Sip With Me

DISCLAIMER: this episode was filmed on location. We recommend watching this episode rather than listening due to audio quality and the need to see our gorgeous fiancé’s! Watch our episode at the link below!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Ioanna and Aaron celebrate love with their partners, Nathan and Michael!

This week, we go head-to-head in a couples quiz game fit for the Game Show Network! Find out how compatible we are with our fiancé’s and how well Nathan and Michael know us. Listen through to the end to find out which couple takes home the Golden Heart trophy!

Categories include, who is better in bed, this or that, and what is their favorite!

WATCH: https://linktr.ee/sipwithme_

Happy Valentine’s Day to all you lovers out there!

When life gives you lemons, make lemon curd. Vallery Lomas triumphed and won season 3 of the Great American Baking Show, the US version of the famous Great British Baking show. Following that accomplishment, she released her debut cookbook, “Life Is What You Bake It”, featuring more than 100 of her best and favorite bakes!

Vallery joined us hours before she departed on an international food expedition to dish out some of her baking tips and tricks! We learned about her southern influences and inspirations that shape what she bakes. Plus, her experience filming the show and just how taxing it is to be under the microscope of a thousand cameras. And yes, they do actually film under the famed white tent!

Vallery also gave us a peek into her cookbook, sharing some of what she chose to incorporate and some of the stories she chose to tell through her recipes. Similar to former guest, The Korean Vegan, Vallery is a Lawyer turned foodie turned author who perfectly highlights her unique position in the world through her baking.

We make the final bake with a round of rapid fire, learning her favorite recipe, what cooking show she binges, her favorite restaurant in New York City, and of course, her favorite cocktail!

Plus, we share our drink of the week, The Lemon Curd cocktail.

Mary Fitzergald leads the pack of LA’s hottest luxury brokerage team, The Oppenheim Group. With four seasons down and a fifth on the way, Netflix’s Selling Sunset catapulted the show’s leading ladies into the national spotlight. Multi-million dollar homes and more drama than most Americans experience in a lifetime are centerpieces of the Netflix original. However, Mary, who serves as Vice President & Realtor Associate, is better known for her unrivaled hustle to sell those homes and a solid set of morals that can be hard to find among the Hollywood elite.

Mary sat down with us to chat about the last couple of years and how so much has changed for her. We start with her influences, talking about how having her son at a young age and working in multiple international hubs taught her what she needed to know.

After, we discuss the show and hear about the filming process at the famous Sunset Blvd office. We learn that everything on the show is indeed real, though there is way more footage filmed than is actually used! Plus, hear about some of Mary’s intra-office drama and how she showed her haters what true love really is.

Last, we got Mary’s thoughts on the ultra hot housing market and what she is seeing in her deals. Plus, Ioanna and I chat about her gorgeous wedding as we prepare for our very own rides into the sunset.

We seal the deal with a round of rapid fire to find out Mary’s Oppenheim Bestie, the favorite house she has sold, her go-to cocktail, and her favorite part of working at The Oppenheim Group.

Morgan St. Jean is a LA-based singer-songwriter who has earned tens of millions of streams and rave reviews time-over-time. Her music ranges widely in the vibe it goes for, but what stays consistent is her powerful vocals and unique voice that could make even the most famous artist yearn to capture the human experience like she does. Ioanna and I have cried to “Unsettled Down”, danced to “Pity Party”, and now we’ve owned our men through “Graduation”. Like we said, her music hits every vibe and we are living for it.

She’s not new to the music scene, but she has been releasing tons of amazing beats lately and just released the new song, “Graduation”, in which she “turns a boy into a man”. With tens of millions of streams and some epic collabs, she belongs on everyone’s “everything” playlist. Morgan has a new mixtape coming in February and she joined us to chat about it!

In this episode, we discuss her career, including how she got into the music industry and what has kept her in it. Plus, we hear directly from Morgan about the songwriting process and what role post-production plays in making the perfect piece. Hear about how she makes her music so relatable through her different songs and laugh about some of the things that have happened in her career.

To finish on a high note, we subject Morgan to a round of rapid fire to find out her favorite song, her dream collab, which artist she streams most, and of course, her fave cocktail!

Ilana Dunn is the host of one of Aaron’s favorite podcasts “Seeing Other People” and was formerly the Face of Hinge and the host of Hinge’s Dating Sucks podcast – which debuted at #3 on the Apple Podcasts US Relationship charts. Ilana helps individuals all over the world navigate the struggles of modern dating. Featured in many publications and major podcasts, Ilana is our generation’s voice for dating.

To celebrate the New Year, a time when many people reassess their one-year goals and habits, we had Ilana on to discuss navigating dating and love in 2022.

We chat about her career and how she ended up being the face of Hinge, one of the world’s most popular dating Apps. Plus, her hit podcast and how it came to climb the charts. Plus, hear her AMAZING Jonas Brothers story (truly, it is pretty epic).

Ilana gives listeners some helpful tips for putting yourself out there and shares some dating trends she saw in 2021 that she thinks will continue into the New Year!

Listen to Ilana’s show here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seeing-other-people/id1505618760

Averagely funny & sorta relatable is how TikTok sensation Kat Stickler describes herself in her bio. At over 8.3 million followers on TikTok alone as of the New Year, Kat is doing something right- she is amazingly funny and extremely relatable!

Kat joins us to discuss her career, including her rise on the platform and some of the doors that have opened for her (including SNL which we are manifesting for her in 2022). We discuss her sense of humor and how she channels real-life experience into helping others laugh and get through tough times.

Kat also shares some relationship wisdom and words of encouragement for those looking for or lost in love, and discusses parenting her adorable daughter during the pandemic, a feat all parents should feel accomplished about.

We end with a round of rapid fire to hear what Kat’s favorite TikTok is, her best piece of advice for new parents, and her favorite drink!

For our final cocktail of the year, Marie from @mixwithmarie shares with us her favorite holiday cocktail creation, Holiday Medicine!

Plus, a quick thank you from Aaron & Ioanna, and an introduction to our first guest of 2022!

Merry Christmas from the Queen of Christmas, not Mrs. Claus, but Jeanna Crawford. Jeanna is an award-winning seasoned designer and Christmas specialist with a long list of happy clients and “Christmasers” that are all treated like family. Based in California, her clients may not have a “White Christmas”, but she leaves their homes feeling like it. 

 

JeannaLovesChristmas embodies 28 years of experience and a lifetime of Christmas love. We learned from speaking with her that she’s not just the country’s most “holiday seasoned” designer- she also embodies the warmth and spirit that should accompany the most wonderful time of the year.

 

We unwrapped all the gifts in this interview, learning all about her long career, both the highlights and where she gets her inspo for her famous looks. Per Jeanna, it’s all about how she feels when she steps into a space. We also talk about how the holiday season should feel surrounded by people you love, in a space you love. Plus, last-minute tips and tricks from the Queen herself!

 

We rush down the stairs Christmas morning with a round of rapid fire, learning about Jeanna’s favorite ornament, what her 2nd favorite holiday is, her most loved room to decorate in a house, and what Christmas cocktail we’d find in her hand during the holiday season! Plus, our jolly friend John, also known as @Johneatsanddrinks on Instagram shared with us his merriest Christmas cocktail, Boozy Hot Chocolate!

The phrase "like mother, like daughter" resonates with both Ioanna and Aaron because they both take after their mom in some eerily similar ways.

Cher & Dawn Hubsher are our TLC favorites! Stars of the hit show “sMothered”, Cher and Dawn joined us to discuss their time on television and offer up some advice on managing relationships during stressful times of the year, including the holidays!

We chatted about what it is like to be vulnerable on and off camera, and what it is really like filming for reality television. They dish on some of their favorite memories from the show and share advice on how they stay happy and healthy as such a bonded mother & daughter. Plus, we learn about their “Chattermouth Podcast”, the book they wrote together, and their NEW Chattermouth lipgloss!

We hugged it out only as mother and daughter could with a round of rapid fire to find out what TLC show they binge together, their favorite quality about each other, the most memorable podcast episode they’ve filmed, and of course their fave mother/daughter cocktail!

Happy 25th birthday to Chicago’s Christkindlmarket. A tradition loved across the nation, this week’s episode is close to home for Ioanna and Aaron. Chicago’s Christkindlmarket began in 1996 as a way to promote bilateral trade between Germany and the United States. Since then, it’s been warming Chicagoan’s hearts as an annual must-attend Christmas tradition!

Famous for its mulled wine, delicious German Bratwrust, giant pretzels, roasted nuts, gorgeous ornaments, and of course hearty German beers, there’s something for all to enjoy under the city skyline. We spoke with Leila Schmidt, the Manager for Marketing and Intercultural Communication at the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest. Leila helps run their two locations each year and gives us some insight into how it all goes down.

We learned about the origins of the market and how it has evolved into the nation’s best Christmas Market. Leila also shared the story behind their mega-famous mugs which feature German artwork and taught us about who actually works in the vendor booths. Plus, a peek into the wild logistical world of running an outdoor market during the coldest time of the year!

We end the episode chatting about some of Leila’s market must-eats and Aaron shares his family’s market ornament tradition.