Why is this episode one of my favorites to date? lol. This week we keep it light and silly with a game of Would You Rather. Play along and see if you can guess what I'd rather do before I say it, and share with me which ones you strongly agree and disagree with! And remember to keep an eye out on Instagram to submit dream stories for the upcoming dream episode, or feel free to email them to me as well!

*Please be aware that this episode contains sensitive content relating to sexual violence, sexual assault, rape, violence towards women, domestic abuse, and references to blood*

It's Women's History Month! In today's episode, we talk about all things womens rights. I give y'all the rundown on some bad bitch women of history that impacted my personal rights and access to things like writing, driving, and mental health treatment. Then, I cover the facts on when women were granted certain rights and freedoms throughout history, which you'll find isn't as distant as we often think it is. Lastly, I give an overview of just a few of the injustices and lack of rights women around the world still face today. This last piece of the podcast contains some sensitive content, so please listen with caution <3 And be sure to keep an eye out on Instagram for prompts for next week's dream episode!

Sources referenced for this episode:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/24/world/middleeast/saudi-driving-ban-anniversary.html

https://www.runvermont.org/blog/womens-history-month/

https://scoop.upworthy.com/10-women-whose-achievements-ignored-history-celebrated-more

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/intimatepartnerviolence/index.html

https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/female-genital-mutilation/#:~:text=Around%20the%20world%2C%20over%20230,are%20in%20the%20Middle%20East.

https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/commission-on-the-status-of-women-2012/facts-and-figures

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/no-one-studied-menstrual-product-absorbency-realistically-until-now/

This episode was a labor of love, y'all... For the first episode in a series I'm calling 'Spotlight Sessions', I sat down and interviewed my grandpa, Duane Gull, about his life story. Our interview lasted all day and by the time I left his house, I had accumulated over 8 hours of recording time. Sadly, when I got around to editing it all a while later, I realized I had recorded our interview on a damaged storage disk and discovered that nearly 4 hours of our interview was missing. While severely disappointed by this, I had plenty of material left to put an episode together, which is what made up todays episode. I hope to have Duane return to the podcast in the future, so we can enjoy more of his storytelling and wisdom.

Hello!! Thanks for tuning in! This week I fill you in on what I did for Valentine's Day and how that effected the delay in episode delivery last week (whoopsies). There may or may not be a random tangent involving nature documentaries involved at some point. I can't be sure, I hardly ever remember what I said on the episode once I finish recording... But the topic for todays episode is worst first dates, and y'all delivered so fast on stories for this prompt when I posted it on Instagram. They are so so good. That being said, I am so so sorry you had to endure these experiences in order to provide us with a great story, lol. Hope you enjoy! And Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

The chaos of trying to find a set release day is still alive and well. Thanks for sticking with me! In today's episode I catch you guys up on last weeks missing episode and tease the upcoming "Spotlight Sessions," as well as telling you about my trip to Ensenada, Mexico. Then we get into one of the Valentine's Day topics for this month: dating apps and ridiculous bios/profiles. It's a rollercoaster... so make sure to put on your seatbelt, and keep your arms and legs in the ride at all times. And finally, did you catch how many yawns were yawned in this episode?

Sources Used In This Episode:

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/relationships/g38736242/best-dating-app/

I know, I know. She’s late. But what else is new? Maybe I'll embrace it and not have a set day of the week for release and you'll just get to be surprised when it's Tuesday one week and Friday the next. Lol, I'm kidding... sort of.

I finally give to you this week’s episode, and it’s a tad bit chaotic. I polled topics from you guys for a game of “Don’t Get Me Started.” It was meant to be a game of ranting angrily about a random topic, however, I expanded the range of emotional rantings to an angry OR happy rant. But it really just devolved into indifferent rants for the most part. You’ll see what I mean. In the process, I reveal some (probably) poor character traits of mine that I hope I’m not alone in lol.

Somewhere around minute 19:20 you’ll notice that I go from talking about the ‘Barbie’ movie to grocery stores with absolutely no segue. This is because my recording device/storage disk malfunctioned and stopped recording when I was talking about ‘Barbie,’ and didn’t start recording again until I was already into a “rant” about grocery store self-checkouts. I apologize for the jump. Unfortunately, it’s not the only time this happens in the episode, but I tried to edit it as smoothly as I could in the other instances, so hopefully it’s not too distracting. And I’ve figured out what the problem was, so it won’t happen again in the future! Thanks for your understanding and I hope you enjoy the episode!

Happy MLK Jr. Day! In todays episode, I talk about about my upcoming cruise and the nerves I'm experiencing about going on a cruise for the first time. I do a little personal digging and realize it's probably a result of my interest in the Titanic as a kid... Then we get into the topic for todays episode -- Glimmers. I thought they were made up (and technically they are, but I mean, everything is technically made up), but it turns out they're emotional experiences we have that affect our nervous system. I thought they were pretty cool and I hope you think so too! Or at the very least, learn something you didn't know before.

Articles used in todays episode:

https://www.newportinstitute.com/resources/mental-health/what-are-glimmers/#:~:text=Glimmers%20are%20those%20tiny%2C%20seemingly,the%20rain%20outside%20your%20window.

With our foot in the door to the New Year, I thought it could be fun to play a little game I like to call "If I Won the Lottery" as a silly take on money manifestation and abundance. The scenario posed is that you've just won $500 million (tax free) from the lottery: 1) What are the first few things you're spending the money on?, 2) What are some of the most outrageous things you're going to purchase just because you can?, and 3) With so much money, who are you choosing to help? I tell you my lottery dreams and I read listener submissions. It's a fun one!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a safe and festive (or relaxing and quiet) holiday! In todays episode we ring in 2024 by ditching resolutions and instead having a wish list (kind of like the wish list we'd send Santa for Christmas as kids). I share my wish list from last year and review what I did from my 2023 list, and I share my wish list for 2024, which include some ambitious goals for the podcast. Then I read your guys' "resolutions" and things your excited for in 2024, like more time reading, focusing on your health, and travel:)

Today we cover our favorite things. Think Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. First, our favorite things in general--foods, products, music, feelings and experiences, etc. Then we talk about our favorite things from 2023, like "the summer of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Barbie," and other more personally significant moments. This was the last episode for 2023! I hope you guys have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!