you’ll die if you breathe.

Michelle: 40:17 Yeah, exactly.

Brandi Sea: 40:18 Like your lungs will actually freeze

Michelle: 40:20 Like the physics of it. It’s like the amount of of heat leaving your body at the speed it is. No thanks.

Brandi Sea: 40:27 Yeah, I would be, I would be a hermit.

Michelle: 40:29 Yeah. No. I Wouldn’t get anything done.

Brandi Sea: 40:32 You would, it would just all be in your house.

Michelle: 40:34 No, I wouldn’t get anything done. Like I’d be in my house. I’m like, I can’t do anything at all. Maybe under my covers

Brandi Sea: 40:39 It’s 22 below zero

Michelle: 40:41 And they’re like, Michelle, it snowed afoot. I’m like, right. That’s terrible.

Brandi Sea: 40:46 Yeah. I hate winter, so that would be a bad place for me. Um, our second to last, well third to last stop I guess was um, South Dakota. We went there, we went to the Black Mills to see mount Rushmore we saw at sunset, which was really cool. The highlight was that we stayed at the cutest little KOA. I say cutest little, it was a KOA freaking resort.

Michelle: 41:07 What’s a KOA?

Brandi Sea: 41:08 The KOA campgrounds.

Michelle: 41:10 The KOA

Brandi Sea: 41:11 K O. A. You don’t know what a KOA campground?

Michelle: 41:14 No Koalas?

Brandi Sea: 41:16 No, it’s just KOA there. It’s like a yellow sign with the big a and it says KOA. You probably driven by them a million times

Michelle: 41:23 Probably, but what does k stand for?

Brandi Sea: 41:25 I don’t know. What is, O A stand for.

Michelle: 41:27 I, that’s a good question.

Brandi Sea: 41:28 I don’t know. They’re just, it’s like a, it’s like a camping conglomerate. It’s like look at it, look it up. So,

Michelle: 41:37 Oh, I s I know what you’re talking about, but I don’t know what it stands for and I’d never, I never stopped there. There’s no better place to stop and pitch a tent.

Brandi Sea: 41:45 So that’s normally, they normally have like little places where you can put up a tent or park camper. And they usually have like bathrooms and showers and like sometimes a pool and like a little playground. So that’s kind of what I was expecting when we got to this one. It’s the KOA campground at Palmer Gulch. It is a resort. There’s two pools, hot tub. They have these giant like bouncy balloon things in the ground. They have mini golf and a water slide.

Michelle: 42:13 Oh my gosh.

Brandi Sea: 42:15 Um, I don’t even know. A giant chessboard, which was an incredible. A playground. They have like all you can eat pancakes for $3. Like it was they, it was just amazing. So when we first got there, um, you guys have to go look at my, my personal Instagram. It’s mebrandisea. And look at the pictures I posted from this place. We had this little, this little cabin that was smaller than like our guestroom, it’s like the size of a normal bedroom. And it had two bunk beds, one with like a double bunk on the bottom and just like a shelf and it has a porch swing.

Michelle: 42:52 How cute

Brandi Sea: 42:53 So there’s no bathrooms or anything cause you still camping, you can go. I have to go to do that. But it was so cute.

Michelle: 43:00 Oh, I love that.

Brandi Sea: 43:01 So that was the best. Um

Michelle: 43:03 And that was in, where?

Brandi Sea: 43:05 In the Black Hills. Just around the corner, just around like

Michelle: 43:08 Just around the Riverbend

Brandi Sea: 43:10 Around pretty much around the rock bend. Uh, um from Mount Rushmore.

Michelle: 43:15 Got It.

Brandi Sea: 43:15 It’s up in those hills. Up on them there hills.

Michelle: 43:17 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 43:18 Um, so that was amazing. We, I could easily stay there a week. Like they had pizza and ice cream and restaurants and like, it was crazy.

Michelle: 43:26 That’s awesome.

Brandi Sea: 43:27 Um, so that was really fun. Um, oh, let’s see. Uh, yeah. Giant chess. Also some inspiration

Michelle: 43:36 Oh I saw that picture I didn’t know that was from

Brandi Sea: 43:38 Inspiration for my Alice stuff.

Michelle: 43:40 They have a giant, they have a giant chessboard board in Pagosa Springs, Colorado too. At um, the like the, it’s like the resort, the Pagosa Springs resort for, um, the hot springs.

Brandi Sea: 43:54 I have not been there.

Michelle: 43:55 Yeah. So it smells like rotten eggs because it’s a hot springs. Um, but they have a huge chessboard out there that you can play like games with. So it’s cool

Brandi Sea: 44:03 It’s, it was really fun. Um, I didn’t actually get to play it cause there was another family. I got some sneaky pictures like around them while they were just setting up the board. Um, so that was fun. Um, from there we went, uh, we drove down to Denver and stayed with my niece and saw both my nieces. Um, my niece, Samantha is now while she had been for over a year now a manager of her own Starbucks store, which is pretty incredible. Um, ate some Torchy’s Tacos, which is now in Denver.

Michelle: 44:31 Yes. Yes they are

Brandi Sea: 44:32 So we had some Torchy’s and

Michelle: 44:34 I didn’t get to go this time I went, I went like a few the day after you were there.

Brandi Sea: 44:38 I feel like they were better in Austin.

Michelle: 44:41 Yeah. I want to keep it like an Austin experience.

Brandi Sea: 44:45 I was a little sad and disappointed. Not that it wasn’t good, but it just didn’t feel right.

Michelle: 44:49 It didn’t have the right feel because Denver is so like, I dunno like I liked Denver. It’s hoity-toity

Brandi Sea: 44:56 Yuppy,

Michelle: 44:56 The word I was yeah. But yeah, no, you’re right. You’re right.

Brandi Sea: 45:00 Yeah. So that was okay. Um, from there we had to take Jasmine home to her dad back in New Mexico. So

Michelle: 45:06 Drove back

Brandi Sea: 45:07 Yeah, drove back to New Mexico. Then after we dropped her off up north near Santa Fe, we had to drive back up north to go to our camping trip for Father’s Day weekend.

Michelle: 45:18 I don’t know how you guys did that? Like, I know that it was like, okay, this is part of the road trip. It’s part of the vacation. It’s just what we’re doing. I would have been like, we’re not camping. You can camp. I’m going home. I’ll see you later

Brandi Sea: 45:27 It was Father’s Day. I couldn’t say no. No, Kenny, father of my children, we are not doing what you want for Father’s Day.

Michelle: 45:37 No. I would’ve been like, you can do what you want for Father’s Day. I’m going home.

Brandi Sea: 45:40 All the other wives are there and I’m like, bye guys

Michelle: 45:43 Love you, bye.

Brandi Sea: 45:44 You know what to be fair, um, my parents, um, live about 15 minutes away from, we had to drop where we had to drop off Jasmine and Kenny was like

Michelle: 45:53 You can just go

Brandi Sea: 45:54 You can stay, you know, I know you’re tired. Like I was already starting to feel a little sick.

Michelle: 45:58 Yeah, you’re getting sick

Brandi Sea: 45:59 And Kenny had been sick by this time for like three days. Um, he was like, if you want to just stay with your parents like you can or you can stay one night or you can come meet us, you can go get some good rest.

Michelle: 46:09 That’s so nice

Brandi Sea: 46:09 And I was like, no, I want to stay with you. So it was fine. Um, it was at this, it was at, um, Navajo Dam dam, Navajo Lake and um, it was good. It was nice. I got to read an entire Veronica Mars book from start to finish in about six hours.

Michelle: 46:24 That’s great. That’s great. So you really did just get to rest

Brandi Sea: 46:27 I really did

Michelle: 46:27 And you probably wouldn’t have done that had you been at your parents’ house

Brandi Sea: 46:29 No, I definitely wouldn’t have. Um, I’d have been showing them pictures in the trip and

Michelle: 46:34 Yeah, being busy.

Brandi Sea: 46:35 Yeah. So, um, I all, so Joelle, obviously you guys know by now, she’s my sister in law, so she was there with, um, Kurtis, her husband and before she asked me, she texted me while we were driving and she was like, are you coming? And I was like, yeah, but I mean, be warned. I need some introvert time. I’m bringing my book, like don’t feel ignored, but I’m going to just need to read. And I told Kenny too, like, I’m fine with coming, but I’m going to just need to not do something the whole time.

Michelle: 47:04 And I mean, he gets that as well like it’s just necessary.

Brandi Sea: 47:07 Yeah, so both of them were like, all right, no big deal. So everyone was talking and hanging out. And because when I’m in a book, I can be in a book, I can be around a ton of people and not care at all.

Michelle: 47:17 I got to hang out with Jasmine a little bit. Um, when we were planning the party. So we went to the store together and she was telling me the same exactly. And she’s like, it’s so weird when I’m reading a book, I can’t hear anything else and I’m just like,

Brandi Sea: 47:30 She get that for me.

Michelle: 47:32 I was like, man, that sounds nice. She was like, yeah, like I know that like, I guess some people call my name like six times and I just don’t hear them. And I’m like, man, you are in the world. She’s like, I love it.

Brandi Sea: 47:44 I and the great thing about these Veronica Mars books is that they make you feel like you’re inside of the, of the show. Like because it’s the guy that writes the show. It just looks, feels like I’m watching the show with my eyes differently.

Michelle: 47:59 Yeah. I love it.

Brandi Sea: 48:00 Um, yeah. So we were there for about three days when out on the lake, um, got rained out. There was like thunder and lightning on the lake and we had to like, hurry, get out of that thing. Um, that’s it.

Michelle: 48:12 I love it

Brandi Sea: 48:13 That’s the trip. We got home and I was sick for three days.

Michelle: 48:16 You are, you had to recover. Well also when you’re in a car, it’s like an incubator like you are, it’s an incubator for germs and then it just enhances you getting sick. So it just, all the germs multiplying.

Brandi Sea: 48:30 Yeah.

Michelle: 48:30 You guys were essentially in a three by eight-foot v thing for 2,400 miles. How much was the road trip?

Brandi Sea: 48:39 4,300 miles.

Michelle: 48:41 4,300 miles.

Brandi Sea: 48:42 18 days.

Michelle: 48:43 Yikes. So yeah, you got sick. Understandable.

Brandi Sea: 48:46 Yeah. That was my 18 days. Oh my gosh, do you have any questions? Do you have any questions for me or did I just overwhelm you with

Michelle: 48:53 No, I don’t think I have any questions. Oh, my question. Would you do it again?

Brandi Sea: 48:58 Yeah.

Michelle: 48:59 You like it again that you liked it so much that you would definitely do it again in like a year, two years, three years?

Brandi Sea: 49:04 I don’t know. Not to the same places, but yeah

Michelle: 49:07 See, I just got anxiety thinking about me ever having to do that once.

Brandi Sea: 49:11 So I think that it’s pretty epic to say that you went that many miles, that you um, saw that many states like went through all these places and like actually like went there

Michelle: 49:27 And see, here’s the thing, I wasn’t ever going to say this before you left because you don’t need that fear. Your fear of flying is like my fear of driving that much. It’s like a tire’s going to blow and I’m going to die. Like I’m going to die on this road trip. Like I know it. And so like at like dry, even driving to in front, like this morning my husband was driving to your house to drop off DJ and I was like, man, they’re going like 25 miles. It’s a whole or 20. It’s like what? How far is like 30 miles?

Brandi Sea: 49:55 Yeah, about 30

Michelle: 49:56 30 miles. And usually, they don’t have to travel a mile and make a die. Like I better

Brandi Sea: 50:01 Oh my gosh

Michelle: 50:01 I hate driving so much and so

Brandi Sea: 50:04 Well no wonder you hate road trips

Michelle: 50:06 5,400 miles, 45 43 100 miles.

Brandi Sea: 50:10 Well your fear is definitely more logical than mine because I know that the statistics are way worse for me on the road and it’s also familiarity and I’m like, I just don’t like the idea of falling to my death and possibly not dying and just being maimed or burned alive.

Michelle: 50:25 Yeah, I’ve and I think

Brandi Sea: 50:27 Or drown.

Michelle: 50:28 I think mine is like mine is just like I’m in the car a whole lot and that ups my chances, so I don’t know. But yeah, I’m glad I don’t ever want to, but I’m glad that you guys did it and then liked it and then also made it out alive.

Brandi Sea: 50:41 I know I won’t ever ask you to go on a road trip with me ever, ever again.

Michelle: 50:47 Well, you didn’t really ask the last time.

Brandi Sea: 50:48 Yeah

Michelle: 50:50 It’s fine.

Brandi Sea: 50:50 Hangs her head in shame.

Michelle: 50:51 It’s fine.

Brandi Sea: 50:53 So Michelle, where can people find us?

Michelle: 50:56 People can find us on all forms of social media. We’re on Facebook if you want to follow us, but we’re mostly on Instagram and Twitter. Instagram is @brandisea go ahead and spell your name.

Brandi Sea: 51:07 B. R. A. N. D. I. S. E. A.

Michelle: 51:10 That’s her personal Instagram or you can follow our Instagram design speaks podcast. All one-word @designspeakspodcast on Instagram to keep up with the latest and greatest of design speaks

Brandi Sea: 51:22 Almost latest. I’m still behind.

Michelle: 51:24 No, it’s fine. Don’t even worry about it. You’re keeping up three Instagrams at this point. I can’t even do one. You can also, you can message us if you have any questions, comments on those, um, on those Instagrams or you can email us brandi@brandisea.com and if you love this podcast or if you get any value out of it, it would be so cool if you shared it with a friend. That’s how we spread the word. Share it with a friend or two or three or 10, however, you want. Or just send them like clips, whatever.

Brandi Sea: 51:53 Yeah, that’d be great. We need to figure out how to do that.

Michelle: 51:55 I know, or you can just be like, Hey, this podcast episode is boring except for minute 10. Listen to minute 10. That’s fine. Um, so do that. You can share it and you can also give us a raving review and give us five stars on iTunes. Um, huge thanks to Vesperteen for allowing us to use his song Shatter in the Night as the intro and outro to our podcast and a huge congratulations to him in his music. He’s doing great awesome things. He’s been signed to a label called Bad Suns. No. Is it called Bad Suns? He’s been, he’s been signed to a label

Brandi Sea: 52:28 I saw it but I don’t remember.

Michelle: 52:29 He’s doing cool things. Go check them out. Vesperteen on anywhere you can find music. I stole that from Ryan O’Neil. Um, and also once again, thank you to Joelle for doing our show notes

Brandi Sea: 52:43 And transcription

Michelle: 52:43 So selflessly. Yeah. And transcription. Um, you can check out the show notes for links and Info on iTunes as well as Brandi’s website, brandisea.com

Brandi Sea: 52:55 Which hopefully my goal is in the next month to have completely redesigned. So we’ll see

Michelle: 53:00 You got it. You got it

Brandi Sea: 53:01 We’ll see how it goes.